City indecisive on sewage issues

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

— At a special meeting of the Gravette City Council last Thursday night, the Council appointed former Council member Tena Crose to fill the Ward 3, Position 2, which was vacated by Kurt Maddox who recently moved to Rogers.

According to Mayor Bill Howard, no other applicants for consideration were received. Crose is seeking election to that position in the November 2 General Election and will assume that two-year term on Jan. 1.

Business turned to the waste-water treatment plant project and Alderman Warren made the motion to terminate the city’s contract with McGoodwin, Williams and Yates, a suggestion he had made at an earlier public meeting.

After being seconded by Brent Cannon and some discussion, the motion was withdrawn.

Present at that time were Council members Byron Warren, Terry King and Brent Cannon at the start of the meeting.

Chris Beller was not present and Forrest White arrived later when more than an hour of additional business was conducted.

Warren elaborated further on his concerns of the project cost and suggested RDA loans, supplemented with grants from that agency, could ultimately save the city money.

Alderman King said, “I don’t feel comfortable with any of the (four) options presented ... ANRC is pushing us. Another sales tax would be detrimental to the business community,” he added.

Even though the city’s guaranteed 2.75 percent interest rate for up to $9 million would go up to 3.25 percent if not accepted by Monday, Sept. 13, Warren reiterated that through grants the city could save money over the life of the project.

Mayor Howard objected. “We’ll have to start all over again (if we change engineering firms and lose the low-interest money).” The danger of the city losing its discharge permit is also at stake, he said.

A motion to table action on the question until the next Council meeting was approved by a voice vote, and the Council moved on to other subjects on the agenda.

Reports were received from the Police and Fire Department, from the Director of City Services, the Library, Planning Commission and the Community/Resource Efficiency Director.

The Council listened to a proposal for custodial services, discussed the contract for the city’s sanitation services and touched on the city’s purchasing manual and personnel manual/policies document. No action was taken on any of those items.

News, Pages 8 on 09/15/2010