Picayune’s City Council was presented with a clean audit during their recessed meeting Tuesday evening.
Julie Uher, a CPA with Holt and Associates PLLC, said the city is in good financial condition and as such was presented with an unqualified opinion. At the end of the fiscal year the city had about $2.4 million in the general fund, which is money the city could use if a disaster were to occur.
Uher said there were some minor findings in the audit, but they dealt with not booking liability for the PERS retirement account, which she said most cities are also not doing at this point.
During her summary of the audit, Councilor Wayne Gouguet asked how the utility department was doing.
She said according to her assessment of the current rate structure, the city would want to consider a rate adjustment, particularly with water rates, because the current structure is not self sustaining.
City Clerk Amber Hinton plans to look at all three utility rates, including natural gas, water and garbage, are underway.
During the meeting Councilor Tammy Valente asked how the West Side Redevelopment funds came to be. Those are the same funds used to pay for the installation of sidewalks along Rosa Street.
City Attorney Nathan Farmer said the fund was started in the late 1970s or early 1980s as part of a HUD grant to help clarify ownership of land in the city. Apparently, prior to the grant, property lines were unclear, leading to a need for them to be redrawn to clarify ownership.
Problems with beavers have prompted the city to seek help from the US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services to have the animals trapped and killed. Public Works Director Eric Morris brought the matter before the council. He said he has about $3,500 in his general budget to pay for the service. Morris hopes that amount will last for a year, but if the problem is serious it might only last six months. Mayor Ed Pinero voted against entering into a contract with the department for the service, but a majority voted for the contract.
To trap the animals the Department of Agriculture will breach the dams, prompting the animals to appear and be trapped.
In other business the council:
— Approved advertising for the sale of a parcel on Carter Street.
— Adopted a standardized type of stone paver and light pole to be used throughout the city as part of Mississippi Department of Transportation projects.
— Approved a preliminary engineering contract for Crosby Commons.
The next council meeting will be held on March 1 at 5 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall.