On Thursday, during the monthly Code Enforcement Committee meeting, Marcos Sierra, president of Sierra Group & Associates LLC, spoke to the committee about licensing and insurance issues of roof contractors in Blytheville. Sierra told the committee that several businesses did not have proper licensing and insurance (workers compensation). He stated that when he came to Blytheville, he discovered all the requirements that were needed to have a business and has obtained all such licensees and requirements.
"I realized real quick that I was very different because I had all that overhead and it seems like not everybody else had that, so I did some research…I'm able to check on the Workers Comp app for who carries workers comp and who doesn't. The majority, on just roofing who we were able to pull licenses, are not carrying workers comp or general liability insurance and some of those that we were able to pull permits are not licenses to do those kinds of jobs," Sierra said.
Sierra asked what will the city do to ensure that this practice is not happening.
"If we can enforce our yard not being overgrown four inches, can we enforce something that carries so much liability that if I were to go over to (Councilwoman Barbara Brother's) house with a helper and get on top of a roof and god forbid somebody falls on my watch, and I have no general liability insurance or workman's comp. Now, I deflect the fact that she allowed me and my help to go up there and my help is now suing her or me or her home owner's insurance. Are we allowing that currently in Blytheville? Are we just failing to enforce what the law is?" Sierra asked.
Max Curtis, Sierra's direct competitor, is standing with him on this issue. Curtis gave an example of a man who was attending the meeting and fell off a roof and the business owner had no workman's comp. According to Curtis, the owner is currently a member of the Blytheville Fire Department and will be taken to court over the issue very soon.
"It's more than just about us. It is about these people too. It has affected him. He hasn't had a paycheck in about a year and a half, he was kicked to the side like his life did not matter," Curtis said.
City Building Inspector Rick Ash stated that he can only do some much to condemn the practice of working without proper licenses because decisions on charging individuals for not having the requirements to work are mostly handled on the state level. Ash stated that mostly what he can do is report violations to the state whenever he discovers that the proper requirements are not being met, which he stated he has done on several occasions.
In other business, Councilman L.C. Hartsfield questioned if changes could be made to the work schedule of Animal Control officers Kaitlyne Reeves and Elizabeth Emmert. Since both Reeves and Emmert have received more training, Hartsfield inquired to Assistant Police Chief Ricky Jefferson if the two could work more on separate days to avoid unnecessary overtime.
Brothers asked Jefferson if it would be possible to obtain some kennel runs for the dogs at the shelter so that more dogs could be let out at one time to clean the shelter. Jefferson stated that he would like to buy some outdoor kennels for dogs.
"If we had 14 of them, we could empty one whole side and clean one whole side, which would cut down the cleaning time tremendously but if you can clean that whole side at one time, it cuts down the cleaning time," Jefferson said.
During the Parks and Recreation meeting, mayoral assistant Cody Wyatt spoke to the council about some of the improvements being made to the city's parks. Thirty-six new picnic tables have been added to Walker Park as well as four tables to Nelson Park. New impact surfacing has been completed at two sites in Walker and the MissCo Shrines pavilion has been torn down to remove any safety hazards it may have presented. Black Hills Energy has expressed interest in donating funds to rebuild the pavilion. The Shrines sign that was located at the front of the pavilion has been placed in the Delta Gateway Museum.
Wyatt also mentioned that James "Jungle" Williams, who was a local sculpture artist, donated two pieces of art to the city that were to be placed inside Walker Park.
However, Councilman L.C. Hartsfield stated that the council would have to approve anything that was put inside the park. After some debate, the committee decided to look into the possibility of placing the artwork inside the museum.
gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com