Bruce Ellis, owner of Delta Cinema, 11 Third Street, is suing Clarksdale Public Utilities and the city of Clarksdale for $100,000 to $500,000 alleging issues with the water pipes caused damage to the building.
CPU general manager Curtis Boschert told the board at their March meeting he received the lawsuit. The matter was discussed during executive session of CPU’s meeting Tuesday, March 10.
Delta Cinema’s movie theater was the main facility for the Clarksdale Film Festival that had been held in January for several years. The suit alleges, due to the damages, it has not been used for the festival since 2017.
Boschert said CPU planned to defend itself in the matter, but did not give details or comment on the suit after the discussion in executive session.
“All I can say this point is we received the lawsuit today and it’s really too early to discuss all of the options Clarksdale Public Utilities has,” Boschert said.
Boschert also informed the board CPU was addressing issues related to the coronavirus.
“I’ve met with all of the management team and we can’t go anywhere today without hearing about the coronavirus and all of that,” he said. “We’re making plans to do all we can to try to maintain good health among our employees. We’re advising them about the best ways to avoid this. I’m not trying to suggest that the sky’s fallen or anything like that, but I don’t want to have my head buried in the sand trying to ignore what’s going on the world. Hopefully, that won’t affect us, but just to let you all know, we’re trying to be prepared in the event that anything comes up.”
Boschert said he would get gloves for employees and take other precautions.
“You turn on the television and there are a lot of people telling you what you should do and how you don’t put your hands to the face and stuff like that,” he said. “Those very people put their hands to their face or lick their fingers in the face. We’re trying to be conscious. We don’t know the seriousness of it. Obviously, it’s something going on we need to be aware of. We’re trying to do all we can to be prepared so we can keep the lights on and the water running and the sewer flowing.”
Boschert also reported the board discussed an insurance policy on CPU’s Crossroads plant during executive session.
“We’re waiting to get some documentation,” he said.
Claims in the amount of $1,427,837.23 were approved.
Senior accountant Sheila Profit reported the February operating cash total was $2,626,673, the restricted cash total was $1,306,033, the reserved total was $4,108,540.78. The grand total of all three of those numbers came to $8,041,246.78.
Profit reported petty cash expenditures for February were $653.95.
She said the E check activity on CPU’s website for February was $58,521.29, credit card activity was $66,826.75, and bank drafts were $144,029.60 for a total of $269,377.64.
In Profit’s customer service report for February, she said new accounts/deposits came to $13,558, while refunded deposits were $18,080.66. She said there were 242 customers at the kiosk in February who paid a total of $33,475.15.
