GRAVETTE -- Members of the Gravette City Council passed two ordinances at last Thursday's meeting. One waived competitive bid requirements for improvements in Old Town Park since the equipment is being sold to the city at a greatly reduced price and Soldiers of the Cross has agreed to pay half the cost of the improvements. The other repealed a previous ordinance setting water-meter reading and water-payment procedures and establishing deposits. The new ordinance lowers the water deposit amount from $150 to $75. It also states that the deposit can be waived if customers provides a letter from a previous water utility saying they paid their water bill on time for 12 months.
Council members also approved purchase of three vehicles. A new truck for the water department will be purchased from the water reserve account, at a cost of $34,004.92. The truck, purchased through state bid state, will be equipped with a snow plow. Approval was given to move $47,000 out of the vehicle depreciation fund to pay for two vehicles for the police department, a 2013 Tahoe and a new Ford Explorer four-wheel drive.
A resolution was passed to combine the water revenue account, the water operations account and the water credit card account. Another resolution was passed authorizing the Gravette Police Department to adopt mutual aid agreements with the cities of Sulphur Springs, Decatur and Bella Vista.
In other business, council members voted unanimously to approve the holiday schedule for 2016 and the council meeting schedule for 2016 and to change the date of the December council meeting from Dec. 17 to Monday, Dec. 14. Approval was given for fire chief Rob Douthit to hire a grant writer with money from the general fund. The amount of $2,500 will cover the cost of writing three separate grants, one for a new fire engine, one for an exhaust removal system at the fire station and one for LUCAS units (portable resuscitation units) for the firefighters.
Discussion of accepting a contract with Republic Sanitation for residential waste removal was tabled until the December committee of the whole meeting. City attorney David Bailey said he wants to review the contract and make sure it is an improvement over the present arrangement. Mayor Kurt Maddox reported Waste Management has started paying some franchise fees but Bailey believes there are still grounds for voiding the contract since they still owe so much in franchise fees and several customers have complained that their trash is not being picked up.
Bailey commented that he wanted to give kudos to library manager Kim Schneider and all those who helped make the Renaissance fair a success. He said he had a great time and he knew it took a lot of work to prepare for the event. Mayor Maddox agreed the fair was a success and said it had a good attendance.
General News on 11/25/2015