Thompson to fill Bell's council position

The Conway City Council has chosen John Thompson to finish out 23-year council veteran Jack Bell's term, which expires Dec. 31.

The decision was made at Tuesday night's regular meeting.

Bell's next council meeting, scheduled for June 24, will be his last. He has taken a job in City Hall as assistant to Mayor Tab Townsell, a position left vacant when Jamie Gates left in April to take a position as vice president of government affairs with Conway Development Corp.

Thompson has served several terms on the council previously. This factor seemed to weigh heavily in the unanimous decision to appoint him out of a pool of interested locals.

"We served together on the council for several years," Bell said after the meeting. "He's just a good long-time member of the community, a former educator who did a great job while he was on there. He comes on with no agenda; he just wants to do what's right for the city and I think he'll do a great job."

Bell recommended Thompson to the council, saying his previous experience means less "ramping-up" time taken to learn council policy and practice, adding jokingly "although he is old and has probably forgotten most of it."

In a lighthearted exchange, the council seemed in agreement that though Thompson has rather more hair than Bell, Bell's hair is more colorful.

The council also approved mechanisms to begin funding two of the city's most ambitious projects: the relocation of the city airport and extension of Salem Road to intersect with the recently opened Interstate 40 interchange.

Townsell was authorized by the council to accept a $1,544,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to help fund the relocation of the city's airport. This money is earmarked for land and easement acquisition from both Conway Development Corp. and private land owners and other costs including design and engineering fees, appraisal services and administrative costs.

The city will pay five percent of these costs, though this five percent could be reimbursed to the city by the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics.

"It's good to finally be moving forward on that," Townsell said after the meeting. "I think it's long-overdue for the city of Conway. "I'm glad to actually see actual evidence of progress in real dollars."

The first phase of the Salem Road extension will involve excavation. The council awarded low bidder Tom Lindsey Contractor Inc. the $2,614,337 contract to perform the excavation and use the excavated material to build an overpass to carry Salem Road over the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

The council also held an ordinance to rename Rea Drive to Woodside Drive after a public hearing Tuesday night. More residents of Rea Drive, the council decided, should be informed of the possible name change before action is taken.

A no-money-exchanged agreement was approved between the city and the U.S. Secret Service. According to the agreement, Conway Police Department officers will be accepted to a five-week computer forensics training course and a piece of specialized computer hardware will be donated by the secret service for CPD use. In exchange, CPD officers will be asked to assist in secret service computer-related investigations.

The secret service has also agreed to pay overtime for CPD officers assisting in secret service investigations, Chief of Police A. J. Gary said.

The specialized computer will be transferred to CPD by an officer already undergoing secret service training, Gary said. Gary wasn't sure of the exact specifications of the device, but said he understands it to be capable of extracting hidden information from a range of electronic devices including home computers and sophisticated cell phone/PDA devices such as Blackberries.

He expects it to be used primarily for investigations involving trafficking of child pornography and solicitation of minors, two computer crimes he said CPD uncovers with disheartening regularity. Financial crimes and identity theft could also be investigated using the new device.

As he understands the device contains a water-cooled processor, he added, he expects its capabilities to be impressive.

In other business, the council approved:

Modifying an agreement between the City of Conway and Carter and Burgess for engineering services related to Salem Road Railroad Overpass to add $18,978 to the project after federal grant proceeds;

An ordinance appropriating restitution funds and accepting asset forfeiture funds to the Conway Police Department including $10,166.91 from the prosecuting attorney's office for CPD Drug Task Force use and $50 from an arrestee to pay for what Gary described as "a little nick" the arrestee caused to a CPD cruiser;

An agreement with the United States Secret Service to provide data recovery software for law enforcement purposes;

Removal of obsolete/broken/irreparable items from the city's fixed asset inventory list;

An ordinance approving the property transfer of certain items to the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office and Wescon Fire Department;

And an ordinance appropriating $38,257.00 from the Conway Sanitation Department's enterprise fund to the sanitation personnel services accounts for two CDL positions for the Conway Sanitation Department.

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)