Alexander Mayor gives State of the City Address

At the end of her monthly report Alexander Mayor Crystal Herrmann gave a State of the City Address. The Address provided council members with an up-to-date financial status report of all accounts to the end of February, 2024.

"In February, at the end of February, everything reconciled, general funds had a total of $827,845.14," Herrmann began. "The PD (Police Department) has at the end of February, $62,137.26 in this account. Parks was holding at $155,942.45; streets, $59,383.57. The payroll account was sitting with $123,687.01. And the ARPA account (American Recovery Plan Account) was still holding at $298,298.14."

"I feel like the city is in good standing," Herrmann continued. "I'm really encouraged. I do believe we are on the right path. I think all the department heads will agree when we can say we can actually sit down and look at a budget and go, okay, I need this, what do we have, where we headed. I'm just, it's a good start."

"I'm happy with the office staff," Herrmann said. "I appreciate everybody's efforts."

"We're in a good place," she concluded. "Of course, there's never enough money for all of these, but we're doing a lot better than others."

Also at the March 18 council meeting;

Trees planted to slow erosion of Crooked Creek in park

Mayor Crystal Herrmann provided council members with an update on the plan to plant trees along the Crooked Creek bank inside the City Park to help reduce erosion. Herrmann has been working with Aaron Norden, the Region III Stream Habitat Coordinator with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

"We had over 100 trees planted on the banks," she said "We had some volunteers that actually come [sic] out and see some really good folks."

Bass Pro said "No"

Last December Herrmann applied for a grant from Bass Pro Shops. The grant was to be used to renovate the bathroom and the pavilion at the pond on the southern end of the former Human Development Center.

"Unfortunately, we were not chosen for that grant," Herrmann said. "So we'll get creative and see what we can come up with for some more funding for that."

Saline County Animal Control, "Not going to happen"

Mayor Herrmann told council members Saline County's smaller municipalities are on their own when it comes to animal control. Currently Benton and Bryant have animal control departments.

"I met with multiple small cities and Tricia over at the Bryant Animal Shelter," Herrmann said. "She (Tricia) was trying to take us under her wing and give suggestions. We also had Anne Sanders from the Humane Society, who was there."

The discussion transitioned into the need for both a code enforcement officer and an animal control officer. Herrmann noted one person can do both because, "animal control is code enforcement."

"So we posted for a code enforcer slash animal control officer position for the city of Alexander," Herrmann said. "Tricia over at Bryant, (said) we can put somebody through school to manage. I mean, the animal control is code enforcement. So I've been told that a lot of small cities do both code and animal control under the same employee. And as small as our city is, I think once there's a good handle on it, I think it's more than doable."

Herrmann isn't waiting for the establishment of an animal control department. She is working with the Saline County Humane Society to hold a vaccination clinic next month.

"And, then we're hoping in April we can host a vaccination day where people drive through and vaccinate for a low fee," she said. "

Saline County Library box won't be activated until after eclipse

The Saline County Library System is installing a kiosk outside the Alexander Municipal Complex that will be used to order, pick up and return library books. Currently only the outer shell has been installed.

"It's going to be after April 8th when it will be up and running," Herrmann said. "I think it's going to get moved in here shortly. And then we have to have the electrician. And then the tech guy has to come and plug it in. And then they've got some graphics and stuff coming into display the box. So, you can actually know what it is. So, I'm excited about that."

City Hall to be closed April 8

Mayor Herrmann announced the Alexander Municipal Complex will be closed April 8, the day of the eclipse.

Reports from other department heads

Fire and Rescue;
Emergency calls with a mix of training

"We're running a little over 60 calls for the month so far," reported Fire Chief Ryan McCormick. "They've run from structured fires, to medical calls, to vehicle accidents, control or uncontrolled burns, people burning in the yard that are not supposed to be burning; those type of incidents."

Then there's training. According to McCormick the department has been training for shootings, hazardous material response and disaster related search and rescue.

"We've been really busy training-wise," McCormick continued. "We're still working on some different types of training that we are involved with and have been asked to be a part of such as the (Saline) county-wide rescue task force."

"That's a pretty big deal to be apart of," he told council members. "It deals with active shooters, incidents for schools and churches. So we'll be starting to get involved with Benton, Bryant in the same county task force to be trained and equipped with that and be prepared for those type of instances for the county."

"Three of our members finished up their hazmat tech class, which is pretty big," McCormick explained. "It's an 80-hour class."

"We have four members, five members on the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) team," McCormick said. "That's a room, search and rescue team that gets deployed on natural disasters, tornadoes, those kind of things."

Alexander Fire and Rescue took part in a training session recently in Hot Springs Village.

"We sent two guys that were deployed with the USAR team," McCormick said. "That's the first time in the fire department's history that we've had team members be deployed for the city. They were in Hot Springs Village for several hours checking on homes and trying to take care of people that are injured or just trying to get to places."

Preparations for the upcoming eclipse are underway. McCormick says he's been working with Alexander Police Chief Robert Burnett plus county and state agencies.

"We've been in meetings for the last two years of different eclipse situations and problems in the county and state organizations and I don't think anybody really realizes what's going to happen," McCormick said. "We just got to prepare for the worst and that's kind of what we're looking for right now. Just pre-planning and having some extra staff on hand through a three-day period."

In response to a query on Facebook about the working status of the tornado siren at the Central Firehouse, McCormick said it's still not working. And, it's not the only siren not working in Saline County. It's on the list to be repaired."

"That is a county project," McCormick said. "They (Saline County) have several tornado sirens throughout the county that are not working. Ours is one of them. They are very much aware of that. I have been in contact with the OEM (Office of Emergency Management) director, Mr. Cohn, and they are working on a solution to get that fixed."

Police Department;
Police taking a different type of training

Alexander police officers are getting additional training as a preventative measure. This type of training, however, is an effort to keep the city out of court.

"As you know, a lot of big lawsuits coming down police departments and cities," Police Chief Robert Burnett said. "One of our neighborhood cities just got sued for 32 million.

"So like I said, the police department will double up on training," Burnett continued. "I did 19 classes this past month."

"Everybody has to be a lot more trained," Burnett said. "Just not because we're lacking any of it. We're just trying to get more of it."

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is April 15, 6:00 PM at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.