City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. How are y'all doing tonight? Good to see everybody present. Welcome to city council. This is November 18 already 2025. I'm a go ahead and lead us in pledge allegiance, and councilman Brian Emerson will lead the invocation. If you would please stand.

Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us all here safely tonight to do the work of the city and to be a guiding light to all the individuals that look upon our city and this being the council meeting before Thanksgiving, I want to take time and I just want to say thank you for all the blessings that you've bestowed on all of us and the city of Jonesboro and lord, just please be with us as we go about our daily business and just please forgive us where we fail you and thank you for everything that you do for us. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, councilman. If you would, please go ahead, council, and mark your presence.

Okay.

All right. We do have quorum for tonight's meeting so I'm going go ahead and move to item number four. These are items on special presentation.

It's a

good time of year, counsel, and it's always nice to stand before you as always. But this evening, I'd like to recognize we have a new member to our team. Before he stands, I wanna give you a little bit of background. His name is Chris Ritchie from Benton, Arkansas. He's gonna be the city's new director of grants and community development.

His previous experience includes being the chief executive officer of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Saline County, where he led the development, submission, and stewardship of federal, state, local, and private foundation grants. He also oversaw the communication of all structural and operational details for board review and approval facilities operated by the organization. He also previously served as the executive director of the Phillips County Chamber of Commerce. He also represented Helena West Helena, District 12, and Arkansas House of Representatives. In those roles, he advocated for economic development, educational issues, and job training through organizational programming and collaborations with local, state, and national organizations.

Having known Chris through the legislature, I'm excited to bring his experience, knowledge, and integrity to the city of Jonesboro to fill one of our most important roles, community development and grants, two areas that are crucial for the growth at the highest level of the city of Jonesboro. As grants and community development, Richie will oversee and direct all operations of the department, including grant management, neighborhood initiatives, community and economic development. He's a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University where he earned his bachelor's degree in history and political science. He holds a master's degree in history at Arkansas State University that was awarded in 1995. Chris and his lovely wife, Holly, they have two children.

One is a nuclear sub. He's now

on

a sub, if I'm not mistaken, Chris. Correct? And he has a young son that's in tenth grade, and they plan on making their home here in Jonesboro. So I would appreciate counsel and those in the room tonight to give a warm welcome, a Jonesboro welcome, to Chris Ritchie as our new grants director. He's got that wave down, doesn't he?

Now on to a part of the community that this time of year, it's always joyful season for many and humblesome for others. But this is Thanksgiving Community Volunteer Awards in 2025, and it's sponsored by Centennial of Jonesboro. This is where we recognize the contributions of our community volunteers through thanksgiving community volunteer awards. These dedicated individuals selflessly give of their time, talents, expertise, and resources to support the vital work of our city departments and make a meaningful impact in our community. They're essential to our community.

The success of many programs and initiatives that benefit our residents and enhance the quality of life right here in Jonesboro. Without their dedication and service, many of these initiatives would simply just not be possible. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Centennial Bank for sponsoring this effort to honor these outstanding individuals. Time first

the

Pastor Matt, if you would, please come forward. Pastor Matt, who I've known quite for quite a while. He is a pastor of Refuge Church and Assembly of God. He serves our community with exceptional dedication as the chair of the mayor's faith advisement council and sponsor of the e nine one one dispatch center. The mayor's faith advancement council meets monthly with the city administration as a bridge between the city of Jonesboro and our diverse faith communities.

The purpose is to provide insight, guidance, and support on community needs while fostering collaboration and open communication. The council spends time in prayer together over do do that. We're church. Able do that. We're to dispatchers, often on a first point of contact during an emergency.

His efforts exemplify the spirit behind Thanksgiving Community Volunteer Awards. Thank you again, and congratulations. Ms. Woolbright, would you please come forward? Now mind you, I don't think they truly knew what they were receiving this evening.

It's once again an honor. And I tell you, this woman has a heart. I cannot explain it because very few people are given the heart that you have. She's the founder and executive director of NEA Divine Intervention. Ms.

Woolbright has emerged as a transformative leader whose passion and dedication significantly strengthened the Jonesboro community. A work from her heart under her tenacious leadership, okay, that is right, NEA Divine Intervention has grown to a critical peer based recovery support organization, offering nonjudgmental safe zone for individuals struggling with substance abuse, mental health challenges, homelessness, and more. Under her direction, NEA Divine Interventions has expanded both in physical presence and in scope. The organization recently moved to a larger facility within Jonesboro, over 8,000 square feet, designed for more welcoming, spacious, and functional facility, which includes a dedicated room such as dress for success, clothing room to help clients prepare for work and reentry into our community as well as game room, kitchen, art room and conference space. Ms.

Woolbright works exemplify the spirit of volunteerism and community service with a vision that goes beyond the crisis. The vision entails building long term infrastructure to sustain recovery and empower community altogether, which directly affects our community. So I want to say thank you, Shonda. Thank you so much. Congratulations.

And last but least, if colonel c h would come forward, please. Thank you. Colonel Overby has long served not only the city of Jonesboro but our nation. He served it with pride, perseverance, and unsurpassed patriotism. The latest contribution to his service record is working with city leadership and myself to help navigate an often complicated waters of assistance veterans who need our support more than ever.

Veterans who are struggling with mental health challenges, financial struggles, and even homelessness. Previously, colonel Overbey worked to modernize the Craighead County Veterans Service Office and now proudly serves on the board of the Beck Center, which helps streamline the challenges and barriers to recovery for once homeless heroes to begin their path to recovery. I am honored to present this award to a friend of the veteran community, colonel Overbay, not only for his support of the city of Jonesboro, but for his lifetime of service of The United States Of America. We want to express our appreciation to each of you for your service this evening, but it goes above self. And that's what this reward is.

You are making an influence and a difference in our community. Thank you so much, colonel. Yeah. If the families would like to come up real quick and take a picture with them, that'd be quite alright as well because I know we have a lot of family members present. Colonel Overby, if you and your family would like to come up, takes a lot of effort to get family members out, so I do appreciate the families being here this evening.

Go right Alright. Thank you all. You bet. You bet. Absolutely.

Shalinda, how about your family? Okay. Alright. Thank you. Pastor Matt.

Well, yeah.

I know. Right? I've heard come hang out in the lobby every morning. Yeah.

Dang.

Wow. What a family.

Now we understand.

Getting their Christmas card for

Y'all gonna have to lay down in front. There's a lot of y'all.

There There

That's There's a big awesome.

Where to go to hide from this picture?

You just blend in here. It's like big scale. Mhmm. I

Oh,

I imagine. I didn't even know what it was. That's that's great. Yeah. Right.

It's

good stuff. I didn't know about

Yeah. We

were here debating why there were so many people. He solved the mystery. Yes.

I'll give it up for you.

I know. Right? All all the fun stuff's over.

Gonna have

a hard time following that.

Council, thank you for, allowing the time this evening for that to be done. It's really critical that we, show those that really give it their time community in a very positive manner. And they do so without getting a pat on the back. So it's nice to have that done every now and then. We do also have a presentation this evening by John Keating, Baker, Mitchell, Sealy Gates, and Woodyard P, LLC regarding FOIA changes, and I think this is an important update, for counsel and all of our committees to hear.

Thank you, mayor.

The floor is yours, Sean.

Thank you. I I represent several governmental bodies all around Arkansas, and and we have seen significant changes this legislative session in the Freedom of Information Act, and I have been going to many of my clients to train them and make sure they're aware of these changes. City attorney Duncan invited me to come visit with you about this presentation because it is important and these are some significant changes that affect this body. You have been given a six page outline of my view of those changes, and I'm not gonna go through all six pages, but I do want to start really with what I think is the most important point, if you'll turn to page three, and that's number three. This is probably the most significant change worked over by this law, and it is a fundamental change in the way governing bodies do their work.

Historically, you have been permitted to talk to one another outside of public meetings about the business that comes before the council. That has been the way it has been for a long long time. Well, that has now changed because the legislature believes that all of your deliberations and discussions, your views about your opinions on a topic, your views about opposing a topic, all of those things are now required to be discussed among you only in a noticed public meeting. And that is a fundamental change in the way things have been done in our state for as long as any of us can remember. And so and now there are teeth involved.

If you decide to violate these new laws, citizens or even fellow council person can ask a court to invalidate the action you vote on on the topic that you may have discussed outside of a public meeting. And we gotta be real careful here. So it's not only only you orally talking amongst each other about the topics that may come before this body. It's texting each other. It's messaging each other.

It's emailing each other. You can't do any of that. The legislature wants the sausage of public policy making to be made only in this room so the public can hear it. That is where you are to discuss it now only. So that is a big change in the way you have operated if you've been in a governing body. And so I want to give you a few examples of pitfalls that I think are out there. You can talk to your constituents about these issues. That's not changed. That that has no restriction. But what listen to this quick fact pattern.

Let's say that there's a forum online, whether it's a post, a thread, on some social media about some event or issue in the city, and you decide you wanna weigh in on it and you type up a response. Well, what if several other members of your governing body are also on that post or able to be a part of that communication? That arguably is a violation now of this because the two of you as members of this governing body are communicating about a topic that is coming before the body. And you didn't mean to do that. You didn't intend to communicate with your fellow council member.

But if you both are on the feed, you both have access to the feed, a creative lawyer could make your life hard. And so here's the deal, I recommend strongly that you talk to one another about matters that are to come before this body only in this room and only in a noticed meeting where the issue can be vetted and aired in public. Significant change. There are others. I want you to read the summary.

That is a huge change though. Now, can you ask one another for background information? That is an exception to this. You can. So if you want to ask your fellow council member, hey, on this agenda item, can you give me some background information on x y and z please? You can do that. You can also ask that of staff. Staff can ask you of that. But you can't talk about your views on the actual issue at hand. How you're leaning, your views for or against it, you can't solicit.

What are your thoughts council member Moore on on that agenda item? You can't solicit each other's views on it? It's it is tightened down much more than we've ever seen before. Before. And so I I caution you to proceed and really read this, talk to your city attorney whenever you have questions about this new law because it has teeth in it and your actions can be invalidated by a court if it can be shown that someone has violated this in connection with that matter that got voted on.

So it's this is a big sea change. And so I wanna answer any questions you have. I'm mindful of your time, but I hope you review this closely and seek counsel because we are in a new regime now as governing body members. And this is affecting every one of you guys around the state, planning commission, public facilities boards, A and P commissions. Mean, I everybody's affected by this. You're not the only one. Don't feel put upon. But what questions can I answer tonight?

Sir. Mister speaker, we had a this is very timely. We had we have an item on the agenda tonight. It's on second reading and was weighed in on in an email just last week by one of a council person. Would we have to start that process over again or would we just continue where it's at tonight?

So that communication from that So council

it would not be invalidate. Well, I mean the council person just expressed their opinion of

On the agenda item. On this particular agenda yes. Yeah, the problem is the new law doesn't tell you what to do if somebody has stumbled into an error or how to clean that up or how to clean the slate. The law unfortunately does not tell us or give us any guidance on that. I I think your city attorney may have some views on that. I have some ideas as well, but I don't know, Carol, if you wanna

I anticipated that this might be a question tonight, and I I think that the best there is no guidance. Right? It doesn't say, oh, if this happens, do this. Right? It because most of the it didn't anticipate us finding out about a violation prior to a vote, I think, on the issue.

So or a potential violation. I would say that the best I think, the best way for us to move forward would be, the legislations on second reading tonight, and the legislation we're referencing just for the public and anybody in question is ordinance twenty five zero three seven, which is the legislation proposing a change to the code involving registration, licensings of boat trailers, and recreational vehicles on private lots. I think that whatever the desire of the council is as far as what delay you think is sufficient for the public to be able to weigh in, I believe the best way to move forward would be to hold the legislation either keep it on second reading until next time or keep it on second reading for thirty days. Whatever counsel thinks is the inappropriate amount of time, just kinda hold it where it is. Allow any member of the press or public time to request a copy of the correspondence, review it, and appear at a public meeting if they wanna speak to it, and give them time to have a full understanding of of what the potential violation was even though I, you know, don't know if it was intentional at the time.

Right? This is new to all of us. But give them that opportunity to express their views and or speak to the issue and see what the communication was so that we're above board in all respects on that before we vote on it. I think that's the cleanest way to nobody can predict what a court would do with it if it ever got there. But I think at least that would show a judge that we tried to act in good faith to notify the public of what we think could have been a potential violation and give them an opportunity to respond to it. Does that make sense? That's my best offer of guidance.

And I think another option is literally to pull that item from the agenda and make it start over. That's the other option. But even that is no guarantee that the court could not invalidate something. But that idea that Carol has is a good one as well. You're all in unchartered water here, all of us are.

So we're gonna have to come up with some, I don't advise that you sweep it under the rug and not acknowledge it because that to me is when you're really gonna get hammered by a judge. Correct. People need to come forward and say, look, I believe we may have had a inadvertent communication that shouldn't have occurred. Get it out in the sunshine is my advice. But how to do that, I'm gonna let your city attorney give you the final advice on that. But I'm just here to make sure everybody understands how serious this change is because it is serious. Yes ma'am.

Supposing one of us is appearing before a political group and we're asked questions about the audience or quiz as to how we feel about certain issues, would giving an answer potentially be a violation because the word could be disseminated to our other council members how we feel?

No, I don't believe that fact pattern presents a problem. Now if Doctor. Coleman is in the same room at the time you are conversing and sharing these views, that's a problem because now two of you are communicating. He has ears. You have a mouth. You're communicating about an issue. That's a problem. I believe or vulnerable to a problem.

I might also air on caution if it's being recorded or broadcast over social media if the meeting's being recorded or broadcast. Then maybe you say, thank you. I'm just here to get input and and I'll Mhmm. That's black. Watches and you'll see where I stand.

Well, that's true.

Basically, that was my concern because it'd be Did they

broadcast? To the email the And maybe not all meetings are broadcast, right? But some are. Some are. So just be aware.

And you never know who

has a phone. Well, mean there's that.

But if they're live feeding it on a blog or on a that social Doctor. Coleman's fed into and tapped into or any of you.

And whether you know

Then we have that problem where you're communicating with another member of the governing body in real time. Now

My advice is always gonna be on the side of caution.

Yeah. But you can't be muzzled from talking to your I mean that you're elected to talk, I mean to represent them. So you just have to be careful in the context and setting that you're communicating with your constituents. That has not been muzzled.

Counselor, Doctor. Coleman and I like to hold town hall meetings in our ward and during those events, we're both present and then we filled questions from the audience on topics that may or may not come before the council or have been before the council. Is that a violation even though it's a public meeting?

If it is a noticed public meeting.

I think they do publicize those In board

our town.

So that anybody, media and anybody that wants to attend can be there. That is publicized. Yeah. That helps.

I think that may be permissible.

That's the general idea of a town hall meeting. We publicize that we're gonna be there and we show up to answer and fill questions in our ward. Since both of us represent the same ward, we're both there present together.

Yeah. I'd wanna ponder on that a little bit because the notice you're giving is not for a meeting of the governing body. It is a meeting where two governing body members are present. It's the old duck blind notice that Game of Fish always gives. When three Game of Fish commissioners go duck hunting together, they give a notice just to make sure if anybody got mad about it, they could say, they gave notice of a potential public meeting. I'd wanna think a little bit about that.

Well, when you're thinking about that, also think about the fact that Doctor. Coleman and I also like to attend other council members' ward meetings. So for instance, there was a ward meeting held over at Allen Park a couple of months ago, and I think there was probably four or five council members present in addition to the two from that ward. So it's not just Doctor. Coleman and I in our ward, but it's a called public meeting. As elected officials, we feel obligated to go and listen to the constituents complaints even if they're not in our ward.

And it's laudable.

I would say that listening is not the problem. It's responding with an opinion or we'll present legislation on that or you know that type of thing that would go into the danger zone.

Obviously you haven't been to the town hall meetings.

I understand that people want you to get oh I have.

When you attend a town hall meeting, you're gonna be asked a question. You are. Here, what come you didn't get the Citizens Bank building down Right.

And I think that the, luckily we've already voted on that so but I and I don't have a vote. So but I think that you I think that that you have to express why you have caution is that you you know, the format of the meeting might need to change a little where citizens can express to you their concerns but you don't answer opinionated questions about things that may come up with counsel for a vote.

I would suggest counsel that we give Mr. Baker some ammunition here to really ponder on and maybe get back with some of our questions. I think they're very valid. I know they are because it's concerning. We wanna communicate with our community and that's the basis of that.

I also think we're unusual in having a 12 member

council. We have a

lot people out there and about.

Right, so there are two from every ward. A lot of places have one or have six. I mean it's not, we're big group.

One other item I just wanna clarify on, there's nothing, the statute, the new changes permit you to communicate with one another about ministerial items. Like if the mayor calls or somebody calls you another council member and says can you could we put together a special meeting for Friday the twelfth? Would you be around? That's not a violation.

Right.

So a ministerial scheduling sort of issue, that is not considered a violation of communicating about a topic before. And again, seeking background information. If council member Moore says, can any of my fellow council members give me information about the drainage issue on 16th Street and how long it may have been going on? You're seeking information. That's fine.

That's also an exception. So you that that is permissible. And again, is all in the six page summary but you're gonna have to get your lanes tight here on your behavior. And we will ponder on your fact pattern and get back to you. That's a tough one or an interesting one I should say.

And I do think I know you wanna be done with us.

No, no.

I do think that as budget process is coming up, I think it's important to note sometimes in the past we've had budget meetings with council where council could come ask questions of staff about the budget and I think you can still ask those questions.

I

just think that you know staff should never be saying are we good now or anything else I can do

And you should never tell the staff

hey I'm

good with this budget.

Hey I'm good with this budget. That's a no no. You can ask all your questions and let them provide all their information and then the meeting just ends. You don't nobody gives an opinion on you know it but you can still you can still meet with our budgeting staff and ask your questions about the budget or what is this for or what is that, you know, whatever your questions are in advance because I do know that's an important part sometimes of our budgeting process.

And part of what she's getting at too is what we call

polling. Right, which has always been wrong.

Staff, but that's always been illegal. Right. Like staff can't say, are you good with this budget?

Are we talking about something, no.

You good with that? Yeah, in trying to count the noses outside of the public meeting. You cannot do that and that is explicitly now prohibited. It's always been the law by case law. Now it's in the statute. So nobody can pull. The mayor can't pull, you can't poll each other, staff can't poll you, staff can't communicate to each to any of you how they view any of you might vote on a matter. Council member street looks good to me, council Member Moore, you can't do that anymore.

Let me ask you one other and we'll move on. So let's say the mayor decides he wants to create a new park and the mayor calls me, we go out and look at the property, can he pitch the park to me as long as he's not pulling me? He takes me out, we go look at a 100 acre track over here off Cornerstone, he says I think this would be an ideal location.

That sort of meeting between the two of you should not occur now.

It should be staff that takes you and educates you on the benefits of that property location.

Staff can take you out there and says we've got a council member, whether it's the mayor or any of you who's interested in making this a park. We wanted to go out here, see if you had any questions.

Right.

There's no more in governing body communication outside of this meeting on a topic that's gonna come before this body. The sausage all has to be made here. It all has to be discussed for the first time here between the governing body members. It's a big sea change.

And this falls on the same legislator that passed or the legislation that passed this law?

No. The legislature does not have these limitations. They can talk about anything they want anywhere they want.

And also in addition to invalidating the legislative act, I think it's important to remember it's also a class C misdemeanor. Right? You can be charged with a class c misdemeanor if you intentionally violate FOIA. So just keep that in mind.

That's true.

Not to be a David Downer but

If an officer you violate this and start talking to each other or texting each other or tweeting each other, whatever about any of this, you are you yes, in theory can be prosecuted for commission of a misdemeanor. And, you know, and have a criminal conviction on your record. So I mean, it is a serious law. It's always had that criminal component. But we're now in a much more precarious fact pattern world now. And so everybody needs to say their piece at these public meetings. That's That's where you make the sausage. I appreciate your time, mayor. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Baker. All right, council. We'll move on to item number five. These are items on consent agenda.

Move to adopt unless changes are noted. Second. Do we have

a motion on the floor to adopt? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. We'll move on to resolutions removed from the consent agenda. Resolution 25,137. Give Carol just a second.

Resolution by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas to condemn property located at 233 South Fisher Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401, parcel number 01Dash144073Dash17500. Owner Michael Kevin Kelly. Legal description follows, whereas all the stipulations have been met in the condemnation process to proceed with the condemnation of this property. Now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas that the city should proceed with the condemnation of the property located at 233 South Fisher Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401.

Move to adopt. Second. We do have a

motion on the floor, council. Any discussion by counsel? Don't see any. Anyone in counsel chambers? I don't see any as well. So if you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. That resolution does carry. All right. We'll move on to resolution 25138.

Resolution by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, condemned property located 505 West Woodrow Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401. Parcel number 0114407317500. Owner Thomas and Linda Bobbitt. Legal description follows. Whereas the above property has been inspected and has been determined unsuited for human habitation. Whereas all the stipulations have been met in the condemnation process to proceed with the condemnation of this property. Now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas that the city should proceed with the condemnation of the property located at 505 West Woodrow Street, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401.

Move to adopt. Second.

You have a motion and a second on the floor to adopt. Any discussion by council? I don't see anyone in council chambers. I don't see any as well. If you would, please cast your ballot on that.

That resolution does carry as well. Now we'll move on to resolution twenty five one six five.

Resolution by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas requesting city water and light to provide contribution commitments toward the purchase of two new fire trucks for the Jonesboro fire department. Whereas city of Jonesboro fire department administration has performed comparative pricing and secured the commitment for a reasonable delivery timeline to facilitate the replacement of a 2005 model 100 aerial ladder truck. I don't know if I read that right. And a two it's it's a fire truck, y'all. A 2011 model pumper truck within department.

And whereas the purchase price of the aerial truck will be $1,558,852, and the pumper truck will be $860,915 for a total of $2,419,767. And whereas upon delivery of the new units, the replacement units will be sold through the assistance of a listing agent and the resulting sale proceeds being returned to the depreciation fund. And whereas the initial apparatus pricing estimate detailed in the fiscal year twenty twenty five budget has since been reviewed by fire administration, extensive brand and supplier comparisons have resulted in the identification of a similar unit from a different manufacturer at significant price savings, whereas the city appropriated 625,000 in the 2024 depreciation fund to fund the anticipated future purchase, and whereas an additional $625,000 funding will be appropriated in the 2025 depreciation fund, and whereas City Water and Light has indicated a willingness to commit to a two year funding program including an annual contribution of $600,000 toward the purchase of these fire trucks and requires a resolution from the city council to enable the annual contributions, and whereas a future resolution will be presented to approve the purchase. Now therefore be it resolved by city council of the city of Jonesboro that section one, CWL is hereby requested to contribute $600,000 in 2025 and $600,000 in 2026 from its surplus funds to be used toward the purchase of two new fire trucks for the Jonesboro Fire Department.

Section two, Mayor Hill Copenhagen, City Clerk, April Leggett are authorized to execute any necessary documents to effectuate these contributions.

Do we

have a motion on the floor? I heard that as the record reflect that I recuse myself from discussion or vote due to being a member on the board

of directors of C. Wernherlin. Duly noted. Do we have any discussion by counsel? I don't see any. Anyone in counsel chambers? I don't see any as well. If you would, please cast your ballot. And that does carry. Now we don't have any items on new business, so we'll move to item number seven. This is unfinished business. These are ordinances on the second reading. Ordinance twenty five zero three three.

An ordinance to amend chapter six, alcoholic beverages to comply with changes to the Arkansas law regarding private club permits.

Do we have any discussion by counsel? I don't see any. Anyone in counsel chambers? Yes, sir. If you would, please come forward. State your name and address.

James Owen Hines, 508 Ridgecrest. First, let me cite that I really don't have a preference one way or the other whether you pass this or not. I just do want it on the record that, you know, that you all do have a choice. This is not the law state law changed and therefore, we have to change. You'd have to make it a city ordinance instead of a state ordinance.

But the truth is, and I'm gonna I'm gonna say something, in some cases this would just be one less lie that a person have to tell to get a permit. It's my understanding and the city attorney can correct me if I'm wrong. Actually, the the law about these being part of these private club permits as far as these contributions, there's no teeth in the law. There's the old law for it to be monitored to be sure these payments were being made. And if they were, if a place was out of compliance, I don't think there was a law that said what can we do about it.

You know, do you throw the owner in jail or whatever. So really it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. But I just want on the record that you know, there are multiple things that could be done here.

Thank you, Mr. Hines. Any other discussion from the audience? I don't see any, so that item will move on to the third reading. Now we're upon ordinance 25,037.

Ordinance to amend chapter one seventeen article eight section one seventeen dash three two four g to remove the requirement to have valid registration or license on a boat trailer or recreational vehicle parked outdoors on residential lots in the city of Jonesboro. This is what we discussed earlier.

If I would, this is the one that was pertaining and in order to be open and not be any kind of a conflict, I'd ask Carol should we table it or should we pull it and go back and start it over?

I think that I mean as we said during the FOIA discussion I don't think there's any guidance on how to do it. I just think doing one or the other allows us to show a judge that we tried to act in good faith, to correct our mistake, to let the public know what the communication was. So I would say it's the desire of the council whether you postpone for two weeks, postpone for thirty days or pull it and start it over. I will say that the part of my brain that thinks like a prosecutor thinks that if you wanted to manipulate system anytime there was an ordinance that you didn't like you could send a communication out to all the aldermen that would then kill it because it's a FOIA violation. I don't think that I'm not suggesting that's what happened in this case in any way shape or form.

I think these rules changed and we're just getting familiar with them. But I'm just saying I don't want to set a dangerous precedent that I'm just throwing that out there. I think that public needs to know when there's a communication but I think that people play politics sometimes not this circumstance but in the future and I hate to see that be an easy way to kill any ordinance you just don't agree with and just hope you don't get prosecuted or fined by a court, right? So my suggestion is postpone it. It's up to the desire of the counsel how long that is.

Postpone for thirty days.

For thirty days?

Do we have a second? We have a motion

There was a second down here.

Have a second?

So instead of saying thirty days, do you want to give the date of our meeting April so that we know

December 18,

I think.

Yeah, is there a meeting that night? So maybe December 16 meeting?

Postponed until December 16 meeting.

All right. So we're in discussion. Ordinance 25,037 in order for that to be postponed until 12/16/2026. '25. '25. I'm already here. I'm budget.

As a point of clarification for the city clerk, do we want it to remain on second reading at that? Okay, thank you. I'd have to be a voice vote because we don't have any

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, council. We'll move on to ordinance 25,038.

An ordinance by the city of Jonesboro to place various traffic signs at designated locations is determined by the traffic control committee.

Move to adopt. Second. Do we have

motion on the floor? Any discussion by council?

It's on the second reading.

Oh, second reading. Oh, sorry. Sorry. We got ahead of our side.

Any discussion by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. That So will now move on to its third reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 25,039.

An ordinance to add section two dash two eight nine to the Jonesboro Code of Ordinances titled Firefighter Bill of Rights.

Any discussion by council? Anyone in the chamber? I don't see as well, so that'll move on now to its third reading. So now we'll move on to ordinances on the third reading. We have one ordinance this evening. This would be voted on by council members. Ordinance 25,035.

An ordinance for the approval of an application for a private club permit transfer of location for the Parsonage LLC.

Move to adopt. Second. We do

have a motion on the floor to adopt. Any discussion by council? I don't see anyone in council chambers. Yes,

sir.

If you would please come forward, state your name and address.

James, 508 Ridgecrest. As far as moving, I don't really have point. Good

point.

Back slide. Go And practice slide. From happening and keep in mind, hey, that that license that was there, it still exists. We don't need to issue a new one.

Anyone else in the council chambers? I don't see any. Counsel, If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. And that ordinance does pass. So now we'll move on to item eight. This is the mayor's report. It's been two weeks since we've met but we've had abundance of activity in the community and so in my opinion it shows our vibrant heart and willingness to move forward. I'll start with something near to my heart and I'm sure near to yours as well. It's Veterans Day and celebrations that go with it. I want to start with a story of a young lady down at Valley View School District.

Her father was a fifteen year veteran and myself and staff members went and met with her. He committed suicide within the past year. This young lady is very strong. She's very vibrant. She wants to tell her story suffering in the same context.

So we also took her to the veterans cottages so she could see what we're doing to help veterans recover to get their feet back on the ground. You know, we learn from youth of all ages individuals, but more importantly, this young lady is strong, but yet she needs us as well and she wants to help others that are dealing with that. So again, it's important that we understand what PTSD and subsequently what happens in many cases. I hope that you had the pleasure, though. Some of us attended the Nettleton High School East Veterans Day program.

It's obviously a wonderful program. Goes on for two hours. Take great pride. It was a packed facility at St. Bernard's Auditorium and I can't say enough for what those students do.

And they celebrate and they're learning in the same process honoring our veterans and demonstrating the abundance of patriotism. If you've never attended this program in luncheon, I encourage you to do so next year. The retirement of Lieutenant Colonel Morgan Weatherly at Arkansas State University also occurred this past week in military science and leadership. He was celebrated at the Cooper Alumni Center. I appreciate his service to our community and more importantly Northeast Arkansas and many of the colleagues that have moved on in military careers through Arkansas State University.

The Daughters of the American Revolution made an outstanding contribution to the veteran colleges and at the ASU Armory. It was great seeing $47,000 contribution come the way to the veterans cottages for use. In other matters, we attended ASU Catalyst, Northeast Arkansas Economic Development and Leadership hosted by Doctor. Shields of Arkansas State University. Attendees.

I also had the honor of welcoming the fifteenth annual supervisor seminar conference as well as the Arkansas Municipal League twenty twenty five regional meeting at the Fowler Center. Of you are also probably aware that Rice and Foods annual meeting was also held here in Jonesboro. It's invigorating to see so many visitors come to Jonesboro and take time and hear their impressions about our community. Something you may not be aware of is the Jonesboro Public Schools dynamic integrated Security Program. It's a fascinating high level outsourced program for protection for our students.

These are highly trained security personnel with the goal is to stop school violence before it happens. I was fortunate to sit on a panel with Misty Doyle, Todd Nelson, their facilitator, the developer of their company. Visitors from neighboring school districts attended for a look at what's being done right here in Jonesboro High School to keep our kids and teachers safe at our schools. In closing, I want to say how proud I am and how proud I am of you too because of what's going on at the Ridge Athletic Center. Progress is being made there and I think we've got some pictures that we can put up and at the end I know Chris Moore is going be very jealous of what I was able to do, but I want you to look at some of these pictures.

We're going to have an eight court separated basketball facility. It will be a 65,000 square foot gymnasium that will hold an additional volume of basketball courts. We have 35,000 square foot gymnasium, Olympic sized pool that's already been poured, a 25 by 25 warm up pool concrete that's being poured and it's still on track for opening in the 2027. Tournaments are already being booked but at the end of this, if you see the crane over to the left, that was a crane that was six times the size of the crane that we had bring down the Citizens Bank building, and it could validate over 450,000 pounds of moving object. They really needed a great crane operator so guess who volunteered?

Myself. That's pretty awesome. Pretty awesome to see.

We can't talk amongst each other but you can drive a crane.

I can drive a crane.

That scares me a little bit.

I know it. The operator was right there. Anyway, it doesn't move fast. I tell you what, we need to take pride in what's going on here. And these walls are going up. The community is talking about it. It's going to be an impact for this community that I think that we're going to be very proud of for our grandchildren and others to be able to use as a facility. So again, it was an honor to be out there to see that and we'll continue to give you updated reports on that process. Next we'll move on to item number nine. Excuse me, wait a minute. I have one other thing. Matthew, if you would please come forward. This is DPZ. I want to give you all an update of our master growth plan. We started the process this week.

We had many community members engaged, and that's going to be a process that we'll continue to do, but we want to be very transparent, and Matthew is the leader of DPZ, so you have the floor, sir.

Thanks, mayor, and and counsel. I'm here this, few days with some members of my team and and Craft and Toll. We haven't gotten started on anything yet, really, collecting some some data from from staff, from from different agencies. And we came here for a few days to meet with the steering committee that was established. We had a meeting today with about 26 members of the community, very, very diverse members of the community, to get their input on how to engage and and to understand, different opinions, around the city about its future.

We've had an a number of one on one, thirty minute interviews with other community members to to begin to understand, their thoughts on the community today and its future. And we've met with staff, and toured around the city to see what's happening, everywhere today. This is just the very beginning of our process. We don't even have our website up yet. So be on the lookout on the city's website and on the destination one hundred k website.

We will begin to, to provide information there. This was really an initial fact finding, talking to folks before we even start thinking about, how to put the process together. So we're gonna begin working on a public engagement plan, and Krafton Toll will lead that. And that will kick us into the first quarter of next year when we'll start to, after the holidays, begin to execute on engagement, which is outreach to the community as a whole, surveys, engagement, in person in in, say, February, March, connection with the state of the city. But we've also set the dates for the public, charrette series, which we've discussed before with you.

That's a week long effort where we bring a whole team of folks, from both of our firms, to to draw, to talk, to to host meetings, with, stakeholder groups, and public meetings, to discuss the future of the city. And those dates are March 30 through April 3. So we just wanna hold those now. We're gonna put that on the calendar, once we have, our website together, post that, share that with the community. Another thing that we've been doing this week is asking who should we talk to in the community?

Who else? How how should we cast our net wide to make sure that we reach, a broad constituency of of residents and and get them engaged in the process? So after that, after that week long charrette, we'll begin working on, on the prod on on on the first draft of the plan. However, we will also come back again and engage out in the community, about the outcomes, about what we heard, about what our our ideas are before we actually draft a a first portion of that plan. We'll begin that drafting through the summer.

And then in the early fall, have some more opportunities to share, hold a public meeting, on what's in the first draft, another survey, with the community. And then we'll continue through subsequent drafts into the beginning first quarter, 2027 to bring this before you for adoption. So we're just starting. We again don't even have our website together, the name, the branding, the messaging. We just wanted to get out here, talk to folks, and and really start to understand, where people sit today. So I'm happy to answer any questions, if if you have them. Again, we're just just here getting the lay of the land.

Thank you. Questions, counsel? All right. Matthew, I appreciate it very much. Thank you so much. You bet. Matthew, if you don't mind, please introduce the rest of your team that's back there. I think that

Yeah. We have so I'm a partner at DPZ. DPZ is the main company, the name main consultant. We have Camille Cortez, who's the project manager on our on our team with DPZ. Then we have Julie Kelso, who's the the are you the principal now on it for Craft and Toll? VP. Yeah. Yeah. The v VP in in charge of the project for Craft and Toll. And then we have we have Luke Sims, who's Isaac Sims. Isaac Sims. Sims, I've I've got another project with Luke Sims. Do you know that, Isaac? No. Anyways and and Isaac Sims, who's the PM from Craft and Toll.

We also had the head of engineering for Kraft and Toll, Brad, who was with us meeting with the MPO and public works for a few days.

All right. Thank you, Sorry to put you on the spot there, buddy. All right, we'll move on now to item number nine and this is city council reports.

Mr. Street?

No, thank you. Other than everybody have a happy Thanksgiving.

Mr. Miller?

No, thank you.

Mr. Haffner?

No,

thanks. Doctor. Anthony Coleman? No, thanks. Mr. Gibson? No, Ms. Williams? No, thanks. Mr. Moore?

No thanks.

Doctor. Charles Coleman?

No thank you.

Mr. Emerson?

Nothing at this time, thank you.

Miss Porter?

No thank you.

Alright, thank you very much counsel. Carol would like to make a comment.

Councilman Moore requested a municipality report on litigation for the city of Jonesboro. I just wanted to point out that each of you have one of those in front of you that you can take and review. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I think it's my office worked hard on it. It's pretty self explanatory as far as a brief description of the case, what we know about the progress on it, who is representing, each side of the litigation, whether it's my office, the AML, that type of thing, and kind of just where each case stands. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Thank

you, Carol. I appreciate that. Next we'll move on to item number 10. This is public comments. Anyone can come forward and make a statement. You are limited to five minutes. If you would, please state your name and address.

Patty Lat, 4108 Forest Hill Road. And I'm here to talk about the left hand turn that we have on Elmhurst and Parker Road, and there's been a lot of close calls that I've seen when I'm driving by. And just a little history on this is that I think it came into more of a spotlight when the MAPC was approving the last. I think it was the final plans of the storage unit out there in the back area. And Mr.

Ford, who is on the MAPC, said that Elmhurst is a city street now, and it's going to be increased traffic soon after the large facility gets built and all the remaining property gets developed too. And one of these days, it's gonna get developed. And he said it would make sense for the city to make Elmhurst Drive and Parker Road a right hand turn only. It only makes a lot of sense. I know after that, it sparked to have a traffic study, and I think all of you guys were included on that.

And it was a traffic study that was done on Thursday, September 18. It was for thirteen hours. And the traffic study, how it showed is that on Parker Road going to the west, there is there was 5,600 cars, and going to the east, there was about 6,300 cars. But more important is that the people making a left hand turn, and I hope you guys are with me, is that Elmhurst is right there by the oil changing place, is that there's a left hand turn that you have to cross over two lanes of traffic to go towards Home Depot. And during this time, they said that there was the traffic study showed 295 cars in that thirteen hour period.

And so when you break it down, it's like 22, 23 cars an hour, five or six cars every fifteen minutes. But they said at the peak hour, at 04:00 in the afternoon, there were 35 cars that turned left there. I don't know about you guys, but that traffic out there is just horrible at that time. They said that there was no accidents since 2019, but with increased traffic there, that is gonna change. If you go to the intersection right there, if you're heading down south past Popeyes, there's that road right there, and it's meant for the 18 wheeler trucks to go to Walmart.

There used to be a no left hand turn sign there. It's gone now. But people are not allowed to turn left or excuse me, to turn right or no. Wait. Okay. I'm turned around. They cannot turn left. They can turn right. But the other day, and I will send this to you, there was a 18 wheeler truck that was making a left hand turn so close to the intersection. There's going to be an accident that's going to happen because that road is going to get widened pretty soon of what they're doing.

The question is, is that how do these delivery trucks from Walmart exit that area? Because if they can't make a left hand turn, then they have to go right down Harrisburg Road and really to weave in all that around Elmhurst, it's a windy road. I don't know how people or the 18 wheeler trucks make that that turn. That RDOT specifically told the city of Jonesboro that if you are on Parker Road, you cannot make a left hand turn after that signal. There's a sign right there.

And that's the only reason that they were allowed or we were allowed to put a street there is that you cannot make left hand turns. I see people every once in a while. And the reason I thought, well, probably because it's dangerous because you're crossing over a couple lanes of traffic. That makes sense. So decided I was going to call up RDOT and ask them why they specifically put that sign there.

Two interesting things. They told me that Elmhurst Drive and the road right after the intersection right there going south on Harrisburg was too close to intersection. It really shouldn't have been built. That was kinda interesting to hear from them. But the reason they say that they put a left hand or no left hand turn sign right there on Parker to turn on to Elmhurst was because it's dangerous, and they were concerned about the citizens' and the driver's safety.

Wow. But what we're doing as a city is that we're allowing people to make a left left hand turn onto Parker doing what they think is a customer and a driver's safety and it's dangerous, but we're allowing it to be done. So if possible, I think the city of Jonesboro needs to look at this before that area expands because if you already had 295 cars turning left when it's not developed yet, when we don't have the storage unit or the 300 or 400 units, that area is going to develop. Wasn't

What time is that, well Ms.

Planned Black? I hope we can make the change and we can be concerned about it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anyone else from the audience? I don't see any. If you would, we'll move on to item 11.

Move to adjourn. Second.

We have a motion on

the floor. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?