PPD helping with city cleanup

By Staff, 09/21/21 10:30 AM

PRESCOTT – Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, told the Prescott City Council, at its September meeting Monday night, how the Prescott Police Department is working with her office, city hall and the sanitation department to clean up the town.

Godwin said they’re going ward by ward, looking at yards to see which ones need to be mowed, which houses need to be razed and which houses have debris and junk cluttering up the yards. Ward 1 was the first with the next to be Ward 4. Godwin told the panel some yards haven’t been mowed all year and letters are being sent to homeowners warning them to take care of the problem. In addition, she said they’re going through the process to get houses razed, adding yards with junk and other clutter are health hazards and breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

She asked the council to amend the city’s ordinance on lawn care, reducing the time people have to mow from three weeks to 10-days or two weeks.

City Attorney Glenn Vasser said there’s no problem in amending the ordinance if the council so desires. It did. Vasser said people do need to be given a reasonable amount of time to get the job done before they’re issued a citation. He pointed out time of year also makes a difference as there’s not much mowing to be done during the winter.

Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver  suggested giving people 14 days to comply before being given a ticket. The council agreed.

In other business, Prescott Police Chief Ann Jordan, said she’s hired two new officers. Tammy Armstrong is currently at the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Camden and Zachary Prince will be going in January.  She told the council the PPD needs to have three people on each shift, both night and day. At this time, she added, there are two officers working night shift.

The council also approved the annual millage ordinance. This is a 5 mill ordinance to allow the city to obtain state turnback funds. It’s not a new tax, just the existing one being rolled over.

Carl Dalrymple, the city’s accountant, had some good news, telling the council the city’s had more money come in than has gone out, primarily because of the American Rescue Plan Act. At this time, the city’s budget is looking good, but there are limitations on how these funds can be used.

Five people were named to the Planning and Zoning Commission. They are: Jacob Brown, Elaine Williams, Virginia Burton, Linda Thorn and Pearl Bailey. Oliver said they will have to be trained and will meet with the council in the future.

Councilman Howard Austin said they need to know their decisions should be what’s best for the city and the council can overrule their decision if it disagrees. There was talk about having the commissioners sign a contract stating they would serve their full terms before resigning, even though this is an unpaid position. The council, at one time, discussed a stipend for commissioners, but this went nowhere because of the city’s finances.

At the end of the meeting City Clerk Robert Loe, who’s also a member of the Prescott Fire Department, reminded the council the department recently lost a firefighter, city employee and citizen of the community when Bill Hubbard died. He thanked the council for its support of the PFD, adding there are no plans to replace Hubbard at this time, as the firefighters are having a memorial period. The department, he said, is working a man down, but everyone is doing their part and putting in extra effort.