NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
These are not official minutes

 

Pre-Council Meeting

Utilities Director Bryan Wimberly gave an update on the water system and addressed odor and taste concerns. The water plant was built in 1959 and needs to be updated. Wimberly explained why the water has a bad odor and taste. The water plants intake valves are at a certain depth in Sibley Lake and are fixed. When the weather goes from 70 degrees to 30 degrees the lake experiences inversion.  This inversion is when the water at the bottom of the lake rises to a higher depth. When this happens the organic matter breaking down at the bottom of the lake also rises and is taken in to the intake valves. Different depths of water require different chemicals to treat it. Since the depths of water keep inverting it is hard for the water plant to keep up. The chemicals they have been using are not working as well as they used to. The water is safe to drink but it stinks.

The plant is looking into ways to fix this problem but admitted that there is no quick fix and that it is not going to smell or taste better next week. One of the solutions discussed is raising the level of the water intake valves. An additional solution was the implantation of a Powdered Activated Carbon Feed System. Activated Carbon is commonly used by water treatment facilities to adsorb natural organic compounds, taste and odor compounds and synthetic organic chemicals. Activated Carbon is an effective adsorbent because it is a highly porous material and provides a large surface area for contaminants to absorbed. The Powdered Activated Carbonwill be fed as a slurry early in the treatment process. The amount will vary depending of the initial quality of the water taken from the lake and will be removed either by sedimentation or by the filter beds during backwashing.

Other concerns voiced by the public included dirt in the water. This was most likely caused by the three to four line breaks in the past few weeks. The breaks cause sediment to get pulled into lines. Multiple fire hydrants have been opened to help flush the lines of this sediment.

The problems with the water are not caused by the chorine burn that the water treatment system recently completed. The chlorine burn was successful and the water treatment plant is able to use less chlorine because of it. The issue is not distribution based.

CALL TO ORDER

 

INVOCATION

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

READING AND APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 25, 2016

 

PROCLAMATION:

#006 Approved: Resolution Proclaiming The Month Of February 2016 As African American History Month In The City Of Natchitoches.

The Resolution was presented to Kelvin Porter on behalf of District 23 Representative Kenny Cox by Sylvia Morrow.

 

PLANNING & ZONING – INTRODUCTION:

#007 Introduced: Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 64 Of 2001 By Changing

                           Zoning Classification Of Property Described As Follows:

Lot 1 Block “K” Of East Natchitoches Subdivision From R-1 Residence to R-2 Residence Multi-Family to construct a duplex

(315 East Second Street) Rand Metoyer

Planning and Zoning commented that they denied this request by majority because of the desire to maintain the primarily single family home area. Council members did discuss how Metoyer has already been approved to build a duplex in that area and would like to see how it affects traffic and parking before allowing another rezoning request to pass.

 

ORDINANCES – FINAL:

#004Awarded: Ordinance Authorizing The Mayor Of The City Of Natchitoches To

Award The Bid For The City Park Walking Track And Parking Project (Bid No. 0576).

The Bid will be awarded to the lowest bidder Regional Construction, LLC of Natchitoches in the amount of $359,475.00.

#005 Approved: Ordinance Renaming The Unrevoked Portion Of Lakeview Road To Harris Drive, Providing For A Public Hearing, Providing For An Effective Date Of The Ordinance, Providing For Procedure In Remarking Street, And Providing For Designation Of Name Change On Public Records.

#006Awarded: Ordinance Authorizing The Mayor Of The City Of Natchitoches To Award The Bid For The East Fifth Park Improvements.

(Bid No. 0577)

The Bid will be awarded to the lowest bidder Pat Williams Construction, LLC of Leesville in the amount of $363,488.87.

 

RESOLUTIONS:

#007Tabled: Resolution Committing Funding For The Highland Park Road Bridge,

Environmental, Planning And Construction FP&C Project  

 No. 50-MK9 15-01.

Major Posey explained that this was an item that simply slipped by him and made it on the agenda. He explained that he did not plan to have this on the agenda after the developments made in the last meeting. He told the council that he wanted it tabled to allow them to explore what other options were available. He said that there will be public hearings about the bridge in the later part of 2017.

Bray Williams asked Posey what the other options might be. Posey replied “Do you think I am crazy enough to talk about any other options? Wherever we put it somebody isn’t going to like it. We are not going to talk about any of the other options today. I will call you and Sara Luster and let y’all know if anything develops further with this.” 

#008 Approved: Resolution Authorizing The Mayor To Execute An Agreement With The Louisiana Department Of Transportation And Development (LA DOTD) For Improvements At The Natchitoches Regional Airport to Rehabilitate & upgrade the AWOS-3 P/T ceilometers.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• The next scheduled City Council meeting will be February 22, 2016.
• The offices of the City of Natchitoches will be closed Monday,February 15, 2016 in honor of President’s Day.

 

ADJOURNMENT: