GENTRY -- The fire department will be adding a helicopter landing zone to its new substation on the corner of Taylor Orchard and Marion Lee Roads, thanks to the donation of an additional acre of land to the fire department from SWEPCO's Flint Creek Power Plant.
The city council on March 2 approved a lot split, separating the additional acre located immediately to the north of the acre plot on which the new fire substation is being completed.
The land will be kept mowed, but no other improvements are planned at this time, according to Vester Cripps, Gentry's fire chief. The landing zone will enable the fire department and ambulance services to use the area to load emergency patients on a helicopter to be airlifted to one of the major hospitals in the region.
The land is open and free of trees. With the substation next door, parking for an ambulance unit will be available adjacent to the new landing zone. The fire department uses portable lights to mark landing zones for use at night.
New construction at the power plant caused the loss of the helicopter pad at the SWEPCO plant, and having a landing area near the plant and in the southwest part of the city will be beneficial for emergency treatment of patients and accident victims, according to Cripps.
Had the landing area been ready on Friday morning, it could have been used for the air transport of a medical patient. The parking lot at Pioneer Stadium was used instead, but sometimes the parking lots are full and unavailable.
In other business, the council passed, on its third and final reading, an ordinance amending the ward boundaries to reflect the newly-annexed areas of the city.
Also passed, on its first reading, was an amended ordinance regulating mobile food vendors within the city. The ordinance will be brought back to the floor for a second reading next month. If passed on three readings, it will make it legal for mobile food vendors to operate within the city on both public and private property under certain conditions. Action on a resolution listing of proposed regulations to accompany the ordinance was postponed until the ordinance passes on its third reading.
Among changes to the proposed ordinance read for the first time in February was the removal of the $50 annual permit fee for mobile food vendors to operate on public property at special events. The permit fee was removed for the special event vendors because the sponsoring non-profit agencies also collect a fee from the vendors to do business at the events.
Together with the above change would be a delegation of authority to the sponsoring event agency to ensure that vendors have and display a valid permit from the Arkansas State Board of Health to operate a retail food establishment and that event vendors follow the city's rules and regulations for mobile food vendors.
Also changed was the removal of a $3 per day charge for a limited permit to do business on public property and the additional requirement that vendors obtain a $50 annual permit. Limited permit holders operating on public property would also be subject to city rules and regulations and would be required to have and display a State Board of Health permit to operate a retail food establishment.
An agreement was approved by the council on March 2 designating Gentry's Chamber of Commerce as the coordinator of the city's economic development marketing efforts and spelling out a number of duties officially designated to the chamber by the city. The agreement pretty much reflects the current cooperation already being practiced between the city and the Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Kevin Johnston told council members of two new people hired: Jordan Ramos, hired in the public works department; and Jonathan Lemke, hired as the new parks and recreation department laborer. Johnston said both had started work on March 1, helping with snow removal in the city.
General News on 03/11/2015