With Mayor Bart Castleberry not present, the Conway City Council navigated a hefty agenda at its March 24 meeting. 

Alderman Andy Hawkins ran the meeting, doing “his best Bart Castleberry impression, glasses and all.” 

Department of Sanitation director Joe Hopper spoke first to the council.

Hopper gave a lengthy introduction about the department’s work in recycling and in community engagement. 

“In the last ten years that I’ve been here, everything we’ve collected has been recycled,” Hopper said. “We’d certainly welcome anyone to come tour our facility and see what we do.”

Hopper said the goals of the department’s community engagement are to “educate the public on waste reduction, recycling and landfill operations.”

“The landfill is a huge resource for the city of Conway,” Hopper said. “A lot of cities don’t have access to their own landfill.”

Hopper said the current site started in 1990 with an originally estimated 27-year lifespan. 

“That was in 1990, so do the math,” Hopper said. “Currently, our landfill lifespan is at 45 and ½ years. 

Hopper said that estimate came from the department’s 2024 engineering report. 

“We actually have an engineering report that will come out this month that will update that number,” Hopper said. 

Hopper said once the landfill’s life span has ended, two things in particular will be important. 

“Looking for a new disposal site and the other thing is a postclosure care period of 30 years,” Hopper said. 

Hopper said the city of Conway was very fortunate in that it has a cash fund to cover the costs of the postclosure care period. 

“A lot of landfills don’t have that,” Hopper said. 

Hopper said postclosure care periods can start over if any environmental issues arise during the cleanup. 

In terms of ordinances, the Department of Sanitation had three items on the agenda. 

The first was the purchase of an articulated dump truck for $693,702 – which was approved 6-0. 

The next was two refuse trucks for the department – one side load, one rear load – costing $394,816.32 and $279,165.53 respectively. This was also unanimously approved. 

The final one was about purchasing two more trucks for the combined cost of $498,584.53 – which was also approved 6-0. 

Conway Corp also had a few items on the agenda. 

The first was the approval of the sale of wastewater revenue bonds to finance improvements to the Conway wastewater system. 

This was passed unanimously. 

Conway Corporation also announced they are nominating Brandon Ruhl to the Conway Corporation Board of Directors. 

“We had six nominees this year,” Bret Carroll, Conway Corp CEO, said. “So really a good amount of interest in serving on the board.”

Conway Corp also donated $5,000 to the Conway Tree Board, which was approved by the council. 

Other city-related items were approving usage of the RAISE grant in the Connect Conway project. 

The RAISE grant is given out by the U.S. Department of Transportation, supporting projects that make significant local or regional impact. 

Connect Conway is a 15-mile trail system which will run throughout the city, connecting educational, entertainment and commercial districts of Conway. 

Conway Police Department had several items approved, including the purchase of ballistic plates and consideration to dispose of seized assets from their inventory. 

The seized assets are vehicles. 

Waldo’s Chicken, set to be located at 2205 Dave Ward Drive, also had its private club permit approved. 

Aside from Castleberry, council members Theodore Jones and Spencer Hawks were also not present at the meeting. 

The next city council meeting is scheduled for April 14