As deadline looms, GF Council opts for treatment plant loan

GREEN FOREST -- With a deadline approaching, the city council voted unanimously to apply for a loan to build a new wastewater treatment plant.

At a special meeting Tuesday evening, the council considered its options for almost two hours before deciding to pursue a loan for $5.3 million.

The loan is not a certainty, but funds had been set aside for Green Forest. The city had until Oct. 1 to notify the state of its interest in the money. A deadline extension had already been granted, and if the city had failed to make a decision by Oct. 1, it might have faced another year's delay before re-applying for a loan.

The council has discussed wastewater issues for the past several years. Increasingly strict limits on nitrates and phosphorus have forced the city to use chemicals, in amounts costing as much as $400,000 annually.

As the Oct. 1 deadline approached, the council called special meetings on Sept. 21 and Sept. 26, but they were still unable to make a decision.

The three main options considered during that series of meetings were continuing to operate the existing plant, requiring Tyson Foods to pretreat its effluent, or building a new wastewater treatment plant.

Part of the delay came because the city will have to sign a $500,000 contract with an engineering firm as part of the loan application process. If the city does not receive the loan for any reason, it will still be liable for the contract.

Tyson Foods had offered to borrow the money to pay the engineering firm, provided that the city repay the company when loan money comes through.

The poultry processor had suggested Reid Engineering as an alternative to McGoodwin Williams & Yates, an engineering firm the city had previously hired to design a new plant.

At Tuesday's special meeting, Tyson officials continued to maintain that Reid's design for a new plant would be best for the company and the city. Tyson uses a majority of the capacity of the treatment plant.

Although the council voted to apply for $5.3 million, the actual loan amount may increase, depending on factors such as emergency back-up power and sludge handling.

Aldermen David Garrett and Mike Miller both expressed disappointment at the absence of Mayor Richard Deweese. "I have a problem with the mayor not being here," he said. "I don't know the circumstances why he's not here, but we only have one day."

"I wish the mayor was here; this has been his baby from the get-go," Miller said. "But based on what I've heard tonight, we need to go ahead with this."

City Attorney Brad Brown said he would send a memorandum of agreement to the state. "We'll tell them we are going forward," he said.