Monticello Live

The City Council approved Mayor Zack Tucker’s plan to begin reducing the city’s ongoing battle against residential flooding.
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At the last City Council meeting, W. J. McKeiver asked the city to widen a section of Old Troy Road, due to increased big rig traffic around Price Lumber Mill.
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Glen Dabney, of Eagle Forestry Service, has been appointed to the airport commission, replacing Charles Savage.

The decision is expected to be approved by the City Council, next week.

In a special called meeting Wednesday evening, January 7, the Monticello City Council passed a resolution to reject the bids submitted for economic development services on November 21, 2014; to declare economic development services as professional services; to authorize the publication of requests for qualifications for economic development; and to extend the current “contract” with Monticello Economic Development Commission to February 28.

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The City Council held a special called meeting 6 pm, Wednesday, January 7, for a vote to authorize special legal council to pursue mediation with Siemens, Inc., in order to dissolve the City’s contract with the company and to recover from Siemens damages and the City’s $7 million dollar financial investment in the water rehabilitation project.
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Based on the recommendation of attorney Cliff Gibson, Mayor Joe Rogers has turned the $10,000,000 Siemens Water Improvement Project over to the Arkansas State Police and 10th Judicial Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen.
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In a special meeting of the City Council, called by 3 of its members, Monday night, the topic of the “economic development” bid (and how it was handled at last weeks meeting) was discussed in depth.

At one point alderman Cedric Leonars described the groups earlier decision as, “Eight blind people up here that don’t know what’s going on,” referring to the council handling of bid contracts presented by MEDC and Mays & Associates for the city’s economic development.

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Mr. Cliff Gibson, a local attorney hired by the City of Monticello to assist them in resolving problems with Siemens Industries Corporation, addressed the City Council at their meeting Thursday evening.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Gibson had submitted a 13 page report on his findings thus far in his investigation of Siemens and its arrangement with the City of Monticello to refurbish the City’s antiquated water system.

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Dear Mayor Rogers and Members of the City Council:

We write to provide you with a status report on the subject matter. We encourage you to re-review our earlier correspondence on this subject.

You will recall that we wrote Siemens in behalf of the City on November 6, 2014, relative to several failures of Siemens’ earlier response to address the legitimate concerns of the City of Monticello respecting the project, and in which we called them to task for falsely accusing Mayor Maxwell of having directed that Sensus water meters be used instead of the Hersey meters specified by the contract. (more…)

Thursday night the Monticello City Council accepted the bid of the Monticello Economic Development Commission, better known as the MEDC, of $280,617 for economic development services to the city over P.F. Mays & Associates, LLC’s bid of $264,000.

The problem for that decision, (which has no correct answer) comes back to the way the contract was advertised in its legal annoumcement.
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At last week’s City Council budget committee meeting, the group discussed budget items that could be cost-shared with the county.

One of these items was the “man on the hill” at the transfer station.  This city employee operates the compactor the presses the (city and county’s) trash, after it is dumped from the trash trucks.

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For the first time in memory, one of the city of Monticello’s “service contract” had to organizations bidding for the same contract.

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Due to the holiday season, the City of Monticello has annoumced that dumpsters will be located at the Fire Station on Wood street and at McCloy Park for extra trash.

Tornado sirens are currently being installed in the Monticello area, including the show areas near the library, hospital, and Old Troy Road water tower.

A total of 18 sirens will be installed, most on their own self-standing towers.

In response to many resident’s questions, The sirens will be tested weekly (silently), and audibly tested monthly or quarterly.

The City Council Budget Committee, composed of Al Peer, Joe Meeks, Claudia Hartness and Tim Chase, met with Vicki Tiner, City Financial Director, and members of her department, to discuss the City’s 2015 budget, and to review some issues with the 2014 budget.

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Members of the Monticello City Council Budget Committee met Tuesday evening, to consider budget requests from the various city departments for the upcoming year, and to discuss the overall state of the City Budget going in to 2015.

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