DECATUR-- A new mayor sat at the head of the table as Bob Tharp presided over his first official meeting of the Decatur City Council Jan. 13 in the city hall meeting room. Two reappointed city council members were sworn in. David Sutton and Sandy Duncan took the oath of office from Tena O'Brien, Benton County clerk. James Jessen, who ran unopposed for the council seat vacated by Tharp, was introduced just before the opening moments of the meeting. Jessen is a Decatur firefighter and the current chairman of the Decatur City Planning Committee. Jessen had taken his oath of office a few days prior to the Monday night meeting.
After approving the minutes and financial reports for December 2014, Tharp opened the floor to discuss a matter that has affected both Decatur and Gentry financially for the past 10 years, the unfunded judges retirement loan.
The Benton County Quorum Court established the Benton County West Court system in accordance with Act 1374 of 2003, which also created the Arkansas District Judges' Retirement System. At the time, two judges and a clerk were added to the court system at a cost of $186,833.58. Benton County, Decatur and Gentry entered into an agreement to take out a 30-year loan at 8 percent interest with Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System charged to administer the account.
On Dec. 21, 2005, the Benton County Quorum Court voted to pay $78,608.29, half of the loan, leaving both cities to pay the remaining balance.
As both Decatur and Gentry city officials would later discover, this was not a traditional loan but one that the interest rates were adjusted not by a bank but by an actuary agent. An actuary agent is in the business of evaluating the current stock market trends, interest rates, and evaluating the risk and applying his findings to adjust the interest rates on this type of loan.
"Looking at this type of agreement, I would have avoided it and looked at other options," Tharp said.
Former Decatur Mayor Charles Linam, in 2013, contacted APERS with questions concerning this unsecured loan and received no reply. With the help of city attorney Michael Nutt, Linam submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on Nov. 26, 2014, for all documents on the account. APERS responded with a 51 page document which Linam, Gentry Mayor Kevin Johnston, Decatur city clerk Kim Wilkins, and Tharp reviewed. This raised more questions than it answered, one of which was, "Why did all three parties agree to this type of loan?"
On Nov. 12, 2014, Gentry and Decatur received notice of a balance of $100,243 for the unfunded liability account. Then APERS submitted an adjusted bill claiming that the 2014 interest was not factored into the account, raising the balance to $108,262.44.
After a short discussion, the city council passed a motion to join with the Gentry City Council to pay the entire balance of the loan.
"I am glad that both cities can finally put this unsecured loan behind us and move forward," Tharp said.
In other action, the council reviewed and approved the 2015 Benton County District Court West budget, passed a resolution to amended the city of Decatur Personnel Policy Handbook, appointed James Boston to the 2-ton project as an alternate, and passed the APERS city retirement plan.
City council meetings are held on the second Monday of each month. The first 30 minutes of each meeting is set aside for citizen comments. To get an item on the agenda or for more information, contact the city clerk's office at 752-3912.
General News on 01/28/2015