Mayor looks for improvements in 2020

PRESCOTT – Mayor Terry Oliver is looking for good things for Prescott in 2020.

He said the city pulled in $840,000 in grants in 2019, which helped improve the community. In 2020, he said, the city will be looking to apply for more grants.

This grant work, he continued, will start in the spring for the Prescott Water/Wastewater project where several old pipes and lines will be replaced. The airport grant will will also start soon, and the Hwy. 67 N. sidewalk grant will begin in the spring as well. In addition, grant money will be used to install new scoreboards for the baseball fields for t-ball up to 12-year-olds. This, he added, is from a grant through the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Department.

Earlier in the year, though, the city will begin work on planning and zoning maps, along with ordinances.

Several small businesses, he said, opened in 2019. “This year we will be looking for more future business owners as the Southern Arkansas University (SAU) Small Business Center with Janell Morton – director – will still be glad to work with our prospective business owners.”

Additionally, he said, city leaders will continue woring with the regional group, the Southwest Arkansas Development Alliance (SADA). Through this regional group, Oliver continued, Prescott will see more and better city-to-city partnering of SADA with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), along with the Southwest Arkansas Planning and Development District, which is located in Magnolia.

2020 is also a census year. Oliver said the city will be working hard with census leaders to get an accurate count for the city and county. “Probably the most important reason for people to respond to the census is that the census guides how much money a community gets from the government,” he said. The US Census Bureau will frame privacy and confidentiality in a variety of ways to protect people’s personal information. There will be an early educational messaging on the bureau’s data protection and privacy policies, stressing individual information will not be shared with any government law enforcement agencies.

Oliver said this year’s community-wide clean up and the city’s Fourth of July Fireworks show will be bigger and better in 2020.

He pointed out the city has its legal team working on the electric rate pancaking issue, and said this major problem could be resolved in 2020.

City crews will continue working on improving the cleanliness and pride in local neighborhoods. “City leaders are looking forward with 2020 with lots of optimism and excitement,” he said.