The Calion City Council met on Thursday, Jan. 14, for their regular monthly meeting of the year. The meeting was streamed live and is still available on the Calion Mayor Facebook page.
New Council member Kristi Purifoy was in attendance, it being her first meeting with the council since being sworn in at the Union County Courthouse on Jan. 1.
Council members began the meeting by approving the financial report and the payment of monthly bills.
Before discussion of old and new business, Calion Mayor Bill Yutzy informed the council of ongoing water issues.
“We’ve had quite a few leaks. There is some software out there; it’s kind of expensive but will tell you if anything abnormal is going on. It takes each customer and measures how much difference there is between the customers… We may end up doing something with all the leaks that we’ve had,” Yutzy said.
In old business, Yutzy asked that the council vote on whether or not to continue doing virtual city council meetings.
“If anybody wants to make any comments or any changes to the way we do things, we can take care of that now,” Yutzy said.
A motion to continue virtual meetings was made and passed unanimously.
In new business, several council members brought issues to the body’s attention.
Council member Susan Morris inquired about the city’s ability to clean up residents’ property if requested.
“If stuff has grown up and [the resident] wants to get it cleaned but can’t find the machine or equipment, can the city come in, do it and charge them for it?” Morris asked.
“I’ve had that thrown at me from both directions, that you can and you can’t. I think if you want to pose that as a motion, that we do that, I think we can if the council decides that’s what we want to do. An employee can’t just say, ‘I’m going to go clean that lot,’” Yutzy said.
“I would like to, because there’s a lot of people whose yards have grown up really bad and want to get it done, and have said they would pay the city to do it for them,” Morris said.
Yutzy said that the city should first investigate the potential charge rates for the service, guidelines and possible legal issues.
“We need to first look into is this something we want to do, then come up with a committee and protocol,” Yutzy said.
A motion to move forward with investigating how to provide the service passed unanimously.
After discussion, the council appointed a task force of Morris, Purifoy and John Peppers to meet outside the council to determine if and how the city might provide a clean-up service.
Next, Purifoy brought street light issues to the council’s attention.
“The street lights on Gum Street seem to be the only ones that haven’t been changed over to 150 Watt bulbs. It’s my understanding from Entergy that is something [Yutzy] calls and requests. It’s four lights on Gum; one is out and needs to be changed and the other three are 100 Watt bulbs,” Purifoy said.
Discussion of the city’s street lights followed, including the need to provide specific pole numbers to Entergy.
“It may take about a month for [Entergy] to get out here because their list is so long, but they will,” Purifoy said.
The next Calion City Council meeting will be on Thursday, February 11.