Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Council OKs $39,181 to relocate utility line
BELLA VISTA — A special session of the Bella Vista City Council was called Feb. 1 to address a contract change regarding relocation of a utility line as part of the Mercy Way Bridge project.
According to Bella Vista Mayor John D. Flynn, the change dealt with a water line that runs to CVS Pharmacy located at the corner of Bella Vista Way and Mercy Way. Manhattan Road and Bridge Co., which is renovating the bridge and street, will be paid $39,181 to relocate the utility line. It passed by a unanimous 4-0 vote of the council.
“It had to do with the Mercy Way Bridge and the water line to CVS,” Flynn said. “There are a couple of different utilities that were incompatible. And the reason we had to have a council meeting is because if it’s more than $35,000 then we have to have a council meeting to approve it.”
Council members Jim Wozniak, Larry Wilms, Doug Fowler and Craig Honchell were able to attend the special session while Jerry Snow and Wendy Hughes could not attend due to ice-covered driveways at their respective residences.
Flynn said he decided to call for the vote on a resolution to approve the change now instead of waiting until the council’s Feb. 22 meeting.
“It’s just a work order change, and I didn’t want to wait until the 22nd because they’re moving along really good on that project,” he said, “and it didn’t make any sense in delaying them when we could have a special meeting on that one issue. It was just going to be almost a whole month until our next meeting.”
Original estimates called for the project to be completed by approximately July of this year.
“They’ve been moving along pretty good, which is surprising,” Flynn said. “Maybe a little faster than we thought.”