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,
ALSO PRESENT:
Diane O’Connor Weems, James DeVito, Kent Crow, Ed Leswig, Kay Green, Frankie
Green, Madge Terrill, Mary Jean Sell, Kelly Simon, Earl Hyatt, Kim Dickens,
Sherry Wilson, Don Matt, and Clerk Lee.
PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Satori led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF
THE AGENDA:
The motion was
made and seconded to approve the agenda.
All were in favor, 5/0/0.
APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES:
The motion was
made and seconded to approve the minutes of the
COMMISSION,
COMMITTEE, AND AUTHORITY REPORTS AND VACANCIES:
The Hospital
Commission is faced with some difficult decisions. They have asked that two more members be
added to the commission, so that the total will be seven. They have asked that specific people be
added. Flo Fitzsimmons has served on the
commission and so has William Nystrom.
Sherry Wilson,
the City Attorney, said that the Council can approve this action according to
State statute and the Municipal Code. An
ordinance is not required for this commission to add members.
The motion was
made and seconded to approve the new members immediately to help the
commission. The vote was
DEPARTMENT
HEAD COMMENTS:
Alderwoman
Taylor said a sign needed to be posted at the beginning of
CITY
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT’S REPORT:
Ms.
Dickens reported that the Advertisement
for Bids has gone out on the Wastewater Project. It was put in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette,
with an October 9th deadline.
She said that
the Mayor and all Departments had met with the State Auditor, Mark Marley, and
the State has written no comments against us for the year 1999. That is the first time ever. She thanked Diane Murphy, the Finance Director
for the City, for her hard work to make this happen.
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS:
There was
none.
NEW BUSINESS:
Consideration of property purchase
proposal of
Attorney Kent
Crow presented a proposal to the City Council from Mr. Green. Mr. Green would agree to whatever easements
the City asked, if the City would vacate the property to Mr. Green. He owns the property on both sides of
The city
attorney has spoken to Attorney William Douglass, who represents Ms. Quinn and
to Attorney Kent Crow. It appears that
Ms. Quinn does not own property that can be affected by this proposal. Her property is not adjacent to the area in
question. The property was taken out of
green space before so that the Parks Commission is not involved.
Ms. Quinn said
she didn’t want the fence to have the gate Mr. Green had planned because it
could invite people to go through to her property. That raised the question as to whether the
City should require a pedestrian easement.
The motion was
made and seconded to request that an ordinance be written vacating the property
to Mr. Green with all of the necessary easements included.
Alderman
Jeffrey said that historically, the City has charged $200 per property to do a
vacation.
Alderman
Sumpter amended his motion to say “appropriate easements”, and it was
seconded. Alderman Stoppel left the
table. The vote on the amendment was
4/0/0.
Alderman
Stoppel returned to the table. The vote
on the motion was 5/0/0.
Consideration of Ordinance No. 1848,
amending Chapter 86, signs/banner policy:
The motion was
made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1848 on its first reading in its
entirety. All were in favor, 5/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the entire ordinance.
The motion was
made and seconded to approve. All were
in favor, 5/0/0.
Consideration of Ordinance No. 1844,
water rate increase:
The motion was
made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1844 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.
Ms. Dickens
said it has been eleven years since a water rate increase. Alderman Jeffrey asked if the City was going
to do anything to make up for the eleven years that the rates had been raised. Ms. Dickens said that it wasn’t really
necessary. She said that the rate
increase would be annual, and that it would take care of the raises in
operating and maintenance costs.
Alderman
Jeffrey pointed out a problem with the way the third paragraph in the ordinance
was written. He made a motion to change
the paragraph to the suggestions that had been noted by the City Attorney, and
the motion was seconded. The vote on the
amendment was 5/0/0.
The vote on
the first reading of Ordinance No. 1844 was 5/0/0.
Consideration of Ordinance No. 1845, an
ordinance amending sections 106-191, 106-195, 106-221, 106,301, 106-321,
106-342, 106-361, pertaining to parking, (First reading):
The motion was
made and seconded to postpone until the October 5th, 2000, meeting.
The general
consensus was to have another workshop with maps showing the changes.
The Council
set a workshop date on September 26, 2000, at 2 p.m.
The vote to
postpone was 5/0/0.
Consideration of options for the Eureka
Springs Hospital:
Ms. Dickens suggested
that this subject be moved ahead of the reading of the zoning ordinance, since
several people were present to address the issue.
Mayor Satori
said the options seem to be boiling down to two, even though three were
mentioned in the newspaper. They were
options that Washington Regional recommended.
One option is to close the hospital.
One is to create an emergency center.
The third is to build a 12 bed facility.
The estimated cost to build was 3.5 million dollars.
Alderman
Jeffrey said the City should have a professional study done independent of
anyone else.
Ms. Dickens
asked if it would be too far out to think of putting a yes/no question on the
November ballot about whether the county would support the hospital. Alderman Jeffrey said he thinks the Western
District would have to form a Hospital District which would take legislation by
the state. It would be like the Western
Ambulance District.
Alderman
Schrader said the reason the hospital administrator quit was because Washington
Regional took over the old clinic building.
The administrator had kept the hospital books in the black, but he said
with that old building on the hospital’s books, he would be in the red
constantly.
James DeVito
supported an independent study and said this is a much larger picture than just
here in Eureka Springs.
Diane O’Connor
Weems has worked at the hospital, but is not currently working there. She has lived here all of her life and she
stressed the importance of doing everything possible to keep our hospital.
Alderman
Schrader asked to have the hospital commission look into setting up a hospital
district.
Sherry Wilson
stated that the State Statutes make it unlawful for a City Attorney to work
with/for the Hospital Commission.
The motion was
made and seconded to take a 10 minute recess.
All were in favor, 5/0/0.
The meeting
recessed at 8:35 p.m. The meeting
reconvened at 8:50 p.m.
Consideration of Ordinance No. 1816, an
ordinance amending in its entirety Ordinance No. 1075, Zoning, (First reading):
The motion was
made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1816 on it first reading in its
entirety. All were in favor, 5/0/0. The ordinance was very long, so each person
at the table took turns reading a few pages.
Typos, deletions, and punctuation was changed as the pages were read.
The motion was
made to approve. There was no second.
The motion was
made and seconded to postpone to the
September 21st, 2000 Council meeting. The vote was 5/0/0.
Consideration of Council approval to
blast at Grand Avenue:
It was explained
that the person doing the blasting is a professional, who has done blasting for
the City other times when needed. The
easements are in place. Blasting is much
less intrusive than jack hammers.
The motion was
made and seconded to approve. The vote
was 3/0/2, with Alderpersons Taylor and Schrader abstaining. Mayor Satori voted yes, so the vote was then
4/0/2.
Consideration of permitting alcohol in
the Auditorium, October 26, 2000:
The attraction
on October 26, 2000 is the Willy Nelson Concert. The motion was made and
seconded to approve the sale of alcohol in the Auditorium for the concert. All were in favor, 5/0/0.
Consideration of permitting use of
parking lot between City Hall and the Auditorium, on October 26, 2000:
The request
was made because Mr. Nelson needs room to park the vehicles in his
entourage. All were in favor, 5/0/0.
COUNCIL
COMMENTS:
Alderman
Schrader said that Alderman Freeland wanted to put the discussion of unsightly
conditions around town on the next agenda.
Ms. Dickens
said that when a person becomes aware of an unsightly place, they should call
her office at City Hall.
Sherry Wilson
said that if there were any questions on the zoning ordinance, the Council
should get them to her in writing so that she can go over them with Mickey
Harrington, the land use attorney who helped write the ordinance.
MAYOR’S
COMMENTS:
Mayor Satori
reminded all prospective candidates to file their paperwork in Shirley Doss’
office by noon on September 8, 2000, which is a Friday.
The motion was made and seconded to adjourn. All were in favor, 5/0/0. The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 p.m.
APPROVED:
______________________
Beau
Zar Satori, Mayor
ATTEST:
____________________________
Mary
Ann Lee, City Clerk-Treasurer