CITY OF EUREKA SPRINGS
COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
The
It
was held in the courtroom of the Western District Courthouse.
PRESENT: Mayor
Satori, and Alderpersons Jeffrey, Schrader, Stoppel, Freeland,
ALSO
PRESENT: Ron Pedersen, Glenn and Carol
Strange, Robert Miller, Jane Girken, Joe Zickmund, Bill King, Bruce Crabtree,
Ed Leswig, Sue Ely, Don Alberson, Lavenya and Bill Schenck, Jim and Patsy Girkin, Bill Earngey,
Gail Larimer, David White, Cheryl Tucker, Kelly Simon, Don Matt, Kim Dickens,
Sherry Wilson and Clerk Lee. There were several more people who did not sign
in.
PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIANCE: Ms. Dickens led in the
Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF
THE AGENDA:
The motion was
made and seconded to approve the agenda.
Under Unfinished Business Item #3
was moved to item #1; Item # 2 was
resolved by staff; Item #5 was postponed
to July 6th and Item #7 was
postponed until July 6th.
Under New Business, Mayor Satori asked to add Item #6: Use of the City’s
Capital Reserves by CAPC to purchase Planer Hill Property.
The agenda was
approved as amended, 6/0/0.
APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES:
The motion was
made and seconded to approve the Minutes of
COMMISSION,
COMMITTEE AND AUTHORITY REPORTS AND VACANCIES:
Mayor Satori
had nominated Britt Evans to fill Position 4 on the City Advertising and
Promotion Commission, beginning date
The motion was
made and seconded to approve Mr. Evans.
The vote to approve was unanimous, 6/0/0.
DEPARTMENT
HEAD COMMENTS:
There were no
comments.
CITY
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT’S REPORT:
Ms. Dickens
reported that she had applied for a grant to re-survey and catalog the Historic
District, and the City has received $26,200 for that purpose. The City will receive a like amount next
year, also, for that purpose.
Ms. Dickens
said that Thorncrown Chapel has been listed on the Historic Register.
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS:
Discussion regarding petition to remove
a Planning Commissioner:
Alderman
Jeffrey asked Mayor Satori if he planned to remove the commissioner. The Mayor said no. Alderman Jeffrey said then there was no need
to discuss the situation. The City
Attorney suggested that the Planning Commissioners might benefit from training
to help them to discuss subjects and make decisions in an appropriate and legal
manner.
Alderwoman
Taylor asked if the inappropriate comments made by the commissioner could be
used against the City in a pending lawsuit.
Ms. Wilson said it would be difficult to second guess a judge or
jury. Comments were made by others at
the table.
Discussion regarding Ordinance No.
1840, Flood Loss Prevention, (third reading):
The motion was
made and seconded to place Ordinance No.1840 on its third and final reading by
title only. The roll call vote was
Ms. Dickens
read the ordinance by title only.
The motion was
made and seconded to approve. The vote
in favor was
Discussion regarding loading zones:
The motion was
made and seconded to set a workshop to discuss the loading zone problem. The date was set for
Gail Larimer
spoke of the great need for a loading zone close to her business and those
businesses near her. As it stands now,
unless you want to park in a red zone and risk a ticket, there is no place
close enough to carry heavy items in and out.
She asked the Council to do something now and then have the
workshop.
Mayor Satori
said that part of the street would have top priority.
Discussion regarding a standard intake
form for citizens requests:
Alderman
Schrader had introduced the idea of a form for citizen complaints and requests,
and to prove that the citizens had been contacted back about what had been
done.
Ms. Dickens
passed out a memo of the staff review of the proposed form. There were questions as to who would maintain
the forms, and would forms then be mandatory for every inquiry? Permitting
circumvention of documentation leads to the confusion that was the reason for
the documentation. Who will build the
database and be responsible for the collection and entry of all of this
information? How long will the forms
have to be kept? The City has a great
many forms that must be maintained, and has limited space to do so.
Alderman
Freeland said he thinks that the staff at City Hall does a fairly adequate job
at this and we should not encumber them or the citizens with more forms and
rules.
Ms. Dickens
said that the City already has a complaint form for people to fill out. She also said that a lot of the information
requested is on the City’s web site.
Discussion regarding the courtesy
shuttle for the 2000 season, (Schrader):
Ms. Dickens
presented a working draft of an invitation for bids for the courtesy shuttle to
the Mayor and the Council.
She explained
that it was a place to start and that it could be modified. A long discussion ensued.
Alderman
Schrader said that the service stated in the contract did not fit the idea of
what the downtown merchants wanted. Ms.
Dickens said again that it was a place to start.
Mayor Satori
said that the whole idea is to supplement the transit system so that people
would be encouraged to leave their cars at the motels and use City
transportation.
The subject of
bidding came up and Ms. Liggett, Director of Transit, reminded the Council that
if the project goes out for bids, a route must be established so that people
know how to bid. The
fact that a taxi service does not have a fixed route, added to the dilemma.
In the
discussion pertaining to other bidders, the City Attorney said our City Code
does not limit the City to having one taxi service. She also reminded the Council that the word
“shuttle” does call for a fixed route, and not a point to point service, which
is good because it is more general. With
the amount of money involved, it has to be put out for bid.
After more
discussion, Alderman Jeffrey said to put it on the agenda for the July 6th
meeting, and be prepared to discuss waiving the bidding and getting on with it
because the year will soon be half over.
Becky Taylor
left at
The motion was
made and seconded to recess. All were in
favor, 5/0/0. The meeting was recessed
at
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion regarding setting a date for
a workshop with
the Historic District Commission:
After some
discussion the Council decided to wait to set a date for the workshop until
after the commission had met.
Discussion regarding Ordinance No.
1842, waive bidding on financial software, (first reading):
The motion was
made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1842 on its first reading in its
entirety. All were in favor, 5/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the ordinance in its entirety.
The motion was
made and seconded to approve. The vote
was
Discussion regarding Ordinance No.
1843, Artists in the Park:
The motion was
made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1843 on its first reading in its
entirety. All were in favor, 5/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the ordinance in its entirety.
The motion was
made and seconded to approve.
Alderman
Schrader said some of the verbiage was ambiguous. There was some discussion. The vote on the first reading was
Discussion regarding setting a date for
a workshop, July Budget Revisions:
The Council
set the workshop date for the July Budget Revisions. The date is
Ms. Dickens
reported that the pay raises of 4% will go into effect
Permission for a Banner,” Fourth of
July at
The motion was
made and seconded to approve the banner.
The vote was 5/0/0.
Use of Capital Reserves of CAPC to buy
the Planer Hill Property:
Mayor Satori
presented his idea to purchase Sandy Bass’ Planer Hill Parking Lot property
with CAPC capital reserves. The Mayor said that the owner is asking $380,000
for the property. The CAPC could pull
out $250,000 from its reserves. The City
could come up with the other $140,000 from its Capital Reserves, which would be
paid back by the CAPC by the end of the year 2000 or possibly the beginning of
next year. The Mayor said that using
this money would in no way impact the expenditures that have to be made. He said that revenues of the CAPC are up 17%
and the expenditures are down 24% for the year 2000. Mayor Satori said that immediately, then, the
City could buy one of the pay stations and get that lot going.
Mayor Satori
said there are many reasons for buying that property. The City owns the property on the corner
above it, and it would tie together very well.
The State Highway Department has just spent a huge amount of money on
the highway on the hill. The Planer Hill
sidewalk will improve the property there even more. The City should own that piece of
property. He said he was asking the
Council to commit to being willing to loan the CAPC the $140,000 should they go
forward with the purchase. He said the
City has talked about it for twenty years and this would be a good time to act.
There was a
long discussion.
Alderman
Jeffrey made the motion that the City should indicate to the CAPC that we would
be willing to loan them $140,000 from General Fund Capital Reserves.
Alderman
Sumpter seconded.
Kelly Slimon
said he would like to see the City own the property,
however, here is another case of a proposal without a plan to put into
motion. He said a study should be done
as to what is really under there. Money
is going to have to be spent on the CAPC offices and no one knows what that is
going to cost..
Alderman
Schrader said this is another example of the lack of long term capital
planning.
The vote on
Alderman Jeffrey’s motion was
COUNCIL
COMMENTS:
Alderman
Stoppel said since the City is building a brand new
Alderman
Jeffrey said he know that a lot of people left the meeting tonight dissatisfied
because they didn’t get a chance to vent about removing a planning
commissioner. He said he would hope that
they would take into consideration the fact that if there was not going to be a
vote on the subject, there was no point in a divisive and hurtful discussion.
MAYOR’S
COMMENTS:
Mayor Satori
thanked the members of the council for being there for another long and
laborious meeting. He appreciated their
time.
The motion was
made and seconded to adjourn. All were
in favor, 5/0/0. The meeting was
adjourned at
APPROVED:
______________________
Beau
Zar Satori, Mayor
ATTEST:
____________________________
Mary
Ann Lee, City Clerk-Treasurer