Pafford Ambulance Service selected as Saline County’s EMS provider

In a Facebook post on July 20, City of Alexander Mayor Paul Mitchell announced that Pafford Medical Services has been selected to provide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to both the rural areas and cities in Saline County. Pafford will begin providing services January 1, 2022.

According to their website Pafford has been in business for 53 years. The website also states, “Pafford is home to over 900 full and part-time employees that staff more than 120 ambulances, three helicopters, three fixed wing aircraft, two state of the art communications centers, and one billing center across a four state region.”

Pafford is serving multiple locations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. They also provide air and ambulance service in Dallas, Texas. Based on the map on their website they do not appear to have any operations in Central Arkansas, including Saline County.

In April the Alexander City Council approved an inter-local agreement, joining six Saline County cities and the county in forming a coalition to contract with one EMS provider. The other cities involved are Bauxite, Benton, Bryant, Haskell, Shannon Hills, and Traskwood.

As stated in the ordinance, which established the inter-local agreement, the,”[P]urpose is to ensure that there is increased consistency, transparency, and accountability with the emergency medical services … provider for the citizens of Saline County.”

The agreement established an EMS governing board. The board, “[W]ill be responsible for issuing a competitive solicitation for EMS services and assuring that the terms of any EMS franchise agreement are complied with.”

Near the end of Alexander’s July 19 council meeting Mitchell said the EMS board was meeting the next day (Tuesday July 20) to review the five submissions. He said they were to narrow them down to three. Apparently, by the end of the meeting they were down to one.

This contract will not affect EMS services in the Pulaski County portion of Alexander. That area will still be served by MEMS.

Alexander Planning Commission schedules zoning hearing for August

The City of Alexander Planning Commission has set August 10 as the date for a public hearing on a request by My Ample Storage to zone approximately 1.73 acres of land from Open Space/Recreational (OS/R) to Highway Commercial. My Ample Storage is located along Highway 5 west of North Alexander Road.

The property was annexed into the city in 2018. When the new zoning map was established in 2019 the property was given the OS/R designation as required for all undeveloped annexed property, under the newly established zoning ordinance.

Attending the July 20 planning commission’s special meeting were Engineer Jacob White, of Bond Consulting Engineers, Inc. in Jacksonville, Arkansas and My Ample Storage owner Terry Bean. Plans were presented showing how the rezoned property will be used, along with a 3.27-acre parcel which was annexed in January 2017. That parcel is already zoned Highway Commercial.

The plan is to build additional storage buildings along with units for indoor storage of boats and recreational vehicles. Some of the new storage buildings have already been built.

Much of this construction is due to a plan by the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDoT) to widen Highway 5 from North Alexander Road to Highway 183 in Bryant. According to ARDoT’s plan, the widening project includes four lanes of traffic (two lanes in both directions), a center left turn lane, with bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides. Construction is slated to begin in 2024.

The widening will will take out My Ample Storage’s brick wall that borders Highway 5. To replace it at least one row of storage sheds must be removed.

The zoning hearing will be held August 10 at 6:30 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex along Highway 111. Following the public hearing the planning commission will hold its regular August meeting, at which the decision will be made whether to recommend rezoning the property to the city council.

Also during the special meeting, Chairman Michael Huck reported that Metroplan has begun writing the survey that will be used to get opinions from city residents concerning future growth. The survey is the next step in writing a comprehensive development plan for Alexander.

He said Metroplan will send a preliminary survey for review. Commissioners and council members will be given the opportunity to review the survey and make any suggestions to the list of questions.

Alexander Council amends budget for 2021, mostly up

The Alexander City Council approved a resolution amending the city’s budget for 2021. As it stands now, estimates show revenues increasing from the original budget in all but one account.
Adjusted estimates for revenue and expenditures in the various funds are:

General Fund
Revenue was $2,058,483.00; Now $2,400,774.00 (UP 16.6%).
Expenses was $1,616,628.00; Now $1,925,288.90 (UP 19.0%).

Police Department
Revenue was $552,226.00; Now $808,683.00 (UP 46.4%).
Expenses was $548,144.00; Now $633,259.76 (UP 15.5%).

Fire Department
Revenue was $606,076.00; Now $828,351.00 (UP 36.6%).
Expenses was $588,027.00; Now $658,504.00 (UP 11.9%).

Street Department
Revenue was $317,599.00; Now $282,834.43 (DOWN 10.9%).
Expenses was $172,612.99; Now $282,675.00. (UP 63.7%).

Parks and Recreation
Revenue was $134,301.00; Now $359,550.16 (UP 167.7%).
Expenses was $126,112.00; Now $141,215.00 (UP 11.9%).

The original 2021 budget estimated payroll for all departments, city hall employees and elected officials at $1,326,657.74. The amended budget has that number at $1,428,576.43 (UP 7.6%). This includes both wages and benefits.

For the most part, revenue for the various departments goes into the General Fund first and then is distributed to the other funds. The police, fire and parks and recreation departments are funded by two one-cent sales taxes, which were designated for those three departments when voters approved the taxes. A third one-cent city sales tax is used for the General Fund. The tax revenue is deposited into the General Fund by the state and then is redistributed to the accounts for those departments. The city’s share of the state fuel tax, however, is deposited directly into the street fund by the state. That money can only be used to fund the street department.

Fortunately, budgets can be established through the use of a resolution. A resolution requires only one public reading and can be approved with a simple majority.

If it had to be done using an ordinance, the ordinance would not be in effect. An ordinance requires three public readings at three separate meetings. To override the second and third reading, and to declare an emergency so the ordinance can become effective the same day it is approved, two-thirds of the council members (that’s six) must vote “Yes.” Four members of the council attended the July 19 meeting; Joe Pollard, Juanita Wilson, Harold Timmerman, and Lonny Chapman. Mayor Paul Mitchell served as the quorum member allowing the meeting to be held, but that’s only five.

Also at the July 19 meeting;
The council approved the appropriation of $28,000.00 to purchase a 1996 Ford Boom Truck for the street department. Mayor Paul Mitchell described the truck as having a diesel engine with 99,000 miles on it. The actual purchase price is $27,635.00. (See photo.)

The truck will be used mainly to aid in removing downed trees. Mitchell said because the truck has its own dump bed and a boom, for lifting limbs, the street department crew can forego loading whatever equipment is needed onto the trailer and driving a dump truck to the scene. Everything can be done with one vehicle in less time.

Mitchell reported the electronic message sign, in front of the Municipal Complex, is under repair. The long-time darkened metal rectangle has had its wi-fi system replaced and is now waiting for a software upgrade.

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, August 16 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander Planning Commission schedules special meeting to hear zoning request

The City of Alexander Planning Commission will hold a special meeting Tuesday evening to hear a request from representatives of Ample Storage to zone a lot to Highway Commercial. Ample Storage is located on Highway 5 near the intersection with Alexander Road. It is expected the commissioners will schedule a public hearing on the zoning request.

The special meeting will be held Tuesday, July 20 at 6:30 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex along Highway 111, across from the post office. The public is invited to attend.

Two items on Alexander agenda

The Alexander City Council will be asked to approve two items at Monday night’s meeting. One is an amended budget. The other is the purchase of a boom truck.

Council members were given copies of the proposed amended budget at the June council meeting. Besides the usual mid-year adjustments in revenue and spending the budget now includes a pay grade chart.

The purchase request for a 1996 Ford Boom Truck is from the street department. A purchase price is not included on the agenda.

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, July 19 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex (City Hall). The public is invited to attend.