Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith Gives State Of The City Address

BY JOHN MILLER

It was a busy year for Gurdon in 1999, according to Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith.

In his state of the city address, Smith said the year began with the Gurdon City Council passing a resolution creating an animal control department, something the city had needed for many years.

The council also approved purchasing a truck for the animal control officer. The vehicle was bought from the Street Department, with it getting a new truck.

The purchase was made possible, Smith said, by a grant from the Cabe Foundation.

The city also bought a new police car for the Gurdon Police Department, while an emergency contingency fund was created with $100,000 deposited in it. This money came from the sale of the old Gurdon Hospital building.

A grant for $2,100 was announced in February. The money was used to furnish and decorate the foyer at city hall.

February saw another battle with the Saline County landfill, as its governing body sought to prevent the Southwest Central Regional Solid Waste Management District from transporting garbage across its boundaries.

The end result was the SWCRSWMD was able to get legislation passed by the Arkansas Legislature allowing garbage to cross connecting solid waste districts.

This saved people in the three county area (Clark, Hot Spring and Garland) $3.2 million over a four-and-a-half year period.

February also saw the council pass a no smoking ordinance, prohibiting smoking in city buildings.

And, the shortest month of the year also saw the annexation issue rear its head once again.

March entered with feline grace and the Greenville Water Project underway.

The council was told of a $170,000 grant to finish work at Lowe Field, Gurdon's airport. The Gurdon Airport Commission was the entity working for the grant, which was successfully obtained.

The end result was the runway was resurfaced with an asphalt overlay.

A lighted brick sign was built on the corner of the lot at city hall, with new lighting also being installed at the city park.

In addition, Smith said, a grant for $3,797, was obtained from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission for the installation of an air conditioning unit at the baseball park concession stand.

Bids were taken on hand-held radios for the Gurdon Fire Department, with two new firemen added as well.

April entered with the annual curbside cleanup. Gurdon's Street Department made about 140 pickups.

April also saw work begin on rebuilding the Old Whelen Road. This was done with the help of the Clark County Road Department. The end result was an area from Highway 53 to South Street was completely resurfaced.

Former mayor Daryl Potratz was appointed to the regional recycling board, and headed up the local recycling efforts.

Also in April, it was reported 195 dogs had been picked up since the creation of the animal control department.

A new riding lawnmower for Rose Hedge Cemetery was bought early in May, with Smith also presenting Delton Simpson with a certificate of appreciation from the Arkansas Department of Volunteerism for his work with Operation Cleanup.

The council was also told what the procedures for annexing the cemetery into the city limits would be.

June was a busy month with the council meeting three times. This was primarily because of the annexation issue.

An ordinance was passed calling for an election concerning the annexation of the new Gurdon High School complex on Highway 67, as area residents were voicing their desire to have the school inside the city limits.

July and August were spent working on the annexation issue, along with discussion on emergency warning sirens.

The sirens were delayed in being delivered, but once they arrived, the installation was done with no problems.

Additionally, the Rose Hedge area was formally annexed into the city limits.

It was business as usual in September, but October saw two meetings of the council.

Smith said the panel approved bids to buy new furniture for the city hall boardroom, along with a new telephone system.

Gurdon Primary School was also annexed into the city limits, with this done through an ordinance by the council. The GPS annexation completed the city's annexing for the year.

November was a relatively quiet month, but December saw Annie Hubbard reappointed to the Gurdon Housing Authority.

History was made by the city as the first load of recyclable materials was taken to the Hot Springs recycling center.

The council also passed a resolution establishing how city hall's boardroom could be used by city residents and other groups.

The council also passed an ordinance assigning the newly annexed areas to voting wards.

"Where do we want to be at the end of the year 2000?" Smith asked. "We have a lot of work to do at city hall concerning the upcoming census count and newly annexed areas. We have a lot of documentation to update."

He said it is important for the city to get an accurate count for the Y2K census as these figures will affect the state turnback funds the city receives for the next 10 years.