Prairie Grove To Purchase New Maintenance/Public Works Facility

PRAIRIE GROVE -- In a special meeting last week, Prairie Grove City Council gave Mayor Sonny Hudson the authority to negotiate on property in the industrial park to be used as a new public works and maintenance facility.

Currently, maintenance and public works employees are located on property at the corner of South Neal and Cleveland streets. The city's vehicles, such as sanitation and dump trucks, also are kept at this property.

"They are extremely crowded," Hudson said. "This is a lot larger building in the industrial park. It will work out very well for us."

Council members authorized Hudson to offer $240,000 for the property, making a $150,000 down payment and paying the balance over a period of four years. Hudson said a bank appraised the property at more than $300,000.

The property includes three buildings with a total of about 15,000 square feet on five acres. The largest building has 12,000 square feet.

Larry Oelrich, director of administrative services and public works, said the city will almost quadruple its space for maintenance and public works. The building on South Neal has about 4,000 square feet. The city has 13 employees in public works and maintenance.

The property is owned by Gary Doss, who used the building in the past for Doss Woodworking. More recently, it was leased to Berries Unlimited, according to Oelrich.

Oelrich said the city was not actively looking for a new location for maintenance and public works but knew it needed more space soon.

"We knew we were out of room," Oelrich said. "We're crammed in there. It's not good for safety and not good for efficiency."

When city officials first checked into Doss' property, the price was too expensive, Oelrich said. However, Doss recently approached the city, saying he was motivated to sell.

The city plans to move into the new facility by June 1, Oelrich said.

Council members also approved paying $21,500 to Splashtacular of Paola, Kan., to make repairs and improvements to the metal supports for the water slides at Prairie Grove Aquatic Center. The request was approved so that the company could be finished with the work in time for the 2015 summer season.

General News on 04/08/2015