Regular Monthly Council Meeting Held at City Hall
The City Council for Zavalla met on Monday, April 14th at 6:30pm at Zavalla’s City Hall. All current council members were in attendance with the exception of Angie Thompson.
The meeting was called to order and no one signed up for public comment.
The first agenda item discussed was the possible approval of an agreement for Water Service Extension and Infrastructure for the new RV Park on 147 just outside the city limits. After a brief discussion and clarification for the council members from city attorney Luan Tatum and Bill Bracken, representative of the RV Park, the agreement’s “Option 2” was selected and passed.
Some key points from the agreement:
- The city will help in facilitating the obtaining of or verifying that there is an easement on the property needed to complete the last 60 ft or so to extend the existing main line to then cross Hwy 147 to the RV park.
- The city would also facilitate in helping to locate 90 unused meters within the city.
- The RV Park agrees to undertake the expense to finish extending the line, boring and placing the line under 147 and finishing the extension to the park property.
- The RV Park also agrees to undertake the removal of 90 unused meters from the city system. This will allow the city to then install meters and hook up water service to the RV Park once their work is completed.
The remaining agenda items were decided as follows:
- Findings of the 2023 Audit: Five findings must be answered to by May 13th by the city. Some of the findings will require policy/procedure creation or edits to policy to be submitted with the answers. The findings were not read out in full to the public at the meeting. A motion was made and passed to hold a workshop on April 28th to draft the answer to the findings along with the policy/procedure documents. These will be ready for voting on the next meeting on May 12th in time to respond to the request on May 13th.
- The resignation for City Attorney: Luan Tatum’s resignation was accepted, and she came with a suggestion for her replacement. The council will reach out to Charles “Chuck” Dendy and consider his hiring at the next meeting.
- Hiring of the City Judge: Luan Tatum was approved in the position of the new City Judge.
- Windstream Claim: This was tabled for further research. The city secretary is to query the log of the 811 operator records to determine if a call before you dig was made.
- Offer of building from Solid Rock Church: This item was tabled after a discussion of pros and cons of accepting the offer. Council members asked for more information such as the amount left owed on the current City Hall, cost and process to deed the clinic area separate from the current City Hall building, and all of the costs of relocation of not only staff but installation of generators and other systems and infrastructure to the proposed new site, if accepted, as well as any reconstruction needed to the new site.
- Innovative Proposal: Item was tabled for further clarification and consideration. The estimated cost was noted as “too high” by one council member. A member of the community in attendance did come forward to offer assistance as they work in IT and offered to help the city at no cost if they had questions.
- Interim Pay Allocation: After a brief time in executive session the council returned and voted to approve the item. Effective date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 8:30am
- Meter Pulling Report: Since December 2024, 12 meters were pulled by the water department from addresses around Zavalla. The 2022 audit of meters binder was located at the treatment facility and is being used to help in the location of the meters. The efforts were slow according to water department employees due to other more pressing issues needing their attention such as a sewer leak.
- Appointment of New Council Member: Cindy Dhone was approved for appointment to the seat vacated by Cindy Bailey. She was administered her oath of office and took her place at the council bench.
- April Bill Payment: Bills were approved to be paid. The new city secretary was asked about the status of bill payment to date, and she told the staff and those in attendance that all bills from November forward have now been paid.
The next City Council meeting is Monday, May 12th at 6:30 pm. It is open to the public.
Reported by: Honey Casey
Copyright: The Zavalla Eagle April 2025