City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. We'll go ahead and start tonight's Jonesboro City Council meeting. This is July 21st. The year's over halfway complete, and so as we continue to move forward, we hopefully will have a very informative meeting tonight, get a lot accomplished. We'll go ahead, and I'll lead us in a pledge of allegiance, and Dr. Coleman will lead us in prayer. Coleman, to my left.

I pledge allegiance.

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Most precious Father, we thank you for allowing us to be able to be stewards in this community. We just pray, Father, that as we go through answering questions, that we go through with our business that belongs to you, and you give us the praise. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.

Counsel, if you would please confirm your role, attendance. And we do have a quorum present for this evening. So next, council, we'll move on to item number four. We do have just a few short presentations that are not listed, but they won't take long. Chief Hamrick, if you would like to come forward, I think you've got the first presentation that you would like to make this evening. And then, council, I'm going to roll on into that with Little Banks. Mathis is going to come forward, he and his family. Chief, the floor is yours.

Sure. Let me adjust that just a little. So, Council, I want to highlight a few of our other city employees that probably doesn't get the spotlight very often. You know, most of the time we deal with emergencies in the city. It's either fire department, police department that usually handles that. We had an incident on July 8th, earlier this week. where we had a car wreck that was in front of Discovery Island on Matthews. You know that ditch that sits to the north side, it's pretty deep, probably about 15, 20 foot deep. We had a few of our parks employees who were out there mowing happen to witness a car run off the road into that ditch. They scaled the ditch, helped the occupants out, and a dog got them up to safety, sit with them until the fire trucks and ambulances got there and dealt with them appropriately. So we had the crew that was on scene put these guys in for an award for the fire department. We thought we'd present it here and just highlight their activities that day and express our gratitude for the things our city does. So those three individuals are Antoine Blair, Antonio Blair, and Jayden Gaston. Y'all come up front, please. I don't know if Jim or anybody else with Parks wants to come up as well. We're going to give you guys a word of commendation for helping us out. Antonio, there you are, sir. Antoine? Antoine? And I've also got a couple of coins, if I can remember which pocket I put them in, to hand y'all out as well. But we appreciate what y'all did. It's stuff you don't have to do that makes a difference. So thank you very much for helping us. Thank you.

Get one.

Well, you know, now it's time, council, to also bring up another superhero. This young man, his name is Banks Mathis. Banks, if you would, please come forward, you and your family.

Come on up here.

Banks is making his way up here. I just want to give you a little update on who Banks is and what he's all about. He was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis. Come on up here. Y'all come on up here and stand by me. Which is an extremely rare condition. He was one of only four children in the country diagnosed, the only case in Arkansas. And at this point, he's only the fourth child in the country diagnosed with the only case in this area, as I said earlier. He's been to Le Bonheur. He's received treatment at Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia. And he's done an amazing job. It affects the spinal cord. And Banks is a strong young man. And so I want to make you a strong citizen for our community. And it's proclamation for acute flaccid myelitis awareness month in July. So I couldn't think of a better person to honor We're raising awareness through you by promoting education among families. Educators, healthcare professionals, and community members are essential in providing recognition to AFM and supporting affected individuals and their families. It is fitting to acknowledge the strength and resilience of AFM patients like yourself and their families. while also recognizing the ongoing efforts of researchers, healthcare providers, and advocates dedicated to advancing understanding treatment and support of those who have this rare condition. The city of Jonesboro recognizes local AFM warrior Banks Mathis. Extremely, his extraordinary courage, his resilience, unwavering determination has transformed personal challenges into a powerful source of hope, inspiration, and advocacy, inspiring others and bringing greater awareness to AFM throughout the community and beyond. So I, therefore, Mayor Harold Copenhaver, the mayor of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, do hereby proclaim the month of July 2026 as AFM Awareness Month in the city of Jonesboro and urge all residents to raise awareness of AFM and join together in advancing understanding and research. and hope for a brighter future as what you and your family and banks, you're doing for our community. So I'm here to honor you, and you need to go forward and serve that, okay? Congratulations, young man.

Y'all may have to get down in front.

Don't squat down. I'm going to have to squat down.

Kind of sets you back a moment, doesn't it? All right, city council, we'll move on to item number five. And these are items on consent agenda.

Move to adopt unless there's one to be removed.

Second. We do have a motion on the floor. Any opposed? See any? Go ahead and cast your ballot on consent agenda. All right, consent agenda does carry. Now we'll move on to resolutions not on the consent item. This is resolution 26075.

A resolution by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas to enter into a facility usage agreement with Jonesboro Jets Incorporated. Whereas Jonesboro Jets Incorporated is an Arkansas not-for-profit corporation organized to promote youth sports activities through the operation of its swim programs, and whereas the City of Jonesboro is the owner of certain public park amenities known as the Jonesboro City Pool Complex, and hereafter referred to as the facilities, And whereas Jets and the City desire to enter into an agreement, Exhibit A, for the purpose of evidencing the agreement of the parties with regard to the use of the facilities by Jets and the respective obligations of the parties regarding the use and maintenance of the facilities, now therefore be it resolved by City Council for the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, that Section 1, City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, shall enter into a facility usage agreement, Exhibit A, with Jonesboro Jets Incorporated for the use of the Jonesboro Pool Complex, located at 1421 West Nettleton, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Section 2, Mayor and City Clerk are hereby authorized to execute such agreement.

DAVID BURRAGE- Mayor, just real quickly, I'm going to recuse from the next two. I asked to have them pulled. I do have a daughter that swims. But during comment, I'm going to ask questions about the legality of that. So I'll recuse.

DAVID BURRAGE- Recuse from voting. OK. All right. So noted. Do I have a first and second?

Make a motion to adopt. Second.

DAVID BURRAGE- We do have a motion on the floor. Any discussion by council? Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any. If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot on resolution 26075. And that does carry. So next we'll move on to resolution 26077.

Resolution by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas to enter into facility usage agreement with Shark Wave Aquatics Team for year 2026. Whereas Shark Wave Aquatics Team, SWAT, is an Arkansas not-for-profit corporation organized to promote youth sports activities through the operations of its swim programs, and whereas the City of Jonesboro is the owner of public park amenities known as the Jonesboro City Pool Complex, and hereinafter referred to as the facilities. And whereas SWAT and the city desire to enter into an agreement, exhibit A, for the purpose of evidencing the agreement of the parties with regard to use of the facilities by SWAT and the respective obligations, of the parties regarding the use and maintenance of the facilities. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council for the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, that Section 1, the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, shall enter into a facility usage agreement, Exhibit A, with Jonesboro SWAT Incorporated, for use of the Jonesboro Pool Complex, located at 1421 West Nettleton, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Section 2, the Mayor and City Clerk are hereby authorized to execute such agreement.

Move to adopt.

Second. We have a motion on the floor to adopt. Any questions by Council? Questions by council? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. And that resolution does carry. Next, we'll move on to resolution 26078.

Do we have a date and time for a hearing?

525.

Resolution to set a public hearing regarding the abandonment of a 15 foot alley located between 1810 Henry Street and 1812 Henry Street located on plat of David Clift as requested by David Clift. Whereas David Clift has filed a petition with the city clerk of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas requesting that the city vacate a 15 foot alleyway and the property description follows. Whereas the petition has been presented to City of Jonesboro, Arkansas and whereas Arkansas law requires notice of such public hearing, 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 advertising the public of such request to vacate a 15-foot alley and that the matter will be heard before City Council on August 4th, 2026 at 525 p.m. at Municipal Building Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Move to adopt.

Second. Do we have a motion on the floor to adopt, council? Any questions? I don't see anyone. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. And that resolution does carry as well. Now we'll move on to items on new business. Item number six. We have an ordinance on its first reading. This is Ordinance 26020.

I move to suspend the rules and offer by title only. Second.

We do have a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

An ordinance amending Appendix 7 of the Stormwater Drainage Design Manual.

Have any questions by council? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. That will now move on to its second reading. Now we'll move on to Ordinance 26022.

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

A motion and floor? And a second. Any questions by council? We'll go ahead and approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

An ordinance to amend Chapter 117, Article 3, known as the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, providing for a change in zoning boundaries from C3, General Commercial District, to RM12, LUO, Multifamily Residential District, with limited use overlay. For property located at 2038 North Church Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas is requested by NK and Sons Investment.

Any questions by council? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any, so that will now move on to its next reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 26025.

I move we suspend the rules and offer by title only. Second.

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

An ordinance to amend chapter 117, known as a zoning ordinance providing for changes in zoning boundaries from R1 to C3 OUO for property located at 1400 Southern Ridge Boulevard as requested by Fisher Arnold.

Any questions by council? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? Don't see any as well. Now that'll move on to its next reading. Now we'll move on to item seven. These are items on unfinished business. These are ordinances on the second reading. The first ordinance is ordinance 26017.

An ordinance modifying ordinance 24037, which established and consolidated special traffic patterns near Jonesboro Public School campuses.

Do we have any questions by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well, so that ordinance will now move on to its third reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 26019.

An ordinance by the City of Jonesboro to place various traffic signs at designated locations as determined by the Traffic Control Committee.

Any questions by council? Or concerns? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well, so that'll move on now to the third reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 26021.

An ordinance to amend Chapter 117, Article 3, known as the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, providing for changes in zoning boundaries from R3 to C3 for property located at 2911 Browns Lane.

Any questions by council or comments? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. So that'll move on now to its third reading. And now we'll move on to ordinance on the third reading. We have one ordinance this evening that will be voted on by council, ordinance 26018. DAVID BURRAGE.

Make a motion to table temporary until August 4th. There have been some new business developments come on this, and they've asked for a little bit more time. DAVID BURRAGE. Second.

DAVID BURRAGE. Do we have a motion on the floor to table to August 4th? Is that correct, Chris? CHRIS RODGERS.

That's correct.

DAVID BURRAGE. OK. All in favor say aye. Aye.

DAVID BURRAGE.

Any opposed?

All right, Council, now we'll move on to Mayor's Notes.

First, I want to start with an update on some important infrastructure projects. Our multi-million dollar street maintenance and overlay program is well underway, and as of today, crews have overlaid portions or all of Y'all ready? Barbara Ann, South Culver House, Huntington, West Jefferson, Leslie Ann, South Madison, Marsy Ann, South McClure, West Monroe, Nesbitt, Olive, Tony Ann, Union, Walnut, Warner, West Washington. Overlays will soon begin on Walnut, Vine, Floyd, Burke, Twin Oak Street, Andrews Cove, Timberlake Cove, West College Avenue. So these are quite a few streets, and I'll follow and keep you updated as we move on to additional streets as they come about. The Arkansas Highway Department is also actively investing in Jonesboro. The Dr. Martin Luther King Eastern Bypass is approximately 72% finished with an updated completion date in late winter, early spring of 2027. The Highway 351 airport overpass is approximately 88% complete. Highway 351 north and south intersection improvements are approximately 57 complete. Those improvements are estimated to be finished in the fall of 2027. So the next step will be widening 351 from Pleasant View to Peachtree. That is currently expected to start in 2027. The Southwest Drive and Parker Road intersection improvements are almost 25% complete. The Harrisburg and Parker Road improvements and widening project has just started, and it's approximately 2% complete. The new Highway 351 Connected Road that City partnered with Arkansas State University and the State of Arkansas is currently on the planning stage. Those planning stages are about 60% complete. Groundwork is underway on our new 911 Center. The Pedestrian Street Improvements Project on Johnson Avenue are underway. And last week we had an open bid on the South Carraway Road Improvement Project. That bid came in on Target. with internal construction cost estimates. All items are funded by our revenue bond. These projects represent more than total $125 million in infrastructure improvements happening right now in Jonesboro. All projects we will see come online within the next three years or so. That's incredible. So I want to thank you to council for helping make these projects happen. And now a few items that don't involve pavement or concrete. I want to congratulate council members Janice Porter and Kevin Miller at the recent AML Summer Convention. They were honored for completing their level one and level two Civilpedia certification, respectively. I appreciate their dedication to taking every opportunity to be available and expand their civic knowledge to continue providing incredible constituent services. The street department and Breaking Bonds are focusing on cleaning up litter for our drainage ways and row sides despite the heat. This includes current hand cleaning, picking up at Turtle Creek, hats off to the hard work they do each day, and a big thumbs down to those who feel that they need to throw trash out the window. Quite frankly, I'm tired of it. We work too hard in this community to be proud of it, and I'm tired and tired of people dumping litter in the city that we live in. If you see these individuals, report these individuals. I'm fed up with it. We plan to do enhanced patrols along roadways and we have repeat issues and we're gonna write tickets to anyone who makes the choice to litter in our streets. I do want to offer a pat on the back to one of the neighbors. The city of Paraguay for recently being designated as one of the fastest percentage growth cities in the state. Listen, we need to continue to work together in this region to promote Northeast Arkansas. And I look forward to seeing all our regions, including Jonesboro, grow. Not only does it open the door for more federal funding, but it creates more economic opportunities for our local businesses. Keep Jonesboro Beautiful is finalizing plans for a planned Jonesboro public input meeting on Thursday, August 6. Please show up. It's at Lost Pizza. And keep an eye out for those final details in the last couple days. Work has also been completed on upgrades to our tornado siren system so it won't go off on its own. Right? Where is that? I don't see him in here. Ronnie's not here. While it wasn't without a hiccup, the end result is now an improved system with better connections, coverage, and dependable activation. And no, the tone of the sirens has not changed. It's hot outside and will continue to be hot outside for a while, so please keep your pets in mind during this time. Make sure they have more water, but not as much peanut butter. If your dog is like mine, they stay out in the heat too long. And please check on elderly neighbors and relatives to ensure they're okay. Last and most importantly, the annual Stuff the Bus event will be August 1st this year, next Saturday at Area Walmart. Thank you to the United Way for heading up this important and heartfelt program, and I encourage each of us to donate and help select children in the need before school starts back. Also, council, your monthly reports are now on the table that we promised last week, so please pick those up, and that'll give you updates of every department that we have in the city. That is the end of the mayor's report. So next, we'll move on to city council report.

Ms. Porter? Nothing, thank you. Mr. Emison?

Nothing at this time, thank you.

Dr. Charles Coleman?

At this time.

Mr. Moore?

Mayor, I've got to say, as someone who lives downtown, having all the roads repaved after City Water and Light went through and made the sewer repairs, it's pretty nice. It's been pretty rough down there for the last year and a half. So I appreciate getting on it and getting that done. Thank you.

Mr. Gibson?

Yeah, as I said earlier, I've got some questions, and I really just need clarity. I'm not trying to belabor this or make a big deal out of it, but I do need some clarity. Recently, I've been accused of being non-transparent, and there have been some individuals within this community that have questioned my ethics in regard to my daughter being on a swim team and me being involved in the contract. Full transparency, my name's Chris Gibson. I'm a city councilman. I'm the chair of the Public Services Committee, and I do have a daughter that swims on a local swim team. I was involved very little in some contract verbiage here recently in regard to the two swim teams here locally and lane usage, and it was directed completely toward public safety. My question is, Do I need to recuse myself of everything that any of my family is involved in? I have abstained from being involved in their board because of conflict of interest. My daughter walks on sidewalks. My daughter plays in parks. My daughter soon will be driving on our city streets. If I need to recuse of everything, then I need to step down as the chair of public services. So I need some clarity.

Thank you, Councilman, for your comments.

Please.

I think that as a general rule, what the rule is, is it's considered a conflict of interest if you or a family member could in some way benefit financially from the vote. So I personally would not interpret being on a swim team I mean, I do see it similarly as playing in a park or that we vote on improving parks equipment or things like that. Being on a swim team, I don't see how you probably it's a financial detriment based upon my experience with youth sports, but I don't think that you would benefit financially from that, and therefore I would not see it as a conflict. I think the general rule is does a council member or does the mayor or do myself or April benefit financially from this, and if so, we disclose that and refrain from participating in any discussions or conflicts that could arise from that, but I don't see that as, what I would interpret as a conflict, just off the top of my head.

Thank you. Thank you, Carol.

Mr. McLean.

One thing, just I was having this conversation, I think it touches to trying to help keep our community clean. We talked about a few years back looking at going from yard debris having to be put in paper bags. I feel like that's something we need to We need to get it done and go ahead and get over the finish line. There are some other cities, Conway, Fayetteville, Little Rock, Bentonville. They have that requirement, and I think it's something we should go ahead and switch to. So I don't know what the old ordinance or where it's at, but I think we should bring that back and, yeah, maybe get that to public safety. We'll look into that. Yeah. Okay. It's on the way? All right. Thank you.

if I recall the holdup, it was making sure we had enough available for our citizens.

You know, before we implemented the law.

But that was when it was early, you know, and they weren't just everywhere.

Yeah, there are a number of considerations I think that our sanitation department has given to that. We've gotten over the hump of availability. Bags, we have handed out bags. We still have bags that are available for the public to utilize. We were trying to make sure that we could get on a schedule that we can pick up paper bags quicker than we were the plastic bags because of the deterioration factor with the paper bags. And then lastly, we were in trying to educate and ensure that the public was well aware of the change until the last item that the sanitation department and I have spoken about with the mayor is a date. So the ordinance is prepared. We're just trying to get a date in there so that we have adequate time for the public to make that adjustment to paper without the outcry that we anticipate will come from some in our community. But the labor-intensive mechanism that we have with plastic and the inability to burn plastic, whether that's in an open pit, whether that's in an incinerator, we cannot burn plastic according to current state laws. And so that ordinance has been drafted. It's just a matter of finalizing a date and getting that through a process.

Thank you. Thank you. That's all I got.

Dr. Anthony Coleman.

Yes, thank you. You can charge it to my ignorance for not being here maybe the last meeting or two for personal reasons, but I saw the email today regarding the shelter building, and I did respond with a question. I just want to make certain that... Mayor and others understand my thoughts. The last time we talked about the JPD needing a building, it was two particular buildings and they were being leased. And then now you're saying the shelter building and purchasing it for, I think right at 3 million. And so my concern is we spending a lot, spending, spending, spending. And what's the plan really, because I do think, and I am a believer that our JPD needs a house. They need a full house, they do. We keep talking about it, but I don't hear a plan about it. And so I think we need to address that along with asking us to consider purchasing another building. So I just need to wrap my head around. that whole thing. And we don't have to talk about it today. I just want to make certain that it's shared and that we can have discussions about it openly. Thank you.

Well, that's the whole intent of, of course, your council being aware that I'm asking questions from council. What are your concerns? What are your questions? And, of course, I don't think any of us at this table ever expected that we'd have a facility that would be inoperable. So you have to adjust off your plan accordingly every now and then. And so these are things that we're going to have to make adjustments in the community. And that's what the FAQ will do. And I appreciate your comments. So we'll answer those questions as best we can.

DAVID BURRAGE. So let me say this, because you said plan. And that's the thing that I've been saying. I haven't heard the actual plan. And I'm talking about the plan for the JPD having a facility that will house them.

That's what we'll bring through with the FAQ.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Hefner. Mr. Bryant.

A question, Mayor. I was reading about Fort Smith having a problem with, I guess, folks are bussing homeless people into Fort Smith and they're having to take action. Have we seen any problems like that here?

Not that I'm aware of. Matter of fact, I think we've seen kind of a, downturn a little bit. I drive a lot. And I haven't seen as much. Chief, you got anything to add to that? OK.

From time to time, there's always transit people in and out. As far as a huge influx of different faces that we normally see on the street corners, not really a whole lot of difference. So nothing's really standing out. We can certainly check with shelters that provide needs to these individuals and see if there's new faces in town, but like the Hope Foundation over on Fisher Street, but to my knowledge, we've not seen that. Since the borders have shut down, we've seen a decrease in illegal immigrants coming into our area also. So that was, in fact, a bigger problem, and then just the homeless issue. And a lot of them were being bussed up to this part of the state and dumped by the busloads in nearby counties.

And Fort Smith may have more of an issue being on the border of Oklahoma. Who knows? I'm just going to keep our eye on Fort Smith and keep our eye here. So thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chair. DAVID BURRAGE.

You bet. I'll contact the mayor there. I know him well. So I'll contact him and get a follow up with you.

Mr. Miller?

No, thank you.

Mr. Street?

No, thank you. All right. Now we'll go to item number 10. These are item for public comments. And we do allow the public to come forward. You have up to five minutes. It's limited to three individuals to speak on whatever you'd like to speak on that wasn't addressed earlier. If you would, anybody? Yes, ma'am. Please come forward. State your name and address.

Hi.

You can move the mic down a little bit.

You think I need to? Melissa Baldwin, 927 West Matthews. And I would like to start with a positive note. Thank you to Ms. Duncan, Mr. Richardson, and Chief Elliott for meeting with Ms. Slicer and I to talk about an issue that we have, and not only the two of us, but I have talked to some other people and have the same issue. Being a 927 West Matthews, I invite, keeping it on a positive note, thank you for the roads. They're great. And thank you for the sidewalks. You will never hear a West Ender gripe about the sidewalks. We've got bikers, we've got trikers, we've got dog walkers, we've got, well, I don't say people walkers, but I mean people that walk. Runners, it's fantastic. That being said, and I do feel like I come from the best neighborhood in Jonesboro, one of the oldest and one of the best and making baby steps, getting better and better and better. But there is a bit of a blight and and I don't blame the city. I belong. This is about Airbnb and I blame the host. It's not the city, it's the host. And as we all know, you've got good host and you've got bad hostess and everything. And so, after speaking with you kind people, I started researching more and it says, Arkansas has no statewide licensing system or unified rule book for Airbnbs or short-term rentals. Instead, state law prevents outright bans, which is fine, but leaves specific regulations, codes, and permitting up to individual cities and counties. I love Airbnbs. I stay in Airbnbs. I like him, not against him, not against him in Jonesboro. Like I said, you gotta be good though. And that led me to some questions and I gave you all these and like I said, please disregard the misspelled words and the typos. It was one in the morning, I'm tired. Are the and a lot of this falls on their planning and zoning. It seems like they kept mentioning planning and zoning and everything I looked up and are the host or the Airbnb services aware of our codes and regulations or do we have codes and regulations, specific ones? Is there a list of them that? If so, could I at some time get a list of what they are? Okay, that's my first one. The emergency phone number. well that's that's great i mean it is but the police can't be everywhere all the time and they don't know there's an emergency there until a neighbor calls and says hey we've got an emergency going on in this neighborhood and we were talking to one of our council people and i was fussing and another neighbor was concerned about it we didn't call the emergency hotline because i I wasn't dying, I mean, at that point. And I sat on the line for 20, 25 minutes. And as I did, the party got bigger and bigger and more out of control and more out of control. I have been told, advised since then, to call the emergency number because it does get out of control. Three. How many, and this was touched upon after the last meeting, how many legitimate complaints are allowed for these bed and breakfasts to lose their license, or Airbnbs? Is there a set number? Because I know Chief Elliott over there, I know he must have gotten 200 calls one day at least, and it was legitimate complaints, very legitimate complaints. should not have been going on in our neighborhood so is there any any way that they can be I know some of the bigger cities have huge funds huge funds but at some point if they just keep doing this over and over again they've got to lose their license and they just can't continue doing that I feel like the host has a responsibility to the neighbors to thoroughly vent his renters. You don't let a rapper rent your house, put it on Facebook. We're doing a video. I'm from Blytheville, but she's been back here. Not very savory. I'm doing a video, and I'm renting a house, and if you want to be in my video, come on down. That's not acceptable. There is a business next door to that house. That parking lot is packed. I would guess, of course, my husband's back here and he said, you're exaggerating. I would say probably 50, 60 cars. Am I exaggerating? I am. How many cars? A hundred. A hundred? Okay. I'm not exaggerating. I mean, it was packed. So I just... would like to know like i said if there's a list and to possibly to meet with you all again and see what we can do because it's not just my neighborhood it's not just miss slicer's neighborhood there was another little lady sitting over here and she had to leave it was her neighborhood and it's it's not all airbnbs it's not all neighborhoods but it's it's a problem we have And I don't, you know, care.

All right, Ms. Baldwin, yeah, your time is up, and I know.

It's not either. I was talking fast. Everybody knows I talk fast.

Well, no, and what I want to say is, too, I know that the earlier meeting where you were here, I noticed that several of the residents were here earlier, and I know the meeting before, it was kind of, alluded to. And Carol, do you want to add something there?

Yeah, we don't normally, but I know a lot of you have the same question. So I want to point you in our code. If you start at section 42-146 and go down from there, it talks about short term rentals, what they're required in order to get their privilege license, what that they have to post their permit, and then 42-150 talks about the revocation of that privilege license. And it says that, because we require them to have a designated local agent or local contact person. We talked about that a little bit earlier. But if they're unresponsive or unable to be contacted and the owner doesn't remedy the issue, that's a grounds for revocation of their privilege license. If the property is deemed a nuisance by the mayor or his or her designee, factors which may be considered in deeming the property a nuisance include but are not limited to criminal activity on the premises, repeated complaints of loud noise on the premises, trash or debris on the premises, parking of cars in areas not designated for parking, so that might not, the parking lot across the street might not count, such as on the yard or grass or in such a way as to impede traffic on the street, and then failure to post their current privilege license permit on all online or other rental advertising. And of course they have a right to appeal that if we revoke their privilege license. But those are the general guidelines. So there's not like a set 15 noise complaints. It's just repeated complaints of loud noise. So more than one incident would be.

Apparently, what I got, it said recommended for an area this size, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and it put the recommendations on the back and it was spelled wrong, that was spelled wrong too, but apparently those are what you've got. So already have.

So some of them are very similar to what we've already adopted. And like I said, the biggest problem is finding them, making sure that they have a privilege license to even have something to revoke.

And then enforcing it, yeah.

And determining whether it's worth expending money on a service that can do that for us. Like I said, they were surprisingly expensive to me. But we're doing that research to see if that is something it might be worth council looking at to invest in. Okay, just keep me up to date. But I did want to point you to that section. And the key is for neighbors to call them in so that we, first of all, know that they're there to determine whether they have a privilege license. And second of all, we can try to deal with the issue and talk to the owners and explain what our rules are about short-term rentals. Thank you. You're welcome. Appreciate it.

Anybody else? Yes, ma'am. Do you have a different subject, or is it the same? We met with her as well. Don't be redundant, then.

No, it is not redundant, and I will speak, please. I'm Karen Slicer. I live at 5709 Slimbirds Drive here in Jonesboro. Full disclosure, David McClain, Councilman McClain and I live in the same neighborhood. The party that I'm going to speak about... The party that took place on May 16th that I'm going to speak about, there's exactly two houses between him and the Airbnb. So I will tell you also, full disclosure, that I might be a little nervous because I'm not used to speaking before such prestigious people. And so anyway. And also disclosure, I am the HOA board chair for our neighborhood, which is not truly an honor. So anyway. Not because of me.

I mean, I see a pattern.

May 16th, there was a terrible, terrible party in our neighborhood. And I was gone that night working at a veteran's dinner. And so Sunday morning I looked at my phone and I had had the volume down because I was at some place where I didn't. And as forgetful as I am, I forgot to turn the volume back up. Sunday morning I had scads of messages and calls. This party that went on, the people live in Fayetteville. They used to live, of course, on the street. This is not much of a concern to them. But I will tell you, there's nine, eight homes in our neighborhood. This caused a lot of havoc and fear.

Drugs, beer bottles being thrown in other people's houses, people blocking the street.

The police had to be called. One policeman came out. He could not handle it because these people refused to move their cars from blocking the street. So more people were called. There was three or four dispatchers working on this call. This house is on Smithfield. It's worth about maybe $475,000, and it's been turned into an Airbnb. This is Lisa and Jason Stennett that own the house. They now live in Fayetteville. We've had trouble ever since the very moment that they decided to make this into an Airbnb. This was not the only time, but this was the worst time. street was i went down the next morning street all the way around the curve councilman was broken glass beer bottles stubs i've never smoked pot don't don't know what it looks like but i was informed a lot of those stubs were pot you can still smell it so the police as i said were called they could not handle the one The policeman couldn't handle it. This went on until after five in the morning. We had women that were alone with their children that were terrified because these cars were driving through yards and around houses. They had no business being there. Um, so as a joy board chair, I'll tell you, I'm not as sweet as she is. I'm a little bit sour. I fully intend to pursue ways to strengthen the laws, increase fines in order to keep the Jonesboro neighborhoods safe. We have a beautiful neighborhood, but that's beside the point. All neighborhoods, regardless of the class of people or the class that we think they're in deserve to be safe and to be able to have peaceful evenings. So. When meeting with you all, I appreciated that so much. I did and still do. But an event where they advertise the party is illegal. They charge. People come from everywhere. They act like fools. um so anyway i think they need to follow the ordinances and requirements if an air what i what i've looked up is an event at a house it's taxed like a hotel and if it's taxed like a hotel then by golly it is a hotel it is not a house so anyway talk about leaving the lights on at a hotel they were on for 24 hours so according to the airbnb he called the police and asked them to remove all the party he Has a camera. He got a lot of calls himself in Fayetteville. He asked the police to remove the people. And in meeting with you all, we found out that the police cannot remove people under that circumstance is what we understood.

Not the people that actually rented it. Right. Now the rest of the people maybe.

Yeah, the people that rented it. Yes, I'm sorry. That's wrong. So lastly, I will just say that our board, we have an attorney. We're strengthening our bylaws. But what I need for the city council to do is realize that, number one, we're not going away. Number two, that I will be willing to work with you. I do have some ideas on representatives and things, and I will be willing to work with you, as Ms. Baldwin will too. And I have quite a few neighbors here. So we will work with you to figure out how to, anyone operating these short-term hotels, you know, we need respect. We need peace. and we won't be appeased or placated. So we expect and want a solution, but we will help you work at that solution. So thank you.

For your time. Yes, sir, if you would, please come forward, state your name. An address?

808 Gloucester Close, Bridger Place. I was up that morning. It's like 4.30. And I heard the screams and stuff from the other side, like the neighborhood. And I knew it was something that we don't really hear. So I called 911. And by the time I got in the truck, I went to the stop sign at the end of Bridger Close or Bridger Drive. I looked to the left, and I'd already seen the cop cars down there. And I saw all the people in the cars and more, and I was driving. I was like, I told the dispatcher, like, just send everybody you got. Send more. There was the city police. There was the sheriff's department, tow trucks. I looked to the right towards that house. The cars were parked in the yards. It was just chaos. I mean, it was just, I don't know. I know our neighborhood's been through that tornado. For one, I mean, police fire everybody. They did not get paid to deal with that kind of crap. We invested, like my parents, a ton of time and money into that neighborhood. um i mean he was out there on foot when we didn't have any power posts and lots after the tornado i mean we're trying to keep it as safe as possible a lot of people work at the steel mills then their wife's kids are at home and then you have like she said you're gonna turn it into just a party i mean i know somebody needs to do something something needs to go because i mean i know when they come in our neighborhood i mean if they come on our property lead poisoning is very deadly and when they come that kind of party back again i mean if they come over the grass they're on our property and we'll do what we gotta do we're gonna put up with it so i think it'd be safer if y'all do

And I will add too, we've already ended our, we have three minutes left in our 15 minutes. So just a minute, Ms. Lack. I think it's also imperative that we realize these are expenditures that come on the city as well. And so that's very costly when these events occur in our community because we have to obviously provide the resources to make that happen when they need to be somewhere else. So yes, ma'am, you've got three minutes.

Mayor, before she speaks, a quick question for Carol. Obviously, these two events were heavily reported to the police. What action or what penalties became of that case?

I couldn't answer what ticket might have been written that night.

before we reach up to the owner's department.

There are rest main vehicles towed and the party subsequently disbanded. But as I said, it took a lot of resources to handle the situation. But there was action taken. And as Ms. Duncan alluded to, that we cannot forcefully make the person that leased or rented the place to leave, but we can the other occupants and essentially that's what happened. So big problem, it took a little bit to get addressed. Obviously they left a path of destruction in the process. But as they alluded to, we did have an earlier meeting to discuss this, and as we discussed in public safety, we're looking at other ways to amend our current ordinances, maybe get a little bit more teeth into what we have in place. I know Ms. Duncan is doing research across the state, other Airbnbs and how the police handle situations when they arise there. So this is a problem since it's come to light. I brought up there were some other issues we've had besides these two. So it's kind of becoming a problem. Historically in Jonesboro, we've seen these what we call pop-up parties take place and abandon the buildings or buildings that may be empty and somebody will rent it to them for a night to throw a pop-up party. We hammered down on that pretty hard along with our fire marshals. So now the end result is they've resorted to going to Airbnbs and hosting the party until it gets shut down. That's essentially what's happened. They won't throw a party until we come along and run the fun and shut it down. But it's at the expense of these homeowners losing their sleep and destruction of their property and neighborhood. So very good response. Dialogue tonight on on the topic and we are currently looking at it and I agree with these individuals that I'm looking to Do we can to put more teeth into it? and I think there's a lot of top a lot of discussion in the earlier meeting about The number of people that could be there on the lease and have more enforcement on that end so I think there's some things that's coming that will address this for not only their neighborhood but across the city because I know of two other areas where we had the same problem.

It is.

I will say that not to defend any bad short-term rental owners, but what I think we also find is they're renting it in different names. You may have had John Doe, who threw the 300-person party, and you're like, well, I'll never rent to John Doe again. Well, John Doe's probably not the person who's on the rental agreement next time. It's Sally Smith or Sally...

they learned to work yeah i would leave that name out but i'm not blaming they work the system so like any law we have or any rules we have people learn to work the system so we always have to stay i was thinking at a much simpler level i was thinking about uh disturbing the peace illegal parking just the basic small things you blow in there and ride everybody up for that and you know all of that our noise will

All applicable still.

Yeah, I mean, because we passed a decibel noise ordinance. And I assume if it's like, I didn't recognize her as Ruth, I call her Missy, but as Missy said, I would assume there was illegal parking in people's yards. There was.

That particular night, the party grew pretty quick, and as she alluded to, that yes, I received several phone calls from people in the West End, I think along with the mayor's staff and the mayor, and we put resources into it, and of course it took a little bit to get it diffused and get it moved out, and... We got it done. Same thing in their neighborhood. It may have started out with one officer, but it took additional resources, which takes away from other calls, because we have to pour everything into, and then with the help of the sheriff's office, coming to help disperse the big party. And again, the problem is not people from Jonesboro necessarily, it's out of towners coming in and taking advantage of our amenities and hosting these parties. And then from there they hit some of our convenience stores and gather on lots and cause problems till three or four in the morning. So it's like playing whack-a-mole all night on some of these weekends that we'll start out with a party, we'll bust it up, then we'll gather on the parking lot over here, and we have to go over and bust it up until they finally get tired of us and go back to their respective homes. how homes outside of Jonesboro, other counties, other cities. So not a new problem, it's just they're taking a different approach by going to the Airbnbs for their pop-up parties, which includes videos and all that.

Thank you, Chief. Yes, ma'am, if you would please come forward, state your name and address.

Yeah, Patty Lack, 4108 Forest Hill Road. And this is a request to you, Mayor Copenhaver, and to all you city council people, and also to Daryl Smith, is that today at the BZA meeting is that there was one of the variances being requested, and this was to put the TSC store in the old Fred's building. And they had the plan and they were asking for three variances. They got two of them and the third one came up and it pertained to the road that is behind where Gina's is. And apparently that is a private road and there was some solutions to it, but they left there. knowing that guess what we're not going to have a tsc store because that tsc store is going to go probably to brooklyn or it's going to go to paraguay and the downfall that we have here for the city is that we're going to lose a lot of tax dollars and we're going to lose a really good store so i don't know if you mayor and all you council people can review that a little bit and maybe work with the applicant and see how that can work out because it wasn't a huge issue. But I think if we lose that store, I think there's going to be sales tax dollars, but also, too, that's one more store that we're not going to have here in town. And the reason why they're moving is that the location that they have over there on Red Wolf Boulevard, they're going to move to a bigger store or a location. The parking lot is going to be better, too. So I hope, Mayor, you can work with the applicant there, and we can keep that store here in Jonesboro. So thank you.

Thank you. All right. That's the end of public comments. Next, we'll move on to item 11. This is adjournment.

So moved. Second. Motion and favor on the floor. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Any opposed?