Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet City Council Approves Purchase Of Tractor

Emmet will be looking at buying a new tractor for the city.

The Emmet City Council in its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, May 10, gave Mayor Dale Booker the authority to buy a Ford tractor and cutter.

Booker presented the panel with prices and information on three tractors from three different companies with Capital Ford in Little Rock having the lowest figures.

Other information came from Southwest Arkansas Equipment in Hope, a John Deere dealer, and Fizer Kubota of Bryant.

This was done because the city's 18-year-old tractor has a broken crankshaft. Booker said it would cost more than $4,000 to repair it and it still wouldn't be as reliable as the city needs.

He told the council a used tractor would run between $5,000 and $7,000, but the city wouldn't know how good it would be either.

Booker told the story of how the current tractor was purchased 18 years ago during his first term as Emmet's mayor. He said it was initially leased, with the lease being paid off.

Until two years ago, he said, the tractor had required little in the way of repair other than routine maintenance. But two years ago the engine went bad and was repaired at a cost of $5,000.

"We got one season out of it," he said.

Booker said a lease agreement with Capital Ford would cost no more than $400 a month.

If the city repaired the current tractor, he said, the money would have to come out of the street department's capital improvement budget and leave little to get any street work done with.

The lease, he told the board, would be completed in five years, though the city legally can only enter into leases on a year-to-year basis, because of budgeting concerns.

This is how many cities purchase vehicles and equipment.

Booker will also check on prices with the Ford tractor dealer in Magnolia to see if the city can get a better deal. He will also look into using the current tractor as a trade-in.

Booker was authorized to also look into purchasing a Bush Hog with a heavy-gauge deck for the tractor,.

This Bush Hog, he said, can also be used to mow some areas in the city, which would keep Emmet from having to buy a new mower at this time.

According to Booker, the mower will be repaired and used at least one more year.

He told the council he priced John Deere mowers while in Hope, but found them to be too expensive for the city at this time.

In other business, Booker said the attorneys working on a solution for the city's water system situation may finally have a proposal agreeable to all parties involved.

The problem was the contractor, in the city's view. Allegedly the contractor didn't fulfill his contractual obligation as the clean-up work wasn't done.

The city, therefore, withheld final payment and other funds the contractor claimed was owed his company.

With a settlement in sight, Booker said, the city can now start looking at drilling a new well.

However, he added, the Rural Development Agency, the lending agency, is saying the funds left from the water project may not belong to Emmet and can't be placed in the city's water department budget for drilling purposes.

This, though, won't be a big problem, Booker said, because the loans and grants are Emmet's and the city will get the money either way.

The only question is when. Because of this uncertainty, it is not known when work will start on the second well.

A problem with the warning device on the city's well pump has hopefully been corrected, he said.

The warning alarm had been going off when nothing was wrong with the system. Because of this a technician was brought in to check everything out.

Booker said a loose wire was found in the system's switch gear and repaired. This, he added, should take care of the problem.

Work on adding new slabs to the city's trailer park at the old Arkla park has begun, but it has been slowed because of weather.

Most of the water lines have been installed, he said, with six meters put in place. However, theses lines haven't been charged yet as they have not been anchored.

Two old hydrants using two-inch lines have been placed at either end of the line at the park for added fire protection.

To date, he said, nothing has been done to the sewer system, but this is because the ground is too wet. Sewer work will be done during drier weather.

The handicap ramp at Emmet's City Hall has been poured and will be useable for the May 23 Preferential Party Primary next Tuesday.

Booker said the utility collection box will be moved to the far end of a rail to be added to the ramp so it will be protected from traffic.