City Council

CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 14, 2019 The Lonoke City Council held a city council meeting in the administration room of City Hall at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, January 14, 2019. Mayor Trae Reed called the meeting to order with the invocation given by Reid Terry, Lonoke Baptist Church. Mayor Reed asked City Clerk, Jeribeth Edwards to call the roll. City Clerk Jeribeth Edwards called the roll and declared a quorum. Mayor Trae Reed City Clerk Jeribeth Edwards Treasurer Phillip Howell Deputy Clerk Regina Ibbotson Council Members Efrem Jones, Alice Bridges, Raymond Hatton, Ryan Biles, Matt Cordell Michael Florence, Koy Butler, and Suzette Elmore City Attorney Ginger Stuart Police Chief Randy Mauk W/S/S Supt. Jim Kelley /Jim Ed Ransom C.C. Director Mike Brown Fire Dept. Justin Whittenburg Parks Director Roy Don Lewis News Media Rick Kron, The Leader Visitors Kelly Rather, Gary Elmore, Mark Thomas, Russell Ivy, Tasha Terry, Jim Bailey, Terry Bevill, Darrel Cox, Reid Terry, Hannah Harris, George Gooden, Rachel Whittenburg, David Chaney, and Stevie Shepard MINUTES: Mayor Trae Reed asked for acceptance of the December minutes as recorded. Efrem Jones made a motion to accept the minutes as read. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. Mayor Trae Reed asked for acceptance of the December Special meeting minutes. Michael Florence made a motion to accept the minutes as read. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. Mayor Reed asked the council for a change in the order of business to adopt Resolution 1-1-2019 - “Establishing A City Code of Conduct”, there was no objection. RESOLUTION 1-1-2019 - “A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A CITY CODE OF CONDUCT”: Raymond Hatton made a motion to put Resolution 1-1-2019 on the floor. Michael Florence seconded the motion. Motion carried. Ginger Stuart read the Resolution and its entirety. All council member agreed with aye vote to accept the resolution. Motion carried.  CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 14, 2019 FIRE DEPARTMENT: Justin Whittenburg was present and gave report. Mr. Whittenburg asked to continue the subscription renewal agreement with IaR. IaR is an Emergency Responder Reply System. Koy Butler made a motion to continue the subscription. Efrem Jones seconded the motion. Motion carried. PUBLIC WORKS: Water: Mr. Jim Kelley was present and gave report. No action needed. Street: Mr. Jim Ransom was present and gave report. He mentioned that the leaf machine was not running and needed to be fixed. Mr. Ransom also mentioned that he would like to purchase a new leaf machine so the City of Lonoke would have two leaf machines. The total on the repairs for the old leaf machine is $8,443.01. Mr. Ransom supplied a quote for a new leaf blower from Henard Utility Products from Searcy, AR that was obtained under a Sourcewell purchasing co-op contract. After some discussion from the council, Efrem Jones made a motion to fix the old leaf machine for $8,443.01 and to purchase the new leaf machine for $48,265.50. The total for both leaf machines is $56,708.51. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Chief Randy Mauk was present and gave report. He mentioned that $6,000.00 has been billed to immigration and probation/parole. Collecting Donations: Chief Mauk would like permission to start collecting donations for a new K-9. Mr. Mauk did mention that he has an officer in mind for the k-9 program that lives in the city. Koy Butler asked the chief how much he believes a k-9 would cost. Chief answered with $7,000.00-$10,000.00. Efrem Jones made a motion to start gathering proceeds. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. 6 TB hard drive: Chief Mauk asked permission to purchase a 6 TB hard drive with storage from Network Service Group out of North Little Rock, Ar. for $1,286.61. Chief Mauk explained that the Police Dept is running out of room to download taser camera footage. Koy Butler made a motion to purchase the hard drive. Alice Bridges seconded the motion. Motion carried. Continuing Education: Chief Mauk asked the council to spend $625.00. for a membership to obtain some continuing ed classes which gives us 25 classes per year. This membership would be Crime Scene Technician or Undercover drug operation class with the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Ar. Koy Butler made a motion to purchase the membership. Michael Florence seconded the motion. Motion carried. PARKS/MOSQUITO: Mr. Roy Don Lewis was absent. Mayor Reed gave report. No action needed. COMMUNITY CENTER: Mr. Mike Brown was present and gave report. The events going on at the Center are Basketball, Baptist Health Days, and the January Fitness challenge. Mike Brown mentioned to the council that there will be a seminar offered, a gateway information for kids and parents on financial information. This seminar will be held every Monday in February at no charge by Mark Thomas.  CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 14, 2019 OLD BUSINESS: Ginger Stuart mentioned that all of these properties have major issues regarding title work. The city could tear down the properties at the cost of the city. The first option is foreclosure and giving notice to all the owners and heirs of the property, which could be very difficult. A quiet title action, which is still a relatively expensive option. The second option, we could access the lien as a tax on the property. The city would never get their money back because others would go before the “clean up” lien. The third option is to tear it down then assert the property against the lien. That way if anyone attempts to get the property in their name the city could possibly get some money. More than likely, the city would never get repaid. Ginger Stuart mentioned that this is why the properties have been on the list for many months. There was some discussion between the council. Mayor Reed asked the council to table the old business. Efrem Jones made a motion to table all old business. Michael Florence seconded the motion. Motion carried. A. CONDEMNED PROPERTIES: - Resolution to “Condemn Property at 214 East 11th Street- B. WATCH LIST: Mallard Point Golf C. New Properties to Consider for Condemnation 1. BROWN STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST- 319 BROWN: 2. COLE- 217 HARRISON – 3. CANNON- 208 HARRISON: 4. MARSHALL- 218 HARRISON: 5. SPRING- 317 HARRISON ENGLAND – 6. CUMMINGS- 221 VASSER LANE- 7. GENTRY- 719 S. CENTER- 8. BELLO-319 REYNOLDS STREET- 9. MERCADO-520 W. ACADEMY STREET- 10. JONES-202 ADAMS STREET- NEW BUSINESS: A. ORDINANCE 744- “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDIANCE NO. 267, 555, AND 718 ALLOWING A MAYOR AND CERTAIN ALDERMAN TO CONDUCT BUSINESS WITH THE CITY”- Michael Florence made a motion to put Ord. #744 on the floor. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. Ginger Stuart read Ordinance No. 744 in its entirety. Koy Butler made the motion to accept the 1st reading of Ordinance No. 744. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Michael Florence and Efrem Jones abstained from the vote. Motion carried with (6) aye hand votes. Koy Butler made the motion to suspend the rules- 2nd reading- title only. Matt Cordell seconded the motion. Michael Florence and Efrem Jones abstained from the vote. Motion carried with (6) aye voice votes. Ginger Stuart read Ordinance No. 744- title only- 2nd reading. Koy Butler made the motion to accept the 2nd reading-title only- of Ordinance No. 744. Suzette Elmore seconded the motion. Michael Florence and Efrem Jones abstained from the vote. Motion carried  CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 14, 2019 with (6) hand votes. Koy Butler made the motion to suspend the rules-3rd reading-title only. Matt Cordell seconded the motion. Michael Florence and Efrem Jones abstained from the vote. Motion carried with (6) aye voice votes. Ginger Stuart read Ordinance No. 744- title only – 3rd reading. Koy Butler made the motion to accept the 3rd reading- title only Ordinance No. 744. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Michael Florence and Efrem Jones abstained from the vote. Motion carried with (6) aye hand votes. Koy Butler made a motion to adopt the ordinance. Alice Bridges seconded the motion. Michael Florence and Efrem Jones abstained from the vote. Motion carried. C. Purpose for Doctor Holmes Property: Mayor Reed explained that the property is very damaged. He has explained everything that is wrong with the building, however not certain on everything that is wrong with the building. Mr. Reed opened the issue up for the council to discuss. After some discussion Koy Butler volunteered to head up a sub-committee. Possibly three people from the council and three people from the city at large. This committee will report to the council. Koy Butler made a motion to get environmental assessment quotes. Michael Florence seconded the motion. Motion carried. D. SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS: Mayor Reed asked to create official City of Lonoke pages for all social media channels. Efrem Jones made a motion to create official city of Lonoke pages on media channels. Matt Cordell seconded the motion. Motion carried. E. LCC Membership for City Employee- Mayor Reed mentioned that it was brought to his attention that the City Employee should have free membership to the Lonoke Community Center. After some discussion Ginger Stuart asked to report back regarding this matter. Koy Butler made a motion to table the discussion until February meeting. Efrem Jones seconded the motion. Motion carried. F. RESOLUTION 1-2-2019 “A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE LONOKE COUNTY HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN FOR THE CITY OF LONOKE IN LONOKE COUNTY, ARKANSAS”- Michael Florence made a motion to put Resolution 1-2-2019 on the floor. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. Ginger Stuart read Resolution 1-2-2019 and its entirety. Efrem Jones made a motion to accept the first reading. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried with 8 hand votes. G. Proposed Property for Condemnation- 116 NE Front Street- Ginger Stuart asked the council to table this property until next meeting, she feels that it would be better to send the property owners a letter to report to the council to discuss the issue of the property. Michael Florence made a motion for Ginger Stuart to send a letter to the owners. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. H. DEPOT ISSUES - Hannah Harris mentioned to the council there are some issues at the depot. Mayor Reed assured Mrs. Harris he would get in touch with her. PAY THE BILLS: Efrem Jones made a motion to pay bills. Alice Bridges seconded the motion. Motion carried.  CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 14, 2019 BILLS ALREADY PAID IN DECEMBER 2018 City General $78,340.03 Water $117,250.26 Street $101,398.12 Community Center $19,955.26 Retail One Cent $1,204.96 Criminal Justice $2,531.35 Advertising Promotion $125.00 BILLS TO BE PAID IN JANUARY 2019 General Fund $14,360.36 Water $13,925.01 Street $2,974.05 Community Center $8,073.80 Court Automation $1,845.36 Criminal Justice $479.48 Retail One Cent $502.61 ADJOURN: Raymond Hatton made a motion to adjourn. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. _____________________________________ Mayor Henry F Reed III Attest: _________________________________ City Clerk