Rison Unable to Act on Speed Bump Proposal

RISON - Mayor Charles Roberts was unable to take any action on his recent public meeting on speed bumps this week after the Rison City Council did not have enough council members present for a quorum at Tuesday night’s council meeting.Three of the six members - Michael Barnett, Kristy Lowery and Curtis Marks - were in attendance. Roberts said he had already heard from Cleve Reed and Rodney Reed that they would not be able to make it. The other council member, Bruce Grubb, was unable to attend as well. In addition, recorder/treasurer Rhonda Hopson was absent.Since the council needed four members to have a quorum to conduct official business, Roberts called the meeting at 6:02 p.m. He said he would contact everyone about rescheduling a meeting later this month or simply waiting to meet next month.Before officially dismissing, Roberts said one of the items he wanted to discuss was the proposed speed bumps along Oak Street. Marks, who lives on Oak Street, had asked about the city putting speed bumps there to slow down traffic.Roberts held a public hearing on the speed bump proposal on March 13. Three of the city council members - Marks, Barnett and Cleve Reed - attended that hearing. There were remarks both in favor and against the speed bumps. At the end of the meeting, Roberts said the consensus seemed to be put more emphasis on speed patrols first before installing speed bumps.Since it was a public hearing and not a city council, no action was taken during the March 13 meeting. Roberts said he intended to officially address the issue during the regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.In an interview after the meeting, Roberts said construction on installing new water lines for the city could begin by the end of the month or early May.This past November, the Rison City Council approved an ordinance securing two loans that helped the city salvage an existing $1.5 million grant to replace many of the oldest water lines...