Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City Council Approves Contractor; Police Officer Hired

Much was done in the 90 minute meeting of the Gurdon City Council Monday night.

The race got underway with Charles Summerford, project engineer for the Greenville Rural Water Project giving the panel an update on the situation.

He informed the council the Gurdon Water and Sewer Commission had already approved a contractor and needed the city's approval as well so work can begin by in 30 days, hopefully.

According to Summerford, McClendon Construction of Palestine, Ark., was the low bidder when bids were officially opened June 24.

In addition, he said, the water department has collected fees to improve the system in the area in the amount of $17,000.

He recommended the council approve the contractor and allow the work to begin.

Some 15 meters will be installed on the six-inch main. The line will cross Smithton Road and tie onto the existing water line. The project also includes crossing three railroad tracks.

All in all, Summerford said, the addition of these lines should strengthen fire protection at the north end of the system to the junction of Highway 53.

Harold Hurst, manager of the water and sewer department, said International Paper paid $13,575 to have a larger line ran to the mill for better fire protection and Don Stone chipped in $1,800 more to have water ran to property he owns.

In addition, some 13 homeowners in the Greenville area have paid $75 each to get meters installed. This is where the $17,000 came from.

If all goes well, Summerford said, there could be some money left over.

Hurst said all but four families in the area have committed to the project. These four have yet to pay their connection and meter hookup fees.

If, at some point in time after the project is done, these homeowners want city water, they will have to pay either $350 or the cost of having water connected to their homes, whichever is greater.

When asked about hardship cases being able to make payments, Hurst said the department will work with them in any way possible, but the connection and meter fees can't be placed on the water bills.

The customers must pay $50 up front for a deposit, but the connection fee can be worked out somehow.

In other water department business, Hurst asked to have the personnel committee convene to help find a new office manager as Rhonda Spruill will be leaving as of Oct. 1.

He said applications have been taken and interviews need to be scheduled so someone can be hired and trained before Spruill leaves.

Next up was a brief discussion of participating in a University of Arkansas at Little Rock study on metro police departments.

Apparently Arkadelphia is looking at becoming a metro department, meaning the city will contract for police protection with the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Somehow a rumor was started stating Gurdon would follow suit.

This didn't set well with the council, as it backed the Gurdon Police Department by declining to take part in the study.

At this time, the only metro police department in the state is in Independence County.

This was followed by a 20 minute executive session to discuss hiring officer Mike Daniels full time.

Gurdon City Marshal David Childres suggested the council create a new full-time slot and move Daniels into it so he could be brought up to the same pay as the other full-time officers and get the same benefits.

The council agreed and made Daniels the city's fourth full-time officer. He will officially begin these duties on Aug. 15, when the payroll changes.

The emergency sirens were next up with Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith informing the council the sirens will be under the Gurdon Fire Department's budget for maintenance and operation.

The sirens are in place and have been tested, with an observer reporting one being heard at the city park.

Smith said the sirens will be tested every Wednesday at noon, weather permitting.

Smith had been approached to use the sirens to notify the GFD of fires by using the sirens, but declined to do so as it would confuse those residents within earshot.

The GFD personnel, he said, have radios with built in pagers, with this being a better means of communication than sirens.

He added the current fire department siren will be dismantled to avoid confusion as well.

At some point in the future, Smith continued, a second tone will be used to notify the people of Gurdon to evacuate the city in the event of a chemical spill or similar emergency.

He is working with the Office of Emergency Services on the parameters of such a signal.

Finally, a third siren will be purchased and erected near the sewer lift station along Highway 67 if the proposed annexation of the area is approved in a special election Tuesday, Aug. 31.

This will be done to insure students and faculty at Gurdon High and Cabe Middle School can be warned in the event of severe weather approaching.

The council approved a three-year agreement with A&M Equipment to continue picking up the city's garbage.

However, there were some changes to the contract. One, trash will no longer be removed from any type of containers for residential customers.

The exception to this being multi-family households (apartments) and commercial customers.

For residential customers, though, there can no longer be permanent containers used to put garbage in.

The company and city will work with those residents who can show they are unable to physically carry a bag of garbage to the curb.

A contract was also entered with the City of Arkadelphia for animal control.

Until now, Smith said, Gurdon and Arkadelphia had been under a handshake agreement with the two cities working together on the problem, though no money changed hands.

However, other cities wanted a similar deal with Arkadelphia and its animal control system couldn't handle the workload.

So, Gurdon's council agreed to pay $1.50 per animal per day for all dogs housed at the Arkadelphia shelter.

Smith said Gurdon couldn't build, operate and maintain a dog pound for this price.

Annexations were the council's final order of business, primarily approving the annexation of a section of Taylor Dairy Road, including Rose Hedge Cemetery, into the city limits.

This annexation was done by petition by residents in the area, with all six households affected being added to Gurdon Ward 6 for election purposes in city elections.

These people will be represented by Johnny McGuirt.

The next step in finalizing this annexation is to get the ward information to the Clark County Clerk so those of voting age can register in their new ward.

Smith told the council the procedure required to annex Gurdon Primary School into the city limits. The