Council meets new SRO

PRESCOTT – There wasn’t much business for the Prescott City Council to deal with, but the panel took a lot of time dealing with it during October’s meeting Monday night.

First, the council was introduced to Keith Purifoy, the new School Resource Officer for the Prescott School District. Purifoy comes from Clark County and has been in law enforcement since 2015.

From there, things slowed to a crawl. Appraisals for a piece of city owned property were presented, both being identical at $9,690. The property was appraised because Park Baptist Church needs more parking area and was interested in what the city would sell this parcel for.

After around 10 minutes of discussion the council agreed to sell the land for its appraised value, and not the rounded up value of $10,000.

Next up was a lengthy discussion on whether to continue allowing elections for the city, or forego the election process and have the council appoint one. This was brought over from the September meeting when City Attorney Glenn Vasser informed the panel the Arkansas Legislature gave councils the option.

It took about 20 minutes for the council to do nothing and let the issue die without action. The discussion ranged around making the change because no one has ran for the position in several decades, to doing away with the election would take power away from the people and reduce a Constitutional right.

Jamie Hillery, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, told the panel the recent Fall Festival was successful with 82 vendors and perfect weather. She pointed out the Chamber’s 2nd Annual Mingle and Jingle is coming up in Nov. and encouraged everyone to attend and see what items can be found locally for holiday shopping.

The next major event for the Chamber, she said, is Trick or Treat on Elm Street and the Halloween Costume Contest, both on Oct. 31.

Vasser gave a brief update on the electrical situation. He said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision is pending as settlements are being discussed. On the federal side of the issue, he told the council there’s a motion to dismiss the case by SWEPCO and if the court doesn’t rule on it, this will be good for Prescott because then it can go to trial. The FERC situation, he reminded the panel, is to allow Prescott to get out of its contract and the pancake transmission fees.

The final 20 minutes were spent talking about the need to clean Prescott up. Councilman Howard Austin said citizens need to buy in to what’s being done on cleaning the town up and suggested holding a public meeting.

The discussion went back and forth, with the rest of the panel agreeing, but with no one coming up with any concrete ideas, aside from getting organized and holding a public meeting. In the end, a committee consisting of Austin, Ivory Curry and Patricia Roberts was formed to set a time and place for a public meeting.