July 14, 2021
Lee Evancho
Work Session
City Council members present for the meeting were Jeff Clendenning, Nick Bowles, Clint Burns, and Mayor Willis.
The meeting started with a presentation from Randy Spence with CDG Engineers and Associates, INC. CDG and one other bidder had the same ratings and were both invited to present to the council. CDG and Canyon, the other bidder, requested to present separately from each other.
Mr. Spence began by giving a brief history of CDG. They have been in business in for 75 years and have six offices in Alabama. They have 135 employees and believe the are building for the future. They also build partnerships with clients to make sure goals are met. They identified themselves as consultants and guides. It was noted that other projects of this scope get complicated due to finances, timeframes, technical reasons and many other things. It is their job to help guide their clients through these issues. They bring years of experiences and even referenced the project they completed with the city of Weaver on the new well. They also discussed their broad range of resources. The nearest office is in Gadsden so they are close by. They stressed that their surveys and geotechnical are done in house so that helps keep to schedules and budgets. Mr. Spence then introduced Jana Monday who heads business development at CDG. She spoke about low interest loans she hopes that Weaver will be able to apply for and discussed her role in helping the city find funding. Once the presentation was completed Councilmen Clendenning asked once the project was completed what happens if there are issues? Mr. Spence stressed that they would be available to assist and to try to isolate and and look at independent issues and homes to work through any that may come up.
The next presenter was Chuck Chitwood with Canyon Engineering. The first issue addressed was that Mr. Chitwood has worked with Weaver for 16 years at CDG. He has left that company and now has his own company. He is a one man company and is focused on smaller utilities and cites. He talked about the good relationship he has with Joey Conger and the volume of knowledge he has on the specific issues that Weaver is dealing with as he was the head engineer over Weaver water projects since 2005. He only works on 2 or 3 projects at a time to guarantee he can give his full attention to them. He also stressed that all council members would have his personal cell phone number and have direct access to him. There would be no middleman or delay in communication. He also discussed that he bills based on percent of work completed. He does not bill for phone calls and meetings. Councilman Clendenning asked how he handled project inspections without personnel and he also asked how he felt he could complete with a larger competitor. Mr. Chitwood stated he had more experience than any engineer at CDG and more direct experience with Weaver. He also stated he would personally handle all inspections and there would be no middleman. He discussed that the lack of personnel was about cutting out overhead and passing those savings on to his clients. Councilman Clendenning also asked about the relationship once the project was completed if issues arose. Mr. Chitwood stated that he is with city from start to finish and would certainly be available if any issues came up. Mayor Willis thanked him for his time and presentation and stated that Public Works Director, Joey Conger, would let him know what decision was reached.
Once Mr. Chitwood had left, Mayor Willis stated he didn’t think there was a bad choice. Both companies were qualified and experienced. He did feel that there would be better service and communication with Canyon versus CDG.
Council Clendenning wanted to know if Joey Conger had a preference. Mr. Conger did personally invite Canyon to speak, but had not stated a specific preference. Mr. Clendenning also discussed concerns that when problems arose that the smaller firm would have a harder time responding quickly. He did also note that he felt CDG had overcharged the city in the past and was concerned they would do that again.
Councilman Bowles also expressed some concern with potential lack of resources with a smaller firm creating delays if residents are without water. The fear was not in the quality of planning or implementation. Weaver has old lines and this is a large change to the water system so issues are most likely going to happen.
Mayor Willis also agreed that problems would arise and they would have to be dealt with quickly to ensure the best quality of life for the residents.
Councilman Burns also shared the concerns expressed by the other council members.
The next speaker was Jason Hartman. He spoke regarding the demolition project. The six homes selected for the demolition project been demolished and the project completed. There is still $30,200 remaining and a request was made to add two more homes for demolition. No amendment will be necessary as the scope of the project will not be changed. One address that will be added is 605 Parker Blvd. The estimated timeframe to start the demolition is 30-60 days. The title search will have to be completed by the city attorney before anything else is done. Chief Bunn did state the property was sold in May 2021. Most likely it was purchased by an LLC and they could appeal the demolition, but may not. He just wanted the council to be aware of possible issues. Chief Bunn will also work on finding another property and getting that address to the city attorney.
The next presenter was Annette with the city of Weaver. She presented the financial reports and budgets. While she did not go over the numbers line by line she did note that Weaver received a clean audit report and that there were positive income levels. This is a very good sign and an improvement on years past. The only debt was $800,000 for water funds. The total cost was 1.3 million initially and $505,000 was forgiven. Many compliments were given to Chasity Whetstone, city clerk, for keeping the budgets intact and on the positive side. Compliments were then given for all department heads.
City Council
- Call to Order
- Invocation
- Roll Call
- Jeff Clendenning – Present
- Nick Bowles – Present
- Cathy Hamby – Absent
- Tim McRae – Absent
- Clint Burns – Present
- Mayor Willis – Present
- Agenda – Unanimously Accepted
- Minutes from June 8th presented. *June 22nd meeting was not held due to lack of quorum – Unanimously Accepted
- Department Head Reports
- Public Works – Joey Conger will undergo his second knee replacement surgery and will continue on light duty.
- Chief Bush – June written report was submitted. His department is doing well after the incident over the 4th of July weekend.
- Chief Bunn – He will add 605 Parker to the demolition project and start looking for an additional house to be added. An update on the firehouse is the framing is completed downstairs and has started upstairs.
- Chasity Whetstone – The budget worksheet was included with the council packets and will be emailed as well for better visibility.
- Wayne Willis – Addressed the need for a cost of living increase. He stated that he felt it needed to be a 10% increase. He didn’t feel that Weaver could afford not to do this as they are losing employees and having a hard time attracting new workers. There are 37 employees including council members. The cost of living increase would not apply to council members. It would only impact the 30 employees. Councilman Bowles addressed the concern of making sure the effect of this drastic increase was looked out for 10-20 years down the road. It will impact future step raises. A decision was made to have a work session after the next city council meeting to discuss this matter. The date would be July 27th.
- Council Member Reports
- Clint Burnes – none
- Nick Bowles – A discussion needs to be held about the upcoming Public works retirement that will occur at the first of the year. He feels we need to start looking at the process to fill that portion.
- Jeff Clendenning – A meeting was held with Chief Bunn about 825 Woodrock. This property is in code violation and has received notice. They have until next week to bring the property to code or at the next meeting the council will move forward on voting for abatement.
- Old Business
- A vote was held on which engineering firm to go with. A unanimous decision was made to go with Canyon Engineering. This will now be sent to the city attorney office for review. Again, it was stressed that both were good options and what swayed the vote was the history with Weaver.
- Jason Hartman spoke at the work session regarding adding 605 Parker for demolition and one additional address to be determined. – Unanimously Accepted
- Annette took any questions regarding the budget and audit reports that were discussed at the work session. Mayor Willis asked if the current budget could absorb a 10% cost of living increase that would be approximately $200,000-$250,000. She cautiously said the current budget could, but the only concern was the balloon note that would come due in 2024. The note could be refinanced, but if paid it would be $278,000. There is also an annual payout for the well project that is roughly $48,000 a year. She did say she believed it could be absorbed, but wanted to make sure the council was aware of payouts that could be impacted.
- Spirit of Weaver – none
- Mayors Report
- The mayor addressed the rebuild CARES funds that Weaver received. A total of $360,000 has been received and a matching $360,000 will be coming. Mayor Willis would like to give $1,000 net to each full-time employee and give $500 net for each part-time employees. This would be a one time payout to offset some loss and difficulties from the COVID pandemic. This would come exclusively from the CARES funds and would not impact the budget. The total expenditure would be roughly $30,000. – Unanimously Accepted
- They Mayor then discussed the splash pad. Details of this can be found at the proceeding link. A motion was made to allocate up to $100,000 to complete this long anticipated project. – Unanimously Accepted
- Additional discussions were held on bathroom improvements, trail extensions, and frisbee golf. These matters will be researched and concrete amounts will be presented at the next work session.
- Public Comments
- Sharon Haugen spoke about the leashing and tethering issues she had discussed several months ago. She wanted to make sure she had not been forgotten. She was assured that Councilwoman Hamby was working on the language for this ordnance.
- She also discussed the dog park and the possibility of adding a gate that would be easier to access away from the children. Locations were discussed and will be examined for cost versus use.
- Adjournment
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