At A Glance
Rogers City Council
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Council Chambers, City Hall, 301 W. Chestnut St.
On the agenda:
• A $9,395 contract with Radiophone for a computer upgrade in the dispatch center
• A $3,694 grant form the Arkansas Fire Prevention Commission
• A $48,600 contract with FTN & Associates for work on the Blossom Way Creek project
• Amending Chapter 14 of the City Code changing some wording in the design standards for driveways and sidewalks
• A lease extension and assignment agreement with Spectrasite Communications for a cellular tower at Dock Wheeler Park, the site of the new aquatic center
• A $200,000 contact with the Rogers-Lowell Industrial Development Corporation, which will handle economic development services for the city in 2013.
Source: Staff Report
ROGERS — A two-year Department of Homeland Security grant will allow the city to hire six firefighters.
Aldermen are expected to approve moving grant money of $232,969 into various accounts to pay salaries and benefits of the new firefighters.
“This is a big deal for us. It’s almost as big as opening a new fire station,” said Tom Jenkins, fire chief. “This allows us to increase staffing to meet the growing needs of the city for two years without cost taxpayers.”
Emergency calls have been increasing each year as the city continues to grow. Call volume was up 10 percent in 2012 compared with 2011, Jenkins said.
The department will shuffle senior firefighters into an expanded rescue and hazardous material team as needed. Entry level firefighters will be hired to augment staffing in the department, Jenkins said.
There are 102 firefighters, including command staff, in the department, according to the 2013 budget.
As firefighters are shifted around, some will be moved to Station 5 on the west side of the city.
“We need additional help on the west side of the city,” Jenkins said. “We had every piece of fire equipment in the city at the recent house fire at Pinnacle.”
A fire destroyed a home in the gated community Tuesday night.
“By positioning more firefighters at Station No. 5, we increase our ability to respond to an emergency,” Jenkins said.
After the two-year grant ends, the city will pay the salaries and benefits of the six firefighters, said Richard McComas, treasurer and chief financial officer.
“It gives city officials time to prepare for an expanded Fire Department budget,” McComas said of the grant.
Aldermen are also expected to approve a $5,800 amendment to a contract with engineers Morrison-Shipley to add a left turn lane to Locust Street west of the Second and Locust street intersection.
The left turn lane is being added to ease anticipated increased traffic flow on Locust Street once Casey’s Store is open, said Lance Jobe, city engineer.
“It will allow cars on Locust Street to make a left turn with a traffic signal and go north on Second Street,” Jobe said