Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Council calls for cleanup

An effort by the City of Gurdon to have the site of the old Gurdon High School cleaned may have finally come to a head, according to Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin.

The issue of the abandoned high school campus was the focus of much of the Gurdon City Councils meeting on Sept. 18. Franklin said the city has "tried repeatedly" to get the property cleaned up, and although it is now in better shape than when the old gym burned, he said not much has been done.

When describing the current condition of the property to the council, Franklin said one could hardly walk through much of the building due to the amount of trash. He cited the auditorium specifically, saying that the stage cannot be seen from the back of the room because there are so many trash bags piled inside.

He said it is unknown what is inside the bags.

A recent chemical fire at the building has brought the need to clean up the building back into the spotlight. Franklin told the council that "vandals" had entered the building and found old chemicals left in the high schools chemistry department. The chemicals were apparently mixed, causing the fire.

The morning after the fire, Franklin met with Clark County Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Burns and representatives from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. Personnel from ADEQ cleaned up the chemicals in the building but cited other potential problems.

"According to ADEQ, there could be numerous other situations in the building that could be classified as hazardous," Franklin said.

ADEQ did not perform the clean up of the chemicals free of charge, but instead billed the owner of record, Franklin said. Although the Gurdon School District has previously deeded the property to M&M Enterprises, it appears that the company has not filed the deed, according to Franklin. This leaves the school district as the owner of record and as the responsible party for the clean-up.

"The school acted in good faith (to transfer ownership of the property)," one school board member in attendance at the city council meeting said. "This is a horrible way to find out that the transaction was never finalized."

When contacted after the meeting, Gurdon School District Superintendent Bobby Smithson said the district paid just more than $5,000 to clean up the chemicals. Since the city council met, Smithson said he has been in contact with Mike McKenzie who said M&M Enterprises will take responsibility for the remainder of the property.

Attempts to reach McKenzie for comment were not successful.

The council agreed that because of the threat to public health and safety, the site needed to be cleaned. Once it is determined for sure who the property owner is, Franklin said he would like to have the property inspected to find out what exactly is in the building. He said he will solicit bids from three private companies for this work.

Council members said they are concerned about the situation. They indicate that, if the owner of the property refuses to allow the city-hired inspectors to enter the property, the council will likely vote to condemn.