Review of April 5, 2012 Board Meeting

The board meeting that was supposed to be held on Tuesday finally took place last night. Prior to the meeting, there were two public hearings. The first allowed citizens to comment on the proposed water rate increase and the adoption of Ordinance 302. The second public hearing was regarding the CDBG Grant. It was revealed that the city couldn't apply for the $450,000 grant unless the City of Lumberton raised the water rates an additional .75/gallon. The reason why I was against the water rate increase was evident last night; there are still some serious issues within the water department and those issues need to be corrected before placing an additional burden on the citizens of Lumberton. Three people had issues with their water bills; one resident said her water bill went from $33.90/month to $251/month. Ben Barrett lied and said that he made sure all meters have been read in the last six months, but this person had photos showing that her water meter was covered with grass and no one had been reading her meter. Another person had a water bill for $759 and she was told that she apparently used over 1,000 gallons in the last month. This person lives in an apartment, she does not have a swimming pool, a washer, and she takes her car to the local detail man to have her car washed. She stated that there were no leaks, and no water on the ground, but no one can explain why her water bill is so high. After the public hearing ,the board started the meeting. For some reason, the board never voted to adopt Ordinance 302, so I don't know what that mean for the water rate increase. After opening the bids, Bancorp South was selected as the administrator for he public funds depository. Resource Technology was selected to be the administrator for the 2012 CDBG grant for the water system and O'Neal and Bonds was selected as the engineer. Stephanie Mullings was recognized for her attendance to the Municipal Court Clerk Spring Seminar. It was discovered that the Gold Coast Skydivers are deliquent in payments on their lease agreement with the City of Lumberton. They have a lease that cost them $100/year to lease the airport and they haven't paid the nominal fee for this year or last year. Now keep in mind that Gold Coast Skydivers charge over $200/per jump and they have at least 20-30 jumps per week, but they have a problem paying the city $100/year to lease the facilities. Their lease ended in February and hopefully, our elected officials will negotiate a better contract or simply chose not to renew the contract. In the meantime, the FAA is about to award the City of Lumberton another $180,000 grant for new fencing at the airport. The board voted to go into executive session and Ben Barrett, Jr. informed the board that he's resigning from his position as Public Works Director. He stated that he would turn in the city owned truck this morning. This marks the second time Barrett has left this position without proper notice. Once again, the City of Lumberton will have to rely on Danny Davis, who also left the city without proper notice, to maintain the water system. In the meantime, I guess Roy Easley will have to serve as interim director. I can't wait to see him sitting at the next board meeting with the agenda upside sown, pretending he knows what's going on. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.