Hope City Board

The Hope City Board met in the City Hall Boardroom on Tuesday (7-2) for their first meeting of July. After the prayer and pledge, the minutes were approved.

The fees charged for class four waste were brought up as the landfill is rapidly filling up. The intent is raise the fees for class 4 waste for those coming from outside the area to $20 a cubic yard instead of $6.75 as it currently is. No action was taken. Next meeting an ordinance will be proposed.

Additions to the Pocket Park from the Hope Downtown Network were much appreciated although there was a concern about handicapped access to the tables. No action was taken.

There were two grants discussed and the board agreed to allowing applications for them. One was a US Department of Transportation grant via the Arkansas High Obesity Program. The money received would be used to implement additional trails as wells to provide crosswalks safety devices and signage. Minimum grants are $2 million. It would be 80% funded by USDOT.

The other grant was the Outdoor Recreation Grant through Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. As a 50/50 grant the city would be required to supply half the funds.

As City Manager, J.R. Wilson reported that the Arkansas Highway Commission will consider the Memorial Highway requests at their August 7th Meeting.

Ballot language was put before the Board for its review and there will be a ballot ordinance on the next agenda.  Wilson asked for the Board’s Approval to create a Fast Fact Sheet and hire someone to create an approximate 1-minute marketing video for the ballot initiative.

The ANRC Bond closed recently and the City received a draw of money from the loan to pay for engineering and bond attorneys. The next step is to bid the project and go forward with construction. First the ANRC plan must be approved.

The meeting adjourned.