Alexander Council approves "Note" method to purchase fire truck

Editor's Note: Portions of this article may contain what could appear to be commentary by the reporter.

The Alexander City Council approved establishing a "Franchise Fee Revenue Note" in the amount of $511,607.00 to be used to purchase a new fire truck. The "Note" will allow the city to receive a 10-year "Loan" from First Security Bank at an interest rate of 5.95-percent per annum.

Alexander is using the annual franchise fee, received from Entergy, essentially as collateral to guarantee the annual payment. The first payment isn't due until August, 2024. The final maturity date is August 16, 2033.

The annual payments will actually come from two sources. One is the ACT 833 funds, which the State gives to fire departments annually to buy equipment they may not be able to afford normally. Last year the amount received by Alexander was $26,754.00. The second source, according to Fire Chief Ryan McCormick, will be funds not spent to repair the old fire trucks.

"Between 2020 and 2022, we spent $252,000.00 on general maintenance of our firetrucks," McCormick said at a special council meeting held June 5. "Just last year, we spent $135,000, ... on just maintenance and trying to keep our fire trucks moving."

At the regular July 17 council meeting McCormick told council members he's already saving up to make the first payment due in 2024. The annual payments were originally estimated at around $74,000.00.

The loan is less than the purchase price of the fire truck. The actual cost of the demo 2023 E-One Rescue Pumper is $582,607.00. One of the fire trucks has already been sold for $90,000.00. After deducting the 10-percent dealer's fee that left $81,000.00 as a down payment, reducing the purchase price of the truck to $501,607.00.

The truck comes without hoses and other necessary equipment. Those needed items will be cannibalized from the other remaining fire truck, which will be sold later.

The Process:

During the special council meeting held June 5, with Mayor Crystal Herrmann breaking the tie vote, the purchase of the firetruck was approved through the use of a ten-year loan. According to sources, when attempting to process the loan with Government Capital Corporation, city officials were told Arkansas only allows a maximum of five years on loans. That limit is established in Amendment-78 of the Arkansas Constitution.

The method being employed now is state law based on Amendment-65. This amendment allows for the issuance of bonds with a longer time period of repayment.

Essentially state law requires two steps. First there must be a public hearing advertised "in a newspaper of general circulation" within the city. After the public hearing the ordinance can be read and approved.

Unless you are an avid reader of the legal section of the paper version of the Saline Courier, or you were told by someone who knew the public hearing would be held during the city council's regular July meeting, you were the only persons who were aware of the scheduled public hearing.

The hearing was not listed on the agenda, which was sent out prior to the meeting. That portion of the agenda was listed as, "Finalization of Loan for Fire Truck."

Since Council Member Joy Gray is responsible for writing the agenda, she obviously wasn't told about the public hearing. Which means everyone being sent the agenda, including council members and The Alexandrian, didn't know about the public hearing.

Council members learned about the public hearing after being told by Attorney John Bryant. Bryant is with the law firm Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. of Little Rock, who was hired as the bond counsel.

No one on the council made a motion to add the public hearing to the agenda. Instead, there was a motion, a second and a voice vote to go out of the regular meeting and begin the public hearing. After its conclusion there was a motion, a second and voice vote to end the public hearing and return to the regular meeting.

The council then proceeded to vote on the ordinance, which authorizes the issuance of a "Revenue Note." Under state law it is required an ordinance be read completely at the first of the three required public meetings. At the second and third meetings the ordinance can be read by title if approved by the council. The second and third readings can also be suspended following the first reading, if approved by a two-thirds vote of the council.

That's not exactly what happened. There was not a full reading of the five-page ordinance. Instead, Gray made a motion to approve the ordinance with the title, "AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF $511,607 CITY OF ALEXANDER, ARKANSAS FRANCHISE FEE REVENUE NOTE, SERIES 2023 FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE COST OF ACQUIRING AND EQUIPPING A FIRE TRUCK FOR USE BY THE CITY’S FIRE DEPARTMENT AND PAYING COSTS INCIDENTAL THERETO; PROVIDING FOR THE SECURITY FOR AND THE PAYMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF AND INTEREST ON THE NOTE; PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS RELATING THERETO; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY," included in the motion. She then made two separate motions to suspend the second and third readings. Both of those passed with the required two-thirds vote. She then made a motion to accept the Emergency Clause, without reading it out loud. That also passed by the required two-thirds vote.

Fortunately, there were six of the eight council members present, which made the two-thirds necessary to perform the legal gymnastics required to get all of this done in one meeting. Council members present were Joy Gray, Gina Thomas Littlejohn, Joe Pollard, Mitchell W. Smith, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson. Absent were Angela Griffin and Tony Staton.

Apparently, Alexander now owns a new fire truck.

Other actions at the regular July meeting were:

Another park grant

Mayor Crystal Herrmann presented a resolution to council members for the city to apply for a Trails for Life grant to develop a "Health and Fitness project" in the city park. The grant is provided by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Alexander Park Trail Site Plan

The site of the proposed one-eighth mile trail is encircling the playground equipment. That location is on land already owned by the city.

The estimated cost is $89,040.00. The cost includes the six-foot wide trail, benches and engineering design. The grant will cover 100-percent of the cost.

The resolution was approved by a unanimous voice vote without being read. It was then read to the assembled masses by City Recorder Sharon Bankhead. Then, it was voted on a second time and passed again.

This is the second grant application involving the park. The first will replace the aging playground equipment.

Council Member Joy Gray works for the state and explained that while she does dispense the money for this grant, she is not part of the decision-making process.

"I'm just the dispenser of the funds to the State Parks and Tourism Program," Gray said. "So I oversee the tobacco funds. Tobacco funds are funding this project and then they will go to, I dispense the funds to the parks, but I'm not on the selection committee. I don't have anything to do with that, but I want to be transparent that I'm the fiduciary starting point for the money. But once it leaves my hands, I don't have any decision-making process on that."

Saline County Detention Cost Sharing Agreement estimates

Mayor Herrmann presented a cost analysis to council members concerning the housing of city inmates at the Saline County Jail. The estimate for the current 2023 fiscal year is $20,763.00. The estimate for the 2024 fiscal year is $30,334.18.

Police Department Report

Police Chief Robert Burnett reported what amounted to a quiet July 4th.

"We'll say the 4th of July went over better this year than it has in many, many years," Burnett said. "Kind of took a new strategy. Added a lot more patrols."

Burnett reported, "321 citations issued. That's also with warnings and warrants included in that. The court brought in about 33,000 (dollars)."

Fire Department Report

"During the past month we had 51 emergency calls," Fire Chief Ryan McCormick said. "During that same time period we started testing our fire hose. It hasn't been tested since 2017. We've tested a little over 5,000 feet of hose."

"So we only lost, that failed about 400 feet and we have extra in order to take care of the stuff that failed," he continued. "So, we still have one more, another 3,000 feet to do. And, we'll be working on that coming up the next week to finish all of that."

Ending his report McCormick said, "We'll also start on our hires and start testing hires."

Streets and Parks Department Report

Mayor Herrmann reported that Streets and Parks Department Superintendent David Durham was out sick. He apparently sent his report out by E-mail to council members.

Obviously the weather has kept paving crews from starting on the overlay project of selected city streets. Anyone driving around the city has noticed culverts being replaced in preparation for them to be repaved.

Financial Report

"Just for the record, the reports are in your mailbox in front (inside city hall)," City Treasurer JoAn Churchill said to council members. "And if you have any questions, please let me know."

History Lesson:

For those who have only been paying attention since January 1, 2023; in the past, meeting packets were made up for all council members, the mayor and the press complete with all documents pertaining to the meeting. For some reason that practice has stopped. Everyone must now get those items from their respective mail boxes.

Mayor's Report

* Mayor Herrmann reported on a clinic concerning changes in Medicaid/Medicare sponsored by the Saline County Library.

"There's a group clinic for the Medicaid/Medicare changes that are coming," Herrmann said. "We are scheduled to have a clinic for August 29th."

"I will update the public with narrow down times on it's a walk-in clinic," she continued. "So if anybody is on these programs and they have the changes, they don't understand the changes, then there will be assistance here and they can assist and walk people through the system changing."

"They said it's pretty radical and it's going to affect a lot of people," Herrmann said. "The air conditioner is out at the community center. So we will be holding it here (city hall) on August 29th. They're supposed to send some documentations and posters so I'll be shooting that out on my Facebook and to the public."

* Alexander is next inline for the Saline County Library Book Walk.

"We're waiting in line behind the East End Park," she said. "Once the book walk is complete there, they'll move it to our city park. I'll post it as well when it gets out there."

* "I also have very exciting news," Herrmann announced. "We do qualify for the Brownfields Grant as far as the Human Development Center (Former Hospital Building). We will be working on phase one."

"We have an application that we're filling out," she continued. "Police Chief (Robert Burnett) helped me work on that today. He actually, he worked there some years ago, 20-something years ago. So he was able to help me fill in some voids."

"We'll get that sent off. Once we get an acceptance letter back, they'll come in and do a full assessment. And then they'll give us a report and let us know where we're at with the hazards."

"So they'll check the asbestos and mold and all of that," Herrmann said. "And apparently there's some tanks and stuff out on the property as well that they'll have to investigate as far as hazardous disposal."

"So it's pretty exciting," she said. "It'll be a long process, but it'll be good for the city."

The grant program is funded by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the EPA website, "A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant."

* Herrmann then moved on to animal control.

"Police chief and I have been working with," Herrmann began. "We might have a proposal next council meeting for maybe the dog solution with some animal control."

"We're hoping to put a decent package together for y 'all's review and hopefully we can take deep consideration in it," she said. "I know it's something that we struggle with. We get a lot of calls on."

"I went to the regional animal control board meeting this previous week," Herrmann said. "And it is a slow go. It is in the start of things. They don't even have a property picked out."

"They're not 100% sure what city it's going to be in or how it's going to work. So they started a board for working through all those details. So it could be five, six years before regional animal control shelters built."

"So I think now's a good time for us to at least move on to see if we can come up with a good package to take care of ourselves until something might come up that would benefit the city as a group with the county," she concluded.

Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, August 21, 6:00PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Only four items on Alexander Council agenda

Unlike agendas during the first half of 2023, the July agenda for the Alexander City Council is comparatively light. There is only one item under Old Business and three under New Business.

Under Old Business, "LOPFI paperwork completion." LOPFI is the acronym for Local Police and Fire Retirement System.

Under New business, items listed are, "Park Grant, Saline County Detention Cost Sharing Agreement and Finalization of Loan for Fire Truck."

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is this Monday, July 17, 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

No Deed, No Fountain!

Anyone planning to have wedding photos taken in front of the water fountain in Alexander City Park any time this year may want to make alternate plans. Mayor Crystal Herrmann, and some members of the city council, aren't willing to have the fountain repaired until they have a deed in-hand for that end of the park where the fountain is located. This despite being told, by both the attorney hired to file the claim of eminent domain and the judge who issued an early ruling, Alexander has the authority to make necessary repairs on the property that makes up the eastern end of the city park.

"I haven't heard from Ms. Lana Fraser," Herrmann said. "I am still under the impression that that is still going through the court process."

Herrmann then asked Council Member Juanita Wilson if she had any information on the proceedings.

Wilson reported that the two required legal notices announcing Alexander's filing of a, "Complaint in eminent domain" against the property and its owner was published in the Saline Courier. According to a receipt from the Saline Courier, posted on the website Arkansas Judiciary, the legal notice was published on May 27 and June 3.

The publication of a "Warning Order" is a legal requirement to publicly notify, "Any persons or entities claiming an interest in, or ownership of certain lands as described and located in Saline County, Arkansas, are hereby warned to appear in the Circuit Court of Saline County, Arkansas, within thirty (30) days of the date of first publication of this Warning Order and answer the Complaint of Plaintiff, City of Alexander, which has condemned the following described land." The legal notice provides the parcel number, address and legal description of the property. It also names, "David Jacks (AND ALL OTHER HEIRS AND INTERESTED PARTIES)" as potential individuals who may want to make a claim. June 26 was the end of the 30-day limit.

One of the concerns was repairing the fountain and then Jacks would sell the property before the judge would make a final ruling.

"It's hard to stop them from selling anything (because of the published notice), so the property is legally ours," Wilson said.

Herrmann asked, "Is it in our name?"

"It's not in our name," Wilson responded. "It may take six months to get in our name, but we can go ahead and do what we're supposed to do."

"I would prefer to table this until it's legally in our name," Herrmann said.

"I would prefer for us not to," Wilson replied. "I'll make a motion that we go ahead and accept the McElroy bid and do the fountain in the park."

Council Member Harold Timmerman seconded the motion.

"I have two other bids for us to review," Herrmann said. "I just haven't brought it to council yet."

"Too bad," Wilson said. "The one you gave us was a 14 day bid and it didn't give a guarantee."

The discussion of who will repair the fountain goes back to the April 17 council meeting. Apparently, finding someone in Arkansas who works with marble, can make it waterproof, is able to work on a fountain, and will come to this part of Arkansas is not easy. The fountain must be disassembled, the plumbing repairs made and then reassembled making it watertight.

At the April 17 meeting Wilson said she and council members Harold Timmerman and Tony Staton contacted several marble installers and only one is equipped to repair a marble water fountain.

"And basically, there are a lot of people that install marble and tiles but not a lot of people that repair something like that (fountain)," Wilson said.

McElroy Tops and Floors from Benton submitted a bid of $47,000.00. Wilson said that does not include the cost of materials. The city will buy that separately and pocket the contractor's discount. The bid does include outsourcing the heavy lifting to the Alexander Street and Parks Department, which cuts down on some of the labors costs. Herrmann said she wanted to find two more bids that will provide the three bids necessary for a project like this.

"So we have a motion and a second on the table," Wilson said.

"We do have two other contractors that both had...," Herrmann began.

"We've been dealing with this long enough," Timmerman said. "We get a lot of complaints because that fountain is not running."

"We're getting complaints from people who live here," Wilson chimed in. "So we have made a motion and a second. We need to vote on it."

"So the city of Alexander has already been dinged on one audit that the city had spent money on the property without it being in our name," Herrmann reminded everyone. "I would ask that y'all take a moment and actually think about it. It's not that much longer. Let's let the city get it legally in our name before we spend money on it. Because I am opposed to it until it is in our name. The city of Alexander has been dinged already for spending money on that property without it being in its name."

"I have a question," said Council Member Joy Gray. "Is there any way to expedite the process?"

"I have not really been involved in this part," said newly hired City Attorney Caleb Conrad. "I will check on the deed and the process of getting the name over."

"It needs to get done, it needs to happen," Gray said. "We all in good faith believed, I'll make a record of saying that, when we made those changes to the park, despite what was said during the election and what we all got from it and the buzz forums on social media, we believed that we owned that park and we had three or four different documents legally stating that."

"It just was when some other survey happened then it came out, oh we didn't actually own it," Gray continued. "So we weren't illegally, after willy-nilly just doing stuff, we genuinely thought we owned it."

"But I don't want to rinse and repeat a scenario now and do it again," Gray said. "I want to get this done, I want to get this over with, but if we could expedite this process, that would be a question I would have before I vote."

Conrad said he will research how much longer the process will take and if there is a way to expedite the issuance of a deed.

The "other survey" Gray refers to involved property that runs along side the western end of the park. According to former Mayor Paul Mitchell, a resident was claiming his property extended 30-feet inside the park. Mitchell had a survey done showing the resident's property line was not 30-feet inside the park. It also showed the eastern end of the park was not owned by the city.

According to The Alexandrian archives, at the November 20, 2017 council meeting the Alexander City Council approved the purchase and installation of the gazebo not to exceed $60,000. At a March 5, 2018 special council meeting, council members approved $55,000 for the park fountain. During an April 16, 2018 meeting the council accepted a quote to light pathway’s in the city park from Alliance Electrical Services for $50,977.29.

The city had been mowing the grass on the eastern parcel for many years. As far as anyone knew it was city property.

When the ownership of the eastern end of the park came into question, some time in 2019 or early 2020, Mitchell halted all additional planned improvements and large maintenance projects to the park, except for mowing the grass. The Parks and Recreation Fund derives its revenue from a quarter-cent of one of the city's three one-cent sales taxes. Not knowing what settling this legal issue will cost Mitchell did not want to draw down the fund until this is settled.

Mitchell had two appraisals done on the property. The appraisals were based on the value of the property prior to the improvements, plus the added disadvantage of being located in a flood area. Before leaving office at the end of 2022, Mitchell offered Jacks $68,000 based on the two appraisals.

Those council members in favor of repairing the fountain as soon as possible have held this position since the judge's ruling made after the city filed for eminent domain in March. According to the filing posted on Arkansas Judicial, Judge Brent D. Houston, 22nd Circuit, Division 3, ruling states, "After the City deposits $68,000 into the registry of the Court, the City and its agents or contractors may take immediate possession of the property described in the City of Alexander’s Complaint filed on March 22, 2023, and may enter upon the lands in controversy and proceed with its operation, construction, maintenance, and ensure safety for the public park. Ark. Code Ann. §18-15-303(b)(2)."

Jacks did file a response to the legal notice with the court June 12, 2023. This is the first response from Jacks since a court summons was issued on March 22 informing him the eminent domain suit was filed. Jacks was given 30 to 60 days to respond. May 22 was the 60-day mark.

His June 12 response is essentially the same demands reported to council members at their March 20 council meeting by Attorney Lana Fraser. Fraser is with the James Law Firm in Little Rock and was the city attorney before joining the law firm.

Jacks is asking, "[T]o be reimbursed rent in the amount of forty thousand ($40,000.00) for the period of time of unlawful entry and use of land. The Defendant furthermore request that court awards him the value of described land in the amount of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars ($120,000.00). Plus the value of improvements in the amount of one hundred ten thousand two hundred and forty-seven dollars ($110,247.00) [sic] With the sum total of two hundred seventy thousand two hundred and forty-seven dollars ($270,247.00) be awarded to The Defendant for compensation of rent and the value of property."

During the March 20 meeting Fraser said Jacks is claiming the "Lease Agreement" was for $2,000 a month and is attempting to claim a breach of contract.

"That lease would have to be in writing," Fraser continued. "I don't think that any court would find that there is a valid contract ever between the City of Alexander and Mr. Jacks ..., because that agreement was not in writing."

Fraser also said there's no evidence of a verbal lease agreement.

The motion to repair the fountain failed five to three. Voting "No" were Joy Gray, Angela Griffin, Joe Pollard, Mitchell W. Smith, and Gina Thomas-Littlejohn. Voting "Yes" were Tony Staton, Harold Timmerman and Juanita Wilson.

Also at the June 19 council meeting:

Three Old Business spending items cleared out

Now that financial statements are once again available, the council was able to approve some overdue spending issues. The council unanimously approved installing a fire alarm system in city hall, install a new metal roof on the building at the former Human Development Center (which will house the police department once repairs are completed) and repair the street department generator.

Change to retirement system approved

The Alexander City Council passed an ordinance that adjusts the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System (LOPFI) payments to "not carry over" into Social Security. This change allows LOPFI members to retire under LOPFI rules instead of Social Security rules.

Read-Only for the Mayor

In a seven to one vote, the council gave Mayor Crystal Herrmann permission to be setup with read-only access to the city's bank accounts. The lone "No" vote was cast by Council Member Juanita Wilson. Voting "Yes" were Joy Gray, Angela Griffin, Joe Pollard, Mitchell W. Smith, Gina R Thomas, Tony Staton, and Harold Timmerman. Herrmann is also not permitted to sign checks.

Police Department Report

Police Chief Robert Burnett reported the court brought in $26,548.00 in May.

"I think all the new (police) cars are here," he added.

Fire Department Report

"Fire department has been active in the community," Fire Chief Ryan McCormick said. "We've done some, several [sic] PR events."

He reported, "55 calls of service," for May, which included, "[H]ouse fires and medical calls."

"So, the guys are continuing to help do some remodeling (of) the fire station and building a couple of offices that we're finally getting your transition from upstairs to downstairs," McCormick said.

Streets and Parks Department Report

Streets and Parks Department Superintendent David Durham reported that construction signs have been posted at streets to be paved. The overlay project is funded by the Arkansas Department of Transportation's grant program to improve city and county streets and roads. Durham said work should begin after July 4.

Financial Report

"What you'll find in your box today is the general fund, the police fund, the fire fund, reports, the, street, parks, payroll, and the police reserve fund," City Treasurer JoAn Churchill said to begin her monthly report. "And, there's a great deal of clean up that has to be done on them."

Churchill handed out a financial report on the city's Sales and Use Taxes (SUT). Alexander has three one-cent sales taxes. Churchill noted because each tax was approved in a separate election the state deposits them into the city general fund and reports on them separately.

"There's a great deal of clean up that has to be done on the financial reports for the different departments," she continued. "And, I hope to have the (budget) amendment done for this year by August at the latest."

Mayor's Report

"I went to a workshop for the Brownfields Grant, which is a grant that would give us an opportunity to tear down the old Human Development Center Hospital," Mayor Crystal Herrmann began. "We do qualify. We'll have to go through a testing process and hopefully in the next month, I'll have an update on that."

The grant program is funded by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the EPA website, "A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant."

In the case of the hospital, at the former Human Development Center along Highway 111, the contaminant is asbestos. The property was deeded to Alexander by the state, which now wants to develop it into a retail/commercial center.

"We have the Saline County Library coming over," she continued. "They didn't get to make it to the June for the book walk, but we should have that installed for July."

Herrmann is trying to schedule clinics for local residents. One with Medicaid the other for hearing test.

The Medicaid system provides an, "[E]ducation clinic that I'm hoping to get possibly to set up [at] the community center, give people an opportunity to be educated on the changes that are coming and the resources they can look at," Herrmann said.

"And, we also met with a hearing clinic, a mobile hearing clinic, she continued. "So hopefully in the near future we can make arrangements for that while the kids are out of school."

"We have our grant package that we're working on as far as the FUN Park," Herrmann said.

At the May 15 council meeting council members approved a resolution allowing Mayor Herrmann to apply for a FUN Park grant. The FUN Park grant is provided by the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. It funds 100-percent of a project with no matching funds needed by the city. The grant will be used to replace the playground equipment in the City Park.

Herrmann said she wants to schedule a "city volunteer cleanup day." Further details to come later.

She also reported the state auditors have arrived and have begun the annual city audit.

Planning Commission Report

Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck says a new church is coming to Alexander. The Bryant Church of Christ has purchased the property at 100 Cornerstone Road. It's at the corner of Cornerstone and Highway 111 across from the Circle K (formerly Big Red). The church is currently located at 9500 Highway 5.

Huck said church officials are in the process of drawing up construction plans. They have to be brought to the planning commission for review.

Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, July 17, 6:00PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.