The El Dorado City Council will consider several pieces of new business when aldermen convene for a regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in the Council Chamber for City Hall.
A hearing will be held at 5 p.m. to seek public input on a master plan and grant application for the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.
The hearing will be the last in a series of three meetings in which El Dorado and Union County residents are invited to help identify needs and set priorities to expand and improve the facility.
Public feedback will also be used to assist the complex board of directors in applying for a matching grant from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
The grant, if approved, will be used to help fund improvement projects that are recommended the master plan.
The grant application is due in late August.
The council meeting will begin immediately after the public hearing.
Representatives from the El Dorado Works Board and the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce are expected to ask council members to authorize Mayor Frank Hash to send out requests for qualifications to select an environmental firm to identify brownfield sites in El Dorado.
The city has been encouraged to pursue federal grants that are offered by the Environmental Protection Agency to identify brownfields — real properties for which “expansion, redevelopment or reuse” may be complicated by “the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant” — and develop a remediation plan for the sites.
The El Dorado Works Board and chamber of commerce have heard presentations on the matter from Jere “Trey” Hess, PPM Consultants, Inc., a Monroe, Louisiana-based environmental science and engineering consulting firm.
Hess works in the firm’s Jackson, Mississippi, office and has said Murphy Oil is one of the firm’s largest clients.
Following a presentation last week, EWB members agreed to meet with the chamber on the matter and approach the council with a request for Hash to apply for grants and send out RFQs to environmental firms.
Also on the council’s agenda is a proposal by Stars Cinema 6 to obtain the necessary state and local permits to sell beer and wine.
Stars has applied to the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control for a permit and a city license will also be needed to approve beer and wine sales at the city’s only movie theater.
The council is also expected to hear from downtown developer Richard Mason about a request to reserve parking space in front of the Mason House, one of several lodging sites for Union Square Guest Quarters.
Mason House is located on North Jackson Avenue at the intersection of Peach.
Because of ongoing parking issues at the four-guest-bedroom property, Mason has asked the council to consider erecting signs designating three, on-the-street parking spaces in front of Mason House to accommodate guests.
In other new business, aldermen will discuss a proposed agreement with the Arkansas Department of Transportation regarding U.S. highways 167B (West Avenue) and 82B (Hillsboro/Junction City Road), both of which run through the city.
The highways are regulated and maintained by the state.
The city has already agreed to adopt U.S. 82B upon the completion of an ARDOT project to widen and improve the highway through town, meaning that U.S. 82B will become a city street.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.