Batesville eyes repayment agreement for Cushman

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

A winter freeze four years ago that wreaked havoc on a local water system is still impacting its community financially.

Public Works Engineer Damon Johnson told the Batesville City Council Tuesday night that a hard freeze in early 2021 significantly disrupted Cushman’s infrastructure, to the point that Cushman began losing more water than it was selling, but that was the only way to provide its customers with water at all.

Last January, Johnson reported to the council that he and Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh had attended a recent Cushman Water Board meeting to inquire about a repayment plan.

At that time, Johnson said he would work with Batesville City Attorney Tim Meitzen on creating a water use agreement that would also address Cushman’s unpaid balance.

Johnson said due to the state of its infrastructure, Cushman currently loses about 80 percent of the water produced by Batesville Water Utility, and at this point, Cushman is unable to pay the full monthly bill, which is a flat rate of $11,500, and is now indebted to BWU in the amount of $974,000, as of Aug. 31.

“Getting your water loss under control is not something you can do overnight,” Johnson said. “The current board takes it very seriously and is working hard to resolve the problem that they more or less inherited.”

He said it took a long time for the water loss to get this bad. “This is a problem that will take decades to resolve properly.”

Cushman is actively repairing its infrastructure to the point where the flat monthly payment will begin to address the deficit.

Under the agreement, signed by Cushman Mayor Kristin Bryant and Recorder/Treasurer Ann Davidson, Cushman shall continue to pay a minimum of $11,500, even after its monthly usage bill falls below that amount, with the excess going towards its debt.

Cushman, which is one of Batesville’s three wholesale water customers, uses roughly 10 million gallons of water a month, Johnson said.

Alderman Robb Roberts said the city wants to do what it can to help its neighbor “within reason,” but the average monthly deficiency has grown 84 percent since last year. “That’s concerning because that says our problem is getting worse instead of better, if my math is right.”

Alderman Lackey Moody asked if Cushman’s usage was going up because of leaks – 20 percent since last year – and Johnson replied, “It has to be.”

Moody asked if Cushman had a freeze on new water meters, and Johnson said he did not know. “We don’t interfere with their operations,” Johnson said.

Roberts said with the agreement, BWU may want to set some parameters, such as an upward dollar amount and a timeframe.

“The agreement as it’s drawn up is on a 60-day term, but then it’s on month-to-month renewals,” Roberts said. “And if that’s the case, the council doesn’t review it again. I think that we have a responsibility to our citizens to look at this on a recurrent basis. … That doesn’t mean we would expect them to have it repaid within one year. Obviously, that’s not going to happen for a decade or more, without question. But that gives us time to see what kind of progress has been made,” and if the water loss is improving or getting worse.

He also recommended Cushman explore other funding options, including at the state and federal levels, to address the issue.

“I have no problem with the agreement – I just think we need to tweak it a little bit,” Roberts said.

Johnson asked City Attorney Tim Meitzen to take notes and make changes accordingly.

Mayor Rick Elumbaugh said the agreement would be tabled until it could be updated.

In other public works news, Johnson said the city accepted bids in August on dump trucks, to be leased for three years. Tri-State Truck Center has historically been the lowest bidder and was the lowest bidder again this year. Johnson asked the council to approve the bid, which the council did.

Regarding the water treatment plant, Johnson said when the project began the city was given a guaranteed maximum price of $82.6 million for the construction of a new plant. This did not include the water intake structure, which is located closer to the river, but he said the city intended from the outset to amend the contract.

“We did some value engineering and decided to completely change the pump system that was originally intended to be used and did a redesign, which took about six or eight months,” he said.

The maximum price of the intake structure is just over $17 million, and while Johnson has been given some authority to execute amendments to the contract, in this case – because of the cost – he said he wanted to inform the council of this new development.

Work on the intake should begin within the next 30 days.

Meanwhile, concrete work at the new plant is about a month behind, he went on to say. TOLM Group, the contractor, has been meeting with the concrete subcontractor to see how they can catch back up on the schedule.

“They (TOLM) are not anxious about being a month behind at this point in the schedule, but I applaud them for not letting it go on unaddressed,” Johnson said, adding that there may be additional crews brought in to catch things up, either at the subcontractor’s cost or TOLM’s.

Moving on to the wastewater treatment plant, Johnson said the city is 10 years into a rather substantial expansion, the constant maintenance and improvement never end. He said at the time of the expansion, the city did not change out the aeration system for the ponds.

“Those (aerators) are original from 1982-ish,” Johnson said. “We did a little bit of maintenance to them at the time, and everything was running well.”

He said to update the pond system would have been a big cost, and the city was trying to conserve its loan money and spend elsewhere. Now, however, the wastewater system is having some significant issues with piping and the blowers themselves, with the electrical motors needing to be rebuilt frequently.

He said the city will need an engineering study done to determine the scope of the project. Johnson said at the start of every year the city takes bids from interested parties on engineering and architectural work, and Olsson has won the bid for several years. He asked the council for its approval to use Olsson, and the council voted to do execute a letter of engineering.

Because Olsson has performed work for the city for so many years, it knows the city’s infrastructure, and Johnson said he also has a tremendous amount of trust in the company’s leadership.

Furthermore, work continues at the Riverside Park expansion, and passers-by can see the foundation going in for the new events center, Johnson said.

In other business Tuesday night:

* Scarbrough brought his monthly report, in which he noted that officers participated in the 2025 Labor Day DWI overtime campaign, which he described as a success. Officers conducted 211 traffic stops over the course of 119 hours worked, making one DWI arrest and one fleeing arrest. Warrants were served on three fugitives, and officers also made one drug arrest during the campaign. These outcomes, he said, are a testament to the impact of the department’s collective efforts to ensure public safety.

He made note that the department received two FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests during the month, which required a total of 18 video redactions, indicating an increase in administrative workload.

Last month, the police department wrote 280 citations (compared to 427 in July, 217 in June, 174 in May, and 209 in April) and 378 warnings (compared to 590 in July, 292 in June, 222 in May, and 298 in April).

The department also recorded the following: 1,431 calls for service (compared to 1,770 in July, 1,332 in June, and 1,234 in May), 37 accidents (47 in July, 43 in June, and 38 in May), 38 arrests (33 in July, 22 in June 25, and in May), and 79 incident reports (69 in July, 56 in June, and 45 in May).

* Fire Chief Mark McCollum also came before the council with his monthly report. He did say the fire department washed the grit off the Golden Overpass bridge, as mentioned in a recent council meeting.

“It was worse than I thought it was,” McCollum admitted.

He said the department is sending some people to instructor school so the BFD can have more instructors.

Alderwoman Julie Hinkle commented that the firefighters “are very polite when they come to do inspections” at local businesses. The inspections must be done yearly.

* The council approved a resolution authorizing a loan for the expansion and improvement of a series of mountain bike trails, to be matched by the Walton Family Foundation.

The city will also apply for a grant from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism.

* The council approved another resolution declaring the former Dr. Gray’s Hospital at 477 E. Main St., “a blighted area.”

The resolution says the property, which contains asbestos, poses “a significant threat to public health and safety,” and needs demolition.

The council approved a separate resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with White River Planning and Development District to apply for a grant from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to demolish the building.

* The council approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an application for CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds.

The city conducted a public hearing and has an active Citizen Participation Plan/Community Development Plan, and as part of the application process, has received and considered comments on community development and housing needs. As a result of the planning activities, Batesville has identified and prioritized the community development and housing needs.

* The council reappointed Jonathan Burgess to the parks and recreation advisory committee and appointed Jeffrey Freiert to a vacancy left on the planning and zoning commission following the resignation of Landon Downing.

* Elumbaugh also announced there would be a retirement reception for Brenda Headrick (20 years with BWU) and Lori Pierron (eight years with the city’s accounts payable) on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at City Hall.

* Elumbaugh said there had been some questions regarding Thursday’s ribbon-cutting of the completion of Myers Street improvements, and he stressed that this was organized by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, not the city of Batesville, even though this is a city street. The ribbon cutting will be at 11 a.m.

The improvements include widening about a half mile of Myers Street and building the city’s first roundabout at the intersection with 20th Street and Pioneer Drive.

There were no citizen comments. Aldermen Brittany Bennett and Scott Fredricks were absent.

Image: Gena Tate, White River Now