On Tuesday, April 25, the Monticello City Council held their monthly meeting with all members of the council present. Before the agenda items were addressed, Mayor Akers asked that two amendments be made to the agenda which would cover the purchase of the trash truck which was discussed at the finance meeting, and an amendment to the one cent sales tax budget. Both items were added and it was business as usual for the council members.
First on the agenda was the discussion of old business. Akers addressed the Bowser Road Pump Station. He said that since January they have followed up on every aspect of the project. McClelland Engineer currently have the plans and specs for the project. The bid process will open at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10, at City Hall.
The council was also updated on the sale of Fire Station 3. The contract has been drawn up, and has been presented to the county for review. Once the county approves the transaction can move forward.
In new business, the council saw an ordinance on Positive Growth in Monticello. Planning Commission member, Dan Boice, discussed how construction projects that are started outside of city limits are requesting use of the city’s water and sewer. This has put a strain on Monticello’s infrastructure and affected the capacity to provide water and sewer to city residents. This has been an issue for several years dating back to Mayor Paige Chase’s administration. Boice said that at a planning commission meeting, they met with the city planner for Bryant who told them about their city ordinance which requires anyone who wants to tie into the city’s infrastructure to sign a pre-annexation agreement. The Planning Commission hasn’t held a meeting to make this an official presentation, but they are fully behind it.
“The city of Monticello has an obligation to the people to provide services in the city first and foremost,” Akers added. “This is nothing negative towards county residents who receive city water, but we have to take care of our own first.” Akers also stated that whenever city residents begin to suffer from water pressure issues due to non-city residents receiving water we must evaluate how to fix this. Akers also noted that city residents pay higher property taxes and have to do other things that county residents don’t. City residents are also the ones footing the bill for the repairs when pumps and other parts of the infrastructure fail.
“We have to start establishing that when people tie into the city’s infrastructure that it is being done properly and being done with the city’s knowledge, not how it has been in the past,” said Akers. The ordinance was introduced to the council and will appear before the members at next month’s meeting.
There were quite a few members of the public who were in attendance to hear the council discuss an ordinance pertaining to food trucks. After the ordinance was introduced Alderman Cedric Leonard addressed issues with the city being able to control and monitor what is done on private property. Most of the council members agreed that if the owner of private property and a vendor have an agreement, the agreement should be sufficient and the city should not interfere. Alderman Michael James did note that there should however be ways to monitor health and safety protocols regardless of where the food trucks are set up.
Another issue with this ordinance was whether the transient vendors (food trucks, t-shirt booths, etc.) are in compliance with Monticello’s one cent sales tax, and how does the city go about enforcing this. Alderman Clarissa Pace suggested that there are other ‘businesses’ that are definitely not paying the sales tax. She added that if the city is going to enforce this on the transient vendors, they need to enforce it on everyone to make things equal and fair for all.
There was also talk of amending Ordinance 708 to allow the new ordinance to supersede when dealing with food truck specifically. One of the main amendments would be to do away with $75 per day permit fee in favor of a $150 annual permit seeing as though no one is really paying the $75 per day fee now.
Mayor Akers proposed a committee to determine what this ordinance needs to include, and what can be removed. Alderman Pace, Keith Wallis, Ryan Copico, and (need to ask Jason who the lady was, couldn’t see her behind me) will serve on the committee and their task is to put something together that will be fair to all and make people as happy as can be. Akers asked to have this completed before next month’s council meeting.
The council was also presented with a pair of ordinances dealing with property management and dumping trash inside the city. The property management ordinance would require property owners or tenants to make sure that all ditches, gutters, or culverts remain free of any trash or debris that would restrict the flow of water. Akers stated that one of the biggest issues with the city’s infrastructure is clogged culverts which leads to water backing up and washing dirt away from road edges leading to the roads collapsing. The second ordinance would make it punishable by a fine to dump any trash or debris on any city street, right away, creek, or ditches. Both ordinances were passed unanimously.
The council then addressed the issue of purchasing a garbage truck as discussed in the April 20, Finance Committee meeting. The council approved the sell of the two front load trucks that are currently not in use for $37,000. This money will be placed into the one percent sales tax fund to go towards the purchase of a new side load trash truck. Akers thanked the council members for acting on this in such a speedy manner.
The one percent sales tax fund budget was also approved to be amended to allow for the purchase of the aforementioned garbage truck.
Mayor Akers opened the floor for public comments. Keith Wallis was the first to speak. “I appreciate the mayor and council members for the time and consideration you are giving this food truck ordinance,” Wallis said. “I am thankful to serve on this committee to make sure we have an ordinance that is fair to everyone.”
Thomas Minga approached the council on behalf of those who are organizing the summer festival this year. He requested a donation from the city to help fund some of the expenses, and stated that this year they really wanted to work in conjunction with the city unlike the organizers of last year’s event. The group was advised to draft something to present to the city for review.
Jeff Newton closed out the show with an update on the lake trail. The grand opening will be May 6, with lots of fun and entertainment to be had. This will be the first four miles which contains the skills area and pump track. Crews are working to complete the remainder of Phase I, and Phase II will hopefully begin as soon as the current work is finished.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned until next month’s regularly stated meeting.
