Benton County Readies For Ambulance Vote

BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials have prepared for the Feb. 11 vote on rural ambulance service by sending letters to voters and holding public meetings on the issue. They also are getting details of the voting process ready for election day.

Web Watch

Benton County Judge Bob Clinard has approved a letter to be mailed to voters in the proposed Emergency Medical Services District. The letter can be found on the county website at www.bentoncountyar.gov


At A Glance

Polling Locations

Benton County will have these 15 polling locations open for the Feb. 11 election on the proposed Emergency Medical Services District. Polls will open at 7:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. on election day. Voters unsure of their polling place can call the County Clerk’s Office at 479-271-1013. Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 4, Feb. 5, Feb. 6, Feb. 7 and Feb. 10 at the County Clerk’s offices in Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs.

• Precincts 1, 2 and 4: Gravette Civic Center, 401 Charlotte St. SE, Gravette

• Precincts 3 and 50: Monte Ne Baptist Church, 1610 Monte Ne Road, Rogers

• Precinct 5: Prairie Creek Association Community Center, 14432 Highway 12 East, Rogers

• Precincts 6, 7 and 15: Total Life Community Center, 13710 S. Highway 59, Siloam Springs

• Precincts 8, 11, 16 and 17: Siloam Springs Community Building, 110 N. Mount Olive St., Siloam Springs

• Precincts 18, 19, 20, 39, 68 and 70: Cave Springs Community Building, 117 S. Main St., Cave Springs

• Precincts 22, 60 and 72:e Centerton Fire House, 755 W. Centerton Blvd., Centerton

• Precincts 21, 23 and 25: Hiwasse Fire Station Community Building, 13690 Fire House Lane, Hiwasse

• Precincts 30, 31, 32, 63 and 66: Bella Vista Church of Christ, 989 N.W. McNelly Road, Bentonville

• Precincts 14, 28, 29, 33 and 58: First Baptist Church of Pea Ridge, 1650 Slack St., Pea Ridge

• Precincts 34, 36, 59, 61, 62 and 64: Bentonville Church of Christ, 811 N. Walton Blvd., Bentonville

• Precincts 12, 35, 41 and 53: Cornerstone Assembly of God, 4055 N. Second St., Rogers

• Precincts 45 and 51: Bland Chapel (Rocky Branch), 8530 Twin Coves Road, Rogers

• Precincts 48, 49 and 67: Lowell First Baptist Church, 409 Johnson St., Lowell

• Precinct 57: Hickory Creek Fire Station, 15645 Highway 264 East, Lowell

Source: Benton County

“I think we’ve done an admirable job in getting the facts out to the people as to why the court is doing what we’re doing,” County Judge Bob Clinard said. “A lot of people’s objections seem to boil down to ‘We don’t like it’ and ‘We don’t think it’s right.’ We have to go by the law and so do the providers. The law says the cities can’t provide ambulance service without a mutually acceptable agreement. That’s the law.”

The Quorum Court in September created an emergency medical services district with an $85 annual fee. The fee would pay the county’s cost to make ambulance service available. The Quorum Court created the district and fee for households outside cities and not in the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District.

The county mailed letters to households in the proposed district Thursday. The letters should arrive within two or three days, Clinard said.

The county also has designated polling places for the Feb. 11 election. Fifteen locations will be open. Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said the proposed district covers all or part of 50 of the county’s 73 precincts. The election staff worked to match voter in the district to nearby polling places, Dennison said.

“We picked the ones with the largest number of voters and started with those.” Dennison said. “We looked at the precinct map and consolidated around those areas as much as possible.”

The number of voters assigned to the 15 polling places ranges from 350 people who will vote at the Hiwasse Fire Station Community Building to 2,620 who will vote at the Prairie Creek Association Community Center, Dennison said.

The Feb. 11 vote also will be the first in the county conducted under the provisions of Act 595 of 2013 requiring voters show photo identification to vote. County Clerk Tena O’Brien said information on the act and its requirements are available from the Secretary of State’s Office website at www.FaceYourVote.org. The website lists acceptable forms of identification. Voters who don’t bring an acceptable photo ID will be allowed to cast a provision ballot, O’Brien said.

Provisional ballots will be counted if the voter returns to the County Clerk’s Office or the Election Commission office by noon the Monday after the election with either proof of identity or an affidavit swearing the voter has no ID because of indigence or a religious objection to being photographed, O’Brien said.

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