By Joel Phelps
The Arkadelphian

Arkadelphia City Manager Gary Brinkley applauded the city’s street and police departments Tuesday for several ongoing projects in town.

During the City Board of Directors meeting, Brinkley noted the basketball court at the Recreation Center has been completed, thanking Parks & Rec director Junior Rodemeyer for leading the process.

The Street Department, Brinkley said, recently addressed an issue on South 12th Street by milling out the bridge and relaying the street.

The striping company’s work on city streets on Sept. 10-11 was “great,” he said. “Staff is confident that letting the slurry seal set up for over a month before striping will pay dividends. They did a great job. You will note that with so many patches required over the last three years, we re-striped North 26th Street while the crew was in town.”

In a coordinated effort between Police Chief Jason “Shorty” Jackson and Street Department Supervisor Kenny Myers, the two department heads addressed an issue with proper queuing of traffic for the Perritt Primary School pickup lanes. The move, Brinkley said, required the street department to widen Walnut Street and for APD to coordinate the traffic flow. “The plan is working very well,” Brinkley told directors.

While on the topic of the police chief, Brinkley pointed out that Jackson’s work in revamping the traffic flow at Peake Elementary School led to his recent nomination the Badger Pride Award, presented to him by the Arkadelphia Board of Education.

Brinkley thanked those able to participate in the Clark County Fair Parade on Sept. 15. “It is good to be getting back to some semblance of normality,” he said, referring to Covid-19’s impact on putting a halt to traditions.

Speaking of traditions, Brinkley said it’s his hope that the upcoming Arkadelphia Festival of the Arts will become an annual event. “We are 10 days out” from the festival, he said, welcoming the public to visit the festival’s website.

Crowds in downtown Arkadelphia are beginning to be a normality, as the Motorcycle Cannonball “went swimmingly.” Brinkley thanked the organizations and businesses that helped in making the event a successful one.

Ending on a not-so-positive note, Brinkley informed directors that administration has been notified that the National Opioid cases are beginning to settle. He pointed out that the Arkansas Municipal League briefed administration on Tuesday of two such settlements, but did not go into detail about what it meant. “We are still working to ascertain what that means for Arkadelphia,” Brinkley said, adding directors will be given a staff report “once we reach that stage.”