Hope City Board
The Hope City 
The Hope City Board met Tuesday at the Fair Park Community Center for a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting. The meeting kicked off with Josh Williams of the Hempstead County Bicentennial Committee presenting the city with a commemorative marker from the Committee. There are 14 more such markers to be placed around the County. Mayor Don Still said the board will probably discuss where to put it at a future meeting.
The board looked at expenditures for the first three months of the year. The budget is in good shape with the exception of sanitation which the board planned to discuss later in the meeting. There were questions about several specific expenditures. No action was taken. Mayor Still lauded City Financial Director Debbie Hall for her work on the report.
The board accepted a bid for City Hall mowing. One bid was received from Pro-Cut (Jeremy Stroud) for $4,972.50. It was accepted and approved by the board.
The board considered an ordinance increasing sanitation rates. Under the ordinance, residential fees would increase to $18.30 per residence on July 1st, ultimately rising to $19.80 per month in January 2024. Commercial Fees for bagged trash would go to $37.50 per month on July 1st, ultimately rising to 52.20 per month in January 2024. Commercial containers would rise to $18 per month July 1st and ultimately to $20.25 by January 2024. Landfill tipping fees would go to $6 per cubic yard on July 1st and ultimately to $6.75 per cubic yard in January 2024. Class 1 compacted material would rise to $12 per cubic yard July 1st and ultimately to $13.50 per cubic yard by January 2024. The board approved the ordinance.
The board looked at asphalt hot mix bids and accepted the low bid of 105.90 per ton from Tri-state Asphalt of DeQueen for 2,500 tons a total of $264,750. This was the same amount as last year. The board then accepted the low bid on milling for $2.57 per square yard for a total of $50,834.60 for 19,780 square yards.
Under the City Manager’s Report, Catherine Cook noted the City Hall roof project is basically complete. She noted a bid package for the airport lobby area is ready. She noted the work on the Klipsch building at the airport is about finished. Cook said there is one utility that has not confirmed they are finished relocating from the 6th Street. Also it was discussed about revising franchise agreements with utilities requiring them to comply with requests to relocate from all city right of way within 90 days or face being booted from the city right of way. It was noted this is timely as a number of agreements are expiring. Cook also noted the street committee will be convened shortly to discuss this year’s street program. She also noted the landfill expansion is essentially done and will be finished by the end of the month. Cook noted crews are working on cleaning the pool, replacing tile,and painting. They hope to fill it next week and get the kinks out in May. Cook said the city had a successful fishing derby this past Saturday at Lake Huckabee. She said they hope to have more. There were no citizens requests and the meeting adjourned.