Public Services Council Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, I'm showing four o'clock, and we'll go ahead and call the special called meeting of the public services to order. First item of business is roll call. Please mark your attendance. The next and only item of business, we do have a quorum, but we won't be voting on anything today. The only other order of business is Communications 26035, and that's to discuss the tabled ordinance of Ordinance 26013 on the Sports Advisory Board. I'm not going to read that in its entirety. If anybody needs a copy, I'll be happy to provide you one. And then I will open the floor for discussions. I will ask that LJ Bryant first read some correspondence Jerry Morgan was going to try to be here today, and he was unable to attend, so he sent an email to the committee earlier today. And just out of fairness and transparency, I want to go ahead and have that read, please.

I know you must be excited to hear me read an email, so here we go. Dear Public Services Committee and Jonesboro Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members, And this is from Jerry Morgan. I was asked to speak at the meeting today regarding the ordinance for the Sports Advisory Board. Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict, I will not be able to attend. I did want to add some information and insight that I think will provide... I think will be helpful in your decision on whether to forward to the City Council for consideration. These are my own comments that have not been approved by the A&P Commission. First, it was mentioned by an individual in opposition to this ordinance that it appeared that this would be a hostile takeover and control of programs and facilities of the existing Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. It was also mentioned by a city council member that I was not elected to promote sports tourism. I was elected to represent people and families and children in this community, and it's not my goal to get heads in beds. Our goal with this ordinance is not an either or scenario, but was to add an additional component to our parks and recreation oversight that would help make decisions regarding the placement of our funds going forward. I have attached a spreadsheet reflecting the funds that the Advertising and Promotion Commission has granted to various areas of the Jonesboro Parks and Recreation System over the past eight years. This equates to almost $2.5 million of hotel tax funds going directly to city and youth sports programs and projects. I would estimate that recreational league sports received 80% of the benefit of these funds, while outside team weekend tournaments benefited by less than 20%. An example is the soccer turf fields where the AMP commission partnered with the city to spend close to $3 million to upgrade the drainage and add turf fields. This was at the direct request of the parks director in 2023. The primary benefit to the city as stated from the parks director was to upgrade the facilities to allow outside weekend tournaments and not have cancellations due to rain and weather events. This was a significant commitment from the hotel owners that collect all the tax money that the AMP used on these upgrades. This was designated to be a win-win for all recreational players and tournament players. After two seasons of availability of the turf, it is still unclear if any outside tournaments have occurred. Also, a large part of our funding to the youth of the city has been for recreational league expenses that were granted to the City Stars organization. Regardless of the current investigation of funds regarding City Stars, tens of thousands of our city youth have benefited from the programs that AMPs helped fund over the last decade. Making a statement that Heads and Beds has not been the primary goal of the AMP Commission's funding decisions is completely contradictory to long history of partnering with the city. Second, an additional reason for the approval of this ordinance is to add an additional layer of review for our tax dollars that are being spent by the city on recreational programming and asset allocations. There have been many, if not most, of the decisions that have been made by the city that were never reviewed, voted on, or even discussed with the existing Parks and Recreation Committee. For example, the decision that was made by the city administration to take over the City Stars organization was never vetted by the Parks and Recreation Committee, City Council meeting January 6, 2026. Then the City Parks Director stated in April that the City wasn't in the tournament business, City Council meeting April 7, 2026. The Director used various examples of tournament financials to make this decision. Again, this was never discussed with the Parks and Recreation Committee prior to that decision being made. While it might make financial sense to get out of the tournament business, How many children in Jonesboro are there that are unable to afford to travel to play in tournaments that were robbed of their ability to play going forward? Maybe three-ish more paragraphs. Also, the cost savings to the city was minimal, if any at all, to do away with those weekend tournaments. If a committee were established to review the cost benefits for the children and families to be able to participate here in Jonesboro, funding could possibly be available from organizations like the A&P Commission. This would be the same as the A&P provided to city stars for several years for local tournaments, as those tournaments also bring in family members for the weekend that support our restaurants. Two more paragraphs. Third, the A&P Commission can provide significant data and funding that can help determine the best return for all of our citizens, both recreationally and tourism-related. This information is in the form of tax collections and significant resources we have established with other cities and third-party companies around the nation. It is much better to learn from others than try and recreate the wheel. A perfect example is the current Jonesboro Shooting Sports Complex. While this falls under review of the current Parks and Rec Board, No proposal has ever been presented from the city or the board to determine the best path forward to expand this to eliminate the current financial deficit or expand programming for the youth of our area. The AMP Commission and the Jonesboro Facilities Boards have actively worked to propose a solution to include funding to achieve these goals. Last paragraph. Fourth and final, if the council members that currently serve on the Public Services Committee feel that the current Parks and Rec Committee is being provided adequate information and is actively involved in the decisions being made by the city for our youth sports, then please disregard this ordinance and continue on the path that has been used the past several years. But as many of you have served on the A&P Commission either currently or in the past, please don't vote against this ordinance under the misinformation that it is an attempt of a takeover or only heads and beds. Best regards, Jerry Morgan, PS. Please note, no comments in this email are directed toward the current Parks and Recreation Director. I feel that Jim Stearns is working hard and a very good individual that deeply cares about Jonesboro and the youth of this town. These comments are for the discussion of the structure of governance that has been used for the past several years of our city youth and parks and recreation programming.

Thank you, LJ. I'm gonna go ahead and open the floor to comment. This is gonna get a little bit cumbersome. I will ask you to come to the podium, state your name and address for the record. Please keep it relevant to the topic at hand so we can keep this timely and moving forward. And again, we will not be voting on anything at this meeting. It will go directly back to council tomorrow night for consideration. Anybody on the committee? ARCS Advisory Board.

I'm David Daniel. I live at 2312 Lombardi Drive in Jonesboro. What a mess. The he said, she said is beyond me. It makes me wanna come in here in my younger days, turn over tables. There's gotta be an answer. I really feel like I know what Jerry is trying to get across. when the A&P Commission put that amount of dollars into a request by our latter Parks and Rec director. I've served on the Parks and Rec committee for a good while, along with Tina, I guess, has been a while. John's been a while. Jay's been on, then off, and now back on. Listen, we're... We all want what's best and there's no way in the world that I believe that anybody on that committee or Jerry Morgan would not want the best for our children of Jonesboro in rec sports. I get that. Okay, I really do. But I also understand the A&P side, when you've invested that kind of money, which was needed regardless if we have sports tourism or not, the turf fields were needed at Joe Mack Campbell for our youth sports soccer so they could practice. I mean, I've heard that they've canceled stuff because it was sprinkling, you know. I'll just say this. Marilyn Copeland, who served a long time and even was involved in the CS Word back in the day, helped write the grant. I think all of us volunteer. We like our positions for the most part. Although we haven't really made any decisions, okay, I think that we've made some suggestions when things were asked and we've tried to support and talk about things, but as far as making any decisions, we haven't. I don't believe that. I've asked the most. of the people that's on the committee currently, I've asked some that served in the past. I just, Marilyn, she, in the last meeting, y'all correct me now. Hey, y'all correct me if I'm wrong. Marilyn, in the last meeting, thought that it might be a good idea if, hey, look, we, oversight, everybody loves oversight. We want to we want to do what's right for Jonesboro and the people of Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas, period. So Marilyn suggested, say, look, if you want to put a couple of members, add to that, to the committee that's currently working, we don't have a problem, but she also suggested that maybe a couple of citizens go on this board, and I don't even know if that can happen. I don't know if that's legal or not, but... I just, we got a lot of really, really good things going. We're, you know, Craig and Brandon are here. They're working their tail off with the sports facilities company that's going to come in and manage the sportsplex. We got Jim. Let me give Jim credit. For the first time in a long time, he gave us, in our last Parks and Rec meeting, he gave us a list of things that he needed some direction on. First time I can remember that happened. Okay, so I don't know what the answer is. You know, you guys are elected officials. But, you know, this is not about David Daniel or It's about Jonesboro, period. And man, we gotta take all egos away. There's been, there's no way that I think anybody on this committee don't want what's best for our Parks and Rec and the money that goes into that. But I can also understand the A&P's deal about getting people into Jonesboro and the The sports tourism, the travel sports if you call it, we're kind of in the tournament business. Jim, correct me if I'm wrong. We're kind of in the tournament business and we're kind of not. And I'm talking about softball. We're in the tournament business and we're run by the city, correct? Okay. Shooting sports. tournament business kind of run by the city and so the fact that we don't want to be in the tournament business is somewhat true and i understand and we've talked about this year after year probably not enough staff probably not enough money to run everything that needs to be run so i don't I just know this, if the A&P's gonna continue to help us support and grow and build the things to the Jonesboro standard, which I hold in high regard, I hold in high regard, I want the best facilities we can have, the best atmosphere we can have for our kids first, first and foremost, our people first, but then if we can bring regional, you know, the Tulses, the St. Louis, the Nashville, people in here that's gonna put heads in beds, it can only benefit us, I think. Now, I've lived at Ridgepoint, and I've been in that debate whether we should take that Sloan property and make it all apart. I was for, hey, let's take it all. Let's get it all. Well, we got part of it, and we continued to have disc golf. It was a successful deal. People here most of the week from all, lots of states. I can't remember the exact number, but I think it was seven countries, which is a good thing. So... It just seems like we're in a wrestling match with each other. And I kinda wish, you know, when we had our first meeting, Chris, we talked about having a joint meeting, kinda like we're doing today, and then the ordinance came a little quicker than we anticipated, okay? And maybe, I know we got an investigation going on, and I'm not gonna proclaim guilt, to anyone until they're found guilty, but once the investigation is done and all of the layers of the onion are uncovered, then it maybe will give us a little better information. I just, I want everybody's ego to go away Period. Ego was edging greatness out. So I just wish everybody's ego would go away. And I think there's lots of, you got your committee here, you got the A&P, you got the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, you got the Downtown Jonesboro Alliance, you've got this and you got that, and until those people really come together and take away all egos and think about what's best for Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas, we're never gonna be as good as we can be, even though we're pretty good. We're pretty good. We're not without problems, but I can tell you you guys that sit on this committee, you guys that sit on the council, I mean, that's kind of what you're elected for, is to make the very best decision possible for the most of the population. And if you've got any questions, I'm happy to answer them the best of my ability.

I don't have any questions, but I want to build on a statement that you made just a little bit, Coach. You know, when we brought that first meeting together, it is very much the intent of myself and this committee that we work hand-in-hand with your group to make our recreational sports the best they can be. Day one, when Jim signed on, I told him that I was going to give him every tool in his toolbox to make Jonesboro Sports the best they can be.

He needs more staff and more money. Sorry to interrupt. Jim, would you second that, Jim? Okay.

That's very much true. It was never anyone's intent to drive a wedge between these two groups. Yeah. And that ordinance was not, it was really not formulated by this group, so to speak. It was formulated by a group of citizens that asked us to bring it forward. Sure. And I want to be very clear about that. Yeah. Do I think it may be necessary? Very possibly it may be necessary to have another committee to steer sports tourism.

Yeah. Here's what I'd say on that. To me, if you add another committee, you're just adding another committee, and it's just something else, somebody else that's got to meet. I'd rather just have one committee or one commission personally. Now, this is David Daniel. This is not the committee, okay, personally. I'd rather have one group, okay, that... rather than these two groups having to get together and now you've got to get the group with this group and now you've got to get, and then it's got to go to the council and, you know, I don't really, I'm not crazy about politics, I'm sorry, but it's got this ordinance and it's got this reading and it's got this reading and it's got, I mean, it's on and on and on before you know it takes a year to get it done. I'd rather get it done today.

And again, to that point, I will say, if you'll recall at that first meeting, I did make a statement that I don't know what the best option is, whether it's the second committee or adding individuals to your committee that focus on the sports tourism piece.

Yeah.

we don't have all the answers either. I mean, we're just trying to figure it all out as we go. And we wanna make the best decision for not only the Parks and Rec Department, but also for our A&P Commission moving forward.

Yeah, I do think this, and I've been on the committee now, this is a third Parks and Rec Director. Maybe, maybe, in the past, The director was given a little bit too much autonomy. And that may be why we're in the investigation we're in right now. And I will say this. I think Jim is really working hard. And I appreciate the fact that he's asked us to consider some things rather than just getting a report. Anybody else? You got anything? Chairman?

Sir? A little history lesson for me. I've been around, like I said, been on the council 10 years, but back in the day when it was a commission versus being a committee, did y'all have any more power when y'all were a commission? What was the technicality there?

I think Jay probably could speak to that because he was on when it was a commission. Is that right, Jay?

I wasn't on when it was a commission. Jay Clevenger... 4842 Leesburg Drive. I've been moved for a year and a half and I still have to stop and think about it. No, I was not on the commission. My understanding was at that time in 1995, I believe it was, that If the Parks Department needed to buy a mower blade, they had to meet to approve it because they were the ones that could allocate park funds. That was my understanding. And I got that from a former councilman, Pop Strickland. He was one that was telling me all about that. But that's why it was dissolved and this was created. And what Jim is doing today was the method of operation this committee operated before I got off the first time back in, I can't even remember what year it was. But the parks director would bring the committee, things, potential grants, planning. I recall I was on there 13 years. I recall we did two plans that never got to council. They were just plans on paper. It is basically what they were. What Coach D said, I agree 100% with him. And honestly, I'll... I'll take the ball on the sword for this. I've been the most critical of this ordinance. What it looked to me like on paper was a potential of a hostile takeover. I was one that said that and I'll own that because that's what I said. I think we can all work together. I think we can take Ordinance 95645 that's on the screen there and possibly expand it, include the chair of the Public Services Committee. I think the committee would welcome AMP, a member of the AMP to be on this committee, a member of the Facilities Board to be on this committee. I think there's something there that we can work together to do what's best for Jonesboro. A sports tourism, I don't think this is what we, for sports tourism, I don't think it's this committee or any other committee that's going to achieve what we all want, and that's increasing tax revenue from out-of-towners. I mean, let's put it point blank. That's what sports tourism is. It increases your tax revenue. But I think we're all open to inviting others in that want to see. If there's something that this committee wants us to do, just tell us. That's what we'll do. I mean, two years ago, we just went through a major park plan that you guys adopted. That's what you told us that you wanted us to do. And that's what we did. So let's open up the lines of communication and let's talk with each other, let's collaborate. I think that's the key here, to have conversations, collaborate, and do what's best for Jonesboro. I mean, that's my opinion. That might not be anybody else's opinion on there, but I think that we could open this up and Chris, come on board, you know, another member of the AMP. But when we're disguising something as a sports tourism that's not really dealing with tourism, in my opinion, the way I read the ordinance, it's disingenuous. Let's work together. Let's come together. Let's do what's best for Jonesboro.

Thank you. Any other comments about Jim? Come on up.

Yeah, you make me nervous when you're all that quiet. Really quick, so when we met the initial time, there's a misconception that we weren't in support of tourism or sports tourism. And I remember reading some 200 plus events that we had partnered with throughout the last calendar year to support sports tourism. So in parks, we're not opposed to sports tourism and we're not opposed to growing Jonesboro. What we had to do in parks in light of the investigation and everything that's going on is we had to focus on what our priorities were gonna be. And we met as a leadership team, and we just determined really that we're going to emphasize our youth sports program because that's what we're here for. Any kid that wants to play ought to have an opportunity to play at low cost or no cost. And so our priority one was to make sure that with our existing staff and our existing structure is that we have the ability to provide youth recreational sports at the highest level. And we can say, honestly, in the last six months, we can track how successful we've been with that. So that was focus number one. The second focus was to take care of our existing facilities. We have a lot and we are fortunate that we have pulled a team together that's in and can take care of this to take care of two sports complex, Craighead Forest Park, 25 pocket parks, four cemeteries, urban parks, and now trail system. And so we focused on those two items and said this is where we're gonna put our energy towards. As reading the ordinance that created our board, and I'm not gonna read the whole thing, I know you guys have seen it, but basically it just says, the purpose of the Parks and Recreation Planning Advisory Committee shall be to advise the city council on matters relating to long-range plans for the park's development and growth activities to better serve the citizens of Jonesboro. Said committee shall assist in establishing priorities for community recreation needs, developing effective expansion strategy, and funding sources. The committee shall meet as needed with minimum quarterly meetings committee chair shall serve as an ad hoc member of and primary liaison with the parks committee of the city council the city of jonesboro and i i think we lost focus of that over some years ago i don't i don't know when that lost focus and as i've become more focusing on parks My mission was to get them to be more involved. I want them to be my advocates for all that we do in Parks and Rec. I want them to be my advocates from the Parks and Rec side to the council so that everybody's aware of our needs. And they're a lot. And we've only begun to touch the edge of what we really need in Parks and Planning for the future of Jonesboro. We certainly... with enough notice can adjust our schedules to accommodate any sports tournament that wants to come to Jonesboro. If a true, legit sports promotion company wants to come and do a softball tournament or a soccer tournament and there's enough notice, we can adjust our youth sports program to accommodate that and are willing to do so. I don't know where the misconception came from that we weren't in support of that at one time, but we've discussed this as a leadership team, and there's not a problem with that. It doesn't matter what the sport is, we can accommodate that need. As has been said by Coach D, We don't have the staff to be in the tournament business. And as Brandon can probably come and speak to you, that's a full-time job, and he doesn't have enough help right now in his cell. I promise you. I'm not speaking for him, but I can suppose he would say that. We, the reason we are successful in tournaments and softball is because softball through the years, we have three to four times as much staff for my softball group than we do with basketball, volleyball, soccer, and or, I lost. But we have so many more staff members available to softball, we can make softball work. Softball has a staff of four. Basketball and volleyball have one coordinator. Soccer has one coordinator. Football has one coordinator. And so for us to add additional tournaments and stuff in other sports, we don't have the team to do that. And as shown to this group as well as the council, We pulled everybody away for weeks and weeks to put on some long-standing tournaments, because that was a tradition in Jonesboro. And we felt like it was the right thing to do for Jonesboro, as well as for youth sports and Parks and Rec. But it took all of our resources from all their regular jobs away to pull that off, because we don't have that staff. When we get to this sports tourism, I am support of anything that helps benefit Jonesboro, certainly anything that helps with parks and recreation. This board has got some great city leaders that I think now that I'm gonna get to use them a lot and start directing our focus to really, as you asked, to give them more discretion and give them more opportunities to help us move forward in the right direction. One, following the Master Park Plan. which has already been approved and we really need to address that. But two, start addressing some of our needs that I think have been ignored over the years. And we're gonna brainstorm with this group to see how we can make that happen for Jonesboro. As I've said before, I'm not in support of any committee that doesn't include somebody from Parks and Rec on that committee. I just wanna make sure there's a provision that we have a voice in how our facilities are delegated or used or proposed to be used, just so that we're prepared for that, one, and two, that we are in support of that. I would encourage us to look at maybe the dynamics of our board as Jay has said and Coach D has both said, do we need to expand that board to include members of the council, members of the A&P? And we think we do. The last time we met, we really do think that that makes the best sense to get us all working together. We're not gonna succeed by fighting amongst ourselves. We're not gonna succeed by not being supportive of each group. I mean, we have to work together to make this work, because again, we gotta do what's best for Jonesboro. Me, every decision I make is what's best for Parks and Rec. I have to look at, are we serving the youth of the community, and are we taking care of our facilities? And every decision I try to make is, is this what's best for Parks and Rec? I don't know if this is what's best for Parks and Rec, but I also don't know that that's not what's best for Jonesboro. And so I just want to make sure I got that for the record to know that the dynamics of what we do, we've narrowed that focus down and we're going to be really successful at that. I don't know how we can expand that in our department. We certainly can't adopt sports tourism in Parks and Rec. We can't take that on. It's just not possible mathematically. We don't have the staffing. Questions for me?

Chairman? Yes. I hear what you're saying. So this is not a leading question because I don't have the answer to the question. So I'm just asking a question aloud. There's no doubt you don't have enough staff to do the things we're talking about. I think everybody here just agrees on all the things. There's no way you can do all those things. I hear you. And I'm not punting the ball and putting it in your court to make public policy. The people pay us to make the public policy. So it's our problem to make the policy. But I'll still ask you the question anyway. In a dream world, who do you think does staff the tourism piece? I mean, I know some cities do it different ways. Some cities, they'll have a big A&P commission with a bunch of staff, and I think we don't want to go that direction. I mean, any thoughts about how we could work on the sports tourism piece? Not just what committee does it, but I mean, like literally the human beings that will do the work.

Certainly, great question. We've actually had that discussion in some of our leadership meetings. What would it take to be in the sports tourism business? I think it'd take a staff of 10. I do, I think you take a coordinator and I think you take a staff of 10. I think you'd have to identify what events you wanted to partnership. And probably our concentration will be field sports, not court sports. We don't wanna compete or appear to conflict and compete with the new athletic center. We don't wanna take that. But with a staff of 10 additional workers that really their job was sports tourism, I think we could be that group that went out. We've talked to Parks and Rec people in Hot Springs, and their sports tourism is all done through their A&P type commission. Talked with Benton and Bentonville at a recent playground thing, and that's how they do theirs. I don't doubt that we can do that. I don't doubt that we could find a team that could put that together, make that their mission, but not with my existing staff. I think it'd be a staff of 10. And I think it's doable. I just think you'd have to have a division in Parks and Rec that was sports tourism and concentrated on field sports, softball, soccer, football.

With that staff of 10, would that give you adequate staff to also sell those opportunities?

I think it would. I think it would. I think it would certainly open some possibilities for us to really direct efforts strictly in that area. And I think also during the off seasons for those sports, it would give our additional recreation people an opportunity to have some help to grow that as well. I mean, I think that's something that certainly could look at. But I'll say this, too. If I look at what's best for parks and I'm going to get 10 people, that's not where I'd put them right now. I mean, that would have to be, I mean, really, that would have to be a direction that would have to come that this is what we're gonna create this department for, but if I had an opportunity to add 10 staff, it would not be in sports tourism. There are a lot of other opportunities that I really need to fill. But that's just a, it's a great question, but I think that's what it would take.

Any other questions?

Just got one, Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind. Mr. Jim, tell me, I know we talked about this additional 10 staff. And, you know, from a pro-con standpoint, have you seen any other cities utilizing companies? Like, you know, we put sports facilities group online to handle the sportsplex. Has anybody done that from a city parks and recreation tourism standpoint?

From my staff, what we've researched, I don't know. We haven't found anybody that's doing sports tourism from Parks and Rec. It's coming from some type of A&P or similar organization.

Thank you, sir.

Chairman? Yes. Let's put Brandon on the spot. Is that something your company does that you're aware of in other parts of the country?

Brandon, do you care to come up?

I don't want to overstep because I do know we do have agreements and with other parks departments. But as far as the tourism side, I assume that we have things in place to help and do matters like that. But as far as just running the I know the parks just kind of runs the facilities, and then the recreation comes in, and that's where SFC comes in, and they'll put the leagues in, and then they'll draw the tournaments and things of that nature. That is – I don't want to overspeak because I'm not really sure on how it's done.

So you don't know that they're actively promoting those other sports outside of the – I mean the – Yeah, yes, sir. Like the multi-sports facility?

Yes. So they'll have several – Well, I'm trying to find a – I think there's a place in Mississippi that has one, but they've got several different types of facilities, whether it's indoor, field, or outdoor, aquatics, whatever you may have. And, yes, they have a group that's local that they bring in and run a lot of the events and tournaments and leagues as well.

Okay.

So potentially your company could – it's worth a conversation, right? Yep.

Any other questions? No, sir. No. Thank you, Brandon. Thank you. Thank you.

Anything else from the committee? Anything else from your group, Coach D? I'm going to open it up to community comment, even though we're not required to at this point, because I want your input. Anything from the community? State your name and address for the record, please.

Sarah Cook, 2915 North Culver House. I think I've texted everybody up here today, and everybody has responded, and I appreciate that. I don't have any strong opinions about this sports advisory committee because I just don't necessarily have enough information to know, but I think my concern when I learned of it was it felt like Again, we were creating another committee and it seems like it's a difficult process to navigate already potentially. We recently went through all of the swim team drama and I remember when that came up, I was looking online and I'm like, what committee is this gonna run through? It came through public services, the contract went through the finance committee and so just as a parent with two kids in town who were doing I think my concern is if we have yet another committee that is making decisions about things, it gets a little convoluted and trying to understand. And so I think my concern was that I voiced to all of you is if we have an existing committee that's not functioning, perhaps like they've said, could we get it functional by adding other members that make it work. I mean, someone told me, you know, they haven't done anything in 10 years. And that seems that was kind of wild to me to hear something like that. I just felt like my understanding is that this sports advisory committee would be advisory only. And I'm assuming that this is what this current committee is. too so I think that's really my biggest concern about that and just obviously I have kids that play they play rugby for the city league they've played soccer but also are on a swim team and so I understand there's different Usage of the facilities and I certainly want all of the kids in town whether they're on a private team or they're playing a city team to have access to all of the Facilities first and foremost. I know there's a lot of conversation like with the shooting complex The big conversation is that it's losing money and I understand it You know that and that there are things that can be done to remedy it but I also think when we're talking about the parks and when we're talking about these recreational sports like the primary purpose of those i think is to enhance the quality of life for our citizens and so i think there's a tremendous amount of value in that even if we're just breaking even or if it's considered an investment on behalf of the city where we're putting money into it i don't always see that as this red loss so i did want to kind of point that out as well thank you very valid points thank you yes ma'am

Hi, my name is Dr. Anne McGee. I'm a professor at Arkansas State. I live at 1290 County Road 754. I would like to speak more as a parent. I would, of two lovely children that have very little natural athletic ability, but that have benefited greatly from recreational sports, but also have had the unfortunate conflict of when adult conflict ruins their experience with sports. So I think whatever path I haven't I tried to look to get the details of all this but I couldn't find it last minute. I think balance is an important word to think about to not have it. It's important the economic I understand that we're building a 70 million who knows how much it's going to cost. in the end facility and that tourism and having economic development is important, especially when taxpayers see that type of investment, like the businesses want it back. But at the same time, whenever there's anything on social media about the facility, you have people who are like, are my kids going to be able to use this facility? Like, is this all about just bringing in people from out of town? So we need economic development and but at the same time are all kids going to be able to use it i mean we talk about going in tournaments a lot of stu a lot of kids aren't at that level i have i have two children i have one that has been swimming for three years was on one team is now on another team um are the squabbles between those teams gonna end up in another committee and then One team will have access and the other one won't. I have another child who's special needs, who is ODD, who is ADHD, who at one point with one swimming, they had a little class that he could be in and then they decided not to have it. So the only way that I could get him into swimming was at St. Bernard's where I paid $30 for a 30 minute lesson once a week. So he went from being able to swim three times a week to I spend $120 for him to swim for 30 minutes once a week. But the city doesn't have anything that he can, I mean, much more than, you know, lessons for a week or something for him because the other programs are not accessible. So like, you know, I'm just, anyways, I don't want to go off in anecdotes, but I'm just would like to see things balanced that if there is a committee that it's not all tourism, that it's not all rec, that I think the two need to go together because in my experience, youth participating in sports helps all children from my son who struggles to make it through a day at school to, you know, athletes who take their kids to, you know, they go to Orlando for tournaments. Sports helps all of those children. And when it's focused just on tourism, my concern is that children such as mine will get left behind. Or in that the egos of adults are going to make it so that not everyone has access. Anyways, that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

anyone else coach yeah just thank you for your comments i appreciate it and maybe i was misunderstood not that we haven't done anything in 10 years we haven't really made a decision i didn't take it personally i know yeah i will say this uh to speak to Dr. McGee's point, I was in on the planning of the sportsplex. Okay, I'd like for y'all to refer to that, you know, being where I work. Anyway, yes, when we were working on that sportsplex project, Lots and lots of hours went into the planning of that thing and like we talked about one of the goals of this whole project would be like, wouldn't it be great if every second grader in the Jonesboro, Northeast Arkansas region learned to swim, okay? And I've preached and preached and preached. that there needs to be an affordable way for the people of Jonesboro to use that facility. Now, that being said, we're spending a lot of millions of dollars on it. And so it needs to make money, which would be pie in the sky. It needs to break even so it can control its maintenance and operations. or it needs to be subsidized by the city a little bit. And I feel the same way about the shooting sports. I mean, for our SWAT team, our police, our state police, if we have to spend a little bit of money out there to subsidize that, I'm all for it. Now, I'd like not to lose what it's losing right now, and hopefully one day it won't. But anyway, Monday through Thursday, that facility, we pray that it's going to be affordable. Craig and Brandon, we pray that it's going to be affordable to our citizens. But now, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we need to be making bank. It's as simple as that. To get as much out of it as we possibly can. Okay? I hope that helps a little bit. Yeah, well, that's great. And your special needs, I think there's a zero entry pool. And I mean, so we tried to think of as many things possibly we could to put in that thing. Craig, anything to add?

OK, I don't know about eloquent.

My Walnut Ridgees sometimes don't come across, especially to Siri.

I want to add to another point that you just made. I mean, you were talking specifically about the first community bank sportsplex Monday through Thursday being accessible to all. You know, the same is very much with all of our park systems. You know, they need to be accessible to all kids at all times, but we still need to try to bring in a little bit of revenue on the weekends when they're available.

Yeah, and I think that – I think that that probably got started with the soccer controversy when some people that wanted to use the facility were not allowed because they were going to do this or that. And who knows what the motivation was behind that. Hopefully that's being fixed right now. I understand kind of in that, Jim. all things working where people can rent the facility. You still have your youth soccer, but you have your travel soccer that's getting to rent this facility some and practice. That's the way it's going. And I think a lot of this might have not have come to fruition if they'd have been allowed to do that the first thing. Same thing happened to a baseball, but I think that's been resolved. So hopefully things are moving in the right direction, but I don't think anybody on our committee, I mean, our door's open if there wants to be. Personally, I don't think there's a need for two, but hey, again, you guys are the elected folks, and I want to see our youth, our rec sports succeed. I wanna see our facilities improve and maintained. I wanna see sports tourism into Jonesboro. I mean, they're closing the city down tonight, the street, and having the soccer. That's awesome. That's awesome for our city. Those kinds of things are awesome now. It's going to be a pain for some, and you're going to get some gripes. But personally, I think that's awesome. All right, thanks. Thank you.

Any other comments by anyone? I think, you know, at the end of the day, I think everyone in this room is here for one reason, and it's the betterment of Jonesboro and our youth sports. So whether it's travel ball or whether it's recreational ball. So hopefully these two entities can work together moving forward a little tighter. And at that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We stand adjourned. Thank you all for your attendance.