The board reviewed the minutes from their last meeting. The minutes were approved by the board and they moved to the next item of business.
CONSIDER AGREEMENT: ENGINEERING SERVICES
The City of Hope is in need of a general engineer for support on problems at facilities or repairs that need to be made. The City usually uses a number of engineers for various projects generally based upon their expertise in a given area or their historical familiarity with some of the infrastructure.
The City does not have an engineer on staff at this time, so the request to consider an Engineering Services Agreement with Jeremy Stone was presented to the board. The City has previously worked with Stone on some projects including Animal Control Facility and the new Police Department Addition. He also has assisted with the public pool and The Hub. The City would pay Stone a base rate of $275 per month and then additional payment for specific projects that exceed that base rate. He would charge $65 per hour for every hour exceeding the 5 hour base rate. Catherine Cook shared that Joe Short has reviewed the agreement and has made some comments which have been incorporated into this final agreement being presented to the board.
Director Linda Clark made a motion to accept the agreement and it was seconded by Director Kiffinea Talley and approved by the board.
CONSIDER BIDS: CEMETERY MOWING
The following bids were received on Thursday, July 9 for mowing at Rosehill/Cavehill Cemeteries. Prices are given per year, with a two-year total and the invoices are usually billed by the month.
Per Year:
Nick Stuart $29,990 X 2 = $59,980
Mudpuppy Landscaping LLC $25,500 X 2 = $51,000
Adams Janitorial Service LLC $31,000 X 2 = $62,000
Justin’s Lawn Service $20,000 X 2 = $40,000
Jeremy Stroud $42,000 X 2 = $84,000
Silvey Lawn Care $29,800 X 2 = $59,600
Cook stated that the city has received a lot of complaints this year about the cemeteries and how they have been looking. She shared that there has been a lot of rainfall this year, but there are also questions about whether or not any of the recent contractors who have mowed the cemetery have been able to keep up with the demands of mowing the 25 acre area. Cook requested that the board allow her to work with the Rosehill Cemetery Association to find a contractor who will actually take care of the 25 acres properly, instead of only considering the bids they receive from contractors that they may not trust to take care of the job as it well as it should. Director Clark made a motion that the board hire Jeremy Stroud to do a clean up for 2 months while the board re-bids the contract with stipulations. Kiffinea Talley seconded the motion and the board voted to approve.
CONSIDER PROPOSED ORDINANCE: REPEAL ORDINANCE 1677
After Governor Asa Hutchinson issued Executive Order 20-43 requiring facial coverings last week, the board’s ordinance previously passed is recommended to be repealed to allow the Governor’s ordinance be in place. The board voted to repeal the ordinance due to Governor Hutchinson’s executive order going into effect on July 20, 2020.
The City Board will meet again on August 4, 2020 via Zoom.