Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon had A Good 1995

Gurdon had a good year in 1995, according to Mayor Rick Smith.

During the year, he said, the city received a grant from the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department for road signs and traffic barriers.

In addition, Gurdon got a grant from the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission to help with a child care center. The AIDC grant totalled $150,000, and the center is expected to be finished later this month.

"We were pleased to receive the news we were going to get $5,250 from the U.S. Department of Justice to be used to assist payment of salaries for our police department," he said.

"We had applied for considerably more, but nevertheless, we were happy to receive this amount considering there were thousands of applications across the nation for this money."

The city also installed a radio repeater system and updates its current radio system. This, Smith said, will insure the patrolmen will always be in contact, even while transporting prisoners to Clark County's Detention Facility in Arkadelphia.

"We also now have portable (radio) units that allows the officer to maintain radio contact while out of the patrol unit," he said.

Gurdon also updated the phone system in city hall. This allowed for more lines for emergency use. There were some problems initially, but these have been corrected. Smith said the city apologizes to the citizens for any inconveniences they may have had with the phone system.

The street department also had a good year in 1995. The exceptionally dry weather allowed it to prepare and surface gravel streets near Plum and Carrie.

Additionally, ditches were deepened and road bed elevations raised to allow for proper drainage.

Smith said these measures are essential to help cut costs in maintaining asphalted or chip and sealed roads.

Kansas Road was resurfaced during the year, and the all-time gravel part of Pine Street was also paved. This was the portion running alongside the town creek by the Arkla Gas building.

This project, Smith said, was made possible by getting the flooding problems alleviated at the manhole on the street.

There was more good news for the city when a Mack truck with a 15-yard dump bed was located and purchased. Smith said the city had been looking for such a vehicle for a while.

Gurdon now has two drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This means the city can haul materials when needed and not have to wait for a contractor.

The truck was bought with money appropriated by the bond issue the people voted on for capital improvements.

Smith said Gurdon is now down to one gravel street in town -- 10th, from Clark to Kansas Road. He said the city has plans to pave this road later this year with help from the county road department.

"There will be quite a bit of preparation to make this job possible," he said. "We are going to ditch both sides and raise the elevation about six inches. This is necessary to insure we aren't damaging our roadbed by allowing water to linger underneath."

Gurdon's fire department also had its share of good fortune. In fact, the department received its new fire truck during the summer. This purchase, too, was made possible by the bond issue passed by the people.

Smith also lauded the Water and Sewer Department, saying the system has been constantly upgraded and improved.

"These folks," Smith said, "don't get a whole lot of praise, especially around bill paying time, but I assure you we have a system to be quite proud of.

"We are still searching for an answer to cut rates in this department, but as long as the only source of revenue is what you, the customer, pays, rats will continue to follow operating expenses."

Smith said the department will work to keep costs as low as possible, but it can't control inflation or the cost of materials and equipment.

The year's biggest project was getting water and sewer services to the new Gurdon High School.

"We ran into many obstacles," Smith said, "but all those involved kept pushing forward to obtain our goal."

The mayor praised the people who live along Highway 67 for their generosity. "We didn't have to purchase a single piece of property," he said. "Everyone chipped in and donated their property for right-of-ways, which helped make this project have a pleasant chapter of a long story. I'm sure the ending of this story will be a pleasant one, too."

On the other side of the coin, Smith said the city did well with expenditures as well.

There was one "slap in the face" when Gurdon was informed by the Department of Finance and Administration it would have to pay a taxpayer a refund on sales tax received.

This, Smith said, meant the city has to reimburse the state for the amount in question, more than $50,000.

The city's sales tax revenues also fell for the year. However, Smith said this problem is being remedied and the city should begin seeing an increase in tax revenues later this year.

Three departments, the police department, administration and parks, combined to make up the city's general fund. The fund operated within $476.74 of the total budgeted expense amount of $296,106 for '95.

The street department was able to operate under budget by $58,539.55. Some of these funds will be carried over to this year to buy new equipment and build a new bridge on Front Street by the underpass.

"This," Smith said, "is a project we must do before the state inspector condemns it."

Gurdon's city council approved the fire department going over budget by $8,568.09. The overage was due to a new insurance participation plan. In addition, the equipment had to be certified for ISO ratings and this was an unforseen expense.

The solid waste budget was over by $5,051.53, according to Smith. The problem in figuring up a solid waste budget is in trying to estimate how much solid waste will be hauled from the city for the year.

"Last year," he said, "we removed 845 tons of garbage by curbside pickup alone. This does not include that which we haul away by having the special cleanup week in October.

"One thing we plan on doing to cut this cost is beginning a recycling program. We've received a grant from the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology to purchase a roll-off container to do a voluntary recycling program."

The City of Arkadelphia, Smith continued, has agreed to transport this container to the regional recycling center when it gets full. Clark County will be assisting Gurdon by providing a cardboard baler at the county road department on Highway 67.

Smith urges all interested in the recycling project to get in touch with him at city hall.

The regional solid waste district successfully fought rate hikes by the Saline County Solid Waste District