Council purchases utility billing software
GENTRY — The city council approved a resolution authorizing the city to purchase new utility billing software at its Sept. 9 meeting in Gentry’s council chambers. The resolution authorized the city to enter into a sales agreement with Continental Utility Solutions Inc. for the software and related hardware, as well as setup and training, to run the system, at a cost of $28,700.
In addition to streamlining the city’s billing process for water, sewer and possibly other utilities, the system will also provide a customer portal allowing for customers to view bills and usage details and to pay city utility bills online.
The council approved an ordinance, on three readings with a single vote, to amend zoning for Julian and Roxanne Goslee of part of their land at Dawn Hill East Road and Ozark Valley Lane from R-1 (low-density residential) to R-2 (medium-density residential).
A resolution was approved authorizing the mayor to sign a memorandum of understanding with Washington County, Arkansas, which will allow the city to make use of the new Northwest Arkansas Crisis Stabilization Unit in cases where it is deemed appropriate. The agreement will allow police, under certain circumstances, to transport individuals to the Crisis Stabilization Unit rather than to jail. The unit is designed to keep people out of jail by offering mental health and co-occurring substance abuse treatment. The facility will only accept individuals who are being charged with less than felonies, and the maximum stay is 96 hours. Cost to use the facility is $40 per day per person, but the city will not be charged for use in 2019.
Also approved by the council was a resolution terminating the city’s retirement plan with Nationwide Insurance Company. The city had only one employee in the plan, with others enrolled in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System. The action will allow the employee to move his retirement funds out of the old program.
Catherine Baker, counsel for the Northwest Arkansas Development District, addressed the council regarding the possibility of applying for a Community Development Block Grant which could pay as much as $250,000 toward a community project or up to $1 million toward a water project. She said the overall economic status of city residents qualified the city to apply for the grant. The grants are 100 percent funded and require no match on the part of cities, she said.
Baker said there is a March deadline to apply for the grants and that the city would have to pass five resolutions to be eligible to apply. She also said the city could reapply for a grant if it is denied in the first year and that often such grants are approved in the second application round.
Kevin Johnston, Gentry’s mayor, said he would be bringing back possible projects to the council for consideration as grant projects in the near future.
Johnston reported that the city was ready, within days, to send final plans for the Dawn Hill East bridge to the Arkansas Department of Transportation for approval. Once approved, a bid package can be prepared and advertised. He said utilities are being moved and the project is finally getting close to the construction phase.
He said at earlier meetings that approval of the final plans, once they are submitted, was expected to take about 14 days and that the bid process (after final plans are approved) would take 75 days and the construction 150 days.
He said Simmons Foods was moving forward with plans for its own water storage facility, which means the city could also move forward with its own water storage facility plans but on a much smaller and less expensive scale. He said he was working with Garver Engineering firm on plans and estimated the water tank would only need to hold 650,000 to 750,000 gallons in capacity and only be 100 to 120 feet tall.
Johnston said Simmons Foods would be moving Decatur employees into the new plant next month and hoped to be fully operational there by Jan. 1, 2020.
He reported closing on the purchase of Larsen property and plans to close on the purchase of Gee property within a week or two.
In July the council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to negotiate a purchase contract for 4.35 acres of land (currently three parcels owned by Larsen Revocable Trust to the east of the current Flint Creek Nature Park to extend the park to the land owned by the Arkansas State Highway Commission along Arkansas Highway 59 on both sides of Flint Creek, as well as a .11-acre parcel along Dawn Hill East Road at the west side of the Highway 59 and Dawn Hill East intersection. The land also takes in a spring-fed pond on the west side of the highway.)
The resolution authorized the land transaction at a purchase price not to exceed $45,000, to come out of the city’s general funds.
The second purchase, approved in July, includes two parcels (totaling less than .4-acres of land) along Dawn Hill East Road belonging to Edward Gee. The land purchase is to improve drainage along Dawn Hill East Road just west of the Highway 59 intersection. The resolution allowed the mayor to negotiate for the purchase at a price not to exceed $80,000, to come out of the city’s street department funds.
Johnston said the city is waiting on ArDOT for its 2019 street project and would pave 2 1/2 miles of streets if all the preliminary work is complete. He said, since the city-paid portion of the project is paid last, any paving work for streets not ready could be held over and completed by the city next year.