At the last regular Hope City Board meeting of the year, owners of a local Mexican restaurant requested the passage of an ordinance allowing it to serve alcohol, contracts with two firms to assist in debris removal and monitoring were approved and a touching story was told of a life saved on a new Hope Police officer’s first day on the job. A motion was made for city employees to receive end-of-year bonuses and a replacement for Director Steve Montgomery was appointed by Mayor Don Still.
Video of the meeting in its entirety is provided below this article.
Jonathan Zacharias spoke at the podium for his father, Fernando Zacharias, the owner of El Agaves, requesting a Private Club License so that alcohol could be served at their 501 North Hervey restaurant. Jonathan said that customers will sometimes come in and ask whether they can order a margarita. On being told no, they then leave, presumably to go to another restaurant that can.
Jonathan Zacharias said he had taken the necessary seminar in Little Rock that is required before the license is granted. The city board’s adoption of an ordinance in favor is also a requirement. After the board unanimously adopted the ordinance, Jonathan said it would likely be the last week in January before the restaurant could serve alcoholic beverages.
Also appearing at the podium during the meeting was Assistant City Manager Daniel Shelman, whose task has been to upgrade Hope’s emergency preparedness by soliciting the services first of a consulting firm. With that completed and ER Assist Disaster Funding Solutions brought on, the next step involved Shelman working with ER Assist’s Susan Hartman to go through the bids that arrived from separate companies wishing to contract with Hope to remove debris and to monitor the amount of debris removed, to keep the debris removers honest and the records precise.
Thompson Consulting Services was rated best by Hope staffers for debris monitoring and CTC Disaster Responses, Inc. was the choice for debris removal. CTC and TFR Enterprises were rated similarly by the staff but was favored in the end because CTC’s contract lacks the two percent increase in cost per year for an extension.
Susan Hartman told the board by internet audio connection that CTC could employ local people to help in debris removal. City Manager J.R. Wilson clarified that the services of CTC and Thompson Consulting Services would only be necessary in the event of disasters that created so much need for debris removal from roads and public grounds that the city’s street department would not be able to handle it in a timely fashion. He also said the use of the services of the two contractors would not prevent Hope from being reimbursed by FEMA or from using local services during lesser-sized storms.
The board voted unanimously to approve contracting with Thompson Consulting Services and CTC.
At the beginning of the meeting, Wilson asked Hope Police Department Corporal Justin Dean to share a story of a patient suffering a cardiac arrest as an officer on his first day on the job arrived at the scene.
“Police arrived first, got an AED [Automatic External Defibrillator]] attached. It advised for a shot. Shot started. Fire arrived on scene. Both police and fire participated in CPR. [The patient] ended up having another shot. We felt for a pulse. [The patient]] had a pulse back, ended up going to Texarkana and was home within a couple of days for the Thanksgiving holiday,” Dean explained.
He noted that the officer who hooked up the AED was indeed just starting in his position. “It was his first day on patrol, and I had to explain to him, ‘Man, I don't know what it is about this one, that one was more fluid than any cardiac arrest that I ran. I've been in EMS since 2008, police since ‘14. That was the smoothest one ever.’”
In further good news, especially for city employees, Director Mark Ross’ motion to provide full-timers with a $1,250 end-of-year bonus and part-timers with half of that amount was passed by the board unanimously. Mayor Don Still said the city’s finances can accommodate this.
This came after an executive session for personnel matters of about 15 minutes. The result of this was the announcement by Mayor Still that Gary Johnson, Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Hope, would be appointed to serve out the remainder of retiring Director and former Mayor Steve Montgomery’s term. The term ends at the end of 2026 and elections will be held for the position that November. Montgomery, who announced his resignation last month effective December 31st, said it was a pleasure to have served and expressed his gratitude to city workers. He received a round of applause from all present.
The meeting ended with Wilson expressing holiday well-wishes for all board members and city workers.