The Purdy City Council discussed property maintenance and hiring a collection agency to address overdue utility bills during its March 12 meeting.
Alderman William Hughes questioned if there was anything the city could do to address the “unsightly entrance from the south” where a tire business was turning into a used car lot.
“Some small towns are just plain ugly,” Hughes said. “This is not attractive to anyone. If I was a homeowner behind the business, I wouldn’t want to look at it in my backyard.”
Attorney Toni Hendricks said the city had no ordinances mandating the erection of something like an eight-foot privacy fence. She agreed to review the city code book when it returned from codification for options. She observed the city of Miller has an ordinance that could apply. In the meantime, she recommended striking up a dialogue with the business owner, who operates a garage, and try to strike an agreement.
Clerk Katy Prock reported the city’s bookkeeping system would have to change from Quickbooks to the firm’s online service from the desktop version. Cook said the price would double in the process. The new service offered extra features, but with a price ranging around $3,000 a month, she suggested exploring other programs in the process.
With recurring problems from water and sewer customers either not paying bills or running seriously behind, Cook proposed hiring On Line Collections of Winterville, N.C., a collection agency. The firm used by the city of Mt. Vernon would also help head off problems by doing a soft credit check on new customers for a $30 access fee.
Hendricks suggested also raising the deposit fee, since the $200 sum requested generally would only cover one month’s back payments. Cook said she had a customer recently leave owning the city $1,000. Council members took the proposal under review.
Public works foreman Kevin Cook reported cold weather had frozen the lock on the red truck the city hoped to sell, preventing him from displaying the vehicle in a timely manner. Having corrected the problem, Cook was told to place the truck for sale and the council would review sale offers in May.
Cook received permission to get the backup pump at the main lift station repaired after several rotors broke off. If the repair vendor found additional problems, Cook suggested replacing the troubled pump altogether and putting in a smaller unit than the 50-horsepower motor in use. The older main pump continued to operate without trouble.
The question of selling the old city hall again arose. Cook said he would redouble efforts to secure a replacement cost for the adjacent garage, still used by the city, to determine if it would be more affordable to sell it or keep it.
Council members again discussed options about replacing the fence by the old lift station, and whether the adjacent neighbor would consider splitting costs. Hendricks again suggested striking up a dialogue to explore the option. She cautioned leaving the west lagoon unprotected created liability issues for the city.
Police Chief Jackie Lowe reported a theft at the Farm Center, where three car batteries were taken from parked trucks. An attempt to steal diesel fuel from a supply tank had been unsuccessful.
The city council will next meet on April 9, having agreed to move regular meetings to the second Wednesday of the month.
