Van Buren mayor presents State of the City report

story by Marla Cantrell
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Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman presented his annual State of the City report at Monday night’s meeting and praised the council for helping him manage through “one of the worst economic periods in decades.”

Freeman cited the levee certification, and the repair of two major structures damaged in separate fires, as big wins for the city. The King Opera House caught fire in October, 2008 and reopened in October 2009.  The new, and yet to be completed, Van Buren library at 15th and Main suffered extensive fire damage in September, 2008. It was 85% complete at the time. The fire damage was repaired last year, but the project is still unfinished.

Freeman said negotiations with Traveler’s Insurance, the bonding company responsible for completing the 19,000-square-foot project, are making progress.

“They’ve already held a pre-bid conference that was held last Tuesday morning by the bonding company with four or five general contractors present,” Freeman said. “They were given all the plans and the specifications for the library. Those bids are due the last day of March. … We expect to hear from the bonding company a week to 10 days from then.  … Then we’ll know what the next step will be.”

The mayor outlined the accomplishments of each department during 2009.
Police Department
• Calls for service totaled 46,763, which is up 16% from 2008. Average response time: four minutes.
• An Internet Crimes Against Children grant resulted in 11 arrests in a little more than 86 hours.
• About $16,000 raised for the holiday “Shop with a Cop” program, which benefitted 227 local children.

Fire Department
• Calls for service totaled 1,692, a decrease of 2% from 2008.
• The department added three new firefighters.
• Department personnel completed 1,808 hours of certified Fire Academy training.

Building Department Permits
• Residential: $7 million
• Commercial: $3 million

The budget remains a concern for the mayor, although he said Van Buren is in much better shape than other cities in the state. City sales tax receipts dropped below the 2007 numbers and were barely above the 2006 totals. In 2008, the tax receipts swelled after a major hail storm hit the area, ruining roofs, cars and damaging businesses. The insurance money, and the construction that followed, brought in an extraordinary amount of money to the city.

Freeman said his top priority for 2010 is the completion of the new library, the widening of Rena Road and getting residents to turn in their census forms. Notices have been sent out in water bills and the city is asking church leaders to encourage parishioners to participate in the census.

“One body relates to $1,000 a year, and over 10 years that adds up to $10,000. So, if you short 10 people, you’ve just lost over $100,000,” Freeman said.

The mayor said the year is already looking up. He’s expecting Oxane Materials, which manufactures proppants used in drilling gas and oil wells, to open sometime this spring or summer in the Industrial Park. The company should initially bring 50 jobs to the city.

In other business, the mayor read a proclamation recognizing the Van Buren High School wrestling team. In February, Tyler Graham won first place in the 171-pound class and Carlos Gamon took fifth place in 215-pound class at the Arkansas State Championship tournament.