Hope City Board meets for 2nd February meeting
HOPE – Meeting night Tuesday for the Hope City Board opened with a Board Working Meeting to discuss board preferences for Potential Recreation Aquatic Center Value Engineering cost reductions. City Manager JR Wilson walked the city board members through a number of recommended changes, modifications, or deletions to bring the project into the funding range that’s available to be spent.
Following the working meeting, the regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Don Still.
Arkansas Municipal League General Counsel John Wilkerson and Legislative Liaison Jack Critcher presented a Distinguished Legislator Award to State Representative Dolly Henley of Washington for her work on behalf of cities and towns in the state.
Street Superintendent Kenneth Harvel presented the Street Committee overlay, milling and miscellaneous repair plan for 2026. That was approved.
Cheryl Schluterman with Raymond James was present to discuss the 2026 Landfill bond funding analysis and potential timeline. City staff asked for Board selection of a sanitation debt service charge that will be incorporated and later presented to the Board of Directors via a City Ordinance.
City Manager Wilson said immediate landfill needs include closed landfill remediation project (mandated corrective action), new bailing system, excavator, skid steer, dump truck, class 4 landfill cell, repairs to the landfill building septic system, corrective grading/drainage around the building and possibly extending the equipment shed.
Wilson said the good news is Hope received a principal forgiveness loan from ANRC for $521,830 to complete the landfill remediation project. This leaves the remaining needs to be financed from revenues of the system. Current revenues are insufficient to cover these improvements. Estimated additional improvements needed amount to approximately $2,500,000. The board approved increases of $7 residential, $10 commercial bagged, and $30 commercial dumpster to be incorporated into a city ordinance and enter agreements for bond service and bond counsel.
The board approved the changes discussed during the workshop session earlier in the evening. The option will be open to add back some of the cuts made to get the Recreation Aquatic Center within the money set aside for the project if approved costs are less than budgeted.
Regarding Third Party Testing Statement of Qualifications – Composite Score Sheet for the recreation project, City Manager Wilson, said he, Assistant Manager Daniel Shelman and Engineer Jeremy Stone recommended McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. for the project based on them having the highest total composite score of 58. However, the board voted to award the project to ETTL Engineers and Consultants, Inc., which had the second highest composite score of 55. That vote was 5-1, with Mark Ross, Gary Johnson, Don Still, Reginald Easter, and Kiffinea Talley voting yes, and Linda Clark voting no. Trevor Coffee was not present. A third company considered was Professional Service Industries, Inc.
The board approved a request from Warner Mays, III and Sandra May to connect to the city’s wastewater collection system to a pair of lots off East 28th Street they are developing. The action also granted a request by Sandra May to connect her residence to the system.
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