State grant helps with utilities at museum

By Robert Cox

RCox@cherryroad.com

There wasn’t much on the agenda for the Berryville City Council during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 20, but council members still found some things to discuss, including some good news for a community institution.

Council member Linda Riddlesperger delivered a brief report on the city’s Saunders Museum before council members reviewed monthly reports, briefly discussed a request to add an additional streetlight and heard from Mayor Tim McKinney regarding a new grant program.

Riddlesperger, who volunteers at the museum, shared that she and museum director Joan Lasseter traveled to Little Rock earlier this month, where they received a check from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.

“Joan and I went down to Little Rock week before last and accepted a grant for $2,500 for utilities [at the museum],” Riddlesperger said.

The grant, awarded by Arkansas Heritage Director Jimmy Bryant, was awarded as a sustainability grant from the state. Funded by an eighth-cent state conservation tax, the Small Museum Grant Program aims to increase the ability of community- based small museums and organizations to research, preserve, present and conserve Arkansas history.

Saunders Museum, which opened in 1956, is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

“Nov. 5 is the last day,” Riddlesperger said, noting that the museum had received the grant for the past several years.

“You’re getting that about every year now,” McKinney said. “That helps.”

In other business, the council heard from Berryville Police Chief Robert Bartos, who delivered his department’s monthly report.

According to Bartos, city police issued 154 citations in August — up from 122 a year ago and nearly double those issued in July 2022 — and investigated 73 offenses, up from last year’s monthly total of 69. The department’s clearance rate for the month, Bartos said, was 82 percent.

The department took in $185 in fines and bonds in July and responded to 21 traffic accidents, up from the 13 reported in August 2021.

Bartos noted the increase in citations could be attributed to a marked increase in shoplifting charges — 61 citations for shoplifting were issued last month — resulting from a months-long backlog of reports by a local retailer.

The council also reviewed the monthly financial report showing sales tax collected in the city during the month of August. According to the report, the city received $180,984.05 from the city’s 1 percent sales tax — up from the $175,398 received in August 2021, and up from last month’s total of $177,924.82 — and $90,492.03 from the city’s half-cent sales tax for the community center.

Of the tax money received from August sales, $132,827.08 was added to the city’s general fund, $17,000 to the sewer bond fund and $16,398.41 to the street fund. The remainder was divided between the Saunders Museum and the parks commission funds, which received $4,919.52 each, and the tourism and cemetery funds, which received $2,459.76 each.

The council also voted to table a discussion centered on a request from a resident to consider adding an additional streetlight on the 400 block of McKennon Street to give council members and city crews the opportunity to gauge the need for another light.

“I hope everybody gets the chance to get out, look at that, and see what they think,” McKinney said, adding that city workers should likely conduct a survey of streetlights across the city to gauge their condition.

Before the meeting ended, council member Jason Williams shared that he had completed the Retail Water Provider Board Training mandated for municipalities under Act 605 of 2021. According to the act, a majority of members serving on the city council had to complete the training or have served a certain amount of time, with the aim of ensuring those making decisions about a city’s water system have some idea of what they’re doing. Williams and new council member Ashley Sharp were the only two who didn’t meet the lengthof- service clause.

“I learned some things,” Williams said. “Some of it was really irrelevant to anything I would probably ever need to know, but there’s a lot of regulations and changes. What I took from it is — you know we’re about to do a — I think that’s something we’re going to required to do every five years. It’s probably something we need to stay on top of a little bit more, our rates, and make sure we keep them where they need to be to handle our system as we grow.”

McKinney thanked Williams for attending on behalf of the city, and then turned the discussion toward a new grant program.

“We started working on a grant today,” McKinney said. “There’s a real tight deadline on it. They released $288 million into the state’s American Rescue Plan. Fortunately, we’ve got some projects kind of in the mill that will fit into this. The money’s been laying around for two years and they’re giving us 30 days to get ready.”

“ is going to write that for us, and I think between them and our staff, we can get everything ready to go.”

The council’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 4, at Berryville City Hall.