GRAVETTE — Gravette Mayor Byron Warren addressed the City Council members and spectators at last month’s council meeting with a “State of the City” message. Following are his comments in which he recounted progress made in Gravette during the past year and highlights of expectations for 2013:

“To the Honorable Gravette City Council, Recorder Mike von Ree, thank you for joining me tonight.

“I also want to thank my family for their support and sacrifice during my time as mayor. And I want to thank you, the citizens of Gravette, who have continued to passionately contribute to the betterment of our city. Thank you for your commitment and patience.

“Tonight, we are at a critical and pivotal era like none in Gravette’s history. It requires real communication, continued transparency and real action. I want you to know my commitment remains forever unchanging as I work towards my primary mission to bring financial stability to city operations and to improve the quality of life for our citizens. Without that, our city and all cities face an uncertain future. But I’m a believer and I know we deserve nothing but the best.

“When I took office in 2011 we would have had a sewer plant that was going to cost our citizens millions of dollars. We had a swimming pool that was not open, water lines that were clogged up and leaking, losing our town thousands in water losses. We still had a street in our town that was not paved and a museum annex that was under construction. Walmart had not yet broken ground and our revenues were flat across the board. When 911 received a call for an ambulance, a Basic Life Support Ambulance was what we had to offer.

“I am excited tonight to stand in front of you to not talk about our past but to talk about new beginnings for the city of Gravette in 2013. Our city now has the ability to give you the best medical treatment, with an ALS Ambulance service, a new fleet of vehicles and a new backhoe to help keep Gravette building and moving in a forward direction. City hall is also catching up and moving forward in technology with upgrading new software to help streamline our systems with online payments and a new cash management system. Gravette public works is also moving forward with upgrading our sewer plant and replacing water lines. By the end of 2013, we should have our sewer plant up and running for a cost of around 1.2 million dollars. This was a savings of around four million dollars to Gravette sewer customers.

“Tonight we welcome two new members to the Gravette City Council. One year ago these two new council members lived about five miles outside the city limits. How times change! Yes, in 2012 we more than doubled the size of Gravette’s city limits. I know I was excited to welcome in a new Ward Three to our committee. With this growth come many changes with the first planning commission meeting coming up on Feb. 7, at 6 p.m., in city hall. We have hired a new part-time planner to help the process along in our growth. I am looking forward to working with the new planning commission for many reasons. This group will be working on a long-range plan for our controlled growth inside our city. We will be working on master street plans, land use plans and shoring up our subdivision codes. A five and ten year plan needs to be re-established with the new annexed areas included. With this, our department heads will be heavily involved with growth within their departments, such as street paving, water lines and sewer lines, working on plans for a new library. That is why this new planning commission is so important for the upcoming year.

“Grants are always helpful to our communities. This year you should see at least three projects already underway because of grants that we have received. Our highway beautification, storm drainage project and a new skate park are on tap to be finished in 2013. Our trails and park system will be reviewed for future projects to improve our way of life here in the city of Gravette.

“Our police and fire departments will be going through some growing of their own. We will be hiring a new police chief in July and, for the first time ever, Gravette will see a full time fire chief to help with the growing demands in public safety. The fire department will be looking into a new ambulance and the police department will also have an upgrade in their fleet with another police car.

“A strong team is the foundation for superior planning, execution and results. Bringing your team together to enhance productivity, collaboration and execution can mean the difference between huge success and epic failure.”

News, Pages 8 on 02/06/2013