GRAVETTE -- A special meeting was held preceding Thursday night's Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the city's bid for the old bus barn property and property in Hiwasse owned by the school. Jay Oliphant, school board president, was in attendance and offered to answer any questions of council members.
Peggy Bertschy asked about the new appraisals on the properties. Mayor Kurt Maddox said the appraisal on the Hiwasse property remained the same as the 2012 appraisal, at $80,000, but the appraisal on the bus barn property had increased from $25,000 in 2012 to $40,000 now. Maddox pointed out that a street and an alley ran through the bus barn property and no records had been found indicating the street had ever been closed. He felt this might affect the appraisal.
Maddox asked the council if it wanted to let its current bid of $65,000 stand or increase the bid to the appraised value. Bob Robinson said the bus barn property was a good location with a lot of possible uses. Property values are going up, he said, but most are not up 65 percent. However, he recommended increasing the bid. Both Margo Thomas and Melissa Burnett also spoke in favor of the increase. Council members voted to increase their bid from $65,000 to $95,000 and ask for consideration of a reappraisal because of the street through the bus barn property. The museum commission has $25,000 to add to the city's bid to bring the total to the current assessed value.
Also in the special meeting, council members voted to add city financial director Chris Speights as a signatory on all city accounts and voted to authorize Mayor Maddox to negotiate up to $21,000 for purchase of a 1.82 acre Holloway property in Hiwasse and use it as a park named as a memorial for Hiwasse firefighters. According to terms of the sale offer, if the park is not named to honor Hiwasse firefighters, the purchase price would be $31,000. This purchase is contingent on the school's accepting the city bid on its adjoining property.
Monthly written reports were received from all department heads. Library manager Kim Schneider reported paperwork has been signed accepting the bid for remodeling library buildings and work will begin about Aug. 1. Remodeling is expected to take two to three months, so the anticipated move to Main Street should be about Nov. 1.
Police chief Andy Bower reported that he had received word that the police department was conditionally approved for a grant for an electronic citation system. He will have more details soon.
City financial director Chris Speights outlined several changes that are coming as a result of Gravette's becoming a first class city. The city attorney will be elected rather than appointed, but the election will not be until 2018. If no one within the city limits is qualified, then an attorney can be appointed. She spoke of differences between the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System and the city's current retirement program for the mayor and city recorder. Maddox and von Ree will consider their options and report their choice to the council.
Beer and wine permits will be issued for a nonprofit beer garden at Old Town Park on Gravette Day. The concession will be open in Old Town Park from 8 to 11 p.m. and 25 percent of the proceeds will go to the Boys and Girls Club. A Frisbee golf tournament will also be held, and organizers wish to run their budget through the city's budget, making for a slight change in the Gravette Day budget.
Melissa Burnett presented the subject of fire department personnel traveling to Chicago to pick up newly purchased ambulances. She said council members had not approved the trip and she was concerned about liability issues and miles put on the ambulances. Chris Speights said cost of the trip, including rental car, gas, paying salaries and overtime, was $1,721. Mayor Maddox said it was the cheapest way to get them back. Burnett said she did not necessarily disapprove of the trip but said she felt it should have been discussed by council members first. Melissa Smith agreed.
Speights presented the monthly financial report. She said some areas were over budget but all departments were still within the 50 percent range and those over budget were being worked on. She explained that insurance was up 300 percent since it hadn't been allocated by department.
Mike von Ree said the museum's utilities were going to be over budget. They are already at 70 percent at midyear. The buildings are all electric. He said it seldom used the full budget for salaries because of time off, so the overall budget should be okay.
Fire chief Rob Douthit said fire department utilities were up last winter and he was looking at replacing three older box heaters upstairs with radiant heaters.
Street department manager Tim Dewitt said he was going to be out of budget on grading roads because of the heavy rains. He also needs to install culverts on North Mt. Pleasant Road and build it up.
Deep potholes at the entrance to the post office, at the old four-way stop and at Grumpy's were mentioned and Mayor Maddox said it was the state highway department's responsibility to repair them.
General News on 07/15/2015