By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Members of the East Arkansas Enterprise Community executive board heard discussion this morning on both sides of an issue regarding a $500,000 revolving loan account the EC holds with the Economic Community of the Delta.
Rex Jones, Assistant Director in the Office of Administrative Services with the Arkansas Department of Human Services, attended this morning's meeting to speak with the 18-member board regarding the loan account which, according to Jones, may violate the 1990 Cash Management Improvement Act. The account, which includes money drawn down from the federal treasury 16 months ago, has been in question over the amount of time the funding has been withdrawn from the treasury.
"Some of the things that you've wrestled with as an economic community may stem from the fact that on some of these issues there are two different communities of thought. One thing that we've been going around about, since at least February, is the interpretation of the rules in regard to the revolving loan fund. I understand from the USDA side of the house that once upon a time there was a statement that said that this is how you could do it. But the problem is that this isn't USDA money, it's Department of Health and Human Services money and they read the law a little bit differently," Jones said.
"We've got to figure out a way that we can come to a position that we can all understand, so that nobody is violating the law in a way that will come back to haunt you later. We ask the question of 'can you pull down this money in advance?' given the fact that there was a law written in 1990 that says you can't do that. It says, for grant programs like this, you have to leave the time value of money in the treasury until you're ready to spend it," Jones added.
A handout from Jones on revolving loan funds stated in one section, "The CMIA stipulates that federal grant funds may not be drawn down until a reasonable time before they are needed for an actual expenditure. Specifically, advances must be limited to the minimum amounts needed and timed in accordance with actual, immediate cash requirements in implementing a program or project."
EAEC coordinator Dr. Robert Cole used another portion of the handout to explain the stance of the EAEC regarding the account. According to the report, "An EZ or EC may include in its benchmark document a strategy to draw down the full amount of the EZ/EC SSBG grant to capitalize a revolving loan fund if it expects to actually loan that amount within a reasonable period of time. The EZ or EC should exercise prudent fiscal procedures when establishing revolving loan mechanisms with the EZ/EC SSBG funds."
According to Cole, the EAEC determined that an 18 to 24 month period would be a reasonable time frame to distribute the funding.
"This was the basis upon which we determined that we would draw down the full amount for the fund. The request was made of the USDA to draw down the funds and agreed upon in writing. We then made the request of DHHS in Little Rock and they dispersed the funds to the fiscal agent who in turn dispersed the funds to the loan fund," said Cole.
Cole added, "We appealed Rex Jones or DHS's decision. Anytime a state or federal agency makes an adverse decision against a group they have to give appeal rights. They didn't give us appeal rights, but we appealed to Washington anyway. The USDA and HHS made recommendations that we should follow but did not cite that we were in violation of any cash management act. Unless we hear something different from our appeal, we have a contract, which we will continue to honor, unless the board decides differently."
Jones responded saying, there's the difference of opinion between myself and Dr. Cole. Dr. Cole is saying that they determined that the right period was 24 months, but Mr. Gatz who runs the money, said 90 days was the time frame. The loan fund is running and we're not shutting anything down, but you've got a guy in Washington who is sitting in a spot, and we'll have to keep talking about this until we can come to an agreement."
Jones also told board members that more community involvement was needed for the EAEC.
"The one thing that is considered very serious is more community awareness and visibility. I recommend that meetings such as this be held in the big room so that all of the grass roots folks who will be affected can participate and not see a closed door. All of this should be open to the public because they're the ones that are affected. We want to see the long term success of this enterprise community," Jones said.
In other business St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco presented the fiscal report for the year to board members. According to the report from Cisco, all EC accounts totaled a balance of $104,589.39 with the breakdown being, $3,061.75 in the enterprise community account; $91,996.59, in the Kellogg account; $3,717.25, in the EAEC special account; and $5,813.80 in the small business loan fund. The EAEC had outstanding balances of $7,543.02.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A loan to extend sewer services to three local communities just outside the Forrest City city limits was discussed during a special meeting of the Forrest City Water Commission Monday afternoon
Water Commissioners and St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco heard from Eddie Brawley, lead engineer for the project, about a $50,000 loan being sought from the Arkansas Soil and Water Commission for the project.
Brawley said the loan would be paid back by the providing water utility through a connection cost to residents in the three potential service areas of Pattillo Acres I, Pattillo Acres II and the Redfern area, all located west of Forrest City.
The loan would be separated in the areas based on the proportionate number of 115 connections. An Arkansas Department of Health survey shows 26 connections in the Pattillo Acres I subdivision with a loan payback of $11,300; the Pattillo Acres II subdivision with 44 connections with a payback of $19,150, and the Redfern area with 45 connections with a payback of $19,550.
The Forrest City Water Utility will be responsible for the Pattillo I subdivision and possibly the Redfern Area paybacks, according to Brawley. Currently, the St. Francis Rural Water Association provides water services to the Redfern area, but the work is handled by the FCWU.
According to Brawley, the FCWU might be able to come to an agreement with the SFRWA regarding a cutoff agreement that would allow the FCWU to disconnect services to sewer customers if the bill is not paid.
Commissioners agreed to submit a letter to Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant and to the Forrest City City Council showing their agreement with the loan and the project.
The state will soon begin releasing more than 500 prisoners, which will help free up space in county jails where many state inmates are kept.
St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman said this morning that it would be good to send some state prisoners on up the line.
"It would be a tremendous help," said Parkman. "It would give us more room to deal with pre-trialers."
When state prisons are overcrowded, county jails are used to house so-called post trial inmates, who convicted and would otherwise be sent to state institutions.
As of Monday, there were 873 state inmates being housed in county jails because of bed shortages in state prisons. According to Parkman, as of Tuesday, there were 24 being housed in St. Francis County. All are male.
According to Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for the state Correction Department, the prison system has a capacity for 9,985 males. On Tuesday the count was 10,522, or 105.4 percent. The system also has a capacity for 662 female prisoners, and the Tuesday count was 754, or 113.9 percent.
The decision to release prisoners was made by the state Board of Correction and Community Punishment. The board invoked he Emergency Powers Act, which requires that state prisons be at least at 98 percent or above for 30 consecutive days before prisoners can be released.
Tyler was quoted as saying the situation may be improving.
"The good news is, we're getting toward the time of year when our growth slows a little bit," she said. According to her, court proceedings seem to slow between Thanksgiving and Jan. 1.
She also said the Corrections Department has resumed the hiring process to staff 200 male beds at Wrightsville and 156 male beds at Varner.
"As soon as we get the staff, we'll open those and that will help some," she said.
She said the beds at Varner were scheduled to be maximum security, but will be used for medium security so there can get by with fewer guards.
Baptist Memorial Hospital has published emergency planning and preparedness information on its website at www.baptistonline.org.
The website provides information on Baptist Memorial Hospitals' emergency and bioterrorism response plans, including answers to frequently asked questions about illnesses created through biological and chemical agents and personal protection against them.
Baptistonline.org also provides information on how to prepare a personal or family plan to respond to an emergency, whether it's a natural emergency such as an earthquake or tornado, or an emergency such as an explosion or bioterrorist attack.
"As a healthcare provider, Baptist Memorial Hospital - Forrest City is prepared to respond to all kinds of emergencies that's what we do every day," said Rick Daugherty, administrator. "Because emergencies can happen at anytime and in any place, it's important that individuals and families create their own emergency plans to protect themselves. Because hospitals respond to emergencies every day and regularly drill on emergency response plans, we wanted to use our expertise to help the community prepare its own emergency plans."
For more information about BaptistMemorial Hospitals" emergency plans or how to prepare a personal or family emergency plan, visit www.baptistonline.org.
In a weekend filled with plenty of upsets at the high school and college football level, three Times-Herald readers emerged locked in a three-way tie in last week's Professor Pigskin Football Contest.
In fact, two of the three were members of the same family.
Katie Bernard and S.M. Bernard and Delois James each missed six of last week's games which took the trio to the tie-breaker -- the Arkansas-LSU game.
All three correctly picked LSU to win the game, but James was closest to the actual final score which gives her the win and the $50 cash prize.
There's just one Pigskin contest left this season and that list can be found inside today's Times-Herald.
Seven hundred and eighty three Thanksgiving dinners were served free by six area churches over the holiday, reported Catherine Freeman of the St. Francis County Food Pantry, which sponsors the annual event.
"We appreciate everybody who helped," Freeman said.
Participating churches included Salem, First Baptist at Cross and Grant Streets, Lane Chapel, Church of God on Whitaker Street, Prosperity, New Light and Madison Light.
Although the Food Pantry needs donations all year round, the next major project for the organization is the Christmas boxes.
"We're now going to start on Christmas," she said. "We need all the donations we can get of any kind -- frozen food, canned food, money or whatever will be highly appreciated."
She said last year, more than 800 boxes were given out.
The Forrest City School board will hold its regular monthly meeting at 5:30 this evening in the administration building.
The meeting is open to the public.