Town's council updates flood plain ordinance

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

— With three of its five council members present (Chuck Guess, Lisa Lawrence and Amanda Richardson were present; Marvin Riley and Kay Taylor were absent), the town council heard numerous reports and adopted an updated flood-plain ordinance at its Feb. 14 meeting, according to draft minutes.

Mayor Lemke reported that he spoke earlier this month with the county judge concerning the streets in Springtown, saying some are still not being adequately graded. Lemke also reported that Benton County is going to do some road work at the corner of Bredehoeft and Aubrey Long Road to channel rainwater away from flowing down the middle of Aubrey Long Road to running in the ditch along Bredehoeft as it is supposed to do.

Lemke reported that the cement had been poured on the new Aubrey Long bridge and that gravel would be put down later in the week. Asphalt will be put down after the gravel has a chance to settle for several months. He said the old bridge would be removed by the end of February.

Lemke reported that Benton County has been working with Smith Two-Way to provide the correct interface to hook the town's sirens up to their system. He said he hopes to have the sirens mounted on poles by the end of the week and thehook up in place by the end of the month.

Park Committee chairman Amanda Richardson said she is still working on getting a pavilion in place for the park. Lemke said if the Park Committee will give him the dimensions they recommend for the pavilion, he may be able to work with a contractor to get the work done. Plans are being made to repaint the swings and start work on the flowerbeds. The Park Committee also will begin preparations for the town's annual summer barbecue.

Lemke said he was told the town may get some information by the end of February on their grant request for the town hall.

Lemke said the town's flood-plain designation was changed from Zone A to Zone AE, and the town's flood-plain ordinance needed to be updated to show the effective date of the Flood Insurance Study for Benton Co. The ordinance was passed with rules suspended and with an emergency clause and will take effect immediately.

Lemke handed out copies of a letter from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management concerning the return of unused funds for disaster FEMA 1751-DRAR and copies of the town's response letter, written by city attorney Carla Wasson. The response letter cited prior permission granted the town to use the funds for other much-needed projects.

News, Pages 3 on 02/29/2012