The Eureka Springs City Council voted unanimously to enact an emergency clause and approve a resolution waiving competitive bidding on a much-needed replacement sewer pump.
At its regular meeting held Monday, Nov. 13 at The Auditorium, the council approved three readings, two by title only, of a resolution authorizing the expenditure of $54,051.08 on a new sewer pump from Evans Enterprises Inc.
“We couldn’t find another source so we’re sole-sourcing,” Mayor Butch Berry told council members. “We need to do it as soon as possible in order to keep our sewer plant running.”
The cost includes an extra $6,400 to get the pump production and delivery expedited, said Simon Wiley, the city’s public works director.
“If we don’t get it expedited we’re looking at at least two to four months on getting it and we’re trying to get it in six to eight weeks,” Wiley said.
The vote came after the council heard an update earlier in the meeting on the issues with the sewer plant from Wiley and Zane Lewis from McClelland Consulting Engineers, who has been retained by the city to help with the situation.
“Back in probably 2019, 2020, the city was put under a consent order by ADEQ [the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality] for some issues at the sewer plant and I just found out about it a few weeks ago,” Wiley said. “They’re working … to get some of those issues resolved. We had to answer some questions to ADEQ recently so I had to put McClelland on retainer, I guess, essentially to try to deal with some of the issues we’re having.”
Lewis explained to the council some of the issues that are going on at the plant, including the issue of wastewater being spilled into a creek and rocks getting into the equipment at the plant.
“There was a spill of wastewater into the creek and that was reported to the ADEQ, and so there’s been basically some correspondence that they’ve required to be issued by a registered engineer to confirm that the steps that are being taken by the staff and by the utility are going to remedy these problems and make sure they don’t happen again,” Lewis said. “And so, thankfully, you know, the short answer is that we believe that there was some failure of control equipment, including a float that operates a pump that is a very lowcost piece of equipment. But what it did was it illuminated a need for some basically heavy spending on spare parts, replacement equipment, and then a deeper analysis into whether the existing treatment facility is going to be able to handle the current nutrient and flow loadings. And so these are all questions that the Arkansas DEQ is asking.”
Lewis said a series of letters will be written to ADEQ highlighting various data from the plant.
“ADEQ is working with us to basically find out the answer that we need,” Lewis said. “Rock in the equipment seem to be a major issue. A preliminary finding is we need to get a rock screen to make sure to get all the rock out of the flow coming into the plant.”
Lewis said he plans to update the council regularly on the situation.
OTHER ACTIONS
Berry cast the deciding affirmative vote after the council was deadlocked 3-3 on an issue of sending a land vacation request to mediation.
The vacation request, regarding a portion of Maine Avenue and Fuller Street, included a recent site visit by council members.
Berry said there was a request to also get drone footage of the area for council members, but a certified drone operator couldn’t be located.
Numerous residents of the area, some outside of city limits, spoke or wrote letters opposing the vacation.
Anything decided at mediation will have to come back to the council for approval, and anyone has the opportunity to object.
Council members Terry McClung, David Avanzino and Steve Holifield voted in favor of sending the possible vacation to mediation. Autumn Slane, Harry Meyer and Melissa Greene voted against, forcing Berry to break the tie.
In the annual food truck lottery announcement, city clerk treasurer Ida Meyer told council members that everyone who applied won a lottery spot.
“We had less entries than spots available so no one lost out on the lottery this year,” Meyer said.
Only Food Truck Area B, the area along Center Street, and Food Truck Area D, the area in the highways 62/23 south corridor, had applicants this year, Meyer said.
Food trucks approved in the lottery were:
• Food Truck Area B — 64 Center Street, property owner Travis Holloway (currently Catered Creations).
• Food Truck Area D — 2100 E. Van Buren, property owners Jeff and Nikki Griffith (currently Disco’s Grill).
• Food Truck Area D — 44 Kingshighway, property owner Eureka Springs Community Center Foundation (currently Carmen’s Tacos).
• Food Tuck Area D — 185 E. Van Buren, property owner David Teigen (currently Pineapple Paradise).
• Food Truck Area D — 132 E. Van Buren, property owner CTC Holdings, LLC.
The council also voted 6-0 to approve three readings and invoke the emergency clause on an ordinance for the annual property tax levy, setting it again at 4.4 mills.
“This is our annual ordinance that we have to have done,” Berry said. “There are no changes in it. The same it’s been for numerous years.”
In other approvals, the council approved Kolin Paulk (Position 1) and Bradley Tate-Greene (Position 2) as new members of the City Advertising and Promotion Commission and Dan Hebert (Position 1) as a new member of the Cemetery Commission.
NEW CHIEF WELCOMED
The city’s new police chief, Billy Floyd, was introduced at the meeting.
“I just want to let you know that I’m here for you,” Floyd told the council. “If you have any questions, or if there is anything I can do for you, feel free to reach out. I like face-to-face meetings, but if a phone call works for you then it works for me. I’m just here for whatever you need and if you have any questions about any issues that may come up.
“I’m still on a learning curve a little bit with some of the stuff, but you guys can help me out and I can help you out. We’ll get along just fine.”
