ROGERS -- The city has some repairs to make to city property damaged by October storms.
The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to use $50,000 out of this year's budget for storm-related repairs.
Other action
Rogers’ City Council on Tuesday voted to rezone land at 1712 and 1716 W. Walnut St. from residential single-family to residential office to allow a small medical clinic at the request of Tri State Optical.
Source: NWA Democrat-Gazette
The city will likely spend an estimated $95,000 on repairs and cleanup related to the storm, not including employees' labor hours, said Casey Wilhelm, finance director. Rogers has already spent more than $18,000 of that $95,000, and most of the money was spent on renting and purchasing various equipment to help with storm cleanup, she said. She estimates insurance will reimburse $25,000 to the city.
Damaged city property include a fire station, the Rogers Aquatic Center and the Rogers Cemetery. A police vehicle was also totaled because of storm damage, Wilhelm said.
The council voted unanimously to enter into a more than $33,000 contract with Crossland Construction for work related to storm damage at Fire Station No. 2 on West New Hope Road.
"The station caught fire," Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said. "We suffered some structural damage to it, and while it looks functional from the road, we have some legitimate repairs to do."
Mayor Greg Hines acknowledged the Street and Parks Departments' efforts following the tornado during his annual state of the city address Tuesday night.
"From working alongside electric and gas crews to open streets that allowed crews to access areas blocked by debris in the attempt to restore power and gas service to literally going house to house picking up storm debris, they worked overtime and weekends for months and demonstrated the best public service and helped restore a sense of community very quickly in the wake of the tornado," he said.
Hines said during his address Rogers added more than 2,200 jobs in 2019 and has a 2.2% unemployment rate compared to the national rate of 3.6%. He gave an overview of several ongoing city projects such as the Police Department's new emergency dispatch center and the renovation of Railyard Park, formerly Frisco Park, downtown.
NW News on 02/26/2020
This story was published at 1:00 a.m.