EUREKA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY,. April 9,1996
Mayor Barbara O'Harris called the regularly scheduled
meeting to order
at 9 a.m. on
Tuesday, April 9, 1996.
PRESENT:
Mayor Barbara A. O'Harris, Aldermen Jeffrey, Seratt,
Earngey, Rubley,
Watson and
Riker.
ALSO
PRESENT: Don Eiler, Rick Annellini, Dan Dunn, Peggy Evans, Mike Ellis, Mr. Don Young, Mr. Jay Minor, and Clerk
Lee.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Mr. Young led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Mr. Young said that #5 under Old Business
should not be on the agenda. Alderman Jeffrey had a new hire under Public Works. Also, the street
program was placed under Public Works, so it could be breifly discussed. Alderman Watson said under Transit she
had a change. Alderman
Earngey made the motion to approve the agenda as amended.
Alderman
Watson seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Mayor O'Harris asked, that the council
take five minutes a subject. The agenda
is heavy and limiting the time seems to work better. Alderman Earngey took exception. Mr. Miner said that the Mayor can limit the time because she runs the meetings. Alderman Seratt made the motion to accept the five minute limit. Alderman Jeffrey seconded. The subject
was brought up that the Council discusses everything at the agenda-setting meetings and then comes back and
discusses everything at a council meeting. Alderman Rubley said that with limits at the agendasetting meetings and limits at the
council meetings we are missing the chance to really discuss. Mayor O'Harris said that we have work sessions where we
discuss and then we have agenda-setting meetings where we discuss, and then we come to the
council meetings and we discuss. At some point the Council should be ready to make a discision. Discussion followed. The
vote was 2/3/A.
Mayor O'Harris announced a boil order
for the Voyer/Holly residence issued
April 3rd, at 45 Jackson, and the earliest possible lift
time is April
10th. A
letter will be sent and the parties will be contacted.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Alderman
Seratt made the motion to approve the minutes of March 26th. Alderman Jeffrey
seconded. Alderman
Earngey pointed out on the bottom of page 2, it should be "a boil order, etc, which
began". Then, on page four, Alderman Earngey said that he was talking about asking the
State Highway Department
to put in a right turn lane at the top of Planer Hill. On page 9 there was a typo misspelling
Competitive. The
roll was called and the vote to approve was 4/0 with Aldermen Watson and Riker abstaining, because they were absent.
OLD
BUSINESS:
1. Sewer line easements, Highway 23 South, Mr. Miner.
Mr. Miner said that two are signed and in and the other
one from Northern Trust
is due to come in at any time.
2. Howell St. Wall,
Mr. Miner:
Alderman Seratt made the motion to
rebuild the wall and put a lien on the property. Alderman Earngey seconded. The discussion that followed made these points:
If
the City puts a lien on the property it probably won't
see its money
The property won’t sell for enough
to satisfy the mortgage, andhave anything left over to pay the lien. Alderman Rubley suggested, again, buying the
propertyand fixing the wall and then selling the property. Alderman Serrat said she felt the City can’t
afford to buy the
EUREKA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, April 9,1996
property at this time. Mr. Minor said that a committee could be formed to come up with two or three bid
specifications for fixing the wall. At the time that the wall was pulled down, there were no cost estimates for rebuilding the wall.
Alderman Earngey said that we have really discussed this
alot and he moved
to the previous question.
The vote to vote was 6/0/0.
The vote on the motion was Aldermen Earngey, Watson, and
Seratt, yes, and
Aldermen Jeffrey, Riker, and Rubley, no with the Mayor breaking the tie to vote yes, 4/3/0.
Mr. Young said that he has an engineer's report on the
wall on his desk. Alderman
Jeffrey said he would like to be on the committee with Aldermen Seratt, Riker and Mr. Murray.
3. Ordinance 41693, Adopting the Arkansas Mechanical Code, (First Reading 3-26-96, no vote taken;
postponed):
A gentleman from the State, Mr. Simmons,
explained the request for the City to adopt the code. Alderman Jeffrey made the motion to approve the first reading. Alderman Watson
seconded. The agenda was in error. The ordinance was passed on its first reading. Aldermen Jeffrey and Watson withdrew their motion and second,
respectively.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to place Ordinance #1693 on its
second reading
by title only.' Alderman Jeffrey seconded. Mr. Young read the ordinance by title only.
Alderman
Seratt made the motion to approve. Alderman Watson seconded The vote to approve was 6/0/0.
Alderman Watson made the motion to suspend the rules and
place Ordinance
#1693 on its third reading by title only. Alderman
Seratt seconded. The vote to approve was
6/0/0.
Mr. Young read the ordinance by title only.
Alderman
Seratt made the motion to approve. Alderman Watson seconded. Ordinance #1693 passed on its third reading, 6/0/0.
4. Ordinance #1694, amendments to the Parking Meter Ordinance (First reading 3-26-96, no vote taken; postponed:
Alderman
Earngey had made the motion to amend at the last meeting. The motion and second were withdrawn.
Alderman
Rubley said that lie still had reservations. His reservation is that everyone needs to have parking available. He said some don't park properly and some don't feed the meter. He said raising the fees isn't going to make more parking available. It will only generate a little more money. Alderman Watson said we need to
do it for right now. The Council can always change it later.
Alderman Jeffrey said that street parking is premium
parking and it is the cheapest parking in the city. He said that he thinks that it will make people consider parking in the lots if
the parking on the street is the same as
the parking lots.
Chief Stitz was asked it [lie tourists
feed the meters and pay their fines. She said that it is the local people that the department
has trouble with. They
don't feed the meters and they don't pay their tickets. The tourists, for the most
part, do as they should.
Alderman
Rubley made the motion to amend the ordinance as follows: that the text remain as is, and amend to
read between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. the maximum amount of time a person
be allowed to park is two hours. Alderman Riker seconded.
Alderman Seratt said that she agrees that the parking
meter raise is necessary.
She asked Chief Stitz to address the consensus by some people that the police don't enforce the
parking laws.
Chief Stitz said that they are down to two parking
controllers now, and every year the local people have to be retrained to park properly. The department enforces and the locals
accuse them of being too tough.
Alderman Jeffrey said that the ordinance includes changing the meters to
two hour parking.
EUREKA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, April 9,1996
The vote on the amendment was five votes no, and Alderman
Rubley voted yes,
1/5/0.
Chief Stitz said that she has ordered chalk sticks, and
a tire lock for multiple
offenders.
The vote on the first reading was
5/1/0, with Alderman Rubley voting no.
Alderman Watson made the motion to suspend the rules and
place the ordinance
on its second reading by title only. Alderman Seratt seconded. Mr. Young read the ordinance by
title only.
Alderman Jeffrey made the motion to
approve. Alderman
Seratt seconded. The
vote was 5/1/0, with Alderman Rubley casting the no vote. Ordinance #1694 passed on its second reading.
#6 Lease Agreement, 46 Van Buren: Alderman Rubley met with Joe McClung.
Mr.
McClung was to look at the minutes and make a decision how to proceed. Mr. Young said he would call
by Wednesday to see if something could
be done. Mr. Minor said that there legal
things the the City can have done. He said there is a recision of contract that the
City Could try. He said that they could bring some viable options by
the agenda-setting meeting. alderman
Jeffrey asked if the Fire Department had moved into the downstairs. Alderman Rubley said that he would speak to Mr. Jordan to be sure that nobody is in the building until this problem is
resolved.
Alderman
Rubley made the motion to recess for 5 minutes. Alderman
Riker seconded. The meeting was
recessed at 10:10 a.m. and reconvened at 10:17 a.m.
NEW
BUSINESS:
1. Ordinance #1697, amendments to the Zoning Ordinance,
vote on the Board
of Review:
The Council will set a date for a work session on this
ordinance on Tuesday,
April 16th.
2. Ordinance #1695, Waive the Competitive Bids on Avo St. Project:
The ordinance was read at the last meeting but not voted
on. The vote on the
first reading, was 6/0/0. Ordinance #1695 was passed on its first reading.
Alderman Earngey said he won't vote for the emergency
clause. Alderman
Rubley agreed
that he wouldn't either.
Alderman
Seratt made the motion to suspend the rules and place Ordinance #1695 on its second reading by title
only. Alderman
Watson seconded. Mr.
Young read the ordinance by title only.
Alderman Jeffrey made the motion to approve. Alderman Riker seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to further suspend the
rules and place Ordinance
#1695 on its third reading by title only. Alderman Watson seconded.
All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Mr. Young read the ordinance by title only.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to approve. Alderman
Watson seconded. All
were in favor, 6/0/0. Ordinance #1695 passed on its third reading. Alderman Jeffrey made the motion to read
the emergency clause. Alderman
Watson seconded. The vote was 4/2/0, with
Aldermen Earngey and Rubley voting
no.
Mr. Young read the emergency clause.
#3. Ordinance #1696, Waive the Competitive Bidding on Highway 23 Sewer Project:
Alderman Jeffrey made the motion to read Ordinance #1696. Alderman Seratt seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Mr. Young read the ordinance in its entirety.
Alderman Serrat made the motion to approve. Alderman Watson seconded. In discussion Alderman Earngey and Rubley said they did not see an emergency
EUREKA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, April 9,1996
Alderman Jeffrey said that the school-really does have an
emergency situation.
He said that
the automatic switch on the existing lift station is bad and somebody has to go out
several times a day to manually flip the switch.
The school does not want to go to the expense
of fixing the old one when they are
putting in a new one.
The vote on the first reading was 6/0/0.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to place Ordinance #1696
on its second reading by title
only. Alderman Watson seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Mr. Young read the ordinance by title only.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to approve. Alderman
Watson seconded. The
vote in favor was 6/0/0.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to place Ordinance #1696
on its third reading by title
only. Alderman Watson seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Alderman Rubley made the motion to strike emergency from
the title and remove
the emergency clause. Alderman Earngey seconded. The vote on the amendment was 2/4/0, and the amendment
failed. The
vote on the third reading was 6/0/0.
Alderman Jeffrey made the motion to read the emergency
clause.
Alderman Seratt
seconded. The vote was 4/2/0, with Aldermen
Rubley and Earngey voting no.
4. Planer Hill Sidewalk, Mr. Murray:
Mr.
Murray said the time involved to build the Planer Hill Sidewalk is four to six months besides the time involved in the
bidding process. The Council asked if the money was set aside for this
project. Alderman
Rubley said that the Council needs to adopt an ordinance
deciding what sidewalk
surfaces are acceptable in the City, so that it can be included in the bid package for the Planer Hill
Project. Mr.
Young looked up in the
budget how much money had been set aside for the Planer
Hill sidewalk, and
found that $282,000 had been budgeted. He found it on page 8 of the budget. Alderman Rubley asked if there were a way to get the
sidewalk done
in a shorter period of time. Mr. Murray said that the bid package could be written to include a 3 month time and a 4 to 6
month time.
Mr.
Murray said that the sidewalk ordinance should be taken care of so that the bid package will include the right
mix for the sidewalk.
5. Ordinance #1698,
Proposed Sidewalk Ordinance, Mr. Murray:
The Council discussed changing the description of the mix
and this was set
to be discussed at the agenda-setting meeting on April 16th.
6. Highway 62/Main St., to set a date for the workshop: The date will be set at the agenda-setting meeting on
April 16th.
7.
Proposed Ordinance for Water Fee turn off/on:
#1699 is the number for this ordinance. Alderman Earngey said that he
felt
that this ordinance needed some closer consideration, and he made the motion to postpone Ordinance #1699 to
the April 23 council meeting. Alderman
Rubley seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
8.
North Main
Street Sidewalk:
Right now the sidewalk is gravel, and it is walkable. The engineers say that the sidewalk does not need a
regular bed. The
minimum ADA width of a sidewalk is 3 ft. wide, but in, order that two
wheelchairs could pass each other, it
would take a 5 ft. wide sidewalk. The
Council said that is too wide. Mr. Murray suggested that there could be wider
places on the sidewalk where a bench
could be placed. He also said that
there were a few areas that would
need to be raised to be level with the curbs. He said that 4 feet is a better width for a sidewalk. He figured about $37,000 for a 3 ft.
sidewalk and about $12,000 more if the City decides to do a 4 ft. one. The State Highway has not had any interest
in helping with the
EUREKA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, April 9,1996
sidewalk. Alderman Rubley asked is there any chance that the State
will come along
later and ask to widen the highway, and tear up our new sidewalk. Mr. Murray said that there has been no interest in
it, however, if they did, the utilities
would be moved at our expense if they were in the
highway right-of-way. If utilities had to be moved out of the right-of-way, the State would pay for it. The mayor said that they have not mentioned widening the highway in that
area. Alderman
Earngey asked that this subject be put in a tickle file so that it can come up
and possibly be
budgeted for in 1997.
9. Cafe Santa Fe Parking Lot Lease:
Mr. Young reported that Lou, the new owner, does not want
to rent the parking lot space from the City. Several suggestions were made as to how the parking lot could be used.
The general consensus was that even though the Cafe
isn't going to lease the City's lot, people will still park there.
Alderman Rubley said that perhaps one of the departments
might park city vehicles
and/or equipment on it. Honesty parking --Honor Boxes---for perimeter parking.
Other ideas were bus parking, trolley parking, etc.
Alderman Jeffrey said that the Council
could turn it over to the Parking Authority.
There was-;quite a bit of discussion. Alderman Earngey asked to have it put on the agenda-setting meeting on
April 16th.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS:
1.
Police Department: Alderman Seratt requested a pay increase for Traffic Controller, Manny Ortiz from $5.50 per hour
to $6.25 per hour, effective date
April 9,1996. Alderman Earngey made
the motion as above. Alderman Rubley
seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0. Alderman Seratt requested that the Council approve
Cheryl Burgess as dispatcher, at $6.00 hourly, effective date April 9, 1996. Ms. Burgess worked for the State Police in Maryland. All were in favor, 6/0/0. Chief
Stitz said that a temporary seasonal Traffic Controller has been hired. His name is Darryl Bruce.
2.
Public Works:
Alderman Jeffrey said he recommended the approval of
Jacob Grunwald, a new
hire, at $6.20 per hour, effective date April 9, 1996, as a public works crew member. All
were in favor, 6/0/0. 3. Transit:
Alderman Watson said that Transit has
been implementing many of Mr. Graebner's
suggestions. The Transit workshop date will
be set at the April 16th meeting,
along with the other workshops.
Alderman
Watson recommended that David Maliska be given a promotion. He started out in 1993 as a traffic
controller, then he was made a mechanic's helper in 1994, then in 1995 he was made a mechanic with the understanding that if the position
became open, he would be promoted to the head mechanic. Mr. Maliska's rate of pay is now $6.30
and his raise in pay
would be to $7.25, with an effective date of April 9,1996. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Charles Fargo will be
taking the Special Olympics to Harrison.
Alderman
Watson presented a picture of the tram that Chance has worked up with the green color and the gold
trim. It
is a one trailer tram like the one that the Council rode on and the cost for one .is $141,000 if we buy two. They are made to look like our trolleys, and they have to be taken
somewhere
else to have them customized.
Alderman Watson said that the City needs to actively look
for grants to help
us with our alternative fuel program.
She also said that the Transit Department will need
another $10,000 in operating capital.
She thanked Lisa Liggett for her service and welcomed
Larry Woods to the Department. She
thanked Charles Fargo and his staff for a clean shop and well maintained
equipment.
EUREKA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, April 9,1996
Alderman Watson showed samples of the signs that will be
inside the trolleys
for advertising.
COMMISSIONS, COMMITTEE, AND AUTHORITY REPORTS: Cemetery Commission:
Mayor O'Harris had recommended that
Shirley Cantrell fill Position #4 on the
Cemetery Commission. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
It was suggested that the part of the
Zoning Ordinance that deals with the Board of Review should be written separately, so that the
Council can vote on
it. This will be
discussed at the April 16th agenda-setting meeting.
The Mayor also mentioned that the
Parking Authority had recommended someone to take the place of Dani Petty, but that person
has not gotten back
with the mayor at this time.
A
public hearing will be held Tuesday, April 16th, at 6:30 on the proposed solid
waste increase. The other public hearing will be on Tuesday, May 7th at 7 p.m.
on the yellow trash bags.
Mayor O'Harris then thanked Jim Walden for the wonderful
job he has done for
the City. Mr. Walden worked for two weeks giving Don Young some training. About March
7th, Mr. Walden took on the job of bringing the files up to date. According to Jack Muzio, this had not
been done for about twenty years. Jim would have rather have been retired than do
this, but he did a wonderful job.
Mr. Miner said that Mr. Young is working on a bid package
for health insurance
that would be available to all city employees, council members, and possibly even commissioners. He is looking into affordable insurance because so many of our city
employees can't afford to have insurance for themselves and their
families. Commissioners would have to pay
for it
but
it would be a group rate.
tie is also researching an incentive program for
employees to learn more about the job, and be given raises because of what they are learning to help in their jobs.
Alderman
Watson reminded everyone about Clean Sweep. If your trash is picked up on Tuesdays, Clean Sweep would pick up on
Saturday, April 13th. and if your trash is picked up on Wednesdays, Clean Sweep would pick up on Saturday, April 20th. Residents must sign up ahead of time for
Clean Sweep. The haulers
will pick up appliances, scrap metal, old lawn mowers, (no gas please), sofas, chairs, and bulky items. They will not pick up construction debris, toxic wastes, pressure or gas tanks, yard wastes, lead, car batteries or tires. Those can be dropped off at the fair grounds in Berryville, on May 4th.
Alderman Earngey made the announcement that the Tourism
Advisory Committee
meets April 10th, 1996. They will be working on two ordinances, one dealing with large vehicles and hours,
and the other will be motor coaches, and a franchise for operators who now have tour
franchises.
Alderman Seratt made the motion to adjourn. Alderman Watson seconded. All were in favor, 6/0/0. The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 a.m. APPROVED: