City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to City Hall in Jonesboro, Arkansas. This is Tuesday, 02/03/2020 ahead and begin this evening with I'm gonna lead us in pledge allegiance, and then Janice Porter will lead us in invocation. If you would, please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, another god, indivisible with liberty and justice wrong.

Please pray with me. Dear, kind, and loving father, we thank you for the many blessings that you've given this city. We know that every good and perfect gift comes from you. We ask you to protect our first responders. Please give us wisdom and understanding tonight. Help us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with

If

you would, please go ahead and call Roe. Doctor. Coleman? All right. We do have 12 members present this evening. We don't have any on special presentation, so we'll move on to number five, items on consent agenda.

Move to adopt unless any changes are noted. Second.

Do we have motion on the floor? If you would please cast your And the consent agenda does carry. Now we'll move on to resolutions to be introduced, and that'll be resolution twenty six zero zero seven.

Resolution to set judges, clerks, and alternate workers for the twenty twenty six city water in light election. Be it resolved by city council of the city of Jonesboro that the following persons be named as judges, clerks, and alternate workers to serve in the election for directors for positions one, two, and three at at the City Water and Light plant of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, an improvement district, which election is to be held Thursday, 02/19/2026. Judge Jamie Stahl, (870) 740-1494. Sherry Kaufman, (870) 931-8606. Glenda Frankenberg, (870) 930-0598.

Clerks, Kathy Gibson, (870) 243-2134. Linda Watts, (870) 761-3206. Alternates, Carol Falonga, (864) 437-0207. Nicole Scott, (870) 340-3776. Sean Kelly, (870) 919-3987. The polling place for such election is hereby designated as the 1212 South Church, Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Do we have any discussion by counsel?

Mayor, I'd ask I'd be recused. I move my

position

on

the board of directors, city water light. Any discussion by counsel?

I

need a motion to close.

Motion to adopt. Second.

We have a motion on the floor. No discussion by counsel. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any. If would, you please go ahead and cast your ballot.

And that does carry. So next we'll move on to the next resolution. That is resolution 26,008.

Do we have

a date and time

for this before I start?

February 17 at 05:25.

A resolution to set a public hearing regarding the abandonment of

a drainage easement located in part of Lot 5 R of the second edition of Block C, Southern Hills, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Whereas the property owners have filed a petition with the city clerk of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas requesting that the city abandon a drainage easement in Lot 5 R Of Block C Of Southern Hills being more particularly described as follows, and the property description follows. Whereas the petition has been presented to the city council of the city of Jonesboro, and whereas Arkansas code requires public notice before the above drainage easement abandonment can be vacated and abandoned. Now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas that the city clerk is directed to publish a notice advising advising the public of the request by the adjoining property owners to vacate and abandon the drainage easement mentioned above, and this matter will be heard before the city council on 02/17/2026 at 05:25PM in the City Hall located at 300 Church, Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Move to adopt. Second.

Do I have motion on the floor? Any discussion by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. If you would, please cast your ballot. Ballot. Right. And that does carry. So now we'll move on to item number six. Are items on new business, and these are ordinances on the first reading. We have ordinance twenty six zero zero four.

Move and suspend the rules and offer by title only. Second.

We do have a motion on the floor. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

An ordinance to amend chapter one seventeen known as the zoning ordinance providing for changes in zoning boundaries from r one to r s seven for property located at 1306 Charles Drive as requested by Westin Wagner.

Do we have any discussion by council? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well, so now that ordinance will move on to its second reading. Now we'll move on to item number seven, and these are items on unfinished business, and these are ordinances on the second reading. We'll start with ordinance twenty six zero zero one.

An ordinance to amend chapter one seventeen article three known as the zoning ordinance of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas providing for a change in zoning boundaries from r one single family medium density district to c three general commercial district for property located at 2620 Alexander, Jonesboro, Arkansas as requested by Paula Thompson.

Any discussion by council?

Mayor, do have a question on this item. Okay. Actually, if I can have Darryl Smith come up, we were going to discuss possibility of the 25 foot buffer regarding this property.

Okay Darryl, if you would please.

Yes sir, at the Planning Commission meeting, one of the requirements, and I made see the minutes, so I wanted to make sure that it got on the record, was that part of the one of the conditions was that it kept a 25 foot natural buffer along all the residential sides of the property. And so we just wanted to make sure that got in the record.

That is in there? Yes sir. Okay. Alright. Any other questions, councilman? I do have a question. Yes sir, councilman. Here.

With you there, know that one of the property owners next to them were talking or had discussion discussion with that property owner about the rezoning and I know they had some questions as it relates to the overlay. Is that the same thing that we're just talking about?

It's different. Different. This is in the Overlay District.

Okay.

So it will have additional requirements besides it'll have building design standards, it'll have additional landscaping and it'll have signage requirements that normal C3 will not have.

So if this citizen, this property owner next to them is having discussions about it, would that necessarily I guess I'm answer my own question, but I was wondering if it would make a difference with this actual ordinance itself in that type.

The actual ordinance is for c three. It doesn't and it allows anything that's in the c three zoning. There's no no limited use overlay with this ordinance. It was they did ask about it at the Planning Commission. The representative at the time was not able to speak with the clients, and so he asked that it go forward as c three and planning commission went ahead and since it does meet the land use plan, they went ahead and forward it to city council.

Gotcha. Thank you.

Any other questions? Yes, councilor. Just wanna follow-up on that. And I know I spoke to you earlier. If we still have another reading on this, if they do come back and want to propose an overlay, would that require this whole ordinance to go back again and start over or could it just be amended? And that may be a legal question.

And I may wanna take a look at that. That was posed to me right before we started. I mean, do think that somewhat of a significant change, but it might not have to go all the way back to first reading because it's becoming more restrictive versus less restrictive on the property. But if there's an agreement between the parties we might hold it at third reading for one more one more time just so everybody knows what the limited overlay is that's proposed but I don't

I would like to see what the

What's proposed.

What would be proposed as far as

To see how big a change it is.

Opportunity within reason if they're gonna do this overlay what are the changes but also having an opportunity

For people to come and speak if they wanna speak on it. So it might need to stay at least one more time at third reading. It might not have to go all the way back to first but I'd need to see what the changes are that are being Any

other questions by counsel? Anyone in counsel chambers? Yes, ma'am. If you would, please come forward. When you do when you do, please state your name and address.

My name is Cheryl Rogers. 2815 Gwyd Street. I live adjacent to the

property and I am the

one who emailed all of you today. I'm sorry, Daryl. I didn't get a chance to include you in that email. We did have a discussion with Dustin White, the realtor, this morning just to open discussions. Maybe they would be open to an overlay as as was my understanding. And so I wanted to let you know that, that hopefully we can come to some kind of agreement that would be satisfactory to all of us and what we could live with with that. So that's it.

Thank you.

Thank

you. Anyone else in the audience? See anyone? That will move on to the third reading possibly with some other adjustments. Next we'll move on to the next ordinance. That's ordinance twenty six zero zero two.

An ordinance for the approval of a private club permit from Monarchas Mexican Restaurant LLC.

Do we have any discussion or questions by counsel? Anyone in the audience? See anyone, so that'll now move on to its third reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance twenty six zero zero three.

An ordinance for the approval of a private club permit for Walk On Sports Bistro.

Any discussion or questions by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well, so that'll move on to its third reading. We don't have any items on tonight's report on third reading, so we'll move on to the mayor's report and comments at this point.

So good evening, everyone, and I wanna start my remarks tonight with something I feel sure everyone can agree on. It sure is good to have a milder temperature outside and see that ice and snow is melting away. We appreciate those who were patient and understanding when we made a decision to close a municipal building for a few days for the safety of as many citizens and staff as possible. Of course, we have the staff warriors who still must get in the middle of the discomfort and danger of a big winter storm, and I wanna talk about their contributions. The type of snow and ice we were subject to is the kind that's the most difficult to deal with.

If you prepare the roads too soon, the sand mixture can blow off. If you have ice under the snow, you can't scrape off the ice. And when you basically have an ice and snow sandwich, in most places, the snowplows can't do so much, which they did. Our street crews were out twelve to sixteen hours a day for a while, and we appreciate Steve Tippett. I don't know if he's in the room or not.

I appreciate your crew, and, of course, I always enjoy visiting with them during that time. They are steadily at work and they do a tremendous job. So we appreciate the community because you had patience. Now driving a sanitation collection route is a whole lot and it's a different story in itself. And coming off of the Martin Luther King Day holiday started an unusual collection route a day late.

So the combination certainly tested the patience of some residents. Those of you saw the sanitation department in action know the difficulty of the job, and I'd be remiss in not thanking them as well. A snow and ice storm like we experienced presents serious personnel safety challenges to everyone, and our police department, fire department, and e nine one one center stayed constantly busy. The work was extraordinarily. The cold took toll on heating units, and many of the o's, used for proper precautions with space heaters, fireplaces, electric blankets, and even kitchen stoves resulted in an increase in calls to the fire department.

Nine one one stayed busy dispatching all those emergency calls as well. Meantime, our community centers serving as warming shelters during the day while our jet services transported those in need to warming shelters. Later, if needed, they received rides to the Salvation Army for a place to stay overnight. When jet buses weren't available, Jonesboro PD stepped up to help. Speaking of dedicated employees, I want to acknowledge and congratulate a coworker who retired yesterday after forty two forty one or forty two years.

Forty one.

Forty one years of service. That's what I thought. Steve Kent. We want to wish Steve wonderful years in his retirement. Forty one years in that office and finance. That's quite a commitment to our city. So thank you, Steve, and I'll miss seeing your work every day. On January 19, I was honored to speak at the Martin Luther King Day ceremony on ASU campus, which was preceded by a parade. Now we're into February and observing Black History Month. I'd be remiss if I didn't say I look forward to day soon, I hope, when the E.

Boone Watson Center is fully open. The center is a historical hub for recognizing important contributions and breakthroughs in the African American history in Jonesboro. You may have seen seen in the news recently that $3,500,000 in federal appropriations were signed into law by the president. Now that comes to city of Jonesboro to the e nine one one real time crime center needs. It's been a long wait, but we're very excited.

I want to thank our senator, John Bozeman, for his tenacity and diligence in seeing this funding through as well as congressman Crawford and Senator Cotton. I want to close with wonderful news and I'll move forward because I have further comments today from the Jonesboro Unlimited Chamber of Commerce. Invo Asian Cuisine Enterprise Incorporated will build a state of the art frozen food manufacturing facility in Jonesboro, Arkansas. This is a major development. It will create approximately 200 jobs, strengthening the region's position as a vibrant hub for food manufacturing.

The foods will be found in grocery freezer aisles nationwide, making it easy to bring family favorite Asian dishes to the table with restaurant inspired flavors. The company says the new facility will significantly increase production capacity for its high growth multi serve entree line, supporting the company's continued growth in The U. S. Market. President and CEO Joe Kent says the new Jonesboro facility will allow the company to meet growing demand for high quality cuisine while creating meaningful jobs in our community.

The facility will be about 175,000 square feet located in Craighead Technology Park. I was very pleased and honored to be a part of the conversation early on, and the commitment of Jonesboro is very important on the reason why they're here. After the competitive multistate search, citing speed to the market, a skilled workforce, and a strong local and state supporters were key factors. Governor Sanders commented that Arkansas was proud to be a state where farm products are turned into value added food and tables across The United States, and that is something we all believe in. So I'm bringing my comments to a close.

Council and the city of Jonesboro, I'm here before you tonight to make comments. And two weeks ago, binders were presented at the last meeting, and they weren't reviewed. Several people have mentioned they'd like they'd like to hear my side, which I interpret to mean they would like to know more of the facts involving city stars. So I've spent some time confirming facts that dispel some of the misperceptions and misunderstandings. Misunderstandings.

The Jonesboro City Stars Booster Club was organized as a private nonprofit organization and registered with the Arkansas Secretary of State in December 2001. Organized as an independent entity, it had its own members and finances and was led by a city employee. City parks director Jason Wilkie, was the original registered agent. Look it up. The original agreement between the city of Jonesboro and City Stars Booster Club was approved by city council in 2004.

That contract established mutual agreements including including the goal of providing athletics at no cost for Jonesboro youth and working together to do so. It also outlined the use and maintenance of city parks and fields among other things, such as a declaration that the City Stars Booster Club shall operate its own concession stand, and all revenues generated from such such use shall belong to and be for the sole and exclusive use of the City Stars. From the very start, their revenue was their money, their business, not the city's. Look it up. In the spring in two thousand twenty five, members of the Arkansas Revolution Football Club, a subsidiary nonprofit organization of city stars organized for the revolution travel teams met with me and proposed a creation of a new private entity to oversee all youth soccer in Jonesboro.

Despite maintaining independence from city control and oversight, the proposal sought public funding of $500,000 annually, which would have covered a 190,000 in non coach payroll and another 125,000 for coaches. The proposal is foiable from the city. Look it up. Shortly after that meeting, Matt Daniels resigned. In his resignation later, he stated in his incorrect beliefs that one, the city controlled the city star's budget.

It did not. And two, the city was already spending a large portion of the 500,000 in the proposal he and others made to me. The city was spending zero. Look it up. In April 2025, the entire board of the Arkansas Revolution Football Club issued a joint resignation letter and stated their incorrect understanding that the city of Jonesboro has city employees to run various programs under the city stars umbrella.

The Arkansas Revolution Football Club board said they presented City Stars financial statements to my office requesting clarification and account separation and said to their knowledge that my office declined to take any action. Fiduciary duties fall to the boards and management of private nonprofit organizations and cannot be delegated, delegated, giving private them full and exclusive authority over their own money and how it is handled and how their chart of accounts is organized and how their accounting entries are made. Look it up. I did ask the management of CityStars to voluntarily undergo and pay for an audit by a respected, certified public accounting firm. They agreed.

And the firm of Thomas, Spate, and Noble completed its audit of CityStar's finances and presented their report to the CityStar's board of directors in June 2025. The independent auditor's report expressed the opinion that the City Star's financial statement statements present fairly in all material respects and assets, liabilities, net assets of the City Star's booster club. In other words, clean offer clean audit. This report was also presented to this city council. Incidentally, Thomas, Spate, and Noble also conduct the annual audits for the Jonesboro Advertising and Promotion Commission.

Look it up. To put it plainly, it was not mayor Brodell's business how city city stars manage their money nor mayor Foreman's not nor mayor Parent's nor mine. No matter how much parents or revolution board members might have assumed, hoped, or wished it was. Criticisms of me or the city council regarding CityStar's management are misplaced. My responsibility as mayor is to administer city operated programs, which City Stars was not.

In accordance with city council approved budgets, which we don't include City stars. I presented verifiable facts, not feelings, not understandings or beliefs. Like many of the documents presented at the previous city council meeting contained, contained. I understand some people may have honest questions about CityStar's operations and funds in the past. Those questions should be properly directed directed to its own officers and board of directors, which had the full fiduciary responsibilities and duties.

Part of all the confusion has come from people asking questions emailing or texting complaints and concerns about City Stars to the wrong place. The mayor's office did not have answers about the accounting or handling of money of City stars. And I never meant for it to come off as dismissive because we didn't have the answers. We don't have answers for Jonesboro baseball boosters, Arkansas junior volleyball, or the foundation of arts. And even though, like they, like City Stars, and many other private nonprofits, they utilize city owned facilities.

So let's remember the reason, and I haven't forgotten, that City Stars was formed in the first place was to help kids who didn't have access to and couldn't afford other athletic program options. And it's done very well for twenty five years. Tens of thousands of children have benefit as the city and city stars work together. This should be an exciting time for that program and the upcoming generations and our youth need it. Moving forward means moving beyond the past and now we need to focus because on mayor now, we have transitioned City Stars as December 5 to a city program.

And we are working with various groups, boards, council on how to achieve the best process we can go about that. Folks, we have a good model in place with the city softball program, which, for instance, has done an exceptional job managing cash transactions common to sports clubs. So I conclude. I have great confidence. I do.

That a year from now, all sports that all youth sports numbers and processes will show continued improvement. Now, council and community, my love and passion is for the youth in this community. It always has built, and that won't change. I won't change my integrity, and I won't lie. This is the commitment that I have said and I will continue to have for this community as your mayor.

I wanna say thank you for the opportunity to stand before you this evening and give what I feel is important and their facts. That's all I have to say this evening on the matter. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item number nine and that is city council reports.

Madam Clerk, I'd make a motion that we move agenda item 10, public comment, to be placed before agenda item number nine, council comments on tonight's agenda, and that I be placed last on the council comments. Second.

We do have a motion on the floor. Any discussion by council? Any discussion by council? You want to repeat that motion again, please? I'll make

a motion to move agenda item 10, also known as public comment, to be placed before agenda item nine, also known as council comments on tonight's council agenda, and that I be placed last under council comments.

Okay. We're gonna go ahead and you will cast your ballot.

I don't have a way to Open. I can do roll call if Yeah.

Request roll call.

Mr. Street? Aye. Mr. Miller?

Aye.

Mr. Bryant?

Aye.

Mr. Hefner?

Aye.

Doctor. Anthony Coleman?

Aye.

Mr. McClain? Aye. Mr. Gibson? Aye. Ms. Williams? Aye. Mr. Moore?

Aye.

Doctor. Charles Coleman? Aye. Mr. Emerson? Aye. Ms. Porter? Aye.

Okay, fine. And with you here, we're gonna move public comments ahead of city council reports. So we'll move forward. Anyone in the audience? You have five minutes to make a comment. Anyone like to come forward? Yes, sir. Please state your name and address.

My name is Bill Campbell. My address is 463 West Matthews. Come by sometime, my old friends. I, felt because of this situation and ten years of working with two mayors that I could address what it's like for these people to be the victim of rumors. And I know that we've got an actual investigation, a federal investigation going on.

But now don't you don't jump to conclusions with the federal investigation. You let it play out and find out what if anyone is responsible. And I think you'll have plenty of time to know that. Now, I also know that you guys have to deal with your people in your wards and people across the city and you hear things. You go out and you hear people with ideas.

I can tell you there are some coffee shops where a lot of people try to impress one another about how much better they could run the city than the directors and the teams that do that. One of the first things that I was given when I came here in 2016 was to review City Stars, not because I have just just as a favor to the the previous mayor, I don't have any accounting background. But I talked to Wixson Huffstetler in the last week because he managed this program before Danny Kapalas. And he said this was exactly what he got. It operates the very same way that it did with him.

I have talked with Mayor Perrin about it and he says this is the way that he knew it to run. I think it may have been set up with some flaws, But I can also tell you how difficult it is when you've got a three or four person management team trying to keep all these things under control. When you've got 20 something departments and you've got people calling and some people repetitively. And there is a factor in Little Rock, they call it STPs, the same 10 people who will wear you out with emails, calls, text, you know some of them. And I'm not saying they're wrong.

They have the right to be a part of their city, but they also have a moral duty to tell the truth. You know, I want you guys to make sure that you have the patience to find the truth because you're not going to get it in a place where we already know it's being investigated by federal agency. And that's my only observation as somebody who we heard so many things. You'd hear so many things. People want to they want to gossip.

It's it's a natural thing. Before I took this job in Jackson, Mississippi, the communications director said Bill Public Service is is a thankless task. So okay. And, you guys do that and you and you probably feel that you're in in some ways yourself too. But I also remember when a director or a chief or somebody is working on something, we got all this going, trying to make sure that it got to you guys in a clear, understandable way was it required a lot.

And requires a lot. But I think also it requires patience because you're hearing things from outside. I've heard things from outside. I don't know what the answers are. I do know that you have a mayor who has had clean audits every time you have a finance director who's had clean audits every time and this is every department in city. So I think I would lean on that until you know something different. And we can't pretend we know something different. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone

Jonesboro, Arkansas. So one thing I wanna say well, a couple things I wanna say. One is is, Mary, you forgot to you left out that you had been contacted before about this several years ago. And so I wanna read something real quick, and this is the law, and these are facts. So I asked a friend of mine that knows government law if it's illegal to do business with an organization or a five zero one c three that you know is doing illegal activity.

This is the response I got back from him. Yes, it is illegal to it is illegal or a severe breach of law and fiduciary duty for a city government to knowingly do business with an organization, including a five zero one c three nonprofit that is engaging in illegal activity. Such action exposes city officials to potential criminal charges. Civil lawsuits and public corruption investigations. Here are the key legal and ethical principles involved.

Breach of fiduciary duties. Public officials are considered fiduciaries who must public, which includes responsibilities management managing taxpayers' resources knowingly funding a criminal enterprise is a violation of of this trust. Misuse of for our strong

for contracting laws. Government We have

a strict procurement integrity standards. Agencies are generally required to avoid or terminate contracts with contractors or nonprofits who engage in unethical or criminal behavior, often leading to disbarment, which means no more contracts or anything with the city. Conspiracy and racketeering, if a city knowingly conducts or continues to do business with an organization that is committing crimes, fraud, embezzlement, drugs, and so forth, city officials could be potentially be conspiracy or racketeering charges. So this is I don't understand why some act like this isn't a big deal. I don't know why some people think that this is some sort of like, hey, we're trying to get you or hey, you know, somebody lost a mayor race and and now they mad at you.

When it's serious, it's serious. And for anybody that can stand up here and say, an FBI gets involved, that that we don't know anything's happening. Well, I can promise you something's happening. And it's this is my time. This is my time. This is my time. Bill, this is my time, buddy.

No. No comment.

Here's the deal. Something's happening. We do know that it was brought to your attention years ago. We do know that you were asked to to take a look at it, and you did nothing. That makes you responsible. This is funded by taxpayers' money, period. It it I don't and, yes, you did you you got this. You you were given this. I say everybody that was involved from when the embezzlement started till now, I don't care who was mayor. I don't care who was the director.

Everybody should be involved and we'll see and find out what what when it's all said and done, who is involved. But the truth of the matter is is, mayor, I wish you would have come out and said, man, this is this is bad and and and take some sort of responsibility and say we're gonna get to the bottom of this. And the buck stops with me. But that's not what happened. We keep continuing to push things down the road.

We keep continuing to act like it's not a big deal, and we keep just acting like you don't have any responsibilities. You do have responsibility. I just read you the responsibilities. It is your job to make sure that whatever taxpayers' money goes to whatever organization, that that organization is acting in the best interest of the public. 100 is your job.

Now, this is nothing personal. I don't even know you. We've had 12 conversations, and they're great and cordial. This is about the responsibility that you hold and that the city council hold to make sure that taxpayers money is being dealt with in a manner that is is proper and legal and and everything that goes along with it. And so those of us that are asking questions, we we deserve answers. Period. And that's not a bad thing. That's actually a good thing. And we'll continue to ask the questions. Thank you.

Would anyone else in the audience like to speak? Would please come forward? State your name,

My name is Dean MacDonald and I want to thank the council, mayor and the city staff for your time this evening. I want to just for a second agree with the previous speaker and some of the sentiments that are in the air tonight that it is very serious. Any allegations of misconduct are serious and should be investigated and they are being investigated. But what I don't take seriously is the way in which some of this dialogue and discourse has broken down over what we've seen in the past month or so. And here's why.

I come to you this evening as a previous supporter of our current mayor. But I also recognize the city stars issue for what it is, and it is a baseless witch hunt in the way that it is being framed and teed up by people that are politicizing what is a serious matter. And that is our children who play soccer and those who are in athletics. It's very serious. But, like a lot of you in this audience, I've read every single word from top to bottom in the Dropbox link that's being shared and proliferated on social media.

I've read everything, all of these text exchanges, which if you wanna read them afterwards, you can. These are not my investigations. I'm sharing the documentation of people who disagree with me. And that's okay if they disagree. But here's why I disagree.

When you look at these text conversations in the way they've broken down, this is not a serious discussion about how to vet what has been going on at City Stars as well as overhaul it and put it under the umbrella of the city. Because as previously stated, this organization over the past two and a half decades was never under the umbrella of the city of Jonesboro. It's a very well known organization and City Stars, as it's named, might confuse the public and that's very understandable because as the public, we're quite confused. I'm candid in admitting that. That's a real thing.

Thing. I'm here to clear the air on some of that in the fact that not only do I have how all of these conversations broke down, I also have the proposal that was mentioned earlier. As the mayor said, you can FOIA it. I'm sorry to the city of Jonesboro, don't mean to make more work for you. But the reality is is you need to read it because I have.

And in that proposal, you see a very good vision statement of what I think very good and honest men who I disagree with tonight are trying to propose, propose, which is the soccer program. And in their vision statement, they say, it is to provide a comprehensive and inclusive soccer program for the residents of Jonesboro, fostering community engagement, youth development, and a lifelong passion for the sport of soccer. Who could honestly disagree with that? That sounds like a lot of good stuff. I'd be foolish to disagree with it.

And here's why I will be foolish and I will disagree with it, because I know the facts. It was mentioned earlier tonight that the City Star's vision was for, quote, youth at no cost. And part of youth at no cost does not entail proposal where, again, you can read it, a $500,000 line item budget stipulated for a handful of soccer programs, which are very important, but that is now a taxpayer funded entity that is going to expect $500,000 from the city of Jonesboro and their taxpayers annually. In that proposal that was made to mayor Kopeneva and his staff, which you can read for yourself if you look it up, if you FOIA it, if you read it, there was going to be a $195,000 a year stipulated to presumably three new jobs that are funded, again, by the city taxpayers of Jonesboro. And while I understand the importance of soccer, and I understand how enriching it is to youth, if you have a $195,000 that are going to three now glorified soccer coaches that are on the Citi dime, these same people that in their text, they're making proposal.

They clearly didn't get their way and now you've seen a lot of sour grapes about it. And I tee it up like that to say that I just take a lot of issue over the fact that this is being framed as a whistleblower or whatever kind of investigation or event, the investigation belongs with one individual who was not overseeing anything that had to do with something that had city authority over their budget. That's where the investigation lies. And I just I really take a lot of issue with the notion of whistleblowing because a whistleblower does not seek to be enriched by the so called alleged shooter. Thank you for your time.

Comments.

There any other comments in the audience? I don't see any. That's the end of public comments. Next, we'll move back to city council reports.

Mr. Street?

I'd just like to echo on what the mayor said previously about thanking the department's public safety, fire department, police department, nine eleven, and street department for the excellent job that they did in this catastrophic snowstorm we had. I can't thank them enough. I know it didn't make everyone happy. Some people don't understand the complexities of removing that much snow off the street, but I can assure you, the street department worked twelve hour shifts 20 fourseven, did a great job. So I appreciate all our efforts.

That's all I've got, mayor. Thank you, Councilman.

Mr. Miller.

Nothing at this time.

Mr. Bryant.

Oh lots but maybe only a few things. We had some of this discussion at public services today so not to be repetitive other than a lot of folks in the room might not know we had the discussion. But I use this example recently, we had to vote to waive allowing a city employee to work on city cars. I voted against it because I think when you work at the city, you shouldn't be doing business with the city. And I know I learned today that city employees, if they have outside employment, have to disclose it, potential conflicts of interest and such.

They have to disclose that to their supervisor. So we act like we don't know about city stars. I mean, they're involved with the Christmas parade. They're involved with all these things. And there's pictures all over the Internet of us promoting City Stars signing up and promoting giving money from the Christmas parade to the City Stars program.

And our city employees are all over the place working for this nonprofit. So somehow, we have a city policy that comes to the city that we have to have a vote if you work for us and want to work on one of our vehicles and make money, which I'm also against. But when our city employees are using your taxpayer dollars, your resources, your cars, our city vehicles, all of our city resources and computers to do this program inside of a 501c3, and then even to Jeremy's point, when it's brought I mean, I feel like this whole thing is like some sort of gaslighting thing to make us feel crazy that we shouldn't take this serious. I mean, Matt Motylewski never met the guy, never talked to the guy. He's a Copenhagen donor and a Copenhagen supporter.

So the whole effort is being led by a Copenhagen donor and a Copenhagen supporter. And the other person who's been a whistleblower in all of this is Jerry Morgan. Jerry Morgan is one of the most respected members of this community. And I would argue with no offense to anyone else, I would argue that Jerry's might be one of the most significant significant people in this community from a public service perspective. We wouldn't have the Ridge Athletic Center without him and his vision.

So I mean, these two fellows, there was a reference earlier to the 10 people in Little Rock or the 10 person rule or whatever to making it seem like there's only a handful of people that care. I believe that both Patty Lack and Jeremy Terrell both shared screenshots of their post. I think Patty's had had 10,000. I think Jeremy Terrell's had had hundreds of thousands. So just because all these people don't email us, they're scared. I mean, I talk to people and they say, man, I'm so upset about this. I wish I could email the council. I wish I could talk to the mayor. But I'm scared. I've got business before the city.

I've got permits before the city. They punished in any way. So public cares. And despite any of the gaslighting going on tonight, the FBI didn't show up for no reason. So we're in a very serious situation. And as the stewards of the taxpayers resources, resources, I I feel feel like like we we have have to to take take action. Action.

Mr. Hefner?

Yes, I've got a few things to say. And these are probably in no particular order, but first of all, on the whole CityStar arrangement, I believe when this was set up back in 2004 that there was a lot of good intentions and somehow this agreement kind of fell by the wayside when it wasn't renewed after it originally expired. But the mayor referenced the agreement and one of the things it says like in the fourth paragraph on here is whereas the city is the administrator of free recreational youth programs known as City Stars. And the definition of administrator is the person responsible for running a business organization, etcetera. As I said, I think this was the original intention.

Think when this agreement expired like in December 2008, I believe, that was right at the time when Mayor Perrin was coming into office. Mayor Perrin may have never seen this agreement. Don't know. But just to be clear on a few things, it states that Citi and Jonesboro City Stars agree that Citi officials may be JCSBC officers and members of JCBC may perform duties that benefit both the city and the JSPC while under the employment of the city, which means they can Parks and Rec people can do this. You know, I think some other things it talks about is that city, know, the Booster Club funds shall be administered according to city finance policies and procedures.

I don't think, know, I think that's one thing that wasn't done and led us to this potential situation that we're in right now. Not potential situation, but the situation that we're in right now and waiting to see how that plays out. Another thing that's mentioned is upon signing this agreement, JCSBC will provide to the city current bylaws, financial review of expenditures and revenues from previous year with city parks director, assistant director for programs and mayor. Number three was an of of directors the time an audit's ever been performed on the City Stars program. And The review was never done, which is sad.

Like I said, this agreement has some good intentions but it failed. But the thing I want to stress is just because this is my opinion, I'm not an attorney, but if city employees are involved in every aspect of this entity, even though it's a separate C3, if you're the major stakeholder and it's your facilities that are being used, it's your employees that make up all but maybe one position on the Board of Directors, if there are allegations made, I think you have every right as the city, as the mayor to ask questions. I don't it's right to put your, for lack of a better term, just say, nope, that's a separate organization. I can't do anything about it. You have every right to ask questions, in my opinion.

If that if you don't I mean, you can force actions, you can ask for their board for things because you're the one with the facility, you're the one with the assets. I think this was brought up originally back in according to our little binder we got back in April or so of 2003 or February 2023 is when the revolution started asking questions. I'm disappointed that it's dragged on until April or February 2026 with really no resolution. I think as a I've supported Cope, he knows that, but I feel the CEO of the city, you shouldn't let things drag out that long. You have to, I mean you not get back to people.

It's our job or your job to make the hard decisions and not just, I'll get back to you in a couple weeks and never get back to people. I think that's one thing that definitely needs to be improved and that's let something fester and become a big, it turn into from a little snowball into a big avalanche. And now that we got public here with eroded public trust, just frustrated, the problems have escalated. And I don't take that lightly. The other thing too is obviously the relationship between the mayor and the council is one that's built on trust.

I mean we have to be transparent with each other or else we're not going get anything done. And I don't know if it was a misspeak or you read it wrong or what, but at the January 6 meeting when you said that you had spoken to several members of the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, I had people the next day come up to me and say, Joe, I spoken to the mayor about this. On what day did I do it? Was a couple of weeks ago. Trying to reference my notes here.

It was January 21, I called nine members of that committee. I didn't call Doctor. Coleman. Mean he's on that advisory committee. I called nine members after you had said you had spoken to several and you had spoken to one.

Only one told me he had spoken I question. Question. About why you would say that over something so simple and trivial that you didn't have to say that. Just say I meant to speak to him, I didn't get to it, but mean, just think there has to be, we gotta do better. I said at the last meeting, there's plenty of opportunity for improvement.

And I think that improvement comes from being better communication, open, honest and taking care of business. We can't just keep kicking the cans down the road when it's hard decisions. I mean, you got to be the place where the buck stops here. And we got to be open and transparent with us. That's all I have to say about that. That's all I have to say about that right now. Thank you.

Doctor. Anthony Coleman.

Yes, thank you. So I, like some of my colleagues have shared, I think it was probably a good thing that I wasn't here that week. I was late getting back to town and couldn't make it. But it allowed me to read, hear, listen without, and I'm going to use this term perceptions because I am one guy that understands perceptions and how people perceive because it necessarily give an indicator of who the man is or who the person is. And I understand that more many because even sitting at this seat for the last four years almost, many have perceived me to lean certain ways certain, and because I have relationships, that I have certain thoughts about whatever.

And I've shared with the mayor that, even privately that I supported him and we're with him and praying for him. So that's all I have been and all I have done. And but when it comes to perceptions, it does make a difference. And I say that because I'm gonna be honest with you, Mayor, I was waiting for a response that week. I wasn't here, so I couldn't have any opinion or know what happened or anything, but I was waiting for a response that said and that indicated adamantly that's not true or this is not me or this is what happened and I didn't get that.

And so I was left with my own mind to think whatever based on based on the readings and the the social media and all of that. And, but I'll be honest with you. One one thing that I do and I try to do is make decisions based on principle and facts. And so I appreciate you for sharing today. That helps me to hear your side because while many are saying that it's a political it's politically motivated, you know, of the response that I heard even on KIT Mayor, some of that was it sounded politically motivated or a political response.

And I just wanted to hear the man. Hey, I did it, didn't do it, whatever. So I'm just trying to figure out the actual facts and so whenever I look at all of this, I try to make it simple for me to understand. And that is, did the mayor, did we as city or whatever officials, did we have responsibility of I understand fiduciarily, maybe not, but to oversee and all of that. And I had to go back to being a father and being a grandfather.

Grandfather. When I made calls to register my son, register my grandson, all I saw was Jonesboro, Jonesboro City. So for me, we do have a responsibility. We do have something to say as it relates to to the city stars and maybe not handling a lot of it fiduciarily, but we do have a responsibility to share, to talk, to ask questions, to make certain that we are doing what's right for our children because my perception was that it was a Jonesboro City thing until I learned when I came to to council. And I asked that question specifically and it's on the record.

I asked it specifically about two years ago when I found out that CD Stars was not run by the city. And so, you know, my decisions, like I said, are not based and is not an indicator of the man. It's an indicator or it's based on leadership. And that's important to me. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Pretty much everything on this particular topic has been hit on in my opinion. I did have a couple of questions that I think have already been somewhat answered but I do want to report that Public Services did meet today in conjunction with the Parks Advisory Committee to kind of look at forging things moving forward. The Parks Department was represented as well. I think we've got a good platform to build on moving forward and I'm very optimistic about our future.

Mr. Moore.

Okay. I'll just kinda bring it all to an end here. It's it's important for our community that we restore trust between the council, the mayor's office, and the community. The I think mistakes have been made here, mister mayor. I think if you'd read that statement a year ago that you read at the podium tonight, I don't think we'd be in the position we're in right now.

If not a year ago, when Patty Lack and Jeremy Terrell both came to this podium and they expressed concerns, if you'd read that statement that you read tonight, we would not have this problem. I I don't know why you didn't. I would have if I'd have been mayor, I would wanted to clear it up right then that we had no authority. There have been people in the community that have been upset about it. I think you should have addressed it sooner. But I think we have to find a way to move on. That'll be all.

If you don't mind, counsel, I'd like to make some comments. And I appreciate the input from city council. And I strive every day to make the right decisions for this community. And we as council and the mayor's office and the city employees have worked hard together the last five years, and we need to continue moving forward. I'm always up for constructive criticism, and it's hard for anybody to put themselves in anybody else's shoes.

This was not anything that I was aware of as far as it was all new to me as well. Well. I depend on my directors for their skill set, their leadership, and I apologize to this city council because the last thing I ever want to do is draw a wedge between us because that does not benefit our community. I am excited though, from the standpoint we are now with City Stars under the leadership of Jim Stearns, very positive. We have a good onset moving forward.

Council, so thank you again for your conversation tonight. It was open. It was apparent. And I think you know me as who I am, and I will take it to heart. And I don't know of any leader that doesn't always want to improve. So thank you. Next, we'll move on to item 11. That's German. So moved. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?