Holiday Island business license ordinance gets preliminary OK

The Holiday Island City Council has taken the first step in establishing license fees and penalty requirements for businesses in the city.

At its regular monthly meeting held Tuesday, Dec. 19, the council voted 4-1 to approve the first reading of Ordinance No. 2023-020, getting one step closer to completing a process that has taken many weeks of workshops and debates to put together.

In other council action, a unanimous vote approved a resolution for “publishing, posting and notification requirements for the city of Holiday Island.”

The approved resolution states that Arkansas law requires publishing public notices in an official newspaper of record, but since Holiday Island doesn’t have a newspaper within its “corporate limits of the city,” an affidavit of “no newspaper” will be filed and instead, public notices will be posted on five “bulletin boards” around the city.

Typically, public records for cities and school districts in Carroll County have been published in the Carroll County News, the official “newspaper of record” for the county.

The council also approved a resolution outlining the city’s operating budget for 2024.

The budget includes an estimated revenue general fund of $331,550 and general fund appropriations at $394,435. Street fund revenue is estimated at $301,292 with appropriations at $300,000. In total, revenue is budgeted at $632,842 with a total of $694,435 in appropriations.

Another resolution passed by the council was to establish a temporary building permit fee refund policy.

During his comments, Holiday Island Mayor Dan Kees announced that council member Jerry Pittman has submitted a letter of resignation, effective Jan. 1.

“I have some serious physical and medical issues that prevent me from adequately fulfilling those duties,” Pittman wrote in the letter read by Kees.

Pittman defeated Barbara Talbot 776558 in the November 2020 election for the Ward 2, Position 1 seat. Kees said he would research the steps in selecting a replacement council member to complete Pittman’s term.

In an email sent Wednesday, Dec. 27, Kees said that state law requires the city council to elect a replacment for Pittman at its next regular meeting, scheduled for Jan. 16.

“Consequently, they will be wanting to hear from anyone currently living in Ward #2 who is interested in serving on the council. Any interested party can also contact me and I would make the recommendation to the council,” Kees said in the email. “All council positions, including Jerry’s position, will be up for re-election in the November, 2024 election.”