After early voting began, this information became available? Get serious! Street work also irritating to voters

Was this revelation timed to help the County Judge get the Quorum Court to allow him to confiscate private property for his pie-in-the-sky project?

Does discouraging people from voting early help particular candidates or hurt certain candidates? This October surprise is strangely similar to Coody's array of meetings and conferences.

The Morning News

Local News for Northwest Arkansas


Parking Deck Should Be Rebuilt, Judge Says

By Christopher Spencer
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE -- It's time to rebuild the county's parking deck because patching it wouldn't be a prudent use of taxpayers' money, said Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton.

The 200-space parking deck's top level remains closed after Hunton ordered it blocked off Monday evening. He acted after receiving a letter written by an engineer questioning the deck's structural integrity.

Visitors to the courthouse, including many early voters, were able to use a score of parking spots on the east side of the deck or ride a free shuttle provided by Ozark Regional Transit from the parking deck of the Central United Methodist Church about two blocks away.

The shuttle began at 8 a.m. and made 28 trips by early afternoon, carrying 94 people back and forth.

Father and son, Larry and Eric West, found a parking space Tuesday near the courthouse and walked from there. The two came to the courthouse to early vote. Larry West said it was his first time voting early and he enjoyed "beating the rush."

It took the Wests "10 minutes max" to vote, he said.

"I'll be happy if there isn't a ticket on the car though," said Larry West, adding a humorous note of concern about the legality of their parking spot, as they both walked briskly toward their car. Many courthouse visitors found parking on either side of Washington Avenue north of the courthouse.

Washington County Clerk Karen Combs Pritchard said early voting went smoothly again Tuesday, though about 100 less people voted Tuesday compared to Monday's record-breaking 1,400 votes. That contrasts with the typical trend of early voting increasing each day up until the election, she said.

The new off-site voting location, the Springdale Rodeo Community Center at 1323 E. Emma Ave., saw about 300 voters Tuesday, up 100 votes from a day earlier. That site is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed to voters on Nov. 3.

Combs Pritchard attended an emergency meeting Tuesday of the Washington County Election Commission. The commission considered moving early voting because of the parking deck woes, but Combs Pritchard recommended against that and the commission agreed.

"I think it would be a mistake at this point and time to move it. It would create confusion," she told the commission.

Commission chairman John Logan Burrows said a situation where people could not vote warrants moving early voting from the courthouse, but pointed out that residents where able to vote at the courthouse Tuesday despite the parking deck problems.

"This just doesn't rise to the level of an emergency that the statute is talking about," Burrow said, referring to special allowances made possible in the case of an emergency for changing the early voting venue after public notice has been made.

Hunton said his fear isn't that a passing vehicle will fall through the weakened concrete to the floor below, but that more concrete would be dislodged by overhead traffic, dropping masonry on a car parked below or an unsuspecting passerby.

The deck was built 23 years ago by the First South Bank that originally built the courthouse building. Voters approved spending $3.3 million in 1989 for the county to purchase the building. County officials added additional parking space to the deck around 1993, but those areas are not under the same suspicion of collapse as the original deck structure.

Engineer Brad Hammond of McGoodwin, Williams and Yates wrote in a letter to Hunton that it appeared certain reinforcing elements were not present in at least some parts of the structure, but the letter made no indication as to why.

Hammond said later the firm is still doing analysis of the structure but wanted to "err on the side of caution" when they recommended the deck be closed.

Hunton estimated it would cost $20,000 per parking space, or $4 million to rebuild the deck. The county could spend about $8 million to build a 400-space parking deck that would do much to solve the county's parking shortage.

A special meeting of the Quorum Court is expected next week to tackle the parking deck problem.

Meeting Information

Special Meeting About The Parking Deck

What: Washington County Quorum Court Special Meeting

When: 4:45 p.m. Monday

Where: Washington County Courthouse, 280 N. College Ave.