Article by Emily Wang, White River Now
During the recent Batesville City Council meeting, Mayor Rick Elumbaugh and Batesville Fire Chief Mark McCollum discussed the use of Knox Boxes — key boxes that help provide non-destructive access to a building during an emergency situation. An ordinance requiring Knox Boxes for new businesses passed after its third reading at last Tuesday night’s meeting.
McCollum noted existing businesses would not be affected by the ordinance. Only new businesses or businesses undergoing major construction would be required to implement the Knox Boxes, which cost around $600. McCollum noted that if an existing business now moves to a new location requiring major construction, the business would then be required to have a Knox Box.
The fire chief addressed concerns regarding who has access to the keys, noting he wanted to ensure full accountability and transparency.
“Each fireman will have their own code to open the boxes in the firetrucks, and it records when the box was opened, who took out the key, and when the key was returned,” McCollum said
“Having those codes will keep people honest. You can know who took them out and when,” the mayor said.
The council discussed the cost of the Knox Boxes versus the cost of potential damage to a business without one. Councilmember Scott Fredricks said without the Knox Boxes, firefighters would likely need to break windows and crawl through them, creating an expense to the business — and also a hazard to the firefighters.
“The quicker we can get in to put the fire out, the less damage will be done,” the chief said.
An emergency ordinance involving the regulation of noise emitting from data centers was also on the agenda of Tuesday’s meeting. Councilmember Chris Poole noted other areas of Arkansas have had issues with data centers and the related noise associated with such facilities. A state law that would prohibit cities and counties from regulating such centers is scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday, Aug. 1.
A data center, as defined in the ordinance, is: “A facility constructed and operated that is engaged in storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data, including facilities used for cryptocurrency mining, which houses networked computer systems along with supporting equipment such as batteries, back-up power generators, HVAC and cooling systems.”
The ordinance passed by vote before the council, and a motion was adopted to adopt the mercy clause, allowing immediate action.
During the Mayor Comments portion of the meeting, the mayor asked Batesville City Engineer Damon Johnson to come before the council for an open discussion regarding the Aug. 8 special election.
Johnson noted the public can find the plans for the new water treatment facility and recreation project by heading to BetterBatesville.info. He encouraged the public to contact Mayor Elumbaugh, Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce members, council members, or himself with questions.
Discussing the facts behind the need for the new water plant, Johnson said, “Our plant can make about 10.5 million gallons a day. On paper, it should be 12.5 million, but after decades, about 10.5 million is all we can make. It’s also 60 years old. Many plant components are to the point of being unable to be repaired or replaced. The life expectancy for the plant was about 40 years. We’ve done 60. You can tour it, [and] it doesn’t look too bad for a 60-year-old plant, but components are near the end of their life. We hope that doesn’t happen before the new plant is ready.”
“Building a new plant is the most cost-effective choice,” he said.
A vote for the Aug. 8 issues will extend the city’s current one-cent sales tax to carry over for the water treatment facility improvements, thereby not increasing taxes.
If the vote on the water treatment facility is defeated, city leaders project rates will increase 250%, resulting in a water bill 2.5 times what it is now.
“That is a heavy burden to our middle to low-income people,” Johnson said.
“Recently, a woman came in looking for an extension to pay her water bill, which was $54,” Elumbaugh told the council. “If her bill was $150, we’d have to turn her water off. Those are consequences that hit home for our citizens like that.”
The second issue of discussion was the parks and recreation initiative on the Aug. 8 ballot. Johnson shared that if citizens approve using the current half-cent for this initiative, Riverside Park will receive a major overhaul, including a new events center, bike and skate parks, sports courts, and water and nature play spaces.
“We will be more competitive than many other communities,” Johnson told the council. “It’s a parks initiative that includes many amenities. The intent is to aid our industrial members to recruit and maintain, as we are predicted for population decline, which is difficult to stop once it starts. Younger people are moving to places — first, for the environment, and then to figure out what they want to do. We need to create an environment for people so they want to live here and create population gain, not to mention, it would improve the quality of life for our citizens who use the parks. Last year, we had around 1.8 million to the park. We have the beautiful White River there. We want to create some components for the park that includes water play, nature involvement, redoing the amphitheater, sports court areas, a skate park, an adventure area including mountain biking trails and hiking trails, and more splash pad areas. It will be a fantastic park.
“We are proposing we refinance the half-cent sales tax and use the equity that has built up to do this parks initiative. Essentially the sales tax does not go up; we just reset the clock.”
Additionally, the ordinance to adopt various federal and state codes was presented for a third reading, followed by a motion to adopt, leading to the passing of the ordinance, which will go into effect in 30 days.
