Sewer to be built

GRAVETTE - The Gravette City Council, Thursday evening, gave approval for the “first leg” of a sewer line extension east of Gravette.

The action came at a special meeting preceding one by the Committee of the Whole. It was the second special meeting held last week.

The other special meeting was Wednesday morning, May 8, to approve purchase of a van for use in city business.

The sewer line extension is part of a long-range plan. The $117,000 project will begin at the sewer lift station in Old Town and extend east to the hill several hundred feet along Highway 72. It has been designed by Morrison-Shipley, the city’s engineering firm, and is financed by the city’s three quarter cent sales tax for capital improvements.

The van, a 2011 Chrysler Town and Country, was approved for purchase from Fayetteville Autopark, one of five bidders. The cost is $17,518 with an $8,600 trade-in allowance. According to Mayor Byron Warren, the van will be used for city personnel trips to meetings in Little Rock, as well as use by fire/emergency personnel to attend training courses out of town.

Committee Meeting

At the committee meeting Thursday evening which followed, several items were discussed which will be addressed at the regular council meeting May 23, including:

◊ Heard that smoke testing of sewer lines to detect surface water infiltration will be undertaken sometime in July.

◊ Heard that 300 new electronic-read water meters have been received and their installation is beginning with in-city water customers.

◊ Discussed paving the roadway into the lower area of Old Town Park. It would also include handicap parking spaces.

◊ Gave tacit approval to hiring maintenance and grading of rural roads to J.D. Dirtwork of Sulphur Springs on an hourly basis. This has been a critical need because of recent flooding and damage to roads. The county has been providing the service but their staff is inundated by county road damage.

◊ Discussed the contract for the Boys and Girls Club use of the Civic Center. It will be rewritten to require the club to pay a $150 monthly fee to help with cost of utilities. Other suggestions have included a higher fee, which is expected to lead to additional discussion. The club has used the building without cost for several years.

◊ Heard from the Library Commission that it is pursuing a plan to raze the present cement block structure to construct a larger and more functional building. Implementation of that idea may be determined if a cost-effective plan can be developed by the commission.

The above items, and possibly others, are expected to appear on the agenda of the council’s regular meeting, which will be held at 6 p.m., May 23, at the Civic Center.