By Joel Phelps
The Arkadelphian

The Arkadelphia Board of Directors will have several topics to discuss during its final meeting of 2021.

Jacqueline Wilson, widow of the late NAACP president Henry Wilson, has requested to address city directors concerning the renaming of Pine Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

Wilson will have 10 minutes to speak. In a request form, Wilson wrote she wishes to speak on “unfinished business” of the street’s renaming and wishes to have Dale Charles and Doug Nelson to have a portion of her time to speak, and hopes for “unified positive results” regarding the matter.

Anyone else wishing to speak to directors will have the opportunity to do so following the meeting, and will be given five minutes apiece to do so.

Directors will also consider donating some of the city’s airport lights to Moniticello. In a memo from City Manager Gary Brinkley, he wrote that he had been contacted by Monticello’s airport manager regarding Arkadelphia’s former runway/taxiway lights, which are currently in storage at the airport.

The lights at Dexter B. Florence Memorial Field were replaced in 2018 and upgrade to LED as part of flood damage repairs, paid for by the Department of Aeronautics and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

The City of Arkadelphia is able to donate the lights but may not sell them as they were purchased with FAA funds.

The board will then hear an annual report from the Arkadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Nikki Chandler, executive vice president of the Arkadelphia Alliance and Chamber of Commerce, will present the report.

Next, directors will have the option to adopt the 2022 budget resolution.

Finally, the board is set to approve the 2022-2023 city employee holiday list.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 5:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Boardroom. The meeting is open to the public. A livestream of the meeting is available, and the meeting can be viewed on Suddenlink channel 9.