Baxter County justices of the peace Tuesday night signed off on purchasing a new rock crusher for the county’s quarry.
Quorum Court members voted 10-0, with one absent, to approve a resolution supporting the purchase of the crusher, which will cost $715,000. That resolution also gave County Judge Mickey Pendergrass permission to borrow $343,000 from Arvest Bank to help cover the cost of the machinery.
The new crusher will replace an aging 2004 model that is prone to mechanical breakdowns, Pendergrass said. Despite the machinery’s advanced years, it is still expected to sell for at least $200,000 when the county puts it up for auction.
The Arvest loan will have a term of 12 months and can be paid off early without penalty. The county will apply the money raised from the sale of the 2004 rock crusher and apply that towards the balance of the Arvest loan.
The new rock crusher is expected to be up and running at the quarry by next week.
The Baxter County quarry crushed more than 100,000 tons of limestone rock last year to provide gravel for the county’s road projects.
Justices of the peace voting for the purchase of the crusher included Dennis Frank, Angela DeGroote, Robert Lowery, Dirk Waldrop, Maryanne Edge, Tink Albright, Roger Steele, Cameron Davis, Kevin Litty and Ty Chapman. Charles Osgood did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.
Quorum court members also voted 9-1 to allow TWAL Inc., to apply to the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division for a private club permit for Live Edge Bar and Grill in Mountain Home. A recent change in state regulations requires businesses applying for a private club license to first seek approval from city or county government before applying to the ABC Division. Davis was the lone justice of the peace to vote against allowing TWAL Inc. to apply for the license.
Justices of the peace also placed an ordinance revising the county’s personnel policies on its second reading. That ordinance will be read a third time and possibly adopted at the Quorum Court’s next meeting on July 6.
The Quorum Court at Tuesday’s meeting also confirmed several recent appointments:
– Randy Worlow’s reappointment to the Baxter County Equalization Board as the City of Mountain Home’s representative;
– the appointment of Ronald E. Wagenblast and the reappointments of Dan Alderman and Bill Settles to the Hand Cove Fire Protection District Board of Commissioners; and
– the appointment of Caryl Richards and the reappointments of John Bolding and Michael Papineau to the Tracy Area Fire Protection Board of Directors.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI