GENTRY -- After opening with prayer led by Joel Kurtz, the city's attorney, requesting God's wisdom, guidance and protection with the new covid outbreak, the city council in Gentry, on Aug. 2, passed on its third reading an ordinance allowing for virtual attendance at city council meetings even without a declared emergency. Since the state is currently in a declared state of emergency, no emergency clause was deemed necessary.
Also passed by the council on three readings with a single vote were ordinances rezoning 34.95 acres on the north side of Marion Lee Road for Apple Valley LLC from A1 (agriculture) to R-N (residential neighborhood), allowing for narrower lot widths (50 feet) than R1 (70 feet); rezoning of land for Steele Development from R2 to R3 to allow building narrower single-family homes; amending city code to match new state laws regarding purchases that state law now allows without competitive bidding (the amount was raised to $35,000, with the dollar amount on items the city sells increasing from $5,000 to $20,000); designating the mayoral position in Gentry as a full-time position, effective on Jan. 1, 2023; and amending the Catastrophic Leave Bank Policy to add covid-19 to the qualifying list of catastrophic illnesses.
A resolution was passed allowing extra covid leave if vaccinated -- eight hours of paid time off or $100 for getting the vaccine, or $100 qualified disaster relief payments (non-taxable) as a reimbursement related to the disaster.
Kevin Johnston, Gentry's mayor, announced that sod was to be installed at the new splash pad last week, that the builders were waiting on the delivery of artificial turf for one portion of the pad and may have to install sod until the turf arrives. He said a water pressure issue had been found and the builders were looking for the cause and could have to add a booster line. He said, "other than those three things, we're real close."
Johnston said great progress had been made at the sports complex on Browning Road in the area of electrical, plumbing, drainage and light towers. He said the progress should be more visible now that most of the dirt work is done.
With a pledged donation of $500,000 from Simmons Foods ($100,000 to be received each year for five years) for work on the splash pad and sports complex, Johnston asked the council if the city should make a bridge loan or borrow from itself to complete as much work as possible while construction teams are on site. He suggested borrowing up to $200,000 at a time to complete one portion of the work and then take "the next bite" when that money is recovered through the Simmons gift. This amount would be in addition to what is already allocated. The council agreed that the money should be borrowed from the city and then paid back to the appropriate funds.
At Johnston's suggestion, the council unanimously approved building a bleacher and shade system and the scoreboards for the east fields and possibly aggregate pathways as the initial step. Johnston said 8-10 weeks lead time was needed.
He said the water storage facility was progressing, with plans to raise up the tank on Aug. 12 and 13.
Johnston reported the structure at 117 N. Smith is down and the owner is seeking asbestos certification so he can haul the debris to the dump. He said the contract work at 119 N. Nelson was handed off to another contractor and work was to start soon.
Janie Parks, executive director of the Gentry Chamber of Commerce, said close to 50 had attended the open house in McKee Community Room to learn about the downtown revitalization plan. She said the plan was preliminary, with conceptual drawings. She said the Chamber would be doing a survey to get more input from people. She said she would email the survey out and post it on the Chamber's website and on social media.
She said the fall glow ride would be held at dusk on Sept. 11. She said it had been rescheduled because of a cruise night on the final day of Pickin' Time on 59, Sept. 23-25.