By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
An annexation election scheduled for Nov. 6 in Forrest City has been called off, and the annexation will be attempted by petition instead.
The announcement was made at Tuesday's city council meeting.
In August, the council passed an ordinance calling for an election to annex an area near the western bypass, including a subdivision known as Patillo 1.
Mayor Larry Bryant announced Tuesday that the election would not be held.
"We decided that it might be best to go the petition route, and save the taxpayers some money, after realizing that there was a particular part that was left out of the original document -- a technicality," said Bryant. He said it was thought that the city might have been able to go ahead with the election, anyway. But, he said doing it by petition would save the city about $5,000.
Owners of at least half the land in the area in question would have to sign off on the annexation. If that does not work, the city can still call an election at a later date.
On a slightly related matter, the council discussed a letter from the Forrest City Water Commission, in which the commission members oppose extending water service to a proposed subdivision outside the city limits. The reasons given for the opposition were the distance from the city, and the length of time it might take for the subdivision to be annexed.
Bryant said he did not see the area developing in that direction, "that we would annex all the way out to Beck Spur."
That led to a discussion of what the city should be doing about development outside of town. The city has the authority to control development for a certain area outside its boundaries.
Cecil Twillie said the city should at least consider some help for efforts to increase housing in the area. He cited the Federal Correctional Institution, from which two-thirds of the employees live in places other than Forrest City. He said one big problem of attracting new people was being taken care of with the construction of a new junior high, but said lack of housing was still the biggest problem.
"If we're trying to attract people to come, and there is a person who is going to build houses, and that's thereason we need to work on housing," said Twillie. "We need to attract people and if we have a housing development going up and can get people coming, I just think this is a situation where the city needs to look at it."
Twillie said the city should consider annexing more land.
Chris Oswalt said while annexation might not be a prime concern now, the city might consider using its authority to require certain standards in unannexed areas.
"I don't think annexation now is my biggest concern," he said. "My biggest concern is that 15 or 20 years down the road we might decide we want to annex, and they may have substandard streets and substandard houses because we haven't exercised our rights. We need to take some steps toward saying to everyone within a five mile radius that you have to build (in such a way) that if we ever annex you (it will be up to city standards).
"I'm not saying we need to go ahead and annex now. But we need to start exercising our rights," Oswalt continued. "We can't go any farther north -- we're at the Caldwell city limits. We're almost too far east. There might be some development in the northeast and out west. But we need to start taking legal steps to make sure we're protected. We might have God-knows-what -- a chicken farm in an area to annex, and have a chicken farm right in the middle of town."
No action was taken.
On another matter, Bryant said there were some changes needed in the city's itinerant vendor law. City Clerk Marie Todd, who is responsible for issuing permits, said there are problems.
"Sometimes there might be five people from one company, but only one comes in for a license," she said.
Young people selling perfume and jewelry are among the most annoying, some council members said.
Todd said most cities do regulate itinerant vendors.
Bryant asked that council members give him their suggestions in the next week, so a new ordinance can be drawn up by the next council meeting.
On another matter, Bryant said he had been in conversations with Gov. Mike Huckabee over water safety.
"After discussing it with the governor, the likelihood, according to him, of someone putting something in that would make our people sick is highly unlikely," Bryant said. The reason, according to Bryant, is all the processing the water goes through.
Bryant also said that work was being done on replacing street lights that are out.
In other action, a bid of $28,000 was accepted from Russell Chevrolet for a van which will be converted to serve as a command vehicle for the police department. Russell Chevrolet was the only bidder. The city may also negotiate with Taylor Made Vehicles of Newport to do the customizing work. A special meeting may be called to pass an ordinance bypassing the bidding process.
The council also voted to keep millage rates the same for next year. However, Bryant said that if a new fire substation is built near the bypass, he may ask for an increase in coming years.
It was also announced that the city has a new Web site. The address is http://city-of-forrest-city.ar.totalwebgov.com.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
More than $20,000 worth of property is missing after the move of the Forrest City Junior High School, and are considered lost or stolen, according to a report at the Forrest City Police Department.
The missing items were reported by Mary Lou Vaccaro, librarian at the junior high.
The junior high building, at 1133 N. Division Street, is to be demolished to make room for a new school. Before the beginning of this school year, the eighth grade was moved to 625 Irving Street and the ninth grade was moved to 467 Victoria.
More than 50 items were reported missing, most of those from the library. The items include television sets, VCRs, overhead projectors, speakers, amplifiers, a digital camera, printers, cassette players and recorders, a vacuum cleaner, a typewriter, a stove and oven, a refrigerator and other items.
Pat Flanagin, fiscal agent for the school district, said the missing items were discussed back during the move this summer.
"There were a number of items missing from the junior high during the time that we were moving things out and into the portable classrooms," said Flanagin. "Some thefts occurred, and the reason it's just now showing up is that we wanted a complete inventory."
Flanagin said that it was almost inevitable that some things would come up missing during such a move.
"With a move of that magnitude -- we had doors left open or unlocked, and there are different possibilities as to what may have happened, and that's why the police report was filed," said Flanagin. "We were in a kind of -- not catastrophic but definitely a disadvantageous -- situation, having to relocate two grades in the middle of the summer, and some folks took advantage of that."
Flanagin said the property is covered under the school district's insurance. But he also said he hopes those who took school property "are identified and given appropriate punishment."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County Quorum Court justices tabled an issue regarding county employees being used for contract work during Tuesday night's meeting.
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco attempted to get an ordinance adopted which would have allowed the county to continue to use W. L. Laws, who currently serves as the county's Office of Emergency Services coordinator, and Joe Young, who serves as a member of the election commission, to be used for contracted work in St. Francis County.
County Attorney Fletcher Long said state law prohibits the use of county employees for contracted work unless it is in the case of emergency and then only with the passing of an ordinance by the quorum court.
"What the law basically says is that an elected official or an employee of the county can't be contracted by the county to do work. It can be allowed if the quorum court deems the services provided to be an emergency situation.
According to Cisco, Young and Laws both have been used for contract work due to the lack of available contractors in the past.
"W. L. serves as our O.E.S coordinator, but we also use him for road work in the county. I've been doing that for years because we only have two companies in St. Francis County qualified to do the asphalt work that he does for us, and M&T is pretty much tied up working on the interstate. The same goes for Joe, basically. There are two gravel pits in St. Francis County, and if one is closed when we need gravel for a road, we use Joe's pit," Cisco said.
Quorum Court Justice Earline Smith questioned the need for Laws to hold the position and be used as a contractor. "I don't see why W.L. has to hold both of these positions. If we needed to, we could go outside of the county to find someone to contract for the road work, or W.L. could let go of the O.E.S. position. When Judge Vaccaro was in office, we didn't use his lumber company for material because there were other options," Smith said.
In other business, Circuit Clerk Bette Green made a presentation to justices on an automated system that will be installed in her office. According to Green, the changes in her office will allow for Internet access and computerized access to records kept by her office.
"This is something that I've been looking at for a number of years. The state allocated funding for this, and I've been waiting for everything to smooth out before we installed it here. I'm still a pencil and paper person, so I wanted everything to be in good order before we moved to the automated system, and now is the time," said Green.
According to Green, the new system will allow for easier access to records and is the same system currently being used in Cross and Lee Counties.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Local businesses affected by the recent mobilization of local guard units are trying to make the best of the situation.
A federal law enacted in 1994 insures members of the National Guard are employed upon their return from duty on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. However, benefits for the absent employees and their families do not have to be paid locally.
Forrest City Police Chief Clarence McNeary said the Uniformed Services Employment Re-Employment Rights Act, guarantees the holding of a position belonging to a member of the services with their employer until they return from active duty. McNeary, who has one officer who has been mobilized and two who are on alert, said that while the positions are held, benefits for the officer will be stopped until his return.
"Basically, when they leave for duty they are separated from their position and everything is held for them. We hold their job, but as far as benefits are concerned they basically go on the military's program," McNeary said.
Harvest Foods hosted a luncheon Tuesday at the armory in Forrest City for members of the local guard unit. John Miller, co-owner of Harvest Foods, said the event helped show support for the military. Miller said not only will employees with his company have their position held, but also their families will continue to have insurance while members of the Guard are on active duty.
"We will support our families through this. Their insurance benefits for their families will stay intact, and we will do whatever we can to support the families while these people are away," Miller said.
Miller also said that he was proud to sponsor the lunch. "We felt like this was the thing to do. Our store manager, Roger Lawson, is a member of the infantry here, and we thought it would be great to come down here and show our appreciation to Roger and his family as well as the other men who are about to leave for our country. Providing lunch for these guys is a way of saying thank you to these guys and their families and a way of letting them know that someone back home appreciates them for what they are doing."
Sandra Taylor with Sanyo said that company's policy will basically "follow the letter of the law." According to Taylor, who is also a former member of the military, dependents of military personnel will be allowed to travel to military bases for treatment and will be provided with Champus insurance if they are outside of a certain radius of a military base. Taylor also said that COBRA insurance would be applicable if employees chose to take it.
On a related note, a prayer service for area National Guard personnel is scheduled for tonight at 7 at the Lane Chapel CME Church in Forrest City.
The St. Francis County Sheriff and Collector's office will be closed Thursday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., to allow employees to attend the funeral of Deputy, Henry L. Thomas, 54, who died Friday.
The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. at Clay Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Casteel Cemetery.
Thomas was a 10-year veteran of the department.