By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
A project aimed at determining who owns property in St. Francis County and where it is located is nearing its first year anniversary under the direction of County Assessor Craig Jones.
CAMP (County Assessor's Mapping Program) will complete one year of work in August, and Jones offered his ideas on the advantages this program will provide his office and the county as a whole.
"Early in 2003, the state sent us a letter asking us if we would like to participate in CAMP," recalled Jones. "They told us that they would furnish the hardware and software if we furnished the person to do the work. I asked the quorum court and they approved the funding for the person. We were lucky enough to find Lisa (Roberts, the SFC mapping coordinator), who has 15 years experience in abstracting."
Jones stated that each piece of property owned in the county is assigned a "parcel number." By looking up a parcel number, you can find out the owner's name and address, how the owner got the property, the value of the property and if the property is vacant or improved. According to Jones, taxes are also charged based on this information. He also said that placing the boundaries of all owned land in the county on the map and associating each with a parcel number will save time for his office and the general public.
"Right now, we are pulling every legal description off of all the deeds in the county," continued Jones. "We are pinpointing the locations of all of them on the aerial map by drawing out the boundaries of each property. If you come to the assessor's office today and ask us who owns a quarter acre track in a 50-quarter-acre section of the county, it will be almost impossible to find it. After this system is in place, it will become much easier to find things like that. What would have taken two days will now take about two minutes.
"This is not the only application of the program," added Jones. "It will help with defining voting districts and school board districts. Say that a small town is having problems with a piece of property in their town that is not being kept up and they can't find the owner's name. We can provided them with a CD that has their entire city's area with parcel numbers on them. They can find the owners and get them notified about their property. So far, we have found some property that is not being taxed properly and have even found a parcel that did not exist. It will help in the accuracy in our property taxing by preventing overtaxing and undertaxing.
"Another use is tying in mapping with the 911 system. There was a county in Northwest Arkansas that had a tornado hit in it, damaging and destroying several homes. With a program like this one, property owners' names and values of the property were given to FEMA within minutes."
According to Jones, two townships that have small populations are being completed first. "We want to have some practice in the software before we start with the larger cities," stated Jones. "The state has given us 10 years to complete the project, but we are ahead of the game. This is going on in all of the 75 counties in the state, and most of the counties started placing the actual structures on their maps as phase one, but since Lisa and I spoke to them, we are on the second phase, which is the drawing out of boundaries. I hope to have the project completed in six years, so the total project will only take us about seven years."
Jones also stated that he thinks the state will soon require the mapping project in every county.
"I feel that there will be a time in the near future when the state is going to require this to be done for legal reasons," said Jones. "Usually, when the state is giving away money for projects like this, that means the hammer is about to fall. They may require us to have property mapped in order to tax it.
"But, I am pleased with the progress we have made and feel we are ahead of the game. This will be an ongoing thing. It will become like paying for new car tags each year. I believe that it will help everyone in the county," Jones said. "This will not take the place of a survey, but it gets you in the ballpark if you are looking at a property. Right now, we are sort of in the bean field with our current capabilities. But we are getting closer. The map will continue to change as people sell and buy land here. As long as that is happening in our county, the project will be around."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A proposal to build a second kitchen onto the Forrest City Civic Center, so that two different groups could have access to a kitchen at the same time, was added to the mix Tuesday during the city council meeting.
Alderman Brent Ponder, who had asked that the catering issue at the civic center be included on the agenda, made the proposal.
The civic center has been without a caterer since the end of May, when the contract with Jim Hitchcock expired. While the main issue has been whether to have an in-house caterer, an open kitchen or some combination of the two, another issue that has come up has been the idea of "first come, first served" at the kitchen, when more than one group is meeting.
"I've had several phone calls from several people asking if we could get this issue resolved," he said. "I, for one, as a council member, would like to see it resolved...Maybe we could add a room with a kitchen for the individuals renting the different rooms."
He said the city could look at what other cities do.
Mayor Larry Bryant said Ponder's proposal was new to him, but he said he would have no objection if it were found to be feasible.
There is a matter of cost. Bryant said a "warming room" could be outfitted cheaper, and would not require the expensive venting the state requires for a commercial kitchen. However, he said the council may opt for a full kitchen.
Alderman Cecil Twillie said he did not believe the cost a full kitchen would be an obstacle.
"It needs to be settled, where at least two groups can warm or heat or cook," Twillie said. "That's a good idea."
Bryant gave the council members copies of a possible catering contract, which would have an in-house caterer but also allow for outside caterers to use the kitchen -- simply for study and discussion.
As for Ponder's suggestion, Bryant said, "I can't see anything bad about it...If we have the wherewithal and the will, we can move forward and we can get out of this relatively quickly, and everybody should be happy."
Under his proposal, the city would advertise for an in-house caterer, and set up rules for outside caterers.
On another matter, alderman Roger Breeding had a complaint about the mosquito program. He referred to a recent newspaper article, and questioned if spraying three nights a week was enough. He suggested spraying every night.
Bryant answered that spraying is ineffective anyway when it rains, and said there has been a lot of rain over the last few weeks.
"The mosquitoes were worse on my deck last night than they ever were in any rice field I've ever been in," Breeding responded.
Bryant said the total cost of mosquito spraying is more than is raised by the fee on water bills.
In other action, the council heard third reading on and adopted an ordinance to add "wrecked, dilapidated, inoperable motor vehicles and parts thereof" to the list of articles to be kept clear from residential property.
The council also granted a 14-foot variance to Dion and Sharon Wilson to build a conference room on the side of an office building at 304 N. Izard.
Second reading was held on an ordinance to amend the current zoning law to meet existing changes and conditions.
First reading was heard on an ordinance to set a planing area outside the city limits, which the city would have control over for development purposes. The planning area would take in the bypass which is currently under construction.
The council also heard a report from a committee formed to study the possibility of purchasing the land currently occupied by Snyder's, a scrap metal business, and 501 Logistics. The committee reported that information on the value of the land is being sought.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A roofing procedure that almost passed the grade last year at the St. Francis County Courthouse will get a second look soon after a sample of the roofing material is sprayed on the roof of the St. Francis County Jail.
On Tuesday, members of the Quorum Court's Courthouse Building and Improvement Committee agreed to recommend trying the application at the jail. The move to allow St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco to use Hurd Contracting of Palestine allows him to spend up to $15,000 on the roof at the jail.
"Right now the jail is our top priority, and it needs the work fast. When we looked into this last year, we didn't have anywhere that we could compare the work to here locally, and the company that was going to do it was not licensed in the state of Arkansas. We always felt that this was the procedure that we should go with, the timing just wasn't right last year. Now we have other roofs in town that have this type of foam roofing, and we have a local contractor who is state licensed and certified," Cisco told committee members.
According to quorum court justice Regan Hill, the ability to view the material will also help justices in long-term decisions regarding the roofs at both the jail and the courthouse facility.
"I've seen this roof and the judge has seen an example of it, but by doing the work at the jail, then we'll be able to see how the material works and if it will in fact work on the entire building," Hill said.
Hill said that a 3,600-square-foot section of the jail's roof would be used due to its current condition. He also noted that the material comes with a 10-or-15-year warranty. The committee decided to pursue the 15-year procedure, and Cisco is scheduled to present accurate figures to the full court at its monthly meeting set for July 20.
In other business, committee members authorized Cisco to put a building, which has housed the St. Francis County Health Department and more recently the St. Francis County Child Support Enforcement Unit, on the sale block. According to Cisco, the sale of the building will allow the county to better utilize property near the courthouse by using the funds generated to build an additional building near the courthouse.
"That building really is just not convenient for the county. We had it originally for the health department, and when we moved the health department, the state leased it as a child support office. Now that they've built their new building on Highway 1, they no longer will be leasing it, and I would rather sell it and build a new building closer to the courthouse complex.
"That would allow us to maintain the building better and easier because we would no longer have to send employees across town for maintenance and upkeep," Cisco said.
Hill also told committee members that he would provide them with information concerning a proposed granite sign to be placed in the new courthouse parking lot on the southeast corner of the Davis and Forrest streets intersection. According to Hill, brick to match the courthouse has already been located and he would provide the cost information on the sign available at the committee's next meeting.
More people in St. Francis County had jobs in May than were working in April, but unemployment still increased in May because of an increase in the labor force.
According to the figures provided by Arkansas Workforce Labor Market Information, St. Francis County had an unemployment rate of 10.4 during May. That is an increase of three-tenths of a percent from the 10.1 percent reported in April, even though more people were actually working in May.
There were 11,375 people employed in St. Francis County during May. That compares to 11,200 people working during April. However, the civilian labor force during May was 12,700, compared to 12,475 in April.
The May 2004 figure was also up from May of 2003, which had 9.9 percent unemployment, with a civilian labor force of 12,175, out of which 10,975 were working.
The figures gave St. Francis County the ninth highest unemployment out of Arkansas' 75 counties for May.
The state's highest unemployment was 14.7 percent in Dallas County. Ten counties had unemployment of 10 percent or higher.
Benton County had the state's lowest unemployment, of 2.5 percent. Nine counties had unemployment of 4 percent or less.
Unemployment rates in surrounding counties were as follows:
Cross, 10.9 percent; Crittenden, 8.3 percent; Lee, 10.8 percent;
Phillips, 10 percent; Monroe, 6.9 percent; Woodruff, 11.8 percent.