City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 6 o'clock. Mayor, thank you. I'd like to call the meeting to order. This is uh Bella Vista City Council regular meeting, April 27, 2026. And we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Uh, roll call, please. Council members Harp here.

Hughes, here. Newport, here. Wilms here, Isbel here, and Honchel here.

Thank you. Uh, we'll start with citizen input. Per the rules, there's a three minute per person time limit to address the council on any topic of that person's choosing. The first person is JB Portillo of 3 Kirk Circle in Bella Vista. Hey everybody. Good to see you. I have a nice surprise for you tonight and I want you to meet what I consider my MLY crew. We're going to tell you all about it in a minute. Let me get in costume. Just a second. Oh, great. Jenny Vance, Jerry her, and Colleen Papowski.

Yes, that's her name. Okay. So anyway, I I I props are important. At least you'll remember how goofy I was tonight if nothing else. But we are here to introduce a new community initiative and it's called Grow Native Bell Vista. Now, this isn't a new idea because that native plants have been around forever. We just are taking the bull by the horns and trying to advance it. We're working closely with Chris, with the the city, and a bunch of other things. So, our mission is simple. It is to uh inspire and empower residents to create beautiful, sustainable landscapes using native plants, plants that are already here. We recently have been affiliated and accepted by the uh Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs. We're not totally a garden club, but but we're working really closely with all garden clubs, and they like us. Uh the federation does. I don't know about the other garden clubs. All right. Uh we're a volunteer-driven group made up of local residents, gardeners, and community members who care deeply about Bella Vista. This isn't starting something new, folks. It's not starting it from scratch. It's about building on what the community is is always special. Bellist is known for its national natural beauty and we want to help preserve and enhance that yard by yard and neighborhood by neighborhood. Why does this matter? Native plants do a lot of quiet work for us. They support pollinators like bees and butterflies and birds. They require less water and maintenance once they're established. And they help protect our soil and our waterways. And anyway, they're beautiful, right? That's not it's not about going wild. It's about creating landscapes that are both attractive and practical for home

owners. And as you know, in some of our ordinances that we have a specific uh percentage of a yard that can be native, right? So, we're just capitalizing on what's already there. Our approach is simple and approachable. We're planning easy beginner friendly workshops, demonstration gardens that people can see and learn from, partnerships with groups like the garden clubs, the master naturalist, uh, and the Benton County Master Gardeners, of whom you are a member, Mr. Welps, uh, community programs that out that re and and affiliations with community programs that recognize outstanding native plant yards. We want to meet people where they are, whether they're planting one flower bed or they're doing redoing their whole yard. Uh, we can help. Here's how we can help you. It's my time up already. Oh, man.

All right. Yes. Thank you, though. All right. Well, anyway, we're we're not asking for money. We're asking to be a partner.

Thank you. The next speaker is Becky Parmaly of two Broham Lane in Bella Vista. Good evening. My name is Becky Paraly and I am the Bella Vista Farmers and Makers Market um market manager and um I come before you tonight with gratitude. Um, first I want to thank the council and the mayor for all of your continued support. This is um my fourth season. We're getting ready to launch on Sunday as uh your market manager. Um, but I also want to give a shout out to the city staff. Taylor and Connor have been amazing. Cassie continues to go above and beyond for all of the amazing things here in our community. Um, and this public private partnership um, continues to grow small business and push economic development here in Bella Vista. So, um, if you recall my end of year report last year, we finished the year with 114 small businesses on the books and we're starting this year with 89. Um, if you're keeping tally, that's about 25 more than we started last year with and I believe that this is going to be the biggest year um on record for the market. um additional um sponsors and grants. We participate in the double your dollars program. Um and so we offer access um for grant money for those that are food insecure. You can uh participate with uh the food stamp program, the senior market vouchers and wick through the farmers market. Um we also do a lot of food rescue. Um we partner with food banks to make sure that any leftover produce on Sunday is distributed directly into the community on Monday. Um so I'm really proud of those accomplishments. I'd like to thank the Bella Vista Business Association, the Community Television Station and Discover Bella Vista for their continued

support and promotion of the market as well of course as the city. Um, and uh, I want to brag for just another moment um, about the positive experience of our vendors and um, our shoppers because we do um, adhere to a a pretty um, uh, a pretty familyfriendly code of conduct. We want to make sure that everyone has a great experience at the market. Um, and so we're excited about another really great year. And so, um, in my last 50 seconds, I'd be happy to entertain questions as, um, I really would love for you to keep us in mind for future city planning. So, as the market continues to grow, it continues to offer a huge economic base for, um, the a low entry point into small business in the community. Um, and we do attract businesses from an hour radius around us. So, we are bringing people here to spend money in Bella Vista. And so, if you have any questions or you want to know more about the market, um, feel free to reach out directly. But we kick off on Sunday and I am so excited and mildly nervous and um it's going to be another great amazing year. So, um thank you for your continued support.

Thank you very much. Yeah, I believe that's Sunday, May 3rd. They kick off and we do have council member reply if anyone wants to say anything. Uh Shay, um I was just wondering is there a new location or anything we should know about? There it is. Yes. Sorry. The market is at 10 Sugar Creek uh shopping center. So for any uh natives, that is the um old movie theater site that got new asphalt today. And we should have stripes sometime this week hopefully. But yes, 10 Sugar Creek Center um from 8 to 1 on Sundays. The ribbon cutting is the third at 11:30. I'd love it if you could all join us. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Uh Anna, I don't have any questions, but thank you for coming speaking. I absolutely love the farmers market. I think it's a really important part of our community and so I'm glad you came out and spoke about it tonight and I agree the support that you've received from um the city staff has been incredible and from positively Bella Vista. So I wish you best of luck on your opening day and um I hope to be there to see you as well. Um and then JB, I just want to thank you for coming up and speaking with your with your group. Um yeah, native plants are really important to uh Northwest Arkansas. My husband has a garden um that he's been, you know, curating for a few years now. Um and I absolutely love your hat because I'm obsessed with mushrooms. So, great job. Okay. Uh thank you.

Uh Wendy, just want to say thank you both to JB and her MLY crew and to Becky. These are both just great examples of what BSA can do, the positive things that come forth from our citizens who are so engaged and just thank you guys for what you all do. Excuse me.

Okay, thank you. Uh, next item on the agenda is the monthly financial report and we have recently gotten financials for both January and February. So, I'm going to focus on the period ending February 28, 2026. Uh, the city sales tax is up compared to last year 7.1%. The county sales tax is down 7.7% which is unusual and we sus the director of finance and myself suspect that is because of the ongoing rebate issues particularly in Bentonville. Uh the total revenues are up 3.9%. So um we feel um pretty good about the situation so far this year. On the expense side, you know, it's only been two months. It's hard to draw too much u from that, but we are $527,000 under budget. So, that's a pretty good start regardless of how you slice it. So, we feel pretty good about the way we started the year and uh hopefully we'll continue to do I believe we'll continue to do well this year, but we'll uh take it month by month. The next issue is the uh 2026 youth council presentation. Uh Cassie Lap and the uh folks from the youth council. I I'll announce the people who are graduating uh today. Uh Braden Edwards.

Yeah. Yeah. Please come up. Can I say something? Sure. Go ahead. So, we this was a really cool group of kids and they're really awesome and we have a a small but mighty group sitting back here and we met once monthly from September to April and we covered a myriad of city topics from police and fire to budgeting to trails everything. And I am just blown away by these kids intriguing questions and their thoughtful responses and their lofty goals that they have for themselves. And I would expect these young minds to do very well in their future and I wish you guys the best of luck. So,

thank you. Appreciate that. Uh Braden Edwards, if you could come up when you're called. Noah Lesenberry couldn't be here today. Uh Isaac Marman, Sophia Merritt Marman, Emily Ponov, and Mason Weaver. Uh, let me get one of them first. Sorry.

Absolutely. Thank you, Cassie. I echo what Cassie said about the students and thank you students for participating. We really appreciate it. Uh the next item is uh litter cleanup award to Tim Pashire. Tim, if you want to come forward, I'll go ahead and read the award and then we'll have a picture. uh certificate of recognition presented to Tim Pashire in recognition of your dedication to leading the charge for at least the last eight years to keep our community clean and beautiful by organizing, promoting, and hosting the creative and well-attended annual litter cleanup event 6 and 60. It is through these volunteer community-led efforts that we see a real impact to the issue of litter along city streets and increase in awareness of this issue and a growing pride among residents for the city in which they live. Presented this 27th day of April, 2026.

Tim has been a real pioneer for us in that field and and it has led to uh more and growing groups of people working on litter and it's very noticeable when you drive around the city streets. So, we really appreciate it. Um let's see. The next item is the mayor's monarch pledge. So, I'll read this. It's a proclamation. Whereas the monarch butterfly is an an iconic North American species whose multi-gener generational migration and metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly has captured the imagination of millions of Americans. And whereas both the western and eastern monarch populations have seen significant declines with less than 1% of the western monarch population remaining while the eastern population has fallen by as much as 90%. And whereas the city of Bella Vista recognizes that human health ultimately depends on well functioning ecosystems and that biodiverse regions can better support food production, healthy soil and air quality and can foster healthy connections between humans and wildlife. And whereas cities, towns, and counties have a critical role to play to help save the monarch butterfly. And the city of Bella Vista is striving to become a leader. And whereas on March 31, 2026, I, John D. Flynn, signed the National Wildlife Federation's mayor's monarch pledge and have officially committed to taking meaningful meaningful action to protect the monarch butterfly. And whereas the city of Bella Vista has committed to engaging with gardening leaders to support butterfly conservation, engaging with the property

owners association to identify planting opportunities, engaging with developers to identify planting opportunities for new developments and monitoring the ordinances to allow and or require planting opportunities and reduce light pollution, amongst other action items. And whereas every resident of the city of Bella Vista can make a difference for the monarch by planting native milkweed and nectar plants to provide habitat for the monarch and pollinators in locations where people live, work, learn, play, and worship. And now therefore, I, John D. Flynn, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Bella Vista, to hereby proclaim April 27, 2026 as mayor's monarch pledge day in the city of Bella Vista and encourage all residents to participate in community activities that support and celebrate monarch conservation. Thank you very much. Uh we're very pleased to be involved in uh encouraging the monarch in our city. Now I have a proclamation uh for a garden for wildlife month of May. It's lucky we have these garden club people here today with all these garden related activities. This is proclamation garden for wildlife month. The city of Bella Vista recognizes that wildlife species are declining at an unprecedented rate. Globally, there are over a million species endangered with extinction and one-third of North American wildlife species are at increased risk of extinction in the coming decades. And whereas the city of Bella Vista recognizes that human health ultimately

depends on well functioning ecosystems and that biodiverse regions can better support food production, healthy soil and air quality and can foster healthy connections between humans and wildlife. And whereas the city of Bella Vista celebrates local wildlife and wild places such as the many acres of common properties owned as nature preservation. And whereas the city of Bel Vista is working to build a healthy, sustainable, and wildlife friendly community that brings the many benefits of nature to all corners of our community by by preserving and protecting the natural identity of Bella Vista, including the tree canopy, bluffs, and watersheds. And whereas garden for wildlife month is a national initiative of the national wildlife federation that empowers Americans to support local wildlife like birds and pollinators by planting native plants in their garden and throughout the community to help restore and connect habitat. And whereas the city of Bella Vista supports and promotes garden for wildlife month throughout the community and encourages residents to participate, including certifying and maintaining their properties as a certified wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. And whereas the city of Bella Vista will continue to support local efforts that protect, restore, and conserve habitat and vital environmental resources as well as foster a greater connection between residents and wildlife. And now therefore, I, John D. Flynn, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Bella Vista, to hereby proclaim the month of May as garden for wildlife month in the city of Bella Vista and encourage all residents

to plant native plants and participate in community activities that support and celebrate healthy, sustainable, wildlifefriendly communities. Dated April 27, 2026. Thank you for your attention to that. Yeah. And now uh I'd like to entertain a motion to suspend the rules of order and procedure to allow all ordinances on the agenda to be read by title only. So moved. Second.

That was Larry Wilms and Travis Harp. A roll call vote. Council members Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbell, yes. And Hansel, yes. Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. So, I'd like a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second. That was Travis Harp and Anna Isbel. A roll call vote. Council members Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbel,

yes. And Honchel, yes. Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Uh, next one is under unfinished business. An ordinance prohibiting camping and vehicle habitation on certain public property, providing definitions, establishing enforcement procedures, providing exemptions, providing penalties, and for other purposes. This is on second reading. Is there any discussion? I I guess Larry,

the only comment that I would have is that based on what we've gotten feedback from the police department that it's not an obvious issue or problem for us now. And so I would I would be inclined to forego uh adoption of this ordinance as as not needed at this time for solving a problem in the city. Um so I'm I'm not necessarily in support of it at this point. Any more discussion? Uh Travis?

Yeah, I'll just remind my colleagues on the council that this is a proactive measure. Um lots of other cities in our area are dealing with these problems and I think it's uh personally I think it's irresponsible to think that we're somehow immune to that problem. And so uh like I said, this is a proactive measure and I agree with you Larry, it's not a big problem now. However, if we put measures in place to prevent it from ever becoming a problem, then we have the ability to uh to prevent a problem from ever occurring in our city. So, that was my idea behind it. Sir, uh Wendy,

something that does make us unique compared to other communities in our area that do have similar ordinances is that we don't really have public parks. We have hardly any public land. our public land I think is really limited to the rideaways um and the police department, fire department, the library I'm sure is considered public land or not because it's private ownership on that. So, and so I'm more in agree with Mr. Williams and that this is not really a problem we have because we are a unique community and that we don't have public parks where people would be camping.

Okay. Uh so this is still on second reading. Do you want to just go till third reading next month then have a vote? Okay, we'll move along. The next one is an ordinance amending ordinance number 2025 to 16 establishing a business license to exempt short-term rental management businesses from the licensing requirement and for other purposes. And this is on second reading. Any discussion, Travis?

Yeah. So, if I'll just refresh everyone's memory on my stance on this and why I was bringing this up to try to just clarify some of the confusion. And so, I mentioned at the work session that, you know, I'm really kind of withdrew my opinion about what should or shouldn't be in the business license. My only hope is that somebody could pick up the phone, call the city, and say, "Hey, I plan on doing X, Y, and Z. Do I need a business license? Yes or no?" and we should be able to provide them that answer. Uh, one of the push backs we got from staff attorney was well, they could be lying about uh what their business is. Well, that's I don't think that should be up to us to if say if if you're going to do X, Y, and Z, then yes, you need one, and if you're going to do X, Y, and Z, then no, you don't need one. That's my only hope for this, honestly. Uh Larry,

I I I think I I don't have the desire to exempt rental management of short-term bis short-term rental businesses only. Uh so this might modify our ordinance currently. um businesses that manage short-term rental along with other types of real estate. Uh if they qualify as a home business, they're exempt. Uh our code is clear. Uh sometimes it may take an application to for the individual to answer all the questions. There are 10 points that they need to pass in order to qualify as a home business in in Bella Vista. That's typical with other communities. Um, so I'm not sure that this is going to help clarified at all other than except exempt uh businesses that do short-term rentals. And I I don't believe that that's a positive move in our part based upon how our ordinance is now and it covers and addresses that issue. So if there is a question about whether they need one or not come in and fill out an application based on the results of their application, uh they would either be accepted or rejected. And so I I think it just confuses the issue. I I can't support it. Uh Wendy, did you want us discuss Q at this point or

mayor? That wouldn't be in order at this point. So we'll keep going in order then. Okay. So this is also on second reading. So we'll leave it at that. Okay. Next one is N. Ordinance requiring the Bella Vista Advertising Promotion Commission to publish financial statements on its official website and for other purposes. Travis, this was your

Yeah, thanks, Mayor. Just to reiterate, this is a transparency thing. Uh I I regretful that I didn't include this when I when we approved the minutes, which I'm thankful we we were able to get that passed. Um this is just transparency. This is this is a tax that, you know, if you have a business where you do prepared food or if you have any lodging, then your clientele is subject to this tax. Uh, I think a lot of people don't know about this tax. A lot of people that I've had conversations with, they don't even know that this tax is is occurring on these businesses. And I I find it odd that they don't have to publish their financials. So, I'm just asking the council to mandate that they publish their financials for ease of access to that information. I guess I guess in response to that councelor is is that that information is readily available to anyone who has an interest uh at all in looking at that information by sending a request to the uh to the advertising and promotion commission. Uh it's a foyer foyer request. Information is available readily. Uh there's no issues about it. I don't know. it provides an extra effort on their part to add this to their website. They need to find a place for it. They need to modify the website to accommodate it. Um, so we're asking the advertising and promotion commission to do something that can already be accomplished with a request from a interested citizen or or non-citizen for that matter. Anna,

um I guess one of my questions last week was around how many requests have been made. So, how maybe how important would this be to the public? And so I did reach out um to the commission and there have been in 25 and 2026 there have been four requests for information um through freedom of information act and one through an email and it's three of them are made by the same person and then the fourth one is made by one other individual and so um I I don't think that this is necessary and I would actually move to postpone indefinitely so we can vote on to table indefinitely. table indefinitely. Is that a motion?

Yeah, she made a motion table indefinitely. Is there a second? I have I do have copies if anyone wants to see. I'll second it. Uh, so that was a motion to table indefinitely by Anna Isbel and a second by uh Larry Wilms. Is there any discussion, Travis? Yeah, I think it's concerning to me that only four people have asked for these financials. I think it's because people are not aware. And so, uh, if we're against transparency and mandating that they post their financials along with their minutes, then, you know, that's that's the council's prerogative. But, uh, in my opinion, people aren't asking because they don't know about it, not because they don't care about it. So, that's my

two people that have asked and three of the requests have been from you, Travis. So, uh, yeah, go ahead. Thank you. Um, I was just going to say I did.

Yeah, thank you, mayor. Um, I did a brief amount of research, and I mean very brief, but I did check on Bentonville's website since they're our large sister city nearest by and I didn't see their financials posted on their A&P website or um, anything similar. I also didn't find their meeting notes on there. Um, so I don't know if anyone I'd be curious if anyone wants to share with me if they've noticed a local A&P company. Not that we have to constantly mirror cities around us, but um, you know, not not only does it seem like anyone in Bella Vista's interested in having this information at the ready, it seems like even a city as large as Bentonville um, doesn't find it necessary to have it posted either.

Okay. Uh, we had a motion and second to table indefinitely. So, I think we could go ahead with the roll call vote. Council members HARP, no. Hughes, no. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbell, yes. Hunchel, no. Mayor, you may vote if you choose to. I choose not to. I always feel when there's a a council uh inspired resolution, I should leave it up to council.

So, mayor, the motion to table and definitely uh has failed and the council remains on second reading at this time on the ordinance. Yeah. So, it'll go to third reading next meeting. Okay. Uh new business. It's an ordinance waving the requirements of formal competitive bidding and authorizing a contract with Superior Automotive Group in a total amount knock to exceed $131,000 for the purchase of two 2026 Chevrolet Tahoe SSV vehicles with police upfit for use by the police department. Motion to approve.

Second. This is an ordinance that would require suspension of the rules to go to third and final reading. Oh, okay. Motion to suspend the rules and move to third and final reading. Second. That was Shay Newport and Larry Wilms. So, it' be a roll call vote on the motion to suspend the rules and go to third and final. Roll call. No. Hughes? Yes. Newport? Yes. Wilms, yes. Isbel, yes. Honchel, yes.

A motion carried uh five to one to go to third and final. So, I'll go ahead and read that. waving the requirements of formal competitive bidding authorizing a contract with the Pure Automotive Group in a total amount not to exceed 131,000 for the purchase of two 20236 Chevrolet Tahoe SSV vehicles with police upfit for use by the police department. Is there any discussion? Motion to approve. There's a motion by Larry Wilms.

Second. Second by Shay Newport. If there's no discussion, we can go to a roll call vote on motion to approve. Council members HAP, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isel, yes. And Hel, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is an ordinance amending the Bella Vista zoning ordinance and map to reszone property described in resoning petition number 2026- 63851 county parcel number 16-43201-0000 from RE residential estate district to AP agricultural preservation district. This is on Spankeridge Drive. Is there any discussion? Motion to suspend the rules and go to third and final. Second.

That was Wendy Hughes and Larry Wilm. So there'll be a roll call vote on the motion to go to third and final. Council members Harp. No. Hughes? Yes. Newport? Yes. Wilms? Yes. Isel? Yes. And Honchel? Yes.

Motion carried 5 to one. So I'll read it for a third and final time. Amending the Bella Vista zoning ordinance and map the resone property described in reszoning petition number 2026-63851 county parcel number 16-43201-0000 from re residential state district to AB agricultural preservation district motion to approve second that was Larry Wilms and Wendy Hughes is there any Any discussion? No. Why? We can go ahead with the roll call vote and a motion to approve. Council members HARP, yes.

Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbell, yes. And Honcho, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is an ordinance amending ordinance number 2025-16 establishing a business license to repeal subsection 4F to make clear that lawful homebased businesses including homebased property management businesses and homebased short-term rental management businesses are exempt from the business license requirement while still providing that such businesses conducted outside the home are not exempt. and for other purposes. Wendy Hughes.

Yes. So, if the council is agreeable with the original wording of the ordinance as it is, I am more than happy to withdraw this or I guess table indeently. Is there any thought or discussion? Uh Shay, um after what Mr. Kelly shared with us last week, I'm happy with the ordinance as written personally. Mayor. Uh Travis.

Yeah, I am too. Uh like I said earlier though, I think the intent behind both of these is good that we're just trying to clear up some confusion, but uh I'm hopeful that as we move forward with the new business license, it was just a growing pain initially. So, um but I think, you know, I I agree with the council. The original one is fine. If we if we need to come back and clean it up and make it easier for the average small business owner to understand, then you know that's certainly something I can I could provide to the council at a later date. But uh Anna,

so then we're looking at M was also to be withdrawn as well. M moves to third reading next month and so M is still on and then so we're just talking about item Q at this point. So clar clarifying question after we've moved past we cannot go back in this meeting. Um if there was an appropriate motion to suspend the rules and take which I could word for someone if they wanted to do that

to to go ahead and get him off of the agenda for next month and table that indefinitely. somebody says they would want to do that, I could help them frame a motion to do that um at any point, but preferably after we deal with item Q. So, let me go ahead and It's okay. Do Q real quick. So, motion to table Q indefinitely. Seconded. That is Wendy Hughes and Shane Newport. So, uh roll call. Was there any more discussion? Yeah, Travis, if

if um if the planning director is here, could she is she available to answer a question for us regarding if if she thinks that this ordinance would be helpful in clearing up confusion or So, uh Wendy, personally, I'd like to withdraw it mainly because it does not mention the STR uh portion of it. It would eliminate that and I want to make sure the STRs are protected on that. that and so that's why I want to we could if we wanted to keep it we could just amend that section of it next month we could back again but based on the current language from the discussion prior I feel confident that as is fine okay but thank you

so do you want to have uh Taylor answer questions or you want to just go ahead and vote on the motion to withdraw or motion to table indefinitely I should say we'll we'll just motion to table indefinitely and we'll I'll get with Taylor at a later date if it becomes an issue again. Okay. So, we're ready for a roll call vote on the motion to table indefinitely. Council members Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isel, yes. And Honchel, yes. Uh, motion carries six to zero. Thank you for that. So, mayor, mayor, at this I don't know if there's is there a desire to try to deal with item M at this point?

Yes. Okay. So, um, mayor, the a way that could be done is if a council member moves to suspend the rules and reconsider item M immediately for purposes of tableabling it indefinitely and further and then we have to table item M indefinitely. So, it'll be one vote. Oh, one motion. We're going to try to put it all together in one vote. Okay. I motion to do what you just said. It'll it'll be we've got a good transcriptionist here who's going to write that down. So, thank you. I think you all understand what I mean. We're going to bring back M and table it indefinitely. That you're going to do two things in one. Second. I'll second. I think Larry Wilms already seconded.

Third. So, that was Wendy Hughes and Larry Wilms on motion that bring back uh item M and table it indefinitely. Yeah. Suspend the rules. Bring back item M and table it indefinitely. Uh, roll call vote. Thanks for your patience. I need to get that right. Okay. Okay. So, roll call vote on the motion to suspend the rules and bring back item M. It's uh, council members Harp. Yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbell, yes. And Honchel, yes. Okay.

Uh, motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next one is a resolution R approving the mayor's reappoint of Elizabeth Duncan to the tree advisory board position five for a three-year term ending May 1, 2029. Motion to approve. Second. That was uh Shane Newport and Travis Harp. Motion to approve. Uh Elizabeth Duncan. Roll call vote. Council members Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbel, yes. And Hansel, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Thank you. Next one's a resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Benjamin Cine to the tree advisory board position 4 for a three-year term ending May 1, 2029. Believe he's present. Motion to approve. Second. That it was Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel. A roll call vote on the motion to approve. Benjamin Cine. Council members Harp. Yes. Hughes. Yes. Newport. Yes. Wilms. Yes. Isbel. Yes. And Fowler. Oops. I'm sorry. Excuse me. This was a a copy paste. Um Honchel me. Yes.

So sorry. Excuse me. Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next one is a resolution authorizing the mayor insert city clerk to enter into a contract with Garrett Excavating Inc. at the amount of $99.31 cents per ton for asphalt tree resurfacing hot mix overlay and further authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Vance Brothers LLC in the amount of 313 per square yard for Slurry Seal Streets. Motion to approve. Second.

That was Shay Newport and Wendy Hughes. Any discussion? Okay, we'll have a roll call vote. Council members Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes. Isbell, yes. And Honchel, yes. Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next one's a resolution amending the rules of order and procedure of the Bella Vista City Council regarding provisions for council response to public comment. I believe this was Larry Wilms. Did you want to

I I I don't have much to add. I think the the staff attorney Kelly did a very nice job of summarizing the rationale for wanting to modify our rules to delete this option for us. Um it it sometimes can put us in a precarious position of of responding when maybe we shouldn't be u uh because of the sensitivity of the issues. So So this would be allowing public comment but not having city council reply. They would take take that off our agenda.

Um while I really appreciate that Mr. Williams wants to safeguard the city and council from accidentally speaking. I do think most of our elected officials um were elected to represent and to respond and have dialogue with the public. And I would just encourage any city council member who's uncertain if they're saying the right thing or if they might be putting the city uh in a precarious situation to instead refrain from speaking rather than removing the ability to reply to the public in general. So, I don't support this, but I appreciate the thought. Uh, Travis,

thanks, Mayor. Um, you know, the Arkansas Municipal League said that social media is one of the biggest tools that the government could utilize today. So, I was happy to learn of a survey that one of my fellow council members uh put online and got a lot of feedback that I'm told and um pretty much all of the constituents that have weighed in on this are are against it. And I am too. I I agree with what Shay said. We shouldn't limit everyone's ability because of somebody's inability. Uh Wendy,

Mr. Wilms, I do appreciate this. I know where your heart is with this and I respect it. Um I am said council member who did ask constituents across the board, what are your thoughts? Because I understand where you're coming from and I agree where you're coming from. I also agree with the initial heart of this from Mr. B when he proposed this originally and with that like Mr. Newport said we had the ability to not respond as well and it is the role of the mayor to make sure that we are kind of in check in line and so I know that has not happened here at this council in the future if it happens to happen. I have full faith that the mayor will be able to like point a border. Also, I do have a question, Jason. Are we during council reply able to do a point of order if it's getting past the quorum rules?

Not really. Okay. What was that? If it's getting what? Well, I know that uh council members can do a point of order if something's getting off topic or if it's out of line in other instances sometimes, but I didn't know during council reply if that was appropriate or allowed.

No. No. Um, it really wouldn't be. your rules don't allow that. Um I I'd like to Mayor with your indulgence. I I did put a memo in the um in the packet about this and and just so everyone understands because there there are and I only speak up when there are legal issues as you all you you all know that. And so I I just want to go over this very very briefly because I don't know that that it's come to everyone's attention and I just want to make sure that the record's clear on what my recommendation is as we move ahead. Um uh as you know your current rules uh provide for a public uh for a council reply period uh to make any comment you desire in response to what has been said. And um that structure has worked at times but is increasingly creating more of a legal risk uh for the city. Uh and I just want to point out a few things to you. First, there is no legal requirement that the council respond to public comments. The public has the right to address you during the designated comment period. However, neither the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act nor state municipal law requires contemporaneous replies by members of the governing body. The comment period can stand on its own without a formal response segment. Secondly, uh the reply period puts members in a difficult position, members as in all of you. Uh when citizens raise serious concerns, especially about police conduct, personnel matters, or threaten litigation, there is a natural instinct to say something. Silence can feel uncomfortable, but speaking off the cuff in those moments can create real legal problems for the city. Uh we recently had an example uh where a council member offered a an almost like apology-like comment uh regarding a police issue that had not been adjudicated. And while that comment certainly was well intended, uh, statements of that nature may later be characterized as emissions in litigation, may complicate pending investigations and may affect the city's

legal posture and insurance considerations. That risk is heightened by the council's own code of conduct, which expressly provides that individual council members have no legal authority outside meetings of the council and cautions members not to make promises on behalf of the council or city staff. When statements are made from the deis during a formal meeting, the public reasonably hears them as official even if they are not backed by a vote of the council. Uh I would also highlight a procedural concern. Uh one of your rules provides that business at regular council meetings is limited to matters listed on the agenda unless the rules are suspended by twothirds vote. When substantive discussion occurs in response to public comments on matters not otherwise on the agenda, the council risk drifting into consideration of issues that have not been properly noticed. Eliminating the reply period would better align meeting practice with the structure already set out in the rules. Um I don't believe that attempting to place formal limits on the scope of replies, which is one of the things that's been suggested, would solve the problem. drawing lines about what can and cannot be discussed, what can or cannot be discussed in the moment would be difficult to administer and would still leave members making judgment calls under pressure. It would likely be unworkable in practice. And uh for those those are really the reasons that I've my recommendation is that the council reply period uh not be a part of your agenda. I know of no other city that has such a period. Your service is a reply to the public. you have access, you can comment to the public um as you see fit at any time. I think one of the issues that came up in the past that led to this was u we had some very emotional public comments and it was just sort of they were made and the room was hanging and okay next item on the agenda is and

that didn't go over very well and I think there was a thought by some that there needs to be something more said and and I think that could be handled uh by the mayor u just simply thanking speakers where it's appropriate. it uh note to them that matters could be referred to the staff or placed on a future agenda thanking them and and and kindly moving forward with the agenda. So that that's my recommendation on how to deal with that particular part of it. So I just want you to know when I make a recommendation there are some legal reasons for it. It's certainly not that the substance of the comments or the the actual doing of the comments or anything like that, but I just wanted to make sure that that was of the record before we make a formal decision. I I guess I would

Larry, I I would like to uh like to comment is that we're we have the list of uh citizens that speak. They usually provide contact information. We certainly can be free to contact them afterwards by following up with that list. So it it doesn't pre prevent us from following up and doing uh personal contact with anyone who comes to speak as a public member of the community. Travis, I certainly appreciate the legal concerns there, but the citizens have spoken and me I would like to make a motion to table this indefinitely.

Well, uh it's a resolution and we were just going to vote on it. So, you don't I don't think you really need to table it and that you can, you know, if everyone votes no that passes or dies. Yeah.

Um, yeah, I appreciate everything that you've said um from a legal standpoint and I understand where you're coming from as well, Larry. Um, but I think that it's really important that as elected officials that we use good judgment and restraint when we're speaking to the public, whether it's on social media or here, and that we're always being truthful, not misleading, and certainly in this case when we're representing the city, um, giving legal advice or um, making it a bad situation for the city. But I think we all have the responsibility to use that judgment to respond to the public. So, I I do not support this um, resolution. So, we can go ahead with a vote or, you know, I imagine it's not uh incorrect to table indefinitely if you'd rather do it that way.

I made the motion. I don't know if it died for lack of second or what happened, but uh so there's a motion to table indefinitely. Why don't we just have a roll call vote? Motion to approve. Second. Okay. Uh Shay Newport made a motion to approve and Larry Wilms made a second. Uh I think we've all discussed. So uh we'll have a roll call vote. Council members Harp No. Hughes? No. Newport? No. Wilms? Yes. Isbell? No. Honchel? Yes.

Motion failed two to four. Uh, next item is a resolution to provide for a study of city participation in the Arkansas Public Employee Retirement System, Apers, for nonuniform city employees. Uh, Travis, did you want to say something about this?

Yeah, thanks, Mayor. Uh I will start off by just trying to encourage council that this is before we get too far into debate on this. Uh this is just a resolution to study the feasibility and to uh I guess survey the people that would be subject to this retirement system if they were actually interested or not. Um, and the reason why I brought this to the council is because I know in the past they uh somebody had tried to get this approved and the city said that it was too expensive. Um, but as we're growing and as our sales tax improve uh while we're sitting inside of a $20 million building, it's it seems disingenuous to me to tell our employees that we can't take care of them financially. I understand we we invest a lot in capital. Uh, I think it's time to invest in our human resources. So, that was the idea behind this. And like I said, before we get too deep into the debate whether this is a good or a bad thing, I think we just need to figure out if we want them to study it and survey the people that would would be on this new retirement system.

Um, speaking for myself, I'm uh fine with uh studying it. Uh I'm I don't think necessarily taking a poll is is the way to go frankly but uh you know perhaps we could study it for a while and uh we could decide later whether you want to take a poll or not. There's a lot of problematic things about a poll. One is uh passing this would be a pay cut for at least six or seven people maybe more. anybody left in the next five years, it' be a pay cut. And for a lot of people, it' be a 10% pay cut. So, you know, I hate to say, "Oh, we had a vote and it was 60 to 50 to do it. So, sorry, you get a 10% pay cut the last three years you worked for." You know, I don't feel real good about that. That's just one example of many. You know, there's some people be good for, some it wouldn't be good for. There's a million different things. I mean, there's a lot that goes into it. But uh I I'm fine with studying it. I just don't know. I know our our human resources person was very reluctant about the poll idea and and it is problematic in a lot of ways,

but there's nothing wrong with studying it. Anna, yeah, I I tend to agree with you. I mean, a study might be one thing. I mean, we've already been provided quite a bit of information, so it doesn't look like a great idea, but never in my career working for several corporations have I ever been offered a vote in what health plan or savings plan we go with. Whatever the company chooses to go with, there are options within that plan. And so, I think it's very similar here. The plan has to be chosen by those that are entrusted with the plan and then the decisions are made within it. So, I agree, mayor. Uh, Travis,

well, I would I would just try to use some logic that is often used on me to shoot down my proposals and let's look at what other cities are doing because I believe that this is a better retirement system. This provides a pension and we can't get people away from cities that have that because they don't want to lose their pension. So, I think the majority of the other cities in Northwest Arkansas are doing this and that's a common question that is utilized against me for my proposal. So, I would just encourage that we we find that answer in this study as well. Um, and like I said, I I just find this to be something that's taking care of our human resources. It's it's a better retirement system than a deferred compensation plan in my opinion.

Uh, Wendy, again, this is just for a study. I think we can all agree that I can't speak for anybody else that a study does not hurt anything. Once we can get more data, more facts, then we can make a educated decision of what's going to be best all around financially for both the city, the employees and everything. So, motion to approve. Second.

So, that was a motion by Wendy Hughes and a second by Travis. Uh, Larry, did you want to say something? Uh my my comment was is that when the city uh incorporated and we're a new city in in Arkansas, uh we haven't been around uh for 20 years or 40 40 years uh or 100 years like some of the cities in our neighborhood have. Uh and so it was a natural evolution for them uh to go become a part of the state system. U the reality is is that Not a 100% of our members, our our employees participate in the retirement program that we have now. We offer for the first 5% of their wages a matching $2 for every dollar that they choose to put in. Uh we don't have 100% participation. Uh when we did start the city and after we were in business for a couple of years, uh the city realized that they needed to add that component and so they took a survey of the employees at the city at the time and the vote was unanimous to go with a 401k or 457 uh plan uh as opposed to going with the other one. Part of it was, I think, cost, but the reality was that the employees actually voted uh and they made that choice. Um, uh, to change now will cost the city be because it's 100% participation. If we go to the state program, the Apers program, it's 100% everybody is in or everybody is out. Uh and so if we choose to go that route, it will cost us over a half a million dollars a year uh to

participate in that program. That means everyone will participate. It's uh the numbers preliminarily from the HR department was 547,000 and some change uh which is a sub substantial number. If you recall in the 25 budget approval that we had, uh, we adopted a budget that was $750,000 in the red, meaning that we would have to take from reserves. The end of the year, uh, the red went away and we were in the green at the end of the year, but that's not that's not a given. That's not a guarantee. There will be a point in time when sales tax will not be increasing like it has been for us. And we can see uh with the report of the mayor for the February issue is that our our county sales tax which is a huge portion of our revenue is down 7.7% this year. Uh that will impact us especially if it continues throughout the year. U so we may not finish 2026 in in the black, we may finish it in the red. um even with good management by our department heads and the mayor. So uh I I I I caution you all that we need to carefully uh go through and look at this u studying it further. If you choose to do that u that's fine. Uh I I think that that it's not unreasonable to do that. But I think the answer uh quite frankly is that it's out of our realm today until we get a lot more sales tax generated within Bella Vista proper. So

uh Shay,

I just wanted to chime in that um I received an email and it looks like all of you all were copied in on it as well from a city employee um stating that they were really against it. They they listed out several reasons why. So I would encourage you all to read that email. Um I responded to him individually. I did not reply all. Um and I thanked him for his remarks and told him that generally I'm agreeable to studying almost anything as long as it's ethical. Um he responded back and and had a really great point which I want to share with all of you which is that you know even just doing a study is um you know a usage of city resources and time and so we ought to be thoughtful about what we are going to ask um to have studied. And so for me, something that annually is 2% of our budget of this year's budget for revenue, um, when we've we have quite a bit of information already in front of us, uh, that Glenda provided, um, I do find it to be a waste of city resources to study something further that seems very not feasible. So, I'm against it. Thank you. Well, if you'd like to take a vote that's more substantive, I have some facts I can relay to you. I thought I would wait until we had a study, but I I could relay some facts.

Let's hear them.

There's over 500 cities in uh Arkansas and 180 187 of them have this plan. The one major city close to us that does not is Fagville. That's but there's plenty of cities that do have it. Uh my first thought is if council and this has happened several times when council comes up with ideas that are a lot of money. I consider $564,000 a lot of money. They should identify some revenue source. Not just gee, we're going to spend $564,000 more. You know, when the people the department heads come up with things, they say it's from the bond, it's from the budget, or it's from reserves. Has to be one of those three, right? So, I think it's incumbent on you to figure out where the revenue is going to come. But aside from that, put that aside, what we pay right now for our fire and police pension is $1.6 million. That's what it was in 2025. Our unfunded liability for the fire and police pension was 8.3 million in 2022 and at the end of 2024 it was 16.7 million. Now all we do is lot tells us what to pay and we pay it. They take the money, they invest it, and there that was a spectacular increase. And I I checked into how that happened, and they say it's due to changes in actuarial assumptions, meaning people are living longer. Uh, and poor investment performance. I don't know what they did investment wise, but it's the same way with apers.

All we do is give money, somebody else invests it who we have no control over. So, uh, I do think it's, and I care very much about employees. I want them to be happy. I want them to be compensated fairly. I do think, uh, that it's incumbent upon us to represent the residents and the taxpayers. That's who we're actually supposed to be looking out for. Now, in my case, being mayor, I feel like I need to look out for the employees also. So our current system we have right now in my opinion is not broken. You know you said Walmart is a 6% match. I assume that's after you put in 6%. So our system you put in 5% and you get a 10% match. Uh I checked a little more on some of the others and Tyson's you put in 5% and you get a 4% match. JB Hunt matches 50 cents on the dollar up to 3%. So you put in 6%, they match three. So we're miles ahead of all the biggest private employers who it's fair to say are all much richer than us. We're miles ahead of all of them with our current plan. So we have six to seven employees who would almost surely take a pay cut mo in most cases a pay cut of 10%. We have at least six employees who left an AP I personally identified six who left an apers job and came to us. They had apers and they jump jobs to us even though they had apers there and not here. Uh we have street employees who leave the uh company. That's one of the areas

where we have some turnover. There's never been one go to a neighbor's job. They jump us and they go to construction where they have a 401k or maybe even nothing. It's all about the money, short-term money. uh county dispatch has a pension and their turnover is way worse than our dispatch. Always has been. It has to do with other things besides just your apers. Uh we have no problem hiring employees when we have a new job opening. We have plenty of applications, quality applications. The turnover in city hall planning and development and library is way lower than police and fire. It's not even close. And they have a pension and a good pension. And yet our turnover in these other places, there's been no turnover in city hall since I've been here. So to me, it doesn't appear to be something that's needed. It appears to me to be fair compared to other people. I agree that it's not as strong as the police and fire. As far as our participation rate, it's right around 70% of our employees. It's about 110 employees. Glenda got all this for me and it's about 70%. And uh that means 30% of the people would rather have cash. You know, with our plan, you actually have some freedom with their plan. Interesting thing about Apers is right now they're taking out 6.2%. And they've also announced that they're for the employees. So, you have to pay 6.2% whether you want to be on it or not. You don't have that now. You can do what you want. They've already announced

they're increasing it every year up to 7%. So, this is a math challenge for you. Why would they be increasing it from 6.2% to 7% when the benefits stay the same? In other words, Apers is getting a little worse every year for the employees because they're not making it. That's why. And it's going to continue to be like that. And if you take this on, you're going to end up having a pension liability like we do with our other pension. That's where you're going to end up. 1015 million dollars down the road. It's almost a sure thing. Happens all the time with defined benefit plans. And that's why private companies don't have them. You know, when they started social security in 1935, the average person lived to be 62. It's a great plan. We'll pay you money when you're 65, only you'll never be 65. So, it works out very well. Now we've got people living be 90 and 100 which is a great thing. That's good. But for a defined benefit pension plan it creates quite a challenge.

So Shane and I just I just wanted to clarify I believe we heard last week but if we were to enter Apers we could never ever exit. Is that right? Correct. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mayor.

Yeah. Uh Glenn has checked on several things with Apers that were interesting. The decision to join Apers is irrevocable. Right now, the employer contribution is 15.32%. And it's subject to change annually based on actuarial data. It could be anything in the future. So that 564,000 she showed you where that's I mean it could be anything. you're entering in a complete unknown and I mentioned about the employee contribution going up. So anyway, it just seems like a uh a daunting financial challenge. I guess I'd say

I have one comment relative to Councilman Harp's comment that we're in a $20 million building. We are in a $20 million building, I guess. Uh but the reality is is that that was not from our budget. That was paid for by a bond issue which was supported by a 1% sales tax. So the public paid for this building separately from their contributions of sales tax and and uh uh real estate tax and all of those other things. Uh so it was completely separate. So it is an expensive building. I think it's a very lovely building and it's planned for the future, but the reality is is that that was not out of our annual revenues that we received that we spend for capital projects. So, just to clarify,

to be clear, I'm not saying we should not do anything different with the police or fire pension. It's existing. It's been existing for a while and uh I think we need to stick with it. I'm just not sure it's a good idea to add more onto that. Travis.

Yeah. To uh Thank you, mayor. To answer your question, we could buy approximately seven and a half less Taho per year to pay for this. Um I think the 187 out of the 500 cities do this because it's a good benefit for the employees. And I don't think having a lack of turnover is an argument against this. I think it's an argument for this because if they're staying here, they'll have a state back pension that will be paid to them perpetuity for as long as they live. That's not something they get in a 401k because we remember in 2020 the 401k went to a 2011k for most of us. Um so anyways, um I would encourage the staff to pull the people that would be that would be paying this. I understand you're reluctant to do so, but um I think that's what really matters if they want to do this or not and then if we could afford it or not. Um, so and like Mr. Larry said back in 2012, they opted out because of the cost. I think things are different now and I think if we have a chance to take care of our city staff, then that's what we should do. And that's my attempt to do this to bring this study is to take care of them. And also one more thing, yes, the major employers, you might have a higher percentage of a of a contribution rate, but they have a much lower salary here. So one of the benefits of working for the government is that you actually should have that retirement. That's why it's kind of a supplement their income with a good pension plan. That was that was always my opinion when I went to work for the government at least.

Craig,

well, this is what I was getting at last week when we were talking about this in work session. This this is the discussion that I wanted to have. Um because number one, I'm not going to pretend that I can speak on behalf of employees or their families. I don't know their financial situations. I don't know what makes that extra 30 or $40 a week that they may be getting shorted that's getting put into a retirement fund that they're never going to touch for 40 years or whatever the case is that doesn't help them in the moment. So, especially in this economy, I mean there there's no telling what anybody's going through right now. Um, I wouldn't be comfortable entering into any kind of agreement uh without some kind of safety hatch. Um, I would be curious to see how many cities down the road might try some legal maneuvering to get out of those contracts. I can't imagine getting roped into something where it's just, you know, it sky's the limit. Um, as far as what the contributions and what the percentages and all that kind of stuff. So, um, you know, for me, I wouldn't I wouldn't be supportive of anything like this. So, thank you.

Anybody else? Uh, Travis, and just to answer your question about the safety net, if I'm not mistaken, this is a statebacked pension. If is Glenda here, can she answer that? It's backed by the integrity of the municipalities belonging to it. They own it. Yeah. And manages it. We own it. Yeah. From my understanding, for them to not pay your pension, they would have to liquidate all of the stateowned assets. So, that's the safety net behind it. Well, I'm just saying that putting people into a situation where they don't have a choice. That aspect is

well, one of the things we uh noticed with uh employees uh because it's so immediate that the one benefit that's a big big thing is medical and Glend has done a great job in our medical. We went to this self-insured and uh it's worked out great. It's really helped us and helped the employees. But uh people taking jobs that they're very interested in the pay and the first thing is medical. Pensions isn't even close to medical and their thought. The medical is huge. If you don't think it isn't, try sitting around without any medical coverage for a while. Then when you get that job, you're pretty happy. it it's much bigger than the pension. The fact we were able to keep our medical strong is very important. I think

I I think to to take a poll of the employees would be a false uh result because we cannot convey to them adequately or completely the the two sides that are there and the two sides are much of what Mayor Flynn summarized tonight. I think it's a decision that we as a council need to weigh and determine. Uh I think our employees are competitively paid or we wouldn't have good employees. That's number one. And we have some good employees and it goes all the way through the through the uh through the city whether they're a part of the fire department, the police department, the street department, the planning and rec planning and and uh and permits department. Uh we have good employees and we don't have them because we don't pay well.

Well, we heard the mayor say the highest turnover was in police and fire. That's because we're not competitive with the other cities in our area. They're leaving for a higher pay. Well, there's such a thing as and that that's been a a an ongoing issue with all of the cities in Northwest Arkansas. We train them and then they hire them. So, anyways, I feel like we got off topic from just the study.

Mayor, there is a motion and a second that's been a motion and a second to do the study. Okay. Uh, you ready for a roll call vote? Okay. Roll call vote. Council member, yes. Hughes, no. Newport, no. Wilms, no. Isbel, no. Hansel, no.

Uh, motion failed one to five. Um, so, um, that's positive on that issue. Next one is a resolution referring to the planning commission for public hearing and recommendation as zoning code change to permit newly constructed electrical meters in the front of a residence if the residence is more than 50 ft from the street right away. Um, I was really impacted by what I believe council member Wilms had shared last week, uh, that it that it really seemed to be a huge public safety issue to have the meter, um, anywhere along the property line away from the home. Um, the utility company would only be able to trace to the meter and we would not be able to trace that line further. I know I would be um distressed if I purchased a home where perhaps hundreds of feet of electric is is untraceable by the utility company. Uh so I I don't support this. I don't think it's uh in the interest of the public.

Uh Larry, I I guess I I don't see it as a benefit to the public either. Uh it may seem to be a convenience short term uh and maybe in a couple instances it may save a few bucks. That's true. Uh there is a reason for the property being located uh more than 50 ft away from the rightway. That's a property owner choice. Uh it's not because it was mandatory or required by our code anywhere that I can tell. Um so I I can't support the uh the proposal. Uh Wendy motion to approve. Second.

That was Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel. Is there more discussion or are we ready for a vote? Okay. Roll call vote. Council members Harp. Yes. Hughes? No. Newport? No. Wilms? No. Isbel? No. Hansel? No. Uh motion failed one to five. Uh next item is announcements. The next city council work session is 6 pm Monday, May 18 at Bella Vista Police Training Room. Uh not here.

No, that's in the courtroom. That's a mistake. I'm sorry. Next city council regular meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 26. It's Tuesday because of the memorial holiday at Bella Vista District Court. Planning Commission work session 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 30 at Bella Vista District Court. Planning Commission regular meeting 4:30 p.m. or immediately following the BCA, Monday, May 11 at Bell Vista District Court. Board of Construction Appeals 3 PM Tuesday, May 12, if necessary, at fire station number four, conference room, and that's at 1639 Forest Hills Boulevard. If there's nothing else, then we're adjourned.