GRAVETTE -- Street department head Tim Dewitt told city council members at their Committee of the Whole meeting last Thursday that sidewalks were being planned from Birmingham Street south along Arkansas Highway 59 to Walmart. Other areas being considered for sidewalks were on Irving Street from the Senior Center to the hospital and in the area of the high school. The Highway 59 project, although the most expensive, is deemed the most important after a young lady was struck by a car in that area recently.
Dewitt said the sidewalks would be 60 inches wide and poured four inches deep to meet ADA requirements. He reported Arvest Bank had offered a donation of $10,000 to help fund the project.
Council member Margo Thomas commended Dewitt and all the city crew for the excellent job they did on street cleaning after the Sunday night snowstorm. She also praised water department employees for their diligent work in repairing a water leak the previous Friday. Mayor Kurt Maddox thanked acting fire chief Rob Douthit for shoveling snow for residents at the Senior Center on his day off.
Corey Reardon, water department head, reported 210 of the new Badger water meters had been installed during two weeks in early February. He expects to finish the job in about a month and a half. He had investigated contracting with an outside firm to complete the installation, but he felt it most cost-effective for the city crew to complete the job. He said the city would be off the old meter system completely by summer.
Reardon also reported Morrison-Shipley engineers had done a final walk through inspection of the filter rehab work at the sewer plant and all reports were good.
Police chief Andy Bower reported that software had been installed and reporting within the police department would be completely digital in two or three weeks. He also reported paperwork was almost complete for a grant application he was submitting. The grant, from the highway safety department of the Arkansas State Police, would fund mobile data equipment and laptops to issue citations digitally. Bower said he had already budgeted for the system but, if the grant was received, the equipment could be upgraded.
Bower also reported he had received approval for three reserve officers and would be interviewing for those slots on Friday. These officers would be unpaid auxiliaries and would work special events and allow for the deployment of two-man patrol units. Since their training is the same, they could then be moved up to part-time status once they had gained experience and an opening was available.
Library manager Kim Schneider reported the city had purchased the former Duffield's building for a potential library site. Bids are being secured for remodeling of the building.
Fire chief Rob Douthit reported on a SAFER grant the fire department is pursuing. The grant would provide funding for two more people per shift. It would pay their salaries and benefits for two years and the city would pick up the expenses at the end of that time. Douthit said 88 calls came in last year while the ambulance was in service. The grant would provide the crew for a second ambulance. The ambulance crew might even be able to run hospital transfers with this addition in personnel. Douthit said he thought there was a high probability of receiving the grant. The area is growing and ambulance service capabilities are being stretched to their limits, so this grant would help prepare for the future.
Council members discussed a request from Empire District Electric Company to waive building permit fees for expansion of its substation. City attorney David Bailey said he found no precedent for such a waiver and he advised against it. A vote on an alley closing to facilitate the expansion project will be on the agenda for the Feb. 26 council meeting.
Mayor Maddox reported that Ozark Regional Transit wants to expand into the county. The county has agreed to match cities' contributions. He said cities of similar size had contributed $2,500 to $4,000 for the service. If the service expands into Gravette, bus rides would be provided for $2.50 a trip. A vote on approval of a contract with Ozark Regional Transit will be on the agenda for the Feb. 26 council meeting.
Council members were told the city has an older ambulance which is too expensive to repair. It is still drivable and, after discussion, they agreed to recommend selling this surplus vehicle to help pay for repairs on the other two ambulances.
Maddox reported the regional planning commission wants to send a representative to speak to the council about its bike and pedestrian trail plan for the area.
A study has been made of repairs at the sewer plant. A cheaper method was used to repair the first three lagoons and they are still leaking. Sewer department head Corey Reardon recommended installing a full liner for the fourth lagoon, which is the holding pond. Money is available in the bond fund. This would be the final project in the sewer plant repair program. When it is completed, the plant should be good for another 20 years. Approval of the project will be on the agenda for this week's council meeting.
Mayor Maddox reported the auditor is requesting that final figures for the 2014 budget be approved at Thursday's council meeting. The auditor's work is almost complete.
Financial reports were submitted and interim finance director Patrick Hall answered a few questions about revenue and expenses. Maddox reported January was "a great month for revenue" but noted that bills of about $100,000 for work done by Morrison-Shipley had been received in the last two weeks.
Three lot splits were considered, one behind Ty Russell's chiropractic office, one on Fruitwood Road and one on Horman Road. Ordinances will be prepared and voted on for approval of these splits at Thursday's council meeting.
Council member Melissa Burnett reported receiving some citizen concerns about safety with the current leadership in the fire department. Fire chief Rob Douthit recounted his experience and qualifications for the job. Bob Robinson suggested that anyone who had problems with the fire chief should go to him and work it out.
"People need to communicate," he said. They should bring specific concerns to Douthit, he said, and give him a chance to reply.
Ron Theis expressed some concerns about whether advertising was still being done for the fire chief and finance director positions. He said it seemed "interim" had been dropped from these persons' titles and they were just being accepted for the position. Mayor Maddox explained that none of the applicants qualified for the finance director's position as it was originally described and the ad was being rewritten and run again. He said he believed both interim persons had been performing their jobs very well.
After some discussion, several council members indicated they felt qualifications and pay scales should be included in the city handbook along with job descriptions. Theis said, in the past, mayors had written the qualifications and under that arrangement they could change with each mayor, which would be unfair to the city. "We need to define the requirements," he said.
A suggestion was made to check with the Arkansas Municipal League about current practices and revisit the issue in the near future.
General News on 02/25/2015