Hope City Board

The Hope City Board met in City Hall on Tuesday (10-17).  After the invocation and pledge of allegiance, the minutes from the previous meeting were reviewed. A motion was made to accept them which was seconded and passed.

Bonnie Raff spoke on the importance of literacy. She stated that it was the single most important factor in determining a person’s career arc. Raff talked about jobs within reach of the literate the real challenge of those illiterate of obtaining work.  Raff gave statistics about global literacy and rates in the U.S. 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. This costs Americans a lot of money every year. 34% of the people 18 and older with low literacy proficiency weren’t born in the U.S. The state with the highest rate of child literacy is Massachusetts while New Mexico has the lowest. California has the lowest literacy rate in the country. 1/4 of Arkansans are unable to read or write beyond the very basic levels.  If a child isn’t reading by grade level by 4th grade they are statistically likely to remain illiterate throughout their life, drop out of high school and enter the criminal justice system.  Raff mentioned D.O.G.S (Dads of Good Students) at Clinton Primary as a good way to help children learn to read and write.

Next was the consideration of acceptance of the STOP grant. This stands for Stop Violence Against Women. Hope Police Department has participated in this for many years. It is a federal grant. Hope Police Department simply asked the Board to allow it to accept the grant.

Police Chief Kim Tomlin asked the city to allow the HPD to accept the STEP Grant Award. This is used to support DWI/DUI, speeding, distracted driving and seat belt enforcement.  After the question being asked and answered why only 26% of the funds were received last year – shortage of staff there was a motion to accept which passed.

The next issue was the surplus of vehicles with three vehicles to be sold or scrapped – a Crown Victoria, Dodge Charger and a Chevy Impala. An online company will do the listing. A motion to approve was made by Director Mark Ross which was seconded and passed.

Finances were the next issue with lights in the ballfield costing $2,000 and fencing around the transformer $1,000. Soccer goals cost $4800. Wastewater is $67,000 in the red. The city’s revenues are up 3% from last year while the county’s are up 1%

An effort to cut timber around the airport has started.

The update on 6th Street was that one man was working on it but they haven’t started phase two. The state is in charge of monitoring it.

There was the hope expressed that Director Reginald Easter gets better and the asking of a prayer for Sonic Employees.

The meeting adjourned