City Council

Lonoke City Council Lonoke City Council Meeting November 13, 2023 The Lonoke City Council held a city council meeting at the multiple building at 6:00 p.m. Monday, November 13, 2023. Mayor Wayne McGee called the meeting to order with the Invocation was given by Pastor Jason Dorsey. Deputy City Clerk, Regina Ibbotson called the roll and declared a quorum with seven council members present. Mayor Wayne McGee City Clerk Jeribeth Edwards (absent) Treasurer (Vacant) Deputy Clerk Regina Ibbotson Council Members Sean Simpson, Steven Holt, Raymond Hatton, Stan Moran, Wendell Walker, Wendell Moore, Koy Butler, and Jim Ed Ransom (absent) City Attorney Ginger Stuart Police Chief Matt Edwards W/S/S Supt. Thomas Stivers C.C. Director Mike Brown Fire Dept. Justin Whittenburg Parks Director Evan Jacobs Community Dev. (Vacant) News Media Rick Kron, The Leader Visitors: Wayne Rathbun, Andrea Schafer, Jason Dorsey, Terry Taykowski and Cindy Reaves Minutes: Mayor Wayne McGee asked for the acceptance of the October 9, 2023, minutes. Sean Simpson made a motion to accept the minutes as read. Steven Holt seconded the motion. Motion carried. Public Comment: (none) LONOKE COUNTY LIBRARY: A calendar to show the November activities was presented. BEAUTIFICATION TEAM REPORT- Ms. Andrea Schafer was present and gave the report. PARKS AND MOSQUITO: Mr. Evan Jacobs was present and gave the report. A. Walking Trail Additions - Mr. Jacobs presented a TIPS Contract Quote for $7,606.01 from Hahn Enterprises, Inc. to purchase 3 Benches to continue down the West side of the walking trail. $6,200 of the funds for these benches was donated from AARP to help continue the walking trail improvements. Motion was made by Koy Butler to purchase the benches from Hahn Enterprises, Inc. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. COMMUNITY CENTER: Mr. Mike Brown was present and gave report. The events ongoing are Chess on Mondays, Ping Pong on Tuesdays, 2024Solar Eclipse Planning, Youth Basketball starting (16-18 teams), and Baptist Health Checks. Ashley Reed is the November Member of the Month. A. Replace/Repair main boiler that provides heat to the building- Mr. Brown presented two quotes to repair the boiler and one to replace it. The one from Lonoke Service Company to replace the boiler was less than $100 more than the repair quote from Powers. (Quotes presented to repair were LSC $4,997.59 and Powers $6,385.94. Quote presented to replace boiler from LSC was $6,483.00.) Motion was made by Koy Butler to approve the Lonoke Service Co quote for $6,483.00 to replace the boiler. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. Page 1 of 5  Lonoke City Council Lonoke City Council Meeting November 13, 2023 B. Replace the Chemical Controller for the Pool – A TIPS Quote for a new BECSys3 Chemical Controller from Clarity Pools was presented for $5,524.03. Motion was made by Koy Butler to purchase the chemical controller from Clarity Pools. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. FIRE DEPARTMENT: Chief Whittenburg was present and gave the report. PUBLIC WORKS (WATER AND SEWER): Thomas Stivers was present and gave a report. A. Concrete Repair Quotes – Two quotes were received for some concrete repairs that need to be completed where water/sewer repairs/street repairs have done. Reginald Wilkerson submitted a quote of $5,000 for the repairs. Sam Bostic Construction submitted a quote of $10,650 for the repairs. Motion was made by Steven Holt to go with Reginald Wilkerson’s quote of $5000. Koy Butler seconded the motion. Motion carried. B. Fence Repair Quotes – (This item was moved from New Business and handled at this point in the meeting.) Only one quote was received to repair the city’s damaged fences. A project packet was prepared by Chris Wilbourn and submitted to several fence contractors. JCON Inc. was the only company to submit a quote. Their quote totaled $37,275.00 which in excess of what can be approved without submitting for sealed bids. Motion was made by Koy Butler to put the project out for bids and ask bidders to quote two separate ways. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. C. Dead Trees in ROWs – Mayor McGee provided pictures of several trees that are dead in the ROWs in a few different areas of town. Several of the trees seem to be damaged in areas near the water/sewer project. The mayor would like to get bids/quotes to have the trees removed before they damage someone’s property. Attorney Stuart spoke up and advised the council that the city should not be removing trees from property that does not belong to the City unless we are sure that our project caused the damaged them. There was a discussion of how to decide which property was actually city property. Attorney Stuart said she would look at these locations and report back. Steven Holt made a motion to bid out removal on the dead trees and denote which ones we are certain our w/s project caused. Wendell Walker seconded the motion. Motion carried. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Thomas Stivers was present and gave the report. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Chief Edwards was present and gave the report. No action needed. BUDGET & FINANCE: A. 3RD Quarter Budget Numbers – The 3rd Quarter Numbers were presented. No questions were asked. Koy Butler made the motion to approve the budget numbers. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. B. 2022 FYE Arkansas Legislative Audit Report – The 2022 Audit Report was presented to all Council members. The only item noted in the management letter was an issue with a fraudulent email that diverted an employee’s payroll direct deposit to another bank account. Some of the diverted funds were recovered but resulted in a loss of $1,524. A policy has been implemented to not allow any Human Resources transaction to occur via email. Wendell Moore made the motion to accept the 2022 Audit Report. Steven Holt seconded the motion. Motion carried. Page 2 of 5  Lonoke City Council Lonoke City Council Meeting November 13, 2023 OLD BUSINESS: A. Solar Array Site Production Report- McKinstry provided a Site Production Report. The total estimated savings are as follows. April 2023 $7,327.20 May 2023 $8,514.00 June 2023 $7,869.00 July 2023 $7,800.20 August 2023 $8,118.00 Sept 2023 $7,361.60 Oct 2023 $6,252.20 B. Change to CAPDD Agreement for Services on SUP – Unbeknownst to the City and CAPDD, the Arkansas Department of Transportation has completely taken over this project. We had to pay them in full our portion of the project required. Therefore, this takes a project that CAPDD has worked on for over two years away from them. They have yet to bill us for any of the three grants that they have applied for and that we received. It is only fair that the city compensates them for the work that they have done and carried as a receivable on their books for two years. When CAPDD only does the grant application, the normal amount billed is 5% of the grant award. They would like the City to pay $31,500 which equals 5% of the grants that they helped the city attain. Koy Butler made the motion to pay CAPDD $31,500 for the grant work done on the Shared Use Path Project. Sean Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried. NEW BUSINESS: A. Approval of New District Court Deputy Clerk - Tiffany Avery has been selected at the new deputy court clerk to replace Patricia Travis. Action by the city council is needed to approve her hiring. Koy Butler made the motion to approve the hiring of Tiffany Avery as the new deputy court clerk. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried. B. Fence Repairs – (This item was handled under the Public Works Section.) C. Upcoming Changes to City Health Insurance with Municipal League – The City’s health coverage with the Municipal League will increase $92.50 per month for the Traditional Plan ($500 deductible) employee only health coverage. The city pays 100% of employee only coverage. There are also two new offerings this year. Option A: The Enhanced Option ($500 deductible) will cover incidental costs such as lab fees, shots, etc. that go along with a regular doctor visit as a price that is $101.85 per month higher than our current cost at the current $20 copay. Option B: The High Deductible Health Plan ($2500 deductible) that will save the city $49.87 per month for employee only coverage. After much discussion, Koy Butler made the motion to stay with the Traditional Plan at the increase of $92.50 per month for employee only coverage. Steven Holt seconded the motion. Motion carried. D. AD&D Coverage for Elected Officials and Dept Heads – The Premium page totaling $1600 for AD&D Coverage for 2024 was presented to the council for approval. Sean Simpson made the motion to approve the AD&D Coverage. Steven Holt seconded the motion. Motion carried. Page 3 of 5  Lonoke City Council Lonoke City Council Meeting November 13, 2023 E. ORDINANCE 815 – “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF LONOKE TO ENTER INTO AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN LONOKE COUNTY AND THE CITIES WITHIN LONOKE COUNTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSOLIDATING THE VARIOUS PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING SERVICES (PSAP) INTO ONE (1) PSAP WHICH WILL OPERATE UNDER THE LONOKE COUNTY 911 GOVERNING BOARD; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES – Attorney Stuart explained the ordinance to the council noting that the consolidation of PSAPs was enacted by the legislature in 2019 and the deadline to convene a board, and get a center operational is January 1, 2025. Koy Butler made a motion to put Ord. 815 on the floor. Wendell Moore seconded the motion. Motion carried. Ginger Stuart read Ordinance 815 and its entirety. Koy Butler made a motion to accept the 1st reading. Sean Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried with 7 hand votes. Koy Butler made a motion to suspend rules-2nd reading, title-only. Sean Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried with 7 hand votes. Ginger Stuart read Ord 815, 2nd reading, title-only. Koy Butler made a motion to accept the 2nd reading title only. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried with 7 hand votes. Koy Butler made a motion to suspend rules- 3rd reading, title only. Sean Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried with 7 voice votes. Ginger Stuart read title only- 3rd reading. Koy Butler made a motion to accept the 3rd reading title only. Raymond Hatton seconded the motion. Motion carried with 7 hand votes. Koy Butler made a motion to adopt. Sean Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried with 7 hand votes. Koy Butler made a motion to adopt the emergency clause. Sean Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried. APRROVAL TO PAY BILLS: Jim Ed Ransom made a motion to pay bills. Steven Holt seconded the motion. Motion carried. BILLS ALREADY PAID IN OCTOBER 2023 City General $ 98,772.38 Water $ 70,967.55 Street $ 21,855.44 Community Center $ 17,228.21 Retail One Cent $ 150,568.28 Court Automation $ 388.50 Water/Sewer Rev $ 2.00 ARPA $ 44,504.78 Street 1 Cent Fund $ 402,829.11 W/S Service Deposit $ 885.49 2003 W/S Rev Bnd $ 65,136.25 BILLS TO BE PAID NOVEMBER 2023 City General $ 12,587.28 Community Center $ 21465.88 Water $ 17,419.41 Street $ 9,851.26 Retail $ 292.88 Page 4 of 5  Lonoke City Council Lonoke City Council Meeting November 13, 2023 ANNOUNCEMENTS: A. Planning Commission meeting is on Monday, November 20th at 6:00 p.m. B. City Hall will be closed on November 24th 25th for Thanksgiving. C. Solid Waste Fees of $2 per month will begin on December 1st so that residential customers can begin to use the dumpsters at the city shop to dispose of items no longer wanted or needed as per the parameters of Ordinance 814. Please note that ID is required to prove residency for use of the dumpsters. ADJOURNMENT- Steven Holt made a motion to adjourn. Wendell Moore seconded the motion. Motion carried. ____________________________ Mayor Wayne McGee Attest: ____________________________ Page 5 of 5