County Judge’s Report July, 2011

I am writing this letter on July 06, 2011 It has been about two (2) months since the last update and many things have happened.

As of last Friday, we had hauled 73,620 tons, year to date, of gravel on our County Roads. During an average year we haul approximately 80,000 tons, with the highest year being just over 100,000 tons. We hope to haul at least 125,000 tons of gravel for our County Roads in 2011.

The County Road Crew has just completed Lo Gap Road renovation. It included trimming brush and trees, grading, pulling ditches and the sides of the road, also placing four (4) inches of base gravel on the road. With the completion of Lo Gap Road, we have renovated over 30 miles of gravel road in this way during 2011. Lo Gap is a 12 mile stretch of road from Alread to Scotland that took approximately 30 minutes to travel, now takes approximately 20 minutes. We have now begun the same procedure on Henderson Road and it will also be paved.

This work is due to a 75%-25% Grant from the Federal Government through White River Planning & Development District (WRPDD), they will pay 75% and the County will be responsible for 25% of the cost. Completion should be the end of August. The following roads have been resurfaced in 2011: Dodd Mountain Road (part), Sheep Shank Road, New Home Road W. Round Springs Road, Shelton Road N, Post Oak Road, Bailey Hollow Road, East Mountain Road (part), Dorothy Drive (part). The total amount resurfaced to date is 11 miles. There will be an additional 21 miles this year in 2011. The resurfacing is being funded by the major Gas Companies, such as Southwestern Energy, BHP-Billiton and XTO Energy, for the damages caused by the drilling process on previous surfaced roads.

We also had a sad incident that happened during the past two (2) months. On June the 6, our Road Superintendant, Danny Thomas, passed away due to injuries sustained in a vehicle accident. Danny was a 15 year veteran of the County Road Department. He had a broad base of knowledge about the County Road System. He had the respect of his peers and supervisors alike. Danny always had a calm, happy and Christian like attitude. He will be missed dearly by family, friends and co-workers. I personally only knew Danny about six (6) months, but I not only lost a co-worker, but a good friend.

Our new Road Superintendant is now Craig Clute, Sr., who has been with the County for 15 years. Craig is well respected by the County Road Crew and supervisors. Many of you may know of Craig from managing the Clinton Softball/Baseball Program. Also, the new Road Foreman is Gary (Red) Wolf. Gary has been with the County Road Department for three (3) years and is also well respected by his co-workers and supervisors.

Our County Road Crew continues working on the roads that were damaged during the spring floods. The necessary paperwork requested by FEMA is near completion and will be submitted to them in the next few days. Hopefully, we will experience a quick turn-around of payment.

I have talked with some of the local businesses involved in the tourism trade and they feel like this year was better than the previous few years. This is a large piece of our County’s Economic stability. Let’s all work together to improve this area of our economy.

In the early part of the year, our Quorum Court appropriated $7,500.00 for the Gas and Oil Advisory Board to have water tested, by an accredited lab in Little Rock, from samples taken from various wells and streams around our County. Seven (7) different streams were tested, both up-stream and down-stream, one (1) spring, and three (3) wells. The water quality, on all 18 samples tested, were excellent and was well below required level. Thank you to all who participated in this project.

The Van Buren County Economic Development Corporation launched our Youth Entrepreneurship Summer Camp in Clinton on July 7. We hope to have as many as 15 kids in the camp once everyone gets involved. Our consultants, Matt and Maria Hampton, have put together an informative, challenging and fun program for the participants with field trips to local businesses and an outing to Greers Ferry Lake in Choctaw. The VBCEDC and our partners; First Service Bank, First Security Bank, Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Cooperative Extension Service, would like to thank all of the supporters in our community who have given so generously of their time, money and material in order to bring this program to the kids in our county. Over the next 9 days, the kids in the camp will learn how to do research on a business idea and its potential market, how to make the connections necessary to gather real and financial support for the business and how to pitch it to potential investors. They will be writing a business plan and presenting it to their peers and instructors at the final luncheon. Along the way, they will hear from guest presenters representing the Small Business Administration, Winrock International, Arkansas Capital Corporation, Congressman Tim Griffin’s office and local business people who stop by to spend time with them. We hope this exposure will lead them to starting their own business in our community. This will also help us build a following to drive attendance in our school program which we will implement with the help of the Clinton School District this fall.

If you’d like to find out more about the program, please call Pete Giovannini at 745-5800 or Kathy Sherwood at 745-6500 or email them at vbcdeveloper@artelco.com. Until next time, Thank you and God Bless! Roger Hooper Van Buren County Judge