Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet council discusses saving money

Emmet Mayor Dale Booker will be checking into the legality of combining the water and sanitation bills.

At the regular monthly meeting of the Emmet City Council, Wednesday, Sept. 11, Booker told the panel the sanitation fund is currently commingled with the city's general fund.

Because of this, he said, when someone is paying part of their water bill, which has the sanitation bill on it, the city doesn't know how much to apply to either portion.

The council agreed he should talk with an attorney to see if the city can legally remove the sanitation fund from the general fund and combine it with the water department's budget.

"This will eliminate book work," he said. "Now, there's no good way of making transfers."

In other business, the council discussed what to do to control mosquitoes.

During the August meeting, the panel made plans to talk with the Arkansas Department of Health to see if it had any suggestions.

Booker said nothing has been heard from the ADH, though the agency has been contacted twice.

However, Nevada County will be receiving funds to deal with mosquitoes and the West Nile Virus. But, Booker said, it has been suggested this money be used for education instead of eradication.

Much of the education will be to remind people not to have any standing water around where the pests can breed.

He said the city has done more mowing this year than in years past, which has helped with the mosquito situation.

Booker will talk with Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown to see if Emmet can be included in whatever plans are made with the funding the county will receive.

First Street in Emmet has been sealed and looks good, Booker told the council.

Nothing more will be done on First Street until traffic has had time to "beat it down" and see if any other parts of the street need to be patched, or where any spots were missed.

Once the missed spots are found, he added, the truck will be called back and the areas patched.

With Anita Korenek resigning last month, Booker said, there has been a lot of cleaning found needing done in the office.

By cleaning, he didn't mean with a mop and broom, but clearing up work not done that should have been.

Booker's wife, Georgia, will be helping two days a week, on Mondays and Thursdays from 1-5 p.m., until things are straightened out.

Once everything's back under control, he said, the city will most likely not hire another administrative assistant. Instead, the city office will be opened during the first of the month when water bills are due.

"We need to cut office expenses," he said. "We've need to spend money in town where the taxpayers are paying it. It needs to be spent doing more for the taxpayers than paying office help."

The council also passed the annual millage ordinances for the Emmet School District of five mils.

This millage must be passed annually by the council so the money can be collected for the district.

Because Emmet is in both Hempstead and Nevada counties, the council was required to pass two ordinances.