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CHRIS HILL DIRECTOR OF MUNICIPAL ELECTRICAL SERVICES
BRYANT
This month’s article had me traveling to Bryant to visit with Finance Officer Kristie Sikkink and Maintenance Superintendent Ryan Sikkink. Ryan took over for long-time city employee, Garry Ladwig, and has been with the City of Bryant since February. Kristie has been with the city for five years and has enjoyed the challenges that come along with her role. Since becoming the finance officer, she has seen infrastructure projects completed and will be seeing more in the near future. In 2018, the city had a potential business coming to town and created an industrial park on the south side of town. If this business was going to decide to come to town there would need
Maintenance Superintendent Ryan Sikkink and Finance Officer Kristie Sikkink.
to be upgrades to their electrical system. The city council decided that it was important for the city to upgrade their system and invest in their infrastructure that would improve their community. The planning and upgrade both took place in the summer of 2019. A 25 KV distribution upgrade took place to accommodate for the potential businesses that would move in to the industrial park. Along with a voltage upgrade, the city decided it would be a good idea to bury the overheard
Bryant City Hall and Community Center
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lines to increase reliability on their system. Along with burying the overhead, the city has also been replacing the streetlights with LED. This improvement has led to more businesses relocating to the industrial park and they also have another lot for sale. The city offices and community center improvements are also a great project that has been completed for the community and was a project that happened because of the sale of the Parkview Nursing Home. The proceeds from the sale led to a reinvestment into the community by the Bryant Parkview Care Center Board. The Parkview Care Center Board asked for a partnership with the city and together, along with the community fundraising, it allowed for a community room, conference room, kitchen, bathrooms, and city offices being built next to the community gymnasium on main street. The project was an immeasurable contribution to this small
