WEST FORK, ARKANSAS

Frances Hime, Mayor

The “State of the City” document should be more than the financial statement and budget approved by the City Council. Composing the State ofthe City presents it share of challenges. Do we want to hear the negative? What are the positives? How do we measurethe direction we are headed? The most important question emerged from what one usually assumes as known and understood, “What is a city?” The different definitions turned out to be diverse and surprising.

Many definitions used specific and limited criteria. Are we merely an incorporated area? Do we exist, purely because of geographic boundaries? Are we a city with services?

My search for a definition was framed by the need to find one that best described who we are as a City. Dredged from the many descriptions, I chose” A center of population, commerce, and culture; a town of significant size and importance.”

Population is the group of people who call West Fork “home.” Commerce is where and what we buy and sell. Culture is the set of shared beliefs within the population that is perpetuated to those within and communicated to the outside.

Our population has grown by slightly more than 300 in the past ten years. The average age is older. Families with school age children are leaving West Fork. The impact is not easily visible. Older people and smaller families use less water and they purchase fewer goods. The school district has fewer students and their budget is negatively affected. The flood prone streets and their residents remain without consideration. The City also has vacant homes affected by the mortgage loan crisis. Some will be purchased by responsible home owners. Others will be purchased by landlords who we hope will be responsible with upkeep. Tax revenues are based on property values.

Commerce has declined in fact and in spirit. A number of small businesses have closed. On a more hopeful note, one store is larger and has expanded selections. The prospect of commercial space on Phillips Street provides hope. But the future of commerce is without a plan. What commerce do we want and where? Will we have a downtown, a “center” thatwill attract people because they can go there and find what they want in a defined area?

“Significant size and importance” in the definition, poses its own set of questions. Are we of a significant size? Are we important? To whom are we important and how important?

Population, commerce and culture are what people experience in West Fork regardless of whether they are a resident or a stranger. In other words, how we define our city, both in appearance and actions, will be the picture the world sees.

Posted on 22. Jun, 2011 by admin in City News, Columns, Commentary, Editorials, News, Opinion, West Fork

 

They say the popularity of TV soap operas is waning; two long-running shows were recently canceled. Some suggest the decline is due to a rise in popularity of facebook games while others say it is due to the end of the middle class which means fewer stay-at-home moms – they’re all at work.

We have another spin: The demise of soaps could be blamed on the rise of weekly community newspapers all across the country. Using West Fork as an example, these small-town papers may be pulling soap viewers away from TV fiction to read about the real-life episodic drama unfolding at the nearest city hall. (We’re making this up.)
But city hall offers quality drama with real characters and it seems like every week provides the reader with new twists, turns and turmoil. It’s easy to get confused, particularly because of the interweaving timelines and overlapping characters.

Maybe this will help:

There are two main plots to follow at West Fork City Hall (scores of subplots), the city audits and the financial crisis with the water department. The audit story actually began years ago when the auditor for the city became ill and the council tried to put the audits off until he recovered. In 2007, the State told the city to get the audits caught up, but after four years, the city remains five years in arrears on a mandatory financial audit.  Last year, to their credit, the city council had two years of audits completed with a private CPA firm, but that only got the city through 2005.
In Dec. 2010, Mr. “B”(city business manager at the time) signed a contract with the same firm to perform audits for 2007-2010 worth $28,000 without a budget adjustment.  The contract somehow never came up in conversation and the new mayor and her city council didn’t know about the contract for months.  Never mind that the city ordinances call for a $10,000 limit on what the business manager can contract for.

Meanwhile in January, the council authorized the city’s new Mayor Hime to get five years of audits done free by the State, but apparently they never took the task on because they learned of the CPA contract before the mayor or the council.  Last week, the state’s auditing committee sent certified letters to the mayor and council members telling them to come to Little Rock for a little talk. To get ready for that meeting, the council held a special meeting last week and decided they were caught between a rock and a hard place and should just honor the contract at $28,000.  They had to authorize the use of reserve funds to fund the cost since only $9,000 was ever budgeted for audits this year.

​It’s hard to know when the water story begins.  What is known is that the utility had $225,000 when 2006 began and somehow over the past five years, ​went through all of that and siphoned off money from two bond reserves to fund operations.  They were spending more than they were taking in, but the council never knew.  The three member water commission didn’t even meet for 18 months between 2009 and the summer of 2010. Seems that in addition to a leaky budget, the utility has also battled unaccounted water loss, which averaged 30.5 percent in 2010 and topped 42 percent in February of this year.  Add to that a recession and you can see where this is headed.
Then came Friday the 13th, May 13, 2011 when there was no money in the bank account for pay day. That’s when $10,000 was transferred from the general fund to the water department and here’s the kicker.  Neither t​he mayor, nor the council knew or approved the transfer.  The money was transferred by City Treasurer /Water Dept. Secretary Kristie Drymon after she was directed to do so by Mr. “B” (yes, the same one). Their lawyer said the transfer wasn’t legal, but when the council held a special meeting to retroactively approve the transfer, they also got hit up for an additional $15,000 loan and said a 14 percent rate increase would be needed to fix the mess.  Did we mention that neither Drymon or Bartholomew thought to bring up the looming financial crisis just three days before when making their monthly reports at the monthly city council meeting?

As in any good soap, new cast members are emerging.  Former West Fork mayor, Virgil Blackmon was appointed just days before the Friday the 13th transfer.  His first meeting was a special water commission meeting which saw him championing a rate increase.  Ironically, the only guy who’s spent any time on the commission, Greg Tabor, tried to put the brakes on the rate increase and wanted to address the utility’s expenses.  Considering $200,000 in salaries for two part time and two full time employees, he might be on to something.

There was a public meeting scheduled prior to the regular council meeting.

The over-arching theme in all this revolves around the same old suspects – lack of accountability, lack of transparency in government, disregard for the rule of law, and plain old fiduciary neglect by a lot of people. Somebody was asleep at the switch and nobody noticed. This could be a train wreck. ​

Like any serial drama, each week leaves us wondering what will happen next.

Will anybody be held accountable for anything? Will there be a big surprise for the council at Little Rock? Will the water commission have the guts to make some tough choices before asking its water customers to cough up 14 percent more each month?  Will any new policies and procedures come out of ​these messes?  Does somebody know something nobody else knows about something?

Whatever happens the Washington County Observer will be there reporting the news.

​Stay tuned; details every Thursday.

The Zephyr is honored to introduce local naturalist, historian and writer Joseph C. Neal  to its readers.   Joe column, “Western Arkansas Bird Notes “  will appear every other week  in the new Washington County Observer. 

WESTERN ARKANSAS BIRD NOTES

 1/6/2010

Joseph C. Neal

My friend Joe Woolbright from Siloam Springs holds forth mornings at a café named Kathy’s Corner. He is more of the liberal persuasion, but his table mates tend toward Rush. So, with the coming of ice & snow in the past few weeks, folks all around Joe at the table have driven the icy-snowy roads to Kathy’s, bringing with them questions like, “Well Woolbright, I guess that finishes off the global warming idea” etc. Joe points out that climate change is not about a single event or year. It’s about long term trends. In terms of his breakfast friends, he might as well just go out and howl at the cold moon.

Birds are indicators of a changing climate. We now find birds here regularly that once spent the winter south of the Ozarks. On the recently concluded Fayetteville Christmas Bird count, for example, we found 13 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, an unheard-of event until the 1980s.

I think about this when I’m out birding. On January 4 I walked the perimeter of Chesney Prairie Natural Area near Siloam Springs. I found American Tree Sparrows in several spots during the afternoon, including one flock of at least 30 birds. They flushed up & brightly decorated a barbed wire fence and the weeds and little bushes holding it up. I also drove county roads around Chesney. Much of the landscape is ice/snow covered & frozen, so many of the field birds have turned to open roadsides, where there is ample food spilled from poultry feed trucks. Savannah Sparrows in 1s, 2, and flocks were along & on the road, joined by White-crowned Sparrows, Harris’s Sparrows, and others. Lots of meadowlarks have joined the roadside feast. In order to separate Eastern & Western Meadowlarks, I kept trying to look at malar areas behind the bill (more yellow on Westerns, for example), but my fingers got too stiff to comfortably use the binoculars. It is a good opportunity, though, if your fingers can take it.

In one spot I found 25 Horned Larks, similarly employed chasing down waste grain. These birds were along a private road into an egg production facility. I was watching them from an open & obviously public road, looking for Lapland Longspurs among them. Soon, two business-like, stiff-faced youngish gentlemen drove out from the egg plant, parked right snug up behind me & requested that I state my business. I would have thought my binoculars would have sufficed, but then they could also be used for spying…

Finally, I have received two emails with photographs from friends in Madison County with two unusual birds at their feeder. The first is a possible Spotted Towhee (a western bird unusual here) and the second a pair of Rusty Blackbirds, from the far north, where they nest in the Boreal Forest.

CITY OF WEST FORK
COUNCIL MEETING
January 12, 2010 6:30PM
 
Call to order of regular council meeting
 
Opening invocation-
 
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America
 
Approval of Agenda and attached Department Reports as mailed
 
Approval of Minutes from December 8, 2009 as mailed
 
Public Forum
 
REPORTS:
 
A.     Court Report – Pauletta Welch
B.     Library Report – Joan Bachman
C.     Park Report – Stephen Sprick
D.    Police Report – Chief Nelson
E.     Fire Report – Chief McCorkle
F.     Business/Utility Report – Butch Bartholomew
 
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
 
A. 
 
NEW BUSINESS:
 
            A.  Resolution 2010-01:  Budget Adjustment
 
 
Mayor’s Comments
 
Adjourn.

with Two Area Performances

Area residents were treated to two performances from the West Fork Middle School drama club, The Dramatics, on Saturday, December 12 at The Mercantile in Winslow and Unity Covenant Church in West Fork.

The free performances featured 23 students in grades 5-8 who were selected in fall try-outs from about 60 middle school students. The nearly hour-long performance featured performances from two teams, a black and gray team. The black team was comprised of four students that performed “A Word by Any Other Name”, an often humorous recitation between four students, that illuminated the origin of seemingly hundreds of words and phrases that have been derived from people’s names.

The gray team’s performance was a series of short skits by Jules Feiffer, the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, most notable for his comic strip Feiffer. Mr. Harvey, who leads this group of students and is also an eighth-grade English teacher, said, “These short vignettes are about these little things in life. It is very dear to my heart. I did (performed) this when I was in high school”. He said his students wanted to perform something difficult and had risen to the challenge in performing the series of skits, improving with every performance.

In addition to Saturday’s performances, The Dramatics also performed in front of their peers in a middle school performance on Friday afternoon. Helping Mr. Harvey are two other middle school teachers; Ms. Porter, a fifth-grade English teacher and Ms. Hillbrand, a seventh-grade math teacher. The Dramatics will soon hold try-outs and begin rehearsing for a larger spring performance.

"Black Team" members of The Dramatics perform Saturday at the Mercantile in Winslow. Seated left to right are Ryan Porter, Ellie Jones, Allison Banks, and Sofia Franco.

Mackenzie Greene and Jacob Womack perform in one of the "Gray Team's" many skits Saturday afternoon at Unity Covenant Church.

The Dramatics is comprised of 23 West Fork Middle School students, grades 5-8.

West Fork Industrial Commission?

Ready for 2010

The West Fork City Council ended the year with comments from Mayor Jan Throgmorton.  She announced a community preparedness plan in the works that will be finalized in early 2010.

The plan resulted from meetings with department heads, EMS and the schools.  It establishes the Community Center as the designated shelter for residents.  In a prolonged weather emergency the schools will make showering facilities available.   She recognized city business manager Butch Bartholomew for his timely record keeping which allowed speedy reimbursement by FEMA for emergency expenses.

The mayor also “set the record straight” about the lack of questions and comments by council members regarding the 2010 budget at the November meeting.  She explained that the council members received their copies of the budget a month before the vote and had addressed questions to the city treasurer.  There are no secrets, she said, and all information is open to the public.  The council was commended for being active in city affairs.  Several attended a recent fire department appreciation dinner, she said. Many citizens have expressed their gratitude that the “corner” got cleaned up.

During the Public Forum portion of the meeting  resident Paul Libor expressed to the council his concern about the legal liability of the proposed Angel Statue in Riverside Park. Mr. Libor pointed to past Supreme Court rulings against placement of religious monuments in public places.  He suggested a church might be a more appropriate location. Mayor Throgmorton said the statue is “not religious and she is “willing to take the chance” on its legality. She noted the statue was recommended by the Parks Commission, adding that “anyone that knows their scripture knows that there are dark and light angels, so that covers that.” 

“It is a memorial, not to be worshiped,” she said. 

Councilman Drymon noted that several cities around the country had allowed the statue to be erected and that “we want it.”  Mr. Libor pointed out that the angel statue comes out of Utah.  The Public Forum ended and the council moved on to routine business.

Parks announced the “Small Town Big Lights” Christmas lighting contest.  The Police Department had 36 calls.  Police Chief Nelson reported on recent car break-ins. Joan Bachman reported the library made over $800 from Breakfast-with-Santa fundraiser  and the silent auction is ongoing. 

Fire Chief McCorkel explained the need to use home or cell phone, not house alarm system, to report an emergency. Business Manager Butch Bartholomew reported that year end updates are underway regarding property insurance and County Planning requirements. 

City Treasurer Kristie Drymon announced that census worker jobs are available. The pay is $11.25/hour and $.55/mile.  Those interested should call her office for details.  The AARP will be offering income tax filling assistance for seniors.

Enforcement Officer for Boston Mountain Solid Waste District, Michael Harp, made a presentation about his agency’s duties and responsibilities.

Frances Hime presented an update on progress at the Heritage Gardens site.  Two people have been hired.  Grants are available from the Watershed Alliance Board to help develop the site.  The Schools is involved with development of a science education building. The RRC will run the store.  Hime explained to the council that the drip irrigation, raised beda,  and no till gardens will save on water bills. 

The final council meeting of 2009 ended at 8PM.

Regular readers of the Sunday Editorial are by now familiar with the format.  We put on the dunce cap, admit to a factual error we committed in a recent post or print article, apologize, say we’ll try harder in the future,  then go to defend ourselves from what we consider an unwarranted criticism of our reporting.  We’ll do the same thing today.

The factual error occurred in “Big lights” article in the December Print Edition.

Merchants unite to light up the town

Over 20 West Fork businesses and churches have banded together to sponsor West Fork’s first Christmas lighting contest. The event called “Small Town Big Lights” is the brainchild of the city’s West Fest Committee, which was responsible for the wildly successful 2009 West Fest celebration in September.  Participants can sign up at City Hall and must live within the City Limits to participate. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winners. Judging will be December 21  beginning at 6:30. 

Our error, we were informed by a reliable source, was that the idea for “big lights” originated with the Parks Department, not the Festival Committee.  The tidbit of information came to us in a conversation about the Festival Committee.  We assumed incorrectly.  We were wrong – we apologize- we’ll try harder in the future.  The other criticism went beyond factual error.  The commenter objected to the tone and perceived  maliciousness imbedded in our report on what didn’t happen at the Nov. 12 City Council Meeting.  Was this something personal?  Were we trying to make the council look bad? Here is the article as it appeared in the December print edition.(available at the Library, restaurants, BeeVee’s and by subscription)

Budget approved without discussion                         

 At the Nov. 12 City Council meeting Budget Ordinance No. 410 was voted on and passed unanimously.  There was no discussion on the million dollar budget.  No councilmember asked a question.  No one made a comment to indicate to the voters their budget priorities. 

The 2010 Budget document was not included in the packet of documents sent to council members for their review prior to the meeting.   The Budget was hand delivered to some council member’s hours before the meeting.  Some members may not have seen the Budget before the meeting. 

There was no mention of a $10,000 retirement payment to two long time employees who were paid lump sums because they worked for the city prior to the 1991 implementation of the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System.        The controversy associated with eliminating a police officer position, which was not discussed directly in any of the public budget committee meetings was also not discussed by the council.

Admittedly, reporting on something that didn’t happen could be problematic.  We first posted an editorial on line about that meeting on Nov. 17 and soon received an email from a reader who pointed to our vagueness on the issue.  We pulled the post.  Was it news or editorial?  The editors discussed it and decided to treat the event as a news article – let the readers have their own opinion.  Reporting on something that didn’t happen is not  unusual.  Sometimes things are conspicuous by their absence.  Lack of any comment by even one of the elected officials regarding  2010 budget, the first budget in twelve years with deep cuts in services,  seemed news worthy. 

We can’t report on events out of the public view. The meeting had an “executive session” – closed to the public.  Maybe the council members did discuss the lump sum retirement payment or eliminating a police position – but they didn’t do it in public. That’s the meat of the matter. They didn’t give the electorate a clue as to where they stood. 

No one associated with the Zephyr has any personal “ax to grind” or is out to make anyone appear in a negative light. We call it like we see it.  No doubt, feathers will be ruffled and boats will be shaken. Our job is to inform citizens.  The town leaders’ job is to tell us where they’re leading us and why.

 We take the first amendment seriously and see an independent press as essential to a free and democratic society.  We will work to make Government, at all levels- national, state, county and city to be accessable, open and transparent.   Even in a small town.