THE TAILGATE NEWS, southernarkansastailgatenews.com *JULY 24, 20208

within 10 days for $125,000 or lessand even though we need to find apermanent solution to this prob-lem, right now we need the sandout of there because it is a threatto Prescott’s water supply.”

Nelson said Prescott WaterDepartment does not have the 50-foot boom necessary to do the jobso the city will need to hire it done.

“The sand and silt will come

back,” Nelson said. “But we haveto get what is there out to keephaving water in Prescott. We willbe looking for a more permanentsolution and hope to find onesoon.”

Nelson said a permanent fixmay involve putting a similar pipeat a different spot in the river. Afterpresenting the problem, Nelsonasked the City Council to approve$100,000 to spend on cleaning thesand out of the existing pipe fromthe depreciation fund, “which I amhoping will do the trick for now.”

Nelson said a pond water sup-ply in between Prescott and theLittle Missouri would keep the cityresidents going about a month inan emergency but the water supplyto Prescott would be at risk afterthat if the sand were not clearedaway from the river pipe. Thecouncil agreed to the $100,000request so Prescott will not risklosing its main water supply.

$3 MILLION PROJECTNelson said he is pleased to

announce a lot of progress on con-necting 34,500 feet of 16-inch pip-ing from the Little Missouri River toPrescott to Firestone.

“We are replacing iron pipethat has been there since 1964and it is worn out,” Nelson said.“This is a $3 million project.”

Nelson said his crew just did a$250,000 project and had a bigbreak in the work, which is whythey were able to work on the $3million project. He said it got start-ed in January of 2019.

Nelson said there was a leakunder a creek and that fixing jobwas able to be included in the larg-

er project. “While that project was going

on, we had another mishap and ageyser,” he said. “In February of2019, we put a new line under thecreek, that is belt line, not PVC.”

Then in March, the crew didlines at the Prescott Golf Course,both blue pipe and white pipe.Then that was used as support forthe 20-acre pond toward the river.

“Then in April and May, wekept going with new line from thatpond all the way to Firestone,” hesaid.“So that got water flowing 5miles from the river to Firestone.”

Nelson said the city was stillusing the old line to Firestone inJanuary and would continue to doso until the new line was complete-ly ready. He said on May 27 thenew pipe from the river into townwas completed, as was a newintake valve. This finished the $3million project.

“So you can see, we havecome a long way and accom-plished much. We will solve thissand problem and get things run-ning smoothly as soon as we canagree on a permanent solution thatwill keep sand out of our 20-inchpipe. Again, my feeling is we willhave to move it to another spot inthe river,” he said.

TA ROAD SPEED LIMITIn other business, the Prescott

City Council passed Ordinance #1for 2020 in order to save money onrepaving.

By way of explanation, the citystreet located north and adjacentto the Travel Centers of America’sTruck Stop property, which leadsfrom State of Arkansas Highway

371, running east and west alongthe property of TCATS regularlyrequires the City of Prescott toresurface said street due to theheavy volumes of traffic by trucksentering in and out of the center.

The ordinance reduces thespeed limit from 30 to 15 mph andthis is said to be a way to reducethe frequency of the need forresurfacing.

Moreover, Jamie Hillery, of theChamber of Commerce, said shestill intends to have the Chamberbanquet and will announce a timeand date for the already postponedevent as soon as possible.

“We may do it online,” shesaid. “However, if Corona Virus

restrictions continue at about whatthey are now, our Fall Festival willprobably not be approved.”

Hillery did say Nevada Countywill have a carnival and livestockshow as a partial county fair inSeptember. Specifics will beannounced later.

SOLAR ENERGYJason Carter, counsel for the

Municipal Power Association,talked extensively to council mem-bers about making appropriatebilling rules via an ordinance forthose customers choosing to usesolar power in combination withtraditional electric service to savemoney.

Carter said, “This is really nota revenue draw for the city. It ismore of an opportunity for citizensand local businesses to savemoney on their electric bills.”

Carter talked of giving cus-tomers credit for solar energy cre-ated and keeping safety first.

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Prescott approves water line fix from river, hears about solar energy perks, face mask rules

WATER SUPERINTENDENT

- Prescott Water Superintendent

Perry Nelson explains how sand

has seeped in around a 20-inch

intake pipe at the Little Missouri

River and if Prescott does not

clean it the entire city’s water

supply could be cut off. The

cleaning is to cost $100,000 and

City Council members agreed to

finance it. (John Nelson photo)

SOLAR POWER - Jason

Carter, general counsel for the

Arkansas Municipal Power

Association, talked with Prescott

City Council members Monday,

July 20 concerning the proposed

rules for blending solar power

customers into the Prescott elec-

tric company billing, as those

customers will need both sources

at times. (John Nelson photo)

MASK FINES - Prescott Police

Chief Joey Beavers said the face

mask mandate by the governor

has no detaining power. He said

fines can be issued, but all he can

do to detain is use existing laws

like loitering or trespassing.

“Mostly, if they are in a store

with no mask and not abiding by

social distancing, I can ask them

to leave.” (John Nelson photo)