The City of Fairfield Bay is pleased to announce that it has completed 29 miles of road resurfacing. The work, financed by a $2,500,000 road bond package that was overwhelmingly approved by the voters (353-12), allowed the city to take care of urgent road needs. Fairfield Bay has 76 miles of paved roads and another 110 miles of unpaved roads. The initial bond release was $1,980,000.
The road resurfacing consisted of 8.3 miles of 2 inch asphalt overlays done by Atlas Paving and 20.7 miles of chip and seal done by Van Buren County at a cost to date of $474,166 paid by the city of Fairfield Bay to Van Buren County. This approach kept all the money and jobs associated with the chip and seal work in Van Buren County. This is the type of win/win scenario we all seek. Additionally, 55 miles of road striping is being done. What a facelift this has given our city!
We especially want to thank the County Intergovernmental Cooperative Council formed in accordance with Arkansas Code 14-27-101. This council, consisting of the County Judge and the incorporated city Mayors, is constantly looking for ways to make our county move forward and to optimize our organizational efficiencies. From the code: “It is expected that regular dialogue between executives of the various local governmental subdivisions within each county will encourage these governmental units to: 1) Share facilities, equipment, employees, and services to provide each with mutual benefit to the advantage of all governments within the county; 2) Explore the use of joint purchasing and buying agreements to purchase goods and services in an effort to achieve economies of scale that would not be possible without mutual cooperation.”
This teamwork allowed the Fairfield Bay Community Club to save over $30,000 in the purchase of culverts needed for this large job.
This cooperative spirit is also showing up in other areas not related to road work. Our county fire departments are leading the way in cooperation with automated aid agreements, responding to structure fires immediately throughout the county instead of waiting for the request, and in joint training exercises. This cooperation will lead to continued improvement in our ISO ratings and save homeowners on insurance premiums.