North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Aug. 1.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

West Frankfort Regular Special Council Meeting

Monday, August 1, 2023

1. Mayor Arview Called The Special Meeting To Order At 6:00 P.M. Requesting A Roll Call. All Commissioners, Except Commissioner Warren Were In Attendance. The City Attorney And Deputy City Clerk Were Also In Attendance.

2. Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Bids Received To Purchase A Jockey Pump And A Replacement Flygt Pump For The Street Department. Mayor Arview Stated This Is The Reason For Calling This Meeting. We Were Briefed By The Xylem Representative Before The Meeting. We Have Some Issues With The Pumps Getting The Water Out. We Need Some Extra Equipment To Help Us Out. Superintendent Michael Bonner Stated A Jockey Pump Is Not The Cure All For The Situation Out There. It Would Be A Step In Trying To Control The Water And To Help Keep It From Destroying Our Flygt Pumps. That's Our Main Flood Control That We Have And We Need To Have A System In Place. We Do Have A Lot Of Work To Do Out There In The Future. Dredging The Pond, Removing A Lot Of Debris, This Is Just The First Step To Get Going To Keep Our System Up And Running. Mr. Bonner Recommended Looking Into Buying A Jockey Pump And Then Also Purchasing 12" Super Pump For Emergency Backup Use. In Case We Have One Or Two Pumps Go Down We Have Something We Can Throw In There To Give Us A Fighting Chance To Get Ahead Of It. The Xylem Rep Stated These Are Budgetary Prices That You Have In Front Of You, They May Be Lower Once We See What All We Need. He Stated He Would Bring A Smaller Pump In Let The City Run It A Couple Days As A Trial Before They Purchase One. He Told Us Right Now Its Not Going To Perform The Way It Should With All The Moss, But For $0 Dollars I Will Put One In There To Let You See What The Jockey Pump Is Going To Do With Your Flygt Out. This Will Help Maintain Below That Rear Wall And That Seems To Be The Issue. But With All That Moss And Debri Its Going To Be Tricky Im Not Going To Lie. Mr. Bonner Stated He Has Talked To Ryan Buckingham Today To See If There Are Any Grants Available To Purchase This Equipment. We Are Going To Set Up A Meeting With Him. We Just Can't Wait We Need To Make A Move. Commissioner Stanley Stated Bring The Pump In So We Can See What It Is Going To Do And By The Next Meeting We Should Have Some Real Figures Of What Its Going To Cost Us To Do Everything We Need To Do. Right Now, We Are Fighting Against Time With All This Rain In The Forcast. Commissioner Stanley Recommends Tabling This Until Tuesday At The Next Meeting Until We Get Some Real Numbers. Commissioner Howard Also Stated That We Just Got An Email From Greater Egypt For Underpriviledged Cities And Possibly We Can Get That Pond Dredged At No Cost To Us. This Item Was Tabled Until Tuesday Nights Meeting On August 8, 2023.

3. Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Amending A City Ordinance As Recommended By The Zoning Board Of Appeals. Mayor Arview Stated The Zoning Board Met And We Have An Issue With Some Of Our Ordinances Where Its Not Clarified That Commerical Businesses Can Have A Drive Thru So This Amended Ordinance Would Allow Them To Approve Special Cases To Allow For A Drive Thru. We Already Have Some Out There That Have A Drive Thru And We Want To Make Sure That Just Because You Have A Commercial Business That A Drive Thru Is Allowed At That Location. Specifically, If A Location Downtown Wanted A Drive Thru, That Location Could Block Traffic, Be At A Location With High Traffic Or A Blocked View To Pull Out From. The Zoning Board Of Appeals Would Decide If Having One Is Approved Or Not Depending On All Of These Factors. The Zoning Board Did Approve This Drive Thru Today For The Location Out In Front Of The Wf Mall. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

4. Approval Of Retroactive Pay For Additional Duties Performed By The Payroll Clerk During The Time Period Of May 1, 2023 - July 28, 2023. This Is For The Extra Duties NancyHas Taken On Since May. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

5. Approval Of A Resolution For A Human Resource Officer For City Hall. This Is For The Duties Nancy Has Taken On Basically Just Making It Official. This Will Be Handled The Same Way We Did The Office Manager For Jessica. If We Ever Need To Find Someone Else To Do This Job The Title Would Be Moved To Someone Else Along With The Pay. The Stipend Will Be Paid Every Payroll Instead Of Twice A Year As Previously Stated. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

6. Approval Of The Appointment Of City Clerk. Mayor Arview Stated These Are The Two Everyone Has Been Waiting On. It Is His Pleasure To Announce That He Is Appointing Andrea Bolen As City Clerk, Depending On What The Council Says To His Appointment. Andrea Has Been Doing A Fantastic Job For Us Since The Previous Administration Left. Commissioner Stanley Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

7. Approval Of The Appointment Of City Treasurer. Mayor Arview Stated Chris Veteto Has Been Doing A Fantastic Job Since The Previous Administration Left. So, It Is My Pleasure To Intend To Appoint Chris Veteto As City Treasurer. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Mayor Arview Then Swore In The Newly Appointed CityClerk; Andrea Bolen And City Treasurer; Chris Veteto.

8. Public Comments/Questions: There Were No Audience Comments Or Questions Tonight.

9. Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss ContractNegotiations, Union Grievances, Personnel, Sale Of Surplus Property And/Or Pending Litigation, With Possible Action Was Made At 6:19 P.M. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Howard. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

10. The Council Returned From Executive Session At 6:46 P.M.Were No Action Was Taken, And Returned Back Into Open Session. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Stanley. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

11. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting WasAdjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 6:47 P.M.

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