El Dorado Works Board discusses KTVE tree

EL DORADO — Though the city will go without a decades-old holiday tradition this year, city officials are working to ensure the “world’s tallest man-made Christmas tree” will shine on in the years to come.

Mayor Frank Hash and Robert Edmonds, director of public works, discussed the former KTVE Christmas tree during an El Dorado Works Board meeting on Tuesday.

The pair had planned to present a funding request of $56,500 to cover the estimated costs of restoring the 200-foot structure by implementing a new design and purchasing new LED lights for the tree, which was first erected in 1965 on the communications tower over the former El Dorado offices of KTVE.

EWB members asked that the matter be vetted further in the form of an official contract with tower owner, American Tower Company.

Alan Gober, EWB treasurer, said that even if the money had been approved on Tuesday and the final OK given by the El Dorado City Council on Thursday, there still would not have been enough time to install the display for the upcoming holiday season.

Mayor Frank Hash said American Tower had agreed to allow the city to continue using the tower for the Christmas display.

The company leases the property on which the tower sits from owner Shelli Cross, who had worked years ago to restore the tree after KTVE moved its office into the heart of downtown on East Main.

Earlier this month, an inspector with American Tower ordered that the old lights be removed because the lights and equipment were so worn that they posed a safety hazard.

Hash told EWB board members that when he received the notification about the removal, he went to the site to take a look at the situation.

“It was an electrical hazard. Those cables were tied to a steel fence. Because it had been left up for so long, the weather had destroyed it,” Hash said.

Hash said Cross made sure to include in the lease agreement that the Community Christmas Tree, as it is now called, be allowed to remain on the tower.

Hash also said that American Tower had said that the lights may not be put up before Dec. 1 each year, and they must be removed by Jan. 15.

The mayor said he had not yet negotiated a written agreement with American Tower.

“I’d be remiss if we spent $60,000 and two years from now, they come back and say, ‘Our insurance won’t let us do that,’ or ‘We’ve sold the tower to someone else,’” Gober said.

Hash said he would speak with company officials “to get something roughed out.”

Gober asked Hash to include request that the tree be lit during the downtown lighting ceremony, which takes place in November each year.

Hash said he had also received some calls, and there may be an effort under to form a private group and create an endowment for the annual operation of the tree.

“Let’s let them help,” said Robert Reynolds, chairman of the EWB.

In other business, the group approved a funding request of $163,932 as part of an overall project by South Arkansas Community College to upgrade its infrastructure to make its campuses more energy efficient.

Drs. Barbara Jones and Carey Tucker, SouthArk president and vice-president of finance and administration, respectively, said the total cost of the project is $2.4 million.

The $163,932 would cover the work that will be done to the El Dorado Conference Center, which is owned by the city and managed and operated by SouthArk.

Tucker said the project is an Arkansas legislative initiative for state agencies to update their facilities and improve energy efficiency to help save money.

For the conference center, the project entails an interior and exterior lighting retrofit with LED technology and integrating the system management controls.

The 787 light fixtures that would be affected by the project exclude those in Murphy Hall since the college previously upgraded the lights in the banquet hall to LED.

Gober inquired about rebate incentives from Entergy, and a team from Johnson Controls, who is working on the project for SouthArk, said they would apply for the rebates, which could mean a return of up to 10 percent of the costs for conference center upgrades.

After some discussion, Tucker assured EWB members that he would make sure that any rebates for the conference center would be applied to the city.

Gober said the funding would come from a $1 million contingency fund that was set aside for the conference center in the former El Dorado Forward economic development tax.

Alderman Billy Blann said he would like to see any rebate money returned to the contingency fund.

Gober asked about a timeline for the project.

Jones and Tucker said the college expects to present the proposal to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Sept. 30, and if the board approves the upgrade, Johnson Controls is looking to begin ordering materials soon afterward.

Johnson Controls representatives said they anticipate the project will take six months to complete.