Council questions agreement on land in industrial park
Water improvement study approved
Council members voiced concerns over several items on Tuesday night’s Forrest City City Council meeting agenda.
One item, a possible land sale agreement between the city and Michael and Janet Hinkle, was tabled due to council members wanting more information.
The possible agreement shows that the city would honor a previously existing agreement with the Forrest City Industrial Development Corporation if the FCIDC sold its land to the Hinkles.
According to Edward Gregory, director of the city’s water department, in 1973, the FCIDC agreed to let the city buy plots of land for wells to be dug so long as the city agreed the land would be returned to the corporation if the city abandoned the wells or the wells dried up.
Gregory explained that in 2013, the Hinkles purchased land from the FCIDC where four wells were located, with one of those abandoned. He said at that time, city officials signed the same land agreement with the Hinkles that shows the city would honor the same agreement it had with them as it had with the FCIDC.
"Well 1 is already abandoned," said Gregory of the original land agreement. “The other wells on that land are working."
Gregory told the council that the Hinkles are looking to purchase an additional 15.85 acre tract of land from FCIDC and needs the same paperwork they had from 2013 due to two city wells being located on the land.
"What they are wanting is the same agreement, in writing, stating if the wells are ever abandoned he would get the land he invested in back again," said Gregory.
"This new agreement is worded the exact same as it was in 2013. Just the land tract and dates have changed," Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams explained.
Metcalf said he wanted to see the 2013 agreement before proceeding with the matter.
Williams pulled the 2013 agreement up on his phone and read the names of those who signed the agreement at that time, which included the Hinkles, Christy Keown, Craig Gatling, Larry Bryant and Derene Cochran.
Metcalf said he felt the city didn't need to be involved in the purchase between the FCIDC and the Hinkles.
"Why are we getting in the middle?" asked Metcalf.
"FCIDC owns it right now, and the city has an agreement with them regarding wells. FCIDC is entering into another sale with separate property," explained Williams. "Mr. Hinkle wants that same assurance."
"So, if Hinkle buys the property and there are two wells sitting on it, he can't force us to get rid of the wells?" asked councilman Chris Oswalt, to which Gregory said he could not.
"I would like to see what they did in 2013," said council member Louise Fields, before making a motion to table the matter until the next council meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 16.
Williams had the 2013 agreement printed as well as a map showing the parcels in question before the end of the meeting.
Another item that drew a lot of questions from the council was permission for the city to enter into a professional services agreement for a water system improvement study.
Keith Britton, president of Iconic Consulting Group, Inc., also introduced Paul Strickland, from Garver and Garver, whose company has worked on Forrest City water projects previously and has a lot of experience with different areas of water treatment.
Metcalf asked Britton a number of questions about items in the agreement he was unclear on, including consultant's equitable costs, soliciting consultant personnel and subconsultant information.
Metcalf said he is concerned the city would be held to higher costs than agreed upon.
"If we go outside this agreement we have to come to the city to request supplemental items to this contract," said Britton. "It doesn't give us carte blanche for changes."
Britton also explained that the solicitation clause is in the agreement to prevent the city from soliciting his personnel to come work for the city. "Basically, I don't want Mayor Williams to take my employees," explained Britton. "If my employees leave,
they cannot come to work for the city for a year."
"It is similar to a non-compete clause," said Williams.
Capps asked what percentage of the bond issue Garver and Garver would be getting paid, to which Strickland responded the company does not work on percentages.
"We do man-hour estimates and submit those," said Strickland.
Questioning from the council also included how many people were employed at each company and how many would be working on the project. Britton said two to three people from Iconic would be working on the project and up to four from Garver and Garver.
"These sorts of collaborative efforts are not not uncommon for projects such as this," said Britton.
"So we need this to go after Arkansas Natural Resource Commission money?" asked councilman Chris Oswalt.
"Yes this is one of their checklist items," said Britton.
"It also helps with other grant opportunities," added Williams.
When put to vote, the council voted unanimously to approve the study. Councilman Jason Evansingston was not in attendance.
Council members also questioned a proposal to enter into a service line warranty program with the National League of Cities.
During a previous meeting, the council heard from Emilie Zalfini, regional water team director with the NLC, about the benefits of the line warranty program that offers residents an optional additional fee on their water bills to help cover up to $8,500 for broken or leaking outside water and sewer lines on property owner sides of lines.
The Arkansas Municipal League-approved program helps and educates homeowners about their service line responsibilities and offers affordable protection from unanticipated service line repair costs, according to a letter from Mark Hayes, executive director with the Municipal League.
Williams provided copies of this letter as well as printouts of a presentation from Zalfini and a marketing agreement for the city and NCL.
"In the last meeting, I asked was this a third-party agreement that we'd be getting ourselves into,” said Metcalf.
Metcalf also questioned the use of the city's logo on the NCL's marketing items.
"That is for sending out different programs with our logo, but it is up to the homeowners to purchase those plans," said Williams.
"We don't have a real educated society here. They may think they are obligated to get this to keep their services on," said Metcalf. "The bang is not there for the buck."
"This has been done in 18 other cities," explained Williams of the service that does not cost the city anything. "Other cities say it helps reduce homeowner frustration when repairs are on the homeowner's side of the lines."
"I think the water department does a good job when you call them to determine who's responsible," said Metcalf.
Councilman Ronald Williams compared the service to appliance service agreements and asked if that was a correct comparison, to which the mayor said it is.
"I think the citizens should be offered the opportunity to have this extra security at their house if they are interested in it," said Councilman Danny Capps.
When put to vote, Metcalf and Fields voted against the agreement.
In other business, the city also approved property liens for 1110 Center Street, 2316 Fernwood, 531 Dr. Martin Luther King, 423 C Street, 219 W. St. Andrews, 800 Oakland, 208 W. South, 1917 Peevey, 315 Oak, 526 C Street, 420 D Street, 1935 Ellis, 300 Rolf, 900 Victor, 816 Center, 508 E. Scott, 402 E. South, 2030 Dell, 420 E. Sharpe, 1924 Crawford and 215 Tennessee St.
The council also agreed to pay bills in the amount of $26,831.73 from general, $9,840 from street, $21,675.72 from solid waste and $78,701.56 from water.
The council also heard a second reading for an ordinance to adopt electronic banking, electronic commerce and other electronic transfer of funds practices that is needed for the city to begin to accept payments electronically as required by the state.
The council met in executive session for just over an hour to discuss personnel, but no action was taken when the meeting was reconvened.