By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A court date has been set for a lawsuit filed against the City of Caldwell over the construction of a pavilion in the city park, the city council learned Tuesday night.
Mayor Gary Hughes informed the council that the trial is scheduled for Nov. 5 in Circuit Court.
"We will anxiously await that and hope everything will work smoothly...so we can get this thing settled," said Hughes.
The suit was filed by Brian Long, doing business as Bri-My Construction, Inc. Long was the low bidder for the job of building a concrete slab and pavilion at the park, and received the contract in June of 2000. The pavilion has been constructed.
The city withheld payment on the pavilion, claiming that Long did not meet the specifications for the roof. Hughes also said he had told Long to stop construction on the pavilion, but Long completed the job anyway.
Long attended a city council meeting, but an agreement could not be reached. Long filed suit in February, claiming that he had completed all work required under terms of the contract.
The suit asks for payment for the pavilion, amounting to $24,467, along with penalty, interest and attorney's fees.
On another matter, Hughes told the council that the city had received a grant of $400 for the city clerk, Jenny Lindsey, to attend a special school to be held Fayetteville this September. The council voted to approve any additional expenses.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
In a short meeting Tuesday night, members of the St. Francis County Budget Committee were updated on the first 10 days of the county's new three-month budget plan.
The budget was changed during last month's quorum court meeting because of shortfalls in the budget for a number of reasons.
According to County Treasurer Ann Harbin, the county general account stood at $14,222.96 on Tuesday, the county road account was at $52, 708.81 and the solid waste account was at $29,196.87. According to Harbin, deposits were scheduled to be made to the general account today which would boost the account by $30,000 to $40,000.
The exact amount of the anticipated deposit could not be confirmed this morning.
"The deposits will cover our next payroll, and since we haven't had to pay any bills this month, we're still in good shape," said Harbin.
Quorum Court Justice Regan Hill commented briefly on the balance in county general saying, "We realized going into this (the new budget), that's why we did this for three months, that we felt like July would be the worst month of the three months, so this isn't a surprise."
Committee members also answered questions regarding any funds turned back to county general after the three-month budget is complete. County Sheriff Dave Parkman asked justices if surplus funds would be added to the projected budgets of offices which return money to the general account following the three-month budget period.
"If we turn back $100,000 out of our budget, just using that figure, as opposed to spending that $100,000, what will happen to it?" Parkman asked.
Parkman was not given an answer to his question, but justices agreed to analyze the budget situation at the end of the three months.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The groundwork for a new housing complex to be built in Madison received a boost last night as city council members voted to assist the Crowley's Ridge Development Council in an effort to build the new facility.
City council members, in a 4-2 vote, committed up to $47,000 in assistance or work to the CRDC's effort to bring 24 low to moderate income apartments to Madison. According to Robert Wilford, executive director with the CRDC, the commitment from the city will help show a combined effort from the CRDC, the city and possibly the county that is necessary for the project to be a success. According to Wilford, the project is expected to begin next summer.
Francine Gillins, human services director with the CRDC, spoke briefly to council members explaining the reasons why Madison was chosen for the plan.
"We chose Madison because we had a study done of all of the towns in St. Francis County, and the study showed that Madison would benefit the most of any town by the addition of this development. We didn't just decide to intrude on Madison. We want to work with you, and this isn't something that we're going to bring in and then not be around to answer your questions. We are not the type of agency that will come into your community and try to impose what we want on you. We want your input, and we want you to be our guides," said Gillins.
In other business, Madison Mayor James Brooks spoke to council members regarding the need to divide the city into wards.
"The attorney general, in our meeting the other week, mentioned that this is law and we should have had wards some time ago. We have to have them before the next election. The wards have to be broken up into numbers that will be even within 10 percent of each other," said Brooks.
Brooks suggested that the city be split into two wards separated by Arkansas Highway 50 which runs through Madison. Council members agreed to table the issue until next month's meeting when more population information will be available so they can make a decision.
Council members also agreed to issue beer licenses to a pair of Madison stores. Britt Grocery was granted a beer license and Madison Kwik Stop, which is under new ownership, was granted a renewal of their license. Council members also agreed to allow the city to seek a credit card which, according to Brooks, will be used to make reservations at hotels when needed.
Entergy crews were searching this morning for the cause of a power outage which blacked out Forrest City and Wynne for a brief time around 10:30 a.m.
Immediately after the blackout, which lasted only a few minutes, Mike Davis, customer service manager for this area, said he believed it was a transmission problem.
He said transmission lines carry power across the country to substations. Given the scope of the outage, he said it appeared to be a transmission glitch.
A few minutes later, he was able to confirm that.
"It was a transmission fault," he said. "It occurred between Parkin and the Hamilton Moses plant. There is about a 35-mile span there, and something went wrong."
He said the job now was to pinpoint exactly what happened and where along that 35 mile stretch. He hesitated to guess about what could have caused the outage.
"We do not know what caused it, but we do have helicopters in the air to do a survey," said Davis. "But we're thankful that everybody is back on."
He said the outage affected, probably, about 12,000 customers.