City committee discussions on Council agenda

The El Dorado City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. today, a week after the council’s regular meeting was postponed because of inclement, wintry weather.

The meeting will be held in the Council

Chamber of City Hall.

Seating will be limited to an audience of 25 people, including city officials and employees, and those who attend must wear face masks.

Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer has asked council members who serve on city boards and commissions to provide reports on and share information about the respective board or commission on which they serve, the functions and roles of the groups, their regular meeting schedules and how residents can join a city board or commission if they are interested.

Council members Paul Choate and Dianne Hammond serve on the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission.

The commission’s seven-member makeup calls for two city council representatives, four representatives from the lodging, restaurant and tourism industries and one at-large member, per state law.

Council Members Vance Williamson and Billy Blann are part of the El Dorado Airport Commission and El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex Board, respectively.

In 2020, Council Member Andre Rucks volunteered for a seat on the El Dorado Parks and Playgrounds Commission after council members agreed to expand the commission from five to seven members.

Smith-Creer said she plans to schedule similar presentations next month with city boards and commissions that do not have representatives from the city council on their membership rosters.

The mayor has also asked City Attorney Henry Kinslow to discuss the process by which city ordinances are amended.

Smith-Creer and city council members have discussed the need to update and amend several city ordinances, noting that city employees and residents have also lodged complaints and requests about the matter.

The council is expected to continue discussions about renewals for some of the ground leases at the Downtown Airport on West Sharp.

Former Mayor Frank Hash, also a Downtown Airport lease holder, addressed the matter during the last regular city council meeting on Feb. 4, saying then that renewals had been presented for six lease holders in November.

However, Hash said he could not find any record in which the matter was discussed publicly and that city officials had not coordinated the changes with airport manager Mary Clapp or leaseholders.

Hash also noted that some of the new rates were increased “threefold.”

He said the leaseholders then worked with Clapp to come up with a new proposal to standardize some of the terms of the leases and clear up inconsistencies.

For instance, Hash noted that renewals are due at various times and lessees are proposing that the renewals come due at the start of the year to make bookkeeping easier for the city and the lessees.

Rates per square footage are another matter that the leaseholders were looking to square up, Hash told council members, noting rates vary per lease.

He said he had been asked to represent 11 leaseholders, including himself, and after considerable discussion, the council agreed to revisit the issue when Clapp could be present.

City Treasurer Trena Dean also pointed to some of the inconsistencies with existing leases, saying that some were 15 and 20 years old.

Dean also said a costof-living adjustment was applied to the rates after checking rates of other airports in the area.

She said the proposed amendments were previously presented to the council for consideration and the new leases were presented to the leaseholders.

Dean also said there was communication last spring with Clapp about the matter.

“She said she didn’t have anything to do with the leases. She never had anything to do with the leases, except her own lease,” said Dean.