08-2025 Minutes

Street Committee Meeting

August 19, 2025 - 12:30 p.m.

The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m.

Present were Scott Manchester, Assistant Director of Streets; Jim Bodenhamer, Carry Manuel and Jennifer Baker, Committee members; Steve Hill, Director of Public Works; Scott Liles, City Clerk, Arnold Knox, Director of Planning and Engineering, and Shawn Lofton from the Mountain Home Fire Department.

Arnold Knox spoke to the committee regarding the removal of the traffic signal at Main Street and 8th Street.  He said there are a few concerns from ARDOT on 8th Street from Hickory Street to Main Street.  There is a line of sight issue while sitting on 8th Street facing east.  Sout bound traffic is not visible due to the Auto Trim Design building at the curve.  With traffic traveling along Main Street, it creates an unsafe intersection without that traffic signal.  Arnold said there are three solutions to make regarding this issue.  The first is to keep the traffic signal as it is and not remove it; the second is to vacate 8th Street from Main to Hickory Street.  He said, the only people that use that street are the Baxter County Sheriff Department, and the Mayor.  There are other streets to access Main Street if 8th is vacated.  The third option Arnold said, is to make all the streets in the downtown area, one-way traffic.  He added we could immediately make that section of 8th Street from Main to Hickory one-way (heading west), and then 6th, 7th, and 8th Streets from Main St. to College St. would all be one-way (6th one way heading West, 7th one way heading East, 8th one way heading West). A few different combinations exist related to downtown streets that the committee will consider.  There is also an idea to add more green space in those areas, along with more parking.  Arnie said no decisions have to be made today; we have three months to decide what we are going to do.   The Committee discussed the options and decided to revisit the situation and answer any questions at the next Street Committee meeting. 

The Street Report for July was reviewed. 

Scott reported the Community Center project is going along well.  He said the retaining wall has been completed and crew is working on drainage for the splash pad area at this time.  The year-to-date cost for the Community Center is $184,257.83; the total cost for this project is $1,781,322.21.

The rebuild project at Redbud and Windbrook is going well.  Curb and gutter along with sidewalks have been poured on Windbrook, and on Redbud from Windbrook to Spring Street.  Currently, the crew is pouring a sidewalk on Spring Street from Redbud to Cardinal Drive.  When they are finished with Spring Street, they will go back and finish Redbud to Langston.  The streets will be ready to dig out in a couple of weeks.  Scott said he would like to have them paved this year.  The total cost to date is $410,929.34.  Scott told the Committee; Langston is scheduled for a complete rebuild when Redbud has been completed. 

The Delwood, Meadowcrest and Grace Lane Rebuild has been completed at a cost of $354,923.95. 

Overlays for 2025 began July 2.   We are doing our own milling, hauling asphalt and overlays, since purchasing the milling machine and new paver.  This has helped greatly with scheduling overlays and paving our street rebuilds.   To date, Laurel, Delwood Circle, 16th, Alice, Fern, Bean, Spring Branch and Partipilo have been overlayed.  Janice Drive and Dogwood are planned to overlay Thursday and Friday of this week, and Scott complimented the work the crew is doing.   As of July 31, $170,844.14 had been spent on the Overlay project. 

Maintenance for the month of July is $19,447.86.  This includes mowing the right of ways, trimming limbs, checking culverts and sign maintenance. 

The Budget Summary looks good, Scott reported.

Carry asked who had been mowing at the Bypass.  Steve told the Committee this was a shared project between the Parks Department and Street Department.  ARDOT mows three times a year, and it grows up so long, there was an agreement made between ARDOT and the City of Mountain Home to mow those areas.   Steve said the Water Department has been doing the mowing for the Street Department because we don't have the equipment to do it, and Water has billed the Street Department for it.  Scott told the Committee we will be mowing both ends of the Bypass from 62 West to the walking trail area, and from 62 East to Charles Blackburn St.  Carry said it looks good when you are driving into town. 

Jim asked Scott how the staffing status was for the Department and Scott said It's ok for now, we are planning on making a third concrete crew at the first of the year.

Shawn Lofton, from the Mountain Home Fire Department spoke to the Committee, along with Scott Liles, who presented a proposed ordinance for review.  He said Russell Tucker from Black Hills Energy, spoke with him and Chief Kris Quick, of concerns regarding Arkansas 811, which is calling 811 to locate utility lines before any digging begins by contractors or the general public.  Mr. Tucker told them, of the area between Harrison and Mountain Home, they are at a 50% damage rate for underground utilities, due to people not using One-Call/811, before they begin their work. Shawn said Black Hills had taken an idea to Harrison, who then drafted an ordinance that prohibits underground excavation without first calling One-Call/811.  The ordinance will give Harrison the authority and option to issue a citation if not done so.   He explained he wanted to present this to the Street Committee for review and have the City Council pass this at their next meeting in September.  He said the state average for damage to underground utilities is 20% and this region is at 50% damage.  He also explained that when a gas line is damaged, the fire department is called out because this is a safety hazard.  He added, they may be out there for eight hours along with the police department.  This ordinance will give them a way to recoup the costs incurred by having to go out to this site that hadn't made a One-Call/811 and monitor this emergency.  He said they must call out their on-call members to go to these emergencies, because their on-duty staff must respond to any other emergencies that may arise.  Shawn made an example of a gas line that was hit a while back at a new construction near Commerce Drive.  The fire department was out there for 8 hours, and this was a result of not calling 811 before the contractor began their digging.  Currently, there is a state statute that prohibits people from digging without calling 811, but the only person authorized to issue a citation is the state attorney general and it would be difficult to follow up on that, he said.  A lengthy discussion continued, and the Street Committee agreed to send the proposed ordinance to the City Council for their vote.  

The Committee discussed the placement for a new stop sign in Southern Meadows at the intersection of Honeysuckle and Arbor.  Scott told the Committee a One-Call had been done this morning and it will be put up very soon. 

The meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.