Aragon still struggling with finances, filing system
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The City of Aragon is still struggling to get back on its feet following financial problems last year, and at least one of those issues remains in limbo according to Hal Kuhn, the city’s municipal clerk and financial officer.
During the city council’s work session on March 19 prior to their regular meeting, Kuhn reported to council members that the city is still struggling to re-establish their credit for the state’s purchasing card system - mainly to be used to order items from the internet.
Kuhn said in order to obtain the cards needed for the city to spend to get cheaper supplies online, Bank of America was requiring $3,000 set aside to cover any costs should the City of Aragon be unable to cover a bill.
The bank, Kuhh said, is still dragging its feet about whether Aragon’s credit is good enough to allow the city to have the purchasing card system.
“We’ve been in discussions with the state about the problem, and it seems they are still waiting for Bank of America to approve it,” he said. “It may not happen.”
As a temporary measure to ensure the city is saving money on items like office supplies, Kuhn told council members he’s been using his own personal card to make purchases online.
“We were using someone else’s before, and we’d prefer not to have to do it this way at all,” Kuhn said.
Though the city might be struggling to get one financial obstacle out of the way, the solution to another obstacle was approved by the council without objection.
Financial limits on what will require approval from the city council for purchases were unanimously voted on by council members, setting into place levels of spending that will require employees to go before the mayor and the council for approval before the money can be spent.
During the February meeting, council members debated on what amount of money would require their approval for purchases.
Spending under $100 will not require immediate permission from Kuhn or Suffridge, but levels of approval would be increased in graduations of $100.
Spending over $3,500 will immediately require a council vote, for instance.
Initially, city purchases and spending were changed in 2003, according to Mayor Ken Suffridge, following an update of the city charter in 2002.
However, it seems this update – along with other ordinances and codes – aren’t all together in one master book. Requirements dictate that ordinances be kept up and filed regularly as they pass, and updated in books for the council members, city attorney, employees and the mayor.
Suffridge and Kuhn said this hasn’t always been the case, and ordinances on the books have turned up misfiled, and in some cases in entirely different places.
Suffridge said following the meeting on March 20 the problem has been years in the making because of an inadequate filing procedure from previous city clerks.
Kuhn and Suffridge both said the problem is being resolved as the filing system is being cleaned up on a daily basis.
The problem reared its head during the work session when the council tried to discuss if appointments made to the Zoning Appeals Board – which has only met once in the past 3 years – had to be made of citizens of the city of Aragon, or could come from individuals who might be property owners, but not residents.
“We’re getting reorganized, and our folks are doing one heck of a job sorting through it all,” he said.
Praise for the Public Works department’s hard work during the February 25-26 snowstorm also came from Council member and mayor pro tem Curtis Burris, who said simply “you guys did the best you could with what you had available to you.”
He promised the council would do more to provide resources before next winter to give the Public Works department a chance to better clear streets in the area during winter weather events.