Eldorado Council told all is ready for Town and Country Days

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A couple of warnings were issued by Eldorado City Council on Tuesday and the body expressed satisfaction with the completion of city work prior to Town and Country days.

The annual festival begins tonight and annually the days leading up to it heap extra work on city employees trying to tidy the city for visitors.

Mayor Rocky James and city commissioners expressed satisfaction with the work this year.

James noted the next several days will be very busy days for the city employees as they work to guarantee the festival moves smoothly.

City Street Superintendent J. B. James said anyone with a problem during the festival should contact the City Clerk's Office and workers will be available to assist solving any trouble spots.

Following the Tuesday meeting, representatives of the community's liquor license holders met with the mayor in the annual session to outline city desires for keeping order throughout Town and Country Days.

Police Chief Shannon Deuel said regular and auxiliary officers are ready for the several-day affair and schedules are in place.

"Everything is taken care of for Town and Country Days," Deuel said.

Warnings to the public came from two quarters during the meeting.

Public Safety Commissioner Bob Briddick said he has been receiving complaints regarding bicycle riders who are not following state and city traffic laws.

Briddick reminded riders of bicycles they are subject to the same laws as motorists.

He asked parents to relay that reminder to their children.

Fire Chief Mike McKinnies reminded residents during the fall season everything becomes dry and subject to fires.

"You will have field fires, I guarantee you,"McKinnies said. He urged citizens to use great caution in fall burning.

McKinnies said during the last quarter, the department answered only 11 fire calls. Now there is an increase.

On Tuesday alone, the department was dispatched three times, he said.

Water Superintendent Tom Hosman informed council he expects to complete all connections to the new Happy Hollow water main next week.

He also said he is working on a proposal for replacement of a line in Fairview Addition.

Hosman expects to bring the proposal to the next meeting of council to determine if the city has enough money to do the work

For the past several years, city workers have been replacing old water lines in-house on a project-by-project basis as time allows.

Eldorado's cash flow, always pinched during the past several years, showed a bit of relief last month, Finance Commissioner Jim Morris told council

The city took in about $20,000 more than it spent, he said.

However, the month was not without problems, he said. In early August the city had a Certificate of Deposit coming due and it was cashed in because the checking account was running low.

Morris said the major problem involved property tax income, which has been relayed to the city at a slower pace than in most years.

"Property tax income is not here," he said. Normally the first installment of about $250,000 would have arrived.

On the optimistic side, Morris told council, "We should be getting property tax before long."

Actually, the money will arrive very rapidly. County Treasurer Danny Ragan on Wednesday morning said the checks to taxing bodies went into the mail on Tuesday.

Council received and accepted the city's audit during the meeting.

There were two minor findings, findings that have been relayed to council in several audits during recent years.

Auditors were critical of lack of segregation related to cash receipts and disbursements.

That finding, Morris said, "is kind of minor and because of the size of our office, we can't do anything about that."

The second matter involved exposure should a bank with city deposits go under.

Eldorado has about $843,000 "exposed" beyond federal insurance that is not covered by bank securities pledged in the name of the city, according to the audit.