Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Council Hears 911 Update

Gurdon's City Council was given a brief overview of the county's 911 emergency telephone system at its regular meeting Monday night.

Charles Bullard, 911 coordinator, said he's been working on the system since February 1994. He had recently retired from military service when the county issued the call for his assistance.

Since this time, he hasn't stopped. The 911 program has been done in four phases, with step one renaming all roads in Clark County. Phase II was a requirement from Southwestern Bell Telephone to measure each road, gathering information on all emergency services available in the area.

Bullard is currently working on Phase III -- addressing each house on all roads outside city limits. For the most part, city addresses have been left alone.

So far, he has knocked on more than 4,200 doors working to find out how many people live in homes.

At this time, he said, Arkadelphia route 3 is the last to be done. When this area is completed some 5,000 houses will have been addressed.

Then comes the fourth and final phase: ordering and installing the equipment. Bullard said it will take about four months to get the equipment once it's ordered.

From there, it will be a matter of training dispatch personnel at the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Members of the council questioned Bullard as to why the roads were named and not numbered. He said this was done to cut down on confusion and speed response time.

Sometimes, he said, it's easy to get numbers mixed up, while it's much easier to keep names straight.

However, he admitted renaming many streets upset some residents, who didn't want a new address.

Bullard said when working around the Gurdon area, he left room for addresses so the city can grow and annex new parts into the city limits.

The system should be in operation by the end of 1996 or early 1997, he told the council.

Bullard also reminded them the 911 system will not be like the television program, "Rescue 911." Dispatchers will not give medical advice.

In other business, Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said Union Pacific Railroad may soon be getting a bill from the city. It seems UP did some trimming along its right of ways, yet left the refuse where it fell. Some, he said, was in the street.

He called the rail line and was informed it would have clean up crews out later that night. However, because of the immediate problems the limbs and trash posed, Smith had the city's street department clear the debris.

UP, he said, will be getting a bill for the overtime the street department workers had to put in.

Tenth Street will have to wait another year before getting repaired as well, Smith said.

However, this is because the county will be paving the street, whereas the city was looking at doing a chip and seal job.

Smith informed the board of a meeting he had with Clark County Judge Grady Runyan. The county road crews will be working on School Street, and will do the half-mile long 10th at the same time.

This, he said, will save the city $32,000, the cost of a chip and seal job, while the asphalting will provide a better street for a longer period of time.

However, to help with the dust problem this year, Smith said the street department will put down a primer coat of oil to seal the dust in.

According to Gurdon Street Superintendent Jim Caldwell, the oil should last until winter.

Mary Burns, giving the report for the Airport Commission, said a bid was received from Bobo and Bain of Hope for about $3,000 less than a prior bid for excavation work.

However, she said the commission has not gotten its air easement yet from a local resident, and it may be easier to get International Paper Company's easement rights by condemning the property in question.

This would speed up the process for IP, she said.

Three bids were received to do work at the Gurdon City Park. One bid was for carpentry and concrete work, while a second bid was for plumbing and the third for repair of the tennis courts.

Robert Burns was awarded the contract for carpentry and concrete with his bid of $1,203. Kenneth Harper will renovate the bathrooms at a cost of $2,427, while King Asphalt of Hot Springs will do the tennis court repairs for $8,590. Overall, the work will cost $12,220.

City Recorder/Treasurer Tambra Smith and Burns worked to get grants for these upgrades, along with obtaining matching monies from local businesses, industries and individuals.

The city will take sealed bids for an old police car, which has been stripped of all police equipment. These bids will be opened at the June meeting of the council, with the city maintaining the right to refuse any and all bids.

The final order of business involved the amount of gasoline being used by the Gurdon Police Department.

Smith said 800 gallons were purchased in March, and this rose to 900 gallons in April, with the GPD paying $1.31 per gallon for premium gasoline.

In the first quarter of this year, the mayor said, the GPD has spent $3,471.68 for fuel. It's fuel budget for the entire year is $7,500.

"We have no explanation for the use," he said. "The consumption of gas will go up in the summer months."

Smith said the council may want to reexamine taking bids for fuel for the department.