Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet Approves, Amends 2001 Budget

Emmet's City Council passed a budget for 2001 and immediately began appropriating funds from it.

At the regular monthly meeting of the council, Wednesday, Jan. 10, a budget totaling $166,135. Of this, $65,406 goes into the general fund, $23,991 was budgeted for the street department, with $76,738 allotted for the city's water and sewer department.

Emmet Mayor Dale Booker, once the budget had been approved, said the city needed to appropriate money from it because of the disaster.

He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) will reimburse the city for 87.5 percent of the costs for the disaster cleanup.

FEMA will pay the city 75 percent of the costs, while ADEM will pick up 12.5 percent. The city will be required to pay the other 12.5 percent, but, Booker said, this can be done with in-kind labor.

However, he said, Congressman Mike Ross was in Prescott Tuesday, Jan. 9, and is working to get 100 percent of the disaster cleanup funded through state and federal agencies.

But, Booker continued, the City of Emmet could easily generate more than the 12.5 percent of in-kind labor to make up its part.

"I don't like the fact employees aren't considered in-kind if they work only 40 hours a week," he said, adding any overtime put in would be classified as in-kind.

If the city hired outside workers to do the cleanup, it wouldn't help as the city would have to pay them and wouldn't get in-kind funding for them.

Emmet has one full-time employee and two part-time workers.

Booker said the city would be reimbursed a percentage for cleaning up right-of-ways along the street, but can't go on private property to pick up debris. If residents want the city to pick up their debris, it will have to be placed in the right-of-way.

One existing problem, he said, is there are a lot of broken limbs still hanging on trees which could fall and injure someone. Many such limbs are in private property and the city can't do anything about them.

"We may need to address this separately," he said. "We could have a special meeting for it."

With this out of the way, Booker asked the council for $25,000 from the general fund to aid in the cleanup, with the knowledge the city will get at least 87.5 percent of it back from FEMA and ADEM.

A cost accountant, he said, projected the price tag for getting Emmet cleaned up would be more than $100,000. But, at a meeting with FEMA in Hope recently, Booker reduced this amount to $80,000 to be reimbursed.

He told the council there wouldn't be enough money in the street budget to do all the repair work needed because of the storm.

The $23,991.12 was reduced further when the council approved appropriating $4,800 for the lease payment on the tractor purchased last year.

The water and sewer budget had $6,800 appropriated from it so the city could finish work around the new well. The city's part of this project is installing a fence around the well, putting gravel down for better drainage and landscaping the area.

When this is done, Booker said, the Rural Community Development agency, formerly known as Farmer's Home Administration, can close the city out on this project.

Before this can be done, though, the city must first sign off on it, and this can't be done until Entergy gets electricity to the well.

Booker said everything was in place for the well project to be finished by now, but when the first ice storm hit, Entergy was unable to get electricity to the well.

Then, the second ice storm hit and Entergy has been busy making sure all its customers have power in their homes and businesses.

Entergy will have to install a balanced three-phase line for the pump, otherwise it could burn out.

The contractor, Booker said, had a company from Searcy come down and put in a signaling device for when there are problems. This was done at no cost to the city.

The paperwork is in place to make the final payment to the contractor, Booker said, and this will be done once the electricity has been run to the pump and the well can be tested to make sure everything works properly.During the ice storm, he said, when the power was out, a generator owned by the city was hooked up at City Hall. Along with providing power to City Hall, the generator was used to maintain the radios and keep the water running.

Emmet residents used a lot of water during the storm, he said, to make sure their pipes didn't freeze up because of the cold.

Because of the severity of the recent winter storm, Booker suggested the city "open its eyes" for the future and develop a preparedness plan.

He said food items could be stored to make sure emergency workers would have something to eat, and such things as flashlights, batteries, cots, blankets and rain gear need to be available during an emergency as well.

Some people stayed at City Hall overnight because of the disaster, Booker said, as they had nowhere else to go.

And, he continued, because of the disaster, the city's trailer park project was again put on the back burner.

Water and sewer lines have been run to the park, with hydrants installed for fire protection. However, natural gas must be accessible there, along with electricity.

Entergy, he said, was almost finished getting the power in at the park before the disaster hit.

Reliant Energy/Arkla will be contacted to run a gas line to the location.

Then, Booker said, individual meter loops will have to be installed for each trailer as it is moved in. The project should be finished by spring with the park ready for occupancy.

Emmet workers picked up some of the debris from the old Texaco station to be used in street repair to help cut the cost of materials.

Booker said the city can use the rest of the building, once the owner removes some items he wants to get out.

Two of the city's workers were given 50 cent an hour pay raises. Mauricio Apracio's wages were raised from $8 to $8.50 per hour, while part-time worker James McKillion will now be making $6.50 per hour.

While it wasn't sought, the council approved giving the mayor an extra $150 a month for expenses, as he uses his personal vehicle for city business.

Booker told the council there had been some disaster-related purchases, as two new chainsaws were bought to help with the cleanup.

He said hours will be kept on the chainsaws as they are on other city equipment, and these hours will be turned in to FEMA and ADEM for reimbursement.

Additionally, a new small generator was bought for the big firetruck.

The city's other small generator is used around town, and stored at the city shop. The new generator will be kept on the truck. It was purchased for $400.

Booker suggested a new program be started in Emmet to make sure the city's senior citizens are looked after.

He said the city has a lot of senior citizens who live alone and it bothers him as they may not be checked on enough.

The idea is to put a volunteer organization together with a list of all households with senior citizens in them made. The volunteers would regularly call the seniors, see how they're doing and just talk with them.

This, he said, is especially important when something happens, such as the ice storm.