Hope City Board – Hope Prescott

The Hope City Board held their 2nd regular meeting of April on the 18th. After the call to order, invocation and pledge, the minutes were reviewed with no questions so a motion was made to accept, which was seconded and passed.

The financial report had a few questions – one of them was if the police were short a person, with response they were short two people. Discussion ensued on how long it took to get a new officer in place. The process involves two months for the hiring including the search and a background check and then 12 weeks for the Academy and 12 weeks of field training. Chief Tomlin stated they didn’t hire anyone until it was close to the start of an Academy training session since there wasn’t much for the new hire to do until then. She stated there are two trainings a year – one on the 30th of April and the following one in September.

Other questions in the financial report involved a price that has been updated and supplies for the fire department including the one-time purchase of a hose. A refund from the Municipal League was pointed out. LED lighting costs were discussed. Other costs were fuel for the airport and the trackhoe which included a $62,000 generator. The generator is there but needs to be repaired. It is close to being fully functional. Another issue was costs that take time to be reimbursed including an accident and a flat that was just repaired.

The next item on the agenda was a departmental report, which included how many UCR felonies took place. These include murder, rape and aggravated assault. How many dispatch calls there were was reported on as well as where the dispatch calls were referred. Dispatch covers police, sheriff’s department and the fire department as well as 13 rural fire departments. The report covered many different items from the calls for police service (600), total calls received by dispatch (3186), fire department calls for service, code enforcement violation notices (35), animals pickup (33), to the softball and baseball games scheduled (43 and 4) as well as many other items. Also covered were how many hours were spent filling portholes (40). How this is reported in the future will change. How many bales regular and compressed were produced by sanitation was another topic as was sewer locations.

After the Departmental report, the meeting moved on to the consideration of the condemnation resolution. Building Official Carl Conley talked about the various buildings and what the issues were. Pictures were also shown about the buildings. Issues the buildings had included a foundation issues, lack of electric or gas meters, walls and windows needing repair, roof leaks, lack of plumbing, and unsecured buildings. One building was said to have been sold to a church but there was no evidence of the sale.

Renovation without a permit or with unlicensed contractors were also issues. Some buildings were not seen as worth fixing. Three of the buildings had the owners or other family members there to see what could be done or to protest the condemnation of their building. One of these is at 601 S. Walnut. The owner, Keith Alexander, is in California but he has a cousin trying to repair the building and see if it is fixable. It was noted the owners have 30 days after the building is condemned to address the issue and that the work needs to be continuous. This includes getting a permit. After six months of no action the permit is void. For another building at 405 E 10th St., Griselda Cortez is the owner. There was an interpreter to ask what can be done and to explain the Board’s response. Conley doesn’t think the building is worth fixing because of a poor foundation and drainage issues as well as being overall in bad shape. Demolition and rebuilding would run into the issue of the lot size being substandard and would require a variance to rebuild. The next building at 1410 S. 3rd street is owned by Mark Stevens and needs to be secured. Stevens asked what he could do as he had boarded up the building and vandals broke in. He argued police need to address the issue of the break-ins. Wilson stated there were a number of issues including law enforcement and fixing up the building by installing bars and lighting. It was noted if the owner takes steps to renovate the structure, it would be moved down or taken off the list. Mayor Don Still stated the city bad been pretty laid back for a couple of years because of COVID and are trying to get things going again. The question was asked if the owner could fix up the building themselves instead of requiring a licensed contractor. The response given was that they could if it was for less than $50,000 worth of repairs for a commercial building and $1,000 for a residential building. For residential buildings, the owner isn’t allowed to do electrical work and for commercial the owner isn’t allowed to do electrical or plumbing work. Wilson noted the city won’t move to condemn unless they are at the end of its rope. He stated there was a new code out and almost everything the city does comes from national code or the fire code. He stated there was some leeway except when it came to fire code. He also stated that the city does inspections for the state. Board member Mark Ross asked how much was budgeted for condemnation and was told $20,000. The buildings which are condemned are then acted upon by a committee that decides to proceed with demolition. The city also determines if any of the buildings can be used for fire practice. This involves making sure the building is tested free of asbestos. There was a motion to accept the condemnation ordination, it was seconded and passed.

The meeting then moved on to the consideration of a waive bid ordinance, which involved three motions – to suspend, adopt and an emergency clause. All of these motions passed. This had to do with the purchase of Fire Department SCA Equipment.

Next was the City Manager’s report. Wilson stated the Runway Rehab Project would begin around May 15th and the Airport Drainage Project bid would open on April 25th at 2 PM. He noted the Board Tour would take place on April 25th, starting at 9:30 AM with a bus scheduled to transport the directors. The board will meet at Hempstead Hall at 11:30am for a working lunch to discuss Department Head medium and long-range goals.Wilson stated the batting cage sod had already been put in and looks nice and that the milling had been done. Next he mentioned having talked with Missy Smothers and Michael Bowman of the National Park Service who were eager to begin with the donation of the parking area and Kopecky property to be turned into National Park land. This will involve a change in federal legislation and they will be drafting a letter to all of our U.S. Congressmen in support of the amended language. The Park has a $3,000,000 renovation project they are eager to start on.

Last topic was a city-wide cleanup scheduled for April 22nd. Wilson stated that no household trash would be picked up not leaves. Instead, household rubbish such as couches, tires (4 max), open dry paint cans, appliances in which the refrigerant has been removed by a licensed HVAC technician, washing machines and driers would be picked up.

Board member Mark Ross noted Hempstead County was the last to sign up for Keep America Beautiful. The cleanup will start at 7 AM at the HUB. There were 40-50 people last year and they are looking to double that number this year. Chief Tomlin’s crew will work in the hardest area. Ross noted the public’s help is really appreciated and everyone was finished by ten last year other than a few gung-ho members that kept working until noon. Volunteers can simply spend an hour or two if they wish.

For Citizen’s Request, Mark Ross requested help cleaning the pool and suggested maybe Bobcat Works. Marsha White asked about lifeguards at the pool and how someone gets a job there. She was told they have to be 16, take a course and then they work together. The city is looking to fill a number of positions including pool manager and program manager. White was told to tell her friends. The meeting then adjourned.