After the invocation was said by Justice of the Peace Willie Wilson and the approval of the minutes, the court heard committee reports. The first to speak was Jamie Hillery, Nevada County-Prescott Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. 

Hillary said the calendar of events for the next month was distributed to the JPs and the other county officials with a copy of the chamber’s annual report. She said an event put on by South Central Connect to promote its services went well with representatives from the service taking names and addresses to sign customers up.  The Nevada County Fair Parade, which took place Monday, having combined with the Prescott High Homecoming Parade this year, was also a success. 

The Nevada County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Mary Godwin reported on several doings recently. She gave the JPs and the officials a printout of the Nevada County Fair schedule. She said a group of people taking the Nevada County Leadership course saw programs by local law enforcement and also enjoyed a history session. 

Godwin reported that sales tax receipts for the past month were up, although the Arkansas Department of Finance did take out an amount to make up for an overpayment.  Justice of the Peace Patricia Grimes asked when the new one-cent sales tax passed August 8th would start being charged to consumers. Godwin said it would start January 1st. 

Godwin reported on the meeting of the Nevada County Broadband Committee that took place August 18th in which the two leading broadband providers in the county reported on their progress affording broadband to all households. She thanked Danny Stewart, IT Director of Hines Trucking, for his work on the Nevada County Broadband Committee’s website. 

Godwin gave the JPs homework at this point, asking each of them to look at the broadband service map included in the website and report whether it was accurate to which households are able to receive services in their respective districts. She said making sure this information was accurate was important to being able to apply for grants that would finance expansion of services. 

JP Kenneth Bailey, representing district 7, the Willisville area in the southern part of the county, responded that “just about all my area is not covered. We’re left hanging and we’ve got no idea when we’ll be connected.” 

Godwin said she was aware that in district 5, toward Gurdon, there were households with no access to broadband service as well. She added that at future meetings of the county broadband committee she hoped to have more of the county’s mayors attend. 

The new addition to Love’s Travel Center, Godwin said, has scheduled its ribbon cutting for Thursday, September 21st. She would communicate the time when she received notice of that. 

She announced that the number of Husqvarna workers from Nevada County to be affected by the December 2024 shutdown of that plant in Nashville was eight.  Nevada is one of about 11 counties with workers affected by the shutdown. 

Meanwhile, Godwin attended a meeting two weeks ago with Clint O’Neal, the Arkansas Economic Development Association state director who visited the Holcim (formerly Firestone) plant.  She learned it took the plant 23 months to replace a plant engineer. 

Godwin also mentioned a field trip by Prescott Public Schools’ eighth graders to UAHT to learn more about manufacturing jobs. She said the eighth graders were told they could undergo training at UAHT while still attending high school and then take a job at Holcim after graduation that could pay as much as $45,000 per year. 

She also reported on attending a conference in Little Rock that provided a session on the use of Artificial Intelligence by area companies. She urged the quorum court to attend a session on the subject soon, which she will try to get set up. 

The wife of the mayor of Cale, Janis Warlow, passed away recently, said Godwin. The city is trying to use American Recovery Plan Act funds to purchase a fire truck. 

Efforts to help Bluff City obtain funds for a playground have hit a snag, Godwin said, because the name placed on the land that has been donated is “not going to work just right.” 

In New Business, the court tabled an ordinance to empower the County Judge to declare additional paid holiday in case of a weather emergency prompting him to close the courthouse. The JPs questioned the ordinance as not being specific enough and the holiday wording not being appropriate. JP Willie Wilson moved for the tabling, saying the ordinance needed additional work. 

Next, the court approved unanimously the appointment of JP Grimes to the Economic Development Office board. 

County Judge Mike Otwell spoke about his being on site when a gas line was found across a culvert. This is not standard practice in street infrastructure. Otwell announced that anyone doing construction should come to the courthouse to confirm where gas lines are. 

A citizen told the court about a county road being blocked by a resident despite an Attorney General opinion saying it should remain open.  Otwell said he would try to work out the issue. 

JP Dennis Pruitt praised Otwell for his willingness to go on site to address road issues. “This is the first county judge I’ve known,” he said, “that got out and worked just like the road and bridge crew. He’ll go out and check on things. The general public should be very impressed.” 

“How do I know what’ s going on unless I go out and see,” Otwell said. 

The meeting then adjourned.