DECATUR — The breathalyzer machine at the Decatur Police Department will soon be obsolete and will need to be replaced or done away with, police chief Terry Luker said in his report at the June 14 city council meeting.
Within the next year, the department will no longer be able to buy replacement parts to run the machine, Luker said. There are still enough supplies to keep it running for several months, he said.
The police department has budgeted to buy a new machine for $7,000, but Luker asked the council if the machine should be replaced or done away with. Without the machine, those suspected of driving under the influence will have to be transported to the Benton County Jail for testing.
The Decatur and Siloam Springs Police Department are the only law enforcement agencies on the west side of Benton County that have machines to measure blood alcohol levels. Officers from the Gentry and Gravette Police Departments use Decatur’s machine, as do deputies from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office when they are patrolling the area. Even so, Luker estimated the machine is only used two to three times a month.
“DWI’s have really gone down over the past six years ... People know it’s going to cost them,” he said.
Alderman Reagina Davis asked Luker if it was possible to ask Gentry and Gravette to share the cost of replacing the machine, or to charge them for using the machine.
Luker said Gravette is unable to contribute to the cost and that the machine costs the same amount to operate each month no matter how many tests are conducted. He also pointed out the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t charge for the use of their machines.
“It doesn’t matter if we run one test or 100,” Luker said, “I mean we’re talking about a form that costs maybe a nickel and a mouthpiece that is twenty cents.”
Luker reminded the council to consider the costs in time and gas to transport a suspect to the Benton County Jail for testing. If the suspect does not pass the test and is arrested, it will cost the city $32.50 for each day a person remainsin jail.
Councilwoman Linda Martin asked Luker what he recommended.
“I personally don’t think it’s that necessary. We could take them to Bentonville; it’s just an extra hour,” he said.
No decisions were made in the matter.
In other business, public works director James Boston reported that a crew from Utility Services Inc. is working on re-painting and updating the 100-foot-tall water tower in the high school football field.
The first crew Utility Services sent spent several month working on the larger water tower at the football field, and never completed it, Boston said. The second crew the company sent finished the large water tower in less than a week and began work on the tall, narrow water tower.
“These guys are doing a good job,” water department manager Rocky Mills said, “We’re satisfied with the work that is being done.”
On Monday, the crew was sandblasting the inside of the water tower, and painting the outside with a special epoxy.
The next water tower to be repaired will be the million gallon water tower, Boston said.
Boston also reported the new wastewater treatment plant is nearly oneyear-old, and employees are inspecting it for problems that will be covered under warranty.
Boston said the plant has had some electrical problems that have caused it to go over its seven-day phosphorus limits, and near its monthly limits.
High voltage is causing the plant’s control system to reset certain pieces of equipment. On two occasions the equipment was automatically shut down in the middle of the night without restarting.
The controls have beenset to restart the equipment after several minutes, and employees are still searching for the root of the problem, Boston said.
The city’s new sludge press is also continuing to have problems. The project engineer has written a letter to the contractor and manufacturer, asking them to fix the machine or replace it.
The sludge press works great at half speed but won’t work as promised at full speed, Boston explained.
Other actions taken at the council meeting included voting to name Mayor Bill Montgomery the director representing Decatur on the Benton-Washington Regional Public Water Authority,and to name public works director James Boston as an alternate.
Boston reported he has applied for a grant to help cover the costs of a back-up generator for the wastewater treatment plant, as well as a grant to build a sidewalk from Austin Street around Veterans Park to the Northside Elementary.
News, Pages 1 on 06/23/2010