By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Colt City Council members were updated Thursday night on several items including the status of a early storm warning system soon to be installed in the city.
City Manager Bobby Clarkson said, as of Thursday, only one bid had been received to install the system which will have four directional speakers that can each be heard for one mile.
"A company out of Cabot is the only company that's submitted a bid so far," said Clarkson. "We did get another call today from a company in Virginia which had seen our ad on the Times-Herald website. They said that they would get us a bid, and you all can make a decision next month." The system the city is researching would also allow the siren to be sounded from a remote location.
In other news, Clarkson gave council members a pair of new bids for painting the city's water tower. Clarkson said Utility Services of West Memphis and Eagle Sand Blasting of Pleasant Plains, had both submitted bids to do the work. He told councilmen that both bids were below the one submitted by a company last month, but both bids also left out certain items specified by the city that needed repairs.
"Utility Services gave us a bid which was higher than the one from Eagle Sand Blasting, but theirs included steam cleaning the interior of the tank to remove grease that had been put in there when we had our last tank work done. The bid from Eagle didn't include the steam cleaning, but it included a safety gate for the tower that was supposed to be in the bid from Utility Services, but they left it out," said Clarkson.
The council requested that both companies update their bids to include the items left out, and aldermen agreed to take action on the bids at the November meeting.
Clarkson also requested that aldermen consider an ordinance which would require restaurants in the city of Colt to install grease traps. According to Clarkson, one restaurant in the city currently has a grease trap, but the other restaurant does not, even though one has been requested.
"We've had to call Forrest City (Forrest City Water Utility) out a couple of times to clean the grease out of the sewer from one of the restaurants, and they've been really good about it and not charged us, but eventually they may. I've told the owner of the restaurant that when we do get charged, then he would be handed that bill, but we haven't been able to get anything done on it. An ordinance would give us something to fall back on to et everything enforced," Clarkson said.
Council members agreed to have city attorney Steve Routon draw up an ordinance requiring the grease traps for restaurants and any businesses that might introduce grease or oil to the city sewer system.
The council also agreed to review the city's ordinance regarding mobile homes after Clarkson told them of a request from a citizen to have utilities added to a mobile home which was located on a second lot. Clarkson told the council that he thought the ordinance read that the property owners could not have mobile homes on lots unless the plots were under different names. Council members questioned the wording of the ordinance and mayor Virgil Keeler told the council that if that was the correct reading of the ordinance he might be forced to move from the city.
"If that's the way the ordinance reads, then I'll tell you right now that I'm in violation, and I'll have to move out of the city of Colt because I have two separate lots and have mobile homes on both of the lots," Keeler said.
Aldermen also agreed last night to close access to a pair of city streets to tractor trailers. By a 3-0 vote, the council passed a motion to close Church and Central streets to truck traffic after a city fire hydrant was destroyed by an 18-wheeler.
The council also passed a waiver of liability allowing citizens to ride along with the Colt police officer.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
An ordinance restricting the placement of manufactured homes within the Wheatley city limits was considered Thursday night during a meeting of the city council.
City attorney Marshall Wright read an amendment to the ordinance outlining Wheatley zoning regulations. The changes to the ordinance was in the wording, according to Wright.
"We are changing the words mobile homes to manufactured homes. The zoning ordinance states now that mobile homes are allowed outside of mobile home parks. The change restricts mobile homes that are used as residences to be in a mobile home park. Those used for storage or businesses are exempt." Wright read the ordinance amendment twice, and the third and final reading will be held during the November meeting.
In other business, Mayor Larry Nash offered updates on city projects. "Our sidewalk project is moving along. There was a section that we needed an engineer to look at for us, but he was sick the day he was coming out, and we are trying to reschedule with him. We have not heard anything on the new police car, but we have received the emergency sirens.
"Also, our dumpster is stacked. We have packed it down several times, but it is full. Are we ready to go ahead and bring in another dumpster, or do we want to wait?" After a short discussion, the council agreed that another dumpster would be brought in the week of Nov. 3.
Councilman Rodney Hicks told the members that the annual Wheatley firemen's supper will be held on Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. this year. Before adjourning, councilmen were reminded that next month's meeting time will change to 7 p.m. to coincide with the Daylight Saving Time change. Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month.
The Arkansas State Highway Commission recently opened bids for improvements to a St. Francis County Road southwest of Madison.
According to a press release from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, M&T Paving and Construction Company, Inc. of Forrest City, was the low bidder at $141,132.32, to resurface approximately one mile of St. Francis County Rd. 735.
According to the release, the work is funded through the State Aid Road Program which was established by the legislature and administered through the State Aid Division of the AHTD. The program provides approximately $19 million annually from the state motor fuels tax to assist counties with projects on the county road system.
"Properly maintaining our roadways in St. Francis County is always a top priority," said St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco.
Construction on the project could begin in six to eight weeks,
weather permitting. Completion is expected by the end of this
year.
A child was injured in a bizarre accident which took place in the driveway of her home in Caldwell Wednesday.
According to the report by the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office, at about 4:20 p.m., a car in which 2-year-old Mary K. Carden was a passenger pulled into the driveway of her home. The car was driven by Mary's mother, Melissa Carden, and her grandmother, Ruth Ward, was a passenger.
The report states that when the grandmother attempted to get Mary Carden out of her child seat in the back of the car, the gear shift slipped out of park and the vehicle began rolling backwards. The motion of the car, according to the report, caused the grandmother to fall on top of the child.
The child was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City
and then transferred to Memphis. No information was available
on the child's condition.
A Pine Bluff man arrested on several charges Thursday afternoon received an additional charge once he was in the St. Francis County Jail.
According to the police report, Shawn Michael Tucker Lewis, 22, was arrested for reckless driving, DWI, driving on a suspended driver's license, fictitious tags, no insurance, parole violation, and failure to comply warrants from Star City and Forrest City.
Once in the jail, Tucker was talking with a visitor in the phone area, when he reportedly became upset and started banging the phone down, breaking it. According to the report, he had to be physically restrained. He was charged with disorderly conduct.