City Council

CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES May 30, 2019 The Lonoke City Council held a special city council meeting in the administration room of City Hall at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 30, 2019. Mayor Trae Reed called the meeting to order with the invocation given by Efrem Jones. Mayor Reed asked Deputy City Clerk, Regina Ibbotson to call the roll. Deputy City Clerk Regina Ibbotson called the roll and declared a quorum with the mayor’s vote. (Alderman Ryan Biles arrived after roll call.) Mayor Trae Reed City Clerk Jeribeth Edwards (absent) Treasurer Phillip Howell Deputy Clerk Regina Ibbotson Council Members Efrem Jones, Matt Cordell, Raymond Hatton, Alice Bridges, Suzette Elmore, Michael Florence (absent), Koy Butler(absent), and Ryan Biles (late) City Attorney Ginger Stuart Police Chief Randy Mauk (absent) Public Works Jim Kelley (absent) Street Dept Jim Ed Ransom C.C. Director Mike Brown Fire Dept. Justin Whittenburg (absent) Parks Director Roy Don Lewis News Media None Visitors None 1. ORDINANCE 751 – “AN ORDINANCE TO WAIVE COMPETITIVE BIDDING FOR THE PURCHASE OF A WASHER-EXTRACTOR AND GEAR DRYER SYSTEM FOR THE LONOKE FIRE DEPARTMENT; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Efrem Jones made the motion to put Ordinance 751 on the floor. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. Attorney Ginger Stuart read Ordinance 751 in its entirety. Alice Bridges made the motion to accept the first reading of Ordinance 751. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. Efrem Jones made the motion to suspend the rules – 2nd reading title only. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. Attorney Ginger Stuart read title only of Ordinance 751. Suzette Elmore made the motion to accept the 2nd reading title only of Ordinance 751. Alice Bridges seconded the motion. Motion carried. Efrem Jones made the motion to suspend the rules – 3rd reading title only. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. Attorney Ginger Stuart read title only of Ordinance 751. Suzette Elmore made the motion to accept the 3rd reading title only of Ordinance 751. Alice Bridges seconded the motion. Motion carried. Matt Cordell made the motion to adopt Ordinance 751. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Efrem Jones made the motion to adopt the Emergency Clause. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried.  CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES May 30, 2019 2. APPROVAL OF SEALED BIDS FOR LARVICIDE – The City received two bids in response to the ad for 30 cases of Altosid larvicide. Both bids were exactly the same price. One was from Clarke Mosquito and the other was from Univar Solutions. Motion was made by Ryan Biles to purchase from Clarke Mosquito. They are our current provider and are very helpful to the city. Efrem Jones seconded the motion. Motion carried. 3. APPROVAL OF RFQ SELECTION OF ARCHITECT FIRM FOR BALL PARK COMPLEX CONSTRUCTION- Allison & Partners was the firm selected by the RFQ panel that conducted the interviews with the three finalists selected from the seven RFQs that were received. Roy Lewis gave a brief summary of the process with guidance from Matt Cordell and Ryan Biles, who were members of the panel. Suzette Elmore made the motion to approve the selection of Allison & Partners. Efrem Jones seconded the motion. Motion carried. 4. REPAIRS FOR LONOKE TRAIN DEPOT – Mayor Reed explained that he had asked Robert Schelle to make a visit to our Train Depot and note any interior/exterior deficiencies that he observed. A list was provided to the council members. As mentioned, this property is on the Historical Register and could be eligible for an AHPP grant. After going through the list and discussing grant options, Efrem Jones made a motion to release an RFQ for a professional firm with Historical Property expertise to help us to work on needed repairs to our depot. Ryan Biles seconded the motion. Motion carried. 5. CONDEMNATION ISSUES -This item has been tabled on the monthly council agenda until the July meeting and needed to be discussed to try to find a way to work through the many issues involved with land owners that do not take care of their property. After a lot of discussion between the council members, the Mayor and the City Attorney, a consensus was reached. The council members would like to hear from code enforcement officials in other cities that have a successful program and find out what works and what does not work. This could help Lonoke to stay away from the issues that could potentially cost us a lot of time and money. A working session was scheduled on June 24th at 6pm to discuss condemnations only. Mayor Reed also asked the council members to review the state statutes regarding condemnations and to become familiar with them and cited sections 14-54-902 thru 904. 6. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Mayor Reed provided a copy of a news release sent to the local newspaper with an explanation of the unknown gases that were recently detected in Lonoke. He also provided a copy of a newspaper article from Leavenworth, TX that gave safety reminders to heed during time of heavy rain.  CITY OF LONOKE CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES May 30, 2019 ADJOURN: Raymond Hatton made a motion to adjourn. Efrem Jones seconded the motion. Motion carried. _____________________________________ Mayor Trae Reed Attest: _________________________________ Clerk