For the second time in her first term, Mayor Crystal Herrmann delivered her State of the City address. She began by thanking and acknowledging elected officials, employees and city residents.
“I would like to start by saying and acknowledging all of our council members that have been supported, supported in the administration and all of our dedicated citizens,” she began. “I would like to publicly thank and appreciate all of our city staff and their hard work and dedication as well. That also includes services provided by our city attorney.”
Herrmann also recognized assistance provided by organizations outside the city.
“I would like to recognize the resources with Metroplan and the (Arkansas) Municipal League and the special thank you to my mayoral mentor Joe Smith,” Herrmann said. “He's been a very inspirational person assigned to me by Metroplan and He's been a very useful resource.”
Joe Smith represents Metroplan District-6, which includes Alexander.
Reflecting on her first year as mayor Herrmann said, “The first year was rocky with the body council support and the budget full of zeros and no ability to even sign into the city bank account and review the finances. But those days are behind us.”
Herrmann provided a review of city finances since becoming mayor.
“February of 2023,” she began. “Our general fund’s balance was $450,000. And, February of 2023. February of 2024. By then we were able to work on a budget. We lined out a budget. We ended up with $864,000 as our general funds balance. ... Today, February 2025 our city is sitting with $1.6 Million.”
“I would just like to say what an amazing accomplishment that that is and how proud I am of everyone that's been part of it,” Herrmann said. “And I do believe everybody did a wonderful job as far as staying inside the budget and not really had to use assist funds. Which is given our city an opportunity to save some funds or it's a good idea and it's best practice for our city to have six months of funds put back in the state of emergencies.”
Besides adding a city attorney that attends meetings and a code enforcement/animal control officer, more special events is on her list of accomplishments.
“We've also been able to add additional city events,” Herrmann said. “When I first took office, we had a backpack drive and we had the fall fest. We've able to add the Christmas at the Park. We've been able to add an additional out of school celebration and a back to school splash for the kids. With the networking of some of the, with the Saline County Library and the Indian Springs Baptist Church, we've also been able to add additional services such as a mobile food bank monthly. And then they also have joined in with our children's events too as well. So I'm very proud of that.”
Mayor Herrmann promised to continue to apply for grants and keep working on the ones in the pipeline.
“As mayor, I would say I appreciate this opportunity and I will continue to look and apply for grants to assist our city to move forward and continue the form of movement,” she said. “We are all working now on a Brownfield grant, which is it is a time-consuming thing.”
Brownfield grants are funded by the Environmental Protection Agency to cleanup hazardous waste sites. The city has applied for a grant to cleanup the old hospital at the former Human Development Center.
“I've had to remind myself daily that municipal is not fast,” Herrmann said. “I think the first conversation Mr. Madison and I had was deep breath mayor, municipal is slow. So some of these grants are slow. The seed is sown though and we've been really fortunate that the Central Arkansas Development District is assisting us with this process.”
Looking to the future Herrmann said, “We have multiple other grants that are out for (a) storm water study. And outside of just grants, we also satisfied this last budget for engineering and services. And some of those services we have, well and engineering, they're going to do a sewer impact study for our city. So we will understand what we're looking at with our challenges with our sewers and our water departments. And that will educate us on how we will work with the city development.”
During the regular reports section of the March 17 agenda:
Some park walking trail grant money still remains
“So, right now, what we're looking at was adding a wing off of the trail to the gathering station with what we have benches and it's more circular design that leads towards future playground area,” Herrmann said. “And then if you go on along the trail, it's going to spread out into a half circle off the trail where we can install what musical instruments and we'll have a musical instrument section.”
“And then on the third section, for the addition, we can add a half circle and do some sensory boards,” she continued. “So, we're offering a lot of interactive wheelchair access and some help items.”
Despite plans for this walking trail through the playground appearing in four separate articles in The Alexandrian, including a diagram, Council Member Juanita Wilson says residents are “Unhappy” the trail will be close to children.
“I've had people call it in Wonky,” Wilson said. “And they are very unhappy about having that walking trail right next to all the benches and issues for children and toddlers will be because it will become,” an attraction to pedophiles.”
Council Member Joy Gray asked, “But okay, I just have to ask, how will a walking trail create or foster an atmosphere of pedophilia?”
“Because those kids will be out there playing and then there's a driveway and then mothers and children and toddlers,” Wilson responded. “If one toddler sees one over here and decides he wants to go play and takes a hike in a hurry.”
Mayor Herrmann reminded everyone, “We do have a very high resolution block camera installed at the park.”
She also noted all of this was known when the council approved the bid and design.
Police Department Report
“Last month we answered 126 calls for service,” Chief Preator began. “We had 35 reports out of those 126 calls. We did 155 traffic stops. We had 92 of those, 155 order citations, 80 of them were warnings. We served 19 warrants. We had two DUI arrests, seven felony arrest, 17 misdemeanor arrest and did 1,251 extra patrols throughout the city.”
Fire/Rescue Report
“We had a little over 60 instances that we responded to this past month,” McCormick began. “We did do an in-house, a rope rescue operations, 40 hour class that saved several thousands of dollars by having to do an in-house.”
Code Enforcement/Animal Control Report
“So I got my ride along with Bryant, code enforcement ... that was super educational,” Jordan said. “I got to sit in for court for the first time and (that) actually came in quite useful.”
She’s also moved forward on code enforcement clean-up.
“We started the process of getting three houses condemned,” Jordan said. “Letters have been sent out to property owners. They've got their 30 days to do something.”
“I've made contact with multiple property owners about their not being complied with code and progress as being made on those properties,” she said.
On the animal control side Jordan reported, “I have found two rescues that are willing to work with us as long as they have placement open, which is very good.”
“We had 13 animal control calls and one person was cited for unattended burning,” Jordan said.
Financial Report
“So for the month of February, your general fund is at $1,616,226,” she began. “Your fire (fund) is at, or your police (fund) is at $131,121. The fire (fund) is at $332,290.99. Your park (fund) is at $217,609.86. Your streets (fund) is at $274,582.66. Your payroll (fund) is at $181,326.04.
Next Meeting
ME AND MY LITTLE ONES WILL NEVER GO TO THE PATRK ANY MORE, THAT OLDER WOMAN WHO SPOKE WAS CORRECT ! PEDOPHILE PLAYGROUND!
ReplyDeleteI am at the park several times a month and never see anyone there. Where are the pedos hiding in the park exactly and why is nobody calling 911 when they see them? You do realize that unfortunately the cops can't just follow them 24/7 right?
DeleteIs there a reason no one ever reported the so called "pedophiles" to the authorities?
ReplyDeleteShe didn't say there were pedophiles. She said it would attract pedophiles.
Deletethe authorities should know! they r to report their whereabouts to them! and if they r in neighborhoods, the authorities have addresses!
ReplyDeleteJust watch your kids. I’d be more concerned with lack of fence around the play ground because yah know there’s a creek on the other side of the pavilion, than I would be about pedo’s in a very open space, with very little foot traffic. Not to mention the park backs up to people’s houses. That’s one of the main reason I don’t take my littles- lack of fence and that’s with me helicoptering over my littles the whole time. Mills park and Tyndall park both have fencing around the play grounds, and Mills also has a walking trail that backs up to the play ground. Just added protection I guess, if just for peace of mind.
ReplyDeleteIf Alexander is doing so good, an excessive amount of money, why are they jacking up the water/sewer bills by 44%???
ReplyDeleteOMG! You must be new. The City of Alexander does not own or operate any of the water or sewer services provided within the city. Central Arkansas Water and the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority provide water and sewer services, respectively, in the northern portion of Alexander. That's the Pulaski County area and a sliver of Saline County that borders Pulaski county. Saline County Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer provide services in the southern, or Saline County, portion of the city. Alexander has absolutely no control over any of those entities.
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