By Ray King
Six appointments or reappointments are on the agenda when the Pine Bluff City Council meets for its second meeting of January Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
The meeting was moved to Tuesday because of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.
The agenda also includes appropriating funds from the American Rescue Plan to help cover costs of construction of the Opportunity House.
According to the agenda, Mayor Shirley Washington is appointing Tracy Sutherland, Portia Jones and Laura Beth Shaner to the board to fill existing vacancies. Those three will serve until Dec. 31, 2025.
Existing board members Jodie Jolly, Tom Bennett and James Andrew Mincy, whose terms have expired but have continued to serve, are being reappointed, Bennet’s term will expire Sept. 30, 2025, while the terms of Jolly and Mincy will expire Dec. 31, 2025.
Regarding the funds for the Opportunity House, the resolution says part of the money to renovate the structure may be paid for with American Rescue Plan funds and the use of those funds for this project is proper.
The budget for the renovation is $1.2 million with $500,000 coming from a Community Development block grant and the remaining $700,000 from federal f8nds.
Pine Bluff received a total of just over $16-million. in rescue plan funds and has committed $15.3 million for other projects, including sewer extensions, the Southeast project. Street department, GRIP, Phase II of the Downtown Streetscape, and COVID incentives, leaving a balance of just over $700,000 for the Opportunity House project.
