GRAVETTE -- Gravette City Council, at its June 29 meeting, voted unanimously to purchase two 2008 Ford F450 ambulances from an Illinois firm. The ambulances, fully equipped for fire rescue, have current mileages of 65,232 and 77,435 miles and will replace two 15-year-old ambulances with mileages of 126,000 and nearly 130,000 miles.
Fire chief Rob Douthit said the city's two older ambulances had been out for repairs recently and the new ambulance had been making all the runs. He said he could begin to rotate vehicles once again when the new purchases are acquired. Cost of the two ambulances will be $44,500 plus $1,300 to transport them here. Money is already in the budget to pay for them. Council members voted to surplus the two older units when the newer ones are received.
In other business, council members voted to accept a bid of $84,220 from Hutchens Construction for asphalt paving of one-quarter mile of Horman Road to the city limits and paving on N. Mount Pleasant South Road. Hutchens was the lowest of three bids submitted for the project. The paving will be paid for with money from the capital improvement street fund.
An ordinance was passed authorizing Southwestern Electric Power Company to continue to provide electric power to all SWEPCO customers in the city of Gravette and in all future expansions and establishing a franchise fee of 4 percent of gross revenues to be paid to the city. This is the same fee currently being paid by Empire District Electric Company. Collection of the fee began July 1.
Council members went into executive session at the end of the meeting and reported, after returning to regular session, that no action was taken in executive session.
In comments following the meeting, Mayor Kurt Maddox announced that council members could now get their checks by direct deposit into their accounts.
General News on 07/08/2015