BLAND — Following the resignation of Bland Mayor Lee Medlock, Public Works Director Jason Lewis and employee Dave Heflin, Bland aldermen are considering entering an agreement with Belle to contract that city’s public works department.

Belle Mayor Josh Seaver met with Bland Interium Mayor Mark Ferran on March 18 to discuss a possible contract between the cities.

“So, they have a need for a systems operator for the water and we have a system operator,” Seaver said referring to Belle Public Works Director Tony Baretich. “So we are going to discuss contracting our public works department to the city of Bland. The conversation started between Tony and me earlier this week.”

 Seaver said he and Baretich began talking about the possibility of contracting with the city of Bland on March 14 because the city of Belle has been trying to hire another public works employee for at least two months.

“They have a need and we have a need because we are trying to hire someone to help,” Seaver said. “We feel it would be mutually beneficial for them to contract their public works department with us. They won’t have to hire and send somebody to school and train them. They will have someone experienced doing that job for them.”

Bland is currently in the middle of a seven-year water infrastructure project and needs an experienced employee to help handle the work and direct crews along with the infrastructure. However, Seaver said the water project isn’t the only part of the work that they would be contracting to the city of Bland.

“It’s the entire public works department,” Seaver said. “The mowing would be on our end and building maintenance on their end unless they asked for assistance. It is in the best interest of Belle for Bland to succeed and in the best interest of Bland for them to succeed and we don’t want anyone to fail.”

After Seaver and Ferran spoke on Friday, the Bland interim mayor reached out to his board of aldermen to ask for opinions on a partnership.

“He spoke with his board, and the message I got was they are in favor of sitting down and having that conversation,” Seaver said.

Seaver also spoke with Belle aldermen, minus Jeanette Struemph who was unavailable.

“No date has been set to meet,” Seaver said. “It will depend on when Jeanette and Sundi Jo are available.”

Seaver said if that meeting goes well with both boards, they will talk about finances and terms.

“We would probably get an outside attorney not affiliated with either community so we call all feel good about it and go from there,” Seaver said. “There is no timeline at this point though. It is all still in discussion and if not everyone feels comfortable with it, we can walk away from it and they can hire someone, send them to school and go on the way it has been.”

Seaver said the feeling is that Bland’s success will benefit the city of Belle, especially with the trail going through.

“It does no good to have a ghost town three miles down the highway,” Seaver said.

If something does come of the discussion, Seaver said he could consider a town hall meeting to inform citizens of the terms and process.