CITY OF EUREKA SPRINGS
COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mayor Beau Z. Satori
called the
PRESENT:
Mayor Satori, David
Stoppel, Bryan Sumpter, Kelly Simon, Kathy Harrison, James DeVito, and Jack
Dozier.
ALSO PRESENT: Diane
Murphy, Mary Jean Sell, Linda Hager, Lisa Liggett, Susan Lourne, Bruce Levine,
David White, Terry Cook, Sherry Wilson, Kim Dickens, Don Matt, Rhonda Tanton,
and Clerk Lee. Others were present who
did not sign in.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Mayor Satori led in
the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
APPROVAL OF THE
AGENDA:
Item 5, under New
Business, was made Item 2. The motion was made and seconded approve the
agenda as amended. All were in
favor, 6/0/0.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:
The motion was made
and seconded to postpone the minutes until the
COMMISSION,
COMMITTEE: AND AUTHORITY REPORTS AND VACANCIES:
Mayor Satori had
nominated Linda Hager, Position 4, Expires
The motion was made and seconded to approve Linda Hager
for Position 4 on the CAPC. The vote was
Mayor Satori nominated Karie Drayer for Position 1 on the
CAPC, which will expire
DEPARTMENT HEAD
COMMENTS:
There were none.
CITY ADMINISTRATIVE
ASSISTANT’S REPORT:
Ms. Dickens announced
that the Arbor Day Celebration would be held on
Ms. Dickens said that
the rumors have been flying about the City’s Employee Insurance. She said that none of them are true. She and Ms. Murphy will be going to
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Discussion regarding Ordinance No. 1861, an ordinance
amending one way streets,(
The motion was made and seconded to suspend the rules and
place Ordinance No. 1861 on its third reading by title only. The roll call vote
was 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
ordinance by title only.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. The
vote was 3/3, with Alderman Sumpter, Simon and Dozier voting no. Mayor Satori voted yes, so the final vote was
Discussion regarding Mayor’s veto of the vote on the make-up of the CAPC:
Mayor Satori gave out
a written statement about why he vetoed the Council’s vote. He went on to say again why he felt that the
Mayor should be on the CAPC commission.
After a long discussion, the
motion was made and seconded to over-ride the Mayor’s veto. The vote was
Discussion regarding Ordinance No. 1866, an ordinance financing a lease purchase for a telesquirt fire truck, (First Reading):
The motion was made and seconded to place Ordinance No. 1866
on its first reading in its entirety. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
entire ordinance.
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. 1866 on its second reading by title only. By
roll call, the vote was 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. 1866 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, 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.
The motion was made and seconded to aprove the emergency clause. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Discussion of Resolution No. 482, a resolution of intent
regarding the
The motion was made and seconded to read Resolution No.
482. All
were in favor, 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read
Resolution No. 482.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. The
vote was 6/0/0.
The project was voted
on by the people to go ahead with the project.
This is the last of the steps.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion regarding transportation assistance for the
Ms. Dickens said that
as everyone knows, the Convention Center at the
Ms. Dickens read a letter from Jim Gilbert at the State
Highway Department to Randy Wolfinbarger saying that there is no State law that
would preclude the Transit System from carrying people to other destinations in
town because the convention location has had to be moved. Under these special circumstances the
trolleys could run under temporary reasonable guidelines and routes.
Several concerns were
voiced, such as what exactly would the City be providing, and how would this
impact businesses which make their living transporting people?
Alderman Simon said
he would like to see some numbers, and a plan of action.
Terry Cook from the
Chamber of Commerce represented Mr. Wolfinbarger. He said that the Eureka Inn had already lost
80 rooms because of this problem. He
said that this is a tragedy, not only for the
The motion was made and seconded to approve this request, pursuant to approval of the Transit Director, the City Administrative Assistant and the Mayor, and that we waive thirty days, and make sure that if there are groups within the next thirty days they are taken care of and we don’t lose them.
Alderman Sumpter said
he would like to know more about what the City would be providing.
Mayor Satori said
that this is a complicated situation.
The City cannot provide private service with City equipment.
Ms. Liggett, from
Transit, said she would need to talk with Mr. Wolfinbarger to find out how many
people would be involved. She said there
would be no problem legally, as long as the trolleys ran during regular working
hours.
Alderman Stoppel said
he didn’t make this motion to just help the
Alderman Harrison
said the Preservation Society has designated a satellite parking lot and
everyone meets their ride from that lot.
It seems to work well and alleviate a lot of the confusion that might
otherwise arise. She said they moved
seven hundred people last year and it really worked. She said people talked and hung out while
they were waiting and nobody seemed to get upset.
The vote on the
motion was 6/0/0.
Discussion of request for funds from the Lane House,
(Mary Jo Rose):
Ms. Rose had handouts
for the Council covering statistics regarding the programs at Lane House. The
request was for $10,000. There was some
discussion about if or where the money could be found.
The motion was made and seconded to put this on the agenda
for the first meeting in June, which is
Discussion regarding allocation of Parks Commission Funds from the City:
Ms. Dickens reported that some time ago, Mayor Satori asked that both Transit and Parks be put into the City’s accounting system. Transit is almost there. She and Ms. Murphy are looking for a policy with which to allocate funds to the Parks Commission, once it is set up in the City’s accounting system. Ms. Murphy has completed the chart of accounts for the Parks Commission. Now there needs to be a policy set up whether it should be monthly, weekly, or whatever.
The motion was made and seconded that since the money was coming out of the capital improvement funds, the money be allocated on an invoice by invoice basis.
Mayor Satori said that
since there will be a lot of activity while the dam is being repaired, the
Parks Commission might want to do a lot of repair to buildings, etc.
He said it would be the
ideal time, since there might not be many visitors for a while.
Director Lourne said she
didn’t understand where anyone got the idea that the Commission was not accountable
to the City for the money that was spent.
They turn in their expenses and everything is accounted for right down
to the last penny.
Her only concern was lag
time from the time the invoice was turned in to the time the check would be
issued. There are two major grant
projects that they hope will come in within the next thirty days, and the funds
are substantial amounts that will be coming in.
One project is
The outlay would be
anywhere from $140,000 to $170,000. The
commission has to pay their contractors before the grant money comes in.
Ms. Dickens said the lag
time would be the same as it is for the bills, which is about two weeks.
Ms. Lourne said that the
Parks Commission had turned in a list of about ten projects. The projects were established when they
turned in their budget. Will the Council
expect to decide where the money goes? The
Council said they did not stipulate. Ms.
Lourne said the Community Center will be finished in 30 to 45 days. Very often projects run into unexpected
problems that intervene. It is hard to
predict what could become a problem.
Ms. Lourne said that
the Commission had voted to have their money handled in house this year. She said it was against the law for the City
to co-mingle funds.
It was explained that
each segregated fund has its own account number. None of the City’s funds are co-mingled.
Alderman Dozier said
it does not make sense to pay two entities to do the same job.
The vote on the
motion to allocate Parks Commission funds on an invoice by invoice basis was
6/0/0.
The motion was made and seconded to take a ten minute
break. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
The meeting recessed at
Discussion regarding Ordinance No. 1867, an ordinance re-zoning the Elks Culb property from A to C-2:
Ms. Dickens read the ordinance in its entirety.
The motion was made and seconded to approve.
It was established
that the Planning Commission had approved this change, since it only affects
the back end of the property. The front
part is already zoned C-2.
All were in favor,
6/0/0.
Discussion regarding Resolution No. 483, second amendment to the lease agreement for the hospital:
The motion was made and seconded to read Resolution No. 483. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens read the
resolution in its entirety.
The motion was made and seconded to approve. All
were in favor, 6/0/0.
Ms. Dickens said that
everything will remain in place until
Discussion regarding the re-activation of the Parking Authority/Tourism Advisory, (Sumpter/Simon);
There was some discussion about re-activating either entitity. Mayor Satori said that in 1999 the Parking Authority said we really did not need any more parking.
Alderman
No action was taken.
Discussion regarding Ordinance No. 1862, amending Title 6, Alcoholic Beverages, (First Reading):
The motion was made and seconded to postpone the ordinance
until the
Disposal of obsolete audited records for the year 1995:
The motion was made and seconded to approve the disposal of
the records for 1995. All were in favor, 6/0/0.
Discussion regarding Mayor’s cellular telephone bills, (Dozier/Sumpter):
The Council had researched telephone bills for all departments. Some of them did not realize how many cell phones the City had. The subject was discussed at length. The Mayor said he knows he needs to cut back and he will make an effort to do so. He said he wants to see this list and has asked for this list.
Kathie Alway goes
through the cell phone charges, and if any are unusual, she takes them to Ms.
Dickens who then requires a check for any personal calls from any person who
has made them.
The motion was made and seconded to make it a policy that
the Mayor receive a list of his cell phone calls for reconciliation. All were in favor,
6/0/0.
There was discussion
about getting a group plan for all of the 21 cell phones that the City
has. The City should look at plans. It
was mentioned that the Mayor has already changed his plan once.
COUNCIL COMMENTS:
Alderman Stoppel said he
would like to see Peerless St. put on the next agenda, and also the Parks
Commissions Capital Expenditures. He
said that Kirby Murray should be present
at the March 19th, 2001 Council Meeting.
Alderman Dozier said the
City Council should be looking for ways to work around shortfalls in the middle
of the year. He feels the City is going
to feel a major economic impact loss this year, and we need to be ready.
Alderman Harrison thanked
the people for attending a meeting she attended.
She was surprised at how
many people wanted the City to bury the power lines, even fi they know it will
cost them. She said the meeting was
really productive.
MAYOR’S COMMENTS:
Mayor Satori voiced his
disappointment and his concern at the way the Council had treated Linda
Hager. He felt the Council was really
unfair. He said he finally talked her
into getting involved, and she was turned down in that manner.
Mayor Satori read the
Arbor Day Proclamation. Arbor Day is
March 19th, 2001. There will
be a celebration in Basin Park at 10 a.m. on that day.
Alderman DeVito left the
table.
The motion was made and seconded to adjourn. All were in
favor, 6/0/0, and the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.
This is the signature
sheet for the minutes of March 5th, 2001.
APPROVED:
____________________________
Mayor Beau Z. Satori
ATTEST:
_______________________________
Mary Ann Lee, City
Clerk-Treasurer