By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County employees could see an increase in their weekly pay by January, along with a sizable incentive bonus at the end of the year if the county's quorum court agrees to recommendations made Tuesday during a personnel committee meeting.
Justices voted 3-0 to submit a proposal from Justice Sam Armstrong to the budget committee for approval. That proposal would give county employees a $1,000 incentive bonus later this year, around Christmas.
"I feel we should ask again for the $1,000 incentive bonus that we gave last year if the money is there for it to be given," Armstrong said.
In August of last year, justices approved an ordinance that paid all county employees, including elected officials and quorum court members, a $1,000 incentive bonus in November. The bonus was pro-rated for employees with less than one year of service to the county.
Personnel committee chairperson Earlene Smith commented on Armstrong's recommendation, saying that the committee would also ask the budget committee to approve a 5 percent raise for all county employees with a minimum raise of 3 percent. Smith also suggested that the budget committee look into the possibility of funding the raises through certain accounts that some elected officials have which might offset salaries.
"I think that the employees should get a 5 percent raise and certainly not less than 3 percent. It's my understanding that certain officials have accounts that can be used to pay part of the salaries. If that's the case, then possibly those accounts can offset the costs of the raises to the general account," Smith said.
In other business, Smith suggested an ordinance be written to ask elected officials to create performance evaluation records for county employees.
"A couple of years ago this court asked the elected officials about the possibility of having performance evaluations for each employee. Somewhere along the way, the idea kind of died off. I think that the full court should pass an ordinance which will require the elected officials to create those records," Smith said.
Justices agreed to meet again next week to further discuss the performance evaluations and a possible salary table for county employees.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The approval of a preliminary plat for a new subdivision was adamantly opposed by one member of the Forrest City Planning Commission on Tuesday, but the group voted to let the Forrest City City Council decide on the matter.
The plat is for Meadowbrook Park of Forrest City, to be located near the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Ophelia Street. It was presented by Mark Riggett of Crafton, Tull and Associates, Inc. of Little Rock, and J.D. Davis of the Arkansas Land and Farm Development Corporation (ALFDC) and Forrest City Properties.
Riggett presented an overview of Meadowbrook Park. "The proposed plat will be used for 40 single-family housing units," stated Riggett. "They will be about 1,200 square feet and have a two-car garage. We will have streets up to city specifications, and we will have sidewalks on the lots."
Planning Commission Chairman Danny Capps asked Riggett about possible plans for an adjacent lot to the property. Riggett stated that they had not gotten that far in their plans, but expected to build more housing on the lot.
Davis then addressed the commission to provide a better understanding about what the development will be and how it will be funded. "This will be rental property for between 10 to 15 years," said Davis. "We will use tax credit dollars until it runs out on the project. These will be low-income housing units similar to the Meadowbrook in Marianna (which the ALFDC also owns). It is subsidized housing."
Commissioner Timothy Michael questioned the units being subsidized housing. "I live down there (in the area of the proposed development), and if this is subsidized housing, we are trying to get rid of that type of riffraff from there," said Michael.
"We want to help you with that," stated Davis. "We are trying to remove slum lords that don't control their properties. I can assure you that this will be a benefit to your community. We make all residents sign a bill of assurance. That gives us more leverage on stopping trouble; it gives us a vehicle to prevent things from happening. If someone violates the rules, we will do everything legally to remove them. Since this is low income, we go through HUD and can have them removed. We also check criminal records of potential residents."
"When you say HUD housing," responded Michael, "the first thing that happens is that a woman moves in with a clean record. Then she moves her drug dealer boyfriend in. That is what we are trying to avoid. We have enough of that."
Davis stated again that the owner would have control of everything that goes on at the facility. "I encourage you to take a look at our facility in Marianna. There are no guarantees in life, but we are trying to bring in good people to control who comes in and to prevent trouble. Most of the people here are not mortgage ready or have bad credit."
"Then how will the rent get paid if they have bad credit?" asked Michael. "When you have Section 8 (low income) housing, you have drugs no matter what you do to stop it. You can't stop it. If you don't build them, you can stop it."
Commissioner Glenda Wade asked about what happens after the 10-to-15 year period of tax credit funding. "Who owns the houses after the money runs out?" asked Wade.
"Forrest City Properties then owns the houses," said Davis. "We would like to give the people living in the houses a break on the equity so that they can buy the house."
"I don't mean to be rude or to sound like I'm against what you are trying to do," continued Wade, "but who's to say Jane Doe lives in the house for 10 to 15 years. How will she have better credit after 15 years so that she can buy the house? You are still going to have people who don't give a crap about fixing themselves and will continue to the things they have in the past."
"I believe that we need to give people who can't own a home for whatever reason a chance," added Davis. "I think that renting is a bad thing and that owning your own home is a positive thing. We are doing this to help the Delta and Forrest City."
Capps stated that another property owned by the ALFDC, Chapel Ridge Apartments, is a well-kept property. "I know some people who live there and they are happy," said Capps. "It is nice and well kept. It is all in the management."
Davis concluded by saying that it was in his organization's best interest to keep the property free of trouble. "If it starts to be come a slum, we will lose our funding," said Davis. "We have to maintain it. We want Meadowbrooks to become a safe haven for people who don't want to live in an area where drugs are being sold."
The matter came to a vote and passed with commissioners Wade,
Ken Patterson and Willie Whitley voting to approve the plat and
send it to the city council for final approval. Michael was the
lone "no" vote on the issue. The matter is expected
to be discussed by the Forrest City City Council on Tuesday, Oct.
5.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
An itinerary has been set, and plans are being finalized for the ceremony to name a C-130 cargo plane after the city of Forrest City. The event will be held at the Arkansas Air National Guard Base in Jacksonville.
More than 30 students, along with representatives from city government and state officials, will be on hand for the dedication of the plane Saturday. According to Forrest City Postmaster and AANG Chief Master Sgt. Normal Gilchrest Saturday's ceremony, which will include a flight over Forrest City, will be an event that the students should remember.
"This is something that will honor Forrest City, but is geared primarily for the children. We want to make sure that as many children can enjoy this as we can. It's going to be an event that they can remember, and it will be a once in a lifetime thing," Gilchrest said.
Thirteen students from Forrest City High School will be among the delegation, along with members of a local 4-H club, media representatives and others from the community. The group will leave the teacher's parking lot on Saturday, between 7 a.m. and 7:15 with a planned arrival in Jacksonville at 9 a.m. From there, AANG officials will meet the group, taking them on a tour of the base and guard area prior to a mission briefing and flight safety briefing. Following the briefing, the dedication ceremony will be held at the flight line at approximately 10:40 a.m., with the group taking a tour of the newly named plane and a flight over Eastern Arkansas.
The naming of the plane will be the fourth such event under a program instituted by the Air National Guard last year in an attempt to bring more recognition to both the AANG statewide and the communities that constitute the Air National Guard. In a meeting earlier this month with AANG officials and community leaders, Col. Dwight Balch, commander of the 189th Airlift wing, explained the program.
"This all came about in the last year as a means to really let people across the state know about the Air National Guard. Everyone in the state knows that there is an Air Force Base in Little Rock, but not many people realize that the Air National Guard is based there as well. We have three units in the state and more than 120 cities represented, but we don't have much representation in this portion of the state. We selected Forrest City after discussing it with Chief Gilchrest and decided that Forrest City would be a great selection for our first dedication outside of Central Arkansas. We could have chosen a larger city like West Memphis, but we've found better participation and better responses from the cities like Forrest City ," Balch said.
Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant said this morning that it would be nice if the plane could circle the local airport allowing residents an opportunity to see plane.
"It would be great if we could get a group of people to come out to the airport to view the plane when it flies over. There are people here locally that would really enjoy an opportunity to see it and take pictures of the plane in flight," Bryant said.
Gilchrest said that he would discuss the option with AANG officials
and did not see a problem with the flyover.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Transportation Commission will hold a pair of meetings, including one to answer questions regarding the project, Thursday evening in the quorum court room at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
Transportation Commission Coordinator Frederick Freeman said the 6 p.m. meeting will involve two phases, a question and answer phase for the public, which is scheduled to be handled first on Thursday's agenda, and then a normal meeting of the commission.
"The purpose of the first meeting is so that we can answer any questions from the public regarding the project. In light of the questions raised during the last quorum court meeting, we wanted to give them an opportunity to come out and ask any questions that they needed to about where the project is going. It's also an opportunity for the public to come out and ask about the project," Freeman said.
While questions regarding the project will be answered, Freeman also said that the commission would not be fielding questions which might be handled during an executive session.
Following the question and answer session a regular meeting
of the Transportation Commission will be held. According to Freeman,
all normal business will be addressed during that meeting.
Those who are not already registered to vote must do so before next Monday if they plan to vote in the November general election.
According to St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith, Monday, Oct. 4, at 4:30 p.m., will be the deadline for registration to vote in the election. The election will decide several city council positions locally along with regional and national races.
The general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 2, from 7:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. at various polling locations throughout the county. Early voting will begin on Monday, Oct. 18, in the vault at the clerk's office and will run until Monday, Nov. 1. Early voting will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. On Saturday, Oct. 23 and 30, voting will be held from 1 to 4 p.m., in the county clerk's office.
A Madison man accused of aggravated robbery was bound over to Circuit Court Monday.
According to the report from the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department, Tores Gatewood of Madison claimed he had been robbed by Lance Dillard, 21, also of Madison.
Gatewood claimed that he and Dillard were in a car on Old Madison Road (SFC 735), when Dillard pulled a pistol and robbed him of $142. Gatewood reportedly said he was afraid to make a complaint at first out of fear of Dillard. He went to the sheriff's office the next day.
Dillard was already in jail on another charge when he was charged with aggravated robbery, a Class Y felony. He was bound over on $5,000 bond.
A man currently on parole on drug charges has found himself in trouble again after authorities with the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department and the Arkansas Department of Community Punishment Probation and Parole Services caught him in possession of materials used to manufacture methamphetamine.
According to a report from the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department, Joseph R. Ellis, 30, 1013 SFC 311, was arrested Tuesday on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The SFCSD report said that Det. Gene Wingo, who also serves on the First Judicial District Drug Task Force, along with parole officer Doug Walls, found several items used to manufacture methamphetamine, including ephedrine, lithium batteries and Liquid Fire, in a camper that Ellis was living in. Officers also found items in woods near Ellis' residence that are used to manufacture the drug and a set of scales used for measuring drugs after they were manufactured.
Ellis is currently incarcerated in the St. Francis County Jail.