POA board meeting

Last week’s POA work session was lengthy. There were two guest presentations, George Foshee, Jessieville school district superintendent, discussing the need for the requested Jessieville School millage increase and Dennis Sharp of the Arkansas forestry commission discussing the Village forest management program’s selective thinning.
Foshee is making the rounds in the school district talking to as many civic groups as possible to let voters know why it is so important to the area to pass the 4.7 millage increase. In his presentation before the POA board, Foshee was joined by teacher Amanda Sarver and school board member Sonya Eisenhauer.
Sarver spoke eloquently regarding the need for a fine arts center, a safe room, a new physical education facility and the relocation and updating of the sewer plant. Of the students in the Jessieville School, 60-percent comes from outside the Village, 40-percent comes from inside the Village.
At this time the school campus is suffering from overcrowding in an aged facility. The sewer plant was constructed in 1974. The school population has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 36 years. On days with special events on campus the sewer plant cannot keep up. The sewer plant needs to be moved, expanded and upgraded.
The current P.E. facility was built in 1984. The student body has outgrown the building and needs to expand. There is a need for more than one washer and dryer to keep up with the needs of the sports teams.
More than 100 tutors meet students at the tutor center. Currently some students are being tutored in the hallway. There is no room. An expansion of this facility would allow services to continue on sight for physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology. The therapists on campus are a big plus for students, parents and the school.
A safe room facility doubling as additional classrooms would help to keep the student body safe in an emergency and would also be used to protect the public. Jessieville School is an evacuation center in Garland County.
New playground equipment and landscaping are also part of the expansion plan.
The jewel in the proposed update and expansion of the school will be a fine arts center. The new fine arts center would expand classrooms and provide a real stage and performing venue for the students. The facility would house the band, choir and audio visual laboratory. Currently, the students have been meeting in the gym which is ill-equipped for their needs.
Foshee said the tax increase on personal property would be a whopping 13-percent on what taxpayers are currently paying. But, the bonds are zero-percent interest saving the taxpayers in the long run. A federal grant will pay the lion’s share of the safe room costs.
Foshee will retire next year after 40 years of service to the Jessieville school. He bluntly said, taxpayers pay now with all the added help or they pay later with a higher interest rate and no guarantee on federal assistance.
County residents will vote on the millage increase on September 21.
Sharp addressed the board regarding possible hazzards in the Village forests at the request of planning and inspections director Steve White.
The two threats to Village common property as Sharp stated are wildfire and southern pine beetles.
Sharp said there are six types of southern pine beetles in Arkansas. They produce five generations in one summer overwhelming all natural defenses. There have been three outbreaks in recent history, the last in 1996. There are usually two outbreaks per decade.
Sharp likened an outbreak of southern pine beetles to a slow burning fire on the move as the wind shifts. The beetles are poor flyers. The tiny insects are propelled by the wind.
The beetles are directed to certain pine trees by a pheromone smell. The beetles produce a pheromone that indicates a tree is a good source of food and one that indicates there is no food source here.
Forest service workers are looking for a way to put out traps with the "food here" pheromone to attract and catch the beetles.
A sampling of traps put out every year in the area shows little to no southern pine beetle activity at this time. No infestation is expected this year.
Sharp said there are five methods of dealing with southern pine beetle, all include cutting. The trick is to prevent the beetle infestation before it happens. This is done by thinning the forest of pines. Sharp’s recommendations include thinning the common forest areas more than the Village current thinning plan.
A basal area of 70 or 80 pine trees is the recommended. The tested basal areas in the Village common property had 90 to 110 pine trees after thinning. Cooper is not leaving any pines in the areas they are cutting.
Before thinning the Village had basal areas of 150 to 160 pine trees. The level is too high and an open invitation to southern pine beetles.
There is always a resident population of southern pine beetles in the Village. What Sharp warned against were the periodic devastating infestations resulting in more drastic cutting than the current thinning program.
When an outbreak does occur it is over a multi-year period.
Sharp also touched on the danger of wildfire in the Village. He indicated the Village was mitigating the fire problem by thinning the forests. He also said parts of the Village might benefit from a prescribed burn as long as it meets smoke management guidelines. A prescribed burn area would leave little fuel to feed a wildfire making it easier to get under control. Prescribed burns are usually in February and March.
The tree residue left on the forest floor after thinning is an increased fire hazzard for two to three years and then it decays enough to no longer be a hazzard.
In other business before the board public works director David Whitlow presented a request to allocate up to $224,200 for engineering work on the water treatment plant. The measure was later approved during a special session following the work session. The plan is to increase the water output from four million gallons a day to six million gallons a day.
The 2011 budget was the topic of general manager Dave Johnston’s presentation to the board. The extensive report will be modified and discussed over the next few months in board sessions prior to adoption. A copy of the proposed budget is available on the POA website at www.hsvpoa.org.
Director of planning and inspections, Steve White, presented the proposal for phase eight of the forest management plan. Pine thinning on common property is recommended for the following subdivisions, Ecuestre, Santa Fe, Calahorra, Argomaniz, Zaragoza, Calderon, Tiempo, Pedrera, Bolivar, Alegria, Murillo, Ronquillo, Espectro, San Sebastian, La Viejo, Rincon, Telon, Padilla, La Coruna, Navarra, Segovia and Cartagena. The board will vote on phase eight in the September 15 POA board meeting.
Two Village residents were proposed to serve on the research and special projects committee, Nancy Carlson and Dennis VanLeeuwen. The vote on new RASP members is scheduled for September 15.
A special meeting followed the work session. Both measures considered were passed, the membership privilege program and the water treatment plant engineering agreement capped at $224,200.
The membership privileges program offers assignment of privileges on POA owned lots for $535 per couple.
A closed executive session followed the special meeting.
The next POA board meeting is scheduled for September 15 at 9 a.m. at the Ouachita room in the Ponce de Leon Center.