By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Construction of an animal shelter for the Forrest City Area Humane Society was approved by the Forrest City City Council Tuesday.
The council also discussed buffer zones between residential and commercial property, granted a variance and heard first reading on a requested rezoning.
The ordinance authorizing the construction of the animal shelter was up for second reading, with Mayor Pro Tem Cecil Twillie acting for Mayor Larry Bryant.
It was asked if any council members had received any negative comments about the shelter. Roy Hancock said a couple of people had spoken to him of concerns. No one else said they had heard any negative comments.
The council voted to suspend the rules and hear third reading on the ordinance, and then adopted it.
Danny Capps, chairman of the Forrest City Planning Commission, was at the meeting to discuss the buffer zone. He said a buffer zone is currently required. Some new businesses have requested to build a privacy fence in lieu of a buffer zone. Capps said it was the feeling of the Planning Commission that both a 20-foot landscaped buffer zone and a six-to-eight foot privacy fence be required.
Alderman Roger Breeding said he had no problem with the privacy fence, but said he believed there should be something more specific in describing the buffer zone. He said the word, "landscaping," means different things to different people.
"In Arizona, landscaping is sand," he said.
It was suggested that the buffer zone be required to conform to city code -- that is, grass be mowed, no trash, etc.
No action was taken. Any amendment to the existing zoning code has to be done by ordinance.
The council heard first reading of an ordinance to rezone some property on Izard Street. The request is being made by Worley's Nursery.
The council also granted a four-and-one-half foot variance to Joseph Lang, to allow the building of an enclosed garage at 512 E. St. Andrews Street.
The council also heard from Beverly Divers-White, with the Foundation of the Mid-South, headquartered in Jackson, Miss. She was talking about a program called Communities of Opportunities.
She said there is one pilot program in each of the three states the Foundation serves (Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi). St. Francis County is the pilot program in Arkansas.
"This is a comprehensive, long term, sustainable, asset-based, resident-driven initiative," she said. "We are prepared to work with St. Francis County for at least 10 years to meet the benchmarks in the provisions of the grants you will be able to receive."
She said residents and leaders are being asked to develop a community plan, identifying priorities.
Divers-White distributed folders to the council members. The program works on education reform, community development, economic development and leadership development.
"We have already begun working with a group of citizens
here in St. Francis County, who have the responsibility of going
throughout the county to train other residents."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City Police would have more power to enforce the city's hours for selling or serving alcoholic beverages under a proposal introduced to the city council Tuesday.
City Attorney Alan Cline explained why the police department requested the new law.
"The present ordinance we have is probably unenforceable," said Cline. "We have an ordinance that says you cannot sell alcohol after midnight, and after 1 o'clock on Friday nights. But it doesn't say when you could start back selling it. So, I guess, theoretically, somebody could shut down at 12 o'clock and open back up at 12:01. I don't know that it's ever been enforced, but if we ever did want to, it would be problematic."
He said the second reason for the new law is that the existing statute does not deal with private clubs, which apparently have become a problem.
Police Lt. Eddie Adamson was at the meeting, and said several private clubs have sprung up in town.
"Basically, if an establishment sells alcohol -- I'm not saying they can do anything they want, but it's hard to deal with them," he said. "This will help eliminate some of the problems, after midnight, having major congregations of people at one location which are consistently problematic. It will streamline things and make it simpler. We'll have an ordinance we can actually enforce, that will work with the nuisance abatement program...(so officers will know) clean and simple, you walk in there at midnight, if they're still selling, they're in violation."
While no one knew the exact number of private clubs which have come into existence, Cline said there are several. One in particular has caused problems.
"There are a few that are creating a lot of law enforcement problems," he said. "One for example that I know of, during 2003, the police department had to respond to more than 200 calls to that particular club. It has taken the whole night shift just to deal with it."
The ordinance would prohibit alcohol dales between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m. Mayor Pro Tem Cecil Twillie asked if there was anything "magic" about midnight. Cline said there wasn't, that the times could be changed by the council.
Violation of the law would be a misdemeanor, and would carry a fine of not less than $50 or more than $500. Up to 180 days of jail time can also be imposed.
There are still two readings remaining on the proposed ordinance.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The catering contract -- or the lack of one -- at the Forrest City Civic Center continued to be a point of contention at Tuesday's city council meeting.
Three civic organizations which use the Forrest City Civic Center lent their support Tuesday to a proposal for catering at the center, which differs from the proposal submitted by the Civic Center Commission.
Glenn Shepherd read a letter on behalf of the Forrest City Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary clubs. The letter said, in part, that the clubs give "our collective support for Mayor Larry Bryant's proposal to allow certified caterers use of the facility under supervision of the Civic Center caterer."
The letter continued, "We realize there is a need for contractual changes with regard to catering services...We cannot support the concept of opening up the Civic Center on a first come, first served basis in regard to catering."
The open kitchen concept is proposed by the Civic Center Commission.
Bryant was unable to attend Tuesday's council meeting.
Shepherd said that although they would prefer to keep meeting at the civic center, some clubs may feel the need to look elsewhere for a place to meet if the commission's proposal is adopted.
In addition, representatives of the Maroon and Gold Alumni Association were at the meeting, with Ellen Warren as spokesperson. She also read a letter in which the association asks that it be given full use of the civic center -- including the kitchen -- for the reunion coming up July 1-4. Warren said there was concern that the association would not be able to get full use of the kitchen without city council approval. She said failure to have full kitchen access could force the reunion to cancel (the association has held five all-school reunions since 1986).
"We have been told that we would not be able to have anything out of the kitchen but water, and some say ice," said Warren. "And we cannot feed 550 people at a sit-down banquet dinner without someone who can cook the meal."
"But you all will have a caterer, right?" asked council member Louise Fields.
"Right," said Warren.
"And the caterer will have use of the kitchen, right?" Fields said.
"Well, we need that clarified," Warren said.
Council member Mary Jeffers moved to grant full use of the civic center kitchen to the Maroon and Gold reunion.
That opened the door for more discussion of the catering contract.
Council member Roger Breeding said he thought it would be a good idea that whatever caterer is chosen be required to have liability insurance. He said the current caterer's contract will be expired by the time the reunion is held.
Warren said the association had originally contracted with Jim Hitchcock to do the catering. Hitchcock's contract is the one that expires at the end of May.
Council member Roy Hancock said a proposed contract was being worked out. "And I haven't heard nobody say they didn't want Mr. Hitchcock in the civic center cooking. We just said we want the kitchen open...And if he wants to do the Maroon and Gold banquet and they want him...then, of course. They get him. He can use the kitchen. But the Civic Center Commission needs to come up with how they're going to do it, what they're going to charge and things like that. It shouldn't just be that he can go into the kitchen like he's doing now and just cook and not have to pay nothing."
At the last council meeting, Shirley Harvell of the Civic Center Commission said a proposal had been made, to open the kitchen.
"I think that's what this lady (Warren) is asking us to do," said Breeding, "is get down a written policy and get it done, instead of keeping it on the burner for another six months like they've been doing."
Commission member Steve Hollowell said, "We're going to have this every time someone wants to use (the civic center) if we don't do something. I mean, they (the Civic Center Commission) should have done something six months ago, and they haven't done it."
Hollowell was the sponsor of an ordinance to abolish the Civic Center Commission. The ordinance was recently tabled at his request.
Twillie asked that they take care of the motion which would help out the Maroon and Gold reunion.
"We know, it appears, as a city council we're going to have to deal with the civic center situation sometime down the road." Twillie said. "But the Maroon and Gold situation is definitely upon us. I'd like to see us deal with something tonight to let them go ahead, and then we'll deal with the civic center problem at a later date."
"How about extending Mr. Hitchcock's contract?" Hollowell said. A motion to extend Hitchcock's contract had failed in April.
In the end, Jeffers' motion was amended to include liability
insurance and other current requirements for the civic center
kitchen, and the motion passed.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A recent trip to Washington, D.C. by a group of St. Francis County elected officials and a business leader may prove fruitful in future economic growth for Forrest City and St. Francis County.
A St. Francis County contingent, which included County Judge Carl Cisco, quorum court member Leodis Williams, Cisco's chief of staff and member of the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce Steering Committee Tracey Teal and Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Pearson, recently traveled with the MRCC to its biennial legislative conference in Washington D.C.
According to Cisco, the trip was beneficial on several levels.
"The trip overall was just a great success. We were able to met with Blanche (U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln), Berry (U.S. Rep. Marion Berry) and Pryor (U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor) on the transportation mall and a grant that we have that is currently tied up in talks to try to insure that the funding stays in the bill once any cuts happen, and the talks went very well. We were also able to get updates on other grants that we have in the works," Cisco said.
While contacts were made with federal officials, the group was also able to make a variety of contacts with industry leaders in Memphis. Both Cisco and Pearson said that the response from Memphis officials was very positive.
"We were very successful in the sense that we were able to make contacts with individuals from several different types of industry ranging from MLGW (Memphis Light, Gas & Water) to officials from Baptist Hospital. They were very receptive to us and it was really a success," Cisco said.
"Everything went very well and the Memphis people seemed very interested in Eastern Arkansas. Their downtown area has developed over the past few years and several people from Crittenden County and St. Francis County work in the Memphis area. They understand that Forrest City and St. Francis County are in a position to be complimentary to Memphis and we, of course, understand that our proximity to them makes them complimentary to us," Pearson said.
Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Public Policy Jesse Johnson was also pleased with the recent trip.
"Things as a whole went great for us. We were able to meet with Senator Frist (Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist) and Rep. Berry on the recent EPA ruling and also with people from EPA and those meetings were very informative. As far as the work with the St. Francis County contingent, that went extremely well. Everyone involved went as a unified region, but contacts were made on an individual basis also and everything I've heard from our people on the two counties that went was positive," Johnson said.
A group from Crittenden County also attended the conference.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Conflicting reports on the status of ballots for early voting from the St. Francis County Election Commission and the company charged with printing ballots have left those seeking to beat the election day rush waiting with no concrete answer for when voting will begin.
On Tuesday, commission chairman Joe Young said that election officials were hopeful that ballots would arrive in time for voting to begin today, but as of this morning, commission member Bettye Proctor said the ballots would not arrive until Thursday at the earliest. According to Proctor, representatives of Election Systems and Software, the county's ballot provider, notified election coordinator Judy Armstrong via e-mail that a virus in the company's computer system had caused the delay.
"This is something that we could not do anything about. ES&S got hit with a virus and that caused all of our information to be lost. We had to resend all of the information, and they're trying their best to get it back to us quickly," Proctor said.
Officials with ES&S this morning said that while they were still attempting to find out what the problem is with the ballots, they are sure that the hold-up is not due to computer malfunctions or a computer virus at their facility.
Proctor also commented in Tuesday's meeting that St. Francis County was not the only one waiting on ballots.
"Phillips County just got theirs today, and I believe they use ES&S too. We're just going to have to wait until they come in. When they get here, we'll have to take about an hour to get everything set up, and then voting will start," she said.
The delay in receiving ballots in Phillips County resulted in a lawsuit being filed by a quorum court justice requesting additional early voting hours to make up for those lost on Monday.
In other business Tuesday, commission members approved a list of 117 individuals to work at the polls during the May 18, primary election. Commissioners also agreed to request assistance from the St. Francis County Judge's Office with acquiring portable toilets for the Shell Lake voting location if repairs to the building's facilities cannot be made in time for the election.
Questions over the payment for early voting poll workers was resolved during Tuesday's meetings when Young said that the payment was set by the state and couldn't be adjusted.
"The state has set the pay at $7.50 per hour and we're going to be paying that rate for early voting. For those who go to class and get the training, they will receive the extra $25 for the work they do during the primary election on May 18," Young said.
Additional poll working classes will be held on Friday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Hughes Community Center and on Monday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m. in the quorum court room at the St. Francis County Courthouse.