Alexander council meeting dedicated to passing ordinances

The Alexander City Council approved five ordinances during its Monday (July 20) meeting and was still able to complete city business in under an hour. Aside from one new ordinance the other four involve replacing existing ordinances.

One of the existing ordinances was just approved last month. During the June meeting an anti-noise ordinance was passed. Unfortunately, it included an error that established quiet time from, “6 AM to Midnight on Friday and Saturday.” It should have been, “Midnight to 6 AM Friday and Saturday.” See previous article here.

At the June meeting Council Member Harold Timmerman brought up the suspicious looking time frame but Mayor Paul Mitchell said Police Chief Robert Burnett approved the ordinance. At the recent July meeting Mitchell said the ordinance was needed to deal with the upcoming July Fourth Holiday. He added once the error was recognized the Friday and Saturday portion of the ordinance was not enforced during this past month.

Three of the ordinances approved Monday night involve permit fees for building/construction. Two of them rescind a 2016 ordinance and another that predates 2016 but can’t be located. Since the 2016 ordinance references the older ordinance both were repealed.

The new ordinance covers permit fees for building/construction and setup fees for manufactured housing. Until now the fees were established by two ordinances. The Alexander Planning Commission is working on a revised version of the manufactured housing ordinance, which will not include fees.

Finally, council members approved an ordinance which establishes, “Proliant, Inc. for city payroll process and tax filing.” The city is already using Proliant, but according to Mitchell a state auditor says Alexander should have an ordinance establishing the city doing business with Proliant.

Speaking of auditors, the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit has begun the required annual audit of the City of Alexander for the budget year 2019. Council members were provided a copy of the “Engagement Letter” sent to the city. The letter states, “We will perform certain limited procedures with respect to cash basis financial information and compliance with certain state laws and accepted accounting practices… .” The ordinance with Proliant is just one example of what might develop during an audit.

At the end of the meeting Mayor Mitchell announced the latest sales tax receipts are up around $30,000 over last year. Mitchell added it’s unknown if the increase is due to the reopening of the state or the medical marijuana dispensary, which opened earlier this year before the coronavirus pandemic.

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council will be held Monday, August 17 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.