In other City of Indianola business, a motion to pay a $46,000 invoice from Hemphill Construction, the company that is installing the city’s new water meters, passed on a 4 to 1 vote Monday night after Alderman Sam Brock voted no because it was not included in their packets.
Brock’s contention was that this was an item that was added at the last minute and should have been and could have been added sooner.
“This goes around in that circle again,” he said.
He maintained the need for fairness in the process.
City Clerk Lashanda Moore explained that the invoice was handed to her on the 19th, but the docket had already been completed.
Brock said, “I'm not understanding why Mr. Hemphill was added at the last minute.” Moore said that she had just received the invoice. Brock raised objection to the item being voted on. “You done had all of this time, like the mayor told me, you done had a whole week to put it on the agenda, so why is it not on there? We’ll go to the next meeting, we've got to do everybody the same."
City Engineer Ron Cassada attempted to explain that all of the invoices were submitted on September 19; however, there was some confusion because protocol mandates that Hemphill’s invoice be returned to Gardner Engineering for a signature before it could be approved for payment and it had just gotten back to the city clerk.
But that didn’t sway Brock.
Cassada further maintained that the contractors are paid on a monthly basis and that at the end of the month Gardner Engineering goes through everything to make sure everything was done and carried out in the way that it was supposed to before giving the city the okay to pay the invoice.
He said, “Y'all can table it, but the contractor has been working out there every single day and he deserves to be paid for what he has done."
Brock said voting on the item would be unfair to their policies and procedures. Rosenthal said in times past the item would be on the agenda prior to approval on the docket.
“It’s done in two steps, but it’s done on the same night,” Rosenthal said. Brock disagreed and said it could not be approved before it was placed on the docket.
Rosenthal explained that the invoices were included on the agenda and the docket on the same day, but the item is usually voted on before the docket is approved.
They discussed the procedures and how it was done in the past versus how it should be done and will be done in the future before taking the vote. Other related invoices that were included on the agenda were approved without opposition.
Rosenthal said if there's an amendment needed for the docket it does not matter to him if it is done before the meeting or after. He said they can be done differently on the next one, but the protocol has been set for this one.
