Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rosston Council Ponders Water Tower

Rosston's City Council is looking into buying another water tower for the community.

Rosston Mayor Lewis Jackson, during the council's regular monthly meeting Thursday, March 2, said the current tower has a 50,000 gallon capacity and is doing an adequate job at this time.

However, he said, the Rosston Water System is gaining more customers requiring more and more water.

A second tank would allow the city to switch back and forth when repairs are needed.

Another 50,000 tank, Jackson said, would give the city a total of 100,000 gallons of stored water, enough for two days.

Willisville, he said, has two water towers and not as many customers for its system.

Jackson had information about a standpipe instead of a standard water tower. The standpipe, he said, would be cheaper to build than a tower.

Bluff City utilizes a standpipe for its water storage at this time.

However, the problem Jackson had with the information at hand was the only prices were for 750,000 gallon stand pipes and Rosston doesn't need one this large.

"We may have to go to 100,000 gallon on the standpipe," he said.

The city leaders will also need to find a location for the standpipe and talk with engineers about the requirements involved.

Jackson said the Cale area would be an ideal location for a standpipe. Then, he added, if there was a leak in the Oak Grove area the entire system wouldn't have to be shut down leaving all of the customers without water until the repairs were made.

"It would benefit everyone on the system," he said. "We wouldn't be without water if something happened."

Between now and the April meeting of the council, Jackson will be looking into prices of stand pipes and water towers.

He will also get in touch with Jon Chadwell, the executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office to see if the city can get grant money to help defray the cost of whichever storage system it goes with.

Jackson informed the council of the auditor's findings concerning the water department, saying the auditor wants duties to be more segregated in the keeping of books.

This, though, is a common complaint of auditors where small cities are concerned. There aren't enough people working to split the work up.

He said interest bearing accounts have been established to help make money on the water system's reserve funds.

The water department cleared $15,000 in 1999 after all expenses had been paid. "We had a lot of extra expenses," Jackson said, "because we redid both of the wells. I expect to clear more this year, if nothing unexpected happens."

The audit report stated the city needs to upgrade its computer system as well. Jackson told the council the current computer has been upgraded as much as it can be.

This means a new computer will have to be purchased.

Jackson will look at different computer companies before buying a new one, with the current computer to be used for billing once the purchase has been made and the new system installed.

He also plans to contact the Arkansas Municipal League for an accounting program approved by the auditors. Rosston currently uses Quicken, which doesn't provide enough in-depth information for audit reports.

The firetruck the city bought almost a year ago is still in West Memphis.

Jackson has been in touch with the mechanic, who, once again, said there have been problems in getting the parts needed to complete the repairs.

Jackson told the council the mechanic had said the parts were lost because of the snowstorm at the end of January and there were problems in tracking them down.

The council was also informed the truck should have been ready by Monday, March 6. If it wasn't, Jackson said, the city will send someone to get it and find another mechanic to do the repairs.

The council also decided City Hall can't be used for private functions, such as wedding or baby shower or garage sales.

Some residents have made such requests and been turned down.

City Hall, Jackson said, is not a community center, though Rosston does need one.

An area church, it was brought out, will allow its members to use the church building for private functions, but will not allow non-members the same privilege.

Once the new firetruck arrives and the council sees whether or not it will fit in the existing fire station, the community center issue will be addressed again.

Should the city have to build a new garage for the firetruck, Jackson said, the current fire station could be made into a community center.

There was a sad note at the close of the meeting as Jackson read a letter of resignation from councilman Linda McKinney. She cited health problems as the reason for stepping down, thanking the council for its help and wishing the best to the community.

Jackson said anyone interested in filling the remainder of McKinney's term should write a letter to him at City Hall.

The letters will be examined by the remaining council members, who will then pick a replacement.

Those submitting letters must be legal residents of Rosston.