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12/19/2019 MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL December 19, 2019 A regular meeting of the West Memphis Citv Council was held on Thursday, December 19. 2019, at 5:00 P.M. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 2.05 S. Redding, West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Council Member, Helen Harris, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council Member Wayne Croom, Mayor Marco McClendon called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Sr. Deputy City Clerk, Patricia lane, called the roll. Those present were: Mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney Michael Stephenson and Council Members: 7i-acy Cart, Wayne Croom, Helen Harris. James Holt, Melanie Hutchinson, David Murray. James Pulliaum and Charles Wheeless. Absent were: City Treasurer. Frank Martin, City Clerk, Joyce Gray, Council Members: Lorraine Mohammed and Willis Mondv. Quorum being present Mayor McClendon proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENINGS NONE MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF DECEMBER 5, 2019 APPROVE OR CORRECT SPEACIAL CALLED MINUTES OF DECEMBER 6, 2019 Council Member Catt made the motion, seconded by Council Member Pulliaum to dispense with the reading of the minutes of December 5, 2019 City Council meeting and Special Called Council meeting of December 6, 2019 and approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE PERSONNEL MANUEL OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS, REGARDING VACATION AND SICK LEAVE BENEFITS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. City Attorney Stephenson reads the Ordinance for the SECOND time by title only NEW BUSINESS: Council Member Pulliaum made the motion, seconded by Council Member Croom to read R-1, R-2, -0-1, 0-2, and to add R-3 to the agenda and to read by title only. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. R-1 A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS SUPPORTING THE HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1018 OF 2019 (HJR 1018 OF 2019). PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION TO CONTINUE A LEVY OF A ONE-HALF PERCENT SALES AND USE TAX FOR STATE HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES; COUNTY ROADS, BRIDGES, AND OTHER SURFACE TRANSPORTATION; AND CITY STREETS, BRIDGES,AND OTHER SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AFTER THE RETIREMENT OF THE BONDS, AUTHORIZED IN ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION, AMENDMENT 91, AS SPECIAL REVENUE TO BE DISTRIBUTED UNDER THE ARKANSAS HIGHWAY REVENUE DISTRIBUTION LAW. City Attorney Stephenson read the Resolution by title only. Council Member Cart made the motion, seconded by Council Member Croom to approve the Resolution. Discussion followed: Council Member Croom wanted to know if there was a sunset on the one-half percent sales tar. Council Member Pulliaum addressed Council Member Croom s question. Council Member Pulliaum said it would come up in the general electron and at that time they will put the referendum back on continuation. Council Member Pulliaum stated that the length of time was not discussed. The Municipal League is asking Municipalities to support this issue with a Resolution for the continuation. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2213. R-2 A RESOLUTION ADMINISTERING THE RECORDING OF PUBLIC MEETING FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the Resolution by title only. Council Member Calf made the motion, seconded by Council Member Croom to approve the Resolution upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2214. R-3 A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE AND ADOPT A TEMPORARY BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the Resolution by title only. Council Member Croom made the motion, seconded by Council Member Pulliaum to approve the Resolution. Discussion followed: Council Member Pulliaum asked if it was going to be one twelfth of the budget. Council Member Catt confirmed that it would be one twelfth of the 2019 budget as it was amended throughout the year. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The Resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2215 0-1 AN ORDINANCE THAT CREATES A GRANT RESEARCHER/WRITER POSITION FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS WITHIN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the Ordinance by title only for FIRST time. Discussion followed: Council Member Croom said that he would like to see some change to the verbiage to read that a contractor would be on a retainer and would not be paid a monthly wage if they were not actively working on a grant. Mayor McClendon said that the intent was to have the person actively looking for grant funding for all the departments such as the police and fire departments. Mayor McClendon said the City was missing out on potential grant funding. Council Member Pulliaum said that a motion and amendment to the Ordinance could made after the third reading if need be. Council Member Calf said it would also have to be brought up at the budget meeting and added to the 2020 budget and then they could discuss it in detail at that time. 0-2 AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING A RENTAL PROPERTY ORDINANCE FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS IN ORDER TO INSURE THE HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY (WEST MEMPHIS HOUSING, REVITALIZATION. REINVESTMENT & REDEVELOPMENT 2020 PLAN City Attorney Stephenson read the Ordinance by title only for FIRST time. PERMISSION FOR THE MAYOR TO SIGN AN OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND P & H INVESTMENTS, LLC. Council Member Catt made the motion, seconded by Council Member Croom to give the Mayor permission to sign an Offer and Acceptance Agreement with the City of West Memphis and P & H Investments, LLC. Discussion followed: Council Member Croom asked the City Attorney Stephenson to give an explanation of the permission request. City Attorney Stephenson said that it was a limited liability company that owns property and the individual is wanting to donate property to the City. The owner is wanting the City to pay the closing cost of the transaction and the taxes for 2019 year. City Attorney Stephenson said normally the City would not pay taxes for public purposes, but this property was not used for public purpose in 2019, it comes to appro..,dmately $3,500 dollars that the city would pay for this property to be donated to the City at that cost. The property address is located at 203 S. Avalon and was formally a dental building, it is a two-story building and is approximately 4000 square feet. They are asking for permission for the Mayor to be able to accept the offer as a gift. The building has been inspected and is in good shape. There being no further j discussion. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. J PERMISSION FOR THE MAYOR TO SIGN MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS SERVICE AGREEMENT Council Member Croom made the motion, seconded by Council Member Harris to give permission to Mayor McClendon to sign the Motorola Solutions Agreement. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PERSONNEL COMMITTEE: Council Member Melanie Hutchinson presented the personnel report. The personnel committee met on December 11, 2019. The committee discussed open enrollment and continued the conversation on the vacation and sick leave policy and electing new personnel representatives for the upcoming year. FIRE COMMISSION: Council Member Tracy Calf presented the fire commission report. The Fire Commission met on December 10, 2019. Assistant Chief Dewayne Rose reported that the twelve-turnout gears that were ordered have been received and everything was in order. Council Member Catt stated that one item that has come up since the meeting. The Fire department has four ambulances. Two ambulances run everyday the third ambulance is a backup and the fourth ambulance has needed to be replaced for some time. The third ambulance as a backup is not routinely used but due to necessity, they are having to use it more often. In order to get the ambulance a hundred percent into compliance there is $47,097.08 worth of equipment that needs to be added to that ambulance. Council Member Catt is asking Council to grant the request, so that they can order it before the end of the year to ensure that there are no price increases. Also, if the Council approves the depreciation for the general fund account in the 2020 budget, they will order a new ambulance and they will simply transfer this equipment to the new one and this ambulance will go back into reserve status to be a backup and used in an emergency situation. If the department finds that they need a third ambulance at all time, then it will be simply an equipment issue and they will bring it back before Council for their approval. They should have a better handle on that at the end of the first quarter. Council Member Croom asked if there was a standard number of ambulance that a municipality should have per capital based on the number of people. Assistant Chief Rose said that there is probably data to support that information, but he believes that it is based on the number of runs. The goal with three ambulance would prevent them from having to turn over runs to third party ambulance services and this would allow them to keep the run volume in the City. The other two ambulances with this equipment allow them to send data directly to the hospital the third unit does not allow them to do that at this time and does not allow them to provide the same element of care. The fourth ambulance has no value and upon acquiring a new one would be retired. There being no further discussion. Council Member Catt made a motion, seconded by Council Member Croom to approve the request to purchase the equipment. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. BUDGET COMMITTEE: Council Member Catt presented the budget committee report The budget committee has been meeting and will meet again in the following week. They have already met with each department head. The Council will be bringing back particular department heads that they would like to visit with. They still need to meet to discuss the depreciation fund that the Council is wanting to set up for 2020. They will also need to meet with City Treasurer, Frank Martin on the budget projections for the revenue stream. They also need to meet to figure out when construction will begin and become a reality in 2020 so that when they set up the depreciation fund and using that funding source. They are wanting to make sure the numbers are right so that Council has accurate data before making any final decisions. Council Member Catt said that he thinks it will work well once it is set up for funding capital outlays in the future much more consistently. Thev won't have to worry about department's running equipment, such as the fire department running an engine that is 61 years old or an employee needing to go to training in Littlerock and trying figure out what car to put them in if it is reliable. Council Member Pulliaum asked how much was in the depreciation fund. Council Member Call said the 2020 projection was approximately $1,900.000 dollars, originally when they met last year, they projected $1.300.000 dollars they have had some additional request from department heads. They will bring those individuals back before the Council to see if their additional request is truly a necessity. Council Member Pulliaum asked if the first five police vehicles that were requested would be purchased. Council Member Can said that they would need to meet with the police department to see if they received the five vehicles now would they still need an additional five vehicles right now or could they wart until later. Council Member Can said that is why they would need to meet with each one within the general fund to make sure that their needs are being met and are in line with the monetary constraints. Currently there are no funds in the depreciation funds because there was never a depredation fund for general funds set up. Council Member Cart feels that by restructuring the income stream they will have a reliable source to depend on and will allow the City to become debt tree. They will then have the opportunity to permanently fund it and have a resource to rely on UTILITY DEPARTMENT: Council Member Pulliaum presented the Utility report. The Utility Commission met on December 12, 2019 at 8:30 am. The Safety Director Brett Sims reported that there was 50 days since last recordable injury, 50 days since last lost time injury and 5 recordable injuries year to date. General Manager Todd Pedersen presented the Personnel update. There were no new hires for the month of November. The Utility department currently has 9 open positions. Council Member Pulliaum asked for General Manager, Todd Pedersen to come before Council to explain the award that the Utility department received from the Arkansas Department of Health. The award was received for West Memphis Waterworks for recognition of their ntaining the water fluoridation within the Water Fluoridation Quality for 2018 for mai tolerances for the whole month. Mr. Pedersen said that they add fluoride to the water to help with dental. Mr. Pedersen gave his gratitude to Mr. Andrew Bass who is the wastewater treatment operator whose sole responsibility is to make sure that the water that leaves the facility has the proper chlorine and fluoride levels and maintaining the water treatment system. ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: Council Member Pulliaum presented the Advertising & Promotion Report. Council Member Pulliaum reported that the year to date figures for visitors to the West Memphis Auditorium was 6,540 and the Eugene Woods Civic Center had 7,823 visitors. Council Member Pulliaum made a request that he and Council Member Moody be allowed to continue to serve on the Advertising Promotion Commission in the upcoming year. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Council Member Wheeless presented the West Memplus Chamber of Commerce report. The Chamber met on December 11, 2019. The new board members were announced for the upcoming year, the new board members will replace the outgoing board members that served in 2019. The Chamber a banquet will be February 20, 2020 it will be at the Eugene Wood Civic Center. The J Economic Development Department is continuing their efforts to bring food establishments to West Memphis. Temple Inland has been sold and the building is being utilized for storage. The votes for the parks passed 202 for and 42 against. APPOINTMENTS: NONE PRESENTATIONS: NONE ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor Marco McClendon thanked the citizens of West Memphis for their participation in the vote for the parks. The Mayor said that it would be a great thing for our city parks. CITIZENS RE9UEST: NONE Mayor McClendon recognized Mr. Maurice Crawford and Corey Sumpter coaches for the West Memphis Jaguars and two youths from the team. Mr. Crawford addressed Council to announce that they were the Super Bowl Champions of 8 youth 10 youth football league. The team went to the Little Rock State Championship and out of 64 teams came out on top in first place. The team practices at Franklin Park. Coach Crawford said that he heard about the plans for a splash pad at the Park on 25" street and wanted to ask the Mayor and Council about making sure that the boys had a football field for practice. Mayor McClendon said the plans were for a multi-use field. The Mayor and Council felt that Mr. Crawford and Mr. Sumpters concerns could be considered, and they would talk with them and see what they could do to help. Having no further business to come before the Citv Council, Council Member Croom made the motion, seconded by Council Member Harris to adjourn. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous The meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 2-m day January 2020. MARCO MCCLENDON, MAYOR AnTTrE-�ST: / LCllt/ C-05�/ IZQ• JOYCE GRAY, CITY CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk