This post was updated 1/15/24
PHOTO: A Google Maps streetview of the Welch Building in downtown Arkadelphia.
By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
The Clark County Public Defender’s Office is moving back to downtown Arkadelphia and closer to judicial headquarters.
The move will be made possible by a quorum court decision to buy the Welch Building on Clay Street, directly across the street north of the Clark County Courthouse. County Judge Troy Tucker submitted the proposal to pay $235,000 for the property, owned by RWGW Properties LLC and housed the law offices of its owner, Gina White, as well as Forest Resource Consultants.
The judge said the public defender’s office, which until 2023 had operated from 308 Clay St. but outgrew that space, will help pay for the property using its own funding. The move to a strip mall north of Southern Bancorp’s Pine Street branch came with rent, Tucker said.
In a light yet lengthy meeting, justices also agreed to pitch in $3,000 from the county’s coffers toward the purchase of an SUV that transports veterans in Southwest Arkansas to and from the VA hospital. The Hempstead County veterans service officer made the request of Clark and other counties to help buy the $40,000 vehicle, having collected some $13,000 from other counties. En route from Hope to Little Rock, the SUV makes weekly stops each Wednesday morning in Gurdon and Caddo Valley, picking up veterans who need a ride to an appointment in the capital city.
In other business, the quorum court:
• Heard an annual report from the county extension services.
• Passed a resolution expressing the county’s willingness to use federal funding to replace the South Fork Terre Noire Creek bridge over McMillan Road.
• Passed a resolution approving the county’s participation in a proposed transportation project using a federal grant. The county is hoping to extend a proposed trail system from Arkadelphia to Caddo Valley and DeGray Lake to the north, as well as Gum Springs and Gurdon to the south. The funds, if awarded, will come at no cost to any city other than their maintenance for the sections of the trail within their respective jurisdictions.