Board of Mayor and Aldermen
December 14th, 2023
Linda Silver was the only alderman absent from the last meeting of the year. (I was also absent and watched the meeting online. It can be found here.) The proclamation made was for Shaylee Keith who won the “Mayor for a Day” contest.
9. Public Comment No one spoke.
10. Public Hearings a. Ordinance 23-19: An ordinance deleting the Municipal Code Title 2, Chapter 3 Cemetery Board of Trustees. No one spoke.
11. Communication from Mayor, Aldermen, City Attorney, and City Administrator Alderman Wall thanked the parks department for a wonderful parade. He also acknowledged that Andy Cieslak, public works director, has accepted another job, and he will be missed. Alderman Matthews reiterated that the parade was great. He thanked the Chamber and also Derek Watson for their work on the parade. He shared what a great time he had handing out candy to the children. Matthews also commended Cieslak. City administrator Herman said that phase three of the southern force main is complete. Phase four is out to bid. Once that is done, they will be reimbursed from the state for the project. Sage road is still waiting on easements for phase four of the water project. CEMC is in the process of moving poles. They were going to charge Rogers Group to do so, which is turn charges the city. City engineer Reynolds reached out and pointed out that the contract with CEMC and the city requires them to move poles without cost to the city. The wastewater project should be done February of 2024. The steel framing is up on one side of the rec center, and they are working on the retaining walls on the other side. It is fun to see this coming together.
Reports approved. They can be found on the city website, here.
City Planner, Ceagus Clark, is needing to add the fees to the fee schedule. This was his request.
I am requesting that the Mayor and Board of Alderman approve an amendment the current Fee Schedule to include a fee for Bond/Surety inspections. There had not been a fee for staff time to set the surety's and inspect for reductions of the bond amounts. We currently have 27 active developments, with multiple phases. This fee would cover cost for Public Services, Planning and Codes and Engineering time spent on review and inspections. I have included the application and fees to be charged.
The fees in bold and underlined are what was added. Approved
14. Consideration of the Following Ordinances: a. Ordinance 23-19: An ordinance deleting the Municipal Code Title 2, Chapter 3 Cemetery Board of Trustees. Second Reading. This was discussed at length last meeting. Approved
b. Ordinance 23-20: An ordinance amending the Municipal Code Title 8, Chapter 1 Intoxication Liquors Section 8-103 and Chapter 2 Beer Sections 8-207 and 8-208. First Reading. Herman began with the explanation for this ordinance. There is a restaurant out of Springfield looking to open a location in White House. They brew craft beers. They are beginning to look into a permit. The last time White House updated their liquor permitting was in 2014. Herman looked at the various rules around the state to see what would need to be done to accommodate such a business. The application in the city needs to be more accommodating for craft beer if we want them in town. Mayor Corbitt added that it would be nice to get them landed. There were questions surrounding catering and festivals and liquor licensing that were hard to follow online. Ultimately the end of that conversation was that all facilities have to be ABC licensed as do the servers. This is the section added to the ordinance that would pertain to the restaurant the board is referencing. Approved.
15. Purchasing: a. To approve or reject the proposal from Regions Bank and allow City Administrator Gerald Herman to enter into an agreement for banking services. The Finance Director recommends approval. Jason Barnes, finance director, spoke to this item. This was a lengthy proposal that the department tried to get through several years ago. The city currently banks with Farmers. Corbitt asked what the difference was in interest rates between the two banks. Barnes stated that Farmers gives 5 basis points, and Regions will do 2% which is equal to 200 basis points. That is the fed rate minus 50 points. There is a significant difference between the two banks. The other benefit with Regions is security for checks which is more important than the interest rates. The city issues accounts payable checks at roughly 50 a week. Each check generates a file with the information from that check. That creates check protection. There have been five fraudulent checks in the last little while here that cost the Farmers Bank $10k. Someone also tried to pay their Amex card with the city account. At this point the city’s transactions are roughly 314 debits and 349 credits a month. The bank is dealing with $3.5 million in income and $3.2 million in out go. The value exceeds a small business at this point and Farmers simply no longer meets the needs of the city. Alderman Wall asked why the Farmers bid wasn’t in the packet. It’s a local bank and he would like to see the bid. Barnes explained that Farmers had zero fees in exchange for the low basis points. Herman added that Barnes had reached out to the board years ago and was denied 3-1. Barnes added that in his evaluation of the two banks, he deducted points from Farmers because of lack of transparency. Wall asked what the issues were. Barnes stated that because of the security issues that the city just dealt with the city will get audited. The city will no longer be eligible for the award that they received just a few months ago. Barnes added that his department can oly do as good a job as the tools they are provided. Wall added that he is not a fan of big banks personally, but they need to do what’s right for the city. The Regions Bank representatives then spoke up. There is a 2% fixed ECR for the city. The city runs a balance of about $1.9million per month. The interest on that is over $8k a months. There are no fees, and it includes security and fraud protection. Regions just recently presented at a banking convention on fraud. No bank is actually obligated to cover fraudulent checks. Wall asked for real numbers that the city was dealing with. Barnes said that the 314 debits a month are checks and ACH. Alderman Spicer asked if the deals with cash. Barnes stated that the city takes in about $1500/day from fees, bills, tickets, etc. The Regions rep added that Regions has remote cash capture. Barnes siad that the cashiers reconcile the cash and checks each day. Alderman Matthews asked if that was a large work load for the cashiers. Barnes stated that there would be a learning curve on the new software. However, the city would be able to use purchase cards through the bank and get rewards on the purchases. That would reduce the number of checks written. Regions added that they are also trying to limit the number of checks. Wall noted that in his packet ACH charges were $.18 and checks were $.23. Wall asked if the interest rates go down, will the city’s 2% go down as well. Regions responded that the rate is fixed for the length of the contract. Spicer asked about the fees listed in the proposal. Regions answered that the fees are all one time fees and that there are no monthly fees. Barnes added that this change will take a year. Approved. Corbitt, Spicer, Wall- Yes Matthews-No
b. To approve or reject City Administrator Gerald Herman to enter into an agreement with Wold I HF This is in reference to the fire hall in front of the city park on Highway 76. The department is out of space and needs to get the ladder truck to the middle of town. They would like to increase the bunk rooms from 5-12 and have a larger living/dining area for more staff. Chief added that that station runs 65% of all the calls. When they are out and a second call comes in, the crew has to come from across town. They will be needing a second ambulance at some point as well. Matthews asked if there was a limit on the cost. Herman said that there is money set aside for a third station so this is actually good timing. The city was hurt on the last inspection because the ladder truck is on the wrong side of town. But yes, there will be a budget for the project. The representative from Wold Architects and Engineers was there to speak. He stated that he toured the facility and the space is very chopped up. The bay needs to be expanded and the turn radius adjusted. The engineers will take care of that, but the old building needs to be surveyed. Then they would sit down with the chief and the staff to see what they need. The goal is to make the station for efficient and a better facility. Herman asked what the cost would be. The representative said that at this point he had no idea. A budget estimate would need to be done and he would be more than willing to work within that budget. Herman would like to get numbers before the budget year ends. The representative added that this is one of the least efficient stations he’s seen. Wall asked if the fees would change for 2024. The representative said the fees would not be changing. Wall asked how old the station was. Spicer said it’s been here since she’s lived here. Approved
c. To approve or reject City Administrator Gerald Herman to sign task order #5 and #6 with Jacobs Engineering for additional engineering services for the Wastewater Treatment Expansion Project in the total amount of $205,000. The Public Services Director recommends approval
The wastewater project has gone on longer than expected. Parts that were supposed to be in December of 2022 did not show up until August of 2023. “The lead times killed us.” added Cieslak. This money and time is for the remainder of the project. Matthews thanked Cieslak for the email that explained the project. He added that the parts issues was just out of everyone’s control. Approved
d. To approve or reject City Administrator Gerald Herman to enter into an agreement with Kimley-Horn to update Land Development Regulations in the total amount of $160,000. The Planning and Codes Director recommends approval.
Clark has requested that the regulations for the city be updated. He reached out to other city planners and asked roughly what they had spent and who they had used. White House needs to update all of the design standards, zoning, subdivisions, etc. Matthews asked if he had spoken to cities that used both firms. For example Berry Hill used Kimley-Horn and Spring Hill used Camiros. Clark said that he had spoken to a friend of his in planning and a few other cities. Only those that used Kimley responded. Matthews said that he watched what was done in Spring Hill and it seems that most of Kimley is up north. He asked Clark if Clark noticed a big difference. Clark responded that he just didn’t think Camiros was a good fit. Kimley is already working with the city parks’ master plan. Matthews added that he noticed that Camiros did a better job with their presentation of documents to the people. Kimley might be able to do that, but codes should be easy to go through. Camiros made it citizen friendly. Clark said that we are in a good place to make these our own. Matthews added that it is not a huge issue. Spicer said that it could have been the city itself. Maybe they wanted it that way. Not all cities want to be transparent. Herman added that Kimley is already here and that the funding is covered for this budget year. Matthews asked if Clark had received references. Clark said that he got one, but overall, based on his own experience, Kimley has expertise on their team. Approved
e. To approve or reject easements and right-of-way purchase agreements with multiple property owners for the Southern Force Main Phase 4 project in the total amount of $140,000. The City Administrator recommends approval.
Herman stated that this is the first time that easements have come in over the spending limit. The largest one came in at $75k. They had a decorative driveway and entrance. Three are already finished and one is in a trust. They have not been able to get in touch with anyone involved in the trust. All of the negotiations should be done before the work is ready to begin. Approved
16. Other Business: a. To approve or reject the 2023 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting calendar. Approved
17. Discussion Items: a. None
18. Other Information: a. 2024-2025 Budget Calendar- In the packet
19. Adjournment:
The meeting was only an hour, but filled with discussion. The sound on the video was not the highest quality so much was hard to hear. I got most of the information, but lost several of the discussions. If you need any more information about the banking, reach out to Alderman Spicer. She works for a bank and had great questions for the banking discussion. Unfortunately I did not follow much of what was being discussed regarding the banking and was not there to ask questions afterward.
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