City Council - Regular Meeting

Gone to the congressman, met with him, and he explained to them reasons that he believes that they're not coming to Arkansas, and we won't get into politics. But anyway, Tom and I would love for at least number two and number three, and I assume what was number – 11 that you were wanting to do the last one maybe go to to end up being all put into a study session maybe next week late or something like that but we would like for it to happen you want to have it next wednesday or thursday if you don't thursday's not good for you no it is oh it is so june 11th it's not good for me but y'all can have it without me

So, Charlotte, we wouldn't be able to adopt my resolution at that time, would we?

No. But you could schedule a study session and say that the, I don't know, I mean, you've got the two hours you've got to do for a voting meeting. So that would be hard to hit.

You could always just pass this tonight, and then if y'all agree that y'all want me to do it, tell the mayor to tell me to do it.

Well, for right now, then. If you don't, tell the mayor to tell me not to do it. Okay. Well, for right now, then, I'll make a motion. Yes, Tom.

I just want you to know, there's a lot of work that's already been preliminarily done. I'm going to follow up with Dan Stewart.

that's fine okay

not only the Safer Grant and what that implication is on number 11 that you wanna talk about, as well as the discussion on bond financing that is in 93. So I'd like to take it offline from this meeting so that we can banter all options. I just gave him a snippet today of some of the things that you have to consider on this. So.

It's very intensive. It is.

Chief, can you give us notes what the SAFER grant is?

The SAFER grant is, remember the grant that we got back in 2000, I think it was 2005. Steve Tedford actually wrote the grant, and he did it for the fire department. We received the grant, but then we found out that you know when it's done you still have to keep your firefighters and keep them hired and and it was going to cost us uh... uh... little office a little less than a million dollars but no over five years and after that some at six year we're in pay full price for personnel and so at the time which to have it i mean i think our budget I don't remember, our budget might have been $117,000 that year or something. I think he was on the council and Rob's on the council. And we had just been, I'd just been here for a year, a year or two, and that was when Mayor Edwards asked me into his office and said, no, actually I went into his office and said, They said we have to either turn this down or something. I said, but it's been a while and it's already been several years. And so we discussed it and had to turn it down. But what this does is it pays right now is different than what it was then. Back then it was for five years. Now it's only three. The percentage is 20% that we pay into it the first year on all salaries. The second year will be 20%. And then the third year is, what is it, 65?

I have different numbers from the documents that you provided me. It's now revised according to what I'm reading here. It's 75, 75, and 65. not 80-20. You mean? In Section 8. So there's something different. Okay. It says right here, in the first and second years of the grant, the amount of federal funding is 75%. It says the recipients are to contribute 25% of the actual cost of the project for two years and 65% of the actual cost of the project. There you go. So 80-20, 75-25.

And that's because we have a 5% match.

But it's different from the first time because you can do less.

Well, the first time was a five-year grant process, and so it was 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%.

The first time it had to be for an entire shift. Now it can be just four, right?

We don't know that for sure. We've been digging into it to see if there's a benefit to having a three-man shift versus two. I think you can apply for the two. but if it's not meeting the NFPA priority, they may set it over to the side and say this doesn't meet all the needs, and everybody else that meets NFPA goes in front of it. I went through a webinar last week.

Maybe we want to have a Thursday night. Did you say Thursday night?

Next Thursday.

What time? What time?

Six o'clock.

You don't want to say it? 6 p.m. Mm-hmm.

Okay, so you can't do it Tuesday night and bring all the department over here? No, you don't want that.

This could be your fire meeting. Yeah, let's start asking for raises for what they're doing.

I've done a five-year pro forma. I've done a pro forma with a two and a pro forma with a three or six or nine full time. Okay.

So I would like to move my other discussion to that same meeting. Thank you, council. Of a bond for Fire Station 3. Yes. And, Stuart, you would like for me to move paid for shift, paid for call on shift?

Do you want those three items on the study session agenda?

We'll just move that all. So in the meantime, so we don't end up having to call a special call meeting, do y'all want to go ahead and pass the resolution? And he can wad it up and trash it if you don't do anything? Okay. I'll make a motion we adopt the resolution for adequate staffing and emergency response through the safer grant.

It's a submission of the grant, right? Right. Application. Second.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Mr. Brown? Yes. Mr. Meeker? Yes. Mr. Terry? Yes. Mr. Rainwater? Yes. Mr. Tedford? Yes. Mr. Powell? Yes.

All right, thank you.

Do you want, so you want this, this is adopted? Until y'all ever repeal it or not, it's adopted.

Okay. So then we'll put these other items to?

Yeah, the study session on 6-11-26 at 6 p.m.

So are you saying that on 6-11, do we need to make that a voting meeting as well? No, it's just a discussion. Right here with the resolution right here. Okay.

We'll get this processed.

Okay, moving on. Number five, or I'm sorry, four, is Rod Powell discussion on unbudgeted financial impacts to the city. City funds.

So I don't know what we've made. I don't know if we should develop a resolution. I think we've been doing some stuff out of practice. It caught me when water and sewer commission's different. They operate. financially a lot more autonomous than we do. They are parasitic on our facilities and financial and those type of things, but they don't do anything really that impacts our general fund. So I'm targeting this more around general fund. And it kind of caught me when the Parks Commission had asked to change the nomenclature. They weren't going to change, they weren't asking for a salary increase, they were just talking about nomenclature on a body. And what really kind of threw me was Mr. Meeker, Ralph, had said, had asked about this person and turns out they've already been hired. And he said, this is a step that should have been done prior to approval. And I kind of agree with that terminology. Those positions in there affect, what they're doing affects the general fund. And general fund is what we are always scrambling over, trying to figure out what we're gonna do and what our priorities are. And we've had discussions. Me and AC have really kind of drawn the line on bodies being going to the fire department you know you're you're more likely to die in a fire an unnatural death in greenwood you're more likely to die in a fire than you are to be murdered or something and we have i think when things happen you kind of start questioning your priorities and if you've got four people working in parks and it seems to be a willy-nilly deal and I think we're constantly neglecting the priorities we have with the fire department with people's lives. So it started making me think, anything that has to do with the general fund, we need to know about. And I guess the only one that I can think of that we don't already know about, because the mayor would be involved, would be the Parks Commission. I don't care if they buy pink swing sets, purple swing sets, do inclusive parks. I don't care about all that. I wish they'd just make their own decision to do that. But when it comes to bodies, that 9% that we budget, which turns out to be about $255,000 a year, That's coming from general fund. And when they make decisions that affect that general fund, we need to know in advance. Because if we're scrambling for money, the last thing we want to know is they put another body on. And I know that they're working within their budgets. But so are other departments, and we're constantly having to reprioritize what they're doing when it comes to the general fund because the general fund's for everybody. I didn't know if anybody felt the same way I did.

What did you say about the mayor involvement? I didn't hear what you said.

You know what's going on, I mean, in other departments. Right. When they're doing something that might affect the general fund. Sure.

Well, I know after they do it.

Well, that's kind of a problem.

It is a problem. That's my point. And the problem is, as you know, I don't know where you were headed with that, but let me clarify. I go to parks commissions meetings, and I sit back there where Sonny Bell's standing, And I hear what they're doing. They approve it. It's approved. I have no vote, no say-so, no control because it is a Parks Commission.

That's, I think, what he was saying. I just wondered if that's what you were saying. Is that if it were under you, you would be coming.

I'm saying that in planning, you know. In streets, you know. Now, there are things that are done in streets that don't affect the general fund. And I'm talking about when I like the fact that the parks has a meeting and they decide to buy swing sets and build trails. That is their priority. Yeah, I don't have an issue with that. But when it comes down to that little bit of general fund, that 9% that we give them, we need to know what's going on.

Because their tax doesn't pay for salaries.

Casey came to us, if I recall, last month, I guess I can look at the minutes, and we approved the hiring of another. We didn't have to approve her. Well, they'd already hired her. If she's not, I mean, we didn't have to approve the hiring. And that's ultimately, I guess, I don't know if that's an administrative deal where he didn't have to approve her either. You know, I'm just saying, we said, yeah, okay. I mean, we have a check and balance there. I guess you're just saying you were just surprised that there was a new body being hired when we, you know.

I don't like surprises.

Well, it was already a funded position, just now it's, I guess there's more money being paid to this person. No? No, same salary.

Yeah, so I mean.

And it's fine. I do, like I stated before, I do think they're operating within their budget. But so are street department, these other departments. But when we're scrambling, you know, they don't know if we're scrambling for money. And we're trying to turn over rocks for money and trying to save and scrunch. And they're, you know, they're doing things that affect the general fund. that I think we need to know about before they enact it.

Well, I understand your argument, but I'm just saying in this case you're referencing, it didn't affect the general fund, I don't believe, because it was already a budgeted position. The person may have got a title that's going to be different.

It wasn't budgeted, though, was it? It was not an existing position. It was a new one added.

But there was a body getting that. Yeah, right. And just for the fun of it,

The commission, and that wasn't derogatory toward the commission, what I said, because that's not my role. I'm the mayor. I'm just here as a... They ask me if I have any thoughts, as does water or sewer, and I appreciate that. But Tom is here for all of those meetings, and he brings to light not just Parks Commission things, but... Am I right? They know what's happening with the general. So... They're aware of it. I don't disagree with what you're saying at all.

Well, I would say ultimately any position that gets either created or a body, I feel like they at least come to us and say it's happening, and we have the option of saying no. Unfortunately, that's what the budget's all about. We approve the parks department slash commission gets this cache of money, and then since we create all these commissions a long time ago, which we all know I hate every one of them, they just go spend wherever they want so we really don't have any say over what a commission does with their department we all we do just say here's your 500 000 have fun this year we'll see you next year or whatever the money whatever the number might be 255.

Well, I think we do have, you might not say we have complete control, but we do have some influence, especially saying that 9%, that $250,000, you know, still, you know, can impact, you know, the Parks Department. And I still think that, yes, it's almost like saying, you know, we're doing something, then we're asking for forgiveness. You know, and you say, hey, it's already been done. And it didn't really give us the time to, you know, it was, presented and, you know, they say, well, it's already a done deal, so let's just go ahead and go along with it, especially when you say it's kind of budget neutral. But still, I think, yes, they should give us consideration and time to really discuss it to say, you know, whether we have an ability to take.

Well, no, we, you know. Well, just like Mr. Newcomb's argument. If he goes to the Water Commission, which he very wisely said, I'm not going to. I didn't elect them. But if his situation gets brought up to them and they say, oh, we're not going to repay him, I feel like we have the authority to say, we're going to refund him his sewer money if the commission doesn't want to. I don't know how the ordinance is written, us versus the commission, but that's always been my argument. The people elected us, and if... a citizen thinks he should get refunded and the commission doesn't, we should be able to override anything any commission does. That's how, if it's not that way, it should be, I think. Like I said, we're elected. I mean, that just, we represent the people of Greenwood, not any commission.

And another thing to think about is... Yeah, if council's good with it. Council, you need to come to the mic.

Hi?

Hi? Jim, come to the mic, please. Mr. Newcomb, I'm sorry.

Oh, I love it.

Sounds good.

Thank you. That's exactly what I meant.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you.

Okay, so one other point is when you're talking about bodies, that's going to be a natural part of growth. I mean, we've got the inclusive park now. that park has to be mowed. So we replaced a person who's gonna be doing the park program right now and we don't need a person mowing. So that person replaced the person who's mowing. But when you do an inclusive park and then something else, you have more to mow. And so all of those decisions are gonna impact the general fund in terms of people that you have to hire. So we're not just looking at I need a person, you're gonna look at the projects too. How much more maintenance, how much more this, how much more that, how much more people to maintain it? That's just a part of our growth.

So a commission has the ability to work within their budget and they can maybe even get rid of two people and hire just one for those two salaries, but what happens for the future?

Well, I'm just saying that as the Parks Commission engages in new projects, there's going to be a byproduct of a new body that at some point has to be added. So you're not just looking at people, you're looking at projects too. Because with every project comes maintenance and people to do that kind of work. So, I mean, it's all good for the city to just be prepared for more people. I mean, that's... It's the way it works.

With these financial triggers that we've also put into place through the ordinance, it's even that much more important that each one of these departments are very mindful of what they're doing and how it's impacting the general fund. Right.

Can I make a recommendation? I just handed in the water sewer ordinance that established the water sewer commission. Ordinance 1215 is the ordinance, the law, guys approve establishing the parks commission i'd like to make sure that what you're saying up here is in concert with what the actual ordinance that you gave them the authority to do and i'll read section two's first line is it 12 15 is that what you said the commission established by this ordinance shall have full and complete to the collection and distribution of the revenues provided from the operation, and it goes on and on and on. The point is, if you're going to pull back on some of that, you need to make sure that that ordinance is in concert with what your intention is, because this is the law.

Sure, it's the law, and it says that once we give them money, but we still have, you know, it's not in there that we have to give them 9%.

No, you can change that tomorrow. Sure. Absolutely. That's true.

That's the checking balance we have.

Yes. They have, when you're talking about personnel, this says they have the ability to do that without going to you. Yep. Because you gave them that.

And I agree with that portion of it.

You can run that by the attorney just to make sure. I'm not saying what you're saying isn't valid. Right. I'm saying make sure that what your intention is, matches what the ordinance says. That's my recommendation.

And that's the same thing really with the wastewater commission.

Correct. And that follows the actual language of the state legislatures. It's almost word for word.

I agree with that. It's the 9%. Maybe we should just cut it to 4.5%.

Well, it's a redistribution, too. You've been given it somewhere else.

Well, the commissions have to be aware of the 9%. They say, if I do this, then I've got 20 more hours of mowing. Yeah, and so if they say we do this, then we would have to have another person. That's not in our, we don't have 9% that's going to pay for all that. So they've got to understand those things.

I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying get in concert with what you're asking for.

Yes, but you can't. I have a lot of feelings on commissions. One, because it ties the hand of a mayor. The mayor is not.

That's why they were created.

I know, I know, I know. And believe me, I was on the end to protect because I was in Casey's shoes, and I respect that, and I appreciate it, and I always have. But as the mayor, it's tough because you see and watch and know, and you're talking about management from the commission, any commission. I'm not singling anybody out, but you're talking about management from a commission that is not paid. They're volunteers, which is great. I mean, they could walk out tomorrow. I'm done. I don't want to play. But the only way you can... I guess control is the only word to use is that you control the money that they get.

Well, I saw, I think too, though, as mayor, when you're, you know, you're standing back there, I think that you do have the, again, the power of influence. You can tell them to say how, what's your decision getting ready to make, you know, can have an impact on, you know, the rest of the, you know, the city.

I would like you to really consider that. Believe me, I have taken that opportunity. Does it ever matter? This is not about I'm mad at commission people, but it is all it is. You're right. It is hopefully some sort of stating, don't forget, here's what's going to happen.

We also have the power to just ban commissions.

Well, you do, but more often than not, they have made their mind up, and again, they've made their mind up, And certainly, on some occasions, I'll say, my power of influence is zilch. Sure, for whatever reason. And the public, general public, I said today, if I go over the square today and say, hey, who's in charge of everything at City Hall? 90% of the people standing around will say, well, the mayor is. Well, no, he's not. He's really not. It's far from the truth. So it's a tough, it's a rock and a hard place.

And I agree, it is between a rock and a hard place, but that's... And that's what we're negotiating right now. It's kind of, you know, we're in a rock and a hard place. It's a good discussion. And so this is how we, you know, we need to, I say we need to bring it up for discussion and just, you know, talk about it.

Well, we just control the purse strings as a body up here. And we also have the right to put it on next month to say if we get them, whatever, three quarters or two thirds, I'm sure it's in the state statute. We can say all the commissions are defunct. And we can vote that and move on to the next item.

And I want to make a comment, too.

I don't want to. I'm just saying that's part of the check and balance.

I'd like to make a broader statement as the mayor if I can. The commissions are doing a good job. 100%. You don't have a half a million or a million dollar inclusive park groundbreaking without somebody doing a really good job. And I'm going to give kudos to Casey. He got a half a million dollar grant. which is far bigger than any other grant we've received. Stuart tried to make a case today that his was bigger. Well, we didn't get to use it, though. We accepted it, but we had to turn it down. I thought I did a good job when I was a parks director. I've got $250,000 here and $100,000 there and $50,000 there.

Without a commission. Without a commission. So I'm just saying he could have got his without a commission.

He could. I'm just saying I don't think they're doing a bad job. It's just hard sometimes to... to have input that truly matters. And that's gonna come across that I don't like the commission, but that's not necessarily what I'm saying. That makes sense. If that helps.

Just so you know, they discuss everything they wanna do through, I mean, he's very good at communicating how it impacts the general fund, whether they have the money, could they use the expenditure and not manipulate, but work through their budget to save the money necessary in order to accommodate. We discussed that, and Charla and I do a good job to make sure that we keep them on point to say transparency you need to go to the city council and so they're informing you they're also telling you what their plan is they're telling you it's what the impact would be and if they don't tell you you look at me and i tell you what the impact is to the general fund and whether it's neutral or positive or negative and then decisions are made but i can tell you if at the time they bring it up when i'm in that meeting if i'm advising them that it's not something they need to be doing because they don't have the funds or there's going to be some radical changes that need to be made they didn't even come in there for you they won't even do it So I'm kind of a stopgap between them and you making an irrational decision. But what I don't want is no one needs your reactions either, saying, I don't like what you did and I'm going to penalize you because that's not in the best interest of the Parks Commission or the parks itself. You've got to consider the citizens as a whole. All I was trying to say, and I wasn't trying to be attacked, was that whatever you choose to do, make sure this is your law. make sure that you are working in concert with the wording in that law. That's all my recommendation.

Because they have full authority once you give it to them. You can't trump it according to state law, as far as I know.

I guess I agree with the state law. I was the one pushed for what you're reading. And I agree with having all these extra people that are involved in the city. I guess I'm questioning what keeps me up late at night is 9-1-1 calls getting unanswered. So that 9% that's going to the parks, it just seems to be a willy-nilly, grass has got to be mowed and all that.

It goes back to wants and needs.

Grass has got to be mowed, parks, whatever, okay. That part... I might start, over time, taking that 9%-ing, reducing it, and putting it in labor into the fire department, because I think that's a higher priority when 911 calls are not getting answered.

Right, well, just to ease your mind, though, that's part of that study session.

Right. So it is, in a way, related to...

Right, well, we've got a game plan that we're going to present at the state.

I'm going to defend a little bit the Parks Commission, for instance. I'm all for, and Chief knows this as much as anybody in this room, and so does Tom, what I'm for for the fire department, and the very first thing I'm for is increasing bodies over there. Not necessarily ready on a station three yet, or anything else before we get some more firemen or women, whatever. But the Parks Commission's role is the parks. They're going to be concerned about that, what they've got to mow and what they've got to do with the funds they have. Would they gladly give up a percent if they thought we needed more firemen? That may be a good way to ask the commission. But their role as a commission is to take care of the parks department and not As in the fire department could stir it now we kind of joke about this sometimes every time something comes up I always say we'll just take it from the fire station fire department. That's a joke But Stuart does not come to work every day thinking What he needs to do for the for the parks if I'm if I'm fair now the importance of the importance life Life-saving importance is up here right for us so It's just an interesting thing. I see what you're saying, and I don't disagree with it. It's just once you give power or authority, I should say. I don't like power. Once you give authority to whoever, whatever commission it is, it's theirs to do with. Fortunately, unfortunately, however you want to look at it. But to consider not giving as much to something in order to fix the problem is a great frame of mind to be in. I mean, if you're struggling, nothing against Casey because he knows how I live and breathe parks. But if they're rocking and rolling and they're putting in a park every year and they've got extra money and he doesn't have enough guys to fight a fire in the middle of the day because everybody's working, then you've got something to talk about.

I think that's my point. And everybody knows Tim was never real crazy about commissions. But I was always crazy about them. A&P Commission was my push. Water and Sewer Commission was my push. Parks Commission was my push.

And... And you've always been pro-park to the next level also.

Tim is correct. You don't have these commissions... For good mayors, you have them for bad mayors. But it goes a little beyond that when you have five water commissioners in place, you got five parks commissioners in place, you got 15 to 20 people that are involved in the city that wouldn't be involved in any other way. And that makes us stronger. Our parks commission has done a really, really good job And it's just, like I said, the part that keeps me up at night is 911 calls getting unanswered that are not getting answered. And you go to the parks and we just seem to be popping up with all these extra employees. And I'm thinking maybe our priorities are wrong. And you're right. That's not Casey's fault. And Stuart is not Stuart's fault. Stewart's working with what we're giving. Casey's working with what he's giving.

I'll answer his question zero. He asked how many extra employees he got this year.

But I think to me it's always like Steve has said, you know, really parks is all about, you know, quality of space, you know, and Steve's always impressed that upon me, you know, and parks really do add to our quality of space here in Greenwood and it attracts a lot of people to, you know, come to Greenwood. along with our schools, along with our sports programs, and along with our fire protection, our police protection. You know, we're safe, one of the safest towns in Arkansas. But also, along that is, yes, we're doing a great job of, you know, building parks and gaining parks, but along with that comes the maintenance of those. And you have to have, you know, the them to be maintained because people quickly notice that too when the grass starts growing too high or whatever and they're not maintained. And so I think, again, we have to be careful in how we strike that balance, you know, and saying that we just can't overgrow ourselves, that we're not maintaining what we have. Can I ask a question of you, Casey?

Yes, sir. I think it's imperative somewhat that you... if you want to, you don't have to, I'm not telling you what to do, because you got a commission. That was a little inside joke, is that you explain your thought process, because I know you had a thought process. I watch you every day, and not trying to defend anything necessarily, explain to the council your thought process of doing away with one employee and having another employee do a thing for a certain job task, and your plan, as Mr. Tedford has brought up, rightly so, you've got another park coming in soon. So you know, I know you have a plan of some sort of getting that park mode with what you have or something.

But it wouldn't change anything for us right now as far as the labor goes because we mow that park. There you go. So it doesn't change anything. Right. We're going to have less grass to mow because the grass in the park is going to be turf just like we have on our football field here. Mm-hmm.

Problem solved.

Problem solved.

Well, that's the reason I needed him to say it, because I could have said it, but that's not my department.

There would still be a maintenance issue five years down the road, whatever, upkeeping. I mean, you've got mulch.

I mean, you've got a rubber mulch. No, that's ash. No mulch. There is no mulch.

It's field turf.

But, yeah, you've got to tighten screws. You've got to make sure that the slide's safe and things like that.

We still have plenty of capacity in the maintenance side of things. That's not a concern for us. The new position was a complete pass through. We're actually paying less for this position by about $800. This new person does not have a dependence. We do not pay for any of their health care benefits. So that's saving us about $4,000 a year. We're not paying into retirement. That savings is about $2,000 a year, and they're not eligible for overtime. It's a salaried employee. So we're not paying for overtime at the end of the year.

Why are you not paying for retirement?

Because she's not eligible yet. not eligible yet you will be paying for retirement we're talking about this fiscal year though that's the focus of this conversation that's what i'm thinking well i think that's back to rod's original point that's the issue with that it's going to be their upcoming and so we all we just keep getting stockpiled stockpiled of but it wouldn't change anything because we would still be the person that was here previous we would still be paying that retirement for them right And same for this new person, we would pay retirement for them as well.

I want to add a little half a sense worth from a perspective of watching your guys. I've noticed more things being attended to. This is not about anybody that's not there anymore, but whatever you've done to regroup and regroup? Restructure. Restructure, thank you. In my opinion, as an ex-old parks guy and mayor that drives around and looks at stuff, there's been more attention paid to other things that were neglected, and they're kind of stepping up the game.

We don't sit idle in our department. Our team works.

I had a question I was going to get with you when we got to the department head, but since you're up here and this kind of goes along with that, We had a birthday party for my granddaughter at Bell Park a couple weeks ago, and it was in a pavilion, not the big one, but like the first little bitty small, maybe number two, maybe, over here. Should be one. She turned two.

Joe Bell's one. Okay.

It was the first smaller one, I think, there. Well, there was a lot of dirt had washed into that. It was literally all dirt on the deal. Yeah. I didn't know how often, if y'all know somebody's fixing them, I don't know if those have to be reserved or if it's first come, first served.

Reserved.

Okay. I was just wanting to ask.

I'll tell them tomorrow.

You know what I'm saying? If something comes up, well, four is being reserved today. We need to go over and make sure that the slab is clean. It wasn't an issue, but it was kind of slippery because it was loose dirt and it was washed and it was dried.

It's very timely. That's something our new person can do.

Well, you know, it wouldn't take long, I don't think, to just broom it out. But I meant to say something last month that I completely forgot. But anyway, yeah, I just, yeah.

He's managing the reservations of all those pavilions now.

You know, and it wasn't bad, but a trash can makes the trash cans empty. That's little stuff if you know something's going to be used this weekend or next Monday. Absolutely. Yeah.

Can you use them now? But to guarantee, you have to reserve them. Right. You can just use them if they're not reserved.

Yep, yep. If you want to make sure, yeah, guaranteed.

Thank you.

I really try not to do willy-nilly. I mean, I'm in that guy's office probably more than anybody else. They literally, although you didn't shut the door.

It's a wall. There's a wall there, yeah.

All right, thank you, sir. Can I answer any other questions? Well, I was just wondering, you said that that's the new person that's going to be doing. And so what, I guess that was to me, it was under your job description. So now what is your job description now?

Capital projects, grants, and going on vacation without getting phone calls. I'm responsible for all of this still. I mean, I try to have our team work as a team.

I'd say, you know, I think every department head, you know, has that problem. You know, we're going on vacation and still getting phone calls and stuff, you know.

Well, I have someone here now that can actually help me, that's willing to help me.

Makes sense.

All right, anything else? Thanks. Mr. Powell, were you good on that one? I'm good on it. Okay. Number five is A.C. Brown, discussion on trail and tunnel lighting.

Yes, I was just wondering, you know, where do we stand on the, in case you might need to come back up here. Where do we stand on the lighting on the trails and then the lighting in the tunnel? Two light poles.

We still have the light poles left over, the actual poles left over from the last project, so we'll be able to reuse or actually put those to use. We'll have two extra light poles wired into each side of that tunnel, and then we'll actually install light just like we have under the bridges right now. All Phase Electric is willing to do the work. It's about $11,000, which is an absolute steal. Conduit's ready to go. Those conduits from the terminating points to the lights, they're ran underground right now and capped, so all they have to do is tie into those and take off. Once I find out that that ground will no longer be disturbed in those areas, then we'll probably go ahead and get it taken care of. but it will have to be in next year's budget unless I can come and get a budget resolution from y'all to get it taken care of.

Well, I sure would like to see it done this year. I mean, this project has been going on and we've been, you know, no, it's going to be near a completion and stuff, you know? And so I know that, uh, to me, again, we talk about, you know, the, uh, the importance of our parks and the trails and stuff, you know, and, And I know a lot of people have been waiting a long time to have that trail in continuity again and stuff.

And I sure would like to see that. So now it's shut down again over here.

So while we're on the bridge, let's talk about the drainage and mud in the bridge. In the tunnel. Is there plans to do any kind of grading on either side to keep that out?

They've told us several times that the water should not be pooling in those areas. They also told us that before it was ours to maintain that they would have those issues remedied.

There has been at least, I have a conversation with RDOT every, how often, Danielle? Every other week. Every other week do I call, if they're not here in this building, do I call engineers and remind them of the situation, take pictures, send it to them? We have a verbal guarantee. that before contractors leave Greenwood, Arkansas, that bridge or that tunnel, that tunnel will be made to not hold water. That does not mean that on a downpour, a torrential downpour, water would not run in there and stay for a period of time. But the idea is that it doesn't, that we don't raise bass in there. And they can get tired All they want of me asking, but I ask at least once every two weeks.

Well, I would hope it was poured in with a little bit of a rainbow action.

Well, so, you know, one would hope. I'm not an engineer, but I make fun of a lot. I'm not an engineer, and I keep reminding myself of that. But if I went over there, in fact, Mr. Local Engineer Hunter Michaels, who's not an engineer either, but is close to one around here that we've got, I think, designed some extra wing walls, in our opinion, how you might make that. work. But our dot has said to me many, many times, Mayor, it'll be fixed. We won't leave you a pot or a pond.

So do we have any kind of sign off or approval of what they leave us or they just drive off?

Well, I think I'm taking a verbal I don't know what you mean. Like a punch list. Is that what you're asking about? Yeah, I don't have a punch list on the on the tunnel. other than them telling me constantly, we're going to fix this. And I don't doubt it for a half a second. I will not think that our dot will leave us with a bad deal. When four or four screen.

And so when can we get in there?

Maybe too naive in that?

When can we get in there and put the lights in?

I think that's up to all phase. The tunnel, the construction of the tunnel is complete.

I just want to be sure.

What they have to address is riprap and or ditches and or whatever it is to get that water out. Yeah, I just want to be sure. So, I mean, I don't think all faces want to go to stand in knee-deep water putting in lights. I would. I wouldn't. But as far as I'm concerned, I haven't asked that question of Forsgren. Hey, can we get in and put the lights up? But he's probably going to look at me and go, Is Forsgren the folks that built the tunnel? No.

Well, I don't know. Manhattan Bridge, I believe, built the tunnel. I mean, I have to assume that it's not doing this. It's got, so it wouldn't fit.

No, the problem is, I mean, if I go over there and look at it, and you do too, us not being engineers agreed upon, the sidewalk goes down into it.

It slants all the way to one end and it drains out the other end.

There's a plan in place to get it out of there. I'm telling you, I drive them crazy. I guess it's all kind of a downhill.

As long as it's not flat or convex.

From west to east. In the world where I live in... we would have had a Main Street connection that goes like this, and they'd have raised that up where it would never, ever, ever have any water. But I don't think that's logical on the street.

So you said it's opening Thursday?

Thursday.

And so when the trail?

No, no, no, the bypass.

The bypass is opening Thursday?

Yes, sir.

And then the trail will open when?

Whenever they get through with the rest of what they're doing. Okay. This is shut off here. They're building a temporary road right here at our back door. In fact, Shannon's worried that they're going to come through her window with a backhoe. That's a temporary road for access for Mobley or whoever's going to demo this bridge, Mobley, to come in here and take that bridge out. And then, as you know, there was a stake, and you probably can't see it now. I'm going to say eight feet this side of that bridge that represents the farthest this way. What direction are we, Hunter? It's over there. This way of the new bridge. You won't be able to drop your deposit in the deposit on the road, but it's getting a little closer.

It's a good paper airplane. It's a city hall, yeah.

Yeah, so... That's all. You can't walk. You cannot get on the trail behind City Hall anymore.

Well, you could just go right here.

Well, you could just.

So when can the lights go in? That's what I like, the 40-footer.

The tunnel?

When can the lights go in?

I don't know.

I think that would be up to. As soon as we have a budget resolution passed for me to spend the extra money, right? There you go.

And that budget resolution would draw money from parks sales tax? Well, can you have it next month?

Charlotte, would you care to put that on our agenda?

On the parks? The what? Sorry, again.

It's okay. The trail lighting, adding those holes. On either side of the tunnel, lighting?

Lighting, yes.

Yes, I will.

Where are the... The two lights right now that you said, the two pole lights that we have. Sorry, I didn't hear you.

And that budget resolution is going to include a light inside the tunnel?

Absolutely. Okay. We have two existing poles right now that were removed, and we still have them. Not removed, they're extra to the project. They were extra to the project?

There was one back here that we have removed.

And so is there, and there's one more somewhere? No, I don't think so. Completely separate. Okay. Disregard that. The, we have three light poles that are just the body of the pole and they're stored behind our storage area at Ridgecrest. Okay. Not being disrespectful to you. Yeah.

So I was just wondering, I heard that we do have the light poles. Right. We just need to. The light body itself.

I pulled in the other day, and they were in our backyard back here, really close with backhoes. And this guy was amazing. He's run a track hoe before. But he's back there just manicuring this thing with a giant machine and There were, of course, seven guys watching him. So I went down to watch with them. And we had a discussion about the pole that was removed right out here. And Casey had to cover up the, he had the pole removed, had all phase, stub it out, whatever, protect it. And then he went and got a trash can or something. Mineral tub. Then stuck it over it. And they covered it. with with top with soil for the slope of the of the temporary road. So if you knew where that for and you're thinking, well, we lost that. Well, it's not lost. It's, it's under dirt that will be removed once they build the road and or replace the bridge. And to answer, sorry, just off on another little bit thing. I said again today in a meeting with our dot three people from our dot and all of us talking about the logistics of the opening of the bypass. And Stuart had, I'm sorry, chief had asked me a while back, which I was also concerned. So I've asked now three times and I made sure today too, with Mr. Forsgren himself, I guess. I guess. No, he's not Forsgren. But anyway, I said, you know, we're going to do this, this, this, this. And he was informing me that the outside lanes wouldn't be open. So it's another phase of that. That's what they call that. And I said, well, I'm assuming you're not allowing traffic over there because you're going to finish painting the bridges. Because I don't know if anybody here knows, but two bridges are not painted. The other ones are beautiful. And he looked at me and goes, yes, that's correct. Painting the bridges. So as much as sometimes it looks like we're not on top of stuff, we're on top of stuff. Or everybody is. It's not... We're... We're on them now. Will they leave and we have to call them back on something? I don't know. That's possible.

Mr. Mayor, we're kind of on the demo of this bridge. I had a concern. A citizen takes me wondering about the Thursday ribbon cutting versus closing off this section. So, yeah, good question or thought.

So...

It's out. Okay. It will... From my perspective on this, what we were told today, we will do it. And the ribbon cutting is not for the bypass. The ribbon cutting is for our main street. The celebration is for the opening of the bypass. Later, when everything is finished, the two new bridges tore out, the new road built here to go down to 96, when everything is finished, not the widening of 10, But everything, they will come back and we'll do another whoop-dee-doo, probably ribbon cutting and saying, we're done.

Well, but just not to confuse people, those three lanes will be open after this ribbon's cut. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not just you can drive down there and have to turn around and come right back.

No, no, no, no. You'll be able to get on it. Heathglass, I'm old. So it's for the bypass. It is for the bypass. Per se. But it's not... They can't call it a ribbon cutting for the bypass because it's not all... Each end is kind of messed up.

It's not all the way to Coker Street. When will we have to cancel traffic between the bridges? Almost within an hour. Oh, okay.

Here's what I was told today. Here's 96 down there. This is horrible. I don't have enough toys up here. Here's... There you go. Here's the bypass, the new bypass. All right, this is not working. So, so down there at 96. When we do our opening, or our speeches. No, this is the trolley. The trolley when we do our our announcements, Commissioner will be here. Arkansas, Miss Arkansas, we're just gonna do a little little fun stuff down here at the entrance, right where the Masonic Lodge used to be, right there on that entrance onto Main Street. We'll do that. And people will park behind the courthouse to participate. Nothing's changed down here. The bypass is not open. You're still coming down here. But as we do that and get finished with it, the trolley will then take whoever wants to ride in the trolley on the first, I've been on it a few times, but not the trolley. The trolley will now be the first official vehicle on an open bypass getting on Main Street, and we'll probably, we can hang her left or hang her right, either one, or both, and come back, turn around, we'll do whatever we want. But as that happens, within a 30 minute to an hour, the blockades that are keeping you off of the bridge down here by Sean Lynn's property, by the backpack, 96, will be pulled over and block off this road. So they'll roll me off of Center Street. Yeah, and then they'll do the same on this end.

Yeah.

You won't get past City Hall. Okay, so Thursday it's all over. It's happening Thursday. And people will freak out. Correct. Yeah, there you go. At least it's not school. By the way, so you know, they were going to do this the week before school was out.

Oh, my God. And we begged.

We begged, please do not do that. And they said to me, Mayor, we hear you, but if that stops Forsgren from doing what they're contracted to do, that costs way too much money. We'll help you deal with it. Fortunately, there was a lot of rain, and they got postponed, and so we're doing it Thursday.

We received a lot of complaints, too, about them painting

The road at 5 o'clock. They picked the strangest times to do things. Like today, we were eating lunch at the dairy. Danielle gets a call from the PD, the lady that's in charge at the PD, Kristen, and said, what's going on? Traffic was backed up. We didn't know from where, but traffic was backed up, I guess, on the other side or down by Walmart. I don't know. So we may or may not have cheated. and with the with the street truck got on the bypass to get around that traffic went down to the other end to investigate and we get to the end where the bypass begins down there and what they were doing they were having to single lane traffic because they were laying new asphalt two days so it's a rush rush hurry up and get this thing i can tell you that it's just how things work sometimes. Best laid planning is not always, doesn't work, and it's not us, it's them. Forsgren's guy was not real thrilled that he was having to hurry up and get this thing open Thursday. He would have just as soon not and finished up what he's got on each end, but R. says you're gonna open it up. So, there will be quite a fun, It'll be interesting. People will not be happy, and I understand. In order to go to the east side of town, and if you're on the west side, so right there, you're going to hang a right, you're going to get on the main street connection, and you're going to go left, and you're going to get east. You're out of here. And that's how you've got to get to the schools, which are not well-off. If you live over there, that's the route you've got to take. And then the opposite, coming back. Now, if you're coming back into town from there, if you want to go downtown or to City Hall, you turn right, right there, come back to the square, hang another right, and go down to City Hall. But that's as far as you'll go right there.

Let's just say that there's a mailman that delivers in Forest Hills. Right. Right. And Home Edition. Right. Where the mayor lives. Yes. Has to go back and forth. Yes. She's not going to be happy. No. No.

I understand. A mail person. Mail person.

Yeah.

Oh, she knows. Well, that was the other question I was going to have. There you go. I'm glad you said that because I know we're off topic here, but it's important to talk about this stuff. This is a big deal happening Thursday in Greenwood. Mayor, am I good? Yeah, you're good. I'll get the lights on. Thank you very much, Casey. So down there, go back to 96, Tom, if you would. So at that intersection right there, there will be traffic signals eventually. But Thursday will be a four-way stop, which people are going to literally, utterly hate. Three-way. Three-way. Which is not as bad. That's true. So that's going to be a three-way stop. Go on up. It's not in the picture, but let's go to Pinkbud. And that's not in that picture. By way of Bob. By way of Bob. That's as far as you can go. So when you get down to Pinkbud on your left. Okay. Okay. Yep, yep. When you get down to Pinkbud on your left and you're on the bypass, you're going to just keep on going. There'll be no stop signal. There'll be no stop sign. You'll just head on out just like you're supposed to on the bypass. Beautiful, beautiful. Our issue today, as I mentioned earlier, was the concern of ours was people that have been driving forever. Daniel McDaniel, for instance, who lives down there. Dane Burgess. Anybody that lives down South Coker. we'll have tomorrow we're planning on our dot kind of guaranteed us that tomorrow will be two stop signs on either side of that bypass to stop cross traffic. Yeah, get used to we wished in a perfect world. Those stop signs were up two weeks ago, even though there's no cross traffic, but we should are not. I'm not speaking yellow bar dot. But it would have been nice if we'd had that up two weeks ago, get people used to it. So The stop signs will be up. We'll utilize our big flashing sign. We'll put any flashing thing we have to say in a sign to say stop.

What does it say?

Well, I'm talking about even like the street sign that says stop ahead.

Yeah, they're going to add stop ahead.

So we're going to do that on both sides of the bypass.

How about those little stop signs that have red lights? I love those.

I love those things.

It would be very handy. We talked about investing in some of those. I guess two stop signs is better than a stop light that you have to wait for. Are you kidding me? A four-way is better than a stop light.

But in the future, now let me say this. I've said it before, but just so everybody's on the same page. Right there at that intersection, we, when I say we, everybody that's been in the room with me, with our doc, which is Jeff and planning and a whole lot of people, have always said to them, Please put your traffic signal. I'm sorry, but that's going to need a traffic signal because that's going to be a big deal. Where at? Where I just described. At Coker? On Coker. When it becomes five lanes. When that becomes a legit five lane, we need something more than a stop sign. So they said to us at one time, Hunter knows and everybody else knows that We're going to plan for that. We're going to go ahead and have the right of ways for it. And I was under the impression they're going to put wire in the ground for it. I don't know that that's happened. And heaven forbid that they wait for an accident to happen to do it. But they know that we know that that's going to need a traffic signal someday. There's just no way around it. So that's what's happening. And that was our issue. And the police, the department, was concerned as we are too.

That way traffic will be backed up over there and not over here. That's right.

Traffic relief is really what you've done. Traffic relief, that's what we call it. It's three lane. It'll look odd because you will have a lane on both sides of this three lane that is perfectly finished but they don't want anybody on it because that five lane is going to two lane. And you don't want that just to happen. You want three lanes to two lanes. And then when they, they have a plan. All right, I'm so sorry. That's a lot of stuff.

Well, it's very important to know. It is. Especially if people need to know about this being closed.

Yeah.

Because they're going to come around the square and then they're going to turn on bell and go all the way around.

We even talked about today, you know, we still have the idea of a bypass that gets heavy truck traffic off of downtown. Yeah. Other than local delivery, you're never going to stop that. You don't want to. But there is still a renegade 18-wheeler coming both ends of town. And when they get right here, what are they going to do? So there will be times where we're directing an 18-wheeler.

If you catch them trying to turn around, just go right up the citation.

You know where they've been coming lately? You know where I live. They're on my street. And that is a hairpin. That's crazy. And I'm like, I just went out there one day and just waved at the guy. I'm like, I don't know what to do. Anyway, we'll deal with it. All right, I'm sorry. Parks, you're up.

You could have just stood up here.

Yeah, ordinance declaring related party with Jules Bakery and Megan Potter.

Oh, I'm interested in this. I bet.

new team member we just hired her family owns jewels and very periodically we buy things from jewels for special events or for study sessions such and such so I just wanted to be transparent and present a resolution for her I'll make a motion to put these ordinance on by first reading the title only second motion second

It is. Mr. Brown? Yes. Mr. Meeker? Yes. Mr. Terry? Yes. Mr. Rainwater? Yes. Mr. Tedford? Yes. Mr. Powell? Yes. It's unanimous. An ordinance declaring related parties authorizing the City of Greenwood to conduct business with Jules Bakery and for other purposes.

Thank you. There's no emergency, right?

No, sir. Those are bribery, those two dozens out there in front of the courtyard.

I see some donut boxes in here.

Those are left over from today's ribbon cutting, or ground baking. All right. Number seven is a mayor senior citizens up to center update. I try to do this. I haven't been doing as often as I should, but I'm tonight. I want to I think I think I may have told you informed you a while back that we bought a storage building for the center. And these are all both of these items, if not three. I don't spend any money without it being under my $5,000 limit. But we bought a building. We then, or the other way around, we poured a slab to put the building on. And instead of just pouring a separate slab from the building and just having it out there on an island when the cooks and whoever goes out to get their goods, we decided to basically pour connecting to the building, which is all legit. Hunter was there. He measured. We got the building away from it. So we did that. We bought the building. We purchased guttering for the building before we first got in, but we only guttered the front of the building. For every action, there's a reaction. When it came to pour down, we realized that water began to run in the back door. Lisa's really quick to call me and tell me or Danielle what's going on. And the reason the water was running in the back door is that we poured a slab. Did I just say that? So we created that. So we had gutter guys come back up and gutter the back of the building, which I was hoping I didn't have to do.

Are you sure you weren't involved in the Maple Ridge design?

I'm sure. Okay. I am sure. I think that's it. We did irrigation. We invested out there. Now this is all grant money left over and or money left over from the purchase of the right-of-way. This did not affect general fund. So we landscaped the building as we needed to. Real quick, we realized, huh, somebody's got to water that. So we purchased irrigation like we have here. I think that's all I've got. As we do other things, I've got a nibble. I'll come back to you, but I'm looking at a walk-in cooler freezer. Again, this is still money left over. I'm not going to go spending money without you know where it's coming from. So I'm looking at a cooler freezer. I watch Marketplace all the time. And this thing is five grand. I'm trying to get them a little lower, but they already cut it some. Jeff and I may go look at it tomorrow. It's actually running. It's not like the one that was donated to us that we never got because it was not good. Fort Smith, although we appreciate it. This is running as I speak, and so we're going to go take a look at it.

That's also part of the reason behind the concrete slab. Right, to set this cooler. To set the cooler.

And they're making it. I will tell you, when we bought the building and furnished it with the grant money that we received or the ARPA money, they have, I think, four nice-sized commercial freezers in that back room. And I go out there often, and they are crammed full of stuff, and it just rotates all the time. So they're making it, but it would be nice to have some more refrigeration and freezer space out there.

So what was being dug up by the sign there in the front? So that's good news, in my opinion.

That is a water, a fire hydrant. Chief just left. It is not, remember this discussion back when we decided to do this building or didn't decide? There's no hydrant there. James Ford, I asked months and months and months ago, a year ago, what's the chances of us ever getting a fire hydrant over there? And the answer was, if you pay for it, you can get it. And it was $20,000, $18,000, $20,000, just talk. And then I was made aware, you have a fire hydrant, but it's not a, I wish he was in here, and you may know the term, it's not, It provides you with water. You can't put your truck into it and suck water out of it. It's water available, which entails, I guess... I don't know what that means.

You can put a hose in it and squirt water out of it?

I'm relying on...

It means if we don't realize that, we take our gigantic ladder, tie it to it, and turn the suction on, and we collapse it.

Well, that's a bad thing.

But it's not the same time.

But the good news is you got water, and you didn't have water.

Any water would be as bad as no water.

Exactly. So James Fort called me, or the engine... No, James Fort called me, and he said, Mayor, do you still want this? And I said... I absolutely do. And he said, now, this is what it is. It's not what you would like to have because that's not a six-inch line. It's a four-inch line.

But you can fill your tank on the tank on your engine, or there's a tanker operation that's set up to pull when you do that. At least there's a supply up there.

Yeah, you really hope that you get there early enough you can get a good hit down with what you have on the truck. Because the replenishment is going to take forever.

Yeah, and I'll tell you, The chief, as he should, and I knew he would, but I invited him. I said, Chief, I need you to go to the senior citizen with me because we're getting a whatever it's called, hydrant. And he just said, oh, well, that's better than nothing. That was a positive comment. And I said, I need you to go with me so you can tell him exactly where you want it. Because I know if I don't take you, you're going to tell me later that it should have been six inches over here. So I take him out there, and I'd say this in front of him. I love the chief. He basically argued with the engineer about that should be a six-inch line. Well, that engineer could care less. He was very nice. We understand it should be a six-inch line, but they're not going to pay for it.

It could have been six inches for about ten feet, and then it still goes back to two inches.

So what you have is a brand-new fire hydrant to supply your water with. You don't want to hook your truck up, but I don't know how you guys – Make sure nobody does that.

You just don't want to watch the bank to make sure.

Yeah, so that's what that is. That cost is undetermined just yet to me. And I told them, without counsel's blessing, and here was the other thing. This is kind of like what you were talking about earlier when Parks comes up and says, we've already done it. This may be that situation, and I hate it, but they said to me, and I don't know if you noticed, the 4-inch is halfway down 10 now. They didn't stop at our hydrant. They kept coming toward Greenwood. They're replacing that line. So he said, you get it today, or you don't get it at all. Or you tell me you get it, you want it. And I said, I want it. And it's... And then I need a price. So I don't know what that is yet. It's not going to be $10,000. I do know that. But I'll let you know what it is, and hopefully we can work that out.

Did you tell them they needed all that replaced a six-inch line for high-rise?

That's what I was going to say is the chief stood there and looked at the guy and said, you know this ought to be six.

And he goes, I totally agree.

He said, I totally agree because where are you guys going to grow? Right down there. on those farms that's gonna be either commercial or subdivisions he goes I got you but we don't do that because as you know that's not their concern fire protection I'm not suggesting it but and it's probably nothing's ever too late I suppose but if the city decided that that's important for growth and I think it is maybe you have a conversation that you share cost and They're four inch to a six. I don't know. That's not what I'm talking about tonight. But right now, they went on down up the road or toward Greenwood with a four inch line. So it's one of those things. And even the chief, he did what I expected him to do. He changed his mind five times where the plug was going to be. And then he said, he kept saying that ought to be six inch. And the guy goes, I got it. So that's what that is out there.

They do realize that ropes will be wide.

They do. That's what they put it. That's what they were doing. So it came very, very close to the building, the storage unit building. It got in their flower bed, which is not a big deal. But yes, they're well aware. And there's other utilities being located as we speak out there.

You know, those water district bills, we've been back and forth on this. Attorney General's opinion is super vague.

Yeah.

There's, we should have been able, when they're doing, that's on, is it RC limits where they're putting the line or not? Only city limits where the center is.

That was the other thing the chief goes, he goes, you know, this is in the city limits and by code. I said, chief, we all know. We did not. The gentleman that owned that, Mr. Bell, I don't know if he officially requested, but he was asking about being annexed at one time, and he has sold it. Is that right, Sonny? Yes. So the only thing annexed out there on the south side of 10 is the Senior Sentencing Center. Everything on the north side from there to Greenwood is city limits.

We still, I don't know, it's going to be a big legal issue. Annexation? No, making them put a six-inch line. Because it's going to be developed one way or the other, more than likely commercial. I wish the chief was in here.

He said something to the alliance, federal, somebody's not going to pay for that. Whoever that was, I don't know what he meant exactly. So we got the best we could get, which is, You've got a pond at Church of Christ, and now you've got a hydrant that you can at least get water from for whatever that's worth.

That hydrant, you can't attach to it, right?

It's kind of like the ones that you see out in the rural areas.

Just for filling?

Yeah.

Filling the tankers.

So there's probably no way we would pull a vacuum and collapse the line? I don't think you'll have to. We've got a Y that you can do two two-and-a-halves, and we could collapse the line with that.

So your department, our department, needs to be aware that that

Wow, that's quite a basket there because, you know, at 2 a.m., you never know who's driving.

I know, but... Communication. I would hope that that's... There needs to be a marking, a G5, or a color coding. I would hope that's something very high priority to make sure that doesn't happen.

We'll leave that to the fire god, and he works for you.

All right. That's what I got. Any questions? Yeah, I got one question.

So who would have been, I mean, they had to have made the decision to run the four-inch line. Where could we have inserted ourselves to have that discussion with them before they made that decision?

I did insert myself.

I mean. And they said.

Before they started? They said, here's what they told me early on. If you want to pay for it. Because they're not in the fire suppression business. That's not what they do. They're in the water supply. James Fork. Believe me, it was inserted. I did it more than once.

Really, the way I look at it is when the time comes and it is a subdivision going out there, a commercial building, they pay for the infrastructure extension.

To Ralph's point, we have them if they've been annexed.

Because then, we try to annex that. That's it.

That's all that's annexed.

Beyond that, I mean, could I have made them put a six-inch on ours?

If they were operating in the city, yes.

Right. And Chief pointed that out to the engineer who could care less. His job is to put the thing in. I'm not saying it's the perfect scenario, and I don't know. I can only tell and ask.

the board of James Forbes who you'd have to talk to, the engineer could care less. That's right.

Yeah.

Right. Yeah. So he even said, I think he said this, because Stewart, the chief, kind of kept on with him, the engineer, and he was really nice. And he said, I don't think it's going to do you any good because whatever's coming across the street, is that a four? Yeah. Or is that a three? It's a three. He said, I'm not going to do any good to hook a six up to a three for 100 feet. Now, is it against the code of ours not to have a six there?

But it's a little like our policy out at Shadow Lake. We've replaced from hydrant to hydrant, and we put in a six. So like Tim Posey said, you've got this little inch and a quarter, inch and a half line goes to a six. It opens up and then goes back after a few hundred feet, goes back. But at least we've got one section right.

But you're not going to get the pressure from the three to your six. I'm not an engineer, but I know.

But at least we don't have to dig all that back up. to replace the line.

I'm sitting there, standing there, faced with a decision whether to have a fire plug with water available or not.

It helps. It's better than nothing. To me, going forward, is really just how When we do annex, how do we acquire customers from James Ford? That's a whole deal.

And we've been to Little Rock. I don't know who here went to Little Rock. We failed miserably at Little Rock one time about years ago when I went. Was that you, Sonny? I don't remember who went. Yes, sir. Okay. And that was just a – we wasted our time. Until somebody decides to govern rural, I'm not here to talk bad about Jamesport because they do what they do and we do what we do. It's the whole rural water.

It doesn't work well. Well, the water rights deal is just, well, we're picking this area on a map and this is ours. And so some attorney general made that opine.

I don't like that situation any better than anybody else does.

I voted against joining them anyway. I wanted to go to Fort Smith. We had a chance.

Any questions on that report? If not, we'll go on to... I'm sorry? Okay. Number eight is a phone system change, and my name's on it, but I'm going to defer it to Charlotte.

Okay, so the IT committee has been spending months since last year, mid last year, on trying to search and talk about and find the best phone system to replace what we have. We have an internet-based phone system with Cox. We had a three-year contract. We have not been thrilled with the system. I've never liked the homes myself, but the handset, and it's just very difficult, if not impossible, to change holiday messages, any kind of messages. Anytime we have something, an outage or whatever, we can't. just go in there and put it on so DCR whom we trust with our lives around here for they've earned that trust over the years believe me they they've used snap calm for some years and they didn't want to necessarily influence us, but they recommended it. So we asked them as a committee to get us some quotes using Dobson, who's running fiber here close to the building, but that's a long ways out, so we need something sooner. That could be an option later on, you know, whatever fit our needs. but this is a voiceover IP system and so the decision that for the council because Going with it with snapcom is a better deal. We need to do that versus Dobson right now but do we want to purchase the handsets and things or do we want to lease them and over the long haul of 36 months in the future it saves money to purchase them so That's what these figures are. DCR did so much footwork on this and getting everything lined out. Danielle and I watched a webinar on the Snapcom system. We really liked it. We were very impressed by it. So we are in agreement that we would like to go forward with that. I was talking to Travis today, and he's got a voiceover IP system that he's using now, and he's enjoying it, him and his team.

Do you want to lease or purchase it?

It's recommended to purchase because it saves money over the party six months and it doesn't it neutral Affect our budget this year so and in any futures, you know, it's the same amount of money It's gonna be easier. It's gonna be better One big plus is you don't have to have handsets. You can use your computer. You can use your phone Travis was saying today how when you're using your phone it doesn't use your personal number it does something else anyways it all sounds great they've used it for four or five years at dcr they absolutely have glowing reviews over using it so when we purchase the monthly will be 532 then if we purchase instead of the 921 yeah yeah because it's a lower price lease you know you have to buy them up front but what are we what are we paying right now And we had an outage last year with Cox that lasted three days.

So I'm saying if we purchase, then it's the 532 times 36 is the 29, and then you add in the 7 and the 35? No, that's it.

That's your outlay for the six months with that one-time thing.

Oh, okay. So it's just 29. Okay.

Yeah, we're saving a lot of money by going to it, too.

I forgot to add that.

And she's got the lease number there, too, which is the same 36 months as 36.6.

Yeah, and you can see the savings there.

So do you know, have they given you any indication of the useful life of the phones themselves? So if you're if you're buying something, right?

No, I haven't. I haven't asked about that.

And the other question would be if you least will they upgrade or replace Yeah, because that would, I mean, if you end up, if you purchase it, you end up with that phone for whatever it's used for a lot.

Well, I will say we're not buying all replacing phones. Some of us are not going to have handsets anymore, so we are reducing the inventory that is that, for one thing. The other thing, going to where you can use.

Steve, the way I look at it is, if we're buying phones, You know, I mean, it says $29,000 is for the 36, over a 36-month period. If we're leasing, it's $36,000. And so, really, all your, the difference is, is really the outlay, basically, of the one-time purchase of the phones. And I'm thinking, if we get three-year life out of phones and you buy, have to buy, you know, at the end of three years, have to buy new phones again, you know, because of technology changes or improvements, I'd say that's really a pretty good deal.

They factor the...

Does that monthly rate, is that including all the maintenance and support for the system?

It shows the terms and conditions on here. It's just standard.

The budget turns out positive. Right.

And we are going to have to pay DCR for the switches because NAPCOM does not provide the switches for the incoming. That's factory. That is factory. That's already in it. Yes.

Okay.

And they've provided a detailed switches quote for us.

So is this stuff going to be like a Wi-Fi based deal?

It's. I'm not sure because I don't have experience with it. Do what?

Wi-Fi based deal.

It is going to be, you are going to be going over the internet as opposed to. And it's a cloud thing too.

Are you familiar with the voice over IP system?

Me?

AC.

Oh, I'm just saying you really don't know the difference until, you know, just you have an internet outage or something like that. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's the voice quality is.

I'm just worried about losing phone service if your Wi-Fi crashes, which happens a lot more than a tornado wiping out the building.

Huh?

Yes.

Because of the cloud. You'll have an app that you can go in there and personalize your messages.

That's what Travis was showing me. He can get an app and he can call from this. My caller ID will say his office from his cell phone.

It's got a lot of good features.

I just want to make sure we don't lose phone service because some people may have a flip phone out there and can't do this.

Well, Travis had the point of, you know, if your phone has service, you can still get on there, even if your internet's down here at the building.

So are you needing a vote on this?

Yeah, we need to know whether you'd like to purchase or lease, and this will authorize the mayor to enter into whichever one you want. Contracts.

I'll make a motion we purchase the phone system and allow the mayor to enter into the contract.

We have a motion.

With Snapcom, yes.

With Snapcom, yes, sir.

We have a motion and a second.

Before we vote, I'd like your next point. Can it be included in this deal with Snapcom, or they can get that service, or no?

Cox Internet? Yeah. Cox Internet?

I thought Cox was talked about. We don't like Cox on the phone.

No, Snapcom is just a voice-over IP system. It's a phone system as far as I know.

It's not Internet. The phone system? Until we get the fiber. Okay, I'm sorry.

Go ahead. I just want to make sure we get the entire thing in.

Right, right, right. No.

Like Charles was saying, until we possibly go to fiber with the adoption.

That's correct. Mr. Brown? Yes. Mr. Meeker? Yes. Mr. Terry? Yes. Mr. Ravenwater? Yes. Mr. Tedford? Yes. Mr. Powell? Yes.

All right. Thank you, gentlemen. And then you want to go right into the Internet.

I mean, our Internet pricing. I mean, I don't know. Do you know more about this, Tom, than I do? Anybody? Yeah. We have to re-up with them, so we have to enter into another contract, so we're talking about a two-year contract for this internet service. DCR has been after Cox to give us a better standard of internet than We were sort of grandfathered in and getting an older Service whereas they would give new customers better service, right? So they fought for us to get better faster service and this proposal increases the internet service at city hall fire station number one water distribution and wastewater and reduces the price for internet everywhere but city hall so the reduction in price more than offsets the price increase at city hall and so this is the best supposedly we're going to get because they've fought for us on it and we have to have something so we can't get dobson yet we do want it we want to pursue that but that infrastructure is not in place yet

Two year contract and then we can do something else.

Right, and I mean, we've been having caulks. It's just, we would like the very fastest, and I think when Dobson gets in there, that'll be the fastest option and the most reliable option, of course, because it's fiber.

Have we heard back from, I know they've not been back here, but have we heard back from them at all, Danielle? Right, but we've not heard anything back.

It's just taking time for them, all their easements and all their rights of way and blah, blah, blah.

Are you saying then for the new two-year contract, it'll be the $350,000 for everybody, or all lumped into one?

Well, I... I don't know. I haven't vetted these numbers. I mean, I know that they compute on a calculator or whatever, but all I know is these are the prices they have offered. This is what DCR has offered. been on our behalf. We gave a special, the mayor authorized them to be our agent for this because they have that knowledge. None of us that work here have this kind of, that's why we have them. This fits our needs the best from what they can offer. Is it the most ideal? Probably not, but that's the only option we have right now. So we just need the authorization to enter into this two-year contract. We really don't have much choice. This is our internet.

I'll make a motion we allow the mayor to enter into the contract extension with Cox. Second.

We have a motion to second.

Mr. Brown? Yes. Mr. Meeker? Yes. Mr. Terry? Yes. Mr. Rainwater? Yes. Mr. Tedford? Yes. Mr. Powell?

Yes. All right, thank you very much. We are now to department, unless I've missed something, I won't be moving around. Department had reports and questions from council. Got a few here.

I had a question from a citizen up on Nashville. What you guys got digging there? Is that along?

We're doing an overlay of the street.

Where the flags are? Okay. That's what he was worried about, was that he has an easement there with some pipe that he was afraid was fixing to get dug up.

No, there's not going to be anything in it.

Aren't they just doing this? That's going to be a tad wider than what it is.

Yeah, we're going to gain some as far as that goes. But not into any right-of-ways or anything. Okay. I don't think anybody's wanting it there.

Was that Roger questioning?

No. I know exactly what's going on. Or Chief.

It might have been Chief. He lives there too. Okay. Anything else for anybody? When do we what? You don't. I do have one little update. Anytime you want, sir.

At the end, I have an update on my conference.

Okay. Do you have something?

Just to put in front of you, for consideration, this is June, and cards contracts might need to be looked at. And I know there's some issues now with the water department. I talked with them today. There's a lot of issues with customers. and their service cut off. With cards? With cards. Well, that's what I was told today. They're very frustrated with customers and them doing some issues with the building. And I know that when they do the write-offs, there's a lot of sanitation write-offs with their water bills where they turn it over to a collection agency and they hear that in their meetings, the water commission does. So I didn't know what the discussion was going to be, but we don't want to wait until the 11th hour.

I'd suggest we get Cody. Cody, sorry. Good friend of mine. Cody in. Kind of like Bob Purvis is? Kind of like Bob Purvis. Cody will be glad to come in and answer any questions regarding that.

Are you talking about people who are still getting billed for trash that don't get service anymore?

No, they're not. Are they being billed? No, they can't because they don't have their information to do it.

I mean, the only, the issue that they have to start, some items of contact are hard to do.

That's what I just said. They are getting billed.

We'll get we'll get Cody and it is the contract at up at the end of June or the end of July. July one, so we should have something here that I actually thought we had another year.

So we may have to have another special called. Something was brought up not coming was here not long ago. And he made me think that we were set for another year or two. I mean, we'll find out.

Okay, if that's the case.

Yeah, because jokingly, not jokingly, Daniel says to him, what are the rates going to be? And he goes, same as they are now. We're not doing anything.

Oh, okay, that's what it is. Their rates can come up.

Yeah, they can, but they have to, yeah. But we'll check tomorrow and find out.

Charlotte, put that on the agenda for next June. Next June?

Never too early.

If the contract is up at the end of June, I'm for a special call meeting.

So, y'all don't want anything on the July agenda?

So, if somebody moves out of a house and they cancel their trash, they need to call the water and cancel water and trash? Is that how that works? Yes. Okay.

It's all in with the bill.

Okay. So, my mother doesn't need to call cars. They just need to call us about the trash service. Right.

Which...

you have a problem with the trash service though you call cards right i mean they can but sometimes they have a hard time getting hold of them so they can still call here danielle's yeah they call water office and the water office can't get through they say to cards so i don't know what in the world danielle there's not that name on her window but she's also a cards employee liaison liaison okay uh anything else council Yes.

Oh, I'm sorry. You had something. That's okay. I went to the IIMC, the International Municipal Clerks Conference. I was there from May 16th to 21st was when the classes were. I received 14 certifications and certificates, and I completed all these classes and everything, passed little tests. We talk about our classes on AI productivity, policy development and implementation, storytelling with minutes, you know, quirky things. And it was a great, great deal. And $2,000 is on its way through the mail today. get back to us to pay for that from the state clerk's organization. And so thank you for allowing me and the budget to go. And it was quite a good experience representing our region and the state.

And that's it. Thank you. You're welcome. Appreciate you doing it. Representing us.

Yes. I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

That was my line.

I'm adjourned. Yes, I did.

I'm adjourned every week for 20 years.

Right.

Thank you.