Re-elected directors of the Hope City Board take the oath Tuesday night as administered by Eighth Judicial District North Circuit Judge Joe Short.
During Tuesday night's regular meeting of the City of Hope Board of Directors, re-elected board members took the oath of office, then the full board, after a short executive session, took votes on the offices of mayor and vice mayor, chose a funding option for a wastewater project involving the East Plant and considered maintenance contracts. The meeting is shown in its entirety below this summary.
Mayor Don Still and Vice Mayor Kiffinea Talley won unanimous votes for their respective positions and were sworn in by Eighth Judicial District North Circuit Judge Joe Short. Then the city directors who were re-elected were also sworn in for new terms. They included Steve Montgomery, Mark Ross, Don Still and Linda Clark.
It was the first meeting in which Police Chief and now Interim City Manager J.R. Wilson took the center seat, City Manager Catherine Cook having retired as of the end of 2022. He wasted no time in pushing for big decisions from the board, presenting to it options for the financing of a project to disinfect wastewater using ultraviolet light technology that is estimated to eventually cost the city $500,000.
Wilson said the decision on the project, for which an application to the state for grant financing was turned down in early December, was under a time crunch given the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's imminent deadline of June 30 this year for completion of the work, which is when the city's ADEQ permit will lapse. "Really, by our own guidelines we had told ADEQ we'd have the UV in place probably by that time. But that is not going to happen," Wilson said. "Even if we were to decide by tonight, if you said let's purchase this, let's go forward, let's get the project going, our engineer says we'll not make that deadline. But we do want to discuss with you how we might fund this."
A decision by the board on how the project would be paid for would be followed by "finalizing engineering plans, bidding the process out, having the funds to pay for the project, and getting the project completed as soon as possible," Wilson said.
Wilson presented five options to the board including 1) seek grant funding (which would take the most time); 2) seek loans "from outside sources" (which would incur interest costs); 3) seek a loan from Non-Restricted City Funds (interest costs would not apply but the city's Waste Water fund would have to pay back the dollars taken) 4) use a non-restricted fund balance or non-restricted reserve fund to buy equipment (this option would not require repayment of the fund). Sales tax funds or funds from those received by the city through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 or 5) mix funding sources from options 2,3 and 4.
Wilson recommended the board choose from options 3, 4 and 5 because of the looming deadline.
Director Trevor Coffee, after ascertaining from Wilson that the system to be installed in the East Plant would be the same as that already installed in the West Plant, said he thought the ARPA funds should be used at least partially to finance the project. Vice Mayor Talley asked whether ARPA funds could be used legally for the project. Finance Officer Cindi Clark said it could.
Director Steve Montgomery said he thought that because of anticipated expenses pertaining to Wastewater projects in the future the funds in the Wastewater budget should not be used and ARPA funds should be used entirely. Director Mark Ross made the motion to fund the UV Wastewater project with $500,000 from the city's ARPA funds. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote. Later in the meeting City Attorney Randal Wright asked if the motion which carried set a specific spending limit. Director Ross said his intent was to allow for another vote if the project's costs exceeded $500,000. He and Wright also agreed that under the city's procedure a majority vote from the board would be required to approve any cost that arose after a contractor was chosen after bidding.
In other business, the board voted to accept a bid from Silvey Lawncare of $4,400 for maintenance of the City Hall's landscaping and yard, pending the submission of proof of workman's compensation and liability insurance. It did not vote on awarding a larger bid for Rosehill/Cavehill Grounds Maintenance pending additional information from the two bidders.
The board also heard Interim City Manager J.R. Wilson's first City Manager's Report. He asked the directors to submit their statements of financial interest before January 31 for filing and submit their RSVPs for a retirement party for Catherine Cook to take place Thursday January 5 between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. with speeches to start at 5:15.
Sixth Street work is in "slow progress," Wilson said. The Streetscape project is in the phase of negotiations between engineers and contractors Equipment is being bought according to the specifications in the new city budget. The next city board meeting, Wilson said, would feature consideration of having a new monitoring well dug at the city's landfill.
During Citizens Request, Mitzi Coker spoke of using an inheritance to provide bonuses to Tyson Workers and to purchase properties in Hope in dilapidated condition, clean them up and develop housing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szmgDm75ECA