By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
Damage caused by tornadoes spawned by recent Florida hurricanes have sped up the opening of the newest facility at the local federal prison.
Linda Sanders, warden of the Federal Correctional Institution-Forrest City, told members of the community relations board Thursday afternoon that several tornadoes caused extensive damage to federal correctional facilities in Marianna, Fla., resulting in the transfer of hundreds of inmates to federal facilities throughout the nation.
FCI-FC received 269 inmates from Florida, forcing the local complex to open its new medium-security prison earlier than officials had anticipated. Sanders said those inmates are being housed in one of the three units at that complex. In addition, about 20 FCI-Marianna employees were transferred to Forrest City with the inmates.
Because the new facility is not fully activated, the meals for those inmates are currently being prepared at the minimum security camp and transported to the medium complex. That facility has its own cafeteria facilities which will become operational after the complex is officially activated, and that is scheduled to take place on Nov. 1.
Sanders said inmates will be arriving by bus at about 100 per week until that complex reaches its 1,536 inmate capacity. Those inmates will live in three units that are designed to house 512 inmates each.
Once the medium facility is fully occupied, which should occur after the first of next year, the prison population in Forrest City will stand at 3,800 inmates, with 601 staff members employed at the FCI-FC.
Sanders said one drawback of the early partial opening at the medium complex is that the public will not be allowed to tour it, as previously reported, due to security concerns.
Although the majority of the 601 positions at the complex are filled, prison officials said there are still about 80 job openings at the complex. She also explained a little about the application process and why many people are not being hired. The entire facility will have an estimated annual payroll of $36 million.
"Credit issues are the biggest factor that disqualify most people, and that's not just in this area," Sanders said, urging anyone who might consider employment with FCI-FC to correct any credit problems before he or she begins the interviewing process because extensive background checks are done on potential employees. "At least 50 percent of the applicants are turned down because of bad debts," Sanders said. Current employees undergo background checks every five years.
The Unicor facility at the new medium-security prison will mirror the operations in the factory currently operating in the low-security facility. Those facilities make office furniture that is sold to government agencies. An estimated 414 inmates, who will make wages ranging between 23 cents to $1.15 per hour, will be employed by Unicor when both facilities are operational. It was also announced at the CRB meeting that FCI-FC is now the only federal facility to build this type of office furniture.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A meeting of the St. Francis County Transportation Commission scheduled to serve as a joint public meeting and regularly scheduled meeting turned ugly Thursday after commission chairman Cecil Twillie played the race card in connection with further cries for the cancellation of any remaining contracts with the commission.
The meeting became heated after commission member Rujay Burke once again called for the cancellation of all contracts associated with the transportation mall project. After Burke made a motion for contracts to be canceled, Twillie responded saying that the commission would have to follow procedure laid out in Robert's Rules of Order on matters which have been voted on by the commission. According to Twillie, the matter could not be revisited unless it was brought up by a commission member who voted in favor of suspending the contracts when voted on last month. Twillie also said that the rules called for a two-thirds majority before the voting could go forward.
While the matter could be discussed, there were not enough votes to move forward, and a motion was made to table the matter by Regan Hill. Hill also requested a meeting for next week which Twillie denied saying, "I don't understand why we continue to discuss this. We suspended all of the contracts last month and no one is on the payroll and nothing is being incurred. I don't see the need for another meeting next week. If we're not incurring anything, and if a meeting doesn't take place until next month, we still won't be paying anything."
Prior to the opening of the regular meeting of the commission, Twillie, who was appointed as chairman of the committee after former commission member and chair Buzz Haven resigned earlier this month, explained that any further meetings would fall under the direction of Robert's Rules of Order and that procedure laid out in the bylaws explained how meetings were to be scheduled.
According to Hill, a called meeting of the commission will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m. in the quorum court room to discuss contracts. Hill said that a letter would be forwarded to Twillie with signatures of four members of the seven-member commission, which constitutes a majority calling for the meeting.
Twillie made his claim that the race of Commission Coordinator Frederick Freeman, who is black, might have something to do with the outcry for the cancellation of the contracts after continued discussion of the contracts ensued.
"I'm having a real problem with the continued discussion of these contracts. We've already suspended them, and I really think that this has something to do with what color Mr. Freeman is. This project wouldn't be where it is today without the work of Mr. Freeman," said Twillie.
Commissioner Kevin Lewey responded to Twillie's comments. "As far as I'm concerned, this has absolutely nothing to do with what color he is. I've been friends with Frederick for a long time, and the reason that I'm having a problem isn't personal, it's business. If we look at Mr. (Ebony) Mills' contract, I can say that I run a lot more money through my company than we've run through this account, and I don't pay near the amount that we've paid for accounting," said Lewey.
Twillie also said that any issues that the commission is having with the contracts should not continue to bog down progress towards a possible site selection.
"We've got to get off of the seat and do something, and I think that the perception is that nothing is being done right now. We've created this committee to study possible sites for the mall and everyone has agreed that the only thing holding us up right now is the site. I don't think that we can afford to allow us to get bogged down with other matters and be slowed up on the land. The land is the key to this thing taking off, and the committee needs to get to work," Twillie said.
The committee, which was formed earlier in the meeting, consists of Twillie, Lewey and Burke.
In other commission business, Freeman updated the commission on several funding sources he is currently working with to receive money for the project. According to Freeman, he has had several substantive conversations with two sources and has grant applications submitted to three more funding entities.
Burke told board members that he did not feel that the commission would be obligated to pay Freeman under any contractual obligations if any of the entities were to assist with funding.
Freeman told board members that under his contract, which was suspended last month along with contracts for Mills and Sorrell Engineering, the commission would be obligated to pay the 5-percent fee for any infrastructure funding that he helped the commission receive.
The route of the funding was at issue after Hill asked for clarification as to whether all funding should be going through the county claims process. According to Hill, an audit finding earlier this year led him to believe that all funding for the commission should be routed through the county in order to be in compliance with auditors' requests. Commission members agreed to ask for a ruling from the Arkansas Legislative Audit Division clarifying whether future funding must be routed through the county government.
Commission members also agreed by a three-to-one margin to transfer funds allocated for the purchase of equipment from the Delta Regional Authority Grant to an account which would provide funding for any travel expenses that might be incurred. Mills told committee members that the funding had been allocated for equipment and any moves on the money would have to be approved by DRA. Mills also commented on possible misconceptions regarding the equipment funding.
"There's a misconception out there that $9,200 was only for the purchase of two computers. But that funding also included a laser scanner and printer, a camcorder and other pieces of equipment that were needed," Mills said.
Burke told commissioners that he had met with officials from DRA and had been told that transferring the funding would not be an issue.
Thursday's meeting opened with a 30-minute question-and-answer session which included several members of the St. Francis County Quorum Court and the community. The commission, along with Freeman, answered a number of questions from the community prior to the regularly scheduled meeting. According to commission member and quorum court justice Jack Crumbly, Thursday's public meeting would serve to clear the air on a lot of issues.
"This, to me, is an outgrowth of a discussion between two of the members of the quorum court that led to an invitation to the entire court to attend a question-and-answer session with this commission. This is a housecleaning session that should serve to clear the air on a lot of issues and also allow the public to know that this operation is running above board," Crumbly said.
Following a brief overview of the project, the session began with a question as to the need for the public meeting at this time.
"This is awfully strange that at this stage of the project things are now being opened to the public. I have made several attempts to receive information through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and had difficulty receiving information. This commission said that applications would be accepted on staffing, but nothing was ever published locally regarding the positions of the coordinator, the accountant or the engineer. If everything has been so secretive, why at this late date are we bringing the public into the know?" resident Shirley Harvell asked.
Crumbly answered some of her questions. "We're not that old of a commission. We were created in July of 2001 and didn't have our first meeting until December of that year. All of our meetings since our inception have been open to the public and have had quite extensive media coverage."
Freeman addressed Harvell's questions regarding both staffing and possible FOI violations.
"I'm aware of two or three requests made by you and we, or the judge's office (St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco), have responded in all cases. Two of the requests that I am aware of actually came before this commission was established when everything was still under the jurisdiction of the judge's office, and to my knowledge the requests were answered. As far as staffing is concerned, the commission bylaws speaks to staffing and how the commission could go about staffing," he said.
Commission members also answered several other questions from the public.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Housing Authority heard an update Thursday on the status of the Turner Circle project.
"The contractor is on the last building now, as far as tear-off," said Janet Duncan, head of the Housing Authority.
The project calls for the tearing off of the top floor of several existing buildings, creating fewer housing units but, it's hoped, better living conditions.
"They've pretty much got the top of the fourth building off, they've got the roof back on three of them," she said. "It's going well."
She said she is anxious to bid out the next part of the program, and said she hopes to do that by November. This will involve five buildings.
She said the project is expensive. "The tear-off of those buildings alone, is around $50,000 apiece," Duncan said. "Doesn't that seem high? It does to me."
Commission member Warren Faupel said he doesn't believe the cost is out of line, because tearing off the top of a building while preserving the lower floor is more complicated than simply demolishing a building.
Duncan agreed that not all local contractors can do the job.
"HUD requirements for bidding are extremely strict. And I only know of one local contractor that can bid a job like that," she said. "There is tremendous overhead."
She said the next project may cost more, because it involves more buildings. The job currently underway, for four buildings, is costing $1.2 million. The next job will be for five buildings.
Duncan also reported that the number of tenants who have moved out still owing rent is up this year.
"We have several options we can pursue, as far as collecting some of it, and I'm sure we will collect some of it" she said. "In the past, the way we collected it was to sit here and wait a little while, because generally they'd be back in a little while. They'd want back in, and we'd collect what they owed. That's happened numerous times."
She said there were other options, such as a collection agency, or going to court. She also said a fairly recent law allows a housing agency to attach people's state income tax returns.
"Housing authorities can do that. Several of them are already doing it. So we have looked into it and set up the plan. And we're probably going to start doing it," said Duncan. "I can assure you we can collect some of that in the future."
On another matter, Duncan said she had been contacted by a preacher who wants to use the Housing Authority's senior citizen building for a church on Sundays.
"My first thought is to say no," she said.
After some discussion, no vote was taken, but it was the general sense that the public building should not be used as a church.
On another subject, Duncan commented on a recent story in the Times-Herald concerning a group that wants to build a subsidized housing subdivision at the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Ophelia Street. The Forrest City Planning Commission decided to let the city council decide on whether to approve the preliminary plat for the subdivision.
Duncan expressed skepticism over the proposed subdivision.
"In the past we've had a lot of subsidized housing built here, that it seems the community was not aware of until we already had it," she said. "Today, we have 1,271 units of subsidized housing in our city limits. And they are proposing to build more. So this community needs to decide. We all need to know the facts, be aware of what we've got, and make some decisions about what we want. Sometimes outsiders come in and build what they want, for a community they don't live in, and then they're gone."
Faupel commented, "Most of us in here know that there is a surplus of public housing in Forrest City today. And the only thing that more public housing will do is create greater competition. We're sitting here butting heads with each other. And we're doing it with taxpayer's money."
The groups wanting to build the subdivision include Crafton, Tull and Associates Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas Land and Development Corporation, and Forrest City Properties.
Three juveniles who claim to be members of a gang were arrested Thursday after they allegedly attacked a teenager on his way home from school.
The incident occurred near the intersection of Cherry and Buford Streets, according to a report on file at the Forrest City Police Department.
Police reported a 13-year-old was walking home when the three boys, two age 15 and one 14, jumped him. The boy reportedly tried to run from the suspects, but was caught and pushed to the ground where one boy spit in his face and held him down while another cut him on the left arm with a pocketknife.
The 15-year-old who allegedly cut the victim is charged with aggravated assault. The other two are charged with third-degree battery. All are being charged as juveniles in the case.
The Forrest City Airport Commission is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, at the airport.
On Tuesday, the St. Francis County Transportation Commission is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. at the courthouse, and the Forrest City City Council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at city hall.
The St. Francis County Quorum Court's personnel committee is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the courthouse.