Loading...
12/21/2023 Mk- MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL December 21,2023 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday,December 21, 2023,at 5:00 p.m.in the City Council Chambers at City Hall,205 S.Redding,West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Apostle Larry Brown followed-by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Wayne Croom. Councilor Tracy Catt called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.City Clerk,Patricia Joplin called the roll.Those present were Council Members: Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom,Helen Harris,James Holt,Melanie Hutchinson, Willis Mondy,David Murray. and Charles Wheeless.Absent was mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney Michael Stephenson,City Treasurer, Charlie Suiter Jr. Gheric Bruce,and Lorraine Mohammed. Also,present was Finance Director,Tori Perry,and Evening Times Reporter Donald Wilburn. Quorum being present Councilor Catt, proceeded with the meeting. The first order of business was for council to elect a chairperson for the council meeting in the absence of the mayor. Councilor Wheeless made a motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to elect Councilor Catt to chair the meeting.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. BID OPENING: NONE MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF DECEMBER 7,2023 Councilor Croom made the motion,seconded by Councilor Mondy to dispense with the reading of the minutes of December 7,2023,Council Meeting,and to approve them as 111 submitted.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: NONE NEW BUSINESS: Councilor Croom made the motion,seconded by Councilor Holt to read 0-1 by title only.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve 0-1 AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH FEES FOR PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS AT RESIDENTIAL RATES AND COMMERCIA AND INDUSTRIAL RATES WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS Councilor Catt read the ordinance by title only for the first time. The ordinance will be placed back on the January4,2024 agenda for its second reading. Councilor Catt asked Planning& Development Director,Chad Bowman the date that the Public Meeting would be held.Mr. Bowman said that they had not set a meeting date,but that they would look into scheduling a meeting before the third reading of the ordinance on January 18,2024,council meeting.Mr. ' Bowman gave a brief explanation of the ordinance.Mr. Bowman said he went in and reviewed the building fees and has made some changes to clarify some things that were not clearly outlined in the fee structure. He said the reason that they are asking for an increase in permit fees is because there is no real distinctions between the fees for residential and commercial and that is not typical practice.Typically,a permit for commercial would cost more because it requires more work.He gave an example of a HVAC job in regard to residence might have a 1 ih ton or 2-ton unit whereas a commercial job where the job is bigger such as Southland you might have 25-2-ton units on top of a building and it should require more work and should cost more as well as it takes the City Inspectors away from other inspections for a longer period of time.He said he also had to review the fee structure and how they were not charging for the numbers of openings on plumbing permits because it was not clearly outlined in the fee structures.Mr.Bowman said that the State also requires that they charge for roofing permits,so he had to go in and add a fee structure for residential and commercial roofing applications.Mr. Bowman said he had a staff member to go in and clean up the fee applications and there will be a small increase for some of the permits from$5.00 to$15.00 dollars to distinguish from commercial or residential.He said another thing that they will be implementing in the up coming year to simplify the process and he is excited to announce that they recently purchased software that will allow the contractors to go to the website and begin the fee application process to expedite the permit fee process. • PERMISSION REQUEST:PERMISSION TO ADD THE.SOUTHLAND AGREEMENT FOR FUNDING ANIMAL SHELTER WITH NAMING RIGHTS TO THE AGENDA Councilor.Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to add the Southland - agreement to the agenda.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous.Finance Director Tori Perry said it is basically an agreement for funding of the animal shelter and naming rights. Southland has graciously said that they will gift us with an animal shelter up to 1.7 million dollars.The city will pay for it and Southland will reimburse the city over a span of 7 years. They will do a down payment this year of$200,000 if approved and then a payment of$214,285.71 thereafter. Councilor Catt said most likely when they do the groundbreaking ceremony they will present 1 , the resolution at that time and it will specify the naming of the shelter.Ms.Perry said that this is just an agreement for Southland to release the payment. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to approve.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. COMMITTEE REPORTS: • AIRPORT COMMISSION: Councilor Croom presented the Airport report.The Airport , • Commission met on December 7,2023,at 8:00 a.m. Garver Engineering reported the Apron Rehab Project has been signed and the work will start in the spring. Rebel Services anticipates that the delivery of the Jet A tank in March of 2024.Airport Director,Candra Suiter reported that there was a great turnout for Santa's arrival. CHAMBER COMMITTEE: Councilor Croom presented the Chamber report.The Chamber Board hired Stephanie White as the New Executive Director for the Chambers.Ms.White is from Collierville,Tennessee and she has already started working they are planning a reception to welcome her. WEST MEMPHIS UTILITY: Councilor Catt presented the West Memphis Utility report.Utility Manager,Ward Wimbish presented the information regarding a rate increase for water that they will be looking at in January to council in pre-council for them to consider.The cost of the project that was mandated through the Environmental Department and was approved by Council approved a rate increase 4 years ago and this increase will be the second one to finish the project and hopefully when the project is completed they will be able to roll some of the fees back and keep things as affordable as possible. FIRE COMMITTEE: Councilor Catt presented the Fire Committee report. Councilor Catt handed out the rendering of the new fire truck. They will be putting it out for bid sometime in February.The cost is expected to be 1.8 million dollars.It will take approximately 2 years to come in. The other item was the air packs that are inspected on a regular basis. However,during the last inspection it was determined that the air packs are operational but not at the standards that need them to be.The department will be doing a detailed analysis of what they currently have and then bring it back before council.The cost is between$500.000 and • $800.000 dollars,and they will need to do a 2024 budget amendment once they know the amount. • PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE:Councilor Catt presented the Public Works report everything is running smoothly. They are still waiting on the final changes for the hydraulic hoses,and they have the new equipment in and expect to have everything up and operational by the end of the year. APPOINTMENTS: NONE ANNOUNCEMENTS: NONE • CITIZENS REQUEST: Apostle Lawrence Brown and Dr.Rhonda Brown came before council to make them aware of their new business opening in West Memphis Phelix Diversified . Services located at 215 East Bond in West Memphis,Arkansas.Phelix Diversified is a juvenile prevention program providing service for youth 10 to 17 years old with the mission to help divert them from entering the Juvenile justice system. Having no further business to come before the City Council,Councilor Mondy made the • motion,seconded Councilor Wheeless,to adjourn.Upon voice vote,the voting was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 4th day of January 2024. . Gf7 e L�f oY MARCO MCCLENDON,MAYOR ATTEST: -- 9.014 PATRICIA JOPLIN,CI CLERK Minutes prepared by,Patricia Lane,Sr.Deputy City Clerk • • •