City Council - Regular Meeting

I have a couple questions and a comment. I'd like to discuss this evening the process of how this is handled in the future. That's what part of this discussion is going to be today because we've had offers on this property. This individual made another offer last year when the appraisal was done. By extending this, Do we say, OK, you've made a full price offer on the appraised property? Full price. And that's not based on any of the new capacity fees or costs that they're going to incur. It could very easily lower the price. Full price offer. And there's a little misunderstanding. There's not room for a parking garage on the property, just to let everybody clear. It's a very small parcel. So you either get full price for a piece of property or you try to ask them to put parking in there, which doesn't have room. You either get full price or you deduct from that if they're going to give up part of this parcel for parking. We have a land use plan. We know what we've asked them. We've all approved it to put there if somebody does something. We also have our zoning that we have in place now, our code in place. But if the question is for us, First, what is the process? We have a firm bid from somebody that gave us our appraisal. So now are we going to give 120 days for? They stepped up to the plate after we said, well, somebody give us a bid, an offer. And now are we going to step up and say, great, thanks for the offer. Now we're going to put it out for auction, see who can make a better deal. So I need to know what the process is from here for people that are dealing in real estate with our city, that if we're taking offers, are we going to take and have legitimate offers? And for sale, here's our sales price. I mean, for somebody to make a full price offer on a piece of a parcel, and it was our appraisal, it's pretty significant. And you can't put parking on there and still have a building on there. So who are you going to sell it to unless we keep it for parking, which will be limited at best. We need $3 million. We have a lot of places we can put cash right now, whether it's to build a parking garage, go toward a parking garage or somewhere else. But we need cash. That's where we are strapped right now is cash flow. And to have an asset that we did an appraisal on, somebody came in and said, I'll pay you everything you just asked for. And then we reject it or we semi-reject it for 120 days to see if there's a bigger and better option. So before we make that decision, I think we better put a process in place because I don't think it's fair and equitable to anybody making an offer that we take that offer and then negotiate with everybody else.

That goes to my question. Have we decided we're actually going to sell this piece of property? No. Because I think that it's an asset that we need to look at. Why wouldn't we? What are our, property access city and where do we have the option if we needed it for more city council or city space office space for staff is there other options that we could use that parcel for i i don't know because i haven't looked at all the options what's the value of the property and sales tax i went one thing i don't think we're

The process the city would like to go through is looking at putting a parking garage on the existing surface parking that the library currently has and finding partnerships to be able to do that. And if that's selling a property and it goes, selling a property goes towards that and then we find other funding mechanisms. Here's what I can tell you. And then the only complaint we get about the library expansion is parking. And I think that's something that we have to take into consideration with this piece of property. So we're not, we're not wanting to look at, we, we, when we did the city hall design, we had them look at that piece of property and you can't, you're right. You it's, there's not enough room on that piece of property to put, because we were thinking with the city hall design, we might be parking there and it won't fit there. So what we would like to do, though, is have some conversations. We've had some interest and we actually had someone else bring to us a proposal for a parking garage. So this is not the only person that has brought us different things to look at. And so we would like to have some time to bring people to the table. What the city would also like to do is we have the ability, we think, to get an actual design on that parking garage for a three story and we would like to be able to pursue getting that design and then when we do the rfp we can put that in there trying to get a partnership um in that and that that would be the thing that we would really like to see happen i don't understand when you when you say we've got a price we've got a piece of property that's worth x and if we get all the cash for it the cash goes toward the parking Yeah, but we don't have the rest of the funding for a parking garage. And so that's why I would say really to do these things well. And it's like when we do a park or anything else, we go find all those funding mechanisms to actually build it right. And that's what we're asking to be able to do in this parking garage is have those conversations, not just sell this. And number one, we can't. Yeah, you could negotiate some sort of. parking, but agreement, I guess, to keep the parking until, but we need to be able to have the ability to go find partners in a parking garage on that surface partnering. So we have all that funding. So when we say we're going to do the project, we've got all the funding, which you guys want the capital improvement, plan with all the funding mechanisms, right? That's what you've been asking us to do. And so to be able to do that, we already have interest really without even, we haven't solicited really this. I think we got unsolicited bids on this piece of property, right? And like I said, we've To say that, I mean, this is not just the only one that has come to us. This is the only one that's come to us with a price offer, but we have had another one come to us with looking at a partnership in a parking garage there. And we feel like we need to vet those ideas so that we do get... parking with whatever else comes with that in that area and we would like to make sure we have all the cash the parking garage i think parking garage is a different conversation and whether we're going to sell it we think we would like to visit with others to see if there is opportunity for like you see parking garages now being built right it's not just parking there could be opportunity for space but that's got to be talked about with partnerships to see if we can get the funding to be able to put those things in it. And we have to be able to have that ability and the city council to let us have those conversations and see what type of proposals. You will ultimately vote on whatever it is, but we would like to have the ability to go put those options on the table and make sure everybody, not just a couple people, know about this piece of property and see what we get in the next 180 days or 120 days, whatever.

My question is, why would we rush into this? I mean, why would we? I mean, I see some value in both ways, but I'm also one that I want to see... the research and I want to see what the options.

Yeah, I think we need to see options. I feel like we're trying to make a decision. I don't even know what the alternatives are.

Yeah, and that's really what the city would be asking tonight is to get sort of some, go forward from city council that we can go have these conversations, put things together, bring those back to you guys so you can have options to look at.

And that's where we were.

Correct.

After the last time we talked about this piece of property and talked about doing an RFP, we had went back to the drawing board and were looking at options and what needed to be put in an RFP. And then we received this offer. And so we're talking about it tonight.

We haven't actually decided what we want to do.

We haven't put this property out to bid.

You want to sell. Both of them have been offered what we want to solve, and it's really... really good. And so I just want to get retail all the parking on this property.

It's not going to solve anything with parking. You can't build anything if you put parking there. But if we get the millions of dollars for it at full price to go towards our portion of funding for a parking garage on this on the library, wait and see if we could get something that offered more

better difference like better and why didn't mayor say that one of the potential opportunities was a a package deal they include that land plus park plus the parking garage over the library it included a parking garage not just buying it so so it sounds like there's opportunities to explore some opportunities that we would like to

Well, I'm not comfortable voting anything until we have a process in place that people know they can rely on when they make offers on real estate that they know is available. Because to bring offers to the table, and this isn't their first offer. They were low on their appraisal last time. They made a full vote this time. So they came back with this. So this isn't the first time we've gotten this. So I think we need to establish how this council addresses offers on our property. so that people making offers have a process that they know it's going to have happen because now people know that this is the price out there and there's a valid offer. So they get to outbid them. This is not a fair process.

And I think there's a little bit of uniqueness to this piece of property because we know we need to... incorporate parking into this.

Into that lot?

To do the surface parking on going up. And so that's what I, but, so I think it's a little bit of uniqueness to that.

He said, again, to be fair, it's got to be a public RFP. And again, we haven't totally, it is an unsolicited bid. The rest of the potential potential

There is also, I mean, in that current offer, there are brokerage fees and other things in there that we would not be able to agree to.

$100,000 in brokerage. But I don't think dragging it on for another 180 days is fair to the buyer either.

In my opinion, we should immediately reject the offer and Do whatever the investigations we need. According to the buyer's specifications, he'll charge us $10,000 every month for two months after we postpone, after we don't make a decision, if we require an extension to our recession. So in my opinion, we should reject the offer immediately and then get not only 120 days or 180 or whatever the time is needed, when it comes to our terms, in our time, without constraining ourselves to anything, then we can make a decision on this property as to what it is best to do with it.

Do you put it out quick?

And you do whatever you want to do.

Do you do it just like you would in ?

I was wondering how everybody already had it.

The day of the last meeting. Yeah, so it's like two and a half weeks ago.

Bill, so your ask, if I heard you right a second ago, was that before we do anything with any of our pieces of property that we establish some kind of SOP for how we deal with prospective buyers?

A fair understanding between buyer and seller, even at the initial offering stages. It's not a fair process for either party. In the real estate business, there is, you have to have an element of certainty for whether you're the seller or the buyer. And you usually in real estate rules, you follow, you either reject the offer or you accept their extension or whatever it is. But the way we're talking about it is, well, we're just waiting to figure out better things. There's nothing in the process. We don't have a standard offer. or how we deal with real estate, how we're marketing our real estate. You've talked about an RFP, you know, stick a sign on it and tell them how much you want, if you want to do that. But we did do an appraisal and say, here's the appraisal. So we gave them a price.

So I'm just trying to understand. We haven't put anything out. It is an unsolicited offer and you do have the ability to,

I'm just trying to think where we're going to come up with the money to go toward the parking garage.

I think the only fair thing is to come up with a policy and then put it out there for sale.

Put it up for sale.

I think what you're saying is probably correct in the end. I don't know that we want to own the library or this building into perpetuity. Because it's not, even if we leveled the building and we put parking spaces all over it, it wouldn't The value of the land is a lot more valuable than how many parties.

What we're asking is to not take this agreement tonight. Number one, like I said, there's brokerage fees in there that we could not agree to regardless. And give us an opportunity to be able to have some public conversations to see if there is any interest and be able to bring to you, this may offer, but there may be a or three other options that we can bring to you for consideration and we are we feel like that um Especially knowing that the big issue there is parking. And so just selling that and not having a game plan to be able to get parking there is not what the city would recommend is in the best interest of the city. That's just...

I don't think we should keep an open offer dragging out by extending it. I think we should actually just decline. It seems like the general consensus and then start fresh. I feel like doing the RFP when there's an open offer isn't

Yeah. In my mind, if a similar offer had been for the land that we have on 41st Street, it would have been a totally different story. But in here, this is the only place that the city has, the only piece of land that the city has, that has the possibility of alleviating the problem of parking that it is at the library, which is a serious problem. This is not only at this particular location, but also is going to be aggravated by the fact that the first floor that we had, just a couple of doors down the street, I mean, up north, the first... We lease air out in that particular property on A Street. And we were to keep the first space, the first floor for public parking. But we have avoided that. We have avoided that situation. It is not public parking anymore. It is exclusive parking for the adult recreation center. So we have lost those 120 spaces or whatever the number they were. We don't have those anymore. Those people are going to be looking for spaces. And if we were to use this space for $3 million, which is a significant amount of money, but it doesn't help us resolve the problem. You're not going to get parking on that property. No, I understand.

The cost revenues that you're going to receive from having something that can produce revenue and the property taxes increases and the revenue from that, and the cash from the sale of that to go toward a cash-strapped city to build a parking garage, we could set those funds aside, and we would start our funding with a large chunk of cash.

In the meantime, we are going to have the 16 library employees expelled from the property at a certain time, and then they'll have to go and look for spaces somewhere else. So that is going to be even worse. Then make the parking at the library for library-owned.

They're in business.

What I would ask is that you give us an opportunity to bring back. And that is the request from the city on this. So if we need to have a show of hands, who's willing to let us do that. But we have to have, here's what I'm asking also is that we don't promise things like parking by selling something that only gets us a portion of what we need to have to do. garage and don't promise things to the to the citizens without having all those funding mechanisms in place to be able to deliver it and if you sell this piece of property you say we're going to put that money towards that but we don't have the rest of the funding that's exactly what you're doing and we've been we've done that in the past and i would ask us not to do that again yes so we're looking for a an rfp or a partner who would

potentially be interested in giving us the value of the building and assisting and partnering in building a parking garage. That's the ultimate thing we're looking for.

For the value of that property.

That's what we're trying to solve the problem in that manner.

Basically, we want like four and a half million for a property appraised.

Well, we're probably looking for a fairly unique partner.

The other thing I would tell you is whatever gets built on there will need parking. Right and based on our zoning whatever it has to be. That's how we got into the problem of meeting parking because the library was built based on our requirements for parking in it and that it is not it is not it is the requirements are not there. So that's what I'm saying. If we continue to do that, you will continue to have parking problems. So I'm asking you to not do that.

Are you saying that we shouldn't take any offers on that property because it'll be hard for them to accommodate the parking requirement downtown. And I don't think we can do that either.

Well, I'm saying our current parking requirements actually get met with every expansion.

That is not working though with reality.

We have a parking concern there. So We built the library and the number of spaces that had to have for our parking requirements is not working. It's not adequate. So I think I'm asking to look at reality as the situations and listen to the public. And so moving forward, the right thing to do is try to figure out how you get parking on the surface parking that's already there that we already own. Right. And how do you go up with that? And how do you build the funding mechanism to be able to do that? And I think a piece of that pie is that property. And so we're asking to be able to utilize that in some conversations and give us a little bit of time to do that and not just immediately take this offer. That is the ask of the city.

Probably agree on that, which means the offer is going to be rejected right away, correct? Well, that's what you all want to do. Yes. I'm wondering if that is going to be the logical sequence of this. We reject that.

Or they could, I mean, we can talk to them and maybe they will extend the, I don't, I mean, but we don't, I mean, we just need to tell them that, We are asking for more time to have more conversations to see if there are other options we can bring to the table. And if you want to say 180 days or 120 days or whatever, it'll be their choice. We can fully reject it or they may decide that they, you know,

I think this whole idea of a parking garage is a separate issue. It really doesn't have anything to do with the property offer. We have to decide, do we want to sell this piece of property? And if so, is that a reasonable offer? Do we want to make it fair, put together, make a decision, however much time it takes, and then say, we're going to open it up by putting it on the market. Everybody knows this. available to make a bid on, just like any other asset. But I don't want to give away an asset prematurely. If we can use it for another need, and I'm not talking about a parking garage. There may be something else that comes up.

I think what you're saying is you want us to outright reject the offer initially. I don't think that's a need.

The truth is, I guess if we reject it, they can make an offer two weeks from now.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean. And I think the. Just not acting on it, I guess. We're not agreeing to it.

Yeah.

Well, you can let it expire. You can do whatever you want to do.

Yeah, I mean, it'll just, how long does it go for?

Before anybody else makes anything, you don't have some parameters in place. Like, we're not going to pay any commissions. That needs to be in a listing format that we're selling this land. Thanks. Remember, we're not paying any brokerage fees. What is our rules of ourselves? We need to have a process here because this isn't going to be fair.

In the past, when we've sold real estate, I'm thinking back to the utility drive-through and those kind of things. We took sealed bids, I think. We've done it both ways. But I do think... We said we wanted bids. We didn't just get unsolicited bids.

And I think that's, to your point, Bill, I think that's something that could be beneficial to put together would be to say, okay, here's the parameters for when the city receives an offer unsolicited. Here's what we do with it.

Because we can get an offer tomorrow morning on this property. Yeah. I mean, somebody could be like, I want to buy this and I'm getting $20 million. So we might or might not want it. I think that would be helpful.

What I think is a little bit unique with this is the parking discussion with this that we're trying to solve for.

And so that's what... Well, and part of the reason we're thinking about parking comprehensively here is... If there were additional parking available, let's say, through a garage across the street that has lease-back or purchase-back spaces at the library, well, then all of a sudden it allows for additional development capacity on the AT&T lot. That's why we're looking at both lots and thinking about this more comprehensively.

All right. There's no debate. I think there's a question whether it's a parking garage.

but we had the same discussion in 1815 about putting, setting aside money for water and sewer. Well, we don't know how much it costs yet. So we don't, we can't do that until we have all the facts. And it was previous to your administration and during the last 10 years. So just because you don't have the total and the same thing I said in a meeting in 21, just because we don't have the total doesn't mean we know, we don't know that we need to raise money. And so you could certainly set aside any sale and any asset and any cash to put toward what we believe, all believe to be a parking garage.

What I would ask, though, is that I think we have an opportunity to really understand what the cost is based on the square footage. And I would ask that you give us a little bit of time to bring you some options that really do... have a number to it. So you know what, when you tell the public we're going to building parking garage, you know, this is the number, this is the funding number we have to get to. We don't just sell this with only getting a small portion of that. And I just think, you know, to do what we need to do for a growing city, you need to be able to have those numbers in place. And again, if you sell it outright right now, you don't give us that opportunity to put that information in front of you and try to come up with a plan to actually get the parking garage not only designed, but built and paid for. And that's, in my opinion, that's the responsible way to go about this.

And if the only options we're talking about are putting a parking garage on, I don't know, I think... We're not talking about a parking garage there.

We're not talking about a parking garage on that facility. We're talking about a parking garage on the surface parking that we already own at the library. On the library parking. But it would...

i think what we're trying to say cindy is or is if we just outright sell 402 south main street without having put forethought into what is the broader parking solution for the surrounding area well then we've just exacerbated the existing that would be like that's

see in place on how we're going to handle unsolicited offers and put a policy in place on what we require if we put assets on the market it would be like selling this property again and not having a plan for where we're going to have city hall i mean it's the same thing we yeah right but i agree with bill we need a process somebody needs to know if the city if you want to buy anything the city owns unsolicited this is what's going to happen And that's it.

Well, and this offer expires tomorrow at five o'clock. So I don't even think we have to decline it. I would just rather just expire and us not have any conversation because then that way, well, it expires tomorrow. He put a timeline on it, not us. It's very fair. He called the shots.

Well, it's typically not when you talk about, well, I'll have an appraisal done and And typically, one person does an appraisal, the other does an appraisal, and we merge the two to see what's a fair price. They didn't even check that. They said, I'll give you what you put out for appraisal.

So the parking problem in this area is real. It has, for example, the library expanded almost twice the space it had a few years ago. But the library plates aren't the only ones used in the parking spots. That is the problem. Bill, let me complete the conversation. So the library expanded almost twice the previous size and it only increased a few spaces in the parking lot. Even though it met the regulations that the city has, the reality is totally different. There is no parking for whatever reason. In the same way that we have insufficient parking in this building because the parking that we build is used by other entities and we don't have enough. The situation is difficult, very difficult. But it's definable. Hold it, hold it. reason that we don't have it here is definable we talked about it and over there it's definable you'll continue later let me let me finish so i'm saying the parking problem is real and it happened has happened there now it has been exacerbated by the closing of the first floor that we that we promised the public that it was going to be public now it is not it is only dedicated for the new facility that we recently opened And not only that, but if we sell this property, they are going to give us, according to their proposal, a few months for us to hold those spaces while they remodel. Those spaces are currently used by the library, which alleviates the problem that exists in the library itself. So those spaces are going to be, those cars are going to be up in the air looking for space. Now, additionally, the business that is built in that particular location is going to use, is going to require some spaces, which is going to aggravate the problem. That's what I said. Forget about this offer. Forget about this deal. Let's concentrate on something, on the problem that it is parking, and then this will be a piece of the solution. But at the moment, it is not.

I think what we need is just sort of a show of hands to, I don't know if we're rejecting or just letting, and basically just let it not act on the offer, let it expire.

So if we could get a show, I want it to expire.

Since we did not send out an RFF. Expire and not act in my mind is the same thing. So I would say if you are in favor of not acting or letting it expire, if you could read it.

Is there a reason we wouldn't just reject it?

We will not because the it expires tomorrow.

So we're doing and we didn't have a doesn't really have the same effect either way.

So if we could get a show of hands on that.

So he is wrapped up on the road.

I like to wrap up this whole process.

We're not dealing with the contract.

We don't have a conversation here where we say no.

check the box there is a rejection down there and then like it always is in an offering acceptance and if we're not going to pay commissions to any brokerage then we need to let that be known yeah i i want to we can do that second id motion to we have a motion and a second to reject

The upper we're not really voting on this committee of the whole us, but what we need is just a show of hands because it's just discussion reject.

You reject it reject OK and I let me ask you a question I notice the meeting of the whole that this was going to be rejected formally shouldn't be rejected in the meeting and not just the end of the whole since this is.

Can't the mayor reject it?

Does real estate offers for sale and for purchase and sale doesn't have to come through the council?

Is that not a problem? Well, she could accept it pending council approval.

Well, that's what I'm trying to understand is the process for selling real estate is only laying on the mayor's office?

It's going to come through here, whatever the offer is. It will come through city council. That's what we're saying. We're just trying to, because they put a, because they gave us an unsolicited offer and put a timeline on it, we needed to have a discussion. Personally, I would just let it expire. And then, but if you feel like we need to reject it,

We don't need to respond. We just let it expire tomorrow. That's what, yes.

We don't have to officially act.

Okay, but just so we know, Cindy, that's what the recommendation was, and then you just said that we need to reject it. This is what happened. I want to make sure that we all understand we're just a show of hands to just let the offer expire. Okay, thank you. Then we will work on a process that we can bring back to you all and discuss.

In that process, is the cost of a parking garage, will that come back to us? like what an actual cost would be.

It is surprisingly high.

From my limited bit of knowledge of working on a project, I had no idea how much more expensive it was. And so I just want like a ballpark, like what are we even? Well, there's been several permits.

That's like $60,000 a spot or something.

That's what I'm, that's what I'm.

We don't, we think we have some ability to compare it based on the size. Yeah, I would like that. It's already been built. So we have a, we have a very known, price on that. And so we think we can do, we think we have the ability to do that. It's going to take us a little bit of time to be able to do that, but we can compare it to something.

So basically what it comes down to is that property usable for us city, city business, or do we want to sell it and use the money for other needs that we have? And that's the decision, but we do have to have a process and not what's a timeline for getting that done.

Sooner the better. I think a process needs to be defined and typically used in real estate law in this, but there's been other offers that we didn't look at. We didn't get a chance to review other offers on this. We don't get a chance to look at other offers. Just the first time because we copied the council.

Do we want to accept unsolicited bids on city assets? As a standard practice, do we typically want to just say, okay, we will bring any solicited bid to council? Are we going to have a process for when we put the assets on the market where people have an opportunity to bid on them publicly or by whatever method?

Well, like down there by the community center, we've had signs off and on for 15 years. And everybody knows it's for sale, but nobody knows how to address that. There's no real estate sign saying, call this person. Here's the terms, here's our asking price, here's everything. And it's very confusing. And so people have called, well, I've made an offer, but I've not heard back from anybody about the offer. I don't know anything. What's the process?

personally, I think we should accept unsolicited offers.

Well, we said even in an open meeting two months ago that I'll take any offers.

Thank you, Bill, but we need to back up a little bit and decide if we're going to develop a process, what's fair and equitable, and are we, going forward, will we review unsolicited offers, or do we say, just like we do in our bid and you know, in processes that we wait till things are put on the market.

The real question is not It is, do we want to be aware of unsolicited offers the city receives? Because you can't keep people from giving you a, by virtue of the name of it, it's unsolicited.

But we have a process to deal with it.

Well, the mayor may get unsolicited things all the time. It's just a matter of how we deal with it.

It's easy to say we have a process.

I think it's the finance arm of this and looking at the finances that we have, if any deal comes through that is, unless it's ridiculous, and a valid offer made through a valid contract that this council, this body, needs to review that. Because we all have to make financial decisions where we're going to get this money from.

And it doesn't make any sense to me not to look at offers. That's right.

Properties that we are trying to sell. That makes no sense. That's right. But if we're trying to sell it. But see, these haven't been publicly available to buy. And my question is, are we going to get some type of backlash over only certain people bidding on properties that nobody else were aware we were selling? That happens all the time.

Anybody can make an offer.

I mean, anybody can. You're right. Somebody can make an offer on City Hall. I mean... What I think we're asking of you is that in this particular instance, we're trying to also solve for parking. It's not just about selling the property. And so that's why we're asking to be able to put it out there and see if we can get some interest. We've already had some interest, one being what we brought in front of you. One was more around a parking garage partnership and different things. And so we're saying, let us have a little bit of time to get to put it out there a little bit and get some of those in a more formalized presentation we can bring to you with some commitment on the back end of that that we can really put to it. And it takes a little bit of time. Again, this is how we do things in the city of Bentonville. If you've noticed with our parks and other things, like, and even with the library, we did a bond, right? And we got funding from the community. And then we had a foundation that came in and raised money to get that done. And so with these projects, when you need infrastructure, we need the opportunity to go talk to the public and see if we can get some partnerships, again, that will all be brought back to you and you guys get to vote on. But we need to have that.

That's what we just raised hands to do, right?

Yes.

And if we also could just come up with the bulleted, you know, here's the process. Yeah. We won't pay this. We won't pay this. This is what put it on our purchasing page or wherever it needs.

And what property is available to share? I mean, I think I know, but we're not putting any signs out. We don't have any price for prices. We don't have anything. We talked about doing an RFP process, but that's an open-ended negotiation kind of. But we just need to have a better...

understanding that follows normal operations it it predates me but if i remember correctly from what i've been told and chris bill you guys would probably know in the past it was when people would approach us about purchasing a property and then that was our signal to declare it as excess and put it out to bid from there on and then it would go through a sealed bid process

We put property up for sale.

So we all know what we have and what we anticipate the value of those assets and property assets being and what they can be used for before we make a decision on what we want to sell.

We've done it a variety of ways, but maybe we just need to have a standard process. That doesn't mean we can't deviate.

Yeah, that's fair.

Yeah, and I think that's what we're asking for is a little bit of flexibility. We don't want to just put it out there and take the first offer because in this community, we think there is opportunity for private public partnerships or different things that we have done in the past might be more beneficial for the city in the long run if part of our goal is to get parking there. And that's what we're asking to be able to do. Okay. Perfect. All right.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. So consent agenda, we have a couple of proclamations, which of course will not be on there. The rest of the items, I think could all be put on consent except for the two planning items. If you all are interested in that.

Before you do that, do we need to recognize that Council Member Seba is here so she can vote?

Yes.

We need to get out of Committee of the Whole, right?

You want to do a consent agenda?

Correct the attendance to reflect it. Nick, do you want to give some guidance on that?

Because you weren't counted as being here.

We can note that Council Member Siva is now present.

Put that in there.

I got it. Don't be late.

Are you saying everything?

All the resolutions would fall by for the consent agenda.

for the public hearings no those are setting a public hearing thank you i just have one question on number 10. do you want to leave it out if we could on 10. so items um one new business items one through nine and item 11 and i'll be on a consent agenda

Yeah, one and two are proclamation.

Three through nine. No, mine says new business one and two. Sorry, three, whatever.

Three through nine.

It says one, two, and then one, two again. All new business except item 10. How about that? No matter what your item.

And item 11, correct?

Are you putting... 11 can be on from 10.

If there's no budget adjustment and they will be wanting to resolution and utility wanted to know the rules.

So again items. All new business except item 10 and utility board wanted to. I second that I can all in favor say aye aye. We'll close the committee the whole. The motion in a motion to be a motion second.

So there they are going to reopen the City Council meeting with the new business item number one which is a proclamation recognizing national. Treatment for man. We are so sad if you don't know that but And just so you know, Jennifer is currently our clerk, but she is retiring and Jamie is here and Jamie is taking Jennifer's place. So I should all get to know them, but I'm going to read the proclamation and then we'll have to come forward for questions. Proclamation reads as, whereas treatment courts have been restoring lives and families for more than three decades, and whereas there are now more than 4,000 treatment courts nationwide, and whereas treatment courts are the cornerstone of justice reform sweeping the nation, and whereas treatment courts have served over 1.5 million individuals, and whereas treatment courts are now recognized as the most successful criminal justice intervention in our nation's history. And whereas the city of Bentonville is in the 15th year of our DWI court program, having had 72 participants in the program and 36 graduates to date, the graduates represent 800 plus hours of treatment. And whereas treatment courts save an average of 6,000 for every individual they serve. And whereas treatment courts reduce crime and significantly improve substance use, treatment outcomes as less expensive than any other criminal justice strategy. And whereas treatment courts improve education, employment, housing, and financial stability, promote family reunification, reduce foster care placements, and increase the rate of addicted mothers delivering babies who are fully drug-free. And whereas treatment courts facilitate community-wide partnerships, bringing together public safety and public health professionals in the fight against addiction and crime. And whereas treatment courts demonstrate that when one person rises out of addiction and crime, we all rise. Now, therefore, I, Stephanie Orme, Mayor of Bentonville, do hereby proclaim the month of May 26th as National Treatment Court Month in the city of Bentonville, Arkansas. In honor of the treatment courts, the team members and the participants who strive to address substance abuse and keep our city and citizens safe.

Anything

Happy retirement. Congratulations. Thank you, Jennifer.

Thank you.

If you can squeeze in just a little more.

We have a great relationship. And I'll be very nice to Jamie. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer. Jennifer, I just want to say that all the years I've been on this,

Watch what you've done with this. I know we talked in private. You've helped create this. And you've done a great job. And without you, I don't think we'd be where we are. So thank you for all you've done. And we'll miss you.

Thank you.

Yeah. We appreciate you, Jennifer.

Thank you. I started coming to HVAC with her. And then she hadn't had the ability. And she had the law. She's handling it. And they doubled in the school.

Item number two is National Public Works Week. And a few members from Public Works, they'll read the proclamation for us to 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week and whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure facilities emergency management and services that are vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and the public health. high quality of life and well-being of the people of Bentonville. And whereas these infrastructures, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works and professionals, engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, electric supply, solid waste systems, public buildings, and other facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas in Bentonville, public works superheroes help keep communities strong by providing an infrastructure of services and transportation, water, wastewater, stormwater treatment, electric service, public buildings and spaces, public parks, and grounds, emergency management, first responders, solid waste, and right-of-way management, and where it is in the public interest for the civic leaders and children in Bentonville to gain knowledge and maintain ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works, first responders, and public works programs in their respective communities. Now, therefore, I, Stephanie Orman, Mayor of the City of Bentonville, do hereby proclaim the week of May 17th through the 23rd as National Public Works Week. And this was the first council that we could get it to. So we did work with you all on this, but this is the first time we get you in front of council. So do you want to come take a picture?

Oh, no, you can't avoid it sometimes. I see a smile. We need like a drop in here.

Okay, and one thing on those proclamations, we're going to start making sure that we post them on Facebook. So if you guys want to like and share them, I think as we go through this process, really helping the public understand what services we offer here and through those proclamations, because they are usually detailed with information, that may be one way that we can kind of get that message out to the public about everything that we do. So All right, with that, we will read the consent agenda item.

Okay.

New business item number three, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with the Heartland Business Systems for renewal of cybersecurity services in an amount not to exceed $202,919.49 and for other purposes. New business item number four, the city council for the city of Bentonville, Arkansas. NEW BUSINESS ITEM NUMBER 5 IN THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF BENEVILLE, ARKANSAS. NEW BUSINESS ITEM NUMBER 6 IN THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF BENEVILLE, ARKANSAS. NEW BUSINESS ITEM NUMBER 7 IN THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF BENEVILLE, ARKANSAS. NEW BUSINESS ITEM NUMBER 8, A RESOLUTION AWARDING BID IFB-26-31 TO EMERY SAP AND SONS INC. FOR THE PURCHASE OF ASPHALT MATERIALS AS REQUIRED FOR STREET SURFACE REPAIRS AND STREET RESURFACING AND FOR THE PURPOSES. New business item number nine, a resolution awarding bid IFB-26-33 to Innovative Roadway Solutions LLC in the amount of $336,484.70 for Mastic Sealer for City of Bentonville Streets and for their purposes. New business item number 11, a resolution calling for a special election for the vacant position of council member Ward 1, Position 2. Utility Board Item Number 1, a resolution authorizing Schumacher Phase 1 Amendment Number 4 with Garver Engineering in an amount not to exceed $602,604 for engineering administration services for the Schumacher Basin Interceptor improvements and for the purposes. Utility Board Item Number 2, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a change order with Garney in the amount of $212,171.18 for the construction changes on the 48-inch transmission main relocation associated with R-DOT Project 090512, Highway 112 relocation, and for other purposes. I'll move.

Motion is second. Roll call, please. FEMA? Yes. Scooter?

Yes. Rover? Yes. Burkhart? Yes. Hook? Yes. Sanchez? Yes. Patterson? Yes. Acree? Yes.

Okay, item number 10. It's a resolution approving amendment number one with Olson, Inc. for the Southwest Second and O drainage improvement.

New business item number 10, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into amendment number one with Olson, Inc. for Southwest Second and O drainage improvements and for other purposes.

I just have a couple of questions on that specific amendment. On the very last page, it did not document any start date and the anticipated completion date. Was that on purpose or on page 49 of the agenda? I just thought that was odd that that was left blank. And it could be because it was an amendment. It would be the same. Well, that's what I was curious. I'm not familiar enough with the original contract.

Sitting on page 49? Of the agenda. Well, I think I'm looking. Is it page 505 of the contract?

Yes, it would be. Okay, thank you. I mean, it shows where they are.

So they've already started and they've already completed it once. We've bid it once and they're rebidding it. So I don't know if that's the, I mean, it's ready to go back out to bid. We just needed to rewrite this to move some of their construction inspection money over to the designs too, because we're changing the design to reduce the cost.

Can we see a map of that?

What you're removing? We're removing all of that up. If you could, I guess, get up a GIS map. We're removing the section that goes up O Street. Originally started, you could get to the Native American Museum. It's Southwest 2nd. So originally we caught the water as it came under the highway and then ran it out to O Street and then took it down the west side of O Street to the bottom of the hill because they avoided more utilities. We have now stopped it. It just runs the section parallel to 2nd Street and then surfaces at the curb and then heads north along the east side of O Street.

Can you pull up your drainage your drainage projects on there and highlight that.

Turn on the, I think it's shown in the, all the way to the top, there should be a bomb project layer. Turn that on and see if that one shows up. Now there it is. So that north-south blue section is gone. So now it's just the very southernmost end where we have to get out on the highway and do a little bit of work and then take that pipe over to 2nd Street.

Do you have what the total, before you adjusted taking out the entire neighborhood, what was the price of the bids?

I'd have to go against double what the engineer's estimate was. I do not remember the numbers off the top of my head.

Those were taken when? Recently or back in 25?

I don't know. It was late 25, I would say.

This was adjusted when we brought this to the council.

Yeah, we brought it back to the council and said we were going to pull some scope out and try to get it down within the budget estimate for it.

I think it was a specific request from you.

Because the budget of the item was much higher than we're seeing elsewhere. Like, for instance, our water and sewer budgets were half of our estimates and we're seeing lower contracting prices. So the total project then will extend Can you show me where the total project will go?

Well, it starts there and ends there.

And that total project for that portion is how much? I don't have those numbers off. This is an engineer.

This is the engineer's contract. So they haven't put together or revised the estimates yet?

What was the budget that we have available for that project?

Bill, I don't have those numbers off the top of my head.

We can go pull them if we need to, but we had them relook at this specifically from a request from city council. Right, to try to get it back in budget. We got here from this body telling us to go do this.

I'm just trying to ask how much we've reduced it to just that portion on the highways, awful small amounts. I'm just trying to ask what that amount is now versus what the whole project was before I approve a contract with the engineer to move forward. We're only talking about 100 foot, 200 foot of drainage. Do you remember what that estimate off the top? Anything?

No, I don't believe it was in the millions. I mean, I can go get all that information together, bring it back.

Okay. I'm just trying to. If somebody can remind what the original budget was for in the bond projects for that project, how short are we versus where we are now? It doesn't look like we're getting much work done after the removal of that.

That is the critical work that keeps the water out of the homes. which is the direction we were taking at that point, was focused on keeping water out of homes. Of those five homes that go from 100 to 108, four of them were getting water through the house every time it rained hard. And the idea was get the water in front of the homes. We took out the section that was going to take it in a pipe clear to the bottom of the hill. The road's steep, fairly steep, and has a good cross slope. We're not expecting getter spread. So that's how we got to the idea of reducing that scope out of it, bringing it back within budget.

And Olson's, since they've done the work on the previous design, and they've now amended it to do this design, their scope of cost doesn't change.

Correct. And it's a small enough project, we're going to cover the inspections with our own team as opposed to getting Olson to do it.

And that estimate and contract will come back to us in the near future.

Yeah, you'll have the estimate, and we're going to bid it still. So you'll get the three bids and what the engineer's estimate is for that work as part of the bid package. It comes back.

And to Holly's question, do you know how long it might be before we get that information?

They're within weeks of getting ready to send the bid package. I mean, they've redone the plans. They just need to get the... What they were after was they currently were out of money for the design and bidding because it was in Title II, which is the construction services. We said we'd cover Title II, so they're moving that money over to the design. The design. Yeah. And it's fundamentally done.

At the request, we brought in design, and then they asked us to.

We trimmed it back. We re-engineered it, value engineered it. It might be a good answer. Yes, we did.

So it's still the one year from when we put the contract. notice to proceed. Like it's still going to, like that's going to be the anticipated.

Put it, yes, put it to bid and then start, at least start, I mean, ideally we were hoping.

This is a small enough scope we expect the construction.

Then the year, the three brand drainage projects.

All the dates you see in here are just for the engineer's time, they aren't for the contractor.

But we did have to do a redesign based on the culture class.

OK. That helps clarify what I was reading through. Thank you. You're welcome.

Are there any other discussion? We have a motion and a second. OK. Can I do this by all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? It passes unanimously. Go to planning. Item number one is a property line adjustment, lot 25, block seven of Clark's second edition.

Planning item number one, an ordinance accepting a property line adjustment of lots one and two, block seven of Clark's second addition and a portion of the alley vacated by ordinance 87-88, grading new lot 25, block seven of Clark's second addition to the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, and for their purposes, project number PLA26-0008. Any other discussion?

Roll call, please. Souter?

Yes.

Grover?

Yes. Burkhart? Yes. Hook? Yes. Sanchez? Yes. Patterson? Yes. Acree? Yes. Seba? Yes.

Number two under planning is a property line adjustment of blocks 23 and 24, block two of Lincoln and Rice addition.

Planning item number two, an ordinance accepting a property line adjustment of lots 20 and 21, block two of Lincoln and Rice addition, creating new lots 23 and 24, block two of Lincoln and Rice addition to the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, and for other purposes, project number PLA26-0011.

Motion and a second. Any other discussion? We'll call sleep. Grover?

Yes.

Burkhart? Yes. Hook? Yes. Sanchez? Yes. Patterson? Yes. Acree? Yes. Teba? Yes.

Souter?

Yes.

Okay. And again, a motion to adjourn from our formal. I have a question.

Before we adjourn, can you address or address the issue that was on the news? Neighborhood on 5th Street for drainage. Are we doing this?

Let's Let's adjourn from our voting agenda and then we can- So moved. Question.

Second.

Second and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. And then I guess with committee reviews, maybe we do that and you can ask that question.

Committee reviews, I have nothing.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- i'm amp Commission met just a couple of things kaylene wanted me to pass on how grateful, she was to. HAB-Masyn Moyer- All of the Council members well. Council Member Grover wasn't on the council yet, so you're excused. But the event that, you know, there's not many times when we all are at an event and everybody, you know, all of us were at where they revealed the destination master plan. And she was just really grateful for the support that council has given to visit Bentonville. And she wanted me to tell you that printed copies are coming within the next week or two. She'll have a printed copy of that for you. everyone on council. Their 2025 annual report is on their website. If you're interested, it's under about us, kind of have to go looking for it. And it's got some really good information on the economic impact of tourism. So kind of some good, if you're interested in digging into some numbers, that's worth looking at. And then one other thing is the kiosks are up and running. So if anyone's been, they've got four kiosks, Crystal Bridges Parking Garage, the Trailhead at Compton Gardens, at the All-American Trail, the Momentary, and then at the new Visit Bentonville Visitor Center. So they've been kind of fun. So take a minute to play with those and kind of let people know that those are there to help find their way around Yonge.

I have nothing a tab met and we went over again some of the accidents that have happened, and then we also discussed all of the projects that are in process. So you can go on, you can go look at those all the projects and then public art advisory board met and we we. recommended two three actually proposals for the near the pitch you know we had to replace that big cricket bat installation because it was falling apart and dangerous so we had a new RFP and we had a lot of proposals come in and we sent three to go to talk to the Indian um Tanya Hertzman- cricket community, as well as it has to go through the parks board as well. And so they're going to look at those and get feedback from the cricket community to make sure that we're Tanya Hertzman- In the going in the right direction. And then eventually that will come to us to vote on. And then I hope everyone has had a chance to drive by the Jay and John DeShields roundabout. And if you haven't, please do because the roundabout art is all up and installed and all the landscaping is there and it looks amazing. It's my neighborhood, so I get to drive by it every day and it's fantastic.

I saw somebody drive around it. pull over, get out and take a picture. And they get back in her car as I was trying to get to the meeting done. And I was like, well, no, it was great. It was the first time I'd seen it all done. And then somebody was stopping to take a picture. It was just, it was a nice moment to see that they're noticing it, you know, appreciating it.

The scope of it is really great because it's, it's, It's colorful and it's really cool.

I heard good comments about it.

Good. Two things. We have applications out for the Water Tower Road roundabout and then also America 250. America 250, we solicited The we're doing a mosaic for what do you love about America started out with junior high age kids, but we haven't received as many as we'd hoped. So we did open that up to high school as well. And so if any of you. know artists that love America that are in 6th through 12th, then let them know that those need to be in by July 15th.

Where will that go?

Well, it originally was supposed to go here, but now it's going to go on the downtown experience center, right? No, it's going to the library. Just kidding, library. Just kidding.

They were going to try to do it on this side of this, but we've had some issues with . I think it's going to go now .

It'll be more visible over there, too.

Okay. I do have, I said on the NACA board, I did give a statement to the NACA board, so I have printed it to give to you all, so you are aware of that. If you read it and you have any questions, you're welcome to ask those. But I think you guys know that there's been a regional study going on and different things. And this was done in conjunction with our staff and trying to make sure we get in writing our thoughts on that.

Do you want us to have any questions?

are welcome.

I just have a quick question. Okay, I think I might have asked this one. There's all this talk is in the news about regional wastewater solution and how it's all got to come together. And I sat on the council when we bought the land for NACA and I thought it was the regional solution for wastewater. That's still the case? Or are these people trying to divert it somewhere else?

So the gist of what I is there is a regional study. And if you read my comments, it'll probably be very clear. Our concern is that you're doing a regional study. But if another priority is how to solve immediate problems for other cities, then that jumps. the regional piece of it and making sure we set it up as a regional entity. Our concern is that our contract needs to be renegotiated with the capacity for the new, for the expansion. And we don't want to allocate capacity out without doing that. So there's some, and, you know, we have to be smart about this. And again, plan for this and get the funding nexus. And if eventually you have to do an expansion out there, maybe that's a conversation that we plan for. But right now, just putting others on and taking the existing capacity that we've just filled out is not something that we are in agreement with.

And so my thoughts are in writing.

You're welcome to

for instance, was to buy-sell, you know, what is it to buy into this system that we've paid for to build? And you have a lot of non, you have a lot of board members that do not have any skin in the game making those decisions as well.

And there is a connection fee currently. They re-looked at the connection fee in this regional study. I'll be honest with you, more of our concerns rely around the allocation of capacity and getting that all the existing contracts need to be renegotiated with that new capacity because they're all based on the original capacity plan, not this new 7.2. And we feel very adamant that that's the right thing to do. And we don't want other things to be moved forward without doing that. There's also some other things in there that we feel very passionate need to be done so that it's set up properly.

I guess my basic comment would be that I don't feel like Bentonville's gotten the credit it deserves from trying to solve the regional problem. And I would like for us to, I mean, toot our horn as loud as we can, because if we hadn't done that, yes, it would have been bad for Bentonville, but it would have been bad for a lot of other people too. I think we tried to be, we were trying to be like out in front of it 20 something years ago, but nobody wanted to participate because

They were verbally, but they didn't do what they verbally suggested.

I think somebody is trying to talk about that, but then they've also been sort of challenged with solving those immediate issues. And that's what we're saying. You need to slow down here because we can't solve this for this one because they haven't.

and jump our needs, right?

Because we- Because that issue of insult years ago. Yeah, so that's, and anyways, I think it's articulated pretty well in the statement. May I?

The allocation of capacity is in a way an allocation of ownership, similar to what we did in Bella Vista, because 20 years ago they pay a certain amount of money for the building of a pipe that takes water to them. So they have access to that specific amount of capacity. In the same way here, the NACA, it is built, currently built, and it has to have the capacity allocated to the cities who are participating and have contributed to the building of that particular facility. So yes, the point is, in my mind, well done in the sense of asking for ownership of the capacity of the plant.

The other thing I have that we did give a proposal to the Library Foundation for consideration if we did a parking garage or if we had spaces, if they would consider helping to fundraise with that. So we just put it in front of them. This is nothing written in stone here, but I did want y'all to have that. I didn't really want to pass that before you. Talked earlier, but this is one of the things we're saying. We want to go down all the avenues and conversations to figure out what's really, really best. Again, it's a working document. It is not a, this is exactly what we're doing. It's some thoughts on the paper of things that could be considered. They will take it to their foundation board, I think, at their next meeting. I don't think it happens until June or July. But I wanted to pass that off to you.

Does this have the estimate of the margin?

It does not because we still need to get the design to get you what we think we, the design can be pretty close to some existing parking garages. And so we could get you a good better number with that. And we've, our thought process was that we would not be you'll see in there that we would be bringing multiple funding options that they wouldn't just be on, they would, if they were willing to fundraise with us for something naming rights of something or something, it would be a just a piece of that pie we bring to the table for lending. I do not know, you know, you'd have a conversation with them and they did say they would bring it to their board. They have some other thoughts of the direction that they're going right now.

So I don't know that this is even in any situation, but I just wanted to put it in front of you.

It's really hard to get you guys all the information and we need to have be able to have some conversation.

Just real quick on the parking garage.

Is the parking garage the only way to solve the problem? Or have we looked at what it would cost to buy all the real estate around the parking?

I think from a, because we own the land. The surface parking, it's really, the most efficient thing is to go up on it, right?

But if we had, if that weren't possible, maybe a short amount. Is there more surface parking?

Well, we would end up, even to build the parking garage, we're going to need some temporary parking. And I think we would work with some existing owners that haven't yet.

That would be the goal, develop, try to have the temporary parking available.

Because you're going to have to figure that piece of the pie out, do you? I mean, and it's like, I mean, it's just, we either, you know, we do it, we try to solve it now or things get built on kind of like drainage ponds, but we've talked about earlier, we had the thought process of drainage ponds and then to deal with some of the stormwater, but then they get, a lot of those have been built on. And so,

same kind of thought process here we either try to solve it with existing land that we have and go up you know two bits on library parking some new guy i go to library every day they're pretty much every day um the the there is occasionally they're hard to find a parking spot immediately between the hours of say like 10 and 12 something like But if you hang out in the parking lot for about three minutes, their spot opens up. That's the only time I've ever had a hard time finding parking. And I know that the feedback is very loud. And yes, it is loud. Conversation around not allowing or making it library parking only has come up. And my understanding is that is less desirable because then it requires maintenance. It has to be bait yourself.

Well, we are doing signs, and she is getting those signs made now to just see if we, you know, I think The truth of the matter is we have, if we're going to make it live, we also have the public that use it that come in for other events, right? And so, so I think that's the question is, it's just the one, the downtown's only going to, we're only going to continue to grow. So do we want to try to for some of that parking.

I mean, there's not going to be more opportunity in the future if you... My only reason to bring it up is simply that, yes, it's going to get worse. But I think people are a lot louder than the problem really is right now.

The problem is, though, and I don't know if you realize this or not, they're not doing any holds from now to the end of summer. And so those holds, like you run in, get your thing, and leave... So now there's not going to be as many cars leaving as quickly. Like, like you can't put any items on hold for the summer. So like what I would drive around and run around, get a parking space. And then I was gone in five minutes, but that's not going to happen. And so I, that's gonna change, that is gonna change the dynamic.

It's not just solving for the library parking, it is trying to think about parking long-term for future.

Yeah, certainly long-term.

And I think that's the convert, and that's why we'd like to have some opportunity to kind of have some conversations to see, because it could be that you do, I mean, You have businesses that use some of that. Maybe there's conversations there of how do we get them to pay into or buy into something. And we do have parking districts. This is outside of that, but there could be a conversation there. I think we just want to be able to have some conversations. Say we have the conversations and nothing comes of it, then nothing comes of it. But I just feel like we need that opportunity to really fully put it out. But do think that again i wish the shared parking concept would work forever i think what we're finding is it it doesn't work forever and our current parking requirements you know we may not want to change those but we may want to take on trying to find solutions that offer a solution for everybody for the businesses for library for

Well, and to her point, if there's a modification in the process that we're doing that's causing more longer-term parking, if we could adjust that for the summer where we didn't have that, we could go back to moving those spaces, and we could look at all facets of this.

I would also say, I think if we want to continue to program the library and have more and more events there, I mean, it is really the problem comes more when they do have the larger events, the story times, the big, if the Walmart room is full. And so if we want to keep that programmed more, I think that's when you're going to see more of the issues with the parking too.

And so that was my biggest regret when we built the library is because that I always put things on hold and then I run in and get it. And I was like, why did we not do a drive-thru? Because, you know, it already has my name in it, but I will drive around trying to find a parking space longer than I will to check out my item that's on hold. So yeah. when they said they weren't going to do that. And if that's what they need to do for the summer, that's great. But we are going to notice there's not going to be as many people pulling in now because I literally was only parked there five, six minutes. And the whole spot is crowded. I mean, there's a lot of people that run in and run out.

I think the bigger picture is you want the library to offer more and more programs. They're only going to grow and they're going You want the Walmart room filled. I mean, that's 250 people for that. And that's where you're going to need to run into the real parking. It's not necessarily the everyday, but if you want those programs to grow or more people renting those spaces, which I think you will get just naturally because you'll see a parking issue more and more often with that. That's just my... Let's get a...

um the tree and landscape met last Thursday and I'm going to mention something that is going to be coming to city council but there has been some work put into creating an ordinance for um property maintenance and it's to establish an exemption for manage native and pollinator landscapes um We're going to get the agenda on Thursday. And again, it's a quick turnaround. Because I serve on tree and landscape, I've had the opportunity to already say, hey, what do you think about this? And when you really think about it and you look at it, it could cause issues, you know, because some people want to have a whole yard with native plants and pollinators and not have to mow, basically. So they can, and I don't, Shelly's not here, so I don't want to describe it just from what my understanding is. You know, so basically you get a permit and you say, hey, I'm just going to let my yard go and I'm going to have these native pollinators, things like that. which sounds great and it sounds very good for the environment, but some of the pushback and feedback I'm already getting is, You know, what about the snakes? What about the you know, what what if? And so I just want to give you guys a little more time and you can request a copy of it. I think it's in draft form just because I think we need to find out from the constituents, because if their next door neighbor decides, hey, and and and. Again, with every issue, parking and everything else, who's going to go out and check and make sure that everything they have in that yard is native and not invasive, you know, that type of thing. And so the tree and landscape passed it, like, hands down. They loved it. They thought it was great. Me looking at it comprehensively across the city and talking to constituents, I could see where it could cause some pushback.

Is there a limit?

Well, that's what I would, I would like for you to request the draft. That was something that Shelly proposed and they did not. Yes. That was something that they, because I think Bella Vista has that. And I, I'm not a voting member, so I don't really get to put input in, but I think that's something, if you look at it, I think that might be a better direction, but I don't want to like, I don't want to speak to, too prematurely because this is what they presented to them my understanding is it will be coming to council the next meeting which is not a lot of turnaround time as we find out in all of these um you know meetings where people have strong opinions either way i haven't found anybody that has been like uh i could go either way it's either that paid it or they love it i think that

have some information on this that i'm happy to i don't know how i'm legally this is great that's why i brought it down it's it's pictures and examples and research and all those kinds of things so if anybody wants to see like this is what and this is what this will look like i can share that so i don't know if i need to send that to Your office and then we can send it out.

I can just send it to everyone. I mean, the question always on this stuff is, we hope everybody, what is the enforcement mechanism? And that's my biggest draw is to be clear of what happens if we go out there and it's not all, because we will get, I anticipate we will get

They need to fix it. That's what happens now.

But you've seen my father's laws. And you're going to see this too. Like, for instance, I don't really want to bring this up, but like our noise ordinance, right? How that gets, you know, is challenging. And so what I am asking on all this stuff is that we have a very clear direction for the enforcement people.

I think it's going to be, I mean, we're asking then our code enforcements. individuals to go out and get more stated.

You don't know what's in there.

If they go out and they don't... That actually has to go out. Because, I mean, once you get an invasive species, I mean, it could take over.

I think we're already...

I think you're already seeing... Like rain gardens, you could put... People are doing a lot of it now.

People are doing it now and they're just kind of mowing the edges. And so I think they're trying to solve for that because Technically, I think the current code, you're supposed to. But this would change that. We are allowing it. So just, you know, kind of being allowed that.

Just because something is new and something poses a problem may not mean that it's not the right direction to go. And so, yes, Holly's right. We should have time to take a look at it, to see the research. to see that there are cities that are actually paying people to do these types of things because it is good for the environment. It's good for water retention. So water doesn't flow as fast over things. There are a lot of benefits to it. So great, we should pay attention to what the unintended consequences might be, but we also need to pay attention to what are the benefits that could as a result so if anybody wants the research that I've been given so you can see what this looks like because you're right there's a process to it it starts out looking rough and you have to manage it and you have to tend it and there are people that are passionate about this and they're going to do that so just because it's not easy doesn't mean it's wrong so I would just like to share that

It's similar to, we have a traditional stormwater. We have a typical infrastructure for stormwater that we've been enforcing and have designed for years. And even though we passed green building programs, which allowed graywater back in 07 or 05, nobody really understands it and you still have to do the traditional method. But there are methods and projects that I've seen that won awards the other night that is using, similar to what we did over there on Bright Road, where we're gathering, there's no curb and gutter, there's rain gardens and you're sloping into areas of natural habitat and letting the ground hold the water much longer without the runoff. We don't use as much water. So there's aspects of this that can not only be yards, but it also can influence how we look at our future water control and stormwater instead of rushing it all out of town. How do we collect and keep more of it? And so I think it's a valid conversation. There is, you know, always challenges to everything, but I'm looking forward to having a conversation about it. I'm not on either side. Now we do have areas, but we have land. We save lots of it for the pollinators, the birds and the bees. And we have swarms of bees that come through. And, you know, we, so we having some first of spring to something for them to eat at the very end. So it's, I get it.

So my suggestion is just reach out to Shelly and ask for this. I would say it's a draft, but it would at least to give you more time to start working on it. Because to me, I mean, it's something that really needs to be looked at and to understand clearly. So yeah, it's more just to give you pre-warning since this was a big part of our discussion.

Ask if you can draft one like, Make sure if you're getting that, that everybody realizes in draft form, because that's sometimes what can get us. The other thing I would also remind you of, we're trying to get these things together as quickly as we can and get them in front of you. Sometimes we're getting them together as quickly as we can, and we put it on agenda, but you do have the mechanism to table things for future, for more consideration. So just always remember that. Again, we're doing everything as fast as we can.

And that's all I have.

Any other, you had a question?

I had a question about, in light of the news story that came out on Fifth Street, neighborhoods flooding, I thought we had already done something in the past on drainage in that area. Is there something else we're doing or?

We have done, there was a drainage study done by Meshack Engineering in 2020. And there were seven items listed. And one of those were installing some trench drains to try to move the water away from the flooding area and run it through a pond that wasn't being used to its full capacity. We've done that. That was done about four years ago. I did show some minor improvements. The pond is working now. And I think when I came, it was probably four years ago, I came before this body and said, we've done some work. It's going to make an improvement. But unless you put gauges out there, you're probably not going to see the improvement. It has been, in at least my opinion, driving by. And I drove by last Tuesday because I happened to be out of that part of town when it was raining. The water seemed to be a lot less than it had been in the past. Holly, I think you sent a picture in of a car driving into the water from this last?

A car got stuck. That picture got sent to me.

I was out of town.

Okay.

When I drove by there, that car was still sitting there. I don't know what time the photo was.

Well, it wouldn't go. The electrical system went out on it.

So we did do some work. It appears to have decreased, but that is a much larger – there's actually seven different problem areas. And that was the one we could work on without causing additional flooding downstream. So we did that. One of the items on that list, and I think it's problem area number seven, is actually the pipe along Battlefield, which has been part of the bond project that we've been working on that – Gets stalled.

They get caught up in all the other stuff.

It's caught up in other things happening. That has still got to happen first, because if we start releasing that water, it just starts flooding the next property downstream. And there are things being done. We're on the same schedule we discussed in 2020 when this came up, is get battlefields drainage issues solved, and then we have a place to dump this water.

The ordinance is on the tree and landscape agenda.

Good, good, good. Thank you. I was going to try to get it. And it's probably his final draft.

I skipped my turn, but the Saturday is the adult recreation center grand opening and ribbon cutting. And I think the ribbon cutting is at 1050. 1050.

The email from Lisa said 10.50.

10.50. Precisely at 10.50. So you get there early and have some food and drink.

You better get there real early to find parking.

Park at the church.

Well, because there's going to be the farmer's market.

Unless there's a funeral.

And then just also, one other thing I wanted to, we are, it is 1015? The parking garage on Central is open. So we are moving forward with the phase two of Dave Hill there. But I think what's not getting... communicated in everything is that the new parking garage is open. So yes, we are getting ready to start work on phase two, but there is and we have waited to do this to get the new parking dresser there is parking and so if y'all can help us indicate that we've tried to downtown Bentonville has done a video trying to explain that we've been in contact with the business owners down there, but I'm not sure every post I see, they're just putting in the signs that show that we're not showing that we just opened this new parking garage. And so if y'all want to help us communicate that, that would be great.

Michael, have we done a press release showing that now that we've opened the parking garage, we've waited on that to maybe let the, maybe the news will push it out too that says, hey, we waited to do this now that we have more than enough parking that we're taking out that we can do that. I haven't seen it in the news. I'm just curious.

ARCS does those, so I'm not sure if they've sent one out or not, but I can check. And then real quickly on the ARC, looking at the schedule, the event starts at 10 o'clock and it goes, the very last thing is the ribbon cutting at 10.50.

10.50, yeah. And that's what Lisa sent out.

But if you want to be part of the whole thing, be there at 10. Yeah.

Schools out now, you're going to see more bikes and pedestrians. Please keep an eye out for our kids.

I couldn't believe the difference today. It was such a blessing.

I didn't notice.

All of a sudden, I turned left, and I'm thinking, wow, this is really great.

I like those school buses.

Going through my neighborhood 45 miles. Okay, well. Oh, yeah, yeah.