Monticello Live

The Monticello City Council discussed an ordinance at their regular monthly meeting that will require citizens to clean their property and require a certain procedure to be followed. After much debate, the council decided that grass should remain below 12” and that if it exceeds 12”, they could require the owner of the land to clean it up.

City Council is considering exempting undeveloped land from the ordinance, but as it stands right now, all property is included. If the council exempts undeveloped land, landowners must still keep trash off that land. They are trying to clean up the city and keep it looking clean.

The ordinance was approved with only Clifton Bond objecting.  Bond decided to clarify his reason for opposing the ordinance by stating that he is not against cleaning up the city, but he doesn’t “think this is the right way to go about it.”

The council also approved a resolution to authorize the mayor to apply for a grant from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, approved a resolution to accept the contract for the MEDC, approved a resolution to accept the contract for the Chamber of Commerce, and approved a resolution to accept the contract for the Boys & Girls Club.

The City Council had the budget meeting for the 2009 Operating and Sales Tax budget and the proposed 2010 operating budget Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday night, the city council held a special committee meeting to discuss the specifications for bidding contracts for economic development and youth activities. These two contracts specify the definitions of the services that the Chamber of Commerce and MEDC perform, on behalf of the city. Read the rest of this entry »

The Monticello City Council held its regular monthly meeting Thursday night.

First on the agenda was approving a resolution to accept the bid on the splash plad, at Jordan Park.

The next topic covered by the council was Mandy Moss’ concerns about the City Dog Pound. Moss began by asking the council to use some money from the pound’s allotted money to build a 60 X 10 ft. exercise pen for the dogs. She added, the dogs are kept in a cage 24/7 and are only taken out for exercise when the Humane Society can come take them out. She asked the council to use the money to build a pen for the dogs to exercise and meet their future owners.

Moss then asked the council to change the city ordinance so that it is mandatory that all dogs be spayed or neutered before any and all adoptions. This will help cut down on the amount of breeding and unwanted puppies, and hopefully cut down on euthanasia, decrease the number of dogs coming into the pound, and save the city money on both veterinary bills and feeding costs.

Another major topic of the meeting was the adoption of the University Heights and Rebecca Circle streets as city streets. Bobby Roberts, who lives on Fawn Lane off of University Heights, spoke on behalf of the residents of University Heights.

“We need some help on our streets,” he stated. Roberts said that there are a lot of potholes and soft spots in the streets and that when it rains, it gets worse. He said that the developer was not much help when asked to fix the roads.

“Our immediate goal is to get some help,” he stressed. “We understand that you have already made the budget of this fiscal year. We’re just asking that you consider us for next year.”

As the Countil was beginning to consider Rebecca Circle, another resident spoke to the issue that he felt Jaci Lane should be included as well.

The council agreed to study the issue further at a special meeting. The council also approved the adoption of Rebecca Circle.

The city began the discussion of property cleanup again with Truman Hamilton leading the discussion. Hamilton gave the council pictures of four properties that had been sent notices and were being considered for condemnation. One owner had made significant improvements to his building since the notice was received, but little or no work had been done on the other houses.

Melissa Sawyer came forward stating that her father owned the house on Hyatt St., and that she had personally talked to the mayor and Hamilton, who had both agreed to give her some time to make improvements. She stated that there were plenty of run down houses in Monticello and wondered why hers was chosen. She also emphasized the vagueness of the notice sent to her and asked what the city wanted her to do with the property. The council agreed to have a special committee meeting on the topic.

The city council met Tuesday night for several special committee meetings. The first meeting was for the Fire Department Committee. The council met to discuss locations for a new fire department. Fire Chief Steven Faulkner presented the committee with maps and drawings of possible locations for the new fire department, and what the mile and a half response time area would be for those locations.

Alderman Tim Chase stated that he believed that if the council was going to build a new fire department, they needed to renovate and maintain the central location, and build a fourth one in another location. Alderman Beverly Hudson stated that while that would be ideal, it would cost more money to do that.

The committee decided to meet again in December to discuss the future location of the fire department.

The last committee meeting was the meeting for the Contract Services Specifications Committee. The mayor gave the committee a copy of last year’s notice for bids for the Monticello Economic Development Commission and the Chamber of Commerce, along with last year’s notice for bids for Youth Services for the Boys & Girls Club.. He asked the committee to look at the notices and decide on any changes that need to be made so that he could advertise that the City of Monticello is seeking bidders for 2010.

The committee decided to look at the proposals and discuss it at the next council meeting.

Beverly Hudson lead a debate last Thursday during the regular city council meeting on condemning buildings for city clean ups. She opened the topic by showing pictures taken by Truman Hamilton depicting the old, abandoned buildings. Hudson wanted the council to enforce the ordinance already in place that states that if the council deems a building to be a nuisance they can condemn it and ask the owner to tear it down and clean it up, or if the owner refuses, the city can take down the building. Read the rest of this entry »

The regular monthly City Council meeting was held Thursday. The meeting was called to order with all council members present. They approved the minutes from the regular meeting held Thursday, September 17, 2009, the minutes from the special personnel committee meeting held September 17, and the minutes from the special meeting held October 2, before proceeding to other business items. Read the rest of this entry »