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10/05/2017 MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL October 5, 2017 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 205 S. Redding, West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Reverend David Dobbs of the 15' Presbyterian Church. City Clerk Phillip Para called the roll. Those present were: Mayor William H. Johnson, City Attorney David Peeples, City Clerk Phillip Para, City Treasurer Frank Martin and Councilmembers. Ramona Taylor, Helen Harris, Marco McClendon, Willis Mondy, James Holt, Wayne Croom, Lorraine Robinson, Tracy Catt, and James Pulliaum. Absent: Councilmember Melanie Hutchinson. Quorum being present, Mayor Johnson proceeded with the meeting. MINUTES Councilmember Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Croom to dispense with the reading of the Minutes of September 21, 2017 City Council Meeting, and approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. OLD BUSINESS 3rd Reading AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE HIRING OF STEVE MULLEN D/B/A SAFEGUARD WINDOW AND DOOR FOR WINDOW, DOOR, AND LOCK REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilmember McClendon made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Croom to approve the Ordinance. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2440. NEW BUSINESS R-1 A RESOLUTION INSTRUCTING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TO CREATE A 2018 PLAN THAT ESTABLISHES A SUMMER JOBS PROGRAM FOR THE YOUTH OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS Councilmember McClendon made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to table the Resolution indefinitely. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. Councilmember Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to suspend the rules and read R-2 in full, and R-3, R-4, and 0-1 by title only. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. R-2 A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE RETIREMENT OF CITY ATTORNEY, DAVID PEEPLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Clerk Phillip Para read the Resolution in full. Councilmember Croom made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to approve the Resolution. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2146. R-3 A RESOLUTION DECLARING A VACANCY IN THE OFFICE OF WEST MEMPHIS CITY ATTORNEY UPON THE RETIREMENT OF DAVID PEEPLES FROM THE POSITION AND APPOINTING J. MICHAEL STEPHENSON TO SERVE AS WEST MEMPHIS CITY ATTORNEY FOR THE UNEXPIRED TERM City Attorney Peeples read the Resolution. Councilmember Taylor made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Croom to approve the Resolution. Councilmember Pulliaum asked if this would affect the retirement plan in place for the City Attorney's Position. City Attorney Peeples said there was an Ordinance to be added to the agenda that deals with the retirement issues. No further discussion was held. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2147. R-4 A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE MAYOR TO APPOINT A COMMITTEE TO CREATE A 2018 PLAN THAT ESTABLISHES A SUMMER JOBS PROGRAM FOR THE YOUTH OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS City Attorney Peeples read the Resolution. Councilmember McClendon made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to approve. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2148. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE TO WAIVE COMPETITIVE BIDDING FOR DECORATIONS TO BE USED IN WORTHINGTON PARK, APPROVING A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND FESTIVE DESIGNS, INC., DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the FIRST time. Councilmember Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to add 0-2, 0-3, and 0-4 to the agenda and suspend the rules and read them by title only. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. 0-2 AN ORDINANCE TRANSFERRING ADMINISTRATION OF RETIREMENT COVERAGE FOR ELIGIBLE MEMBERS OF THE WEST MEMPHIS POLICE PENSION AND RELIEF FUND TO THE ARKANSAS LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM (LOPFI)AND AUTHORIZING THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER TO ENTER INTO AN IRREVOCABLE AGREEMENT WITH LOPFI City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the FIRST time. 0-3 AN ORDINANCE TRANSFERRING ADMINISTRATION OF RETIREMENT COVERAGE FOR ELIGIBLE MEMBERS OF THE WEST MEMPHIS FIRE PENSION AND RELIEF FUND TO THE ARKANSAS LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM (LOPFI)AND AUTHORIZING THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER TO ENTER INTO AN IRREVOCABLE AGREEMENT WITH LOPFI City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the FIRST time. 0-4 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE RETIREMENT BENEFITS FOR THE POSITION OF CITY ATTORNEY TO PROVIDE FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE ARKANSAS EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM (APERS) OR THE BENEFITS AS PROVIDED IN ARKANSAS CODE ANNOTATED § 24-12-120 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES A discussion was held regarding the difference in APERS and the retirement we have now. City Attorney Peeples said the retirement for the City Attorney now is Y salary after 20 years of service or after 10 years of service and obtaining the age of 60. City Treasurer Martin said APERS is based on a pro-rated share of length of service, age and percentage of the money that they make. He also said the ordinance needed to be adopted by the end of October along with the Fire and Police Retirement Ordinances. Councilmember Taylor said if they read it for the first time today, they could discuss it next Thursday at a scheduled meeting, and read it the next two times at the next City Council Meeting. City Treasurer Martin said it is essential to meet next week to discuss the Fire and Police Pension, but not this one. Councilmember Pulliaum said they have not even had time to read the Ordinance and he would like time to study it. Councilmember Catt said they should adopt the retirement ordinance today so the new attorney accepting the position will know what retirement benefit the position has. Councilmember Robinson stated she would like a clear understanding of what she is voting on before she votes. City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the FIRST time. Discussion continued whether waiting to read this ordinance out would cause a problem with whether the appointed City Attorney would accept the position without knowing about his retirement benefits. Councilmember Taylor made a motion seconded by Councilmember Croom to suspend the rules and place the Ordinance on the second reading. City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the SECOND time. The Ordinance will be on the third and final reading at the next City Council meeting. Councilmember Croom made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Robinson to add 0-5 to the agenda and suspend the rules and read the title only. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. 0-5 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 2.51.020(A) OF THE WEST MEMPHIS MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING THE POSITION OF CITY ATTORNEY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the FIRST time. Councilmember Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to suspend the rules and place the Ordinance on the second reading. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the SECOND time. Councilmember Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Croom to further suspend the rules and place the Ordinance on the third reading. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. City Attorney Peeples read the Ordinance for the THIRD AND FINAL time. Councilmember Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to approve the Ordinance. Upon roll call vote, the voting was as follows: AYES: Taylor, Harris, Holt, Croom, Robinson, Catt NOES: McClendon and Mondy ABSTAINED: Pulliaum The motion carried. The Ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2441. Councilmember Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to adopt the emergency clause, section 3. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. PERMISSION REQUESTS Councilmember Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Mondy to add to the agenda an offer from the West Memphis School District to purchase Hightower Park property and the Neighborhood Center building. Councilmember Mondy made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Taylor to reject the offer. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. COMMITTEE REPORTS Public Works Committee-Councilmember Taylor reported the total for recycling in September was 14,540 pounds. City Engineer Amanda Hicks reported they are working on bid documents for Hino Bridge and they are still waiting for approval of the draft contract for design engineering sent to the Highway Department in July. I Paul Luker, Director of Planning & Development attended the meeting and reported they cut over 900 lots this season and sent approximately 2400 letters. All the money for grass cutting has been spent and they had to borrow from other line items in their budget to continue cutting. Overall, they have spent around $50,000. This number is with the Street Department cutting quite a few lots so it would have been quite a bit more. The city having their own grass cutting crew was discussed and staff was asked to consider it. Keep West Memphis Beautiful—Councilmember Robinson reported there was a community meeting tonight at Weaver Elementary School. She is hoping to have several impromptu cleanups throughout the city this fall. Budget Committee—Councilmember Catt reported Southing Gaming collections were up $22,641.55 for the month and up for the year$179,732.36 from the previous year. A& P taxes were down $9,417 for the month and down $14,502.25 from the previous year. Sales Tax down $4,326.61 for the month and down $12,393.98 from the previous year. They also discussed the City Attorney Retirement and changing the Fire and Police Pension over to LOPFI. A work session to be scheduled for next week. ANNOUNCEMENTS Councilor Mondy announced the Police Department will be having a gun buy-back day on October 7th at 2nd St John Church on Ingram. Councilmember Croom announced True Value Hardware is sponsoring a fund-raising campaign for the maintenance of the Fallen Officers Memorial in Worthington Park. If you buy a blue porch light from the special display by the door, 100 percent of the proceeds go to the upkeep of the memorial. CITIZENS REQUESTS Danny Montgomery, said he was here to represent the Sanitation and Street Department. He said they were here last year along with West Memphis Utility employees asking for raises. He said some of those people got raises but they did not. He said they work every day in the heat, severe cold, and storms to make sure they get the job done. He said their jobs are important too and they should also get a raise. Councilmember Catt stated their Department Head should go to the Budget Committee with the request for raises. They said their Department Heads would not do anything so that is why they came forward. Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilmember Mondy made a motion, second by Councilmember Catt to adjourn. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The meeting adjourned at 2:22 pm. PASSED and APPROVED this 19th day of, October 2017. 42 T WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, MAYOR ATTEST: PHIL ARA, CITY CLERK Minutes prepared by: Cindy Greenwood, Sr. Deputy City Clerk