A Pine Bluff City Council-approved appropriation of $32,666 will not only be reimbursed by the state but also will net Grider Field Airport a $326,625 Federal Aviation Administration grant that will finance apron enhancements at the general aviation facility.
The 90-percent federal grant was contingent upon a 10-percent city match, which will be covered by a forthcoming Arkansas Department of Aeronautics grant to the city.
A resolution on the matter was put together Monday afternoon after a meeting of the council’s traffic and aviation committee, chaired by Alderman Glen Brown and also including Aldermen Charles Boyd and Steven Mays. Airport Manager Doug Hale explained the situation to the panel, which voted unanimously to forward the legislation to the full council with a do-pass recommendation.
Before the council meeting, the ordinances and resolutions committee voted to add the measure to the agenda.
Hale told the council that the apron update is the first of two segments in a two-year infrastructure improvements project.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The city also expects to gain capital with the passage of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to contract with Local Government Services LLC for an audit on cable television franchise fee-payment compliance.
Finance Director Steve Miller said that the agency requested $9,000 for the audit and to rewrite city cable franchise ordinances to apply to all cable revenues. A preliminary audit has already uncovered debts of nearly twice that amount owed to the city, including some from a White Hall franchisee that is servicing some Pine Bluff locations.
In other action, the council unanimously approved two additional resolutions and heard first readings on two proposed ordinances.
The resolutions authorized the mayor to:
• Convey real property — lots 4, 5, 6 and 7 in block 23 of the Eureka Heights Addition No. 3 — to Randy Emerson, who has offered $2,000 for the lots as a group; and
• Enter negotiations for the purchase of property at 1021 South Plum Street, behind the Merrill Center, for up to $2,500.
The ordinances call for:
• Providing for the rezoning of approximately four-tenths of an acre at the southwest corner of the intersection of South Cherry Street and West 42nd Avenue to B-1 commercial and to repeal a currently enacted ordinance that contained an inaccurate legal description of the property to be rezoned; and
• Amending the 2013 budget to add a line for council members to be reimbursed for travel expenses.
Pulled by its sponsor, Alderwoman Thelma Walker, was a resolution proposing that the mayor be directed to proceed with the rehabilitation and renovation of the Joe Thomas Public Safety Building and the former Army Reserve/National Guard Armory at 1000 North Myrtle Street as sites for police department agencies and personnel.