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ORDINANCE NO. ~ ~ y
AN ORDINANCE TO WAIVE COMPETITIVE BIDDING,
ESTABLISHING AN EMERGENCY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
WHEREAS, Arkansas Statute 19-~+~25 allows waiving of
competitive bidding in exceptional situations where such
procedure is deemed not feasible or practical, and
WHEREAS, there are many items necessary for the City's use
where competitive bidding is deemed not feasible or practical;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF WEST MEPlPHIS, ARKANSAS:
1. That competitive bidding be waived for the following
item to be used by the City, which is described as follows:
Two (2) Leco U.L.V. Cold Aerosol Units @ $4,200.00 ea. $8,400.00
2. ~nergency Clause. - It having been found and determined
by the City Council of the City of West Memphis, Arkansas that
there is an urgent need by the City of West Memphis for the item
described above, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, and
this Ordinance being necessary for the preservation of the public
peace, health, safety and welfare of the citizens of West Memphis,
Arkansas, shall be in full force and effect from and after the
date of its passage and approval. ~,p
PASSED AND APPROVED this clay of~~~/~ G/~ _,
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ATTEST : MAYOR ~~~~ ~Ff~
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CITY CLERK ~ ~~
/ VETO OVERRIDDEN BY ,i,
~p 8'~ CITY COUNCIL AT REG LA ~ ,~ ~ °"
i-~,~ MEETING 4-2-81 . ~ \\ `~ "
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'STATEMENT T0: West Mernphis City Council and City Clerk
DATE: March 19, 1981
SUBJECT: Mayor's Veto of Ordinance ~r-1056 (an ordinance to
waive bids to purchase 2 Leco Cold Aerosol Units,
with emergency clause.)
In accordance with the procedures established in Arkansas Statutes
19-1014, I am herein filing my written statement concerning my veto
of Ordinance ~~ 1056, which was adopted by the City Council of West
Memphis, on March 5, 1981, and am filing said statement with the
office of the City Clerk prior to the next regular meeting of the
City Council.
1. The other cities which use the Leco Cold Aerosol Units,
have a much smaller land area than West Memphis. I have
talked with the Mayor of Forrest City. This City charges
$1.00, per month, for six months of the year, on the water
bill. This fee has been charged since 1968 and he advised
me that they needed to increase this fee to $3.00, per month,
for the six month period, in order to continue the aerosol
spray in conjunction with the Mosquito Control Program.
He stated that if a west wind was blowing,. the spray was
gone within 12 hours. He also stated that the initial cost
of instituting the program was $17,000.00 in 1968. I-Ie said
he hoped that Forrest City could discontinue using these
units in 1982.
2. We have many drainage ditches which run through the City
and all these ditches are in the rear of the residences.
It would be impossible for vehicles to traverse the ease-
ments on the ditches in order to operate these sprayers.
These ditches are the areas where most of the mosruito
larva is located and therefore, these ditches are wl-~ere
the mosquitos hatch.
3. West Memphis has no alleys like most of our neighboring
cities. Since we do not have alleys, then the sprayers
could not reach the backyards of the homes.
4. The sprayers are to be mounted on a pick-up truck and will
travel the streets in West Memphis. Gle have vehicles that
are parked on our streets. What affect will these chem-
icals have on the finish of these vehicles? What about
flashers or warning lights for the slow moving spray
vehicles? If they are not equipped with these safety
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devices, would they not cause traffic accidents and be a
safety problem to the law enforcement agency? These are
only a few of the unanswered questions that i have con-
cerning these aerosol units.
5. The sprayers are to be operated by the personnel from
the Street Department. These individuals would be on the
streets all night with no supervision. The City would
need to hire a supervisor who is familiar ~.ith the types
of mosquitos. This person needs to be trained in t1~e
field of chemicals. By this I am saying, they Laould
need to know how to mix the chemicals in a manner which
would be the most economical and still do the best job
of killing the mosquitos. The City has, in the past,
tryed to use chemicals to control Lveeds and growths,
but have found that contracting an expert to do the job,
has proved to be the most economical in ttie long run.
Therefore, the City personnel would not be able to do the
best and most effective job.
6. It was suggested that the sprayers would operate two
nights per month, beginning at 6:C~0 P._. and covering
one-half the streets per night. Airst, the only vehicles
that could be used are in the Street Departrent. This is
the busiest time of the year for this department and these
vehicles would be operating 24 hours a day during certain
days of the month. Driving these trucks at this slow
rate of speed all night during the hot weather, could
cause them to overheat, thereby damaging the vehicles
severely. The Street Department State Turn-back Funds
have been cut substantially this year and any dai-nages
to these vehicles could not be borne by the Street Depart-
ment. Also, the servicing of the vehicles, alpng,wth__
the gas and oil used by the vehicles, would have to be
considered. Another point to be considered, no one
has checked to see if our liability insurance would cover
these vehicles at this slow speed. Again, I would like
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To stress that these vehicles could possibly cause a
traffic problem, since they would be driven in the
center of the streets.
The City has $15,000.00 budgeted for the Mosquito Control
Program. I feel that we can not purchase these aerosol
units, purchase the chemicals and complete this program
and stay within the budgeted $15,000.00. The use of the
briquettes in the pot holes and culverts is a very worth-
while idea and I would like to follow through with this
proposal. On March 10, 1981, I talked to Dr. Meisch, of
the University of Arkansas, who recommended that we go to
a safe and effective grandular application for the ditches.
He advised that if we had no flushing rain, then one appli-
cation, for the entire summer, would be adequate and con-
trol the larva. If the grandular application proves to be
too expensive, then I recommend that we drip diesel in the
ditches as we have done in the past. I would like to sug-
gest that the City of West Memphis contract for a maximum
of three aerial sprayings, to be on-call basis. They are to
begin with the first signs of mosquitos. Also, I would
like to suggest that we lease one or possibly two of the
aerosol sprayers and use them for the three months follow-
ing the aerial sprayings. This should give us an idea as to
which method is best for our City. The estimate on the
aerial sprayings should be approximately $3,500.00 per
spraying. This would leave $4,500.00 for leasing or borrowing
from the State Health Department, the two aerosol units
and also purchasing the needed chemicals.
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YCE T. FERGUSOV, YOR