The El Dorado City Council will convene for a regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in the Council Chamber of City Hall.
Council members are expected to consider several budget requests totaling $70,200 from the police, fire and public works departments.
On Monday, the city council Finance Committee approved the requests and agreed to present them to the full council for approval.
The requests include:
• $60,000 from the El Dorado Police Department. Police Chief Billy White asked for $42,000 to make up the difference for a flat, annual rate of $162,000 to house city inmates in the Union County Jail.
White said the city had reduced the rate to $120,000 for 2018, but the city was still being billed based on the $162,000 rate.
Additionally, he said the Arkansas Supreme Court recently ruled that the city is responsible for offenders who are arrested by city law enforcement officers and transported to the county jail for incarceration from the point of intake until offenders are charged, sentenced and released.
White also requested $18,000 toward the purchase of a new police cruiser to replace a 2013 model that was recently totaled in a wreck. The police chief explained that an officer was struck by a woman, who was cited in the accident. He said the EPD’s automobile insurance coverage will pay the estimated value of $8,000 for the cruiser, adding that a new vehicle will cost $26,000.
• $4,200 to help repair two heating and cooling units for Central Fire Station. Fire Chief Chad Mosby said the estimated cost of the repair is $15,000 and there is $9,800 available in the EFD budget.
•$5,000 to order a new rear-loading garbage truck for the Sanitation Department. Robert Edmonds, director of public works, said the new truck will replace one that failed. The cost of a new truck is $190,000, and Edmonds said $185,000 is available in the sanitation budget, noting, “We’ll have the other $5,000 when it’s time to pay for it.
The council is also expected to hear a report from the Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado.
Per the terms of a contract for services with the city, the club is required to present quarterly reports to the city council.
The city has two annual contracts with the Boys and Girls Club, one of which is for $22,500 to provide recreational activities for youth since the city does not have an organized parks and recreation program.
The other is an agreement for the club to manage the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.
The contract is for $40,000, which is split pro rata between the city and Union County.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.