City amends policy on rescuing animals from hot vehicles

Hot weather drove the agenda at the regular meeting of the Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors on Monday, the first day of summer.
The board approved an emergency measure to improve the air conditioning at the Bi-State Justice Building and amended city policy on rescuing animals from hot vehicles.
The ordinance lets City Manager Kenny Haskin authorize AireOne Services to immediately begin work providing relief from sweltering temperatures in the records, dispatch and server rooms at the Bi-State.
The server room especially is in need of new air conditioning, as the equipment there generates heat and must be kept cool to continue working properly, the ordinance states.
"We are in dire straits here," Larry Vaden, the Bi-State's building manager, told the board. "We are running on two of five (air conditioning) units. Without these (new) units, we would have to move both the records and
the server room."
The board waived the usual competitive bidding process in approving the project. AireOne Services' quote for the work was $173,900 plus applicable tax, of which approximately 31.28 percent is attributable to the City of Texarkana, Ark. The city has already budgeted for its portion of the cost. Bowie County and the city of Texarkana, Texas, will pay the remainder of the expense.
Mayor Ruth Penney-Bell expressed some reservation about taking only one bid but in the end agreed that the circumstances warranted fast action.
"Ordinarily, I am not for waiving competitive bidding," she said. "I was elected to get the very best of every buck every taxpayer pays."
Vader explained that he chose AireOne Services because it is a local company that can begin the work immediately, it has done previous work in the building and it has a good reputation.
"You choose the vendors that you use because you know they're reliable," he said.
The board also voted 5-1 to amend the city ordinance regarding rescuing animals from hot vehicles. The ordinance absolved animal control and law enforcement officers from liability for damages caused to vehicles during such a rescue. The amendment adds firefighters to those protected.
David Fletcher, Texarkana, Ark., Fire Department's interim chief, spoke in favor of the change.
"Sooner or later, we're going to run into a situation where we have to forcefully open a vehicle to save an animal," he said. "People are mistaken if they think we can gently get into a vehicle. Most of them are going to realize that what we need to do is necessary, but I'm sure we may run into someone that thinks bad decision-making on their part equals liability on ours."
The proposed amendment would give firefighters peace of mind in that situation, Fletcher said.
Ward 2 Director Laney Harris spoke-and eventually voted-against the amendment because, he said, any waiver of liability must be enacted by the state legislature, not the city. He stressed that he agreed with the goal of the proposal, was in no way against emergency responders rescuing animals and did not want them to face any liability for doing so.
City Attorney George Matteson agreed that the state already protects emergency responders from liability but called the city's ordinance a "belt and suspenders" approach that was not in conflict with state law.
In other business, Finance Director TyRhonda Henderson presented a quarterly budget variance report.
The report showed revenues of $4,288,901 and expenditures of $4,159,816 from January through March. Those amounts represent 23 percent of projected revenues and 22 percent of projected expenditures for the year, respectively.
Henderson said the city's finances are in good standing.
"We're at 23 percent (of projected revenues), which is a little bit under where I would like it to be this time of year," she said. "I'd like it to be about 25 percent, but property taxes are really a major contributor to that. We receive the bulk of them in the October, November, December time frame."