By CHRISTY HENDRICKS
Leader staff writer
The closing of Hickory Street has gone well, Ward Mayor Art Brooke told the city council at its Monday meeting.
“You get pros and cons from closing Hickory Street, but most of the feedback has been very positive,” he said. “It has made that intersection a lot safer for people.”
Turning Hickory Street into a dead-end road is part of a project that will see traffic lights at the Hwy. 319 and Hwy. 367 intersection and railroad crossing. The lights will be synchronized with the train schedule to clear the track area when a train is coming through. The intersection, once five ways, is now a four-artery intersection.
The crossing has a hazard rating of 35.01, making it the ninth most hazardous crossing in the state.
“That project is 10 years old. It was first initiated in 2007,” Brooke said. “There’s been a lot of drawings that went back and forth, lot of meetings and public input. This project has now become a very valid project.”
The mayor continued, saying that the project has been held up for lack of federal funding. The city has its portion of the cost in reserve as well as a zero-interest loan from Metroplan if needed.
“We are hoping that we don’t have to draw any money from that loan. If we do we know that we have the money in reserve to pay it off. That’s where we’re at with that project,” he said.
The council approved of the disposal of a patrol unit with a bad engine and a stockpile of old safety equipment.
Fire Chief Randy Staley asked the council for permission to dispose of safety equipment that is no longer being used due to damage or age.
Police Chief Steve Benton requested permission to dispose of a 2007 Dodge Durango saying that it was “not worth fixing. If you can even find a used motor they’re outrageous, brand new ones aren’t higher than that.”
Benton also updated the council on the status of three new patrol units. The first, which the city will be reimbursed for by the state, is already on the streets. The second is having equipment installed and should be patrolling in a couple weeks and the third will be equipped and on the streets once the city receives reimbursement of the first.
Brooke reported that the city’s water report “came back perfect. We followed all the laws of the land. Everything is perfect, with one exception. We got written up for our wastewater treatment plant being out of compliance. We will have that write up every year until that plant is in compliance.”
Excavation work for the new sewer treatment plant is underway and the groundwork is ahead of schedule. Rebar should be placed in about two weeks.
The mayor also told the council that Arkansas Economic Development Com-mission recently made an onsite visit to the city and are “very much interested in what’s going on here in Ward” and finding ways to help the city grow.
Charles Gastineau, deputy operations director for the city, updated the council about a survey the city is conducting with Central Arkansas Planning and Development and UALR. Around 800 letters were sent to random homes around Ward asking questions about income and family makeup. There were 564 non-responses.
Each non-response is considered a high income, according to Gastineau. This puts the city at an 8 percent low- to moderate-income ratio. To qualify for grants and low- interest loans, the city needs to be at 51 percent or higher.
Workers have been canvassing the 564 homes that have not responded, reaching 396 homes so far, but have only had 190 responses. That does bring the city up to 31 percent, but there are still 168 homes to visit.
“If we go to the house, and no one is home or they don’t come to the door we leave a door hanger asking them to call the reception office and we can do the survey over the phone,” Gastineau said. “We’ve had maybe five people call. We’re going to hit those 168 houses then do an evaluation and decide if we want to go hit those houses again.”