CITY OF EUREKA SPRINGS
COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
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Mayor Beau Z. Satori
called the meeting to order at
PRESENT:
Mayor Satori, David
Stoppel, Bryan Sumpter, Kelly Simon, Kathy Harrison, James DeVito, and Jack
Dozier.
ALSO PRESENT:
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Mayor Satori led in
the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
APPROVAL OF THE
AGENDA:
The motion was made and seconded to approve the agenda. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
APPROVAL OF THE
MINUTES:
City Council Meeting
on January 4th, 2001:
The motion was made and seconded to approve the January 4th,
2001,Council Meeting Minutes.
Under Unfinished
Business, the third paragraph: Alderman
Stoppel made the motion and Alderman Sumpter seconded.
Under CAPC
appointments, Alderman Simon abstained from voting when he was nominated, and
not Alderman DeVito.
The vote to approve
as amended, 6/0/0.
Special City Council
Meeting on January 9th, 2001:
The motion was made and seconded to approve the January 9th,
2001, Special Council Meeting Minutes.
The correction was
that the meeting adjourned at 10 a.m.
The voted on the
amended minutes was 6/0/0.
Special City Council
Meeting on January 16th, 2001
The motion was made and seconded to approve the January 16th,
2001, Special Meeting Minutes.
Alderman Sumpter said his name was misspelled everywhere it was used.
The vote on the
amended minutes was 6/0/0.
Due to the absence of
the City Clerk, the Minutes from the December 7th, and December 21st,
2000 Council meetings were not ready. They will be ready for the February 5th,
2001 meeting.
THE STATE OF THE CITY
ADDRESS: A copy of the State of the City
Address will be included at the end of these minutes.
COMMISSION,
COMMITTEE: AND AUTHORITY REPORTS AND VACANCIES:
Planning Commission,
Position 2, expiration date, January 1, 2002: The Mayor had nominated William
Mayo.
The motion was made and seconded to approve William Mayo. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
Planning Commission,
Position 5, expiration date, January 1, 2004: Mayor Satori had nominated Rod
McGuire. The motion was made and seconded to approve Rod McGuire. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Mayor Satori then
nominated Raymond Dilfield for Position No. 4 on the Historic District
Commission and Karen Brawley for Position No. 5 on the Parks Commission.
Alderman Simon
brought up the subject of reactivating the Parking Authority.
The Mayor said
parking is the third highest source of revenue in the City.
Ms. Dickens said that
several citizens have suggested that the Tourism Advisory Committee could
possibly do work with the parking problem and some of the other problems. Alderman DeVito said that the Tourism
Advisory Committee had been very effective in working out the problems they had
been given to work on. He said it
enlists the aid of private citizens who may have some new ideas.
Mayor Satori said the
Planning Commission had been working and bringing ideas to the Parking
Authority.
Alderman Harrison
said she had conversations with a flow-engineer, when she was in Little Rock,
and she said he would come and do a study at no cost to the City.
Alderman Sumpter
suggested that the subject be put on the agenda for the next meeting. Perhaps the City could contact the Parking
Authority and the Planning Commission and plan a workshop to exchange ideas.
DEPARTMENT HEAD
COMMENTS:
Lisa Liggett,
Director of Transit, reported that the City would be getting a new trolley to
replace Trolley No. 6, which was retired by the State in 2000. The new trolley will cost $259,137. The City will have to come up with $51, 827.
Bids will be going
out on Trolley No. 1 this week. The
deadline for bids is February 12th, 2001.
Trolley maps should
be in by March 1st, 2001.
Fire Chief Robert
McVey introduced Gary Smith to the Council.
He has been a volunteer firefighter for 2 years and is an EMT. He has chosen to go to Paramedic School on
his own. He is replacing one of the
employees who left the City’s employ to pursue a different career. Chief McVey said the when the men train to be
paramedics, they do it on their own and with a lot of commuting, which shows
the amount of dedication it takes.
CITY ADMINISTRATIVE
ASSISTANT’S REPORT:
Ms. Dickens announced
that the bids for the Police Department Building were opened on January 9th,2001. Patriot of Bentonville is the company who
received the bid on the Their bid came in at $396,515. which is a very good
bid.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
There was none.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion regarding Water District Fluoridation:
Judy Echenrode and
her husband attended the meeting. Ms.
Echenrode had lived in this area for eight years and worked for Dr. John
Spurlin, a dentist in Berryville. She
said the difference in the dental decay rate between towns with fluoridated
water, and non-fluoridated water was like night and day. One hundred and forty five million people are
drinking fluoridated water in our country today. Children benefit 50% and adults benefit 30%
in lower dental problems. Fluoridation is
one part per million gallons of water.
Consumer reports support the scientific proof that fluoridation is not
detrimental to our health. Fluoridation
costs 20 to 50 cents per person annually.
She answered an
alderman who asked if any filter system would filter out the fluoridation for
those who didn’t want it. She said it
was easy to filter out.
She said that the
rest of the cities in Carroll County agreed to have the Carroll-Boone Water
District fluoridate the water.
Alderman DeVito said
he was majored in chemical engineering.
He said he didn’t believe that we should hold the other cities in the
county hostage for a minority that didn’t believe in fluoridation.
Alderman Stoppel said
about ten years ago the citizens voted against having fluoridated water.
Alderman Sumpter
asked that the City Attorney prepare a resolution and Ms. Dickens include it
for the February 5th, 2001 agenda.
Discussion regarding Ordinance No. 1859, the 2001 Budget,
(All readings):
The motion was made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1859
on its first reading in its entirety. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
ordinance in its entirety.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to suspend the rules and
place Ordinance No. 1859 in its second reading by title only. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
ordinance by title only.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to further suspend the
rules and place Ordinance No. 1859 on its third and final reading by title
only. All
were in favor, 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
ordinance by title only.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to read the emergency
clause. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
emergency clause.
Discussion regarding City Council Members appointing to
Commissions:
Alderman Sumpter made the motion to ask the City Attorney to write an ordinance or resolution to allow the Council members to nominate commissioners and Alderman Simon seconded.
Alderman Simon said the main reason he agrees with the idea because it would help to have full commissions.
Mayor Satori said all
nominees can be forwarded to his office.
He then contacts them and if they want to serve, he nominates them
before the Council.
Alderman Dozier said
he thought that each commissioner go through an application process. He also said he thought the Council should be
able to remove commissioners.
City Attorney said
she had not seen any precedent that would allow commissioners to nominate
people for their own commissions. The
commissioners serve at the pleasure of the Council. She did not have much information about the
Council doing nominations.
Alderman Harrison
said the rules are there because they are needed and she was opposed to it.
Alderman Simon said
he would vote against this now, as long as the commission seats are filled, but
if a problem arises in keeping them filled, he will bring it up again.
The vote was
3/3/0. Stoppel, Dozier, and Sumpter
voted yes. Simon, DeVito, and Harrison
voted no. The motion failed.
The motion was made and seconded to go into Executive
Session for a personnel matter. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
The Executive Session began at 8:40 p.m. and
ended at 8:55 p.m. The session was to
present the credentials of Phillip Senn, as a prospective Building Inspector.
The motion was made and seconded to approve the hiring of
Phillip Senn for the position of Building Inspector. All
were in favor, 6/0/0. Mr. Senn was to
begin on February 1, 2001.
COUNCIL COMMENTS:
Alderman DeVito said
he and Jeff Russell, Director of the Eureka Springs Visitor’s Center, would be
going to Little Rock to meet with Senior Senator John
Fitch to craft legislation that would add attractions to the taxing system of the CAPC.
Alderman Harrison had
received several calls about ice standing on Armstrong.
Also there were calls
about the three ordinances that haven’t been finished. The CUP part of the zoning ordinance, the
tree ordinance, and the landscaping ordinance.
She said everyone feels these are in limbo and need to be dealt with.
Ms. Dickens said they
are with attorneys, and as soon as they are finished, they will go back to the
Planning Commission.
Alderman Harrison
also asked the status of the prosecutions that were to be filed against people
who had not repaired leaky sewer lines, and illegal parking lot, and illegal
parking on City property.
The City Attorney
said that final warning letters are going out.
If they are ignored, charges will be filed.
Alderman Dozier was
concerned about the problems with the Pathway of Love. He asked what the City
would have to do to get the rest of the bricks set, and get the whole thing
settled. Ms. Wilson said there is an
injunction right now, and nobody can do anything. There are three things that can be done. The judge can make the injunction permanent,
modify it, or dismiss it. Nothing can be
done until it is settled. He said that
if the rest of the bricks could be laid, and they not be torn out, the whole
thing could be settled in five minutes.
Ms. Wilson said she
would be meeting with Susan Lourne, Parks Director, in the next few weeks, now
that the Lake Leatherwood project seems to getting off the ground. There is also a lawsuit from a former
employee that needs to be taken care of.
Alderman Harrison said she had heard from some of the shop owners downtown about the dust from the gravel. Alderman Stoppel said pray for rain. It would cut down on the dust. The Public Works Department is trying to recycle as much of the gravel as possible.
The motion was made and seconded to adjourn. All were in
favor, 6/0/0. The meeting was adjourned
at 9:10 p.m.
This is the signature
sheet for the January 22nd, 2001 City Council Minutes.
APPROVED:
Mayor Beau Z. Satori
ATTEST:
Mary Ann Lee, City
Clerk-Treasurer