Receives Chamber check for sidewalk Council hears from Economic Developer about derelict homes

During the Public Forum section of the El Dorado Springs City Council meeting on Monday, May 15, Marge Vance, Director of Economic Development for Cedar County, mentioned that dilapidated houses in town. She said that census statistics showed that 15 years ago, 66% of the houses in town were occupied by owners and in 2015 55% were occupied by renters.

Vance said this the trending puts El Dorado Springs moving in the wrong direction.

Council Jim Luster said that in order to make the citizens understand the city isn’t going to tolerate them not keeping their properties cleaned up, maybe a night or two in jail would get the attention of a few of the repeat offenders.

All councilmen were present: Mayor Brad True, Luster, Nick Bland, Randy Bland and Jerry Baldwin. Also present were City Manager Bruce Rogers and City Clerk Lisa Allison.

The El Dorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, represented by Executive Director Jackson Tough, presented the city with a check for $44,000 for Phase II of the sidewalk project.

The council voted to re-appoint Randy Jones, Nick Bland and Lyle Bland as members of the City of El Dorado Springs Parks and Recreation Board; voted to re-appoint Tania Molz and Stacy Fast as member of the city’s Picnic Committee; to re-appoint Shirley Lynn, Peggy Carter, Denny Whitesell and Lana Sue Jones as members of the city’s Municipal Cemetery Advisory Board and to re-appoint Bill Rabe and Allen Hoover as members of the city’s Enhanced Enterprise Zone.

The council voted to purchase a reconditioned transformer at a cost of $266,500. It comes with a three year warranty.

Rogers mentioned that the new police car has arrived and will be in service next week. The vehicle was purchased off of the state contract.

Rogers said that the bid specs for painting the water tower have been received from the engineer and will be reviewed.

R.  Bland asked about the status of the sidewalk project. Rogers said the project is under design and getting state agency clearances. He expects that the design process will not be completed until the end of the summer.

Bland also asked about the next list of derelict houses for demolition. Rogers said that he and Aaron Smith have prepared lists and will compare those to come up with a final list.

The council voted to go into executive session. There was no report from that session.

Back in open session, Luster asked City Attorney Bryan Breckenridge what the city could to make people clean up their properties. Luster stated he would like to put them in jail for a few days, Breckenridge will check to see if the council can legally pass an ordinance with jail time in lieu of a fine for repeat offenders.