The Dumas City Council met in regular session Tuesday, November 10. 2020 in the City Council room in City Hall.
Those present for the meeting included: Mayor Flora Simon and Council Members: Roy Dalton, Amber Madison, Kenneth Daniels, Jared May, Ross Martin, and Romona Weatherford. Also present was City Attorney Brooks Gill and Shelly Billingsley as recorder.
Council Members not present were John Owen and Franklin Healey.
Vernon Williams, GarNat Engineering, LLC of Benton was present to speak about drainage issues the city has had at Robinwood Drive and Belmont Drive. Preliminary cost estimates quoted for the Belmont Street Project totaled $45,000.00. The only option for this project is to dig up the pipes and replace them and replace the driveways and sidewalk that are affected.
The Robinwood Drive Drainage Project estimate was $270,000.00 and $120,000.00 for Repair Bells External MARMAC Polyseal Coupler, These total are estimates.
The Council discussed two rezoning requests.
*The NE corner of Matthew's property where Lennox Street intersects with Belmont Street has a small lot, estimated 100 ft. x 150 ft., that is zoned residential, while the rest of the property including the old Matthews house is already zoned commercial. The Planning Commission has already met and made a recommendation to the Council. Councilman Dalton reported that everyone he has spoken with in the neighborhood, himself included, was against the rezoning. The lot is so small that it would not prevent Mr. Don Livingston, who purchased the property, from putting up a commercial business whether the rezoning takes place or not.
*The lot on the south side of the Family Dollar on Hwy. 65 is currently zoned residential and there is a request to zone the property commercial. The Planning Commission has already met on this issue and made a recommendation to the Council. After much discussion, the Council decided to take all comments into consideration, but the issue was not voted on during this meeting.
Mayor's Report included:
*Window repair at Lasting Impressions beauty Salon. $693.26 paid by the city.
*Police Vehicle Accident – Insurance Report Damages: Claim has been filed with the Municipal League Vehicle Program, however the city has received no information as of the time of this report.
*Outdoor Park and Recreation Grant: The Mayor has requested the maximum amount of $250,000.00 with funds being used to upgrade Memorial Park. The Mayor gave her presentation to the community in Jacksonville on October 29th. She was given five (5) minutes to present. She hopes to hear something soon.
*Maintenance Grant: The preliminary application has been made and presented to the USDA for a grant to build the new maintenance building.
*COVID-CARES Act Funds for Municipalities (ADFA): $150,000,000 was given to the State of Arkansas for COVID related expenses. $75,000,000 was given to counties and $75,000,000 was given to municipalities. The City of Dumas received $186,000 for reimbursement of COVID expenses. This would cover anything spent from March 2020 – December 2020. The Mayor has submitted the grant application and all that is left to do in order to receive the funds is to upload the invoices and wait to hear if they are approved.
*Audit Review – The Audit review ended in October. A re-portable finding mentioned that the City of Dumas had no documentation where they had reviewed the Audit Report for 2018. The Mayor remembers discussing the finding because that is why the contracts for the Chamber of Commerce needed to be updated and the contracts for Mainstreet Dumas and the Desha County Museum need to be reviewed. Unfortunately, none of that discussion made it into the Minutes anywhere. The Mayor had to answer the finding and her response was that although the Audit and findings were reviewed and discussed with the City Council, there is no documentation in the November or December minutes where the Audit was reviewed. Therefor, the Council will do due diligence and conduct a timely review of the 2019 Audit. The City was written up for not having the Uniformed Officers sick leave stated in the Policy Handbook. The Mayor's answer was that the Personnel Policy Handbook was revised on October 20, 2019 to address Uniformed Officers sick leave on page 29. Because of some other issues with the handbook it was not adopted by the Council. It is currently being revised and should be ready to be presented to the Council by later this year. The city was also written up for Competitive Bidding, in regards to the purchase of the Street Sweeper. The Mayor reported that initially the City was going to lease the sweeper, but then decided to purchase the sweeper, and the bidding was an over site in the process. Another issue was that the General Fund exceeded appropriations. That came about because some of the bills came at the end of the year in 2019, but were not paid until January of 2020.
Lastly, Council Minutes for December were not provided to the Auditor. The Mayor provided those to the Auditor. Overall, the Audit was a good report.
COVID cases in Dumas and the surrounding areas:
*Mayor Simon reported that the number of COVID-19 cases are rising not only in Dumas, but in the surrounding areas. She has asked that everyone encourage their family members to adhere to the guidelines (masks, hand-washing, social distancing) not only to protect themselves but others as well. The virus is running rampantly and has been predicted to get worse.
Proclamations:
Both Chief Everett Cox and Lieutenant Chuck Blevins retired on November 6th. The police department provided a retirement luncheon honoring them on that day. Mayor Simon said the luncheon was very nice and that she presented both with Proclamations for their service to Dumas.
The interim Police Chief, Keith Finch, was in attendance and was introduced by the Mayor. Chief Finch was asked to introduce Jamie Donaldson who has been promoted to Lieutenant. The two officers have worked together and been friends for 20 years.
Resolution 1327
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PURCHASE OF A 2007 MERCUARY MARQUIS FOR THE CITY POLICE DEPARMTENT. Motion passed unanimously.
Resolution 1328
A RESOLUTION DECLARING A BONUS TO CITY EMPLOYEES IN 2020. Motion passed unanimously.
Resolution 1329
A RESOLUTION GIVING THE MAYOR AUTHORIZATION TO APPLY FOR THE 2021 RECYCLING GRANT. Motion passed unanimously.
Resolution 1330
A RESOLUTION FOR DUMAS TO SELL WHOLSALE WATER TO PICKENS, ARKANSAS AND PROVIDE THE WATERLINE FROM DUMAS TO PICKENS, APPLY TO ANRC FOR FUNDING. Motion was tabled due to an issue as to put the grant in the name of Dumas or Pickesn.
Moncrief Dodds, Code Enforcer and Animal Control Officer reported there has been a large increase in calls regarding stray dogs.
Dodds reported that the demolition of 100 S. Peterson Street is complete and they are waiting on an invoice from Mr. Clark so that he can be paid. On 121 Peterson there was a camper and open sewage and it has been removed. Mr. Fred Pittman did not show up to court for the second time regarding the property at 332 S. College St. His failure to appear has resulted in a warrant for his arrest.
Peggy Chapman, Desha County Museum reported that there are three building with new roofs and they look very pretty. The shotgun house has a new back door and a new porch and will son have new flooring. The Jim Matthews family donated a 1949 Studebaker truck. It was the Matthews butane delivery truck. The DACF grant that Chapman applied for in the amount of $2,000 has been awarded to the museum. The funds will be used to replace glass in a display case that contains Vintage clothing. Due to COVID-19 the museum's annual Christmas open house has been canceled.
Judy Day, Chamber of Commerce reported they are working on the Christmas Parade scheduled for December 7th. This year will include horses, four-wheelers and just about anything you would like to decorate to be in the parade. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus will not be at the hospital this year due to COVID-19. The membership has voted on the 2021 Board of Directors for the Chamber and it will be presented in December.
Julianna Gassaway, Mainstreet Dumas:
Reported that they were awarded the UCAF grant for $1,000. The money will be used to update the faded Farmer's Market signage. Merry Mainstreet to be held December 3rd. They will be selling Christmas hams this year.
Ashley Anthony, Delta Memorial Hospital:
Reported business as usual as far as planning, meetings and communications around COVID-19. They have regional meetings for all the hospitals in Southeast Arkansas as well as state level meetings for all hospitals with the Governor's office. Hospital beds and ventilators are not an issue, but staff to ICU beds are an issue. A shortage of nursing staff is a huge issue not only in Dumas bur across the state and nation. There were 3,185 outpatient visits. Net revenue for September was $1,113,00. Net expenses $1,732,000. causing a shortfall of $619,000. Most of this is due to expenditures around COVID-19 including extra supplies and new equipment. The CARES Act released money to hospital in March but did not give authorization on what the monies could be used for. The hospital is prepared to use the money to off-set expenses as soon as the uses for funds is mandated. Aside from the list of construction items and some outside things that need to be done, the clinic renovations have been completed.
Alice Curtis, Economic Development:
Reported that they met with the Mayor regarding Broadband internet service. They met with John Farmer regarding some City owned roads and getting grant money once their need is expressed for extension.
Ward Reports
#1 Romona Weatherford and Jared May – Weatherford reported there is still a lot of issues with 4-wheelers. They are going fast and coming over the railroad track, with some carrying four or five children. Chief Finch reported writing citations to some of the offenders.
#3 Franklin Healey and Ross Martin – Martin still having issues with Brian Boren keeping his home and yard free of clutter. There have been lots of requests for speed bumps, especially on Bowles and Crestview. The Mayor says she has had lots of calls too.
#4 Roy Dalton and Kenneth Daniels – Daniels reported still having issues with street lights, 4-wheelers and souped up cars doing donuts in the streets.
At 7:30 pm a motion was made by Martin to adjourn, motion was seconded by Weatherford. Meeting adjourned.
