Caddo Valley council tackles dispatch contract, raises in lengthy agenda

Mayor Alan Dillavou said he knew from the beginning that the City Council would be in for a lengthy meeting Monday in City Hall, as one alderman questioned the minutes of the October meeting.
Shawn Cowart, while reviewing last month’s minutes, said he would like to revise a paragraph about the council’s discussion on the city’s personnel policy before making the record official. In the paragraph, Recorder/Treasurer Sarah Roberts wrote that Dillavou “falsely accused” her of deleting a paragraph from the personnel policy that had been adopted in 2000, and that she had purposely deleted the paragraph — “none of which is true.”
Roberts offered to play back the tape recorded at the last council meeting, but Dillavou insisted that the issue be tabled. “We’ve got a lot to talk about tonight,” he said. “I think we ought to wait until January, after we get the budget situated.”
The minutes did not pass.
Next, the council heard reports from the city’s court, water, police and fire department, as well as the advertising and promotion and planning commissions. Of those reports, Police Chief David Thomason asked the council to authorize the mayor to purchase some of the city’s new police cars. A total of $89,115 has been collected so far from the six-month sales tax for the four-car fleet. The tax ended in September, and the council should know by the December meeting how much total was collected.
Alderman Troy Mooney asked if there have been any police agencies show interest in buying the old cars. Dillavou said he is “pretty sure” the city has buyers for all of them, adding that Hot Spring County has shown interest in bidding. The council authorized Dillavou to purchase half of the fleet, which is expected to arrive within two weeks.
Though it was not included in the public’s packet, aldermen were able to view October’s monthly financial statement, an item they had requested to see days in advance to meeting. Cowart thanked Roberts for including the statements.

Water treatment plant?
Charles Summerford of Summerford Engineers spoke to the council next as per Dillavou’s request about the possibility of building a water treatment plant in the city. “We’ve come to the point we need to talk about this,” Dillavou said. “Arkadelphia has gone up 39 percent on water rates. We have to decide if we want to pay higher rates or build a treatment plant. It’s time for the council to decide if I should take on a project like this.”
Aldermen Dewey Russell and Tiffany Dunaway agreed that the city should look into the project.
Summerford said, “It appears, based on the rates today, that a penny sales tax would just about finance a treatment plant.” He estimated that Caddo Valley pulls 75 million gallons per year from Arkadelphia, and said there has been interest from Country Water to buy water from Caddo Valley if there were a plant.
He said such a project would take a “pretty significant amount” of time, but told aldermen, “I don’t want to discourage you about time” because the Arkansas Department of Rural Development “seems to have the funds available” to aid in the purchase of a study for the city. Studies would include, but not be limited to, an environmental assessment and a cultural resource study of the area where the plant would be located — most likely near Lower Lake.
He said that, if Caddo Valley made its own water, it could sell it for a rate of $1-1.25 per 1,000 gallons, but selling it at $1.50 per 1,000 gallons would “stabilize” the interest on financing the project.
The water in DeGray Lake is of “high quality,” he said. But there the low water discharge coming through the dam makes for lower oxygen levels, thus creating organics that are strictly monitored and regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Summerford said a plant would need a two-stage clarification, which would remove 65-70 percent of those organics, ahead of the filtering system. “If you do that, you would have a very high-quality water.”
The cost of such a project? Summerford estimated it would cost the city $40,000 for the engineering and the study, plus $3.25 million for the construction of a treatment plant. “Budget-wise, we’re talking $4 million.”
When asked how long the project would take, Summerford said that the environmental studies and legal work would alone take a “hard six months,” and the engineering report would take 60-90 days before construction could begin.
Aldermen and the mayor agreed to set up a Town Hall meeting in December to hear what city residents have to say about passing a tax for a water treatment plant.
Dillavou estimated that the city would collect about $15,000 from a penny sales tax, and the city has been collecting an average of $17,000 a month for the police cars.
Russell asked why the city could not just pull and treat water from DeGray. Summerford said piping it down to Caddo Valley would be costly, and added that Congress has made it near impossible to add anything to the lake.

Vacancy on Ward 1,
Position 2
Since Alderman Michelle Ware moved out of the city limits, Dillavou asked the council to declare a vacancy for the position. After the council declared the vacancy, he added that the council should wait until next month to fill it with an interim. “We’re trying to find somebody.”
After the meeting, former mayor Willard Thomason announced his candidacy for the position. Dillavou said he is one of three candidates, but did not say who the other two names are.

Old business
The council voted 5-0 to adopt Ordinance 2009-7, which establishes a minimum limit of $3,000 for listing fixed asset property belonging to the city.
Ordinance 2009-8, which amends the city’s zoning ordinance, was placed on its second reading.

Dispatch contract
Dillavou said he negotiated a contract with Arkadelphia to get a “pretty good deal for right now” for the city’s police dispatching contract. Caddo Valley had been paying $14,400 per year for dispatching services, but the Arkadelphia City Board of Directors recently voted to increase the price to $25,000 per year. Dillavou said he “met (them) in the middle” with the negotiation, making it $11,000 cheaper than what was originally asked for by Arkadelphia.
Thomason said, “I’ll be working toward something different for next year.” He said that, when the Caddo Valley Police Department had its own dispatcher, the agency was equipped with Arkansas Crime Information Center, which cost $600 per month alone. “In this situation, Arkadelphia will have to pay for it. That’s a good thing for us.” He noted that Arkadelphia has a “good dispatch system.”
Cowart asked if there was a reason for Arkadelphia increasing the rates. Dillavou said, “They didn’t tell me, but in the (Siftings) I read they based it on the number of calls” received from Caddo Valley. Dunaway said, “They say they’re losing money.”
Alderman Erik Edington said the city should sign the one-year contract, but look into other options for next year.
Cowart moved to enter into the contract, followed by a second from Russell. The motion carried.

2010 Budget
The proposed budget for next year is “not too much different” than the one passed for 2009, Dillavou said. Additions to the budget include $5,000 to help fund the first year’s operation of the Diamond Lakes Visitors Center, to be located in the old Elk Horn Bank branch in Caddo Valley. The city’s advertising and promotion commission is also on board to pitch in $5,000, also, said chair Jerry Walker.
Total projected sales tax revenue — $620,070 — did not change for 2010. Dillavou called it a “conservative budget.”
He also questioned a $3,000 mayor’s raise that was apparently added to the budget without his knowledge. “That’s too much.” The mayor’s salary was $11,330 in 2009, as opposed to the $17,330 for 2010. Earlier this year the council moved $3,000 from the water department to his salary, making it $14,330.
He also questioned a raise that was entered for Roberts, who said she was requesting a $2,898 raise. She said she is one of the lowest paid recorder/treasurers in the state compared to similar cities. When asked which cities she was referring to, she said Calion and Lakeview are the only other two cities in the state whose recorder/treasurer is paid a lower salary than she is. Dillavou said he would rather see water and police department employees get a 3 percent raise.
Much muffled discussion could be heard coming from the nine people in attendance.
Cowart said salaries should be frozen. Mooney said everyone in the city should receive the same cost of living raise.
Roberts questioned the salary of the city’s office manager, who has been there six months and makes $23,760 per year.
Other raises talked about included those of the court clerk, deputy court clerk, police and firefighters.
There was much discussion about giving employee raises. Speaking on behalf of the police force, Thomason noted that, at any given time, there are 20,000 people in Caddo Valley in the hotels, on the interstate or in the restaurants. Based on one tenant per room, there are 93,000 hotel rooms rented per year in Caddo Valley.
Dillavou noted that the water department is doing better than it was six months ago, since the hiring of Wayne Morthis.
Also, the fire chief’s salary is set at $6,000 — and he does not get paid for runs. The part-time fireman’s salary is $3,500, but he gets paid for runs, thus making his salary higher than the fire chief’s. This issue was brought up by Stan Roberson, former fire chief, who was in attendance. Dillavou suggested that all fire department administrators receive a 3 percent raise, and that the fire chief get paid for runs as well.
It remained unclear who all received raises. Roberts’ request was not mentioned again.
The council is expected to have a final budget by next month’s meeting.