“The Colbert Improvement Club is no longer in operation, so they have taken the money that was left in their treasury and given it to the city!” said Mayor Chris Peckat the Colbert Council meeting Jan.9. “This money was what the club used to keep up and pay for improvement projects within the city, and what I’d like to do is combine our Colbert Park Fund with this money to create one new account.”
City Clerk Vicky Smith informed the council of how they would benefit from such a merger.
“We’re getting charged $5 each month because the Colbert Park Fund is dormant,” said Smith. “So consolidating these funds into one account that we actively use would help save us money in the long run by avoiding these extra fees.”
Councilman Bert Robinson questioned how the funds would be managed.
“How are these improvement projects going to work now?” asked Robinson. “Are we the ones responsible for paying everyone and so forth?”
Peck described how the funds would be used.
“It’s essentially like we’re the trustees of this account,” he said. “The Colbert Improvement Club used the funds to pay for projects and such around the city, and as far as we’re concerned, that’s the way we’ll continue to operate them.”
City attorney Dale Perry asked if the interest would be enough to support the expenses.
“Will the interest be sufficient to pay for these projects?” he asked.
Peck revealed the probability of the account’s long term life.
“No, it will eventually bleed the account down over time,” said Peck.
City advisor John Waggoner suggested a way in which a source of income could be collected for the fund.
“This will have to be discussed, but I believe we should become a partner of the July 4th celebration and get a cut of that income,” he said. “That’s what the Improvement Club did, and it would keep the money coming in for this fund.”
Peck offered final thoughts on the matter.
“If we know of a good project that makes good logical sense, we can use this money towards doing it,” he said. “But I don’t want us to just blow this $35,000 because we have it, and would like to find a way to keep money rolling back into the account.”
OTHER BUSINESS
In other matters, Perry swore Mayor Peck into his position, which was then followed by Peck’s swearing in of Tim Wyatt, Roger Fortson and Bruce Scogin. The bid for repairing the floor joist and seals in the old school went to Tom Jackson’s company for the amount of $7,600. The city council unanimously adopted all current ordinances. The members of the council were assigned their specific departments and duties. The council agreed to look into purchasing a new stove for the kitchen area of the city hall.
“It’s starting to overheat and get really hot at times, so we should look into getting a new one before someone gets burned or it starts a fire,” said Peck.
Also, the city is expecting to have ownership of the old school property by the end of the month.
“Everything is pretty much done, we just have to sit down and sign the papers,” said Peck.
