Howard awarded construction contract for new shop

PRESCOTT – Doyle Howard Construction of Delight was awarded the contract to build a new metal shop building for the City of Prescott.

This was done at the September meeting of the Prescott City Council, Monday night. The building will be a 3,500 square foot structure with three-inches of insulation. Howard’s bid was $210,000. The other bid was from Rogers Construction of Hot Springs for $223,102. Neither bid included painting, landscaping or utilities. The structure will be used by Prescott Water and Light. It will be paid using money from the city’s depreciation fund.

Jamie Hillery, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, reminded the council the Fall Festival and Trade Days will be Oct. 13. More than 60 vendors have already registered for this year’s event, with the number for last year being in the low 40s. The festival will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. this year.

Robbie Franks, code enforcement officer, sent out 38 letters last month, with 18 going to the west side of town and 20 to the east side. Ten of the letters were for inoperable vehicles in yards, two for pit bulls and 26 were for grass, trash and rubbish. Twelve were completed within the 20 days, but the rest have ignored the letters. He told the council people aren’t taking the letters seriously and won’t until they can be ticketed for these violations.

City Attorney Glenn Vasser suggested meeting with District Judge Tony Yocom to make sure everything is legal in giving Franks the authority to write and enforce tickets. Unfortunately, Yocom is on vacation at this time. In the interim, the Prescott Police Department is writing tickets on animal control issues. It will also have to be determined whether Franks or the PPD will write tickets on other code violations.

He said the two-story building across from the Nevada County Courthouse is still in limbo. The building was constructed in 1924, but has been vacant for years. Franks said windows are broken out and the weather gets in. Judy Duke, curator of the Nevada County Depot and Museum wrote the owner a letter telling him the building is of historic value and could be placed on the historic register. A local contractor is also interested in buying the building and remodeling it, but there has been no response from the owner.

The owner of the former Prescott Motor property will be in town this week to discuss what to do with that structure. Franks continued his report telling the council  he’s working on a list of 18 houses to be torn down, reminding them there’s a lot of paperwork involved and it’s a time consuming process.

He added, he’s focusing on the main entrances to Prescott first as these are the initial areas people see when coming into town.

As the meeting ended, Vasser pointed out there is no longer a newspaper in the county and he needs to do research on how to get legal notices posted. He told the council the Arkansas Legislature needs to change the statute to allow for internet publication.