Batesville City Council covers roundabout progress, bicycle trails, first responder updates

Roundabout timeline discussed; mountain bikes could be in city’s future; tornado sirens to be tested; city to pay for additional Covid overtime

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

The city’s first roundabout could be open as early as the first day of school, but Myers Street will remain closed through the fall.

Public Works Engineer Damon Johnson came before the Batesville City Council Tuesday night and said White River Materials is working “feverishly” to get the roundabout done before Aug. 13.

“My understanding is that they are near to laying the asphalt base near the roundabout, and they are working hard to get that intersection reopened before school starts. … We’re not going to guarantee it, but they are making efforts to open as close to school as they can. They changed the grade, which had some ripple effects,” saving time and money, Johnson said.

“Their goal is to get 20th and Pioneer – the road name changes at the intersection – where you can drive through the intersection to the high school. Myers Street (which is being widened as part of the roundabout project) will not be open by the time school starts; there’s still too much work to do on Myers Street between Sidney and the intersection,” he said, but added that the work remains on schedule. “They’re staying on task – they are determined to make that project be as short as possible.”

Myers Street is scheduled to reopen in late fall/early winter.

Meanwhile, the council approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to apply for a matching grant from the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.

Mayor Rick Elumbaugh said he and Parks Director Lowen Lermitte recently visited with representatives from the Walton Foundation as well as a trail building company that came to create a comprehensive master plan for mountain biking.

“We have an open grant now at this time, and you don’t get a grant unless you apply. I’ve probably been told no more than yes, but I do get yes sometimes,” Elumbaugh said.

Lermitte said this is an exciting opportunity for Batesville to support public health and wellness and enhance citizens’ quality of life. “This will get kids, adults, seniors out biking, and get people from Point A to Point B while reducing their carbon footprint.”

“They (the representatives) are impressed with the terrain here,” Elumbaugh said. “They said Bentonville would love to have what we have here.”

Elumbaugh credited the late Jeff Owens, parks director, for making the trail at the high school a reality, but there could soon be trails connecting various parts of the city.

Elumbaugh said as he and Lermitte took the representative from the Walton Foundation, they visited some of the trails at Lyon College and looked at connectors, seeking user-friendly trails that could be utilized around the city.

“This will be a working map,” Elumbaugh said. “We may not be able to do 100 percent of it right off, but hopefully we will do this in years to come.”

Alderwoman Brittany Bennett said a bike-sharing program is offered at Gulf Shores State Park in Alabama, where riders can check out a bike free of charge. “If we finish this trail, we should look into this,” she said.

“Lowen and I have had that discussion,” Elumbaugh responded.

Alderman Lackey Moody, a real estate agent, said property values have increased in northwest Arkansas thanks to these opportunities. “The closer to the trail you are, the higher property values are,” he said.

Alderman Landon Reeves said the trail system will not only enhance citizens’ mobility and the area’s land use, but it will also open more “outside the box” opportunities.

In other business Tuesday night:

* Johnson continued his report to the council by saying the traffic lights at St. Louis and Harrison were recently upgraded to include sonar and video. “It should be more efficient to keep traffic cleared better,” Johnson said. “It’s not just set on the motions, which is the way it was controlled before.”

He said the city has been awarded a grant through the Federal Highway Administration over the next year and a half that will upgrade three more existing traffic signals on St. Louis and Harrison streets as well. This is part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All, a federal initiative.

“This is a many-year effort and expensive to do, so we will do them as we get grants,” Johnson told the council.

One advantage is that the lights will be able to “communicate” with one another during heavy traffic, he added. “As we implement the technology, they will be able to talk to each other, and as we are seeing a stack (of traffic), the lights will work to … improve the safety of traffic flow.”

Johnson also said work continues on the new water treatment plant, but there was a “hiccup” when a form was taken off one of the concrete walls going up, and it fell away. The contractor is still trying to set it right, but “with a project of this magnitude,” there will be problems like this.

Work is underway at the Hope Lutheran Church at the corner of East Main Street and White Drive (Highway 25). The city of Batesville sells water to the Pfeiffer Public Water Authority to service about 1,600 customers. When Pfeiffer upgraded its lines, Johnson said the meter at the church was too small and needed an upgrade.

“Our side of the water system is an 18-inch water line; their side is a 12-inch,” he said.

There was a sewer rehab project scheduled for that area, Johnson said, and the contractor was able to handle both the water meter and the sewer rehab, so it was added to the contract for efficiency.

After a resident near the high school came to the council meeting last month and shared her frustration with the work being done (and the mess in her yard left behind) by SDT on behalf of AT&T, aldermen questioned Tuesday night if there were any updates.

Johnson said AT&T will put up a bond, but that can only be used if SDT damages city property (streets, water lines, etc.). He said the subcontractors are also supposed to provide the city with the location where they are working. He said they do not use specific plans, but they should still get some kind of general idea.

He said AT&T is planning to install fiber lines all over the city within the next five years. “That means high-speed internet if you choose to use it, but there’s heartache that will come with it. … Moving forward, we’ll have better communication. Before, we didn’t have good contact with someone at AT&T, and now we do.

“We will also be working with other utilities that may be doing the same thing. … Everybody will have to adhere to this,” Johnson added.

* Batesville Police Department Capt. Fred Friar presented the monthly report in the absence of Chief John Scarbrough. Friar mentioned they conducted DWI enforcement over the course of the Fourth of July weekend and ended up making 163 stops over the course of five days. This resulted in one DWI felony arrest as well as several citations, and as Friar added, “probably decreased traffic accidents.”

He said officers were dispatched on a county call on Broadwater Lane of an individual having a heart attack. He said they used an AED (automated external defibrillator) and revived the patient. Friar said had it not been for the officers’ intervention, the patient would have died.

There was another incident, however, with a different outcome, Friar went on to say. On Sunday, July 6, officers were dispatched to a car fire near Tai Lee’s. Friar said the driver had apparently passed the police department, then sped up and hit a retaining wall, at which point the car caught fire. Unfortunately, the driver – an 18-year-old man from the Pulaski County area – was not able to be saved.

“You can see a thousand of these things on YouTube, but until you experience one, you don’t know how it will affect you,” Friar said.

The BPD had a jump in both citations and warnings written over the previous month.

Last month, the police department wrote 217 citations (compared to 174 in May, 209 in April, 148 in March, and 174 in February) and 292 warnings (compared to 222 in May, 298 in April, 168 in March, and 261 in February).

The department also recorded the following: 1,332 calls for service (compared to 1,234 in May, 1,323 in April, and 1,101 in March), 43 accidents (38 in May, 53 in April, and 49 in March), 22 arrests (25 in May, 34 in April, and 26 in March), and 56 incident reports (45 in May, 65 in April, and 55 in March).

Elumbaugh praised both the police and fire departments for their efforts in controlling traffic for the Celebrate America event, which was moved this year due to construction around the park.

* Fire Chief Mark McCollum also presented June’s monthly statistics for his department: 37 calls, one vehicle fire (but no structure fires), six motor vehicle accidents with no extrication, one other medical assistance, three rescues, one hazardous material call, 13 false alarms, and seven good intent/service calls.

This is close to the May data, which had 41 calls, one structure and three other fires, 16 rescues, one hazardous condition, five service calls, seven good intent calls, seven false alarms, and one severe weather call.

Firefighters also performed 100 inspections and 10 plan reviews and accumulated 95 training hours. “We did some final inspections at Batesville High School’s building. I think it’s about 150,000 square feet. (When they went to inspect the site) one of the guys clicked on his watch (step counter app), and we walked 3 ½ miles,” McCollum said.

He also said the fire department flow tested all air packs for certification, which is supposed to be done every year, but everything did not pass. McCollum said there was an issue with the Heads Up Display (HUD), which is supposed to visually display the remaining air pressure in the equipment, and the department is working to get those replaced.

“We have applied for a grant for eight new air packs,” he said, noting those are about $11,000 each, so that is about $100,000, but McCollum said he does not know if they will receive the grant yet.

The fire department also assisted the streets department with the installation of a new dock and applied for another grant besides the one for air packs.

Turning to the tornado warning sirens, McCollum said they are in working order, and the fire department will start testing, but he’s been waiting on a sunny day with nothing in the forecast, when the department is available to do so.

He said sirens will be tested approximately once a month, with the first test tentatively scheduled for Monday morning, July 14. He also said the testing can be set off from the department’s radios, meaning any of the captains or lieutenants (besides himself) can do the test.

* The council amended its final payout number for police officers who worked overtime during Covid to $187,341 after someone came forward with additional overtime hours. Elumbaugh said this number had been vetted by the city clerk’s office.

At the May 20 meeting, Elumbaugh said an audit was conducted, and it was determined that a total of $172,879 was owed to the 18 officers, and the council agreed to compensate officers with amounts widely varying, from over $20,000 to $605.

* The council granted permission to Jamie Morgan to take his vehicle home after hours. This is in accordance with a city policy that states only employees who live within city limits may take their vehicles home, unless exceptions are made. Morgan lives in the Southside area.

Elumbaugh said Morgan had recently completed EVT (Emergency Vehicle Training) certification, which will save the city money, and is now working on certification for lift trucks. Elumbaugh said Morgan has come into work several times after hours, taking care of things.

There was no opposition from the council.

* During council comments, Alderman Robb Roberts thanked city employees, volunteers, and others involved in bringing the Levitt Amp concert series to downtown Batesville. He said the series just finished 10 concerts, and it was a very successful year.

Several aldermen agreed the atmosphere was great and said they liked the location on Main Street better than Riverside Park.

There were no citizens’ comments Tuesday night. Aldermen Scott Fredricks and Paige Hubbard were absent.