Council members hear citizen concerns
GRAVETTE — Virgil Jasper, who lives at 402 Second Ave. S.E., spoke to council members during the comment period at the beginning of the June 6 Committee of the Whole meeting and expressed his concerns about excessive water flow across his property.
He says lack of proper drainage, along with runoff from several areas in his part of town, is causing large amounts of water to flow across his yard and is creating a ditch. He also complained that topsoil has been hauled off, leaving him with rocks and cinder blocks. Jasper also expressed concern about the Veterans Wall of Honor being knocked down, deterioration of flagpoles and mowers damaging headstones at Hillcrest Cemetery and an alleged home invasion at his home and lack of response from local police officers. He said he was one of the citizens who was hurt by the inability to access dumpsters during the spring cleanup.
Bill Mattler, commander of the John E. Tracy American Legion Post, was present and told Jasper that a fund has been set up at the Bank of Gravett to collect money for replacement of Hillcrest Cemetery flagpoles. Mayor Kurt Maddox reported that a pending insurance settlement is expected to be used to replace the Wall of Honor sign.
Reports were heard from several department heads. Lieutenant Jared Weston reported that the fire department has made 322 calls this year, with 121 total ambulance transports. 51 of those were to Gravette hospital and 40 to Mercy. Fire department members have participated in 1,775 hours of training and the department recently hosted an EMR class with students from across the county.
Police chief Chuck Skaggs reported the police department has responded to 2,706 calls in 2019. Department members recently participated in spike strip training — for which they received an extra set of spike strips — and in a building clearing at Sulphur Springs. He said one of the department’s officers will be graduating from the police academy in mid-July. Officer Brian McKinzie will become a full-time school resource officer July 1 and the department is interviewing for an additional SRO.
Karen Benson, library manager, reported the summer reading program for teens and adults began June 1 and the children’s summer program begins June 11. She said food preservation classes will be held June 17 and June 24 at the Civic Center and reported the library has received a donation of Microsoft Office 2019 products valued at $12,936.
Tim Dewitt, the street department supervisor, said chip and seal work has begun on North Mt. Pleasant Road and Cash Springs Road and contracts have been let for paving Detroit Street, Eighth Avenue N.E., Main Street and Second Avenue S.W. Dewitt also reported that the city pool and splash pad are open and almost 1,000 people used the facilities during the first three days they were open.
Corey Reardon, water and sewer supervisor, reported that recent heavy rains have interfered with testing at the sewer plant but he expects regular testing to resume soon. He also reported some bolts were sheared on drive lines at the sewer plant and are being repaired.
Council members considered a proposed ordinance requiring proper maintenance of yards in the city and two versions of an ordinance regulating rates and usage of the city dumpsters. A couple of council members spoke in support of version two of the dumpster use ordinance. Some discussion was held about offering a discount for dumpster use only the first week of the month. Votes on both ordinances will be on the agenda for the June 27 city council meeting. Also on the agenda will be a resolution to declare as surplus a 2003 Dodge Durango used by the fire department.
Copies of the city’s master street plan and future land use plan were on display. A public hearing will be held at the June 24 planning commission meeting and resolutions adopting both updated plans will be on the agenda for the June 27 council meeting.
A short executive session was held to discuss a personnel matter. No action was taken.
A short special council meeting was convened to approve the 2017 audit report.
Mayor Maddox concluded the meeting by thanking councilman Ron Theis for his outstanding job as speaker for the Memorial Day service at Hillcrest Cemetery. He reported that he, Carl Rabey, Chief Skaggs and city attorney David Bailey will be attending the Arkansas Municipal League meeting June 12-14 in Little Rock and announced that he has been appointed to the Arkansas State Aid Committee.