Business View Civil and Municipal | May 2021

60 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MAY 2021 200 homes. There’s also a $10-million-dollar sewer project reinforcing all of the downtown sewer lines. Agee confirms, “There are always infrastructure projects going on because people here have the attitude, ‘put your boots on and get it done.’ In the early 1990s, we went to the Arkansas Supreme Court because we didn’t want subpar cable, we wanted to supply our own. Since then, we’ve done it ourselves through PLWC. It has steady leadership, and it plans for tomorrow.” For example, by the end of the summer, PLWC will have installed fiber internet into every Paragould home and business, ahead of schedule and under budget. During the pandemic, the city parks were even equipped with free Wi-Fi so students without internet access could safely do their schoolwork. Agee maintains, “Having control over the city infrastructure and owning our own utilities have been vitally important to our growth and sustainability.” Paragould also hosts a not-for-profit, community hospital, Arkansas Methodist Medical Center. AMMC is devoted to caring for the city, as well as being a big local employer. Community safety is also extremely important; recently $4.7-million- dollars were invested into the brand-new #1 Fire Station. Other investments are being made into Josh Agee, Mayor of Paragould Darrell Phillips, CEO of Paragould Light, Water, and Cable