GRAVETTE — Mayor Bill Howard Monday of this week wrote the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) requesting an extension of the cut-off date for a $9 million loan the ANRC has been reserving for the city of Gravette.

The loan was to help finance a sewer improvement project to allow the city to meet state/federal phosphorus and nitrate discharge limits. The city has been out of compliance for some time and its waste-water treatment facility permit is scheduled to expire within a few weeks.

Howard took the action after the City Council, at a special meeting Thursday night, failed to approve a proposed plan to meet the deadline and has failed to select a newconsulting engineering firm for the project.

McGoodwin, Williams and Yates, a firm from Fayetteville, has been working with the city for several years to develop a plan. The consumer cost of the plans the firm has presented has met with disapproval from some council members.

In the letter to Richard Dawson of ANRC, the Mayor wrote: “The Gravette City Council met on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010, to select which of the methods to be used for correction of our sewer problems.

“The City Council however could not agree on what to do about our consulting engineer firm.

So subsequently they scheduled a meeting for Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010 to resolve the issue.

“I am therefore requesting an extension of the cut-off date (for the loan) until Sept. 20, 2010.”

News, Pages 8 on 09/15/2010