Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City's Audit Clean; Mayor Questioned

BY AUTUMN LEAMONS

Prescott City Council got a clean bill of health from auditor Pat Malone during its regular session Monday, August 17. Malone is with the accounting firm of Taylor, Rodgers, Turner and Malone of Arkadelphia.

Municipal Court was cited for several different problems that were brought about by a faulty computer program. City Councilman Dick Bright asked Malone if the council could receive proof that the problems had been resolved and present them to her firm. Malone told him that it was not necessary to send that information.

Carl Dalrymple Jr., the city's accountant, told the council that if they wanted proof from Municipal Court that the problem had been solved, a letter could be sent for verification.

Council member Ann Stockton then opened the next topic of discussion by asking Mayor Howard Taylor about people not paying electric bills. Stockton said some citizens had not paid their electric bill in four to five months. One exceeded $2,000.

Her question for Taylor was, "Why haven't any of the meters been taken from these homes or businesses?" Taylor said that "these customers are paying their bill on a partial payment system."

Stockton told the Mayor that one of the offenders was a city employee. "If one of the city's employees can get by with it, then what is going to keep everyone else from trying it?" she asked Taylor. The Mayor told the council members the city would start cracking down on the offenders.

Councilman Danny Beavert then requested that the Mayor have a report at next month's meeting on the matter.

One of Monday night's guests was the new director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office. Walt Denton was very enthusiastic and seemed to be very excited about working in Prescott.

Denton said he has three main goals for the area. His first goal was to get the industrial park in tip-top condition. His second is to plan on economic development. Denton says that Prescott has a good economy for a small town and that he feels it has great potential for more.

Denton's third goal is to put a great focus on the downtown area. He said that he believes if the city's buildings are renovated that the people will feel better and businesses will prosper.

In last month's meeting there was discussion of the condemnation of a house at 742 Greenlawn Street. The subject was brought up again during last week's meeting.

The council had many different options to choose from. The decision was for a resolution to condemn the property so it can be torn down. The land will have a lien put on it to cover the cost of destruction.

Final discussion was presented by Councilman James Roy Cornelius. Cornelius wanted to know if the Mayor had hired someone outside of the city to trim limbs and dead trees around the city. The mayor told him that he had, because the city's workers were too busy to take care of the problem.

Cornelius then asked Taylor why the man had not trimmed any of the limbs around the high school since classes were ready to begin and there are dangerous limbs hanging over the sidewalk. Mayor Taylor told the council that he had already paid the man for the work. The council then requested that the Mayor pay extra attention to this matter until it is resolved.