It seems impossible to realize that we are less than a month away from the year 2016. I would like to recap some of the accomplishments in last 12 months.

Two of the largest projects were completed in December 2014. 1) A major sewer upgrade in cooperation with the city of Fayetteville valued at 1.23 million greatly increased the capacityand was basically funded by a grant. 2) A $250,000 street overlay project made possible by a program from the Arkansas Transportation and Highway Department. This project cost the city of Greenland nothing.

Our recycling program continues to grow and produce grant money. We really want to thank you citizens who sort the products. As a result of your efforts, we probably have the most efficient program anywhere!

Greenland has been accepted as a member of the regional bike/pedestrian plan. Our next target is to access the new regional park by Kessler Mountain and therefore access the Razorback Greenway.

This year also saw improvements at the community center. These include 2 new heating and air units as well as a natural gas generator. The natural gas generator gives us the capability of being an emergency shelter in case of a power outage. We have entered into an agreement with the Red Cross to facilitate that if needed. We also have added new tables and chairs.

The street department has a new work truck that also has a new plow and spreader to clean our streets of what falls from the winter sky. The old one is 20 years old and will still be used as a secondary plow when needed.

We also remodeled part of city hall in order to make our court clerk’s workplace more secure.

We are currently installing a walking trail with exercise equipment at Taylor Park. This was mainly made possible because of a $100,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield. We should have a ribbon cutting on this trail in the Spring. We are currently working on placing a foot bridge across the creek behind city hall so school kids don’t have to cross the Highway 71 bridge.

As you can see, we have been very busy the last 12 months. Please know we are excited about what is possible in 2016 as well! In closing, I want to assure all Greenland residents that we have a great team in place and we try to stretch your tax dollar as far as possible. Even though this list of accomplishments cost a lot, bear in mind much is funded by grants. The balances of our city financial statements are healthy and we intend on keeping it that way. Feel free to stop by if you would like to see any financial reports.

Stay tuned for more beneficial projects coming soon!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Mayor Bill Groom