Hope City Board

By Staff, 02/7/18 9:00 AM

7B70D5B0-1219-4160-980B-AAC127AC5AA7

The Hope City Board met for their first meeting of February on Tuesday evening. The board first voted, on recommendation of the Hope Housing Authority board, to reappoint former Hope Mayor Floyd Young to the Hope Housing Authority. He will serve through December 2021. The Housing Authority is still looking for a person to fill the expired term of Bill Tolleson who asked to not be reappointed.
The city voted to approve an updated Memorandum of Understanding with the William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site. The city had signed a previous agreement in 2012. The agreement asks the department to use minimum suppression on the structure in case of a fire.
The board looked at bids for City Hall Lawn maintenance. The bids were $1,060 per month from Vernon Hudman, $885 from Big Red Lawns, and $399 from Pecas Lawn Care. Pecas had the bid in 2017. Pecas won the bid for 2018.
The board looked at bids for a credit card reader for the fuel self-service station at the Hope Airport. The only bid was $24, 113.27 from Rebel Services of Ripley, Mississippi. The city had budgeted $20,000 for the reader. The bid included a “premium plan” maintenance agreement for $1,995 and 9.5% sales tax of $2,092.02. The city will get $16,000 from Arkansas Department of Aeronautics towards the purchase. The board accepted the bid.
The board looked at bids for Phase III construction on the WPA log hut (the Girl Scout Little House) in Fair Park. The total Phase III budget was $70,000 with $46,667 coming from Arkansas Historic Preservation. The only bid was $31,700 from Crawford Builders of McCrory. Staff recommended the bid be accepted and the architect will incorporate change orders to take advantage of all the available state funds. The board accepted the bid.
The board looked at bids for a 25 ton HVAC system for the Fair Park Coliseum. Five bids were considered. The low bid was from Hollis Heating and Air of $19,623.50. The funding would come from the Tourism Commission and they will have to vote on the system. The building is owned by the Southwest District Fair but leased by the city 50 weeks out of the year. The board voted to approve the bid with the final decision to come from the Tourism Commission.
Under the City Manager’s report, Catherine Cook noted the City is still hoping to get the “Assistance to Firefighters Grant” to install an exhaust system in the main fire station. The city also got a Forestry Grant for ten large Oak Trees at Fair Park. Cook also talked about the fundraiser this week for Jessica Oller. She also noted the “Beads , Bags,and Bangles” organization wants to have a small, non-professional fireworks display at the BBB event March 1st. The board approved this by acclamation. Finally, Catherine Cook asked if the city could sell Bicentennial calenders and the board agree by acclamation.
Board member Mark Ross asked about the city participating in the”Tree City USA” program. Ross also asked about the city trimming the downtown crepe myrtles. He also asked about electricity at Fair Park and Paul Henley noted two new transformer will be installed at the park. There was also an update on proposed downtown pavilion. The board also discussed possibly updating the land development code for residential development downtown. At least one downtown building owner has indicated they are interested in eventually developing their upstairs for living quarters. The board indicated they would like to discuss looking at the land development code.
Under Citizens Requests, John Akin asked about redeveloping parking on 2nd Street. Akin said there will be a need for more parking when the Courthouse comes downtown. Steve Atchley said he thinks changing the parking. would help congestion. Atchley also said the Pickett Fence and Powers Fitness were interested in changes. No action was taken.
Wayne Pemberton spoke under Citizens Requests. Pemberton said he has a designation on his driver’s license that he cannot wear a seatbelt due to a motorcycle accident and shoulder injury. Pemberton says he has been pulled over and given 5 or 6 warnings over the past ten years and is concerned about the matter. Cook said she would be happy to look into the matter. Mayor Serve Montgomery looked at the license. Police Chief J.R. Wilson noted he’d never spoken with Pemberton and was only aware of the situation third hand. The Chief noted that he thought it might have been a misunderstanding on the part of the officer and he urged Pemberton to come to him if he has further problems. They agreed to meet to discuss the warnings.
Judge Haskell Morse addressed the board and thanked them for working with the county.
The meeting then adjourned.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *