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Aldermen fill committee posts |
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Tuesday, 24 February 2009 |
Chairmen for the Benton City Council’s standing committees were announced during Monday night’s council meeting.
Alderman Charles Cunning-ham, who announced the various committee heads, will continue to chair the Community Services Committee; Alderman Steve Lee will continue as head of the Health and Safety Committee; and Doug Stracener will continue his dual roles as chairman of the Economic Development and Finance committees.
Alderman David Sparks will remain chairman of the Streets Committee; Alderman Bill Don-nor will continue as head of the Personnel Committee; Alderman Larry Wolf will remain head of the Animal Control Committee; and Alderman Greg White is the new chairman of the Drainage Committee.
Alderman Jerry Ponder will continue serving as the council’s liaison to the Public Utilities Commission and Alderman Brad Moore is the new council liaison to the Parks Commission.
In council action, the aldermen approved an ordinance waiving competitive bidding and authorizing a contract with Mid State Construction Co. to complete a street and drainage re-pair project in Hurricane Lake Estates.
The base cost for the project is $138,269.37, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance was approved 7-3, with two negative votes recorded for Stracener and Lee, who were absent. Cunningham voted against the ordinance be-cause he noted that the repairs are the result of the council accepting streets that did not meet city specifications.
Sparks said the council was aware at the time the streets were accepted that developer Michael Rogers did not follow city procedures.
“It was part of our agreement with the Property Owners Association to accept them when we did,” Sparks said.
“This concerns me,” Cunningham said. “I thought we had an ordinance that specifies street standards.”
Alderman Joe Lee Richards said “everyone was aware that Mr. Rogers sold Benton a bill of goods.”
“We have things in place now to prevent that from happening again,” Richards said.
City Attorney Brent Houston pointed out that too much time has passed to pursue legal recourse to recoup the money from Rogers.
“All statutes of limitations have passed,” he said.
In other council action, the aldermen approved two resolutions authorizing the purchase of items for the police department through grant funds.
One resolution authorized the acquisition of camera equipment and the other approved obtaining computer equipment.
The camera equipment will be paid for with a $1,000 grant the city has received from the Walmart Foundation’s community grant program, the resolution states. Funds will be used to purchase Nikon camera equipment, two memory cards, a flash and an off-camera shoe cord.
The other grant, for $4,500, will be used to acquire a computer system and storage device for the collection and preservation of Taser video evidence and related criminal investigation equipment.
The council also approved the following:
•A resolution authorizing the city to enter into a preannexation agreement with Robert Winters for a 2.5-acre site at 5344 Congo Road.
•A resolution confirming the appointment of Darrell Wood to the Benton Historic District Commission.
Wood is completing the unexpired term of Jennifer Kelly, who has resigned from the panel. The term will expire Oct. 1, 2010.
Terry McKinney, general manager of Benton Utilities, introduced the city’s new chief financial officer, Karen Scott, who is succeeding John Walden when he retires in May. Scott began her duties this past week.
All council meetings and council committee sessions are open to the public.
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