Gentry council accepts bid on drainage project
Action on nuisance property lien tabled
GENTRY — The city council in Gentry, at its Feb. 6 meeting, accepted a bid for the West Main Street drainage project funded by a community development block grant, tabled action on a nuisance property lien, and discussed overtime pay for city employees related to emergency operations.
The council accepted a bid from Krein Construction Inc. for the Gentry West Main Street drainage project. The total bid for the project is in the amount of $374,025 and was the only one received for the project.
According to a Feb. 1 letter to the city from Ron Homeyer of Civil Engineering Inc., the bid is $46,025 more than the construction funding of $328,000, made up of $300,000 in community development block grant funds plus $28,000 in local funding.
Though Homeyer provided options for proceeding using a deductive alternate requiring the city to secure an additional $9,225 in local funding, he wrote, “I do believe that it would be in the best interest of the city of Gentry to secure the full $29,625 of additional local funding and proceed with the entire project. The cost to perform the work included in the deductive alternate will only increase over time and the economy of scale will also be lost, making it much more expensive to complete the last portion of the project.”
The council approved going forward with the entire project, using funds from the street budget to meet the shortfall of $29,625. The grant funds come through an Arkansas Economic Development Commission community block grant.
The project is designed to provide stormwater drainage from N. Collins and west along Main Street to Smith Avenue.
The council also voted to table, until next February, action to collect on a city lien against a property at 119 North Nelson Avenue for lot cleanup. Rather than foreclosing on the property to collect the lien amount of $9,657.86, the council chose to delay action to allow more time for the property owner to pay the owed amount.
In February 2022, the council was informed by city attorney Joel Kurtz that a lien had been filed against the property at 119 N. Nelson which would be good for 10 years. Should the city decide to do so, it could foreclose on the property to collect the lien amount at any time. The council, in February 2022, voted to table foreclosure for a year to see if the lien amount is satisfied by that time. In December 2021, the lien resolution was passed, setting the lien amount applied to the property for city-contracted cleanup, as well as related legal fees.
Gentry mayor Kevin Johnston explained to council members the need for a provision to pay overtime to city employees in special emergency situations, such as the ice and snow storm earlier this
month that required city employees to rack up overtime hours to help with snow and ice removal. Johnston said that making city employees take off comp time instead of being paid for overtime hours causes a problem at other times of the year because employees taking comp time are not available to complete necessary city projects planned during the warmer months. He suggested that a way of paying for overtime hours in such emergency situations would be of benefit to the city. Attorney Joel Kurtz will research the matter and possibly bring back a resolution for the March council meeting.
The council also considered and approved an amended 2022 budget, adjusting line items to reflect actual expenditures.
City attorney Joel Kurtz shared with the council a draft document codifying city ordinances, saying that the city had not done this in some time and that it would be helpful to approve this as a PDF to be posted on the city’s website. Instead of sending the codification project off to be done by an outside company and paying a high price, Kurtz suggested the city could do this and update it each year. He asked the council to review the 246-page draft document he provided and notify him of any mistakes or errors. Approval was tabled by the council, and an ordinance approving the codification of the city’s ordinances is expected to be brought back at the March council meeting for consideration.
Mayor Johnston reported to the council that the economic development committee meeting that had been postponed due to the recent ice and snow would be rescheduled soon. He said topics to be taken up by the committee would include horses on sidewalks, through truck traffic on West Main Street and liquor by the drink.
Announced at the beginning of the meeting by Janie Parks, the executive director of the Gentry Chamber of Commerce, were the Easter egg hunt coming up on April 8, an award celebration to be held in the McKee Community Room at a date soon to be set and a downtown revitalization meeting with a date also yet to be set. Parks said a fishing derby for local youth would be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on June 3. She also spoke of other businesses preparing to open soon in Gentry.
Council member Janice Arnold asked, “What can we do to get more restaurants in town?”
Mayor Johnston stated that Gentry needs to grow in order to attract more restaurants and businesses. Johnston said Siloam Springs is five times Gentry’s size in population and that is the reason so many restaurants and businesses are opening there. He said that businesses are not willing to invest large amounts of money to build a new restaurant or facility if there are not enough people there to support that investment.
Parks said she has a long list of people looking for available space in the city but that there are only two buildings currently available on Main Street.
Larry Gregory, reporting for Garver, reported ongoing progress with the city’s wastewater project. He said he expected more information to be ready for the city at its March meeting.