The county will have to appropriate additional funds to maintain the eastern district courthouse and courthouse annex in Berryville. At Monday night’s quorum court meeting Justice of the Peace Jack Deaton summarized some recent maintenance projects, saying the 2019 budget included $50,000 for the Berryville courthouse, but that money has been almost entirely spent. Deaton said repairing the foundation cost $10,000 and the county has spent money to fix electrical problems.
The county judge’s office has moved, and the Veterans Service Office moved into the space formerly occupied by the judge. The office of the County Clerk will need nearly $5,000 for new walls and carpet.
The Facilities Committee had met prior to the meeting and compiled a list of other needed improvements including power washing the exterior of the courthouse and resealing it. Deaton said the current Facilities Committee has been more aggressive. “In the past, we’ve had committees that didn’t meet,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to meet and report back.”
Deaton said needed repairs may cost another $50,000, and asked other JPs if they would rather wait a year before appropriating more money. “We can’t let what we have fall down around us,” JP John Howerton said. He suggested continuing with repairs, and mentioned that Harness Roofing had repaired some roof damage created when Quality Assurance Roofing put a new roof on the courthouse a couple of years ago. That company did not seal the roofing material against the parapet walls and water leaked into the exterior walls.
JP Chuck Olsen said he had called Quality Assurance several times, and received repeated promises that someone would address problems, but no one from the company ever returned.
Although the roof leaks have been corrected, JP Larry Swofford said, “I’ll throw a fit if we ever build something with a flat roof again.”
Deaton suggested another courthouse need, to remodel the former Veterans office for a committee meeting room. He said budget meetings in the fall may involve as many as 20 people, and the space now available will not require much expense to make it a useable asset.
The JPs agreed that they would appropriate additional funds to continue the improvement efforts. Olsen summed up the future plans as including some prevention, some correction, and some beautification.
On a related subject, the JPs voted to increase the hours of the custodian maintaining the eastern district courthouse and the courthouse annex. That position had been limited to 35 hours, but Deaton explained that the position will involve more janitorial and maintenance responsibilities.
A resolution passed unanimously to allow the Carroll County Airport Commission to enter a lease-to-purchase arrangement for a new mower. A Hustler 102-in. zero-turn-radius mower will cost just under $20,000 over a five-year period. The monthly payment will be less than a current lease. The cost includes a trade-in on the airport’s existing tractor and bush hog.
Howerton has been attending CCAC meetings as a representative of the quorum court, and explained that the airport had obtained a tractor and bush hog when the airport was more overgrown. With the overall condition of the grounds improved, the new mower will work much faster than a tractor.
In other business:
- A resident of Carroll Road 905 complained about her road, which she said has become little better than “a goat trail.” She said the road is too narrow for two cars to meet. Part of CR 905, closer to U.S. Hwy. 412, has been repaired, but not the section closer to Arkansas Hwy. 103. County Judge Sam Barr replied that the federal government paid 75 percent of the repairs to one section of the road. Another resident of CR 905 complained that graders have pushed rocks into her fencerow and blocked culverts and ditches.
- The Highland Park Subordinate Service District will not collect any taxes next year, and Olsen said this is a step toward disbanding the SSD, which is located in a residential community near Beaver Lake.
- The quorum court approved a resolution to allow the Carroll County Library Department Board of Trustees to enter into a letter of intent with the City of Berryville. The library is currently in a campaign to expand, and the city will hold a property near the city pool as a potential site. The library will not have to pay for the land until its capital campaign is complete.