By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
An effort by the county to purchase garbage carts dominated Tuesday's regular monthly meeting of the St. Francis County Quorum Court.
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco approached justices last night with a proposal which would allow the county to purchase carts being distributed by King Disposal. According to Cisco, an agreement was reached with King Disposal which would have allowed the county to pay monthly payments on the carts by cutting the costs from the monthly fees paid to King. Cisco told justices that by purchasing the carts, the county would have added protection if problems arose with King Disposal which forced the cancellation of their contract.
"With the situation that we've had with B&B, the biggest problem that we've run into with the transition from one company to the other has been with the carts. There has been a lot of confusion because B&B has not picked up a lot of their carts, and some residents were confused on which carts to use. If we bought the carts, then all it would take if the contract was canceled would be for another company to come in and start collecting the garbage," Cisco said.
Several justices questioned why the county would purchase the carts if King had been granted the contract. Justice Evan Seawood asked whether justices had been given all of the information during negotiations with King.
"I just don't understand why we're sitting here talking about giving King Disposal an umbrella like this. When we had the meeting and gave the bid to King, I asked if we could be sure that they would handle this any better than B&B would, and now you're wanting the county to go out and buy carts. That should be his responsibility, and I think that somebody's trying to pour water over our heads," Seawood said.
Justice Leodis Williams was one of many justices who came to the defense of King. "I was in the meeting when we gave the bid to King, and I understand the questions, but I can say that my garbage collection has improved since King took over. I, for one, am behind doing this. It's not going to cost the county any more money, and it gives us some insurance just in case things don't work out with King," Williams said.
On Tuesday, B&B co-owner Jan Beeson said that he wanted county residents to place empty carts on the curb so that the company could pick up the remaining carts in the county. When asked how many carts hadn't been emptied in the last month, but would be emptied, Beeson said, "We don't pick up trash down here, and the carts need to be empty when we come to get them. We've had problems with people not putting the carts out and leaving them in their back yards and such, and we're not going to go into fences and into people's yards to get them. I don't know if they're trying to steal them or what, but we just want them left beside the curb so that we can pick them up."
According to Cisco, county residents needn't make any efforts to empty the carts, but just place them at the curbside so that B&B can get them.
"I understand that B&B doesn't want to collect any trash that has been placed in containers after March 1, but I know of several instances where folks quit using the B&B carts as soon as King delivered because they didn't have any more room in their carts. Those folks still haven't had their garbage collected, and they don't need to be switching that trash from one cart to the other," Cisco said.
In other business, justices approved an ordinance which will allow the county to borrow $120,000 for construction of a 60-by-90 foot metal building and a 20-by-50 foot shop at NEARCO; paving the parking lot on the corner of Cross and Forrest Streets and placing aluminum siding on county offices located at 618 E. Cross St.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City City Council adopted an ordinance Tuesday to allow the city to purchase a Jaws of Life for the Fire Department without taking bids.
Arkansas law allows a city to waive the requirement of competitive bidding in exceptional situations. Fire Chief Dan Curtner, at the last council meeting, told the council that the exceptional situation in this case comes from the availability of the Jaws of Life.
The particular Jaws of Life on which Forrest City firefighters are trained and certified is available in Arkansas only through one company, MDS Matrix.
Curtner had told the council that other brands of the same equipment would require re-training.
The price of the Jaws of Life is $35,992.65.
In other action affecting the Fire Department, there were bid openings on fire hoses and adapters. There were five bids. The apparent low bid was from Casco Industries of Marion, which bid $23,545.57. Other bids included: Pro Fire Equipment of Olive Branch, Miss., $27,490; Ferrara Fire Apparatus of Holden, La., $30,294; NAFICO of North Little Rock, $28,551.01; and Leeco of Damascus, $24,545.57.
The council also gave permission to seek bids on uniforms for the summer baseball program.
In other action, the council granted a 15-foot variance on the city's setback requirement for Emmanuel Baptist Church at 1453 Lindauer. The church wants to build a family life center.
On another matter, Mayor Larry Bryant updated the council on some pending state legislation which might affect cities. In particular is one, House Bill 2445, he said, which is currently in the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. If passed, it will allow the city attorney to sit in on an executive session.
Bryant also reported that the city had no write-ups in the most recent audit.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Museum Board met Tuesday afternoon, focusing on a few topics which had not been resolved in recent months.
The board continued discussing the possibility of changing the date of the second annual fish fry.
"Last month, we left a little undecided about when we would hold our fundraiser," said Chairperson Rush Beavers. "We had discussed moving the event back a week or two, and I feel we should possibly hold it on Saturday, May 31."
Board member Craig Jones suggested another course of action. "I feel that maybe we should hold the event in the fall on a weekday," Jones said. "If we want to raise money, my feeling is that during the fall we will get more people to attend. In the spring and summer, and on the weekend, it is hard to catch people in town. I think we would raise more money holding it in the fall, while school is in session.
"A lot of people will purchase tickets if it's on a Wednesday or a Thursday," Jones added. "People will buy tickets so that they don't have to cook that night for their family or for lunch. On Saturday, most people are spending time with their families and might not be as willing to come out for tickets." Jones also stated that maybe the board should consider changing the type of food from fish.
Laura Mazzanti, director of the museum, had another suggestion, "We had talked at one time about having an attic sale or a White Elephant sale. Not a rummage sale, but a sale of donated items from the community, things like furniture. My thought is that if other people are doing food, maybe we should go in another direction."
It was agreed that the annual fundraiser would be put on hold until next month when a committee will possibly be formed to discuss what type of event and when the event will be held.
In other news, Mazzanti updated members on the status of the federal grant money that will be used only for structural improvements. "The grant is unchanged from last month. The (U.S.) Congress still has not reappropriated their funds and with the situation in Iraq, they have other things on their minds right now. Hopefully they will get to it soon."
Mazzanti also told the board of a new web site for the museum. The new address is www.sfcmuseum.org.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
In a called meeting of the Madison City Council Tuesday night, members voted to accept a bid for the construction of the city's new Community Center.
Mayor James Brooks told the council of a letter received by the city from Architect Bob Beavers that contained suggestions on bringing the cost of the lowest bid down by using alternatives. The lowest bid was submitted by Jancour, Inc. of Palestine in the amount of $196,100.
"The architect says in the letter that if we use alternatives to our current plans, the bid would be brought down to $161,100, which is lower than the approximate budget of $163,000," said Brooks.
"The alternatives include changing the roof from a lifetime roof to a 30-year shingle roof. A second alternative is to use gravel instead of paving for the parking lot, and another alternative is to use half brick and half vinyl siding, instead of all brick. I suggest we accept the lowest bids with the alternatives included." The council voted to accept the bid with alternatives.
Another issue facing the members was the approval of a temporary construction permit for the United States Army Corp of Engineers to work on an oxidation pond in the city.
"We had requested help in funding the work that needs to be done on the oxidation pond, and through the city's efforts, we now have that help," said Brooks. "The Corp of Engineers will be doing work on the St. Francis River, and said that since they would be down here anyway, they would do the work for free. This is a great help, especially since the work could cost over $250,000 to complete. They want to get started in two weeks, so we need to grant them a temporary building permit so they can go in and do what they need to do.
"Part of the permit states that if anything is damaged, we would pick up the cost for repairs," added Brooks. "If a street is damaged or if a pole is knocked down, we would have to pay, but this is a standard thing. Nine out of 10 times nothing happens like that."
After some discussion regarding the city's liability, the council granted the Corp a temporary construction permit to begin work.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Water Commission will soon be working out an assessment of security needs for the water system. The so-called vulnerability assessment is being required by the federal government, commissioners were told Tuesday.
"In the aftermath of 9-11, every utility has to do a vulnerability assessment," said Manager Jim Beazley.
He said he had recently attended a two-day training session in Little Rock, to find out how to go about making the assessment.
"It came from Homeland Security," Beazley continued. "All the so-called critical industries, like water, are being looked at. So what we do is make a vulnerability assessment of our utility, and then decide what security measures you want. You identify your risks, identify your major assets, and try to get them in order."
He said the threat assessments are expected to be logical. For instance, the threat of a foreign terrorist attack on Forrest City's water system might not rank as high as some other threats might. Still, there are risks, said Beazley.
"For instance, we know, probably, our biggest possibility would be vandals," he said. "So we've got a fence up. That'll pretty well knock out vandals. Then we know that maybe the second problem would be some guy wanting to do a little bit more, break in and steal something."
He also said there is the threat of a disgruntled customer or disgruntled employee -- someone who might know something about the workings of the system.
Other threats could include "some local nut, or one of those domestic groups like the Aryan Nation," he said.
"You weigh all this out, and you come up with a plan at the end of what is our security for what we think we've got. Security has never been a great deal here," Beazley said.