Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Council Denies Industry; Audit Clean For City

Prescott's City Council meeting opened with Dick Bright recommending the city not lease property to Aegis Biomedical.

Bright was on a health committee appointed at the July meeting to look into allowing Aegis to locate at the closed landfill site on Wildcat Road.

The council agreed with the recommendation. The committee met once four days after being formed and decided against Aegis.

The city was given a clean audit from the accounting firm of Taylor, Rodgers and Turner, PLLC.

Ronnie Rodgers said the statements fairly represent the city and the city's equity increased 1.1 million from 1998 to 1999.

Most of this increase, he said, came from money received to build a library, otherwise the increase was about $300,000.

Revenue from utilities, he told the panel, were down $500,000 from last year, but this can be attributed to a rate decrease.

Rodgers said the Parks and Recreation Department borrowed $3,000 from the Bank of Prescott to make it through the year, and this is not allowed.

The department, he said, cannot borrow funds in one year, paying them back in another.

Instead, the city should have transferred funds from the general fund to the parks so the department would have had enough money to close out the year.

In addition, he said, the council needs to establish a policy for bad debts and be consistent throughout the customer base.

Some exceptions will be sought, especially in the area of electricity. The city, he said, can't shut someone's electricity off during the winter, but it does need a policy for collecting bad debts and shutting off accounts for non-payment.

Randy Turner told the council there was a minor problem with the municipal court and has been for years.

In fact, Turner said 10 problems were found in the municipal court, with several having been on the list before.

The problems included tickets being entered into the system not matching the fines imposed by the court, the books should be balanced on a monthly basis, all accounts reconciled monthly and deposits made on a timely basis, preferably daily.

Most problems, he said, have been on the list before, with only two new ones this year.

One of the biggest and most persistent headaches, Turner said, is there is money in the system no one knows who it belongs to.

The court needs to get this straightened out and can do it with a court order. Then, the department can basically start its bookkeeping from zero.

Turner said the municipal judge also needs to establish policies to make sure things are done every month.

Municipal Judge Gene Hale said he would comply, adding the problem goes back years with the carryover and late payments, but now the court has a printout showing who owes old fines. This gives people the option of paying on them or going to jail.

Hale said the office has been playing catchup as many of the debts are years old.

Turner told the council the defunct Nevada County Hospital paid writ fees to collect old debts, but the writs were never served or filed.

Most of the problems are in bookkeeping and can be solved, Turner said.

Carl Dalrymple, city accountant, said the council would be wise to watch its expenditures for the remainder of the year.

It was cool in the early part of the year and the income from utility payments isn't as much as it normally is.

He suggested the council only do emergency expenditures at this time, then amend the city's budget at the September meeting.

The actual income received is not in line with the projected income, he said. The city has received $3.2 million, but anticipated having $6.1 million by this time.

Dalrymple said the money coming in from utilities will be even less in November and December.

Jim Dickerson, with Prescott Video, updated the council on the upgrade to the cable television system.

Dickerson had good news for the panel, saying all the cable is in from the Hope head end. Some houses could have been missed, but can call and get the situation straightened out.Most people will probably be more upset with the change in the channel line, he said. It confuses people as many of the stations aren't where they used to be on the dial.

However, cards showing where the channels are have been sent to all customers.

For those whose televisions won't go beyond channel 56 or 57, converter boxes are available through the cable company to get the higher bands.

He said the company expected to have everything done by mid-August, but problems arose causing a delay. Because of the delay, all Prescott customers will be given credit for 10 days on their September bill.

Dickerson told the council about the company's collection policy. Because cable isn't a metered account its customers are required to pay in advance. If they get behind, they're turned off and it could cost them as much as $75 to get reconnected.

The company, he said, has instituted a rotating billing system, now basing the billing on the date the customer signed up, instead of a blanket monthly billing for all customers at the same time.

The upgrade included running six fiberoptic cables from Hope to Prescott, and doing away with the old 75 ohm cable.

Only one of the fiberoptic cables is carrying a signal from Hope to Prescott, with the possibility there for a local access station or the schools to add a television station. Three channels, he said, have been set aside for public access.

When all the work was done, he said, the company would up with 47 channels on its basic package, including C-Span, which was added as an afterthought as a service to the customers.

This number could rise to 50 if the city and school add on at a later date.

Pay per view channels are not included on the system at this time, he said, and the company won't be to add them as soon as it had planned. Prescott Video will try to offer Razorback games on PPV when possible, but customers will be on the honor system with filters until the company can get the digital equipment in place by next year.

Prescott Superintendent Ron Wright asked the board for permission to divert traffic around Prescott High School and Prescott Elementary School.

He asked the board to make Eighth Street one way from Main Street to the schools because buses have been involved in accidents in the two "S" curves.

The buses, he said, can't make these curves without crossing the center of the street and being in the left lane.

The council agreed to look into the situation and let Wright know.

City attorney Glenn Vasser informed the panel Arkansas statute states the city shall fill the vacancy on the council, or suit could be filed against the city to force the issue.

The vacancy on the council occurred when councilman Steve Crow was hired as the new director of the Parks and Recreation Department and had to resign his seat.

Vasser said the naming of a new councilman can't be done by secret ballot, but must be public, with any constituent living Ward 1 position 1 being eligible to make a recommendation.Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said five letters have already been received by the city, and set a limit of 21 days from Aug, 21, as the deadline for nominations.

All recommendations must be made in the form of a letter, with copies to be given to the council members at the September meeting.

Ron Addington, candidate for the State House of Representatives District 36, spoke to the council on industrial recruitment.

Addington told the council he had published a paper on the 10 year history of the Clark County Industrial Council, which could be used by the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office.

He talked about how 1,900 jobs have been created since the CCIC was formed, with the unemployment rate dropping from 16 percent to 3 percent.

Such industries as Carrier, B.F. Goodrich, Reynolds Metals and Petit Jean Poultry have located in Arkadelphia during this period as well.

The CCIC is currently working to complete a business park by Interstate 30, for small industries and retail businesses.

In addition, the CCIC, he said, has established a learning center for industries to use for training current and prospective employees.

Jon Chadwell, executive director of the EDO, said work in progressing on the web page and should be done in two weeks so it can be sent off and put together.

He said with 36 percent of the House of Representatives being new members, it will be more important than ever for the folks back home to let them know what's they want.

Changing topics to the library project, he said things are progressing well as all property agreements have been reached, with the owners satisfied "to our knowledge" with the deal.

In all, it cost $163,000 to buy the land for the library, with the Economic Development Foundation kicking in the final $2,000.