Monticello Live

The Monticello Economic Development Commission will host a Ground Breaking Ceremony for Centerpoint Energy, today at 2:00 pm, at the construction site in the MEDC Industrial Park located on Highway 35 East. 

The proposed land-swap between Centerpoint and the MEDC was recently completed.  the MEDC received CPE’s property next to the old W. C. Whaley property, and Centrpoint received approximately 4 acres in the Monticello Industrial Park.

Centerpoint plans to move all ares operaiton for the southeast Arkansas region to the new facility, including construction, service and meter reading operation.

Centerplint’s southeast district includes 13 counties, and will likely have it’s 18 area employees based out of the Monticello facility.

Dirt work is already underway, and operations are expected to begin later this year.

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Mayor Allen Maxwell encouraged the City Council to consider changing companies for trash pick-up and haul-off during Thursday night’s regular meeting.

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Several concerned Drew County citizens attended Monday night’s regular Quorum Court meeting to address concerns over the Court’s recent decision to open Old Dermott Road to truck traffic. Kenny Worbington lives on Old Dermott Rd. and said to the Court, “I’m here as a spokesman for this group of people… We’re just here to voice our opinion on the decision that was made about 3 weeks ago by the Quorum Court to open Old Dermott Road to log truck traffic. We’re opposed to this.”

He went on to say, “We’re not against the log trucks. What we would like for you to do is for you to close traffic to large trucks until the road is widened and fixed.” “It’s one of the most dangerous roads in this county. There’s no shoulder… no room for mistakes, nowhere to go.”

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Tuesday night’s City budget meeting resulted in the Council voting to defer from making a decision on accepting the low bid on the Sadie Johnson Building until a meeting with the engineer could be scheduled.

The proposed 2012 budget showed the city to be $263,925.00 over budget. The Sadie Johnson Building made up for $257,000.00 of the overage.

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New City Voting Boundaries

After a brief discussion, members of the City Council agreed that of the three ward redistribution options presented, option 3 was the best. Council members stated it divided the City equally and was the most appropriate. A motion to accept option 3 as the new ward redistribution passed unanimously. (more…)

Mayor Allen Maxwell addressed the Council on issues surrounding the public using privately owned dumpsters. Even with “private use only” signs posted on the dumpsters, non-owners are still using them for their own garbage.

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In a shocking turn of events, the City Council voted yes to building a new fire station on the W.C. Whaley lot. During Thursday night’s meeting Mayor Allen Maxwell asked MEDC Executive Director Nita McDaniel to present the slide show to the Council that was shown to the public during the ISO Rating Meeting (posted below).

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Just 10 days after convincing the Drew County Quorum Court to open Old Dermott Road to log truck traffic, Mayor Allen Maxwell asked the City Council to vote to open Cherry Street to log-truck traffic, as well,  during Thursday night’s meeting.

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2011 was definitely “the” year for Monticello’s airport, Ellis Field. Numerous improvements have been made, and well deserved honors and awards have been given to the airport over the past year.

A few of the impressive improvements the airport has seen over the past 12 months include moving the fuel pump from their old office building to the new one, and resealing of the runway pavement.

A new office building and hangar is under construction, thanks to hard work by aiport commission chairman Bennie Ryburn III in applying for grants, to be leased to EFS Geo-Technologies, the MEDC / Chamber of Commerce Industry of the Year.  This will provide long-term income to the airport, to help achieve it’s goal of being self sufficient.

Ellis Field had National recognition when Bob Worthington, writer for Fly Low magazine, wrote about his experience with the airport and its staff. His story of how the staff pulled together to provide him with transportation, when he was stuck due to weather, and being there to help problem solve was but one example of the prime service Ellis Field Airport provides to each of its customers.Benji Ryburn, Airport Commissioner, accepted the Outstanding Airport Award on behalf of the airport from the FAA. Monticello’s Airport was also given the honor of being chosen as Arkansas Airport of the Year in 2011. This was the second time the airport had received the award, the first time being in 2008.

Ellis Field definitely made news, and made Monticello quite proud in 2011.

In February, the Monticello City Council passed an ordinance to recreate the Monticello Parks and Recreation Commission.

The Mayor said the plan is that the Commission would come before the Council and present proposals, and the Council would then decide whether or not to approve the money. The Mayor made it clear he expects the City Council and the Mayor’s Office to have control of how and where Parks and Recreation money is spent.  All budget requests will be made for specific line items and requests would be made for specific line item expenditures and amounts.

The Monticello City Parks and Recreation Commission members include: Karen Connelley, Chairperson; David Cason, Rebecca Socia, Michael James, Sean Tumlinson, Rick Donham, James Scott, Cleo Thomas, Red Ingram, Shellie Mullins and Paul Griffin.

October of 2010 brought the tragic news of the loss of the Sadie Johnson Building. A fire completely destroyed the well-loved and much used structure.

Bids were taken to see how much it would take to rebuild, and with the lowest bid coming in at a grand total of $757,900 (including the 10% engineering fee), the Parks and Recreation Commission would be left with a budget deficit of -$256,876 if they accepted.

The Commission voted to accept the low bid, and ask the City Council for more funding. With the City being projected as over budget for the 2012 year if the Sadie Johnson Building funding does occur, there has been no official vote yet on if they will grant the money to Parks and Recreation.

In late September, a group of interested individuals met to begin the process of placing a “wet / dry” vote, to allow beer, wine, and liquor sales in Marion Township, which include Monticello, and it’s immediately surrounding area.

Their effort is called “Vote for Growth in Drew County,”

It was October of 2009 when unusually heavy rains resulted in the weakening and collapse of what has been referred to as “The McKiever Building.” Earlier this year,the building’s owner said she would donate the building to anyone that would restore it.  2011’s Man of the Year Richard Akin, well known for his efforts in revitalizing Monticello’s downtown area, took her up on her offer.

Over the past year, Akin has taken the pile of rubble that was left after the collapse and transformed it into a functioning, attractive building. Two apartments are now featured in the upstairs part of the building, and downstairs, a sandwich and coffee shop is soon to open with the name “The Square Cup.”

Other 2011 building news can be found just a short walk down the street, known as the “cracked building” or “the duct tape building.” The apparent “duct tape” solution to the crack in the structure even caught state-wide attention when The Arkansas Times linked to MLive’s story on their website.

Weight-bearing walls were added where needed to the building, by owner Richard Akin, and a fresh coat of paint served to bring the building back to life. The duct tape is gone, and the building is safe, sound, and functional for Monticello residents, and now houses the retail store, Simply Jenny Lynn.

Another downtown business owner, Lance Gasaway, who purchased LA Graphics earlier this year, recently purchased the old Gathings property on South Main Street, and has begun total renovations on it.  So far, it has been torn down to leave only the walls.  If they are found to be structurally sound, LA Graphics with then begin the restoration process

Plans are to use the back of the building for their business, and rent / least the front for retail / office space.

These improvements, combined with the new improvements to the Monticello Square, certainly improved downtown Monticello.

Monticello residents have been complaining about run-down properties for several years, and the City Council, assisted by former MEDC director Truman Hamilton, initiated the policies and procedures needed to bring many of these nuisance properties into better, safer maintenance conditions.

In April of 2011, City Property Inspection Manager Brian Rodgers was hired, to continue this ongoing process.  Since Rodgers’ hiring, there have been approximately 28 complaints filed each month (around 225 between April and now).

All but 32 have been brought into compliance, some with legal action being taken by the city, some simply with a letter to the property owner, as demonstrated by the “before & after” photos, shown above.

Click here for the history of the project.

New elected officials took office in January, including State Representative Sheilla Lampkin, Mayor Allen Maxwell, JP’s Patty Mitchell and Chris Barnett, and alderman Josh McKiever.

Dr. Steve Morrison was sworn in as the Quorum Court district 2 representative, to take Ron Echols  position, following Ron Echols resignation for business reasons.

Witt Barton was appointed to take the place of Bill Daniels as city attorney

Click here for the full story from January.  The video comes in at #23 for the year.

The festival was postponed, and not re-scheduled during 2011.

Both the City of Monticello and Drew County entered into contracts with Mid-South Adjustments to collect on old, unpaid court fines.  The city also hired them to collect on out of service water bills.

While recycling has only affected those who volunteer to take part, it will take a more prevalent roll in our lives in the near future.

Here’s an article that Mandy Moss recently posted on MLive about recycling in Drew County.

This 2007 article, Recycling, What It’s All About, was enough to stop my family from throwing away 1,000′s of aluminum cans (without any extra work).

The proposed 2012 City budget is down approximately 3.6% as compared to last year. Even with the lower budget, based on the proposed 2012 one cent sales tax fund, the City is over budget by $236,925.00.

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The Parks and Recreation Commission voted to accept the lowest bid to rebuild the Sadie Johnson Building during Thursday night’s meeting. The bid came in at $689,000.00. There will also be a 10% engineering fee added to the cost, bringing the total cost to rebuild to $757,900.00.

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With the lowest bid coming in at $247,000.00, the Commission agreed not to accept any of the bids presented for the construction of the restrooms and concession stand at the soccer fields.

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The city’s one-cent sales tax budget is attached below, as presented at the first City Council Budget Meeting, last week.

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The District Court of Drew County is currently seeking applications for two positions.

The duties of the Chief Clerk require accounting skills and general office management.

The deputy clerk position requires computer skills, filing duties, and court scheduling responsibilities.

Resumes will be received at The Harper Law Office, PLLC, 426 West McCloy in Monticello or at the District Court Clerk’s office in The Old Post Office on Gaines Street in Monticello.

Monticello High School students Rex Henderson and Hunter Hickam addressed the Council Thursday night on behalf of EAST Lab. They requested permission to construct and place crappie beds at Lake Monticello. Their goal is to help increase the fish population, and bring in more visitors from outside areas.

The students stated that the construction would be simple, and performed entirely by EAST students. If the City wished, they could help by supplying concrete for the project. The only other items needed: 5 gallon buckets and Bamboo or Cedar.

Once the beds are constructed and dropped into place, their positions would then be plotted so that they could be accessed online.

“I think it’s a really good idea.” – Mayor Maxwell

The Council voted yes unanimously to allow the students to begin their project.

The City Council voted to approve City employee Christmas bonus’s in the amount of $324.85 ($300 take home) for full-time employees, and $108.28 ($100 take-home) for part-time employees.

Employees with less than six months served will be paid a part-time bonus.

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Monticello Municipal Airport received yet another award this year. Benji Ryburn, Airport Commissioner, went to Fort Worth, TX on Tuesday to accept the Outstanding Airport Award from the FAA. Five states were represented at the event.

Only one airport from each state is selected.

“To put into perspective what a big deal this is, there are 91 airports in Arkansas. If you were the worst, it could take you 91 years to get one [the award].” – Benji Ryburn

In other airport news, Mr. Ryburn asked the council to consider looking into a match grant, an 80/20 grant, to pay for a hanger to house larger planes. This is based on one of the airport’s client’s decision to possibly purchase a plane too large to be housed by any existing hangers at Ellis Field.

The City Council passed an ordinance on Thursday night prohibiting all tobacco use at city parks in Monticello. The ordinance includes, but is not limited to, Monticello Sports Complex, City Park, City Park swimming pool, Jordan Park, and Jordan Park swimming pool.

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