City approves contract for website redesign

Members of the Kennett City Council, including, from left, Terry McVey, city attorney; Mayor Jake Crafton; Brenda Privett, city clerk; and Councilman Phil Dee Gurley discuss the contract that was signed between the city and PrismaPixel Designs for updating the city's website.
(Staff photo by Lecia Forester)

According to city officials, the contract is between the city and PrismaPixel Designs and will be paid for out of funds already set aside in the mayor's budget for use regarding city services.

There was discussion among council members as to whether not Mayor Jake Crafton had received bids for the work. According to the mayor, the contract had not been advertised for bids but Crafton told members that he had gotten four price quotes from different companies. Company one submitted no bid. Company two submitted a bid of $749 but wanted payment up front before the work was completed. Company three, the company that was approved, submitted a bid of $1,795, and Company number four bid $3,392.50. Regarding the bid of $749, Crafton remarked that he doesn't do business that way but prefers to pay at the completion of the work that is to be done.

Terry McVey, city attorney, told members of the council that since this concerns city services, there is no ordinance in place that requires getting bids but any contract that is signed for city services must be approved by the city council members, especially if it is over $1,000. Mayor Crafton then noted that he had not been aware of this since this was being paid for out of the budget set aside for the mayor.

After further discussion, council members noted that they were concerned that they were unaware of the contract being signed until Tuesday's meeting but all agreed that this was a necessary step that the city must take and the contract was approved.

The quote submitted by PrismaPixel Designs includes all graphics, logos, programming, and coding and city officials expect the system to be up and running by next month.

Present at last night's meeting to give departmental reports were Meg Benson, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce; Randy Carter, street commissioner; Police Chief Barry Tate and Fire Chief John Mallott.

First to give their report was Benson. Benson told council members that the Chamber of Commerce is in the process of scheduling a council industrial committee meeting for 4 p.m., on Wednesday of next week. During the meeting there will be a discussion concerning the current industrial prospect that is looking Kennett over for a possible relocation. Benson added that the chamber is also working on organizing a meeting for February with the Board of Public Works, all of the city council, the mayor's office as well as city administration. Also in the works concerning tourism for the city is a meeting "to begin the process of attracting district and state boys and girls baseball and softball associations, either district or state tournaments and possibly in the longer term potential for boys and girls basketball tournaments as well." She added that there is a possibility concerning youth soccer teams that would give local businesses the opportunity to be involved in being able to offer discounts, coupons and other attendee perks to generate business in the community.

Additionally, Benson noted the success of the Christmas Parade concerning the variety of turnout and added that she feels the city has "a good building block for restarting tradition in town."

Following Benson, Carter was the next one to give his report to the council. He told members that there has been a lot of trouble with Barney recently and it has been out of service for two days. He noted that it is having electrical problems primarily and has been sitting out in the weather for quite a while. He added that he is afraid this may become a continual problem. He noted the possibility of replacing some of the electrical system and getting it inside at some point in time. When Mayor Crafton asked why it couldn't be parked inside, Carter noted that it was too tall for the building an would not fit.

Carter noted that the compost facility had reached the 1,000 tire goal which includes passenger and light truck tires. He added that the department is waiting on the date to be set for the tire pickup. The compost is operational five days a week, Tuesday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Total loads received since Dec. 20 has been 150 loads with total loads of 5,056 being received in 2011.

Concerning the Workforce Investment Board Grant, there are now 12 people working under the grant. Three crews have been working since Aug. 15. The Ditch Crew worked a total of 945 hours on Buffalo Ditch, the Barney assistant worked a total of 96 hours with Barney cleaning collection boxes and drainage pipes. The Alley crew worked a total of 414 hours in several alleys and the clerk worked a total of 96 hours. Two week total is 589 hours with total hours worked since Aug. 15, 7,79.5 hours.

Chief Tate noted that since this is a busy time of year because of end of the year reports, he would have a full report for December at the next council meeting. He did note that "Operation Safe Shopper" was a success and there were no reported major incidents.

"Crime, I'll give you a little bit of this information. We were down 265 reports from last year. I think anytime it's down, it's good," he said, adding, "That's what I look forward to every year. Every thing's looking good."

In the last report of the evening, Fire Chief Mallott told council members that there had been 70 in/out city calls. Total paged calls numbered 18. Ward break down for the calls included the following: Ward one, 16, Ward two, 22, Ward three, 12, Ward four, eight, and Ward five, nine. 60 calls were on the scene within four minutes, and seven calls were over four minutes.

For the year 2011, Mallott presented the report for the Property Maintenance Office.

797 letters were sent out for trash and rubbish, 223 letters for excessive weeds and grass, 11 letters sent out for swimming pool violations. Total letters sent were 1031 letters and 125 court cases for the year.

In closing the council members approved donating the used fire vehicle to the Red Cross since they have done so much in the city during recent years. Members also approved the renewal of the airport building lease with Jewell Aviation.

Members also discussed the possibility of a town hall meeting with the different wards in order to hear the citizens thoughts on matters concerning the city. This will be further discussed at the next city council meeting.