City Council - Regular Meeting

agenda item. If you'll sign in for us or if you would like to speak on an item after our agenda, you can sign in for that as well. I don't see anybody running to get signed in. Anybody signed in currently? Okay. All right. Well, with that, we'll um call it call our meeting. Welcome to the um of the whole city council meeting for March 10th, the Bentonville City Council. And I don't think we have a scout here with us to lead the pledge. So um please stand with me for the pledge and then remain standing for a moment of silence for our military allegiance 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. Please

here. Patterson here. Zea here. Sitter here. Richardson. Bart here. I get a motion to approve the minutes of the February 24th, 2026 Bentonville City Council. So moved. Second. A motion and second. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. SA. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mr. Ser, do you have any motions? I make the motion that we suspend the rules requiring ordinances be read on three separate days and further move all ordinances and resolutions be read by their title only.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Patterson. Yes. And that will start the committee of the poll. Alternative Chris is your chair for committee.

Uh the quarterly financial update came out in your email. So if you have any questions on that, you can email the finance department and they will reply back to all of us with the answers to the questions. So any questions will be answered. Um unless you have anything at the moment you want to ask, but the full report was sent to your email. Any questions on that the moment? Okay. We'll now have the city property uh update on the request for proposals and that'll be the mayor and Tyler maybe.

Yeah, this was more of a an FYI than anything just to know it's something we're working on. So if you remember it's been a committee the whole probably six months to a year ago now. we talked about for some of our excess properties actually starting to put them out through the RFP process so that we could start either selling or redeveloping some of our excess properties. So, mayor, myself, um legal purchasing are working on what that RFP might look like. Um but just it's more of an FYI to let you know it's something we're working on. We're wanting to really prioritize the the AT&T site across the street first since over the years we've had a number of parties interested in it, but just know it's something we're working on and that you'll be seeing in the near future. Any any property sales of course go back to you guys for final approval. Some of the things we're looking at within that are, you know, the the sales price of the property, any potential community benefit, you know, what it, you know, and and really on these sites, especially AT&T, we want them to be uh fiscally positive for the city. So, we want them to generate sales tax, be retail, or whatever it might be. So, that's all information we'd kind of be inquiring about within that RFP is what is the actual ROI to the city going to be? Should we sell or redevelop this piece of property

in addition to the AT&T building? What other properties are we considering for this for?

Yeah. So, uh, right now AT&T building, but with the Bold Bentville economic development strategy they looked at. They included a handful of others. So, those would be we own property at Highway 12 and Bright Road uh just south of uh Creekide Park. We own uh property located at 41st and I street roughly across the street from the uh from the community center just north of the animal services building. Uh we also have some let's see what other uh BC would be one that we're we actually are currently pursuing a grant through the state uh Arkansas economic development commission to do some site development in that area. if we receive that grant and if that, you know, once we have that site work complete so that it's more pad or shovel ready, that would be another one we'd be looking to activate in the near future as well.

Yep. With regard to the downtown properties here, I suspect we're open to some type of public private partnership if it were presented in a manner that we thought was a good proposition. Yeah. And that's we're trying to write the the RFP broad enough so that it's you know we would want to know well one we actually know the appraised value for the property but that's to my whole point about ROI and community benefit. I think there could be some amount of openness to something like that. And then the property by the community center, would there be any emphasis on housing components or mixed use or would we

So that property Yeah. gear it toward what we're looking Yeah, the two I've I've talked about um both the AT&T building site and the 41st and I site both of those are located in in the case of AT&T the place type is city center. The zoning is downtown core so lends itself to mixeduse redevelopment. and then 41st and I the place type is regional center and it's actually currently zone C3 which would be our mixeduse commercial district. So both of them would lend themselves well to to mixeduse redevelopment. Thank you.

Yep. Back on the AT&T building there it has or it had a lot of uh fiber communications uh facilities over there. They have they been replaced or have they been I don't know that for certain. I do know though that anything that you know let's say we wanted to re redevelop AT&T building we would want to make sure that it also works in regard to our electric water sewer and our uh streets as well. So that would all be part of that development process.

Yep. Yes sir. I appreciate all the work that's being done on this. I I u I've looked at several pieces as in my business privately. Um and it's been challenging to know where to start because you don't know where the price is. Mhm.

I've watched not just this last several years, but a decade of the property on the community center that has been available for sale, not for sale. No price is given. There's nothing available for anybody to say, you know, that price I can at least back into a project concept. If our zonings are what we want and our master plan is what we want and we don't vary from that, why don't we just sell set a price and sell it and take the money that we have and put it toward our infrastructure instead of people that aren't in the business

trying to set parameters when we've already done that through land use and we've already done that if we set a sales. But if if we have a set land use for that commercial property over there on 41st Mhm. that's what they're going to build. So we've already told everybody this is what we want. This building over here, we've already told everybody this is what we want.

Mhm. But without a sales price, and you can we I'd like to visit on the council about this, but I can't I I can't even attempt to put a project together conceptually until I know what price I'm looking at. Now there if I come to one and you see the project concept and you say no if you'll do this we might concede on this Mhm. or we might provide infrastructure for X if you'll you'll do this instead. That's when that begins. But unless we're willing to stick a sign up there and say this is for sale for X,

I've never been able to reach the reach the ability to come up with the concept to know what it is.

And so that's land down there at the community center has been sell for a long long time. And we seem to do that with ourselves. We parallels our paralyze ourselves into thinking that we know what to do with the market when if we could just get an offer on the property and get a concept in the hand, that's when we start negotiating what we could do to get what we want. But to try to do an RFI or or an RFP and to try to tell people, we're negotiating around this sales price. We don't, you know, depending on what you're going to do. We're not in the business or most people in the business, the city is not in the business of real estate development. And so I'm just I would look at it a little differently from my standpoint. And I've I've said the same thing for years during when it first came on for sale. Why don't you just list it? And the marketing agent for that, get the best commercial agent you can possibly find that has done this just like they do Pinnacle or anything else. They will put the whole sales deck together. They will help you promote exactly what you want. Let the professionals do this. Set your price and tell them this is this is what you want. And us get out of the business of trying to dictate our zoning already does it. We shouldn't have to get in the middle of that. Just set your price. And

Bill, I I kind of disagree in that it's more than just the sales price of the property that we're looking for. The point is like I'm personally not convinced that we even want to sell this piece of property and doing the RFP like we can kind of decide like if we get X Y and Z then maybe it is worth it. Otherwise it might not be. It's not just about selling a piece of land. It's about like does it accomplish everything we want it to accomplish and if it doesn't maybe we wait until it does. Like that's kind of my thought answer. I'm just concerned that when you're out of when you're out of money on infrastructure and we have an asset that we're making no sales tax on whatsoever that we need to get the highest and best use cash out of that property and we know we're going to get something since it's commercial. We're going to get something out of that that's in the zone that we've already put in our land use that we approved that that's what we want there. So we can sit with a property with no value on it yet to sell and we're not making any tax revenue from it for indefinite period of time until we decide what what we're going to ask of somebody. I just think it's going to complicate it especially on your big parcels. I just but I I mean I appreciate what you're saying but we've already done that in our land.

There's no somebody can give us a sealed bid on something now, right? So we can consider that. So if somebody knows the prop, they can they can give us a sealed bid and we can consider that. So that basically can happen right now for anybody interested in our properties. So nobody's going to give you until they know what you're really going to they're going to know. So that the the property is going to be our thought process is to do the RFP, see what we get so that we can consider especially on this the this building that

um because we've got considerations around parking and a lot of other things that tie into this particular piece. And so we would like to try the RFP process to see what we got get and generate some interest and that and then if we end up going down the route where we need to get a go down and just strictly do it at cell I think there's that's options still on the table but we would like to be able to go down the RFP process first. Mhm. Is that going to be on the bomb building on the property community by the community center and all the all property? We're going to do the same process for all.

We'd like to start here and then learn from this and see what we do moving forward. That's why we're not doing a fire sale of like six properties all at once. Have you talked over 15 years since the community? Yes. We have actually had a couple of different proposals brought to us. they're not we need the RFP to set kind of put some more parameters around it so it's not just a concept on an atkin that they're saying you so I think if I think we would ask for you guys to let us split the RFP see what we get and kind of learn from that process if we decide that's not a great process and we want to do something different with the other

the other um properties then we can certainly go down the road and again right now there is nothing hindering anybody from giving us a sealed bid on any of those properties. We are also going to be putting all of those on our website. We're actually we're condensing any websites because we have to also make all of our websites um ADA compliant

ADA compliant and all these things. So, we're actually so we have like an investment Bentonville site and different things. We're going to put we're putting that all onto our site and combining all of that. So, people will have very easy access to all of it. we have not done a good even just internally pushing those properties out in any way to know that they're even for sale or business. And so that's our that is our thought process. Um and so we would like to be able to do an RP RFP with that.

What if we did a a request for professional services from marketing a real estate agent? I mean, we're going to spend all this money to duplicate what a a professional commercial real estate agent does, and we're duplicating their services and their profession already have everything, all their websites, everything ready to go. Um, that land for sale at the community center has been over 16 years off and on, signs going up, signs going down, and I can't tell you today what it's asked prices.

What's the time limit on the RFP, Taylor? Um there isn't necessarily a set one. We I I don't know that we've established exactly how long we want to leave it open for. I think that is a if if there are people on the council that would like to do an RFP, which obviously the mayor does too, which okay, if we have a time period of okay, we're going to do this, we're going to try it, see what happens, and then if we don't get something that makes sense to us or we don't get anything, which is a possibility, then we move to the next step. But don't just leave it hanging out there for a determinable, right, amount of time.

I would agree with that. The property's been appraised. You said have an appraisal that's current relatively current. Will that be will that be made known to people? Will that be part of the RFP? Like because we don't typically want to take less than appraisal value. So be transparent and just say the appraisal is and we entertain offers above at or above that. But if an appro if the you could have the appraisal but then if someone comes in and they have to do put a lot of money into it for parking or what you know whatever then appraised value may not be adjusted for project.

So you really need to see what people are willing to pay for it regardless of appraise value to see if worth selling. I think there's a lot of factors. I mean if somebody were to build two levels of parking and make it publicly available. We might be willing to do a lot of necessarily say I just think if the appraisal's been made, if it's here, you could put it out there for just establishes a can make an offer whatever price they want. Not that that has anything to do with what order they're taking, but

hey that some cities have and we've we've talked to others they've had some success with doing RFS and um if you guys will give this and we can come back with the timeline when we'll put it out and how long but let we ask to be able to try that on this piece of property and go from there. Yeah, I think that makes sense period of time. That's the goal. Thanks. Take any other. Yeah, no problem. Last thing. How long do you think it'll be before we actually put a price on the community property or have something to be able to sell that down there and some other large parcels? I mean, are we here?

We have comps. I mean, there's comps to be pulled on that. And again, we would take a sealed bid right now for consideration. So, they can we can make comps available. I mean, yeah, I don't think we're wanting I mean, I think we're wanting market value for all the property that that's if we're not looking at an RFP piece of it, right? So, hopefully Yep. Maybe we can list it and see what offers we get. Yep. Thank you. Thank you'all.

Okay, so with regard to our agenda, we have some items we put on consent. Um that would be number new business number two and then new business number eight 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 and utility board number one Three, five, six, seven.

Setting a public hearing. I was told last time it could not best not to repeat that. Make sure everybody Yeah, I got lost. So, new business item number two, item number eight, nine, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, utility board 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7. I move that we put those in the consent agenda. Second. Okay. Motion second. All in favor say I.

I. Okay, mayor. I'll turn it back over to you. Okay. I have something else I want. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Anything? I do have I noticed that our phone numbers were taken off the website and we were divided. Some of us wanted our numbers left on, some off, but that's how I communicate with my constituents. And I would like to have our phone numbers or at least those of us who want them on the website because I don't want to drive everybody to email. I mean, there's times when I communicate by email, but I I've had people complain because they can't find my phone number on the website. And I

The plan was to replace them with our new council members. Was that the plan? If that was the whole the purpose of the new phones, wasn't it? I honestly can't exactly remember but I think we there was agreement for taking them off but you do have you all do we wanted our personal numbers taken off but I want my the personal emails we wanted to steer away from people using those but um that was for some security reasons I believe your phones that we you guys we purchased for you to use I guess it would be up if you guys want the numbers on the website. I mean, I feel like

you could also have a a response from your email with your phone number on true, but I kind of I thought that was a point. The city is paying for us to have the city phone. It needs to be a I think it needs to be I don't want to have to mark it. I'm good with having the number up there. I don't want my personal I don't like I did not like my personal one on there for obvious reasons, but was communicating that way. You like your number on the I returned my phone number. My city phone number. My city phone. I didn't like it. I didn't. Yeah. You didn't like it? It back. Well, you have your number up there. You probably should have it on that so it stays on that phone. You have a number up. You should probably have it up on the city provides them so it stays on that phone.

Somebody else may be responding. I I don't have it. I gave it back to you. I don't need it. Okay. Well, I think just let if you want your number for your city phone put back up, we can probably do that. We did we did want to keep the emails and we are changing all of them to the.gov, but we did want to keep your emails the.gov emails that are not personal emails on there and that was from a cyber security recommendation. So, yeah. How long do we have? I mean, isn't it just to the end of the year that the old emails are going to be working? I can speak to that. But it's still about to the end of January of 2027. Looking at end of January 2027. Okay.

Well, we get new business cards with our city phone number. Not the one to ask about business. I put that out there to Mayor Council. I don't need any business. I don't use business. I use mine all the time. So, it's not If you'll contact my office, we'll get you whatever news that you I mean, if we're trying to gear to the city phones, we need to get the phone number out there for people to use. Thank you. All right.

Anything else? Okay. All right. Item number one under new business is a resolution to recognize Detective Brian Armentor. I always say her. I don't know why I can't say it right. Armentor. Right. Okay. That's what I thought. Okay. Um, so we always like to read the resolutions to kind of um honor um our uh and recognize the retirement and I think it's a good um sort of account of the history of their um work in law enforcement. So with that, if you'll do you want to come forward as I read it? No. Now she likes to come on up.

I know. They really love being recognized. But I think you guys could hear their their story and and how um proud we are that that they've worked for our uh police department. Oh.

So Corporal Brian Pariner was born in Mina, Arkansas and graduated from Mantis High School in Yantis, Texas in 1989. And whereas Corporal Brian Carpenter began his law enforcement career with the Benton County Sheriff's Office in 1998, where he served as a jailer, inmate work, detail supervisor, and field deputy. And whereas Corporal Brian Paringer joined the Bentonville Police Department as a patrol officer in March 2001, where he became a firearms instructor, field training officer, and a member of the special response team, where he served for a total of 17 years as mechanical, ballistic, and explosive breacher and distinguished himself as one of the team's most dependable and valued members. And whereas Corporal Brian Perinter was assigned to the criminal investigations division in January 2013 and joined the nar narcotics unit in January 2015 where he investigated numerous cases at the state and federal level leading to countless arrests while disrupting drug trafficking organizations. And whereas Cor Corporal Brian Carpenter served as a task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations, HSI, from 2015 until 2022 before coming a task force officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, where he also served with DEA's Little Rock Regional Special Weapons and Tactics SWAT team, where he continued to hone his skills as a breacher and was allowed to use those skills in multiple areas, multiple other states for operations and arrests. And whereas Corporal Brian Parer's involvement with these federal agencies further demonstrated his commitment to cooperation with law enforcement efforts and allowed him to conduct complex criminal investigations all over the state of Arkansas as well as several other states. And whereas Corporal Brian Paracher through his countless duties and accomplishments delivered to the Bentonville Police Department and the citizens of Bentonville an unparalleled level of professionalism and service. And now therefore, be it resolved that by the adoption of this resolution, the city council of Bentonville hereby commends and congratulates Corporal Brian Carer for his 28 plus years of

dedicated law enforcement service with 25 years to the Bentonville Police Department and the citizens of Bentonville. And we wish him much health, happiness, and continued success in future endeavors. Congratulations. Very nice. Thank you for your service.

Yeah, I know.

Okay. Okay. Do you want to read our consent agenda items?

Okay. New business item number two, a resolution accepting a donation from artist Lorie Weekes of her original painting Bentonville Community Center 10 years and for other purposes. New business item number eight, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with turf and soil management in the amount of $49,36156 to purchase two robotic mowers for the Bentonville Parks and Recreation Department and for other purposes. New business item number nine, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with Bluewater Cass in the amount of 43,52628 for the purchase and installation of a UV system for the Bentonville Community Center competition pool and for their purposes. New business item number 10, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to accept a grant from the Walton Family Foundation in the amount of 1,48,730 to fund five new positions for the parks and recreation department amending the 2026 budget and further purposes. New business item number 12, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into work order 07 with Garver LLC in the amount of $86,800 or the VBT East parking apron at the Bentonville Municipal Airport amending the 2026 budget and for other purposes. New business item number 13, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with DMC and landscaping DBA David Mclardy for finish mowing at city facilities in the amount of $4,895 per mo cycle and further purposes. New business item number 14, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with M&W Outdoors for mowing of cityowned detention ponds in the amount of $3,81618

per mo cycle and for the purposes. New business item number 15, a resolution authorizing the mayor and the city clerk to amend the solid waste and recycling services agreement and other purposes. New business item number 16, a resolution authorizing the mayor and the city clerk to extend the contract with Bella Vista Village Property Owners Association for wholesale water for a period of one month and further purposes. Utility Board item number one, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with Hendrickk Automotive Group to purchase a cab chassis using Sourcewell Co-op in the amount of $58,84.13 plus taxes and further purposes. Utility Board item number three, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Northwest Arkansas Windwater Consolidated Pipe and Supply and Ferguson Enterprises LLC in the combined total amount of $140,73.88 88 and for their purposes. Utility board item number five, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a professional services agreement with Trek Design Group in the amount of $214,726.95 and other purposes. Utility board item number six, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Crossland Heavy Contractors, Inc. for water transmission main repair in the amount of $141,650 and for other purposes. Utility board item number seven, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Inset to Form Technologies LLC in the amount of $83,500 and further purposes.

So move a motion in a second. Question procedural. I have a question. one of the contractors on this list is is actually doing work for me on one of my projects. Okay. And so only because he he does work for me in subcontractor capacity. I didn't realize it was his firm. Okay. Um how do I just abstain on one item which is number 13? The easiest way to do would be a motion to remove it from the consent agenda. Second. Thank you very much. I just want to be since he's doing currently. He was out on my job site today and I just noticed it was his company.

No worries. What item number was that? Uh it was number 13 DMC Landscaping. I just want to make sure safe. Motion second to remove 13 from Thank you all very much. We're on it. Okay. We have a motion a second. Yeah, we need to remove it and then vote to make concentions. Okay, so this is a vote to remove it. Yes. Sitter, yes. Burkart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Thank you.

And we need a vote to approve the consent agenda. Uh we need to propose that the consent agenda be approved without item number 13. I move that second. Have a motion and a second. Sudter. Yes. Birkhart. Yes. Sanchez. Yes. Patterson. Yes. A yes. Diva.

That will take us to item number item number two was on consent agenda. So item number three is a public hearing in vacating utility easement. located at lot 54 of Kensington subdivision. I am um at this time going to open up the public hearing. Is there anyone in person or online to speak this item? Seeing and hearing none, we'll close the public hearing. New business item number three, an ordinance vacating utility easement located at lot 54 of Kensington subdivision phase 2 of the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, Benton County, Arkansas, VAC26-00001.

Motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Birkhart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Diva, yes. Sitter, yes. Item number four is a public hearing an ordinance vacating utility easement. New business item number four, an ordinance vacating utility easement located at lot 209 of original city of Bentonville, subdivision of the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, Benton County, Arkansas, VAC26-00003. I'm going to open the public hearing and hearing none to speak on this item. I have opposed the public hearing. I'll move the item.

Second. A motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Rhart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Yes. Stor, yes. Item number five is a public hearing an ordinance vacating an alley rightway between lot 209 and lot 76 of the original city of Bentonville for subdivision plat.

New business item number five an ordinance vacating alley rightway located between lot 209 and lot 76 of original city of Bentonville subdivision of the city of Bentonville Arkansas Benton County Arkansas BAC26-00006. This time I'll open the public hearing. Anyone in person or online to speak on this item? Seeing and hearing none. I'll close the item. Hearing second. We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. A yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Item number six is a public hearing an ordinance vacating a utility easement. New business item number six, ordinance vacating utility easement located at parcel number 18-07503-0000 to the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, Benton County, Arkansas BAC26-00008. We'll open the public hearing. Anyone online or in person to speak on this item? Seeing and hearing none, we will close the item. The motion and a second. Any other discussion?

Roll call, please. Patterson, yes. Yes. Eva, yes. Yes. Bart, yes. And yes. Number seven is a resolution made a public hearing for a utility easement vacation located one of block nine of dog Wood Place subdivision in the city council for the city of Bentonville, Arkansas. I move second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Intended. Um items 8, 9, and 10. We're on consent agenda. So we will go to item number 11, which is an ordinance amending the city pay plan.

New business. Item number 11, an ordinance amending the 2026 pay plan for the city of Bentonville, adding five positions to the parks and recreation department and further purposes. Second. A motion and a second. Any other discussion? Want to say we know we passed it earlier on the 10, but how amazing it is to get an opportunity like this to help our staff. So, thank you for a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call please. A yes. Eva, yes. Scooter, yes. Yes. Inches. Yes. Patterson. Yes.

Okay. So, we'll go to item 12 is on consent. We'll go to item 13, which is a resol resolution award bidding IFB-2603 for finished mowing at city facilities. New business. Item number 13, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with DMC and landscaping DBA David Mclardy for finish mowing at city facilities in the amount of $4,895 per motorcycle and for other purposes. Second motion and a second. Any other discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Okay,

motion passes. one extension items 14, 15, and 16 and utility board number one were on consent agenda. So, we'll go to item number two under utility board, which is an ordinance approving a waiver of bid to purchase various electric enclosures. Utility Board item number two, an ordinance authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with AECI in the estimated amount of $57,435 waving competitive bidding providing for the emergency clause and further purposes. Second a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Eva, yes. Sitter, yes. Bart, yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Item number three was on consent agenda. Emergency, sorry. Section three, emergency clause. The need to make this purchase is immediate and an emergency is hereby declared to exist and this ordinance shall be in full force in effect from the date of its passage and approval. So move second. Motion second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Sudter, yes. Birkhart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes, Eva. Item number three was on consent agenda to what item number four, which is the ordinance approving a waiver bid to order 750 underground water wire

utility board. Item number four, an ordinance authorizing the mayor and city clerk to wave competitive bidding and enter into an agreement with Steuart Herby for the purchase of 750 underground wire per unit prices in the estimated amount of $177,89.40 providing for the emergency clause and other purposes. Second motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Bart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Yes. Yes. Eva, yes. Sudter, yes.

Section three, emergency clause. The need to make this purchase is immediate and an emergency is hereby declared to exist and this ordinance shall be in full force in effect from the date of its passage and approval. Second motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Bart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Items five, six, and seven. We're on consent agenda. So, we'll go to planning item number one, which is a property line adjustment of lot 13, block 16 of Deming, second edition.

Planning item number one, an ordinance accepting a property line adjustment of lot 10, block 16 of Demings Addition, creating new lot 13, block 16 of Demings Addition to the City of Bentonville, Arkansas. And for other purposes, project number PLA25-000038. Motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. SA, yes. Stor, yes. Yes.

Item number two is a property line adjustment for lots 7 through 10 of Morning Star subdivision. Planning item number two, an ordinance accepting a property line adjustment of lots 3-6 of Morning Star subdivision, creating new lots 7-10 of Morning Star subdivision to the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, and for other purposes, project number PLA26-00001.

Second motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Ederson, yes. A yes. Eva, yes. Sitter, yes. Birkhart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Number three is a property line adjustment of lot 12 of Demain, second edition.

Planning item number three, an ordinance accepting a property line adjustment of lots 2A and 2B, block 10 of Demings Edition, creating new lot 12, block 10 of Demings Addition to the City of Bentville, Arkansas, and for other purposes, project number PLA26-00003. Motion and second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Sitter, yes. Birkhart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes.

Item number four is a final plat of Rainbow Patio Homes patio home subdivision. Planning item number four, an ordinance accepting a final plat of Rainbow Patio Homes subdivision to the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, and for other purposes, project number FP25-00004 and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please? Yes. Yes. Yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. A

yes. Item number five is a property line adjustment of lots one and two phase one of Crystal Land subdivision. Planning item number five, an ordinance accepting a property line adjustment of lots 5, 7, 8, and 10-14, block one of Dimmings Edition, lots 3A, 3B, 4, and five of Curtis Edition, lot 8 of Infield Park, and parcels 01-0000353-00001-0000354-00001-0000361-0000 0 01-0000363-00001-0000364-00001-00365-0000 and 01-0000366-0000 creating new lots 1 and two of Crystal Lands subdivision phase 1 to the city of Bentonville Arkansas and further purposes project number PLA25-000020 two

second a motion and a second. Any other discussion? False. Sudter, yes. Art, yes. Yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Diva, yes. Number six is a reszoning. Pending item number six, an ordinance changing real estate in the city of Bentonville, Arkansas from its present zoning classification of DN4 downtown mixeduse residential to DE downtown edge and for the purposes project number RZ26-00003

motion and a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Yes. Stor. Yes. And number seven is it resoning.

Planning item number seven, an ordinance changing real estate in the city of Bentonville, Arkansas from its present zoning classification of R2 medium density two family and townhouse residential and of R3 medium high density multif family residential to PRD planned residential development. And for the purposes project number PRD25-00004 Motion in a second. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. Bart, yes. Sanchez, yes. Patterson, yes. Yes. Diva, yes. Sitter, yes. With that, if I can get a motion to adjourn from our formal voting agenda.

Second. Mayor, can I ask a question? call or all in favor of adjourning and then we'll don't know if it's somebody they've signed in late and I don't know if it's based on an agenda item or off agenda. Um it's non-aggenda so then we'll make sure. Yep. No problem. So we get a motion and a second to adjurnn from our formal voting. All in favor? I. Any opposed? And then we do have Isaac Stevens that has signed in to speak public comment on a non-aggenda item. Thank you.

Hello. Uh Isaac Stevens in 2704 West Parkwood in Rogers. Uh on June 27th, 2023, Bentonville adopted the following. Whereas street crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Whereas the life and health of all persons living and traveling within the city of Bentonville are our utmost priority and no one should die or be seriously injured while traveling on our streets. Whereas vision zero prioritizes the safety of those most at risk to death and serious injury. Now therefore, let it be resolved by the Bentonville City Council. The city of Bentonville adopts a vision zero policy which includes the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2040 and endorses vision zero as a comprehensive and holistic approach to achieving this goal. Here's a list of goals in the vision zero policy that was adopted u by you which are not met by the rainbow curve redesign currently being bid to the public. a target design speed for Walton Boulevard of 25 miles per hour. Truck routes uh say that slip lanes may be used, though they should reduce vehicle speeds, disallow right turns on red, and provide for safe pedestrian movements with a raised pedestrian crossing. Medians are high priority. Bike lanes are high priority. Roundabouts are high priority. Median refuge islands are high priority. Green infrastructure and street trees are high priority. Transit considerations are high priority. Bikeways at intersections are high priority. Pedestrian priority signals are high priority. None of these goals are met by the new design. This is in an area adopted by you in the future land use map to be the second most intense place type urban corridor with

high-speed slip lanes, no pedestrian priority, no separated bike lanes, no trees, and an antiquated design that does not reflect current understanding of traffic safety and flow. Uh the money spent on designing this death trap has been lost. The human lives of Bentonville residents have not yet been lost. Moving forward, as a council and mayor, I urge you to ensure Bentonville has a city engineer who will listen to the safe design policies you have adopted and not put future Bentonville residents at risk. Thank you.

That we will go to committee review. Uh the library had uh uh discussed in a a previous meeting to add uh more representatives of different organizations in the city uh to uh be member exofficial members of the advisory board. And uh this past meeting we had uh the uh introduction of several of those uh uh new uh exofficial members including one from uh the community college and other organizations that are going to enrich with their opinions and their comments the the work of the advisory board. That that is the main situation that we had on the library. As for the utility board, we discussed everything that was approved a little while ago. That's it.

I don't have anything.

Traffic and signage Mitt. We did approve a crosswalk on John Shields in front of Crystal Flats and Legacy Village so that we can help them get to the dog park safely. We also approved the removal of signs uh at the um crosswalk stop signs crosswalk at Freestone Way on Third Street and Cross Creek, but it will be rep the crosswalk's not being removed. It will be replaced with the lighted sign, you know, the crosswalk sign so that it helps traffic flow better and keeps kids safer. We also tabled the discussion on a roundabout at Northwest Fifth and Bella Vista Road. We heard a lot of residents come talk to us about the hazards coming out of Foxfire subdivision on DeWalt and agreed to do a new traffic study there and look into completing the bike trail or at least access to that subdivision so that bikes can use the tunnel that goes under Walton as a safer route. in crossing that street. The Oz Kids Bike and Bookfest Library was approved and that'll happen on June 27th and then we'll have our next meeting on April 6th. This was from the public art advisory board meeting from last month, but or two weeks ago. We didn't do reviews last or last meeting. after the state of the

Oh, now I leave. I had to leave right away. So, anyway, I'm updating from the last meeting. Um, this is a really cool thing. The Tom Hen, who is our um one of our chairs, went around and cataloged all of the public artworks in the city. We had been saying 17 or something like that for a long time. And as of the first week of March, there were 323 public artworks.

So that's pretty cool. Um March 30th is opening day for practicing at Philips Park. And that weekend will be the first weekend of games will be in midappril. And they'll be have the grand opening of Bentville Bat, which is a public art that was commissioned for Phillips Park. And as far as the Jay and John de Shields roundabout, um Crystal Bridges is working on the plan for permitting right now. Uh the city had to make some changes and it was sort of an immediate need and the everyone on the art board and Crystal Bridges wanted to congratulate the city staff on getting that all of those changes done very quickly. So give a shout out to them. Um, Crystal Bridges are working on skirting that will hold up to driving. It will be installed the first week of May. Um, and the Crystal Bridges, we're waiting on their revised contract, but the partnership is that the Crystal Bridges is funding the artwork and they'll own and maintain it on loan to the city and the city's responsible for site prep. So, that's just an example of a public priv private partnership to get more art and specifically in the roundabouts. a lot. Really nice to see.

I don't think I have anything.

Two things. One is the uh I concur on Rainbow Curve and I I ever since we got rid of the flyover. I'm I'm I still just I'm really concerned that deadending everything into a T uh is not going to handle things. I I know we're moving forward. I'm just really concerned about have we really are we sure that that design is going to move traffic well enough and deal with some of the the discussions that we we heard tonight. Um y'all heard my reasoning before on why the why I'm concerned about that. I don't I just would like to really get some if anybody if anybody else is is concerned about it just let's talk to about transportation behind the scenes. I just hope that it it is the end result that we hope it is and I'm I'm just still have uh questions and that and it just brought up tonight my concerns is all and so

here's what I've I'm I don't going to move a big project like that. We have to have council support in it. I'm not going to do these move these big projects and not have support. So if we need to get you in front of the engineers and you guys want to ask questions, we can do that.

We can do that. Um but we really need to we we need to we do need to move projects forward. We have had a design they did present the new design to you. I don't even know what count it's been quite some time. It's taken us this long to acquire all of the land um get the move the utilities and be ready to actually go to bed with this project. So there is a ton of pre-work that's already been done in this project. But the engineers when they came and told you that the design had switched, they stood in front of you and told you why. And that has been So if there were concerns, I think we I mean I would have hoped that we would have addressed them by now. But I am I am not wanting to move projects through that I don't have council support on because these projects are so hard to get done. If I don't have your support on them, we need to move to the next project to get done.

Please don't do that. I live in this traffic and this is this intersection is going out into our growth in southwest Bentonville and it is so needed to fix this intersection. So please don't don't um it was approved it was approved by this body.

I expressed my concern at the time that it may be to me who's not moving the traffic well enough. I just I I'll visit with the engineering team and but it's already been passed and this council moved on with this. It it just and we've grown quite a bit since the design and I just I'll visit with the engineer and see what the movement is and what the rating will be after the intersection and discuss mayor. I'm not going to stop. I'm just

and I'm happy. We looked at this adnauseium in traffic and signage and looked at all the studies and when we they compared the data and the state helped us understand this that the volume of traffic that we would move with a flyover versus straightening up that intersection, putting more turn lanes and traffic control devices was significantly better. going with the intersection rather than the flyover. And that is why we made that decision. We recommended that decision. It was also the worst of the flyover. Yeah. Yeah. That's what the that's why it was changed

investment that we were trying to get in terms of traffic control. Okay. But this is one of our worst intersections for delays, for crashes, for I mean it's every day multiple times like we also consulted state um that design. We did and said we've we've been working on it for several years is we're ready to finally taking it to bid. That's what it may not have trees but it will significantly make it safer like

so I just I want you to know how long how long you've been working on the project to get it to go to bed. Right. And so if we have really big concerns with it, I would prefer to address them now um before we get the project bid and move forward with the bid. So I have a related question further north at 102 in Walton. Is the state in charge of the Walton turn lanes or are we? Because the I noticed the other night, I'm sure you're aware of this, the traffic backed up to turn left to centerton was past the post office. Yeah, but that intersection is one that we are we have several entities interested in that intersection. So we

Walton is our Walton is ours, but these inter Yes. is I mean it's a highway that's going through there. we have not taken. So yes, I hope to have I will bring something back on that because I've had some questions but we we hope to have some partnerships in section. Thank you. Could we look at maybe taking both lines when arrow turns left? Maybe taking both lines with the with a can turn left if you're in that line and want to turn left or you could go straight during that left hand. So you're turning two lanes if people can and empty out. Problem is there's only one there's only one left turn lane,

right? But if you turn but if you turned the the turn lane and the left lane and you had an additional light that could say, "Okay, if you're in both those lanes, you could you could turn left, you could actually empty out." Yeah. Because when I went around the tra I don't go that way. People do that. They go around and I went around it and it was like ghost town after you got around the there was nobody in those other two lanes. And so maybe if we could adjust that to where people could go straight or left, we could take and turn both of them into that intersection without doing any easement changes or anything. Um, similarly to where we could we could do uh uh another intersection until anyway, but that was my thoughts on that intersection is maybe we could turn two lanes.

Have them review this conversation and have them look at that and I'm sure it's frustrating. I think they should whoever's turning it is and there we have it needs to be addressed that intersection needs to be addressed. Thank you, mayor. Yes. Um I'm for tree and landscape. Um we meet on March 19th, so it'll actually be next week. But I also wanted to say thank you to David and his um parks and wreck for the wonderful and amazing tour of the adult recreation center. Yes, that was great. Okay,

great. I think we have uh been around and um I don't have anything tomorrow. We do have the we are hosting municipal here at the hotel health. Um so hopefully you all are able to attend at least some of that meeting.