CITY OF EUREKA SPRINGS
COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
Mayor
Beau Satori called the November16, 2000 City Council meeting to order at
It
was held in the courtroom of the Western District Courthouse.
PRESENT: Mayor
Satori, and, Aldermen Schrader, Stoppel, Freeland, and Sumpter. Aldermen Taylor
and Jeffrey were absent. The quorum was
established.
ALSO PRESENT:,
Diane Murphy, Kirby Murray, Mary Jean
Sell, Bob Mc Vey, Kathy Harrison, Jene
Wilter, Don Matt, Kim Dickens, Sherry Wilson and Clerk Lee and several others
who did not sign in.
PLEDGE OF
ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Satori led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF
THE AGENDA:
Alderman
Schrader asked that an agenda item be added, “How traffic decisions are made
about specific problems”. It would be
item three under Unfinished Business.
Ms. Dickens
said item 3 of Unfinished Business would be as follows:
Under New Business, Item 4,
A request from the CAPC and the Festivals Director to close the parking lot
between City Hall and the Auditorium for the
Under New
Business, Transit fares, routes and operations will be postponed until a
workshop and special meeting are set.
The motion was made and seconded to approve the agenda as
amended. The voice vote was 4/0/0.
APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES:
The motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of
November 2, 2000
There were no
additions or corrections. The vote to
approve was 4/0/0.
COMMISSION,
COMMITTEE AND AUTHORITY REPORTS AND VACANCIES:
Mayor Satori
nominated Pat Milam for Position 5 on the Parks and Recreation Commission,
which expires
DEPARTMENT
HEAD COMMENTS:
Fire Chief
McVey announced that the Fire Department is doing the hydrant maintenance.
The hydrants
that have been painted are being checked, caps greased and the hydrants are
opened 50% and run for a short time. Those hydrants that have not been painted
need to be flowed full force.
They are
trying to avoid water hammer, which causes mud to show up in the homes.
If people have
a continuing problem with mud, Public Works will come out and flush their
lines. The hydrants have to be painted
this year. There is no money in next
year’s budget for hydrants. He explained
the color-coding. He said if a hydrant
is blue it put out 1500 gallons per minute, Green 1000 plus, Orange 500-1000,
Red puts out 500 or less. If a hydrant
is painted black, it will be used exclusively for evacuating the system and by
Public Works.
CITY
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT’S REPORT:
Ms. Dickens
asked the Council if they intend to have a Council Meeting on December 21. The council decided to go ahead and have a
meeting on
She asked
again for Aldermen to return their codebooks.
There are still three that haven’t been returned.
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS:
Consideration of Ordinance No. 1853,
amending Chapter 106, Traffic & Vehicles,
(Second reading):
The motion was made and seconded to suspend the rules and
place Ordinance No. 1853 on its second reading by title only. The roll call vote was 4/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the ordinance by title only.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor, 4/0/0.
Consideration of monies owed to the
City from the Transit Department:
Ms. Dickens
explained that over the last several years, the City has loaned the Transit
Department money. Obviously, they cannot
pay it back, because they will need help again in January. The City either must find a way for them to
pay it back, or forgive the debt and write it off. The amount of money is $54,459.18.
The motion was made by Alderman Freeland and seconded by
Alderman Stoppel to write off the debt.
It was pointed
out by Alderman Schrader that perhaps the Transit System has not been as
profitable as it seemed. A deficit has
never been mentioned. The point was made
that this is in actuality a mass-transit system, and does not make a profit.
The vote on
the motion was 4/0/0, in favor of forgiving the debt.
Discussion of Speed Bumps on
Alderman
Schrader said he thought it would be a good idea to have a Traffic Authority,
similar to the
Parking Authority which is inactive at this time. He said he is getting a lot
of calls about these subjects. He went
on to discuss the pros and cons of speed bumps on
The problem on
Alderman
Schrader then mentioned the berm that is supposedly on the City street that is not effective and is draining water into a
person’s yard and against the foundation of his house. Ms. Dickens said that the City has repaired
the berm as much as it can and the rest of the problem is on the person’s
property. He has been informed. He has agreed to meet with Mr. Murray and Ms.
Dickens on two separate occasions and he does not show up. The City has done what they could and it is
not true that nothing has been done in two years.
Mr. Schrader
said that the
Ms. Dickens
said that the parking lot for the Basin Park Hotel was closed down three
weekends ago. The lot was not
constructed properly and it will not be re-opened until it is done
correctly. Chief Hyatt has the responsibility
for traffic and safety. He did not see a
problem with the parking lot. The
problem has come up because the lot was not done right.
Alderman
Schrader said that the bottom line is that nobody really has authority. If an ordinance was written to form a
commission for traffic, they would have the proper authority.
Alderman
Freeland said he believes that the City needs a Planner whether it is part time
or not.
Ms. Dickens
said she would talk to Kirby about any sign problems that may still exist.
NEW BUSINESS:
Consideration of the 2001 Fares,
Routes, and Hours of Operation for Transit:
The Council
agreed to postpone this item until after the workshop. The workshop was set for
Consideration of amending Title
18, Business License. Section on
501 (c) 3:
Ms. Dickens
referred to Jene Wilter’s request that the City not charge a $50 annual fee for
the Doggie Shop. The Council discussed
it and the general consensus was that there were several shops that might fall
under the same category , and the city can’t forgive
the fee until further study .
Consideration of Ordinance No. 1855,
Real and Personal Property Tax Levy for 2001, which gives the Collector the
right to collect taxes:
Ms. Dickens
explained that this is a housekeeping issue.
This same kind of ordinance has to be passed every year to give the
The motion was made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1855
on its first reading in its entirety.
The vote was 4/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read Ordinance No. 1855.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor, 4/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to suspend the rules and
place Ordinance No. 1855 on its second reading by title only. The roll call vote was 4/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the ordinance by title only.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor, 4/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to further suspend the
rules and place Ordinance No. 1855 on its third and final reading by title
only. The roll call vote was 4/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the Ordinance by title only.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor, 4/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to read the emergency
clause. All were in favor, 4/0/0.
Ms. Dickens
read the emergency clause.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor, 4/0/0.
Request from the Festival Director and
the CAPC to close the Parking lot between the City Hall and the Auditorium for
the concert on December 1, 2000:
The motion was made and seconded to approve the parking lot
closing, pending approval,
in writing, by the
All were in
favor, 4/0/0.
Executive Session:
The motion was made and seconded to go into executive
session on a personnel matter.
All were in favor,
4/0/0.
The executive
session began at
The only
comments made was that the executive session was on a personnel matter, and
No action was taken.
COUNCIL
COMMENTS:
There was a
tentative discussion about having a Christmas Party at the
MAYOR’S
COMMENTS:
There were
none.
APPROVED:
______________________
Beau
Zar Satori, Mayor
ATTEST:
____________________________
Mary
Ann Lee, City Clerk-Treasurer