Calion’s city council held its monthly meeting on Thursday, June 10. Council members met in-person at city hall and the meeting was streamed live on Facebook.
The meeting began with approval of the previous meeting’s minutes, the financial report and payment of the monthly bills.
American Rescue Plan
In new business, council members continued a discussion from their previous meeting concerning American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Council member Kristi Purifoy led the discussion.
The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law on March 11 by President Joe Biden and is a $1.9 trillion package that includes $362 billion in state and local fiscal recovery funds as well as $65.1 billion in direct aid to each county in the nation.
“It’s a set amount of funding that every city in the state has the opportunity to benefit from. [The funding] is based off our 2020 budget if it was passed by January 27, 2020, which ours was. [We’ve] filled out all the paperwork and turned it all in, and they have accepted it and are processing it,” Purifoy said.
She added that she thought the funds would “be best used on a water and sewer project… to make sure we don’t get in trouble spending it the wrong way.”
Water bill payment
Mayor Bill Yutzy also informed the council of the city’s moves to allow citizens to pay their water bills with credit or debit cards.
“We’ve had quite a few people come in and want to pay their water bill with a credit or debit card, but we’ve never done that. We’ve been in contact with Simmons Bank and they want to set us up… We would like to set it up where [the resident] has to come in here to do it, because if someone calls and says what their debit card number is, we don’t really know what’s going on. So we would like to limit it to people who come in,” Yutzy said.
Purifoy asked about eventual online payment options for residents.
“Would we eventually have access for [residents] to be able to pay online? I understand what you’re saying… I agree with that; but could they not physically go online themselves and pay their bills?” Purifoy said.
Yutzy said that online payment would also be made available.
Yutzy then told the council of options for acquiring the credit/debit card machine - a wireless machine for $540, a wired machine for $270 or a rental for $10 per month.
“The cost to the city is 2.65% plus 10 cents. So, if [the bill] were $10, it would be 37 cents. Or we can set it up to where there’s a $3 fee [to those paying with a card], which would probably be easier than figuring out the percentage every time,” Yutzy said.
The fee would be in place whether the city decided to buy or rent the card machine, he said.
The council voted unanimously to rent a card machine for $10 per month and charge customers paying with credit or debit cards a $3 fee.
In an interview on Monday, June 21, Yutzy said the service is not yet available as the city is still in negotiations with bank. Possible changes to the plan decided on during the June meeting may need to be presented to council members based on the city’s discussion with the bank, he said.
“We’re still working on it, it’s just a matter of time,” Yutzy said.
Before the meeting was over, Yutzy also presented James Lewis with a certificate of appreciation for Lewis’ assistance with the Calion Easter jamboree.
According to the Facebook page for the Easter jamboree, the event was coordinated by the Bar-J Guest Ranch and Samantha Palmisano and featured a church service, music, food and activities throughout the day on Easter Sunday.
The next Calion city council meeting will be on Thursday, July 8, at 7 p.m.