Hope City Board – Hope Prescott

The Hope City Board met at City Hall on Tuesday evening (10-3). The meeting started with an invocation, the pledge and approval of the minutes.

Beckie Moore spoke for the Downtown Network on the topic of “A Taste of Hope” and what its aim was. She stated the aim was to invite people downtown to savor the revitalization that has taken place and that is to come. Moore stated there are 20 fully funded Main Street communities in the state. Hope is a volunteer Main Street Community with the aim of becoming fully funded. Jennifer Block spoke on the projects the Arts Council will be doing during the “Taste of Hope” event. One was a paint by number mural which will have the painters’ names recorded. The other will be an art gallery hung in two pedestrian alleyways. This will showcase a lot of the local artists. People will check in near the Hub. The event will showcase all of the local food. There will be twenty eateries. People will get to sample from all of them and return to each participating eatery as much as they want. At 7pm there will be a motivational speaker on stage. There will be blown up images of the three potential projects which people can vote for. There will be a speakeasy with mocktails and music will be in the Pocket Park. People are encouraged to savor the flavor of downtown, invest and revitalize. The sponsors for the event include Tyson, Brentwood, Cadence Bank, SWARK, Bobcat Freight, Lance and Associates, and First National Bank of Tom Bean.

Mayor Don Still encouraged participation saying Downtown Network had made a big difference in a few years.

Maria Marquez from the Beautification Committee spoke next. She said the committee aims to do a few yards each month. In every neighborhood a lot of residents take care of their yards and the committee wants to recognize them. The Committee is also acquiring flags and appreciates the cleaning out of the post holes. The members want to bring to Hope the equivalent of what Texarkana has for patriotic holidays. Two flower beds on 67 have been the focus for Christmas. This year, Hope City Hall will also be a focus for decorations. The Committee is focused on the entrance to the city and what the visitor sees, with the aim of welcome signs and the promotion of all that Hope has to offer. Marquez spoke about adding trees through work with Trees USA or Arbor Day. The goal would be to add trees along Hervey and Hazel Street. The Beautification Committee is struggling for members and wants to grow the Committee. It only has four consistent members. The Committee meets every 4th Thursday of the month at 5:30. Due to conflict with other events this time may need to be changed. The Committee meets in the Tailgater’s Conference room. The Committee also offers community service for the youth and has had groups from Unity Baptist, Scouts and the Garrett Memorial Leo Club.

The Board moved on to the topic of City Wastewater. This involved the approval of engineering service agreement for overflow and dredging project. City Manager JR Wilson said it had been recommended to do it in two service agreements. The Board was asked to accept Spears Engineering for this project. There was a motion to accept which passed.

The Board also voted on a Bond Counsel Services Agreement for the overflow and dredging project with Eldridge and Clarke being the recommended firm. There was a motion to accept which passed.

A signatory resolution for the wastewater project which the Mayor and the City Manager will sign was approved. The Board’s approval was needed to proceed and a motion was made and passed to allow them to continue.

There was money left over from the aeronautical grant for fixing the fence and the replacement of the beacon light and obstruction lighting. Arkansas Aeronautics stated they preferred for Hope to use the money for additional security improvements instead of returning it. Director Steve Montgomery asked what those improvements might be. Darrel Allen responded with a list such as signs needing to be replaced, adding a FEMA gate, adding a keypad entry into the office and a hanger area surveillance system. There was a motion to approve the enlargement of the scope of the project and this use of the funds.

The city has been contacted about the renewal of the Arkansas State Police CDL Testing Site. As a lot has been spent on fixing up the airport, the issue was raised about increasing the fee from $600 to $1200. Director Trevor Coffee asked about stair-stepping rather than sudden jumps in fees. City Manager Wilson talked about an obligation to charge market value. The site gets a lot of use with the traffic and use of the parking lot and could be improved by putting in some shade. There was agreement about stair-stepping and it was stated that other airports have that built into the agreement. A motion to change the fee was made and passed

For Sanitation, a 2016 Freightliner Commercial Truck has been used for spare parts and the Board was asked to declare it as surplus so that it could be sold. All the useful parts have been removed. A motion was made to declare it surplus. This motion passed.

Police Chief Tomlin showed off a plaque that Hope Police Department had received for their accreditation and acknowledged the role that City Manager Wilson had played in securing it.

The city has received notification that it will not receive the splash pad this year. During the Citizen’s Requests, Marsha White asked why the City hadn’t received it. The response was the greater number of cities applying for grants and low scoring numbers due to recent upgrades in facilities. Mayor Still said said while the city would keep trying to get a grant, maybe the city should look into combining it with other projects and doing it themselves.

The hope was expressed that the Board was open to a millage increase to make Hope competitive as other cities of a similar size are trying to add something.

As talked about in the previous meeting, City Manager Wilson recommended six committees for future capital projects with four of them being citizen committees and the other two staff committees.

The meeting adjourned.