Prescott one of safest cities in state

By Staff, 06/20/17 11:00 AM

PRESCOTT – Prescott’s City Council was informed the city received two awards recently. The announcement was made at the June meeting Monday night.

The first award was the Four Star Municipality Award. Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver said Prescott was one of 16 cities out of 500 in the state to receive the honor. The award was based on loss control and four other areas. The other award was naming Prescott one of the safest cities in Arkansas. Oliver said out of the top 100 cities, Prescott ranked 19^th. Prescott Police Chief Joey Beavers said the goal is for Prescott to be the safest city in the state.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, updated the council on the splash pad project. She said a committee went to Little Rock where they met with two engineers and the Arkansas Parks and Tourist Department, along with RJR Enterprises, who will be supplying the pad. The goal was to make sure everyone is on the same page. Two changes were suggested, both involving sidewalks. One sidewalk would need to go to the ball field, while the other would tie into the pavilion. She said the contract has been signed and returned to Little Rock. Now, Prescott is just waiting on the notice to proceed. She added the pad will be away from the trees and in the open sun.

She presented the council with copies of the interpretive plan for the Prairie D’Ane Battlefield project, telling the panel around $66,000 is still needed to buy the land. The plan, she said, tells what needs to be done once the land is acquired, adding this is a huge potential for tourism for Prescott and Nevada County and could make Prescott a tourist destination. Donations, she said, are being accepted, and no donation is too small to help.

From there, Godwin updated the council on the status of the old garment factory. She said the former hatchery owners went bankrupt, but Mary’s Chicken of California has expressed interest in leasing the building as a hatchery. Mary’s Chicken, she added, is in the process of buying the processing plant in Gum Springs, but wants to lease the garment factory initially and possibly buy it later on. If everything works out, she added, eight to 10 people would be hired to work there.

Godwin said CMC Steel of Magnolia has leased the fenced in area of the garment factory for three months for $1,000 a month. The company, she told the panel, is doing rehabilitation work on the railroad and needed outside storage.

The council approved a water resolution to allow the city to enter into an agreement with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) to get a new water line from the Little Missouri River at Boughton to the water plant in Prescott. In March, Perry Nelson, water and sewer superintendent, said, the council approved the idea, but wanted to see the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) before making a final decision. The MOA will see the ANRC set aside $2.7 million for a 30-year loan, while forgiving $300,000. Any amount not used won’t be counted against the city. The MOA sets out the terms and schedule of the process which, according to Nelson, will take two years from start to finish. The resolution, he added, allows the mayor to sign the MOA to get the loan.

City Attorney Glenn Vasser said all this does is set up a schedule for the process with the ANRC setting $3 million aside and forgiving $300,000 up front.

Nelson said the line will be replaced, pointing out this line is the city’s only source of water. He added, the ANRC is basically part of the state’s revolving loan program and once the money is paid back it will be loaned out to others for other projects and needs. The council approved the resolution.

Nelson was asked about the other water and sewer project and whether it had anything to do with this resolution. He said the two projects are separate and the initial one is on hold at the moment. He told the panel what helps with the new water line project is the city already owns the line and right of way and won’t have to secure a new ROW for it. The line was initially installed for Robbins Flooring, which later became Firestone. The city connected to the system in 1985, having used wells up until then.

City Clerk Robert Loe asked what constituted an excessive distance for loud noise or music. He said he can be inside his home and hear music from a block away. Beavers said this is excessive and the offender could be issued a ticket for noise abatement.

The question was raised as to whether the code enforcement officer had the authority to issue citations. The council was told it would have to first approve this. Beavers said the city attorney would also need to be informed as would the district judge. The code enforcement officer, he added, could not write criminal tickets. Those would have to be done by a member of the PPD.

Connie Beard, the code enforcement officer, said she’s made a lot of progress and tries to make personal contact with offenders before writing them letters. She was asked to provide monthly reports of her activities to the council and agreed.

Councilman Bobbie Brown suggested having forms for the public to fill out to let the city know about any potential offenders. These forms could be turned over to Beard for investigation.