Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Group Working To Speed Up Rural Water Project

Southwest Arkansas Planning and Development District sponsored a meeting at the Partnership office in Prescott on the rural water project for the northern part of the county.

The goal of the meeting was to find ways to speed up the process of the grant paperwork so that construction could start.

Representatives from several organizations participated in the meeting including Mayor Howard Taylor, Larry Stockton and Perry Nelson from the city; Judge James Roy Brown from Nevada County; Kathy Lee and Blake Harrell from Southwest Arkansas Planning and Development District; Judy Alexander from the Arkansas Department of Economic Development; Barry Barber from McKenzie. McRae, Vasser and Barber law firm; Mike Marlar from Marlar Engineering (project engineer); Mary Godwin from the Prescott Nevada County Chamber of Commerce; and Jon Chadwell from the Prescott Nevada County Economic Development Office.

Marlar reported on the progress of the plans, stating that the plans were completed and would be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Health for approval in the next couple of weeks.

Stockton said that the sign-up had reached 375 people. Discussion dealt with to how to cut back the project. The group agreed to keep sign-ups open as long as possible before cutting areas off. The project will have to be cut, but waiting until as late as possible will ensure that the areas with late sign-ups may still have an opportunity to be included.

Barber told the group that the easement work should be completed by April 1. However, some easements will be done as early as March 9.

Lee will begin to work next week in the communities to get the easements signed which allow the water lines to cross people's property. All easements must be signed before the project can be advertised for bids. To speed up the process Lee will be holding meetings in each area asking people to attend and sign their easements.

She will also be seeking volunteers to help her contact people about signing easements in their communities. If you are interested in helping with the easement process, contact the Partnership Office at 887-6208 or 887-2101.

Since completion of the signing of the easements is essential for bidding the project, the date at which construction starts will be dependent on this process. It is vital to have residents sign the easements as soon as they are available in order for the project to proceed rapidly.

The group agreed that it wanted to try to accomplish everything so that construction could start later this year on the actual water system.

Another need is additional sign-ups. Currently large sections of the plans south of town off Highways 67 and 371 and in the Pleasant Hills area northeast of town will have to be removed from the project unless additional sign-ups are received in the next couple of months.

Other sections with few sign-ups may be threatened as well, depending on the cost of the project as bid compared to the number of sign-ups.

For more information on the rural water project contact the Partnership Offices.