GENTRY — Members of Gentry City Council committees on finance, personnel, water and wastewater, and parks will recommend, at the council’s Sept. 9 meeting, the creation of a new water-wastewater post to replace one recently left unfilled and dropped due to economic concerns.
The city recently filled one vacant post in the department and, due to having two exceptional applicants among those seeking a position, committee members, at the suggestion of David McNair, Gentry’s public works supervisor, will recommend that the other post be re-created and filled as well.
“We need to be thinking about the future,” McNair said. “In the next four to five years, one or two of our employees could retire and it takes several years for a new employee to get the training and licenses we need to operate the water department and wastewater treatment plant.”
McNair said he had enough money left in this year’s budget to cover filling the new post from October through the end of the year, and he anticipated enough money in the budget for next year, as well.
McNair also said the city has enough work and projects to justify the re-creation of the post so that the city could have more than one crew and be working on more than one project at a time.
“We have one crew for projects,” McNair said, “and we really need a second crew.”
Gentry mayor, Kevin Johnston, agreed that the city had more than enough work waiting to be completed to justify the hiring of another employee.
“The money is there now to hire another person, and I would hate to lose such a qualifi ed applicant,” McNair said.
McNair reported that the sewer project on Pine Street was complete except for cleanup. He said the completed sewer work prevented water overfl owing from the city’s sewer system during the recent heavy rains and cut down the daily flow into the city’s wastewater treatment plant by an estimated 800,000 gallons per day, taking a real burden off the city’s aging wastewater treatment facility.
Police Department
Johnston told committee members the city had rejected the tentatively-approved dash cam purchase for the police department and was looking at the possibility of getting a grant to help with the purchase of a more user-friendly system for the police department which would better meet the department’s needs.
Johnston also sought the council members’ input on continuing to work with the school districttoward an arrangement whereby the school district would fully fund the salary of one police offi cer and receive the services of a fulltime school resource offi cer during each school day during the school year and have police coverage at all home games during the year in lieu of the summer months when a school resource officer would not be needed at the schools.
Currently, the district pays half the salary and benefi ts of one officer for part-time services at the school. The new plan would give the schools the added security of a police offi cer fully dedicated to the schools during school hours each day and police presence at home games and activities at which an opposing team would come.
Johnston said the salary savings to the city would offset the cost of additional work by part-time offi cers, though the part-time offi cer budget line item might beexceeded in the remainder of the current city fi scal year, requiring budget adjustments at the end of the year to reconcile the savings in full-time officer pay with the added expense in the parttime offi cer pay.
Should the plan be adopted, the school resource officer would remain a city employee, but salary and benefi ts, amounting to about $48,000 per year, would be paid for by the school district.
“We’ve looked at the numbers all the way around,” Johnston said. “It does nothing but make sense.”
Johnston reported to committee members an unexpected maintenance expenditure of $2,700 to clean up damage in the police station when recent heavy rains caused a sewer line to back up into the patrol room. Johnston said he chose to have the room professionally cleaned because of the possibility of pathogens in the sewer water and didn’t want to put any city employees at risk.
City Parks
Johnston told councilmembers that three of nine disk golf goals had been placed in the park with money from this year’s park budget. He said he had been approached by a party and asked about sponsoring the purchase of another three gaols for the city at a cost of just under $400 per goal.
Johnston asked council members regarding the possible placement of small signs on the goals indicating who sponsored their purchase should anyone else offer to provide the remaining goals.
While some council members raised concerns over sponsorship and whose responsibility it would be to replace damaged or worn sponsorship signs, most agreed that they had no objection to a small sign indicating sponsorship by an individual or business if it helped the city provide park facilities.
“Are we going to start opening up our parks for people to put their names on everything?” asked councilman James Furgason.
Johnston also suggested the city set a fee for the reservation of the ball fi eldswhich is similar to the one in place for reserving picnic pavilions in the park. Johnston suggested $30 per day for the reservation of a ball fi eld. When fields or pavilions are not reserved, they are available without a fee on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis.
Fire Department
The committee will recommend to the council that a professional be selected to prepare necessary plans and provide services to begin construction of Station 3 of the Gentry Fire Department - a four-bay station, with a restroom, to be located on land donated to the city by Southwestern Electric Power Company on the corner of Taylor Orchard and Marion Lee Roads.
The 40x60-foot building, expected to cost about $55,000 to $60,000, will be paid for with Act 833 funds. The Gentry department currently has about $73,500 in the fund which is currently designated for the construction of the new substation.
Johnston recommended the city be its own contractor but said certain professional services would still be needed to make sure the building meets all code and safety requirements.
Also to be recommended to the council is the purchase of a military surplus tanker to replace an existing tanker used by the department. The surplus tanker, a 1987 International with a 2,000 gallon tank, has less than 7,000 miles on it and less than 900 hours of service. It would replace a 1986 tanker with a 3,000 gallon water tank with over 600,000 miles on it. The surplus tanker, available to the city for $21,000, is 4-wheel drive and has an automatic transmission. The current truck is 2-wheel drive and is a standard transmission and difficult to drive for many of the fi re fi ghters.
The surplus tanker already has light bars and would not be repainted, according to Vester Cripps, Gentry’s fi re chief. Cripps said the surplus truck would make it possible to haul water to areas diffi - cult to reach with the current truck.
If purchased, the money would come from the department’s sinking fund, which currently has about$78,000 for such purchases.
To purchase a new truck like the surplus truck could cost the city close to $200,000, Cripps said.
Franchise Agreement
Johnston told council members the franchise agreement with Cox Communications was expiring and the city would need to set the percentage rate for the franchise tax to be paid to the city for utility easements. According to Johnston, the city was receiving 3 percent but state law now allowed them to charge 5 percent. He said the other utilities pay 4 1/4 percent.
“I was concerned that, if we would go to 5 percent, the company would just pass on that rate to its customers,” Johnston said, adding that he learned that most companies pass on the highest rate allowed by law to their customers and keep the difference.
“That’s a no-brainer,” councilwoman Janice Arnold said.
The committees will recommend the city charge the full 5 percent in a new contract.
News, Pages 1 on 08/28/2013