Eureka Springs City Council backed Bed and Breakfast Ord. 2364 at Monday’s meeting after Planning commissioners asked for clarity due to a bed and breakfast hiring a property manager not meeting Planning’s requirements. Council amended the ordinance so that B&Bs must be owner operated.
The meaning of what constitutes breakfast was raised, as there are businesses that want to be listed as bed and breakfasts that serve a granola bar and a banana, while those that comply must have health inspectors in their businesses because they are preparing and serving more elaborate fare.
Sludge storage leak repaired
Public Works Director Simon Wiley recapped that there was a leak from a sludge storage basin leaking into Leatherwood Creek. The city declared a state of emergency, got emergency funding, and hired J.L. Bryson, Inc., of Springdale to perform repairs. Once the basin was emptied, the source of the leak was identified as pressure reducing valves damaged by debris and not closing.
Bryson removed the old clarifier assembly and installed new pressure reducing valves and sealed the pipes. A new decant line was added as well as a sludge draw line. When the tank was initially drained, an old, damaged aeration system was found and removed.
Bryson has done $212,500 worth of repairs. Wiley needed council to approve installing a new aeration system and received quotes for a diffused aeration system at $296,250, or a floating aeration system that would cost $213,750.
McClelland Engineering recommended the floating system, as did Wiley. This purchase has not been budgeted and will be paid from the water sewer fund.
Wiley also said they were going to install a bucket system to trap debris entering the basin, and aldermen agreed to pay for the floating system. On Nov. 30, Mayor Butch Berry and City Finance Director Michael Akins will go with McClelland Engineering representatives to Little Rock to discuss the $6,000,000 funding needed to make improvements on the sewer plant.
Biodegradable confetti it is
The final reading of Ord. 2363, adding a Parks commissioner from outside city limits, passed. Aldermen also created Ord. 2365 to vacate a plot of Carroll Street. Resolution 875, allowing for free two-hour parking at any metered space from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31 was passed.
On New Year’s Eve, Ord. 2366, an emendation of Ord. 2351, bans throwing of confetti. Berry explained that the Christmas Committee intends to throw biodegradable confetti and streamers from the roof of the Basin Hotel at midnight on as the year turns. Aldermen Harry Meyer and Terry McClung objected, and Berry cast the fourth vote needed to pass the ordinance.
Ord. 2367, leveeing 4.4 mills on the dollar tax on all real and personal property was proposed. The money will be divided with .0038 going to the city’s general fund and .0006 going to the fireman’s relief and pension fund. Collections will happen when taxes are normally collected. The ordinance was read three times and passed.