Tontitown Begins Water Utility Takeover

Election Dissolves Commission

— The city started Tuesday picking up the reins of the Tontitown Water Utility from the Water and Sewer Commission.

By the Numbers

Tontitown Water Department

2013 Budget

-Income: $1,030,676

-Expenses: $982,435

-Net: +$48,242

The expected 2013 payroll, including benefits, is expected to be $230,501.

Source: Tontitown Water Utility

Mayor Tommy Granata appointed five members of the City Council to become the advisory committee of the department at Tuesday’s council meeting.

“The council is going to have to make the decisions,” Granata said. “We might as well have the committee be the ones who will decide what to do.”

The council approved Granata’s appointments. The new committee members will be Sunny Hinshaw, Henry Piazza, Bobby Pianalto, Joey Pianalto and Mike Zulpo. Those are the returning council members for 2013.

The council approved keeping the current budget for the remainder of the year and to add the 2013 water and sewer budget from the commission to the city’s proposed budget.

“That will give us some time to look it over and make a decision,” Granata said.

Tontitown residents voted to disband the Water and Sewer Commission in November, 858 for (78 percent) to 242 against (22 percent). The vote goes into effect today, 30 days after the vote.

Steve Gunderson, commission chairman, reported the commissioners have resigned. Bill Brandt, vice chairman of the commission, was serving as the interim executive director of the Water Utilities Department.

Mick Wagner, the former executive director, resigned before the election. The council asked Brandt to continue to represent the Water Department in regional meetings.

The council also voted to refinance its bond indebtedness. The city issued bonds, backed by a city sales tax, in 2005 to pay for a sewer connection to the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority treatment plant.

The Water Utilities Department projects it will pay $227,193 in sewer bond interest in 2013, according to its budget.

The council also accepted the resignation of Rhonda Doudna, recorder/treasurer. The position, which is elected, is open, as is the administrative assistant position. The last assistant also resigned.

In the last six years, the city has had about seven different recorder/treasurers, Granata said. There have been about as many administrative assistants, Joey Pianalto said.

An excessive number of Freedom of Information Act requests have been given as a reason for some resignations. City officials asked for an Arkansas Attorney General’s opinion on a request by Wagner that asked for access to an estimated 22,000 email messages.

Alicia Collins, an employee of the water utility, also asked for email and payroll records under the act. John Tull, a Little Rock attorney, filed a lawsuit last week after he alleged the city did not comply with his Freedom of Information Act request. He asked for access through the Internet, to email sent and received by the mayor.

An ordinance to abolish the position of administrative assistant was tabled at the start of the council meeting. Four other ordinances that might have been controversial also were tabled, including one that would have eliminated or restricted public comment at council meetings.

Officials are in the process of creating a city police department. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which was paid to provide law enforcement to the city, will end its service in March, Granata said.

Interviews for police chief are ongoing, Granata said.

“I expect to name a police chief in a couple of weeks,” Granata said.

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