Prairie Grove Aldermen Approve Council Raise

MEMBERS CONSIDER ORDINANCE TO RENAME STREETS

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove City Council members gave themselves a small raise earlier this month, the first one approved since the 1980s.

Compensation for aldermen will increase from $30 per meeting to $50 per meeting and is effective for 2016. The Council considered the first reading of an ordinance to increase compensation in December, placed it on second reading in January and adopted the ordinance Feb. 22.

Council members are paid at the end of the year, based on the number of meetings each one attends, according to Larry Oelrich, director of administrative services and public works.

In other action, Council members placed an ordinance on first reading that establishes a procedure to rename an existing city street. In January, Council members discussed some guidelines for renaming city streets. Two people had approached Mayor Sonny Hudson about renaming Bush Street after Prairie Grove Athletic Director Mike Green, who died in August 2014.

Hudson brought the request to the City Council to see if members were interested in pursuing a way to allow a name change. The result is a proposed ordinance called the “2016 Street Renaming Ordinance.”

A citizen who wants to ask the City Council to rename an existing street must first have a petition signed by 75 percent or more of the property owners along the street.

When the signature requirement is met, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the request. Aldermen will consider the request at their next regular meeting after the public hearing with input from the police and fire departments and Central Emergency Medical Service.

If approved, the petitioner agrees to pay for the cost to install new signs on the street.

Also, the Council approved a request to purchase a Vermeer diesel wood chipper for $ 39,173 from Mid-South in Springdale, declared certain equipment as surplus and authorized the mayor to sell or dispose of the equipment. Surplus equipment includes police items, computers, a typewriter, scanner and copier, old fence pieces and an old gate, equipment from the fire department and the street department. The total value of the items would be less than $20,000.