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Minutes for the Public Safety Committee meeting on December 19, 2006.
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Public Safety Committee Minutes
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
5:15 p.m.
Members present were: Judy Furr, Jim Hargis, Mitch Johnson, Tim McCall and Chris Moore. Councilman Perrin was unable to attend. Mayor Formon and Mr. Tony Thomas from the Mayor’s Office were also in attendance.
MINUTES
Councilman Johnson motioned, seconded by Councilman Hargis, to approve the minutes as written for the regular meeting on October 17, 2006, and the special meeting on November 15, 2006. All voted aye.
FIRE
Councilman McCall read a letter the Mayor’s Office received recently commending the City for its help with a recent fire in Trumann.
POLICE
Police Chief Michael Yates discussed a proposed amendment to City code. He noted the change has been viewed by the City Attorney’s Office. He explained the proposed code deals with issues related to serving alcohol. He discussed the details of the amendment. Chief Yates stated the amendment would call for a 5% tax on the gross sale of alcohol. Councilwoman Furr questioned whether the code has been run by the Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Board. Ms. Carol Duncan from the City Attorney’s Office stated most of the things in the proposed code are basically already in ABC code. She added they believe it also follows state code. Councilman McCall questioned how much revenue is expected to come in. Chief Yates stated he is unsure of the money the tax could make because he doesn’t know how much alcohol is sold in the City. Councilwoman Furr motioned, seconded by Councilman McCall, to recommend the amendment to the City code to the Finance Committee for approval before sending it to full Council. All voted aye. Chief Yates added he would like to adopt the code by reference due to the length. Ms. Duncan noted the 5% tax and the $250 permit fine are the maximum as allowed by law.
MOSQUITO CONTROL
Councilman Hargis discussed the recent bids for mosquito control services. He noted there were three bids. Mr. Larry Erickson from Clarke Mosquito Control discussed their plans for mosquito control. He noted they have hired a local law firm to represent them for all their Arkansas accounts. Mr. Erickson also stated they have been awarded the mosquito control account in DeWitt, so they are now operating in the state. Chairman Moore questioned how many municipalities Clarke is currently working for. Mr. Erickson said they have approximately 300 municipality customers. He added if hired they will have a local office with a local phone number for citizens to call with complaints. Mr. Alan Loe from Vector Disease Control discussed their services for the City concerning mosquito control. He added they also spray 30,000 acres of rice every year, which Clarke Mosquito Control did not address in their bid. Councilman McCall questioned whether Clarke planned to spray the rice fields. Mr. Erickson stated they would treat the rice fields with no additional charges in the plan. Councilman Johnson questioned the number of aerial applications as proposed by Vector in their bid. He noted Vector’s bid stated they would have 5 aerial applications even though they had previously said aerial applications were a last resort. Mr. Loe stated 5 is the average number of aerial applications over the past 5 years and that is what they based the number on. Councilman McCall questioned the reporting techniques by Clarke. Mr. Erickson explained monthly reports will be given like the reports currently given by Vector. Councilwoman Furr questioned whether the public will be able to view reports online. Mr. Erickson said they can put the information on the internet so the general public can see what work is being done. Mayor Formon stated some of the numbers in the mosquito reports don’t mean much to them because they don’t know if they’re good or bad numbers. He questioned if Clarke could provide comparing data so they would have something to base the numbers on. Mr. Erickson stated they could provide education to the committee so they would better understand the information they are given. He added the information can also be given to the committee on a weekly basis if needed. Councilman Hargis motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Furr, to accept the low bid from Clarke Mosquito Control. All voted aye.
ANIMAL CONTROL
Mayor Formon noted they have received bids for the shelter, but they don’t have the numbers calculated just yet. He explained there were 77 bids, of which 40 or 50 unique bidders bid on different areas of the shelter. He further explained they are going to do more research on the bids and hope to have the numbers back in three weeks before the next Public Safety meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, Councilwoman Furr motioned, seconded by Councilman Johnson, to adjourn. All voted aye.