Berryville council waives bidding, approves purchase of two trucks

When the Berryville City Council declared an emergency and voted to waive competitive bidding on a pair of trucks at its Oct. 3 meeting, council members weren’t exaggerating.

The council voted to waive the bidding process and approve the purchase of two 2020 Ford F250 utility-bed trucks at a total price of $103,524. Council members then approved the second and third readings and invoked the emergency clause so the city can take delivery of the vehicles.

One of the trucks will be used by city construction manager Chris Bouly.

“He has the ’95 truck that has kind of been semi-retired,” mayoral assistant Jay Lee told the council. “And it finally laid down, basically. And the other truck is to replace a 2001 Dodge that, basically the dash is no longer in it. It’s using about as much oil and antifreeze as it does gasoline.”

“We got our money’s worth out of both of those,” mayor Tim McKinney said.

In other business, the council received a monthly report from Saunders Museuam, which saw an increased number of visitors in September compared to the same month in 2022.

Two hundred thirty five people visited the museum in September, up from 176 in September 2022, and the museum took in a total of $1,303, compared with $1,082.50 a year earlier.

McKinney said he had spoken earlier in the day with the curator of the State Capitol in Little Rock about setting up a display next summer featuring the Saunders Museum.

“It’ll be down there, I think from June to October,” McKinney said.

During district reports, council member Max Nichols said he had received complaints from residents on East College Avenue about shoddy cleanup work performed by an outside company after the installation of fiber- optic lines for internet connectivity.

“They’re having to go in behind them and pick up rocks, clods of dirt, just to be able to mow their yards,” Nichols said.

Nichols said the crews also damaged sidewalks in the city.

McKinney said he had already met with company representatives over similar issues.

“We met with them because of some of these issues and told them we’re going to have to have their bond,” McKinney said.

McKinney said cleanup can be affected by the weather and other factors, but Nichols noted that the crews had spread grass seed and covered it with hay.

“They thought they were done,” Nichols.

“Well, we’ll let ’em know they are not,” McKinney said.

Council member Ashley Sharp, a literacy facilitator with the Berryville School District, said a group of “behavior coaches” recently visited the city.

“They stayed at the Fairway Inn and ate at the local restaurants and used the community center while they were here,” Sharp said. “They were super complimentary, had really great things to say about the city and were very pleased.”

McKinney said there are several streets in the city where he believes parking should be prohibited. He cited McKennon Street as an example.

“It’s just something we’re looking at for the busy streets, if you all feel like there’s any streets that would fall in this category,” the mayor said.

The Berryville City Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, at City Hall.