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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-15 - Minutes -Vacant Ward I Position I Council Member D'Andre Jones Ward 1 Position 2 Council Member Sarah Moore Ward 2 Position I Council Member Mike Wiederkehr Ward 2 Position 2 Mayor Lioneld Jordan City Attorney Kit Williams City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Meeting August 15, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 1 of 22 Council Member Scott Berna Ward 3 Position 1 Council Member Sarah Bunch Ward 3 Position 2 Council Member Teresa Turk Ward 4 Position l Council Member Holly Hertzberg Ward 4 Position 2 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on August 15, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order. PRESENT: Council Members D'Andre Jones, Sarah Moore, Mike Wiederkehr, Scott Berna, Sarah Bunch, Teresa Turk, Holly Hertzberg, Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, Staff, Press and Audience. Pledge of Allegiance N'l.IN or's ;Announcements, I'roclanurtions and Wcogynitions: None City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items: None Agenda Additions: None Consent: Approval of the August 1, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes. APPROVED 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 2 of 22 Railroad Liability Policy (Budget Adjustment): A resolution to authorize the purchase of a railroad general liability policy to cover current and future railroad crossing improvements at a cost of $54,000.00 for one year of coverage, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 173-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Excellerate Foundation Grant to the Safe Program (Budget Adjustment): A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $25,000.00 to recognize and budget an Excellerate Foundation Grant to the City of Fayetteville Shelter Assistance from Extreme Weather Program. Resolution 174-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk JWC Environmental (Equipment Repair): A resolution to accept a quote in the amount of $81,151.09 plus applicable taxes and freight charges from JWC Environmental for the repair of a Channel Monster grinder used at the Hamestring Sewer Lift Station. Resolution 175-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk USGS Stream Gauge Operation (Funding Agreement): A resolution to approve a joint funding agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey for stream gauge operation and maintenance and water quality sampling and monitoring at various locations in the City of Fayetteville in 2023 with the amount paid by the city not to exceed $56,930.00. Resolution 176-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Fire Department Administrative Policies Approval (Policy Changes): A resolution to approve revised Fayetteville Fire Department policies within Section 100 General Information and Introduction, and Section 200 Safety, Health & Wellness. Resolution 177-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk InVeris Virtual Reality Simulator (Purchase Agreement): A resolution to award RFP 23-09 and authorize the purchase of a virtual reality simulator from InVeris for the amount of $106,149.53 plus any applicable taxes or freight charges for police personnel training. Resolution 178-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Council Member Bunch moved to accept the Consent Agenda as read. Council Member Berna seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. New Business: Fayetteville Fire Relief and Pension Program Consolidation (LOPFI): An ordinance transferring administration of retirement coverage for eligible members of the Fayetteville Fire 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 3 of 22 Relief and Pension Fund to the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System (LOPFI) and authorizing the Mayor to enter into an irrevocable agreement with LOPFI. Mayor Jordan requested this item be moved to be heard before the Public Hearing. He noted there were multiple retirees in attendance, and he did not want them to have to wait until after the Public Hearing for their item. City Attorney Kit Williams stated there needed to be a motion to suspend the rules to readjust the agenda to place the item as first. Council Member Berna moved to suspend the rules and place the item to be heard before the Public Hearing and Unfinished Business. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer stated there were 40 pensioners left on the Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund and gave a brief description of the fund's history. He stated the city gave annual reports and the fund had consistently been found to be actuarially unsound. He stated that if approved, the plan would transfer administration to the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System (LOPFI) and the pensioners would still receive the same benefits the plan had received under their Board of Trustees. He explained how the plan was in dire condition and stated the fund was currently at $1.7 to $1.5 million and that payouts exceeded the revenues that were used to pay for it. He believed the transfer would guarantee the solvency of the pension into the future, but the negative would be that the city was giving irrevocable control over to LOPFI. He stated the fund would be depleted if the city did not do something about it now. Paul stated he was available for questions and noted that David Clark, Executive Director of LOPFI, was present as well. David Clark, Executive Director of LOPFI explained how the plan would run out of assets in less than ten years if it stayed the way it was. He spoke of the city's revenues and believed it was an enviable position to be in to have a cash positive position with employer contributions. He stated LOPFI currently administrated 248 local plans and believed they would close the year out administering 251. Council Member Moore spoke of the contribution rate the city would pay monthly and questioned what options the city would have in the event there was a gap and money was needed to be put into the fund. Paul Becker, "Let me understand this correctly; if something happens to our revenue stream for property taxes, you're talking about? Well, number one, we would be required to fund this plan based on the actuarial study, so an annual actuarial study would be done and if it felt that was a significant enough decrease that we had to make up the difference, the city would have to make up the difference. Now, as far as what you're talking about is the potential. There is a potential that we've got information there could be a rollback. If there is a rollback, that will be required, because law would have to do it. At that point in time we'd have to make up the taxes, but we can also look 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 4 of 22 at the other end of the coin. Either way, if there's rollback, I don't believe it would be that significant to the property taxes here. If it is, it will be much more detrimental for the fund to stay where it is now than if we consolidated it. Does that answer your question?" Council Member Moore answered yes. She expressed appreciation of Paul Becker for speaking about the revenue streams that funded the plan and questioned what would happen with the way it was currently coming in to compensate for taking care of the pensioners. Paul Becker explained how the city would pay the pensioners for the rest of the year and then LOPFI would take over and directly pay the pensioners. City Attorney Kit Williams, "Paul and David explained it fairly well, we're in a good position now. Prior to this, it did not look very favorable to do a consolidation or transfer of administration, but at this point in time it's probably a good idea." The City Council received 2 public comments regarding this ordinance. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Berna seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan, "We have had this forever, since I've been mayor and a city council member. I was concerned that this pension plan would last about three more years. The way I kind of look at this is that these retired firefighters put their lives on the line, and they took care of us when they were young. Now that they're retired, I feel like we need to take care of them. So, I want to and just before we vote I want to thank you all for your service to this city and what you did and we're going to take care of you." Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. Ordinance 6676 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Public Hearing: 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 5 of 22 Public Hearing on Monthly Water and Sewer Rate Amendment: Item 2022-319, discussion on recommendation for water and sewer rates effective January 1, 2024 has been placed under Unfinished Business as C.1. The public will be allowed to speak after the ordinance has been read. Anna White, Principal Consultant with Black and Veatch explained how Black and Veatch had worked with Paul Becker over the past year to make changes to the rate model. She gave a brief overview of the rate study process; the first step was to determine how much revenue was needed to recover from the rates, the second step was the cost of service study and the third step was a rate design. She stated Black and Veatch used the two manuals from the Water Environment Federation and the American Water Works Association to do the study. She provided a brief summary of what had changed since June of 2022. Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer explained how the rate study was a cost service based model and how the minimum rate charge had changed to be increments of 100 gallons instead of 1000 gallons. He briefly spoke of the rate of return and the risk factors associated with the changes. He stated wastewater had been increasing 3% per year consistently and explained the two components associated with billing for water or wastewater charges. He stated the two biggest wholesale users, West Fork and Elkins, had four inch meters and went on to explain their cost for service per month. Heith Caudle, Mayor of West Fork, "I came and spoke to you guys several months ago and I thought several things would change since then, but they haven't. I emailed each of you Friday a packet with some comments, two main points that I wanted to make. I hope you've had a chance to look over those, I'd be happy to answer any questions if the mayor would kindly give me more time to do so. But first and foremost, we are a wholesale client. That means something. Black and Veatch said that you deserved a greater return on investment because we were outside the city and because we posed a risk that we could potentially go somewhere else. Guys, we had an environmental crisis in West Fork with our sewer. We invested $8 million to tie into the City of Fayetteville, tie in our sewer. With those attachments that I've sent you, you can see that we are having trouble currently meeting our bond payment and meeting our current payments to the City of Fayetteville. But we did it, it needed to be done, it was necessary. But the point being, we own those assets, we paid for those assets coming to Fayetteville. We don't have the financial resources to go anywhere else, Fayetteville is it for us, and Fayetteville wasn't sitting there raising their hand saying, hey, we want to be the leader in the region for sewer. Unfortunately, you guys were the big regional player and you're having to step up and play that leadership role. I apologize for that, but we don't have a choice at West Fork. So as a wholesale customer, we're getting a reduction in our rates on the water, we're getting a 26% rate decrease currently, but on our sewer, we're currently paying a 40% premium. And that just doesn't make any sense. I want you to understand this, if Fayetteville were to provide sewer services, water services to the City of West Fork, we would get a rate decrease. If you guys were doing all our repairs, all our installations, all our service, all our meter reading, our rate would decrease by over 40%. Does that make any sense? So secondly, I&I. I&I is that groundwater that gets into the sewer infrastructure, we all deal with it, 25% is kind of a conservative rate to go by. The cities of West Fork and Elkins have a meter outside of our city, we capture all of that I&I and then we're billed for that. Fayetteville, Farmington, Greenland, nobody's capturing the I&I. The Fayetteville water and sewer budget are absorbing the cost of treating all that I&I for those three cities, but when it comes to West Fork and Elkins, we're getting charged for it. We're a wholesale customer. We're paying a 40% premium 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 6 of 22 as a wholesale customer, and we're paying for all our I&I that's getting treated. Again, it's totally inequitable to even consider these proposed rates that Black and Veatch has put forth. And secondly, I'll close with this, Mayor, I Freedom of Information Acted (FOIA) Fayetteville's water loss today. Fayetteville to date has purchased 7.7 billion gallons of water, they have billed for 4.3 billion. That's a water loss of 43%. So, in a region where we're expected double growth in the next decade, the City of Fayetteville is losing over 3 billion gallons of water in a seven month period. Now, that 3 billion gallons represents over 50 years of water for the City of West Fork, and we're looking to raise the rates. When we do our personal budgets, we don't get to do those budgets based on our revenue needs. Right? We do it on how much money can we cut out of our budget. So, this study, and I know that it's a study that, you know, we have an approach of how we initiate these studies. But when we look at it from a revenue needs standpoint, it kind of glosses over the fact that we're losing 3 billion gallons of water in a seven month period. So, if we're just trying to raise our revenues to cover our water losses, are we doing the environment a solid there? I mean, I just don't think so. And with West Forks rates going up, it decreases our ability to continue to reduce our water loss in the City of West Fork. We're currently at 21 % as of last month. It reduces our ability to reduce our I&I that's getting into our infrastructure, because our rates are going up. We're sending more money to the City of Fayetteville, and we can't take care of our system." Troy Reed, Mayor of Elkins, "I'm the current Mayor of the City of Elkins, kind of coming in on the back of this because I was elected in January so I haven't been involved in a lot of this but what I have been involved in, it kind of feels like we're being punished for being a wholesaler, to be honest with you. This gentleman here was explaining that Elkins is going to go up 28.3%. Well, in the paperwork that was given to me, it shows a 20.6 and an average of 75.8% increase. So, I'm not sure which one it is. Hopefully somebody can tell me what it is, because the paper that was given to me by the City of Fayetteville shows a 75.8% increase in my sewer. My water, which obviously in Elkins, if you know where that's at just on the east side, we're in a bowl and we can't get water from anywhere else. No one else can provide us water, we can't have a sewer treatment plant, we have to send our sewer back to you guys. I currently have a $44.5 million dollar sewer project going on right now. And, obviously, I'm going to have to increase to be able to pay for that, my rates as well. Not sure how we're going to be able to do this, if in fact, I'm facing a 75.8% increase as well. I've not seen this study, from what I understand it was made recently public, where we can look at it on a website or somewhere like that. But I have yet to see anything like that, like I've said I've not been involved in much of this at all. So, I just wanted to say, it does feel you know, this is a David versus Goliath type thing. I know these rates are coming and there's nothing I can do about it, but I want to express my concerns, not that we're being picked on, but I do feel that we are being penalized for being a wholesaler and I disagree with that. Thank you." Ernie Penn, Mayor of Farmington, "So I'm kind of getting picked on right now. I'm kind of a little bit different situation because we're not a wholesale receiver, we're, you know, water and sewer provide from Fayetteville to us and we're joined at the hip. And I think, Lioneld, I think we joined about 1960s, we were pretty young then, but you know, that was kind of before we were in political arena. But anyway, two things, number one I want to thank the council. The last time I was here was in July of 2022 and we talked about the rate study that had been done and our increase in our sewer rates was going to be like, I think it was 50%. And I think on the other side of it was going to be about 20%, 22%. And we requested that a new rate study be done by Black and Veatch or a revised one with some of the factors that Mr. Paul has already mentioned to you that's taken place, 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 7 of 22 and along with our contract, and we talked to Kit, and so it's made a big difference for us. It's actually a much better situation for us. I appreciate you all organizing that and allowing that to happen, and I'm sure it cost you some money. But I appreciate that for our city and being a good partner when it comes to water and sewer. Do we like increases? No, we all know we don't. We understand things are going to increase just because of the cost of service. One of the things that really stood out to us was the return on the investment. Paul and I have discussed that, and we had some good meetings and I was glad to see that changed. I was glad to see that we took out the 8.2% billing that we were being charged for because Farmington, right now, we're kind of limited on how far we can grow. So anyway, we're kind of a minor player when it comes to it, because we do have Washington Water Authority in our city also. I want to thank you for taking the time to have that new study done, which basically helped us and reduced the amount we were going to have to pay, which was not really realistically agreeable to any of our city council. In saying that, I know we're working on a new contract, Kit sent one to our city attorney, he's reviewed it and we've requested a few changes be made on that. I'm going to let those attorneys deal with that and I'm not going to be involved in it. Our city council will have to approve the new rate study, and they'll also have to approve the new contract. I can't speak for them and say they're going to approve it, but from the indications, I think that they're going to feel what we see now is a much more fair and palatable rate study for us and I think it will be a favorable discussion we have in our next meeting. Hopefully we'll have a new contract, maybe by our September meeting or October at the latest. I wanted to tell you thank you, I appreciate it and we'll just leave it at that." The City Council received 4 public comments regarding this Public Hearing. Council Member Turk, "I'll make a few comments for the Water and Sewer Committee. We've looked at this many times, there's been a lot of adjustments. As Paul has mentioned, he's reduced many of those items to lessen the burden on our surrounding cities and we've tried to keep that in mind when we've looked at this. As Paul mentioned, Black and Veatch is the one that did the study. So those are their numbers, but where we could, we've really tried to make this more equitable, as much as possible, with the adjustment to Farmington and some of the other items that Paul mentioned earlier." Mayor Jordan questioned if Black and Veatch would like to weigh in on any of the comments that were received from the mayors or citizens. Anna White, "Yes, I'd be happy to weigh in. With regards to West Fork, and I certainly understand the comments tonight when I look at the tables, yes, it is a significant increase. It's not easy to say well it's because of this one thing. It's going back into the allocations and working through the math to see if we can identify exactly what it is that's resulting in a higher increase for West Fork than others, and Elkins as well. But I wanted to mention, on the sewer side, it was brought to my attention this morning regarding the I&I and the fact that we may be double counting that. I did go back and look at the model, looked at what we were using as the base wastewater flow. It was significantly higher than the past and it made me realize, oh, there's I&I already in that number and we didn't account for that. We didn't realize that was in there. So yes, we were counting the I&I twice. I did run a quick scenario to correct that to see what the impact would be, and it looks like the costs that are allocated to West Fork would go down maybe 10% or I I% just making that one change. So that will be something that will help, but we also need to go back and look at those 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 8 of 22 calculations from start to finish in detail one more time and see if we can pinpoint what exactly it is that's driving those increases for specific customers." Council Member Hertzberg, "Is that going to affect Elkins as well and their sewer calculations? Or was that just a calculation error for West Fork?" Anna White, "I would have to rely on Paul to let me know if the situation is the same for Elkins in terms of where the flow, if it goes to the pump station or lift station and then on to Fayetteville. If there is a meter read at that location, in which case, then yes, we'd also be picking up the I&I account from there and double counting it as well. It seems like the city and I need to kind of walk through some of these issues together and just make sure we haven't missed that for anyone else." Council Member Hertzberg requested the item be left on the first reading. Mayor Jordan, "Well, we're doing a public hearing now and we haven't even got to the ordinance yet. So, I will certainly make a suggestion that we're certainly not ready to pass anything tonight until those two studies from Elkins comes in and then the adjustments for West Fork." Council Member Wiederkehr, "Yeah, we appreciate all of the calls for fairness and consideration. You only have one Mayor coming before you saying, gee, I love the study, my community is looking better and that's simply because, unbeknownst to Farmington residents, by virtue of their contract, allocating 8% of that West Side Wastewater Treatment plant, which was more than they were utilizing, they were inadvertently subsidizing other users outside of the City of Fayetteville. So if we say the costs of operating our wastewater treatment facilities are being spread and in the same and if the portion of that that Farmington is paying for with their residents is reduced, in fairness to them, you can see why there's going to be increases beyond just the cost of living increase, because that total amount has to be picked up and covered by someone outside the City of Fayetteville. So, the residents of Farmington, while not here speaking, if they were would say, yes, we're all for fairness, and in fact, we will gladly pay our fair share. They don't want to subsidize someone else. The challenge we have as city council members is, City of Fayetteville residents also do not want to subsidize any other users. We had gone into this study, like most communities across the United States, assuming that industrial users are somewhat subsidizing residential users. And what the study revealed was the exact opposite. In fact, our residential users were slightly subsidizing our industrial users and that's why their rates are going up. Again, the model of fairness was being applied. Every class of customer needed to cover their costs for both water and wastewater treatment and so I think we're getting very close to that model uncomfortably being fair. I had someone explain to me one time, Mr. Wiederkehr, when everyone in the room is equally unhappy, you have achieved fairness, because I can assure you there's no Fayetteville resident that's going to come up and hug me after we adjust rates because they are not going to go down. I would say to be mindful of the fact that we're simply trying to be as appropriately fair as we can and ensure that no one group unfairly subsidizes another. Thank you, Mr. Mayor." Mayor Jordan, "But, again, I think with not having all the complete information that we need, we needn't take this any further until we get that couple of studies in." 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 9 of 22 Paul Becker stated that since the council had heard from the public, the public hearing could be closed, and they could move on to the actual ordinance where he would make his suggestion. City Attorney Kit Williams, "I think it's appropriate to do that, to close the public hearing and then we'll basically almost have another public hearing because people comment on them." Council Member Berna requested the 75% rate increase the Mayor of Elkins had spoken about be clarified. Paul Becker, "Sure. If you look at the chart that he was looking at, 75% is because they were getting a discount for additional wastewater flow over a certain amount. So that was peak over a certain amount, that was felt to be unfair. So, we leveled it and there is no discount for that. When you look at those percentages and you say, what's the change? The change is 75%. However, when we calculate a year of actual usage, we came down to the numbers that I had displayed, so it wouldn't be a 75% over charge, what it would be over actual. However, that would put it on a fair base with everyone else, because that was the only one that was receiving that particular discount for over that flow amount that I had been planning on addressing so thank you for asking that." Council Member Bunch expressed frustration over hearing some of the information for the first time. She requested if any other information was found that an update be done for the council. Council Member Moore, "Before we close, there was a piece of information that was brought forward too that I was hoping since we do have staff in the room to get clarification on and if this comes back whenever we do revisit the ordinance. I think that when Mayor Caudle was speaking, he talked about the Fayetteville water loss. I would hope that we can maybe speak to that. We're very aware in the City of Fayetteville that we have aging infrastructure, anybody that lives in the City of Fayetteville watches our incredible crews out constantly working on our different lines. I would like to be able to kind of address you know, between we have CIP projects, and we're looking at that infrastructure, but I think the public probably needs to have an idea as well of the types of investments the City of Fayetteville is going to be making on that infrastructure to help with the loss, but I also am curious if that is purely loss, because just because we didn't bill it to customers, we also have experienced COVID, with folks not able to pay their bills, and I'm curious how much of that loss that was mentioned potentially might be bills that we've written off just because residents have struggled to pay those bills. I don't know if today in this environment would be the time but at some point, it would be nice to kind of have that addressed since that was raised." Tim Nyander, Utilities Director, "So when the city was FOIA today, they asked for two numbers; they asked for the water purchased versus the water sold. Those are two numbers but when you do a water loss determination, you have about 11 other factors that you do use. We did a water loss audit back in 2018 and basically the other factors that you use when you calculate water loss is your build water exported, which is the wholesale customers, you do your build metered consumption, which is the retail the bulk of the water sales, you do your build unmetered consumption, which we don't have much of that, that would be for discounts for governments and schools and this type of deal which we don't do, unbilled meter consumption would be all the line washing the city does themselves, unbilled unmetered consumption is fire hydrants/fire hydrant usage, flushing and then also our leaks. Customer metering accuracies are factored in, data 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www Fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 10 of 22 handling errors, unauthorized consumption, and then the type of leakages. You've got leakage on transmission mains because the pressure is higher and the leaks are greater, you have leakages or overflows on water tanks, if any, and leakage on service connections. All of these factors are calculated in determining the water loss. We determined the water loss in 2018, it was 25%, wasn't 46%, just going by the two numbers. I'm going to say that since 2018 we had some suggestions from the water audit. One of them was periodic testing of at least 300 meters per year to see the accuracy of the meters. We are changing meters out because some of them are quite old, and they can tend to be inaccurate. We're to analyze oversized and undersized meters and replace those that we find because an oversized meter actually will not register a low flow that needs to be factored into the right size. They suggested that we added leak detection technicians and we do have a Leak Detection Crew now since 2019. If you hear my weekly reports to the Mayor, we usually find eight to twelve leaks a week for repair. That's added to last year we repaired 1400 leaks, we do have an old system, an old town and we do have leaks that are reported. We have leaks that we find and then we also have leaks that we haven't found yet because there's no evidence that they're surfacing, they're going to the ground. Another suggestion is to add pressure monitoring in some of the areas of town that have the 200 psi. On the west side of town, we have got the things in place to do that but then COVID hit and we haven't got back around but we've got isolated areas that we're going to put pressure reduction. We can't go too low where the outskirts don't have adequate pressure, but we've got some pressures that are 200 psi in town. The other suggestion was to conduct a forensic analysis of our billing system, which we did get that passed by the City Council at the last meeting. They're going to come in and look at all our billing practices for our Water Sewer Department. So, although the State of Arkansas does not require water loss audits, City of Fayetteville is proactive in doing that, because we don't like to see the numbers increase, we realize how many leaks that we fix every year. We're taking the approach to try to get it to go the other way certainly. I'd be happy to answer any questions on that." Council Member Moore appreciated Tim Nyander for clarifying. She believed the city recognized the need to be good stewards and would make sure to improve practices and infrastructure. Mayor Jordan closed the Public Hearing. Unfinished Business: Amend §51.136 Monthly Water Rates and §51.137 Monthly Sewer Rates: An ordinance to amend §51.136 Monthly Water Rates and §51.137 Monthly Sewer Rates to change water and sewer rates as recommended by the Cost of Service Study conducted by Black & Veatch. For item history from June 21, 2022 through April 18, 2023 contact the Office of the City Clerk Treasurer. At the May 16, 2023 City Council meeting, this item was left on the Second Reading and tabled to the July 18, 2023 City Council meeting. At the July 18, 2023 City Council meeting, this item was left on the Second Reading and tabled to the August 15, 2023 City Council meeting. Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer, "I'll make my suggestion and I'll make a couple of comments if I may. Late last week, the Mayor of West Fork sent us all an email and he said, how come I'm paying for I&I and nobody else pays for I&I? That's incorrect, he's in fact paying for 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 1 I of 22 I&I because the wastewater is metered. The rest of the users, that's all part of the processing fee of the plants, when it goes through, part of that cost is part of the I&I from that. At that point, we had transferred and sent that question to Black and Veatch to ensure that was the correct answer. That point in time, I asked Black and Veatch if that affected anything from West Fork and were in fact they getting a portion of that I&I, and therefore paying for their own I&I and a portion of the I&I that was associated with the rest of the surrounding areas. So that's in fact what Anna and Black and Veatch looked at, and in fact, the answer is they were getting a piece of that. So, what my suggestion is, we table this, go back to Black and Veatch, ask Black and Veatch to reanalyze this and see if they're going to recommend a rate change based on that. We all want fair rates for everybody, that's always been our goal. We look at that and see if in fact that would be a reduction for the West Fork users and I believe that would affect Elkins too, but we'll have to check that for sure. That would be my suggestion; that we go back, and we get it right. We have three weeks and we'll bring it back at that time. Now we have had a public hearing so we'll bring back at that time if in fact there's an adjustment, rather than dealing with the amendment I had today we'll put that off and if that's the case we'll put together a full amendment and bring that forward. I will certainly discuss that with the Water and Sewer Committee the next time we meet at the next Agenda Session. Remember, we don't have a meeting next week so that gives us three weeks to get this straightened out. So that is my recommendation." Mayor Jordan asked how long it would take Black and Veatch to put together the information. Anna White, "We can have the initial revised analysis reflecting this change for West Fork and potentially Elkins in terms to the I&I here in the next day or two. Then we can circle back with Paul, discuss what the results look like after making that change and discuss if there's any other changes we think need to be evaluated or incorporated as well." Paul Becker, "How long will it take you to get the numbers to me?" Anna White, "We'll have that by, I'd say by Thursday. Just give us a day or two." Paul Becker, "We'll have time to look at it and take it to the Water and Sewer Committee." Council Member Turk requested the item be tabled longer so the committee could have plenty of time for review. She requested it be tabled to the September 19th City Council meeting. Council Member Wiederkehr, "I believe that we're just discussing the sewer rates regarding Black and Veatch, making an adjustment based on I&I volumes, but if there's nothing that impacts water rates, I don't view the two as legally bound. Could we act on water rates?" City Attorney Kit Williams, "I would not suggest that. They've been unified throughout this process by one ordinance with both of them. I kind of wonder why three weeks would not be long enough for this very minor potential change. You know, as the Mayor was saying, or Paul was, we don't have a meeting in two weeks, you all have a meeting in three weeks and since this is a minor change to the whole system, I wonder why we need more than a month to look at it." 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 12 of 22 Mayor Jordan, "I don't know. But, Teresa, you felt more comfortable with having a little longer, right? With the Water and Sewer Committee?" Council Member Turk, "I would, and I'd also feel a little bit more comfortable if the numbers for all the different cities were reviewed to make sure the calculations were accurate, that we don't have an oversight like this in some other area. We need to have the trust of the public and going in there and reviewing that information would be appropriate, and this will give us enough time." Paul Becker, "That's certainly up to you Teresa, but what we could do, we could table it to the next meeting and if we're not comfortable, we could table it from there." Council Member Moore, "I thought when the Farmington Mayor was speaking that he stated we wouldn't have a contract from the City of Farmington until September or October, does that impact this? Do we need to think about that in the timeline as well?" City Attorney Kit Williams, "I submitted a contract to them this spring, which I think is an absolutely great contract that they need to approve. I haven't heard anything from their city attorney pointing out anything in it that is not just hunky dory, and you don't need that contract to approve the rate increase, the main thing this contract does is help Farmington collect some of their extra charges they have that they have a right to under that contract. I expect to see an approved contract from Farmington in the very near future but that should not hold up this rate decision. Council Member Berna, "I would tend to agree with Teresa. I think we're all a little caught off guard with this development and I think that all citizens want us to be on the same page and we want to be very transparent on what we're doing. This does not look good, so we need to go back and relook at this and make sure all numbers across the board are correct so it's fair to everybody. When is our next sewer meeting?" Paul Becker stated September 51n would be the next Water and Sewer Committee meeting. He believed the Water and Sewer Committee wished to table the item to September 181n Council Member Turk, "That'd be great. The Water and Sewer meeting would be on the 5th so we would have plenty of time to review it, then the City Council meeting would be on the 181n " Tim Nyander stated the Water and Sewer meeting would actually be on September 12"' Council Member Hertzberg moved to table the ordinance to the September 19, 2023 City Council meeting. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. This ordinance was tabled to the 0911912023 City Council meeting. New Business: 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www Fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 13 of 22 Rental Equipment Procurement Procedure (Bidding Waiver): A resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize the procurement of rental equipment from various vendors in excess of $35,000.00 but to require at least 3 written or published quotes for each rental. Les McGaugh, Purchasing Director gave a brief description of the resolution. Council Member Moore had no further questions and had heard no feedback on the item. Council Member Moore moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Hertzberg seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. Resolution 179-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Nabholz Construction Co. (Change Order): A resolution to approve Change Order No. 13 to the contract with Nabholz Construction Corporation in the amount of $5,521,396.00 for work related to the Cultural Arts Corridor, and to approve a budget adjustment — 2019 Cultural Arts Corridor Bond Project. Waylon Abernathy, Bond Projects & Construction Manager stated the change order would complete the final bid packages for the Civic Plaza construction and gave a brief description of the scope of work. He stated all the bids were advertised and bid by the construction manager in accordance with state procurement laws. He anticipated the start date to be in September with the completion being July of 2024. Council Member Moore moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Berna seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. Resolution 180-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk UDC §157 - Notice of Administratively Approved Development Applications (Amendment): An ordinance to amend § 157 Notification and Public Hearings to clarify the official approval date for administratively approved development applications. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Turk brought the item forward to clarify what the date of appeal was for a lot split. The City Council received 1 public comment regarding this ordinance. Council Member Berna moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www Fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 14 of 22 Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Berna moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. Ordinance 6677 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Rezoning - 2023-0017: (N. Truckers Dr./The Lennon, 208): An ordinance to rezone that property described in Rezoning Petition RZN 23-017 located near North Truckers Drive in Ward 2 for approximately 20.23 acres from RPZD, Residential Planned Zoning District to RMF-18, Residential Multi -Family, 18 units per acre. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance and the history regarding the property. He stated Planning staff found the request to be compatible from a land use compatibility standpoint. He stated staff found the request to be consistent with future land use map, which designated the area as a city neighborhood area. He stated the infill score of the property varied between two to five. He briefly described the topography of the property as being flat with a 1 % slope going from north to south. He stated there was an unnamed tributary which was subject to the city streamside protection standards and spoke of how the property was well outside of any designated floodplain. He stated the area was characterized by hydric soils, which was an indicator that prompted Development Review staff to require wetland delineation as a part of any development proposal. He explained how the council could leave the item on the First Reading if they would like to hear feedback from the Environmental Action Committee after they had their upcoming meeting. He stated there had been quite a bit of public comment on the item, several of which recognized the need for housing but also aspired to see some requirement for environmental sensitivity observed when the site's developed. He stated staff recommended in favor of the request and the Planning Commission forwarded to council recommending in favor as well unanimously. He stated John Gilbert was present as the applicant. Kelly Comer, Associate Attorney with Eldridge Brooks Partners stated there were participants online and in the audience that were representing the project, including John Gilbert. She requested the proposal be approved and stated they were available for any questions. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville; AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 15 of 22 Council Member Turk requested the slideshow be presented again so she could locate the different zoning partials. She spoke of an area located on the right hand side of a slide that was not part of the current request and questioned if the area was still unassigned in zoning. Jonathan Curth, "That's correct." Council Member Turk, "Thank you. Also, I kind of read through some of the recommendations from the public at the Planning Commission meeting and didn't many of those recommendations, you said they were conditional recommendations. Wasn't LI-D part of that too, Low Impact Development, in many of their letters?" Jonathan Curth, "I think so. I don't recall them verbatim at this point. I do caution, some of them use language about getting guarantees and that's something that an applicant can offer, but it's not something that can be required as a part of an approval." Council Member Turk asked if the Planning Commission attached any conditions to the property. Jonathan Curth, "No, the Planning Commission cannot legally apply conditions to a rezoning request." Council Member Turk, "But don't sometimes they make recommendations - Oh, that's a Conditional Use Permit, never mind. Thank you." Council Member Wiederkehr, "Is it accurate to state that any formal determination of whether wetlands exist won't happen until the development application is submitted?" Jonathan Curth, "Generally, that's correct. If I said that was always the case, that would not be true. The council has seen one or two instances over the last 5 to 10 years where a rezoning that was very contentious or went on, typically it's a PZD, where there's a much higher level of detail where the applicant was willing to invest the money in employing a professional to go do that determination. Rarely it's done at this point of rezoning because of the costs associated with it and lack of certainty knowing if that additional expense is appropriately incurred." City Attorney Kit Williams stated the applicant could offer something, but it was not something the city could ask for or require. The City Council received 4 public comments regarding this ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked if council members from Ward 2 had heard anything regarding the item. Council Member Wiederkehr had not heard anything but hoped the item could be left on the First Reading. Council Member Moore had received a letter from one of the speakers for Public Comment but had not heard from any other community members. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 16 of 22 Council Member Berna had spoken with representatives from the church and stated they were fully on board with the rezoning. Mayor Jordan, "Well, I assume you all want to leave it here, Teresa?" Council Member Turk agreed. She stated the Environmental Action Committee would meet on Monday night and hoped the item could be left on the First Reading. Council Member Moore questioned if one meeting with the committee would be enough before the item was brought back to council and if there were any delays expected with the timeline. Council Member Turk, "I hope that we can actually schedule a tour on Monday. So maybe if staff could reach out, that would be very helpful, and hopefully we could just really focus on this piece of property that the Environmental Action Committee could and also with the tour, and then they could come back with their thoughts or recommendations. It's hard to say, but I would counsel them that, yes, there are projects waiting and timeliness would be very helpful." This ordinance was left on the First Reading. Misty Simpson (Water Damage Claim): A resolution pursuant to §39.10(C)(4) of the Fayetteville City Code to authorize the Mayor to pay the amount of $50,000.00 to Misty Simpson for a Water Damage Claim arising at 2425 East Sharon Street. Tim Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief description of the resolution. He stated the total repair amount Misty Simpson requested, excluding the repairs already paid by the city, was $97,938.31. He stated staff requested approval for reimbursement of the maximum amount allowed by Section 3 9. 10 in the City Code. He stated this had been presented to the Water and Sewer Committee and they had unanimously voted it be forwarded to council with recommendation for consideration. Misty Simpson, 2425 East Sharon Street gave a brief description of the damage the water had caused to her property and personal belongings. She requested the repairs to her property be approved and that she be in charge of the money spent on the repairs and that her home be fixed to the way it was before the flood. She briefly spoke of the company that had been contracted to fix her yard who had not done so satisfactorily. There was brief discussion between City Attorney Kit Williams and Tim Nyander regarding the contract for the yard clean up services. City Attorney Kit Williams stated he would like to review the contract. Misty Simpson, "The contract was with a Clean Cut. I think it was called The Clean Cut and I've had the owner back out to my house and he's not going to remediate it." City Attorney Kit Williams, "Well, the reason I asked about that is if it's a written contract, then it's enforceable, still enforceable right now." 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 17 of 22 Misty Simpson had been dealing with the issues for two years and had spent countless hours getting bids and meeting contractors. She believed it was the city's responsibility to fix the issues and briefly spoke of her history in the community. She explained how her house was now sinking further into the ground, her driveway was buckling, her house now had mold and many other issues that she went on to describe. Council Member Berna had visited the property and noted the damage the water had caused. He believed that City Attorney Kit Williams was trying to allude to the fact that there may be some recourse concerning the landscaper if he had not done the job he had been contracted to do. City Attorney Kit Williams, "I really need to see the contract itself to be able to interpret it, but if he has breached the contract and caused damages because of it, it's not only the fact that he maybe should not have been paid for that, but also, if there's additional damages because of the way that he did not complete the contract, then those damages could be recoverable. And if the city was able to then recover those damages, I think those damages would go to the homeowner. However, as I told you earlier, our code limits the amount of damages the city can pay on this particular damage claim. It was raised by 25% a few years back when it seemed the $40,000 was too low and it was something that had been established several years before and so with inflation, the city council decided they were going to increase it by 25%, and they did and you put a new cap, instead of $40,000 it's $50,000. Obviously, the city is actually not legally liable for a penny on this. We have sovereign immunity, that protects us, even if we were negligent, even if our negligence caused this. However, the statutes also give us the right to have a claims situation, a claims form, a claims system, which you all have done and the claim system must have a cap to be very effective, and to keep us from just becoming an insurance company, which we are not. The cap is $50,000 and the Supreme Court has said that cities don't always have to have an ordinance to do something like this, but if you do, you must obey it. You can't just ignore it, you can't waive it, you have to follow your own ordinances and so that's what I have to tell you. At this point the most that you could provide this homeowner is exactly what the resolution says, which is about $31,000 more than has been spent on this. But I will say that I would like to have the Water Department show me the contract and explain the situation to me so that it is very possible that we could actually initiate suit, I'd have to ask you, I don't sue someone unless the City Council tells me I can. I'm not asking for that because I want to see that, I need to do a little bit of investigation before I would even make that request to make sure that we're on solid ground, but as something that sounded very strange to me that a contractor would do something that would not be in compliance with the contract. I think people should follow their word and they should do what they say they're going to do and if they don't, then we do have legal remedies for that." Council Member Hertzberg, "Kit, do you need extra time or are we able to pass this and then you can review that contract?" City Attorney Kit Williams, "I think probably you should go ahead and pass this resolution; this is the maximum amount that you're allowed to provide her. I don't think anything that I would recover would legally really be the homeowners because they were the third party beneficiary of the contract and so if I had to file suit, and if I was successful, then any recovery I'd have would go to the homeowner, but that wouldn't make any difference in what you're doing tonight." 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 18 of 22 Council Member Moore, "I agree, this is incredibly unsettling. Some of us here are homeowners and this would be incredibly devastating to our finances, to our wellbeing of our household. I understand and appreciate the explanation about what our ordinance and what the Supreme Court has said, I'm just curious about the exploration, as she's expressed a lot of distress around these additional things that she's struggling to repair with what happened. I believe, I'm not an insurance expert, that's why I'm asking, but I believe a lot of times when water is involved, you have to have flood insurance. But are there other avenues, even with this being something that came from, you know, the city water issue that she has available to her? Or are there other potential things in our region that we can explore alongside the homeowner to see if there's anything possible?" City Attorney Kit Williams, "There wouldn't be any other things from the city that would be available. Like you said, it's possible that she might have some sort of insurance protection, but something tells me she doesn't because that's something that we also need to know because if insurance is going to pay for it, we're not going to pay an insurance company back. Now if they had a contract with the homeowner then they should fulfill it. So, I imagine there's probably not flooding insurance with the homeowner's policy, that's actually fairly rare if you're not in a floodplain for you to get that. And so, I doubt if she has that, and so I don't know of any other potential remedy that she has, besides, if in fact, a contractor did not do the job, then that's something the city should certainly look at very carefully." Council Member Moore, "Could we potentially pass this tonight and then explore in the event if there were some avenues in the region? I mean, just because we pass this and she's paid this money that we have the availability, and we can continue to do due diligence with city staff to see if there's anything available for her statewide or what have you. I mean, we may look, and we may exhaust all options. I'm just wondering if it can be a step process. I mean, is there the availability for us to pass this money to get this moving for her? And is there availability to look and see if there's anything that might potentially be available past this? I mean that might be outside the city. Is that within our scope or is that outside of our scope, I guess?" City Attorney Kit Williams, "Tonight, what you can do is pass this resolution and that'll get as much money to her at this point in time that we have the ability to do and you have the ability to do. Beyond that, the only other remedies I can see at all would be if in fact I could bring a breach of contract case against the contractor if they did not follow the contract. I hope the contract was clear and placed real duties on the contractor and that's one of the things I want to look at. I got to talk to the city staff that looked at the situation. I still think from the way it's been described, even though maybe at one point the city thought they had fulfilled the contract, I think there's still potentially a way we could try to make sure the contract was in fact done properly and correctly, and not as been described by the homeowner as not up to what was required under the contract." Council Member Turk, "If she withdrew her request tonight, would the City Council be able to draft a new ordinance that would raise the reimbursement amount and then she could resubmit it? Is that possible? I mean, this was a very extraordinary, catastrophic water main break that has impacted her significantly through no fault of her own." City Attorney Kit Williams, "No, I would not recommend that. If you wanted to raise the rates, a couple things you would probably need to think about. One thing, you would just want to table 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar,gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 19 of 22 this request, because you can't submit a new request, we have time limits on when you submit a request for damages. You don't want to have her withdrawal that and then she's out of the time limits, so that wouldn't work. The other thing you need to think about is that the higher you make the top limit, the more strict and closely examining you're going to have to start doing with the claims that are going to start coming in. You know, we're not an insurance company, you don't have an insurance company adjuster to go out and look and say, well, we'll pay you something, but you've got to depreciate that because depreciated value is all you're going to get. We don't have anybody on staff that's capable of going out and doing insurance adjuster work and the higher you make the potential claim, the higher the claims are going to be and the more it's going to be incumbent upon the city to look at getting an adjuster as a contractor, probably, or whatever, to start going out and looking at all these claims. But, you know, this is a policy decision for the City Council, you are the policy makers and so it's up for you to decide what you want to do. If you do want to try to go forward to raise the claim level for everybody, then, in order to help this particular person then you would need to table this, and then come back with a new ordinance that would raise the claim level. Keep in mind, this is being paid not out of the sky, this is being paid out of our sewer and water customers, you know, going into the rates. If you pay a lot, then rates are going to go up because you got to pay. It's very, very difficult when you see a compassionate person here that has been harmed, to want to do everything you can to make sure they're going to be all 100% protected, I can understand that, and I feel the same way. But you are charged, you're the guardians of the Treasury, you are charged with the difficult decision. In a case like this, what are you going to do? And that's really up for you to decide, because you all are the ones that control that and so I'll just leave that up to you, you get to decide what you want to do." Council Member Bunch, "That was such an unusual occurrence, I've never seen anything like it. My feeling is it was so unusual and exceptional that maybe we should look at raising the limit. I don't know what we'd raise it to, I understand everything Kit's saying, and I agree with him that the higher our limit is, the higher the request we're going to be getting, not necessarily from Miss Simpson, but you know. I want to do what is right, what I think is right and fair. My feeling is maybe we go back and revisit that a little bit, the amount that we offer. I remember when we raised it the last time and I don't know that we can raise it to exactly what she's asking for, but I feel like there were some exceptional circumstances involved around this. That's just my feelings." Council Member Berna, "I've been back and forth with Kit on the phone a couple times on this issue and like I said, I went out to the home and looked at this property and again, I can't imagine her frustration, but I can only try to put myself in her shoes. If I'm sitting watching TV one night and I look up and a wall of water is coming at me from an unknown source and wipes my house out, I didn't do anything wrong, and we can say we have immunity because we are a municipality, legal immunity, but I don't think we have ethical immunity. I am of the opinion that not that we're going to be able to make her whole, but I think we need to do our best to put her home back to a livable condition and right now, I saw it, it's falling apart. I'm pretty sure it wasn't falling apart before the flood. When you've got sizeable cracks in the foundation, you've got sizeable cracks going up the walls, you've got rotting awnings, I just can't in good conscious say that we're doing the right thing and that's what I always try to do whether people agree with me or disagree with me, I always try to do what I think is the right thing and in this particular situation, I think the right thing is us to table this and try to work up something that we can lay our head on the pillow at 1 13 West Mountain Fayetteville; AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 20 of 22 night and say we did the best thing. I don't know that it will ever be able to go back and get it perfect, but I think we need to be able to say we did the best we could do in that situation." There was brief discussion of the item being tabled. City Attorney Kit Williams, "It would need to be tabled long enough to be able to have a new ordinance drafted and approved. So, I'm not sure exactly how long it will take, it's really not too long if somebody presents at least numbers to me, so I know what to put in the ordinance." Council Member Hertzberg, "I agree with Scott and what Sarah have said, I want to make sure that we're taking into consideration this will cause a rate increase as Kit has mentioned and we've already heard this rate increase is going to be detrimental to many folks. While I would like to just give as much money as we can, I want to take into consideration the whole citizenry." Council Member Moore, "I appreciate that, because I would caution whenever you know, again, this a very devastating situation. But you know, we have 100,000 individuals in the City of Fayetteville, and you're right. Outside of that in the region, we're taking care of other water customers, as well as we've had a very in depth conversation. I want us to have extreme caution. I mean, I just see a huge yellow light of just, you know, this is a one unique instance that I just want to make sure that we're not making policy, and I hear my colleagues being conservative and saying we might not be able to make her whole but I also want to make us all kind of sit with and I don't want us to rush to writing up a revised ordinance. I'd like to have some additional information, like to understand what other folks in the region are doing, when they've raised their ceiling by a certain amount, how that impacted them, I'd like to understand what kind of liability we might be opening ourselves up to as we're looking at our budgets. And so if that prevents this household, though, from being able to move forward and as living, you know, in a livable conditions too I also, you know, I heard mentioned earlier by Kit, we might need to pass this so she can move on with some repairs. So, that's kind of my question, as well, is their ability to potentially do two steps because it sounds like the current ordinance, if we pass them tonight and she moved forward, there may not be additional remedy available. But if we also are trying to do our proper diligence, she might be delayed and her house being livable for a portion of time and so just trying to keep that in consideration and being mindful of the true impact this might have." Council Member Wiederkehr, "I would be interested in requesting, Mr. Mayor, that staff consider some additional alternatives, whether that would be grant programs using the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) money, whether there would be the ability to legally carve out a small pool of our remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money, things of that nature. I'm not sure the $50,000 is completely inappropriate, but whether there's grants that could be available we make them for other individuals that are eligible for home repairs. The criteria is low income senior housing, for instance. But I think that it would behoove us to at least have any other form of eligibility be researched and continued, because that might benefit the homeowner, that might benefit the ratepayers, that might benefit everyone in the City of Fayetteville and if we still have the latitude with some control over the small portion of remaining ARPA funding, that we can legally apply, to me, that would not be an appropriate use of that funding. Thank you." 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 21 of 22 Council Member Turk, "Thank you, Mike, for those ideas. I guess we would need to have Paul and Steven review the ARPA requirements to see if this would be something that would be fundable. But I wanted to ask Miss Simpson how she felt about this discussion, that if you needed the money right now, I know it's been a very, very long time. But if you gave us at least a month, we couldn't do anything quicker than that probably more like two months, to explore these other options, how would that affect you, or what would be your preference?" Misty Simpson, "I've been living like this for two years, and the $50,000 wouldn't even put piers under my house. So, I mean, you can think about that, like, it's not going to fix anything else, the $50,000 will put the piers and level it. And that's it. All of everything else that's broken and rotted, and I forgot to even put in here that it's pulled my backsplash away from my brand new countertops that I had replaced. And somebody had mentioned RSO, in the northwest corner, we were talking about water and sewer a month before this the main on my house broke and flooded my house, then this happened. And then two months after this happened, my water heater blew up, because the pressure coming into my house was so great that when the plumber came out to check it, it broke his meter, his RSO meter. So, I mean, there's a lot of issues in that area. I know that you say you're opening yourself up by increasing this, but I have to get three bids for everything I'm having done. I mean, if I can steal money from you, after spending this much time putting this together, I would deserve it. I know that you're opening yourself up for liability, but we have to have vetted contractors, they have to be, you know, with the city, I have to have three of them, every bid has to match exactly the other bid. I don't know how anybody would steal from you. I don't, because it's taken a long time to put this together, so please take that into consideration when you're thinking about raising the maximum allowed, is we have to do a whole lot of work to even get to here. And it took forever. We can only use these reputable companies. Mark was knocking people off my list and I'd have to go back to square one and start over." Council Member Turk, "I hear your frustration, if this had happened to my house, I'm sure I'd feel the way you do, just exhausted. This has been going on for quite a long time. Would it be okay if we explored this for the next couple of months because I do really appreciate this idea about maybe being able to use those ARPA funds, and then we don't have to change our policy. But we could try and provide some additional support to remedy the situation that you've been through." Misty Simpson, "Please, because the $50,000 is not going to make a difference. It's going to make my doors shut properly and then that's it. I will still have mold, I will still have sinking patios, I will still have broken driveways, I will still have dirt and I will have all that gross mud in my backyard." Council Member Hertzberg moved to table the resolution to the October 17, 2023 City Council meeting. Council Member Berna seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Hertzberg, Jones voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant. This resolution was tabled to the 10/1712023 City Council meeting. Announcements: 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 15, 2023 Page 22 of 22 Susan Norton, Chief of Staff announced the Animal Services Department had great success with animals being adopted and the city was no longer in emergency mode at the shelter. She mentioned the Human Resources Department was having job fairs for job opportunities within the City of Fayetteville. Council Member Wiederkehr announced there were vacancies within the Boards and Committees of Fayetteville that were open for applications. There was brief discussion of the council not having a meeting next week. Council Member Turk announced the Hamstring Creek Review was Thursday at 5:30. Susan Norton confirmed the public meeting regarding Hamstring Creek Watershed Flood Mitigation Study would be held Thursday, August 17th at 5:30 in the Fayetteville Police Department Community Room. City Council Agenda Session Presentations: None City Council Tour: None Adjournment: 8:39 P.M. `� ,`'����FtK / T�Q�.� Gil Y p� •aL�✓''. � • r VAYETTEVIL1.1. Kara Paxton, City Oerk �y •y� Treasurer . ., sy/ • kA N�, • J�,��. N• ' '''G"ON: 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov