Batesville City Council hears updates on tornado sirens, park project, more

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

On the heels of one of the biggest floods Batesville has seen in more than a decade and a system of tornadoes that swept through the state, the tornado sirens are back on.

Some of them, anyway.

Fire Chief Mark McCollum came before the Batesville City Council on Tuesday night to say two of the tornado sirens within the city are back up and running.

Those sirens are located at Eagle Mountain Boulevard (pictured above, right) and the corner of Chestnut and Central Avenue (pictured above, left).

McCollum said the other siren locations are Lyon College, Central Avenue and White Drive (county fairgrounds), the county yard on White Drive (across from the National Guard Armory), Lawrence and Allen streets, St. Louis and Harrison streets, Pioneer Drive (Batesville High School), and Mockingbird Street (Quail Valley).

“We’re pretty sure we have enough equipment to make them all work. If not, we have a backup plan that will not be too expensive,” McCollum said.

He said he has been working with Barry Wilkes from Wilkes Communications to get repairs made.

Mayor Rick Elumbaugh said the county installed the tornado sirens in the 1990s, under County Judge David Wyatt’s tenure, but they are no longer under the city’s management.

“When I took office in ’07, there were a lot of questions, and I kept hearing they were not worth messing with,” Elumbaugh said.

McCollum said it is important people don’t solely rely on tornado sirens “because they’re going to be activated by a human.”

“Peco Foods has a siren that is manually set off. They test theirs every week, and we’re going to test ours regularly,” he said.

He also said besides the tornado sirens, the city is looking at other options to alert residents to impending inclement weather such as a texting service. He said individuals with smartphones can change their settings in their notifications to make sure they receive alerts about weather, flooding, Amber Alerts, etc.

The recent weather has also illustrated the need for safe rooms. Fire Station 3 on White Drive has a storm room with a capacity of about 120-130. The three recent nights with tornado watches/warnings drew 120 people, then 80, then over 200 people.

“It was so (crowded) that I got in my truck and went to churches to see who had basements open,” McCollum said. Some residents were redirected, but everyone was able to ride out the storms in a safe spot.

McCollum also presented monthly statistics for March: 52 calls, four structure fires, two grass/woods fires, two vehicle fires, one rescue, 17 motor vehicle accidents (no extrication), 18 false alarms, two good intent including service calls, two HAZMAT calls, one gas leak, one smoke detector installation, one carbon monoxide detector installation, and 15 plan reviews.

In other business Tuesday night:

–Police Chief John Scarbrough said two officers, Oscar Salas and Madison Vannattan, graduated earlier that day from Black River Technical College Law Enforcement Academy in Pocahontas. He said Vannattan received one of the top scores in the class in physical fitness.

March was mostly consistent with February regarding the number of calls: 1,101 calls for service (compared with 1,114 in February, 860 in January and 1,036 in December); 49 accidents (48 in February, 35 in January and 63 in December), 26 arrests (27 in February, 21 in January and 27 in December), 55 incident reports (52 in February, 53 in January and 58 in December), 148 citations (174 in February, 71 in January and 54 in December), and 168 warnings (261 in February, 81 in January and 106 in December).

Scarbrough said officers were continuing to review new policies and conduct training throughout the month. Scarbrough also praised Alderwoman Julie Hinkle for her assistance with reviewing departmental policies. He said he has checked with the Arkansas Municipal League for legalities in implementing the changes.

Officers have also been conducting self-defense tactics at Without Limits MMA. Scarbrough also said Matt Sellars has been “an invaluable asset to the department, training officers at no cost.”

–The council amended the 2024 budget to reflect grants for Bad Boy Mowers ($1.2 million) and LifePlus ($141,000) as well as the sale of equipment at $185,000. Also amended were expenditures to include the Veterans of Foreign Wars property condemnation at $610,000; temporary services at $50,000; police department expenses at $35,000; and police department donation expenses at $53,000. Finally, Street Aid revenues were decreased by $150,000.

–Luanne Gregory was appointed to a five-year term on the Batesville Housing Authority.

–The council approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to submit an application to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission for an economic development project to benefit LaCroix Precision Optics. Likewise, the council approved another resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an administrative agreement with the White River Planning and Development District.

The city conducted a public hearing as part of the application process, at which time the city identified and prioritized community development and housing needs.

–The council also approved a resolution expressing the city’s willingness to utilize Federal-Aid Transportation Alternatives Program or Recreational Trails Program Funds to improve the Greenway Trail Addition.

Funds are available at 80 percent federal participation and 20 percent local match.

Estimated costs put the project at approximately $803,000, with the requested federal amount at $500,000 (the maximum requested for federal funds), leaving the city responsible for approximately $303,000.

–Public Works Engineer Damon Johnson said numbers are in for the upcoming parks project at Riverside Park, with the final costs projected at $22.568 million, although there will be some other costs associated with the project outside the contract.

He said in times past, they would bring in bids for the council to review and select, but this project has been “vetted pretty hard.”

“We started at $40 million but got it down to $22 million. We cut out some things but got most of what we wanted.”

He said the $22 million contract is “basically where we expected.”

The event center, which is the largest component, was at one time projected to cost $12 million, but some modifications were made to get that under $10 million, and it is now $9.4 million.

Elumbaugh said the city was not losing any square footage with the changes.

Johnson also said the city received four to five contractor bids on almost every scope, “which is rare,” especially with a project with so many different components. This project has 51 subcontracts, he said.

Johnson said he was asking the council to make a motion and give the mayor permission to move forward with the project. If so, the dirt subcontractor could be on site as early as next week.

The motion passed.

“They’re ready to go to work,” Johnson went on to say, while noting there is a timeframe for completion of Dec. 26, 2026.

Meanwhile, work had been progressing at the new water treatment plant, where two structures have been “completely excavated” in preparation for construction, but the weather has created a lot of mud, which will mean some delays.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” but he did say the current plant handled the recent flooding well. He said crews had to monitor the levels in case the plant had to stop making water.

At the wastewater treatment plant, the lagoons are “brimming,” Johnson said, with high levels of water. But as of Tuesday, the plant was actually sending more treated wastewater out than it was getting in, so that was a good thing, Johnson said.

The wastewater plant’s capacity is 10 million gallons per day.

The White River was originally predicted to crest at 27 feet last weekend, but the peak actually came in at 25 feet. Johnson said the city activated the flood walls, massive pieces of steel stacked horizontally on top of each other, then covered in industrial strength plastic to keep water in place topped with sandbags. The walls were installed on Stadium Drive, alongside the river, starting on Friday.

“It took two days to get the wall in – that was a good lesson,” Johnson said. “Almost all the (city’s) labor staff was at work on Friday and Saturday,” although Friday is a day off work for most city crews, and Saturday is a day off for all the crews.

Firefighters made sandbags, and police officers were keeping track of which streets were flooded. White River Materials donated the use of a cement truck and sand to help with the effort.

“It was a great effort from all of our people,” Johnson said. “In our time of need, I’m very impressed with our employees, our staff, and leadership. We have a very good team.”

He then turned the council’s attention to the Safe Streets for All Grant, which is concluding soon with the creation of a safety action plan for the city – not just for automobiles but also bicycles, pedestrians, scooters – anyone who uses city streets.

The goal, he said, is to reduce the number of fatal accidents to zero.

–The council heard the first reading of an ordinance modifying water connection fees.

The last rate ordinance was adopted in 2023, but since then, the city has learned the ordinance does not operate well “in real life,” and this new ordinance “cleans up that language,” Johnson told the council.

Clint Crain, Batesville Utility manager, explained that the current ordinance outlines “extra fees we don’t need and will save the city money as well.” He also said “the after-hours program (reconnections made between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.) is not even used,” and this new ordinance modification states that no reconnections will be made during off hours.

–In his mayor’s comments, Elumbaugh thanked all the city employees for their assistance during the recent weather events, as well as for their help following the March 14-15 tornado in Cave City.

“They were there the night of the tornado, and they were there for weeks afterward. I know (Cave City) Mayor Jonas Anderson is very appreciative of them,” Elumbaugh said.

Elumbaugh also announced Lowen Lermitte had accepted a position as parks superintendent and had started Monday. Lermitte had previously worked for the city for eight years.

Elumbaugh also brought to the council’s attention an expenditure from the city’s perpetual fund, restoration of one of the pool slides at the community center for $28,000, and a fixed asset disposal, a Freightlighter van that was replaced with a 2025 sewer camera trailer. The van was transferred to the IT department.

Alderwomen Paige Hubbard and Julie Hinkle were absent. There were no comments from citizens.

Images: White River Now