Roger Q Mills Water Plant

The Roger Q Mills Water Treatment Plant was built in 1966 as Gleason Water Treatment Plant. A major expansion was undertaken in 1969 when capacity was enlarged from one million gallons daily to five million. Modifications to the plant's filtering system were made in 1977 further enlarging capacity to 7.5 million gallons daily, but, basically, by 1985 the treatment facility was operating with close to twenty-year-old equipment.

During those twenty years, Conway's water consumers had increased by 127%, and daily usage was up 241%. Brewer Lake was more than capable of providing an ample supply of raw water, enough to meet Conway's needs well into the next century. The city's transmission lines could deliver the water to the plant for treatment, and its distribution system was capable of transporting the treated water from the plant to the citizens. The treatment plant, however, was rapidly reaching its capacity to adequately process the water into a drinkable state.

So in September 1983, Conway Corporation began making plans for expansion of the plant. Consulting engineers were engaged to conduct a study and make recommendations on the proposed expansion. A report was submitted to the Conway Corporation Board of Directors in May 1984.

When complete, the proposed project would double the facility's filtering capacity from 7.5 million to 15 million gallons daily and its pumping capacity from 8.5 million to 15 million. Plans provided for a third, larger pump to be installed at Brewer Lake to increase its daily pumping capacity from about 10 million gallons to 15 millions. An additional 6,000 feet of 24-inch transmission line would, also, have to be laid. The entire project was expected to require between 24 and 28 months with completion anticipated by the summer of 1988.

Engineers had projected that without expansion the present facility would soon be unable to adequately meet the city's needs. Water curtailment (restricted lawn sprinkling) was, in fact, necessary in the summer of 1985. Without the project, an insufficient water supply seemed imminent by 1987 or 1988, possibly affecting the lifestyles of residents and the city's chances of attracting new industries.

The $4.5 million project was to be financed through the sale of revenue bonds and underwritten by future water revenues. On October 22, 1985, the Conway City Council adopted Ordinance No. 0-85-40 providing the new water rates necessary to finance the project. The rates would not go into effect until the bonds were issued.
On January 28, 1986, the city council adopted Ordinance No. 0-86-10, authorizing the issuance of $4.5 million of water revenue bonds at 8.9% interest, and Ordinance No. 0-86-11, expanding Conway Corporation's lease and franchise on the water treatment plant for another 25 years.

The Little Rock investment firm of Stephens, Inc. agreed to market the bonds; they were expected to be purchased almost immediately by in-state investors. A delivery date of March 11 was set. But on March 3, The Arkansas Supreme Court handed down a ruling declaring all state, city and county bond issues must, without exception, be subject to a vote of the people as originally stated in Arkansas' 1874 Constitution. (For years, revenue bonds, like those proposed for the expansion, had been issued by the governing body based on precedent set during the Great Depression, when local governments, desperate for funds, began issuing "self-financing" bonds paid off, not by a tax on the people, but by revenue generated by the improvement being built.)
The court's decision nullified the council's January 28 approval of the bond issue. Aldermen then adopted Ordinance No. 0-86-21, rescinding the previous bond issue and approving a new issue for public vote. Resolution R-86-06 was passed referring the ordinance to Conway voters and voicing the mayor's and city aldermen's support of the issue. A public hearing was set for April 8; the special election for April 15. The issue won by 78% of the electorate.

Although the Supreme Court ruling presented an unexpected delay, the amount of time involved in complying with the court's findings eventually proved rewarding to Conway residents. From late January, when the first bond issue was approved, until the election was held in mid-April, the interest rate on the bonds dropped from 8.9% to 7.83%, a savings to Conway citizens of $961,000 in accrued interest over the life of the bond.
On April 22, the city council adopted Ordinance 0-86-26, setting the new interest rate and a new date for the sale of the bonds. The bonds were to be delivered and the money received by May 23.

Diamond Construction Company of North Little was named contractor on the transmission lines, and M.D. Limbaugh Construction Company of Sikeston, Missouri, was selected as contractor for the plant expansion. Construction began in late July, 1986. And on June 29, 1988, one week away from project completion, Conway residents, experiencing 100-degree temperatures, used over 8 million gallons of treated water in one 24-hour period, an occurrence that would not have been possible two years before.

In 2000, Conway Corporation was able to increase treatment capacity for peak months to 18.75 MGD by installing new piping from existing flocculators to one of the facility's old sedimentation basins.

On June 23, 2006, Conway Corporation celebrated the completion of an eight-million-gallon-per-day expansion and dedicated the plant as the Roger Q Mills Water Treatment Plant. The 8 MGD expansion brought the system's treatment capacity to 24 MGD. This expansion was projected to Conway's needs through 2014.

Editor's Note: The Supreme Court ruling requiring public elections before the issuance of revenue bonds prompted an outcry from the state's business and financial community. Untold numbers of revenue bonds had been issued by local governments in preceding years without being submitted to voters. The Court subsequently held that its decision would apply only to future cases, and that bonds issued previously without a public vote would remain valid. A constitutional amendment, eliminating requirements for voter approval of local revenue bonds, was placed on the general election, November 4, 1986, and passed.