City Council increases trail funding

Revises employee rules

The Bella Vista City Council voted unanimously to amend the employee handbook, purchase street department equipment and increase funding for trails maintenance during its regular meeting Monday, Jan. 22.

Mayor Peter Christie said the revisions to the employee handbook primarily cover medical marijuana, which is becoming available in Arkansas.

“This is getting our handbook up to snuff,” he said.

City management staff went through a two-hour class earlier that day, he said, to help supervisors learn how to spot drug-related issues.

During last weekend’s work session, human resources manager Melissa Cruise told the council that these amendments also include two new sections, including one detailing a background check policy.

According to documentation on this policy provided in the meeting packet, all employees, including

temporary employees, are subject to a pre-employment background screening. Checks may also be given to employees taking on sensitive or safety-related duties, be it from a change of position or of duties.

Previously, Cruise said during the work session, there was no policy in place for background checks.

“This just gives some clarification around what we do and how we do it,” she said.

The council also approved the purchase of a used wheel loader and a used conveyor/ stacker for the street department, at a price tag of no more than $138,000.

Christie said this equipment is for the sand and salt storage facility on the city’s east side, for which the city has finished acquiring property. This facility, he said, will get the city in compliance with federal regulations which require that sand and salt not be stored on bare dirt.

The conveyor, he said, is similar to the machinery used to get hay into a loft.

Council member Doug Fowler said this was an issue of productivity, and it is necessary to get the materials up high enough — and to do it safely. Currently, he said, the department works with whatever backhoe or other pieces of equipment are readily available.

“It’s also a safety issue, you know, we want to be using the right equipment,” Fowler said.

Christie explained that the city and property owners association have split the cost for maintaining Bella Vista’s trails at $20,000 per year, but this amount needs to be increased to $35,000 per year to be ready for upkeep with new trees and to help handle rain-related issues on the trails.

Those trees, he explained during the previous week’s work session, will be put in with a $60,700 grant from the Walton Family Foundation, which will plant a variety of trees in trail areas — but the city needs to be ready to maintain them.

The council also approved the second phase of funding for a flood study of Little Sugar Creek, appointments to the library advisory board, a fund transfer for the police department to purchase computers and appointments to the planning commission.