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Water bill hikes, 'impropriety actions': Missing money triggers questions at Cotton Plant meeting

Questions about the Cotton Plant's money woes were raised at city council meeting on Aug. 14.

COTTON PLANT, Ark. (KTHV) - Missing money at the Cotton Plant water department brought in a packed house at the city council meeting Tuesday, Aug. 14.

Water has been the talk of the town in Cotton Plant since it came out a couple of weeks ago that $2,500 was missing from the City’s water department.

Before the meeting, Cotton Plant Mayor, Willard Ryland prayed for civility. At that point, you could cut the tension with a knife. Residents wanted to discuss not only the money missing from the department but also, what they called, “unreasonably high water bills."

During the meeting, the council went into executive session and about 45 minutes later, came out and voted to put a water department employee on paid administrative leave, while they requested an official investigation by prosecuting attorney, John Bell.

Mayor Ryland responded to questions as to whether the unnamed employee’s “impropriety actions” explained those high bills.

“We’ve lost quite a few of our customers, so as a result, we have a need right now to increase our water bills because we still have the same bills,” he said.

“In my opinion, there’s money missing from all departments, and I would like to prove that by presenting facts,” Erving Lewis, member of the Cotton Plant City Council, said.

After the meeting, outside, City Council Members told me they’d continue investigating, and continue bringing up these measures until every dime in Cotton Plant was accounted for.

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