Council selects bridge professionals

GENTRY — The Gentry City Council, on Oct. 2, selected professionals for bridge repair on the Dawn Hill Bridge, assigned newly-annexed lands to a city ward and rezoned two properties.

Garver, CEI of Bentonville and ESI of Springdale were selected in that order as professionals with which the mayor may negotiate a contract for engineering services to repair the Dawn Hill Road bridge which was damaged during spring flooding. Garver, of North Little Rock, was recommended as one of the top bridge engineering firms in the nation and has already assisted the city in assessing the damage to the bridge.

According to Kevin Johnston, Gentry’s mayor, the bridge would likely be repaired rather than replaced because repair costs would have to exceed 50 percent of the cost to repair before the Federal Emergency Management Agency would provide assistance in the project. He said FEMA would pay up to 75 percent of the repair costs for the bridge and also provide an additional 50 percent of that amount for mitigation work to prevent future damage to the bridge.

Johnston did not say how long the bridge would remain closed but said that, once a contract is negotiated with a professional and plans are approved by FEMA, the work would be able to move forward. He previously suggested that repair could possibly involve setting support footings in the bedrock below the bridge, and increasing the bridge height to prevent future floods from clogging up the waterway under the bridge with debris and causing scouring of the bridge supports.

The council assigned a small portion of land recently annexed into the city to Ward 3 and approved a new ward map for the city. The ordinances were passed on three readings with a single vote. The annexation did not make any significant change to the population of the ward, so it was not necessary to move any other ward boundaries.

Land owned by Richard and Judy Barry between S. Nelson and Railroad Avenues was changed from Industrial to Residential Office and Commercial 2. Land owned by WPS Creative along Dawn Hill East Roads was rezoned from Agricultural 1 to Commercial 2. Both changes were adopted on three readings with a single vote and included emergency clauses.

The council adopted by resolution the city propertytax millage rate of 5 mills for the General Fund, 0.3 mills for Firemen’s Pension and 0.7 mills for Voluntary Park Maintenance. The resolution made no changes to the current millage rate but is required each year for the city to be able to collect the taxes.

Vester Cripps, Gentry’s fire chief, reported that, due to the efforts of the fire department and the building of new substations and due to the city water department, the fire district’s ISO rating which was 5 in the city and 6 outside the city will be a 4-rating across the fire district beginning on Jan. 1. He said the better ISO rating should result in future reductions in the cost of fire insurance for residents in the Gentry Fire District.

In other business, Kevin Johnston reported that he was designating Oct. 6 as “GoPink, Go Cure Day” to bring about awareness of the importance of mammography in the prevention of breast cancer.

Also reported was that a representative of U.S. Congressman Steve Womack would be in the Gentry Chamber of Commerce office on Thursday, Oct. 12, from 1 to 3 p.m. to visit with and address concerns of local residents. Janie Parks, Gentry Chamber of Commerce director, announced that “Trick or Treat on Main Street” was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Gentry’s Main Street on Oct. 31. She said a movie would follow in the Gentry Public Library. She said the annual quilt show was scheduled

Janie Parks, Gentry Chamber of Commerce director, announced that “Trick or Treat on Main Street” was scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Oct. 31, on Gentry’s Main Street. She said a movie would follow in the Gentry Public Library. She said the annual quilt show was scheduled for January 12-19 in the McKee Community Room at the Public Library.