Wielding hammers instead of shovels

TIMES photograph by Annette Beard Employees of the Pea Ridge Water/Wastewater Department include Ken Hayes, superintendent; Michael Nida, utility inspector; Kurtis Wiltgen, field supervisor; Jacob Wagner; Roy Wade; Charlie Vanaman; Ronnie Hicks; Kim Thornhill, officer manager; Angie Jennings, water clerk; and Amanda House, bookkeeper.
TIMES photograph by Annette Beard Employees of the Pea Ridge Water/Wastewater Department include Ken Hayes, superintendent; Michael Nida, utility inspector; Kurtis Wiltgen, field supervisor; Jacob Wagner; Roy Wade; Charlie Vanaman; Ronnie Hicks; Kim Thornhill, officer manager; Angie Jennings, water clerk; and Amanda House, bookkeeper.

For a few weeks, men accustomed to digging ditches and repairing water lines wielded hammers and installed tile.

"Our guys did all the work here and did a great job," Angie Jennings, water clerk, said.

Pea Ridge Water Department

8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Monday-Friday

885 N. Curtis Ave.

Pea Ridge, AR 72751

(479) 451-8800, (479) 451-1103 or (479) 451-1109

The men of the Pea Ridge Water/Wastewater Department completely gutted and remodeled the interior of the former pharmacy building to create a fresh, open office for their department and saved the city more than $20,000.

"They did an awesome job," Kim Thornhill, office manager, said. "We're very proud of Ken. He picked all the colors, the tile, the floors."

"There's a lot more room. It's easier for the customer. It's not as claustrophobic," Amanda House, bookkeeper, said.

For the past eight years, the office has been in rented space on Slack Street. Prior to that, the office manager and water clerk were in City Hall and the bookkeeper worked out of the field office at the treatment plant. The rented space was bout 900 square feet and the new space is 2,600 square feet. There are four offices, a conference room, a break room, storage room and lobby.

"We just outgrew City Hall," Ken Hayes, superintendent said of the first move. "We bought the new building for about half of what it was appraised for.

"It's more customer friendly. It's a money move because basically we threw away $53,000 in rent."

The men did all of the work except for the electrical, Hayes said, explaining that building codes prohibited them from running the electrical lines.

"We did it in six weeks. We just worked around what we had," Hayes said . "I know all the stuff. I can build a house from the ground up. I grew up in a parsonage, there was always building projects going on.

"I taught Kurtis (Wiltgen) how to sheet rock. Ronnie (Hicks), he built cabinets for 15 years. They enjoyed doing it. They wanted to learn the tile," Hayes said, adding that about $20,000 was spent on materials but at least $20,000 was saved on manpower. "I wouldn't have felt as good about this if we had to pay to have it done."

Hayes said the current market value of the building is far more than what his department currently has invested in it.

"The customers have been very, very positive of the new building. A lot of them want to take a tour," Hayes said.

In addition to renovating the space, the men moved the furniture from the former offices to the new space.

"It was a very smooth transition," Thornhill said.

"The guys did a great job. They were a little bit leary at first, but they did very well," Hayes said, praising his employees.

General News on 11/12/2014