The final meeting of the Slidell City Council for 2009 was busy, fruitful and the council also has a new president and vice-president.

The council unanimously approved a bid of $3.8 million from the F.H. Myers Construction Co. to build the second municipal building in Olde Towne. There had been some problems with the bids, which were opened Nov. 19. Of the nine bidders, Myers was chosen sort of by default. When all the bids were opened, it turned out that eight of the bidders had filled out the forms incorrectly or had left out important information. The architects for the building, Sizeler Thompson Brown Architects said that only the Myers bid did not have any “inconsistencies.”

The problem was that the Myers’ bid was not the lowest bid, nor was it the highest. By state law, the city has to award the contract to the company with the lowest bid. After consulting with City Attorney Tim Matheson, who also consulted with the Attorney General’s Office, the council was satisfied that accepting the Myers’ bid was legal, because of the inconsistencies in the other bids.

F.H. Myers’ Construction is also the contractor for the first municipal building that is currently under construction on Second Street right next to the City Hall. That building will house the city council and several city departments. The second building will be built right behind City Hall and will house the rest of the city government.

The only thing left is for Mayor Ben Morris to sign the construction contract, and the company will have a year to finish the second municipal building. A tentative completion date is sometime in early 2011.

The council got some good news on the city’s finances from the accounting firm Rebowe and Co., which just finished auditing the city’s books for fiscal year 2009. Company president Philip Rebowe told the council that the city’s books are “well within the legal guidelines for auditing.”

“The city is strong financially,” Rebowe told the council.

That was echoed by Morris who said that despite the current recession, Slidell has managed to increase its net assets by 14 percent to $127 million, despite a dip in sales tax, and the city lowering its millage from 36.5 to 27.2 mills. The city’s debt has also decreased by $3.4 million to $23.8 million. The only dark cloud on the horizon is the city’s unfunded liability for employee retirement. Currently the liability is at $27 million.

Finally, the council elected a new president and vice president for 2010. Councilmen at large Landon Cusimano was the only nominee for vice president and he was elected unanimously 8-0.

Councilman Joe Fraught was absent. The election of a president took a little longer. Both current vice president Lionel Hicks and Councilwoman at large Kim Harbison were nominated for the post. On the first ballot, each council member got four votes. On the second ballot, Hicks won by a vote of 5-3. Hicks will replace Councilman Ricky Hursey who served as president for 2009.