RISON - The Woodlawn School Board has decided to go a different direction in regards to correcting some issues with the district's wastewater system, and Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hancock was given the authority to formally approve School Choice transfers without having to call a special school board meeting to do so.Both of those issues and others were addressed during the Woodlawn School Board's regular monthly meeting Monday night.Woodlawn has been working with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for the past few years to get the district's wastewater system in compliance with state regulations regarding the physical, chemical and biological levels in the water being discharged from the system. Since 2018, the Woodlawn School District has been working with Meinco Wastewater Systems of Bryant for managing the system and Harbor Environmental and Safety for the engineering. The district's contract with both parties expire at the end of this month.Hancock told the school board that he does not feel the district has made much progress with the septic over the life of the contract noting that the ammonia levels still remain outside the compliance levels. In a previous board meeting this school year, Hancock said the district met with ADEQ officials to get more time to correct the problem. With the contract set to expire, Hancock said he sought other bids for the service. Joe Freyer, who serves as the utilities director for the City of Rison, submitted a bid to maintain the system while Hawkins-Weir Engineers of Little Rock submitted a bid to conduct studies and do the ADEQ reports on behalf of the district. Hancock said Hawkins-Weir seemed to be more focused on finding long-term solutions to correct the problem and find resources that could perhaps pay for it.Meinco submitted a bid of $2,030 per month to maintain the system, which would include pumping out the septic system twice a year. Freyer had a bid of $1,600 per m...
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