In a special meeting Thursday night the Alexander city council gave Mayor
Paul Mitchell approval to add streets to a list of streets currently being
paved under a state funded improvement program. The approval came in the form
of moving $85,000 from the general fund to the street fund and allocating $150,000
for the additional streets.
Mitchell also received permission to pave the city park driveway and
parking lot with park funds. As of Thursday’s meeting Mitchell didn’t have a
quote for that project.
After a lengthy discussion between Alderwoman Andrea Bearden and City
Treasurer Kenneth Miller it was determined there is a reconciled balance of around
$208,000 in the general fund. Council members were provided bank account
statements for both the general and street funds. However, a list of
outstanding checks was not included. Once Miller ran a printout of those two
amounts it was determined the general fund had enough to repay the street fund
$85,000 and spend $150,000 from the street fund.
Approving the three proposals were Andrea Bearden, Stephanie Beck, Lonny
Chapman, Dan Church, Andy Mullins, and Melissa Ratliff. Louis Hobbs was absent
and Jeffery Watson has resigned his seat on the council after his recent move
from Ward-1 to Ward-3.
Besides paving the city park driveway and parking lot, which are
currently rock, Mitchell proposed paving Don Parker Drive from Redwood Lane to
West Azalea Drive; paving West Azalea Drive from Don Parker Drive to Kathy
Drive; and paving Dogwood Ranchette Drive. The streets would be paid for mostly
from the street fund plus there is $14,782.51 left of the $250,000 street
improvement grant awarded to Alexander by the Arkansas Highway Department of Transportation
(AHDT).
The transfer of $85,000 will also help the general fund repay the
nearly $86,000 it owes the street fund. During Shirley Johnson’s first 17 years
as mayor the general fund received $159,913 of street fund revenue in violation
of state law. What’s called “Street Turnback” funds, which are distributed to
counties and municipalities from the state’s fuel tax, can only be spent on
street related services.
In 2007 city council members, most appointed after the annexation of
Woodland Hills, discovered the illegal spending noted in an annual state audit
of the city. Aldermen ordered that all future street fund money be deposited in
the street fund. Also, future budgets provided for payments of additional
revenue from the general fund to the street fund, which had reduced the amount owed
to around $86,000.
The streets to be repaved under the state grant are Autumn Cove and
that portion of Magnolia Glen that intersects Autumn Cove in St. Joseph’s Glen,
Brookwood Road from Don Parker to the railroad tracks, all of Cornerstone,
Kelli Place, and a portion of 2nd Street. The paving began
Wednesday, November 18. Mitchell said AHDT engineers will also oversee the
additional work approved by the council.
