Several county offices in the St. Francis County Courthouse were closed this morning due to the continued cleanup of that facility from a recent fire.
Workers contracted to clean the facility following a fire there on March 20 set off a disinfectant bomb Friday afternoon in order to rid the building of the smoke smell. As a result, many offices closed about 3 p.m. Friday and remained closed this morning with the possibility of opening this afternoon.
St. Francis County Judge Executive Assistant Tracy Teal said the doors to the north end of the building, where the fire was contained, were locked Friday afternoon in an attempt to keep the odor from the building's south end. However, the fumes made it to those offices which resulted in the closing of the courthouse.
Workers trying to fumigate the facility opened doors and windows this morning in an attempt to rid the facility of the disinfectant.
St. Francis County Assessor Craig Jones said county officials were due to assess the situation about noon today to determine if offices could open this afternoon.
Some offices, however, were open for business this morning such as the county judge's office and county clerk's office.
Parents of students in Forrest City High School, Junior High and the Middle School will have the access numbers to check their children's progress on the Internet by this evening.
Parents who attended last week's parent-teacher conferences received the numbers at that time. The other numbers will be sent home from school with the children today.
Frequently updated progress reports will be posted on the Internet. With the use of the individual access numbers, parents will be able to check on their children's progress while maintaining privacy.
Teachers have been trained in a program called "GradeQuick," part of which is a module called "Edline" that will connect to the Internet. Edline allows teachers to post progress reports on the web, so parents can go to the site, log in and see their children's grades.
St. Francis County had an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent in February, giving it the ninth highest rate in the state. The rate was down from 10.3 percent in January and also down from the 10.4 percent which was recorded the previous February.
According to the figures from the Arkansas Employment Security Department, during February St. Francis County had a civilian labor force of 11,925, with 10,800 working and 1,125 not working.
The state's highest unemployment rate was 13.8 percent, recorded in Mississippi County. There were seven counties with unemployment over 10 percent.
The lowest unemployment in the state was 1.9 percent in Benton County, the only county with unemployment below 2 percent. Washington County, which had 2.3 percent, was the only county, along with Benton, with unemployment below 3 percent. Unemployment actually decreased in 55 of Arkansas' 75 counties.
The February rates in surrounding counties were as follows: Cross, 8 percent; Crittenden, 5.6 percent; Lee, 10.1 percent; Phillips, 10.7 percent; Monroe, 6.9 percent; Woodruff, 8.1 percent.
Statewide, the 4.4 percent February unemployment rate was up from 4.3 in January.
The Forrest City City Council will meet in regular session on Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. in city hall.
Included on the agenda are several senior citizens to speak about the proposed senior citizens center. There will also be an update on a proposed contract with Pepsi at the sports complex.
There will be third reading of an ordinance to amend the city's current dog control law. Also, the council will hear a request to rezone property across from the sports complex from residential to commercial.
County Judge Carl Cisco or a representative from the county will address the council on county sewer system connections. There is also a variance request for a back yard storage building.
Only one building permit for completely new construction -- a manufactured home -- was issued in Forrest City during February, but people doing remodeling and other improvements to their homes still brought the total worth of projects to more than $200,000.
The value of March permits totaled $217,823.86. Of that, there was only one commercial permit issued, to Pepsi Cola for a $4,000 sign at 1142 Eldridge Road.
The rest of the permits dealt with residences. There were permits issued for four additions, three remodelings, one manufactured home, one patio, one patio-fence, one addition and one carport.