El Dorado council meeting becomes heated over board.

EL DORADO — The El Dorado City Council has agreed to form a new city board to keep abreast of projects and issues within an expansive network of public works operations.

Council members discussed the matter during a special meeting Feb. 3.

Not all council members were present for the final vote. Council Member Billy Blann angrily stormed out of the meeting after a brief, contentious exchange with Council Member Willie McGhee.

The purpose of the meeting was to follow up on a decision council members made in December to place El Dorado Water Utilities operations under the direct oversight of the City Council.

Several council members said then that they were not aware of the utility’s projects and activities.

They acknowledged that they had not put into a place a structure or plan for the new role they had assumed with the utility.

On Dec. 10, McGhee asked fellow council members to hold off on the vote until he had more time to vet the matter, saying that he did not know that the item was going to be on the agenda for the council’s last regular meeting of the year.

Though McGhee participated in the unanimous vote on Dec. 10, he later clarified his stance on the matter.

He reiterated Feb. 3 that he did not feel that Robert Edmonds, director of public works, should have to answer to “nine bosses” — eight City Council members and Mayor Veronica Smith — in regard to utility operations.

McGhee also referred to a vote by the council in 2017 to dissolve the former El Dorado Water and Sewer Commission and place utility operations and administration under the umbrella of the city’s Department of Public Works.

The decision was due, in part, to council members’ dissatisfaction with the response of the El Dorado Water Utilities commissioners to several issues, including customer complaints and oversight of some improvement projects.

A Water Advisory Board was subsequently formed to serve as a liaison between the utility and the Department of Public Works. The board meets monthly.

“I wanted us to take over the water company because we were getting so many complaints but I did not envision Robert Edmonds having to answer to nine bosses,” McGhee said at the special meeting Feb. 3. “We already call him for so many other things every day and now we have asked him to take this on? That’s crazy as hell to me.”

“I thought we created the water advisory board to be a liaison between the water company and the City Council,” McGhee added.

Council Member Vance Williamson agreed, saying, “I think you’re right but there hasn’t been a whole lot of ‘liaisoning’ going on because the advisory board has not come to any City Council meetings.”

Williamson said he and Edmonds had discussed convening monthly meetings during which council members would regularly receive reports and updates from Edmonds and supervisors and managers of the various city departments that make up the city’s public works arm — the water utilities and street, sanitation and parks departments.

“They can inform us of what’s going on so that we know what all [Edmonds] is up against,” Williamson said.

“I agree. We need to discuss things thoroughly and we didn’t do that before we took on the water company …,” McGhee said.

A visibly frustrated Blann then interjected, saying, “We did that. That was then; this is now.”

Blann’s statements set off a volley of heated words between him and McGhee, prompting McGhee to remove his face mask at one point and forcefully tell Blann, “Please just shut up and let me talk!”

Blann fired back that McGhee had had the floor unfettered for the past several minutes and Blann expressed a desire to advance the discussion.

“I’m tired of you preaching!” Blann said before aggressively gathering his belongings and heading briskly toward the exit.

As the door slammed shut behind him, Blann exclaimed, “I’m here for the city of El Dorado and you’re not!”

After further discussion, the council agreed to form the new city board, which will meet each month to hear reports about public works activities and projects.

Edmonds said he expects department heads and managers to provide reports about garbage collections, street projects, the number of gallons that are pumped each month by the water utilities and other such matters.

He said the reports will also include city parks and the goings-on of the El Dorado Union County Recreation Complex.

The new city board has been dubbed the El Dorado Water and Public Works Board and the group will meet at 10 a.m. on the Wednesday following Water Advisory Board meetings.