Public Works Director Simon Wiley told city council on April 8 that progress is being made to get funding to update the sewage treatment plant. A valve failed on April 6 that had to be taken off-line, and Wiley was unsure of how much repairs would cost.
He said that water leaks are down to 40 percent, although that is still high compared to other cities, which typically have a 15 to 20 percent loss. The Inn of the Ozarks water tower and Planer Hill leaks have been fixed and patched, and the area torn up near O’Reilly’s Auto Parts needs patching and line painting, but that won’t be taken care of until the fall.
There is still a leak where Spring and Main Sts. merge, but Wiley said he has been short-handed so it may take some time to fix. He also said that he had received several bids to repair damage to Lindsay St. caused during a rainstorm two weeks ago. Part of the street needs to be excavated and a stone wall rebuilt.
A gutter will be installed on Steele St. leading to Lindsey St. to divert drainage water to a nearby culvert. Wiley recommended, and council approved, to use Barrow Excavation for $176,364, $100,000 of which will come from the city’s street fund budget. He urged that the work be undertaken immediately as there was danger of the road collapsing into a house.
Trash talk
Alderman Autumn Slane asked that council revisit decisions about the trash bags and tags. She has been getting calls from citizens struggling with the 35-gallon limit. Slane, a new mother, said the diapers from her baby take up most of her limit.
She also noted that many people don’t realize they can purchase a trash can from Carroll County Solid Waste Authority. She argued that there needed to be more education and information going out to people, and for those using bags to expand it from one 35-gallon bag to two.
Alderman Terry McClung asked how much the cans are and was told they were $24 – $30 a month to depending on the location. He pointed out that you can buy a 35-gallon can at a store for a one-time fee and not have to rent one.
Slane added that people are complaining about purchasing the tags and alderman Steve Holifield said he had gone to city hall and learned that the tags, which were supposed to be available there and at Public Works, are now only available at Public Works. Holifield pointed out that this new policy has not been told to the public, not even to aldermen.
McClung argued that the yellow bags had been an imperfect system, and now the tags were causing issues as well.
Alderman Harry Meyer remarked that people have problems with and abuse both systems, and said they have to choose one or the other. When Holifield asked where tags could be purchased, Wylie confirmed that Public Works sells the tags, but that the biggest problem is that there are properties where several people are sharing both the trash service and water, with property owners charging tenants for both the water and trash service.
McClung said these needed to be treated as two separate issues, but Wylie said that municipal code, he believed dating back to 2002, states that property owners are not allowed to share water and trash. Because some older businesses share water meters, particularly businesses with apartments above them, the business owner makes the tenant in the apartment pay for water and trash for the whole building, but that means the build itself only has one 35-gallon trash bag allotted even though several people are using the building.
McClung asked if they were expecting business owners to put in extra meters and Wiley said that that was the code, and businesses had one year to get into compliance.
McClung pushed back, saying the issue should be settled between landlord and tenant.
Wiley disagreed and said it was wrong for landlords to take advantage. Meyer agreed with Wiley, saying it is not fair to the city and other water customers that there are business owners making a profit while avoiding responsibility due to old systems.
Mayor Butch Berry argued it was impossible to update 100-year-old water lines, and Meyer shot back that there was no such thing as impossible updates, at which point Slane called for Ord. 2348 to be adjusted to allow people to have a two-bag limit, which could be changed back to a one-bag limit after they had adjusted to the changes and been better informed on what was available.
McClung insisted on a four-month sunset clause and that in four months council return to the issue. The adjustment passed unanimously.
More trash talk
Council then addressed a ban on confetti, initially plastic confetti, but when Wiley argued that all confetti is a problem after parades as it ends up in the waterways, council agreed to ban all confetti at parades.
Aldermen also talked about the tires that have been thrown in the field behind Equity Bank and need to be cleaned off the hillside and pulled from Black Bass Lake.
Meyer said that according to Carroll County, you need special containers to put the tires in. Berry said Benton County’s Solid Waste Company has the containers and will pick them up when they have been filled. McClung asked if the cleanup shouldn’t be all or partially the responsibility of the property owner.
Berry replied that most of the tires have ended up on city property so it is the city’s responsibility.
Resolutions 857, 858, and 859 were read and passed to create a temporary entertainment district at Pine Mountain Village, one for Jeep Jam, one for Bikes, Blues and BBQ, and one for the Ozark Rally.
The CAPC will be voting on a new director this month, and there are vacancies on the Historic District and Cemetery Commissions.