MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE OZARK CITY COUNCIL
February 12, 2024
Ozark City Council Meeting Room
The Regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Hall and upon a roll call, a quorum was declared to exist for the meeting. Present were Council Members Loren Maier, Summer Miner, Angela Harris, Charlie Meeker, and Argest Hyler. Also present were Mayor Hall, City Attorney Kevin Barham, City Clerk Susan Stevens, and City Treasurer/ Deputy City Clerk Marla Ward. Mr. Barham gave the invocation and Summer Miner led the Pledge of Allegiance.
A motion was made by Argest Hyler to approve the January minutes and seconded by Angela Harris. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and the minutes were approved. A motion was made by Charlie Meeker to approve the financial reports and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and the financial reports were approved.
There were no Committee or Commission Reports as the meetings were cancelled due to inclement weather. The Ozark Pride and Beautification Committee meeting day has changed and a new schedule will be announced.
The Water Department reports routine maintenance and repairs including 43 utility line locates (half attributed to fiber optic installation) but spent most of the month dealing with weather- related calls. Investigated and completed numerous repairs including Carlton Drive, King Mountain Road, N 2nd, P,N 9t”, Oak, School, and College Streets. Rate increase of 3% passed effective March 1, 2024. NPDES permit renewal application completed and submitted.
The Police Department reports 70 reports, 16 arrests, 14 accident reports, 9 warrants served, 16 subpoenas served, 1 ordinance ticket, 25 ordinance warnings, 1 juvenile ticket, 91 traffic tickets, and 452 traffic warnings. Siloam Springs SWAT used our training facilities. Tyler Whitsett and Jacob Campbell received their BAC certifications from the Arkansas Department of Health. Both officers will be attending the Arkansas Law Enforcement Academy starting February 19th
The Community Center will be having a Valentine’ s Day special the month of February with 20% off memberships. Planning has begun for the Underwater Easter Egg Hunt to be held Saturday, March 30t”. Most weekends are booked. Installation of flooring for the Exercise room has been scheduled and they are beginning to order equipment.
The Street Department reports taking down the Christmas lights and working on clearing the streets during the snow. There was some street patching done as well as tree trimming in the parks. They also helped in the Community Center when it was shut down for cleaning.
The Fire Department reports 787 calls for the year 2023. They are now in the process of ordering the truck to replace the Tahoe.
- There was no Old Business
- New Business
- Ordinance 2024- 3 Annexation of Tractor Supply Property into Ward 2 of the
City of Ozark.
A motion to read the Ordinance was made by Angela Harris and seconded by Argest Hyler. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Ordinance. A motion was made by Loren Maier to dispense with the 2″d and 3` d readings and proceed by title only. This was seconded by Summer Miner. Upon a roll call vote all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the title two times. A motion was made to approve the Ordinance by Summer Miner and seconded by Argest Hyler. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Ordinance 2024- 3 was approved. A motion was then made to enact the emergency clause by Charlie Meeker and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, the motion was approved.
- Ordinance 2024-4 Amending City Clerk Salary to reflect COLA
A motion to read the Ordinance was made by Angela Harris and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Ordinance. A motion was made by Angela Harris to dispense with the 2″ d and 3 d readings and proceed by title only. This was seconded by Charlie Meeker. Mr. Barham then read the title two times. A motion to approve the Ordinance was made by Argest Hyler and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Ordinance 2024- 4 was approved. Charlie Meeker made a motion to enact the emergency clause and Argest Hyler seconded. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and the motion was approved.
- Resolution 2024- 1 Adjusting the City Budget to Actual
A motion to read the Resolution was made by Summer Miner and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Resolution. A motion was made to approve by Loren Maier and seconded by Angela Harris. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Resolution 2024- 1 was approved.
- Resolution 2024- 2 Adjusting the Water Dept. Budget to Actual
A motion to read the Resolution was made by Angela Harris and seconded by Summer Miner. Upon a roll call vote all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Resolution. A motion was made to approve by Argest Hyler and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Resolution 2024- 2 was approved.
- Resolution 2024- 5 Franklin County Mitigation Plan
A motion to read the Resolution was made by Summer Miner and seconded by Angela Harris. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Resolution. A motion to approve was made by Angela Harris and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Resolution 2024- 5 was approved.
- Spring Clean-Up Date Change
Due to the eclipse on April 8th, the spring clean- up will be April 15th through 20th
Residents are asked to please have you trash out on your regular pickup day by 7: 00am. It is curbside pickup. No E waste and no tires. E waste can be taken this week only (free) with a copy of your City of Ozark water bill. You can take a 1- time load to the Transfer Station. Their hours are Mon- Fri 9 to 4 ( closed 12- 1 for lunch) and Saturday 9 to 11: 45
MAYOR HALL’ S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
There was no public input.
Announcements: Shout Out to the Street Department, Police, Fire, 1 St Responders, and Water Department for their excellent work during the snow and ice in January. The Street crew did a great job cleaning around the downtown curbs last week. Yes, we have a sweeper, but itdoesn’ t do the job with wet leaves. We have had to manually clean the curbs and leaves for several years. They get a deeper clean and it lasts longer. This is a case where physical labor does better than a machine.
The Run for the Fallen is scheduled for March 15th. If you want to be part of this event, please let me know. The Eclipse is April 8th. If you want to get involved, go to the Main Street Ozark Facebook page or call Shelbey Beasley at 667- 5337.
In March we will get the east side and the west side part of the Highland Cemetery fencing project started. Once the 291″ Street bridge project is completed, we will begin work on a pavilion at the Cemetery. It will be a 30×40 covered structure west of the shop/ building.
The street signs are finished, other than a few extras and some that may have been missed. Please don’ t hesitate to let me know if you see one that we may have missed.
A big thank you to our citizens for their patience with the morning traffic on Hillbilly Loop & 18t” Street. Things are coming along good at the bridge on 29th Street. We are still directing traffic from 7: 40am – 8: 00am and 2: 55pm – 3:05pm.
Congratulations to the Ozark High School Competition Cheer Team for placing 6t” in the Nation out of 13 finalists! We are so proud of them!
A motion to adjourn was made by Argest Hyler and seconded by Charlie Meeker. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and the meeting was adjourned.
Minutes for the Ozark City Council meeting held Monday, February 12, 2024 were approved and passed this I IIh day of March, 2024.
Mayor Roxie Hall
City Clerk Susan Stevens
