Council finalizes Picnic Entertainment

The El Dorado Springs City Council met on Monday, June 19. All council members were present: Mayor Brad True, Jim Luster, Nick Bland, Randy Bland and Jerry Baldwin. City Manager Bruce Rogers and City Clerk Lisa Allison were present as well as Cedar County Economic Developer Marge Vance.

The council voted to approve the engagements of Paige Esry, Ginelle Esry, Riley Taylor and Jolene Hackney to entertain during the 2017 El Dorado Springs Picnic. According to Rogers these entertainers should be the last added to the Picnic schedule.

During the Public Forum Glenda Baker read a prepared statement regarding a visit she had received from Harry Rowe, the owner of the property at the NW corner of Spring and Jackson. Baker had mentioned the construction debris left at the property on at least two council meetings during the Public Forum and had requested that the city contact the owner and ask him to clean it up.

Rowe stopped at her home on June 9 to tell her he had cleaned up his property. During their conversation her told that he remembered El Dorado Springs as a beautiful community and is disappointed in its current condition. According to Baker, when the two talked again on June 12, she asked him where he got her name and address. He said, “a man from city hall told me your name and where you lived and how to get there.”(Kimball Long, Sun Publisher, mentioned that when someone speaks during the Public Forum they are required to give their name and address and it becomes part of the public record.)

Rogers responded to Baker saying he had a conversation with Rowe on June 6 but was reluctant to mention Baker as the complainant and he did not tell Rowe her address or how to get to her house.

The Sun contacted Rowe on Tuesday, June 20. He said he didn’t think El Dorado Springs was different from other little cities, but possibly a little worse because of the drug problem. He said that older homes don’t sell and are turned into rentals.

When asked who told him where Baker lived, he said he didn’t want to say, but it wasn’t Rogers.

Rowe was very complimentary of Baker’s efforts. However, he said, “I think it is a losing battle.”

The council voted to award a bid of $43,570 for a 69KV circuit breaker from Alston Grid LLC. The circuit breaker will stop feeding the substation if it senses a fault. Currently the city relies on the Walker substation and it did not work when the fire happened even though it was working properly when tested a week before the fire.

The council voted to award a bid for a 15KV vacuum circuit breaker from Siemens Energy, Inc, in the amount of $17,271. The circuit breaker will be used to separate the two distribution systems from the high voltage.

During the city manager’s report, Rogers told the council the he believes work will begin on the electric substation in September with 60 days to complete.

He also told the council that the bids are out for the water tower and will be opened July 12.

Rogers commented that annual bank bids are out and will be opened early to mid-July.

He also said that budget paperwork will go out to department heads in the next week or so and the approval of the tax levy will be in a couple of months. Rogers mentioned that estimates for water tower painting is $160,000 and the well is $400,000. Rogers informed the council there is barely a million dollars in reserves in the Water/Sewer Fund and these projects can be paid for with cash or one or both can be put in a finance package. Rogers asked the council to think about it. Rogers said he recommends holding back some reserves.

During the Mayor/Council report, R. Bland asked about a decision at the airport. Rogers indicated it could be discussed later under the real estate maters.

The council voted to go into executive session to discuss real estate matters. There was no report from that session.