Public Works director Mark Key reported to the Blytheville City Council’s Public Works Committee on some of the projects the department had been working on in the previous month to combat some of the floodings in the city. Key stated that the city has had a lot of flooding behind the Dodge store, so Public Works has been doing digging in the area. They are currently digging around Dogwood road and Elm Street.
Key also addressed the potholes in the city streets, saying that he has recently looked further into the patch that the department gets and the recommended temperature for laying it is around 45 degrees. He did state, however, that some of the holes are so bad that they have to be patched regardless of if the temperature is suitable at the time.
The committee also discussed the department's process for tearing down condemned housing in the city.
"Tipping fees come out of the houses that we tear down here in town. We don't have a reserve for tearing down houses. We don't have the funding to do that and we only have fees coming in for sanitation and trash, so I just try to put it in the budget where I can take down eight to 10 houses per year and that is just on a need to basis. When something comes up and becomes a nuisance to the people around them, that is the ones that we try to go and work on," Key said.
Key stated that he was hoping to begin tearing down three houses next week. Councilwoman Vera James asked Key how he determined which houses needed to be torn down. He reiterated that he looked for houses that were becoming nuisances in the community. He said that one of the three houses they were intending to demolish was on Moultrie around Blytheville Elementary School and some students had been seen around it, so it needed to be torn down before someone got hurt.
"I hate to bring this up, but this is the one on Cherry. This is where someone just passed two weeks ago, and we are wanting to take this one down because it is around that whole family. This one is on Missouri and it is fixing to fall on this lady's house," Key said.
James asked Key where the department was with the work on Milan Street. Key responded that he was waiting on Jowers Construction to do work on the concrete around the culvert on Lockard Street, however, the weather had caused delays in their work.
James also brought up flooding on Ruddle Road and Rose Street, stating that it "looked like a river." Key stated that he "hated to put it on someone else", however, from Main Street to the overpass was under control of the State Highway Department. Councilman R.L. Jones asked Key to get with Mayor James Sanders to help draft a letter to the State Highway Department requesting their attention on to help combat the flooding issues that are being caused by the State Highway.