What to Expect from Harrison’s December City Council Meeting

Water rates, trash service, roof repairs and more coming at the December council meeting.

The Harrison City Council is set to have their December meeting on Thursday, December 16^th, at City Hall at 6:00 PM. The full council meeting is usually on the fourth Thursday of the month, but it has been moved up due the Christmas Holiday.

The council has a full agenda ahead of it after passing several items through committee a week ago. The meeting will start with standard department reports and then move into items presented by each committee. The first committee with an item on the agenda is finance.

They have six items to discuss including a financial update on the city. Luke Feighert, City Financial Officer, will make the presentation. After that the council will be asked to vote on the contract extension for Orion Waste Solutions. As is laid out in their contract Orion has asked for a five-year extension. The council will have the option to approve it or place the contract for garbage and recycling services out to bid. This topic has sparked some community response with four Harrison residents speaking about it at the committee meeting last week. The finance committee, made up of all eight council members, voted 8-3 to pass the resolution on to full council to vote on the extension. The council will also discuss the annual Consumer Price Index rate increase for Orion which Feighert previously reported to be 4.77%.

Link to committee discussion on Orion Waste Solutions contract extension.

The council will then discuss needed roof repairs to Camp Jack. Wade Phillips asked for $10,000 to be allocated to roof repairs at the committee meeting. He said that $10,000 should be the high end of the necessary repairs. He estimated they will cost closer to $8,000. The city has leased the former national guard armory building to Camp Jack for a dollar a year and has planned to make roof repairs since agreeing to the lease.  

From there the council will move on the rate increases for water and sewer. Feighert presented a 5% increase to water and sewer rates at the committee meeting. He said it will result in a $2.40 increase to minimum monthly water bill for city residents. This will include a previous increase passed along form the Carroll-Boone Water Association approved by the council in November. The annual CPI increase for water rates is 3.03%.

Link to committee discussion on Water/Sewer CPI Rate increase.

The final item on the agenda from finance is discussing change orders for the public safety building being constructed on Industrial Park Road.

The only other committee to bring items before the council is Resources and Policy committee. They will ask the council to vote for the third and final time to pass an addition to the clean premises ordinance which will require residents to move their trash cans to the curb no earlier than noon the day before their scheduled pick-up date and have them off the curb no later than noon the day following their pick-up. The council has read and voted on this matter twice and the third reading is needed to allow the ordinance to take effect.

Finally, the council will discuss an opioid settlement resolution which City Attorney Grant Ragland said in the committee meeting is simply a document that allows the city to collect money from opioid settlements. Some major opioid companies have begun to reach settlements and payment will be made in the near future.

The agenda lists no new business or Mayor comments. Citizens will have the opportunity near the end of the meeting to present any matters to the council as well. The public is invited to attend the meeting that can also be watched on Facebook live at the Hometown Television - K26TV Harrison, XL7TV Mtn. Home Facebook page.