City Council

Page 904 PUBLIC HEARING City of Caruthersville The City of Caruthersville held a Public Hearing for closeout Monday, June 16, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. at the Caruthersville Municipal Building to discuss the past performance of the City in carrying out its Community Development Block Grant Project. The project consisted of having mainline fiber broadband to the unserved/underserved City of Caruthersville. The project is benefiting the entire City. Comments were made as to the professionalism of the process. Councilperson Fales motion to adjourn, second by Councilperson Hood, with all in favor. CITY OF CARUTHERSVILLE June 16, 2025 Be it remembered the Council of the City of Caruthersville met in regular session Monday June 16, 2025 in the Council room of the Municipal Building at which time and place the following were present: Takella Motton City Clerk Lawrence Dorroh City Counselor Sue Grantham Mayor Jerry Hudgens Sergeant at Arms Spence (Absent) Councilperson Robinson Councilperson Glass Councilperson Bullington Councilperson Lyons (Absent) Councilperson Fales Councilperson Grable (Absent) Councilperson Hood 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 of June 2, 2025. Councilperson Bullington motion for approval, second by Councilperson Hood, with all in favor Councilperson Hood motion for approval of the closed session minutes of June 2, 2024, second by Councilperson Glass with all in favor. Councilperson Bullington motion for approval of reports and bills, second by Councilperson Glass, with all in favor. Next on the agenda was the Street Improvement Project in which the bid opening occurred on May 23, 2025 with Paving Pro having the lower bid, but their packet was incomplete. Delta Companies was the next lowest bid with the contract being awarded to Delta Companies. Councilperson Bullington  Page 905 motion for approval, second by Councilperson Robinson, which resulted in the following vote: Robinson Yes Glass Yes Bullington Yes Fales Yes Hood Yes Craig Booker with Roof and Gutter presented to the Council pictures of the Municipal Court roof, and explained as to what they thought was the best approached to fixing the roof. They would scan the roof with an infrared camera to determine the moisture areas, remove all wet installation down to the masonry brick, install new installation to the depth of existing installation, install new fleece back to adhere to existing roof, install new wall and pipe flashing, install new wall scuppers, and remove and remove all debris associated with the project. The work would be backed by a 10 year labor and material warranty. The company is also prepared to give a proposal for the Recreation Center roof. All the companies that have and are interested with the roof repairs would have to go through the bidding process with prevailing wages. The Council thanked Mr. Booker for his insight. Councilperson Bullington made mention that she had contacted L. J. Hart a company that offers financial strategies for government and businesses. A meeting has been set up for Monday June 22, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. A2H will also be here next week to look at another project, and at that time they will be asked about possible bid specs for the Recreation and Municipal Court roofs. Police report; Chief Jerry Hudgens reported that it was a busy weekend with several calls for large crowds, and disturbances at East Haven. The SRO’s are preparing for summer projects to bring up safety issues. Councilperson Fales inquired about the private club besides Little Pizza Heaven with complaints about the smell of marijuana emanating from it. Chief Hudgens stated that unless the business is creating a nuisance or disturbance there was nothing that the police could do about it. The business has been monitored, and nothing was awry. Counselor Dorroh will be looking into the specificities of the smoking of marijuana, as it stands it is legal within the City. Fire report; Chief Lynn Moss reported calls are as follows: 5/31/25; Carbon monoxide malfunction on East 5th St., 6/4/25; Illegal burning on Grand Ave., 6/4/25; Carbon monoxide alarm on Bushy, 6/5/25; Tractor trailer brakes on fire at Stubtown, 6/6/25; Four wheeler wreck on Truman U Westwood, 6/10/; Accident with entrapment on Truman. The department will be participating in the Juneteenth Parade, Thursday June 19, 2025. The Annual fire subscription renewals are in progress. Public Works/Alliance; Michael Apperson Operations Report for the month of May is as follows: Administrative/Submitted eDMR and the Compliance Monitoring report for Groundwater Systems to DNR. Water & Wastewater Treatment/Plant is running efficiently. The clarifier at the Wastewater plant is fixed, and they’re rebuilding the activated sludge at the Plant. Regulatory/There were six Bac-T samples, and 27 Wastewater samples submitted to DNR, with the Wastewater samples being waived due to flooding. There will be issues with E. coli and total suspended solids as the plant slowly builds up its activated sludge. Collection & Distribution/Staff is continuing to enter GIS data points. Leaks were fixed on Kelly, Seventh St., Ward, and the Well trunk line on levee. Sewer was jetted on Truman, Third St., Westwood, And Fourth St. A water tap was done for the Crow’s Nest. Safety/Driver Safety was the topic. For April Page 906 repair expenses was at zero and chemical expenses were under budgeted by $17,870.00. Code Enforcement; Barry Gilmore reported the following: Normally 2,000 gallons of gas is used per month among all departments, with a savings of $1,000.00 per month since purchasing in bulk. Currently there are 71 Notices out for grass, and once the City properties are mowed the lots with Notices will be mowed. There will be approximately 70 more Notices going out this week for grass. DNR was provided with the requested documentation regarding the fish kill. Weather permitting during the week of the 16th the department will be removing the back part of the Exchange Building. Also, they will be tearing down a house off West 13th and Shultz. There will be surveyors at the airport looking at the area north of the T hangers for the new hanger design. MODOT will be repairing the South Ward entrance to the Animal Shelter. The work at 311 Ward is completed, and has dried out in order to backfill, smooth out, and plant grass seed. Councilperson Fales inquired about the shooting of fireworks for July 4, 2025. The consensus was to do the same as previous years. Permitting the use of common fireworks between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on July 3, 2025 and 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on July 4, 2025. Mayor Grantham announced that the fireworks display will be July 3, 2025, and that there will be vendor spaces at the Reynolds Park for $25.00 in support of the Historic Water Tower fund. Recreation report; Lamonte Bell reported weather permitting the HVAC would be put in soon, along with taking out the old units. Intake $6,285.10 Interest $1.75 Expenses $321.02 Turnover $5,965.83. Casey Henson, Assistant Director of the Library presented to the Council what flyers using Canva would look like for advertisement for the Recreation Center. Also, how information could be shared through Facebook and between the networks of organizations. Councilperson Bullington asked Counselor Dorroh about how the pickle ball court was coming along. The construction of the courts would be divided up into six different contracts. Site Preparation, Post Tension System, Concrete Purchase, Surfacing of Concrete, Fencing Contract, and Prevailing Wage Contract. A newspaper notice should be done by next week. Chris Crysler and Wayne Smith would serve as Project managers with the authorization of the Council. Councilperson Bullington motion for approval, second by Councilperson Fales, which resulted in the following vote: Robinson Yes Glass Yes Bullington Yes Fales Yes Hood Yes Library report; Tacara Sullivan report was as follows: 6/3/25; Week three of Summer reading was another success, the kids made T-shirt pillows. 6/3/25; A plaque was dedicated to the Shaw family, in honor of Mike Shaw who donated numerous items from his Mississippi River/Towboat history collection. 6/11/25; The Helen Schult Garden Club held a meeting, and Martha Jane Whitener made a presentation on “Using Your Favorite Container. 6/11/25; Lincoln University had a movie day for their Summer Camp students. 6/14/25; GED graduation ceremony was held, FCC had Suicide Prevention Information, 6/17/25; Week four of Summer reading/Camping Day, 6/19/25; Closed in observance of Juneteenth. 6/24/25; Week five of Summer reading/Scrapbook Day. Collector report; Paige turnover report is as follows: Real Estate $409.60 Personal Property  Page 907 $827.62 Total Tax $1,463.45 Other Tax & Fees $10,968.65 Turnover $12,432.10. Councilperson Bullington announced that the ground breaking ceremony for the Exchange Building will be Wednesday June 18, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Councilperson Fales motion to adjourn, second by Councilperson Glass with all in favor. ATTEST: ______________________________ Mayor _____________________________ City Clerk