City Council

CITY OF CARUTHERSVILLE PUBLIC HEARING Page 754 BE IT REMEMBERED the Council of the City of Caruthersville met for a Public Hearing on Tuesday September 5, 2023, at 5:00 p.m., in the Council Room in the Municipal Building. The purpose of the hearing was to receive input from the public regarding the tax rate to be set for 2023 in which the City has received the ceiling for the tax rate from the State Auditor’s office. The tax rates are set to produce revenues which show what’s to be required from the property tax. Each tax rate is determined by dividing the amount of revenue needed by the current assessed valuation. The result is multiplied by 100 so the tax will be expressed in cents per $100 valuation as follows: ASSESSED CURRENT PRIOR VALUATION TAX YEAR 2023 TAX YEAR 2022 Real Estate $32,955,873 $31,605,493 Personal Property $13,796,794 $13,653,144 Total $46,752,667 $45,258,637 The following tax rates are proposed: Amount of Property Tax Rate Tax Revenues Ceiling Budgeted (Per $100) General Fund $ 324,697.27 $ .6945 Special Sewer Tax 99,209.16 .2122 Library Fund 46,752.67 .1000 Public Health 83,593.77 .1788 Cemetery Fund 20,898.44 .0447 TOTAL $ 575,151.31 $ 1.2302 With there not being any input from the public, the Public Hearing was closed, and the regular session proceeded. CITY OF CARUTHERSVILLE September 5, 2023 Be it remembered the Council of the City of Caruthersville met in regular session Tuesday September 5, 2023 in the Council room of the Municipal Building at which time and place the following were present: Page 755 Takella Motton City Clerk Lawrence Dorroh City Counselor Sue Grantham Mayor Tony Jones Sergeant at Arms Glass Councilperson Bullington Councilperson Lyons Councilperson Fales Councilperson Grable Councilperson Hood Councilperson Spence Councilperson Robinson Councilperson The number of members necessary to consider a quorum being present, the Mayor called the meeting to order and announced the meeting was in session for the transaction of business. The first order of business was the approval of the regular session minutes for August 21, 2023. Councilperson Bullington motion for approval, second by Councilperson Hood with all in favor. Councilperson Lyons motion for approval of the closed session minutes for August 21, 2023, second by Councilperson Bullington with all in favor. Councilperson Lyons motion for approval of reports and bills, second by Councilperson Hood with all in favor. Mayor Grantham announced that Pemiscot Dunklin Fiber’s lowest bid was negotiated down 25% to be within the designated grant funds, with the new bid amount being $2,002,184, and mileage went from 16 miles to 12 miles. Councilperson Bullington motion to accept the new bid amount, second by Councilperson Spence, which resulted in the following vote: Glass Yes Bullington Yes Lyons Yes Fales Yes Grable Yes Hood Yes Spence Yes Robinson Yes There was also only one bid for the phone system; Bruce Hayes Communicatons Option 1 was for $6,260.00 to utilize existing phone lines or Option 2 for $7,235.00 utilizing a new PRI phone service. Councilperson Lyons motion to accept Option 2, second by Councilperson Grable, which resulted in the following vote: Glass Yes Bullington Yes Lyons Yes Fales Yes Grable Yes Hood Yes Spence Yes Robinson Yes The Housing Authority Board sent a recommendation in appointing Jenny Middleton to fulfill the unexpired term of her late father, Rodney Fisher. Councilperson Bullington motion to accept, second by  Page 756 Councilperson Lyons, which resulted in the following vote: Glass Yes Bullington Yes Lyons Yes Fales Yes Grable Yes Hood Yes Spence Yes Robinson Yes Humane report; Karol Wilcox reported that they finally got the cat removed from the ceiling, and it go adopted. Intake was 46 with seven being in for today. The Shelter is experiencing abandonment issues when tenants are moving out, but will be filing with the court for those that can be held accountable. The East 19th & Levee Rd problem is beginning to be complicated, with someone feeding, and keeping the dogs out of the traps. Rescue is moving slow everywhere. The yellow lab that was set to go to Canada, was stolen from Tennessee, and will be returned to the owner. The Highland area will be dealt with at a slower rate with the animals continuing to multiply, and the procedures the Shelter has to go through with bringing in more animals that could be vetted. Fire report; Chief Lynn Moss reported that during the month of August the department responded to 10 calls, with two being outside the City limits. One was a grass fire on I55, August 20, 2023 and a vehicle accident on the bridge August 25, 2023. Training for the month was preplanning for the newly remolded First State Bank. Code Enforcement; Barry Gilmore reported that Liz Grove will be here this Friday, due to unforeseen circumstances last Friday. She will be conducting a rate study for the Water department. The temporary building for the marijuana facility is underway, and should be up and running by the end of the month. A2H did an inspection of the 418 Ward Avenue building, and the results should be in by the end of the month. Collector report; Paige Gillock collections from August 1, 2023 through August 31, 2023 are as follows: Real Estate $12, 2206.73 Personal Property $467.96 Drainage Districts $793.16 Miscellaneous $592.50 Total Taxes $10,559.91 Interest & Fees $3,507.44 Total Collections $14,060.35. Business From the Floor; Jack Davis Jr. with PD Fiber presented to the Council maps for FCC Broadband Serviceable Locations, FCC BSL heat map showing concentrated population, and map of the pre registrations for broadband, and a heat map with the most populated area that pre-registered for broadband. The 12 miles that was mentioned beforehand are linear, and the ultimate goal is to extend the services, with the grant being a great start. Don Jeffries reported that the Historic Tower Committee had be meeting weekly preparing for the upcoming dinner. Tickets are $25.00 or $22.00 each if a table for 10 is purchased. The dinner is at 5:30 p.m. Thursday September 14, 2023 at the Armory. There will be a silent auction, and a competition between the tables, and dinner will be served by servers. Within three years $500,000 will have to be raised for the Historic Water Tower. Bootheel Regional will be a participant in seeking grants for the project. Barbara Merideth reported that Constitution week is September 17 through September 23, 2023. The plan is to have the bell ringing at 4:00 p.m. Monday September 18, 2023 locally, bell ringing Page 757 across America will occur Sunday September 17, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. for one minute. Mayor Grantham signed a Proclamation for Constitution Week. Ms. Merideth also made mention that the National DAR has a grant that can be applied for that has stringent requirements, one being the majority of the money has to be raised before applying. The last week of November for Wreaths Across America will be the end date, and the wreaths are $17.00, assistance will be needed to place the wreaths on the graves. Last year half of the graves were covered for the Veterans, and they got more wreaths because there was a deal if you bought two you get four. Help is needed to cover the rest of the graves this year, it will be a stretch to get them all covered. Introduction of Bills; Counselor Dorroh introduced the bill to set the tax rate for 2023, and the first reading by title only was in order. Councilperson Lyons made motion for the first reading second by Councilperson Bullington with all in favor for the following: BILL NO. 2023-08 ORDAINANCE NO. 2023-08 AN ORDIANCE ESTABLISHING AND FIXING THE RATE OF TAXATION AND LEVYING THE TAXES AND DECLARING THAT PURPOSE OF WHICH THE SAME SHALL AND SHOULD BE USED FOR THE YEAR 2023. Councilperson Bullington motion for the second reading, second by Councilperson Lyons, with all in favor. Councilperson Bullington motion for the passage, second by Councilperson Grable, which resulted in the following vote: Glass Yes Bullington Yes Lyons Yes Fales Yes Grable Yes Hood Yes Spence Yes Robinson Yes Anne Jeffries wanted to explain about the fund raising activities regarding money that was collected a while back, which was roughly $40,000.00. The majority of those funds paid for engineering costs for studies done for the Water Tower. The roughly $2,000.00 that was left over is being used for the events that are taking place September 14, 2023 for the dinner. A lot of money has to be raised within the three year window, and as mentioned before the bulk of the money will come from grants that will have to be applied for. The water tower is one of the two still standing in the country, it is a historical landmark. Councilperson Hood motion to go into closed session for the purpose of personnel, second by Councilperson Lyons, which resulted in the following vote: Glass Yes Bullington Yes Lyons Yes Fales Yes Grable Yes Hood Yes Spence Yes Robinson Yes Upon returning from closed session, Councilperson Grable motion to adjourn, second by Councilperson Hood which passed unanimously.  Page 758 ATTEST: ________________________________ Mayor _______________________________ City Clerk