Tuesday's Board of Directors meeting will see the governing body deal with a new set of agenda items in addition to the set of issues from the canceled Aug. 1 meeting.
The Aug. 15 agenda features new items including a resolution for the approval of the proposed Lake Frances Dam improvement joining agenda items from earlier this month, such as an overview of the options for filling Lucas Roebuck's unexpired Board of Directors term.
Before the regular meeting begins, board members will participate in a pair of 30-minute-long workshops. The first is a presentation from the Siloam Springs Museum. Following that, representatives from the Fire Department will deliver the second workshop presentation.
The first new item on the agenda is the city's annual audit report from BKD. Following that, directors will have a chance to vote on a pair of proposals from the Police Department related to the department's fleet of vehicles, including three recently acquired Humvees.
Next on the agenda are a trio of vehicle purchase approvals. The first, a request for a budget amendment to purchase a new 2018 three-quarter-ton Dodge crew cab truck and a John Deere Utility Task Vehicle, comes from the Parks and Recreation Department. The truck will replace a 1994 half-ton truck, and the UTV would replace a 2000 Kawasaki Mule that suffered a major breakdown this year.
The final two new vehicle purchase requests are for a service truck and a camera truck for the water and wastewater service division. The trucks will cost $110,186 and $84,408, respectively. The service truck would replace a 1997 Ford flatbed truck. The camera truck does not have a specified make, model or year, and would replace a 1997 van that has been totaled and rebuilt three times, according to the city's staff report on the item.
The sole ordinance on the agenda for Tuesday is the first reading of an ordinance that would alter the city administrator's authority as assigned by the city's code. The proposed ordinance would give the city administrator the authority and responsibility concerning the employment, termination and disciplining of all non-elected officials and employees of the city.
In addition to that change, the ordinance would introduce three amendments to city code. The first two amendments would prohibit immediate family members of elected officials from being hired as city employees and prohibit elected officials from being hired as city employees for two years after termination of service.
The third amendment would remove the requirement for the city's Fire Chief to be confirmed by the Board of Directors. Currently, the appointment of a new Police Chief is not subject to board approval, and city staff wishes to make the process for both appointments similar, according to the staff report.
In addition to a resolution from earlier this month, for a grant for the purchase of a perimeter fence and Runway End Indicator Lights, directors will consider a pair of new resolutions.
The first is a resolution in support of the Marketplace Fairness Act, which is a proposed piece of legislation that would allow the state to collect sales and use taxes from remote retailers that have no physical presence within the state's borders. City governments were urged to pass resolutions in favor of the legislation, which failed in the Arkansas House this year.
A second new resolution on the agenda would reimburse the Walton Family Foundation $700,000 over the course of three years for repairs to the Lake Frances Dam, which partially failed in 1990. The dam ensures sufficient water elevation for the city to draw water out of the Illinois River.
The dam repairs are part of a larger project by the WFF to build a kayak park near the dam. The park is estimated to cost $15.6 million, $1.4 million of which is the cost of repairing the dam. The city would reimburse half of that figure under the resolution.
The final agenda item is an overview of options to fill the unexpired at-large seat on the Board of Directors. Those options include a call for a special election, which could be held in November or December. The other option facing directors is an appointment by the board or a specially appointed subcommittee. Any nominated replacement would have to receive a majority vote from the board.
General News on 08/13/2017