CONWAY -- Conway voters on Tuesday approved $39.7 million in bond issues for construction of a new aquatic center and separate soccer complex.
Complete but unofficial results showed that about 2,911 voters showed up at the polls and overwhelmingly passed all three bond issues on the ballot.
"I've been in Conway since 1981. For 41 years, I've been hearing that Conway wants a pool," Mayor Bart Castleberry said. "Conway stepped up tonight and took care of business."
According to the unofficial results:
• The $6.9 million bond issue to pay off a 2017 bond series passed 2,228-647.
• The $27.3 million bond to finance the construction and operation of the community and aquatic center passed 2,334-567.
• The $5.5 million bond to build the soccer complex passed 2,295-606.
Council Member Shelia Isby let out a loud whoop when it became apparent that the voters had passed the issues. Isby chaired the committee that spent the past year touring other community centers around the state and returned with several design options.
"I'm very excited," she said. "A big thank you to my committee."
Isby said she's been hearing from constituents about the need for a swimming center since she was elected in 1988.
"We did a lot of legwork, and here we are," she said.
The Faulkner County Election Commission has until Feb. 23 to certify the votes.
"After tonight, there are still provisional ballots that the commission must review," Laura Wiles, Faulkner County election coordinator, said. "A date to certify has not been set."
Conway also got a new resident before the polls closed. A newborn was dropped in the Safe Haven Baby Box at the city's Central Fire Station, according to Castleberry.
The Safe Haven Baby Box was installed in July after Conway firefighter Capt. Ty Ledbetter spearheaded a fundraising campaign. The medical bassinet is located in a dark, quiet area of the Fire Department's living quarters.
Voters turned out in force, with some bringing their underage children in soccer uniforms while others stood in lines with adult family members.
The turnout was still lower than the last special election in 2017, when 3,588 Conway voters showed up at the polls.
The line of voters at the McGhee Center was still about 200-strong 30 minutes before the polls closed, snaking around the large indoor gymnasium.
Ember Strange waited in line with her daughter Eva, 9, for 45 minutes before getting to vote.
Eva, wearing a soccer shirt, said she was "happy" that her mother voted for the new community center and soccer fields.
"With the soccer fields now, you just don't ever know if you're going to play or not because the field floods," Ember Strange said.
The current soccer fields are in a flood-prone area on John Allison Road.
Lanette Rogers had been in line more than hour before the polls closed. The issues were too important to her to skip the vote, she said.
"My kids are grown, so it's not about a swimming pool," Rogers said, adding that she was voting for the measures. "It's about property values and growth of the community."
Rogers works at Baptist Health Conway and said the improvements will make employee recruitment easier.
"We need this to attract people to our community," she said.
Nicole Carruth, who was in line with three members of her family, said she was voting for the bond issues, no matter how long she had to stand in line.
"It's going to bring a lot more activities to the community," she said. "We've needed something like this here. We've got to keep the kids busy and off their phones, and we need to have something to help the adults stay healthy."
Final renderings -- by Erik Kocher of Hastings+Chivetta Architects of St. Louis -- are of a two-level indoor and outdoor aquatic center and a full gymnasium that will be located at the site of the old city airport in the Central Landing area.
The new soccer complex will be by Curtis Walker Park on land provided by the Conway Human Development Center.
Castleberry said the next step is to immediately begin the hiring process for a contractor in order to begin construction.
Both the new Conway Community Center and the Conway Soccer Complex are expected to be completed within 18 months after the general contractor is hired for the project, city spokesman Bobby Kelly said.