Board of Directors - Regular Meeting

I'm glad I wore shorty socks.

We'll go ahead and get started. I'd like to welcome each and every one of you to this evening's meeting. While we have a relatively modest agenda, I can tell from the attendance that you're very interested in a couple of the subjects here. So we'll begin with an invocation by our Hot Springs Fire Department chaplain, Josh Kincannon, and I'll lead the pledge. All rise.

Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for you bringing us here today. God, we pray that your wisdom is in this room, Lord, as all the businesses discuss, God. We pray that you help us listen with respect and give discernment to the decisions that are made and that the decisions are thoughtful and fair and to the best interest of the city. Lord, we pray that you bless this city, protect this city, and God, we're just thankful for all that you've done for us, Lord, and we're thankful most of all for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins. We ask everything in your name. Amen.

Amen. Please join me in the plan.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I'll now call this meeting to order. Please call the roll.

Director Erin Holliday. Here. Director Phyllis Beard. Director Marcia Dobbs-Smith. Here. Director Dudley Webb. Here. Director Karen Garcia. Here. Director Steve Trustee.

Here.

Mayor Pat McCabe.

Here. At this time, we'll consider approval of the agenda. Are there any additions, deletions to the agenda or items on the consent agenda that you'd like to have moved to new business? hearing none I'll entertain a motion director second well you're third third director Garcia seconded by director trustee all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed same sign agendas is approved now we'll move on to consideration of the proof of the minutes of the regular held meeting of June 16 2026 are there any additions deletions or corrections to the minutes as presented Hearing no I entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Director Webb seconded by. Second. Director Dobbs-Smith all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed same sign. Minutes are approved. Recognition of guests. We have two very special guests here today. One of them is my guest and I'm going to call upon Mr. Brian Crow district manager of the soon to be open Home Depot. Brian, come on down. Tell us a little bit about what's going on.

All right.

Good evening. Mayor McCabe, city manager of Borough, and the members of the board.

My name is Brian Crowe. I'm the district manager of the Home Depot in Arkansas. So I have 10 stores that are in the central part of Arkansas. We go all the way up to Jonesboro, down to El Dorado, and then the Little Rock. I'm incredibly proud to share that this fall we'll be opening our newest location, store 1408, right here in Hot Springs. This new store will be roughly 135,000 square feet, designated to serve both our local DIY and our professional contractors. But beyond the square footage, we view this new store as a long-term investment in people, economy, and the future of Hot Springs. So when we open up a new Home Depot, it's not just opening a retail space. We are establishing an economic anchor. This store will bring hundreds of direct jobs to the city. More importantly, these are careers. More than 90% of our store leaders began their career as hourly associates, which is a testament to our commitment to growing careers of our associates. The ripple effect of these jobs is also significant. The data shows that for every single position that Home Depot creates, more than four additional jobs are supported in the broader economy. That's more than double the retail average. The local commerce directly contributes to the tax revenue that helps Hot Springs fund critical civic infrastructure, schools, and roads. So we also want to be a partner in solving local challenges like shortage of skilled labor. Right now, there are over 400,000 open construction jobs in the US. To help our local contractors and residents, we offer our Path to Pro program. So through the Path to Pro, any resident can access completely free, virtual, on-demand training in the skilled trades. Once they learn the basics, we will connect them directly with local contractors who are actively hiring through our job seeker network. This is our way of building the next generation of tradespeople right here in the community. So finally, being a good neighbor also means showing up whenever it counts. The Home Depot Foundation is committed to giving back, particularly to our veterans. We invested over $650 million in veteran causes since 2011, improving over 70,000 veteran homes. And we pledged to increase that to $750 million by 2030. So we're also a top corporate supporter of disaster preparedness. When severe weather strikes, we activate our National Emergency Command Center. Our operation goal is always to be the last door closed and the first reopened so our neighbors have the supplies that they need. Alongside with our Team Depot associate volunteers, we stand ready to help Hot Springs prepare, weather, and rebuild after any event. So we're thrilled. to be a part of the Hot Springs community in the fall. And again, thank you for the invitation.

Anybody have any questions for Mr. Crow from the boys?

How many people do you plan to employ?

Right now, it's looking at about 100 to 125.

Well, we appreciate your interest. You and I talked a little bit in advance. So what took you so long, or why are you here now? You can talk into the mic.

Well, Hot Springs has been on Home Depot's wish list of stores for many years. I can't speak to the reasons why it took so long, but we're happy to finally have an opportunity to be here.

Thank you very much. Look forward to your opening. All right. Thank you. Thank you. City Manager has a very special guest as well. Bill?

Thank you, Mayor, members of the board. Tonight I'd like to introduce you to the new president and CEO of Visit Hot Springs, Devin Heath. He comes by way of Fayetteville, North Carolina. I've been able to spend a little time with Devin over the last couple of weeks and really pleased that I think they made a great selection to lead Visit Hot Springs into the future. And Devin, I just wanted to introduce you to the board, let you see some of these faces, and then if you have any comments, open that up for comments.

Sure. And thank you all so much for the opportunity to be here. Mr. City Manager, thank you for the invitation. I'm just excited to be a part of the Hot Springs community. From the second that I started researching on this opportunity and this community, I grew increasingly impressed, not just with where we are, but with where the opportunities are in front of us. We have an opportunity, I believe, to really be a world-class destination for visitors as well as for our own community. And one of the things that you'll see about Visit Hot Springs as we go forward is that we are certainly focused on growing our visitor economy, but as well as integrating that within our community. We know that we're a part of this community and we want to represent our residents as well as visitors and make it one unified economy in this community. So you'll hear a lot right now of me listening, me engaging with our community because it's important for me to listen first. I'm a believer in measuring twice, cutting once. Listening to our community understanding what's important and then we're going to be making some swift actions one of the only things that I'll mention right now that we're going ahead and getting started on is a developing a strategic plan for our tourism and economy and so we're going to be bringing in a consultant to work with us and we want to hear from from you all from our residents we want to hear from our tourism partners uh... to really help us forge a long-term strategic plan for us going forward uh... what the work that steve harrison and the team have done to date is phenomenal certainly is to be celebrated and we will be doing that very shortly not too shortly he's staying on board with us for a while so but we're going to celebrate that but we're also going to make plans for what visit hot springs next looks like thank you any questions of the board welcome to hot springs thank you thank you

Moving on, we'll hear from our very own city manager, Mr. Bill Burrow, for the city manager's report. Bill?

Thank you, Mayor, members of the board. First, let me apologize for the warmth in the room. Usually I'm accused of having it too cold, but tonight it's gonna be a little warm. The air is out in this section of the building. I've opened that small office door there, hoping that some of that air will at least get to those on the back roads, but we apologize for the air, and Denny, I guess you'll make sure that's on tomorrow. As I normally do, let me start off with some of the new hires that we have and welcome them to the city. Nathan Hawkins, solid waste commercial driver, Dane Lawson, also in the solid waste and the recycling center operations. Reed Thomas, traffic division operations supervisor. Tim Fournier is our utility assistant director. Tim comes to us from the city of Bryant as the utilities director there. We're pleased to have him on board. Eric Larson, Utilities Lift Station Maintenance Tech. Want to welcome all of those new hires to the city of Hot Springs and look forward to having a long career working with them. Moving on to some of the promotions that we've seen. John Presop was promoted to Hot Springs Fire Department Lieutenant. Austin Miller was promoted to Hot Springs Fire Department Driver. Scott Crane was promoted in the Traffic Central Tech Division. John Albright was promoted to Corporal in the Hot Springs Police Department. James Irwin promoted to Utilities Operator Production Chief Plant Operator. That's a very important role that he'll be assuming. Daniel Bailey is promoted to the Utilities Lift Station Motor Shop Tech. Want to congratulate all of them on those promotions. We also had a few retirees. Johnny Whitfield retired after 25 years of service with the Street Division. Johnny retired on June the 26th. John Tenney retired after 25 years in the law enforcement. 18 and a half of those were here serving in our Hot Springs Police Department. And then Kim Burks retired with 34 and a half years of service to the city of Hot Springs. You know, Kim spent a lot of her time, more than 23 and a half years in the police department as a dispatcher and 11 years in our planning and development department, and she retired on July the 2nd. So wishing all of those retirees, long-term employees that we're certainly going to miss, but very happy for them in the next chapter of their lives. Operation Clean Sweep, the city's second annual Operation Clean Sweep for 2026 is scheduled for Monday, July the 13th through Friday, July the 31st. There's about 390 address points. Lakeshore Drive, Director Webb, they'll be over in your area. Lakeshore Drive and East Santa Cruz Drive from Casa Linda Circle to Cortez Street. This includes Green Forest Heights subdivisions, Spruce Street, Village South, and then Village Road. As you know, we go through the first week, we do a lot of door hangers, making any of those in that area aware of any violations that may exist. We provide a notice letting them know what those are. And then the following week, we send a lot of crews, street sweepers, the solid waste departments, catch department that'll pick up bulky items, the litter crew, and really focus on that area, trying to beautify that entire section. Then on the third week, our neighborhood services go back through, and if those notices that we provided haven't been taken care of, then we'll take some further steps to try to get those to code. Special Olympics Tip-A-Cop at Longhorn Steakhouse, that's coming up. Police Department in partnership with Special Olympics Arkansas is having its annual Tip-A-Cop from 5 to 9 on Thursday, July the 16th at Longhorn Steakhouse. This event supports local law enforcement organizations and raises awareness of Special Olympics. I'll be glad to come back after that and let you know how much they raised.

It's a huge event for Special Olympics.

If you're able to, 5 to 9, Thursday, July 16th, all the proceeds that they collect and tips and so forth will go to Special Olympics. And it's just, it's funny to go out there. I mean, it's always busy, and you'll see half our police force out there delivering and busing tables and taking orders. So it's kind of funny. When I go in, I have a real complex order to give them. Stokes Creek Greenway, really pleased to announce the phase one dedication. The ribbon cutting will take place there. We're going to park at Kemery Park and we'll shuttle down to the Greenway. This is the first section of Greenway that we've built outside of the Hot Springs Creek Greenway. This is going to be over on Stokes Creek. It runs about a half mile, and it's there from Camry over to Leonard. The Friends of the Park has secured all of the property we needed on McLeod and some other pieces that we need as we come east. So we look forward to seeing what happens with Stokes Creek. But it's already paved. It's a really nice trail. You go by there, you're already seeing people use it. So July 23 will have the official dedication. August the 11th, High Springs will celebrate 150 years. Join us in celebrating our second centennial on Tuesday, August 11th. It's the 150th birthday gala presented by Oaklawn at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Proceeds will be given to the Garland County Historical Society. Guests in attendance will also receive a special commemorative coin honoring the 150th anniversary We'll have celebrity speakers, live entertainment, some ceremonial cake cutting. We'll probably do something else somewhere around the farmer's market around that time frame as well, maybe on that Saturday. Do some hot dogs, hamburgers for those that aren't able to attend the gala event. I want to thank Devin and Steve Harrison, Bill Soliger, all of those that have worked on putting the gala together.

We're looking forward to that.

It's going to be a wonderful evening. one of the things that I mentioned to you at the last board meeting and I want to bring up again Monday July the 13th the transfer station up at the city complex will no longer accept waste from the general public or private businesses the transfer station was originally designed to support only the city operations however we open that up for the public and private entities that wanted to use that But it's become so congested now. The transfer station is extremely busy. And it's really made it unsafe in a lot of areas for them to be trying to back in while we've got our commercial trucks there. Plus all the other activity. As you know, the city services complex has our fleet service, our intercity transit buses. our commercial operations, our roll-off operations for solid waste, as well as the entire street department. So it gets very congested. So I know that that's going to be a discomfort to some that are used to using the transfer station. They will, of course, be able to use the Class 4 site in Garland County. We will continue to provide all the services we normally do. They're curbside, which is your solid waste, leaf and mulch, bulky items, construction and demo and recycling. So all of those already exist for our residents there at curbside. So I want to make you aware of that in case you get some calls. The CRC is going to have a press release on July the 9th at 2 PM, but also an open house on Sunday, July the 12th from 1 to 3. It's an amazing facility. If you haven't been able to see the community resource center, please take time to stop by that open house on the 12th. I want to brag a little bit about our finance department. We've had the 2025 annual comprehensive financial report, the ACTFR, which is our audit. The auditors will be here at your next meeting on the 21st to discuss. I can tell you there were no findings and any recommendations that they may have. There may have been one minor one, but they'll be here to present that to you at your next meeting. The budget book, 2026 budget book, we just received word that it has received the Government Financial Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. It recognizes state and local governments that produce budget documents of the highest quality. It's the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting. So I'm very happy with the results of that. And Karen Scott is on vacation this week. But her and her team have done a phenomenal job over in our finance department. Then finally, I want to brag a little bit about our board members. Many of you attended the Arkansas Municipal League, and several of you have been appointed to committees. So Mayor McKay has been reappointed to the executive committee of the Arkansas Municipal League. I don't know how many years, but it's been several years you've been on that, somewhere around eight. Director Webb was appointed to Cities of the Large First Class. Director Garcia was appointed to the Public Safety Committee. And then Director Trustee was appointed to the Economic Development Advisory Council. And not only appointed, he has been appointed the chair of that committee. So congratulations to all of you. And Mayor, that completes my report. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Any questions of our city manager?

Bill was if there's some award that was handed out for distinction.

Thank you for bringing that up. I don't I don't have that with me. But Karen Garcia did receive a special recognition for her 12 years of service to not only the city of hot springs, but to the Arkansas Municipal League. She was called out in front of a huge banquet and very well deserved. And so congratulations, Director Garcia.

Thank you.

Very nice. Your acceptance speech was memorable.

All right. Moving on to the Board of Directors announcements of upcoming events. Director Garcia, upcoming events.

Thank you, Mayor. Yesterday, the A&P Commission had their meeting, and there were several things I'd like to mention that are upcoming, as has been mentioned. the team has been working on a lot of activities for tourism in Hot Springs. And coming up on August 7th and 8th is the Hot Springs Baseball Weekend. And on the 8th, that will include Legends of the Diamond. And if you've been to any of these activities during baseball weekend, you don't want to miss any of them, but especially that one. And it's been mentioned that Hot Springs' 150th birthday on the 11th. And coming up, the Bass Fishing World Championships, World Championships, will be here October 1st and 3rd. This is a big, big deal. It brings in a lot of people. Bridge Street Live will return every Thursday in October. And even with the heat in June, we had good attendance. So when it's a little cooler, I can't imagine how many will be there. down there. Then we have our first ever annual birding festival of the south and there have already been a number of passes pre-sold for this festival and that will be October 8th through the 10th. So these are some things to keep in mind. Put a placeholder on your calendar to participate in these Upcoming activities because when you live in hot springs, it's like being on a vacation all the time with all these activities So I encourage you to participate in if I may mayor I would like to mention that the A&P commissioners receive their annual audit for visit hot springs in our Commission and And there were no findings. In fact, they had the greatest financial improvement in a long time and history made with bookings. They had bookings till 2032, and that's very impressive and with large groups. So that will continue to help in the tourist economy and our businesses here in the Hot Springs. Thank you.

Very good. Director Webb.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to share with everybody an opportunity to rent a kayak. It's Saturday, July 11th, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Gene Wallace Wetlands Trailhead. You can rent a kayak. the Hot Springs Creek Greenway Trail located just below the Jean White Wallace wetlands trailhead at 570 TV Hill Road there sit on top kayaks available for rent for two hours you can get one for $25 and for more than two hours $40 each rental includes paddles and a lifejacket I also want to mention there are some of you that are standing over here against this wall. I know there is at least one seat. There's four seats available on this side. So if any of y'all would like a seat, there's some over there. I want to just mention one more thing, Mayor. The state of Arkansas has somewhere around 3 million people, I believe, as residents in the state. To my knowledge, out of the 3 million in the state of Arkansas, there's only one world champion of some type of sport. and that sport being arm wrestling and that person being none other than Michael Todd who at 53 years old is the light heavyweight world champion in arm wrestling and he lives right here in hot springs and mr devin who was just hired as a director of amp you're here with us today and i want to visit with you on some ideas one of those may be being entertaining the idea of having a life-size cutout of michael todd at the convention center uh that's it mayor thank you any other uh coming events director dob smith

Yes, I'm very excited to talk about the Garvin Woodland Gardens is doing every Thursday in this month, let's see, every Thursday during the whole summer at 9 to noon, they'll be having splash activities for the kiddos. It's free with your admission or your membership. And it sounds like lots of fun. It'll be down at the Evans Garden for children. And it's just another thing for both the locals and the tourists to enjoy. And I believe, I know it said on our sheet that the kayaks were only on Saturday, July 11th, but I believe that's an ongoing thing, right?

I don't know how to follow up on that.

When we were out there for the ribbon cutting, I thought they said it would be like a coin-operated or a credit card.

We have kayaks there that are available. It's a swipe card. You have to use a card. You'll swipe it, be able to check out a kayak with paddles, with life vests, and use it, be able to come back, plug it back in, take a picture of it.

That's why I couldn't figure out why this on here is just one day. It's an ongoing.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're there and ready.

Yeah. Thanks.

Any additional comments on upcoming events? Hearing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. These are of a routine nature and do not merit individual discussion. So I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented. Director Garcia? Seconded by Director Petrucci. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed, same side. Consent agenda is adopted. We have one item under old business and is to consider resolution R-26-112 and I ask the City Attorney to read by title.

Resolution R-26-112 resolution authorizing a non binding letter of intent with the Garland County Library for exploring the creation and development of new

main library at 100 Park Avenue that concludes reading there if you would entertain a motion second to adopt director Webb seconded by director holiday our staff report will be provided by our city attorney Mr. Brian Albright

thank you mayor members of the board you'll recall at your last meeting this resolution came before you discussion was was had and it was tabled to this meeting the discussion at your last meeting indicated that the board was interested in seeing some option B made available that would include an actual offer to purchase the property so within your packet and for you now There is an option B to resolution R-26-112. the title of which is a resolution waiving the policy and procedures set forth in hot springs code section two dash six dash two at seek for the disposition of city on property declaring certain city on real property and their property ID that being five five five eight six five five five eight seven five five five eight eight four one four one four surplus property and accepting a contingent offer from the growing county library to purchase said property generally known as one oh one Park Avenue if it is the ward's intention to discuss all discuss option B mayor I would ask that you entertain a motion second to set to substitute this option B resolution in its place motion by director holiday we have a second to so second director Dobbs Smith

Any discussion? Call the roll.

Director Holladay? Aye. Dobbs-Smith? Aye. Webb? No. Garcia? Aye. Trustee?

No.

Mayor McCabe?

Aye.

So the matter on the floor is further discussion regarding resolution number R-26112 option B. Mayor, this resolution, if adopted, would accept an offer that's been made by the Garland County Library to purchase the property that's formerly the site of the Majestic Hotel all of the acreage there for the purchase price of two million three hundred fifty thousand dollars there are two contingencies associated with that offer and they pertain to the measure that's going to be voted on by the by the voters November 3rd 2026 that would provide the necessary funding for the purpose of acquisition and construction of a new main library well as the approval by the City of Hot Springs of applicable zoning and site plan which is would be substantially consistent with exhibit a that is attached to the rest to the offer itself I understand that the clerk is having difficulty with the computer you got it going back on If you would, Madam Clerk, if you would include the exhibit A on the big screen so that people can see the site plan that has been proposed as part of the offer. Mayor, that's the essence of my short report. I know that Adam Webb is here for the library. I know the board has people signed up. But if you have any questions prior to engaging Speakers and I'd be happy to try to try to answer those for you any questions of our city attorney.

Mr. Albright from the board Very good Mr. Adam Webb, did you want to come up and kind of make any any comments? Well, maybe we'll call you up a little bit I So you do have a number of people that who have signed up to speak on this item and we'll begin with miss Jean Lacefield. Please come forward restate your name address and district please.

good evening board my name is Jean Lacefield and I live at 130 High Terrace and it is four blocks from the majestic site my family has lived in this community since 1944 so I remember the area thoroughly I remember when the St. Joseph Hospital was open and the traffic that was there. I remember when the Majestic was open and all of that street was very busy. It was quite lovely and easy to navigate. I am in support of the library being there. Having the Garland County Library there, it is the historic site of where Hiram Whittington had the first Garland County Library. What a historic site for us to have our public library right at the northern furthest end of the city. it would be stabilizing a wonderful site and we'll have parking and I think it would bring a matter of life to that section of town so I am in I'm fully support of the having the library there and I'm welcoming it so I hope that you would continue to support this project thank you any questions in this place feel from the board thank you

Next, we'll call on Virginia Laliberte. Please come forward and restate your name, address, and district, please.

Good evening, Mayor and board. My name is Virginia Law Liberty. My address is 118 Tatum Street, and I am a resident of City District 6. I appreciate the work that has gone into planning for the future of our library. I appreciate libraries as a bookworm myself. And I want to be clear that I'm not here to speak for or against investing in the library or even building a new facility. I believe our libraries serve a very important part and role in our community. My comments tonight are about whether or not the majestic property is truly the best location and the best value for the taxpayers, and whether or not the city should make a formal statement supporting that specific site at this stage. Before the city signals its intent to commit the majestic property to the library, I believe the public deserves the confidence that all reasonable alternatives have been considered and evaluated, both in regards to different ways to develop the majestic site and in regard to locations for the library altogether. I am aware of at least one or two commercial proposals that are in development for the majestic site that would potentially bring greater opportunity for increased revenue to the city and potentially increasing tourism as well. And I'm also aware of at least one to two alternative properties that I believe deserve serious consideration for the library location that may offer a more cost effective option for a taxpayer funded facility. If another site could serve the community while reducing the overall costs, then I think we owe it to the taxpayers countywide to evaluate those options before effectively endorsing this location. The voters countywide ultimately will decide on the millage in November. But regardless of where someone stands on that question, they deserve to know that every practical option has been considered, that the funds committed to the library will be spent in the most efficient manner, and that the selected site truly represents the best long-term value for our community. I respectfully ask the board to vote against issuing a letter of intent at this stage to ensure that there's been a transparent comparison of all the viable locations and to avoid taking actions that could unnecessarily limit options for the development of the majestic site. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions of Ms. Laliberte? Yes, Director Webb.

Thank you, Mayor. Miss Virginia, can you share with us, you mentioned something about some sites, other sites that might be a little bit less in cost to purchase the land that are all commercial. Can you share with us what those might be?

I actually came across one site that is a commercial property of almost three acres. It's actually located directly behind the new location of the Home Depot, just off of Higdon Ferry, off of Lakeshore Drive. It's near schools and churches. It's near sidewalk access and, of course, potentially even partnering with Home Depot for educational opportunities in live sessions would be something that I think would be interesting to explore. And I have the information on that site that I can send and share. And then, of course, we have several empty spaces on Malvern Avenue, which we've built beautifully and developed the streets there, and then several empty property locations. And I know at least one of those property owners was open to a partnership with a lease of the property just in exchange for developing it. So it's still something that's close to downtown, but not necessarily on the main strip, where parking and traffic may not be as much of an issue. I don't know about his willingness to partner with the library as opposed to a commercial venture. But it's something that I also thought would be good to explore Thank you Any other questions of our guests?

Thank you Keith Handmaker Please come forward and restate your name address and district, please

Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'm Keith Hamaker, members of the board. I am not in a district. I am a resident of this county, as is everyone in this room. If this goes forward, this is going to be the first step. And I don't want to see the first step because I look at that property and what I see as a man that has been in real estate development all of his life is nothing more than a money pit. The only thing that will come good out of it is we might get a second, third, or fourth Home Depot.

but as far as the taxpayers they're going to be on the tab for something that that I just don't think we should move forward with I appreciate the willingness to address you thank you any any questions from the board to our speaker our guest hearing none thank you sir Natasha St. Martin please come forward and restate your name address and district please

Good evening. My name is Natasha St. Martin. I live on 371 Park Shores Road in the county. I believe libraries change lives because one changed mine. When I was a little girl, one of my favorite places in the world was a library in Malvern. Every trip was an adventure, and I never checked out just one book. It was always three or four stories at one time. There was a little window nook in that library where I'd curl up for hours completely lost in books. That little corner became one of my favorite places in the world. It wasn't just a building filled with books. It was where my imagination grew, where I learned to ask questions, and where I discovered there was a whole world beyond my hometown. That's where I learned, sorry, that love of learning led me to graduate from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and Arts in 97. In 2019, one of my proudest moments was watching my daughter graduate ASMSA as their second legacy of ASMSA. One of the most unique schools in Arkansas because it attracts the brightest students from every corner of our state and places them together here in the heart of our community. That's right around the corner from where this is. It serves the students. They have their own library, excuse me, and it serves the students well. But a downtown public library would complement it by providing something only a public library can offer, a place where students, residents learn, explore, grow alongside one another. A public library isn't just where we borrow books anymore. It's where children discover a love of reading, students find a quiet place to study, job seekers build careers, entrepreneurs grow businesses, seniors learn new technology, neighbors come together. There's something that technology can't replace, holding a real book in your hand, wandering the shelves until you discover something you didn't even know you were looking for. That's the magic of a library. A downtown library would become more than just a building. It would become the heart of our community. A place where residents, students, visitors could gather and connect. Imagine a young child like walking into the library and seeing like an ASMSA student nearby and thinking one day that could be me. Sometimes seeing what's possible is the first step toward believing that it is possible for yourself. Libraries don't just store knowledge, they create opportunities and they preserve our stories. They strengthen our future. That little girl that spent hours reading in the library nook at Malvern Library never could imagine that she'd have to stand here one day in front of you guys and ask for another generation of children to have that same opportunity. Tonight I ask you to approve the purchase and the letter of intent so that people of Hot Springs have the opportunity to vote on that proposal in November. Thank you.

Any questions of our guest speaker? Hearing none, thank you. Sorry.

Brenda Brenda Brandenburg please come forward and restate your name address and district please good evening board I'm Brenda Brandenburg my address is 141 E Lee Circle here in district five Ms. Garcia's district well here I am again I bet you thought you'd never see me up here again speaking on behalf of of something or against something. Well, for those of you who don't know me, I fought very long and hard, about seven years, to try to save the Majestic. That's how long it took to do the documentary that was produced called Forever Majestic. If you haven't seen it, it has wonderful history about the Majestic, and it would probably open your eyes to what happened. but like the majestic once it's gone guess what it's gone and once we put something in its place it's there we have one opportunity to get this right one not more than one we're not going to tear down a library that we put up we're not going to locate something else there because we failed at the library What are we going to do? We've got to get it right the first time. Tourists may very well visit the library. I myself have checked out a telescope, fishing poles, used the Wi-Fi or the copier. But most tourists do not visit the public library. They flock to exhibits, history, activities, landmarks, restaurants, and guess what? They generate revenue, which is what we need to put in the position of the majestic because it generated revenue. we can't put something there that doesn't stimulate our economy i am not against a library at all or building a new one opportunities are out there for other pieces of land so i think that we need to explore that the apex of central avenue is not the place The library is supported mostly by tax dollars. Our taxpayers deserve the opportunity to decide whether that's what they want there or not. And I know that they have proposed to buy the land outright, which I think as a voter is basically slapping me in the face and saying i don't really want to wait on your vote i'm going to go ahead and buy it but i am going to put it as a little contingency over here just in case that's a slap in the face or a thumbing of the nose of the voters in my opinion Why should the citizens of the city of Hot Springs support the building of satellites? The proposal for the November election of the 9th Mill also includes building satellite libraries for Lake Hamilton and Jesseville. Guess what? That's the responsibility of Garland County. A proposed project exists right now that would inject as much as $150 million into our economy. And I've got a copy of it I'd like to leave with you to pass around. But I'd like to get it back if I could. And I know my time is expired. I thank you so much.

Thank you. Lance will take that. Any questions to Ms. Brandenburg? Hearing none, we'll move on. Mr. Bob Driggers, please come forward and restate your name, address, and district, please.

good evening Bob Driggers What I wanted to point out this evening, by the way, is there is a project that we can put together and we've been working on it. One of the fellows working with me is Tom Wilkins. He's in ICU right now, so he couldn't make it this evening. But I promised him I would be here. This is not something that we were ready to release to the public yet. But if you're going to sell the property, that kills our project. So we're going to go ahead and show some of it to you there, Steve, if you would pass it on around. But only four people have seen this thing, including our congressman. This project will really, I think, reinvigorate downtown and the entire city. You know, we're not really acting like a tourist city and that's what we are. I mean, the rent is doubling on a lot of the people downtown already. They have parking they don't understand. And yeah, I've already complained about this. We've got a speed cop on every other corner. So are we acting like a tourist town? Well, this project actually consists of, as you can see in what's coming around, a five-star hotel. We don't have one currently. And we're missing out, according to a previous study, on $150 million plus per year in tourist money because of that. This is a visitor center. As you know, and some of you I've discussed this with, some 1,500 people on a weekend and up to 2,000, I understand, have used the little visitor center down at Hill Wheatley Park. We need something bigger. That served its purpose. And this project actually consists of not only a five-star hotel, but a visitor center, a parking garage. We need that, right? Restaurants, a hall of fame, boutiques, games, kiosks, museum, parks, playgrounds, water features, train rides, bikes. And the crowning part of it would probably be the 600-seat theater, the performing arts center. we have someone talking to Alice Walton as we speak about furnishing that we don't know how it's going to go we only have one of three investors that are definitely going to be on board but remember this is a tourist town and tourists don't come to town to go to the library so please allow us a little time to proceed with what we've got going and we will be showing at your convenience if you would like now that the cat's out of the bag whenever you would like to see this and we'll be glad to put together a presentation for you any questions of our presenter hearing none thank you

This time we'll have discussion amongst directors. Any comments or discussion from directors? Director Dobsmith?

maybe I'm wrong but I thought this was a non binding agreement here so if what does that mean could you explain that to us yes ma'am option B is an offer and acceptance the offer has been made to purchase for two million three hundred fifty thousand dollars which is contingent upon the passage of the funding necessary on November third as well as approval of applicable zoning and the site plan So it is a real estate contract offer and acceptance. It states that it remains open until 12 noon on July 22, 2026.

So if we vote for this tonight, we are in a contract with the library to sell the property.

Yes, ma'am. You're in a contract to sell the property, assuming that those contingencies are met.

Director Holladay.

Hi. Before I have my comments, I know I do see some people that I thought would sign up to speak. Maybe they came late. So I don't know if we can just confirm that anyone in the audience didn't perhaps miss the sign in.

yeah we can do that was there were there other people who wanted to come forward and speak come come on forward and restate your name address and district please traffic light was out downtown so that's why I didn't get to sign up but thank you my name is Roxanna Wallace and I'm a resident of district one I live on Whittington Avenue And I would very much like to see the library there. No matter what people say about it being a tourist town, this is also a residence town. And we need to have access to the library. And if we have a library that is worth its salt, people will come to see things. There's probably going to be exhibits there. I know the library in Fayetteville, for example, Every time I go there, it is packed with people. They have all kinds of activities that go on there. I've seen everything from African dance to people showing their quilts. There's lots of opportunity for people to learn all kinds of things, whether they're tourists or residents. And if you pass this tonight, and then the voters don't pass the millage, there you go. You've got it both ways. It gives the voters an opportunity for their say. I, for one, am definitely in favor of it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions of Ms. Doxton? Any questions? Thank you. I saw a few more hands. Next, please feel free to come on up. State your name, address, and district, please.

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Samuel Morales. I'm not sure what district I live in, but I stay over there by the Dairy Queen on Ward Street. And I would very much be in favor of having the library downtown, just because it's a fast, convenient way from my house. And if y'all do decide to go forward with that, could we try to introduce some chess tables to be able to play chess outside? That's all I ask. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. Was there another individual or two? I thought I saw a few more hands. Welcome. State your name, address, and district, please.

My name is Kane West, address 112 Madison Street, District 2. I just want to make sure that in these discussions, especially because they're very existential about who lives in Hot Springs and who comes to Hot Springs, that we actually have an understanding of who those people are as opposed to saying we live here or visitors come here. Every two years, Visit Hot Springs puts out a visitor survey, and it basically tells us who comes here and why. And so the average group or family is here with multi-generations, between two and three people. They have between $50,000 and $75,000 in annual household income, and they come for either visiting their families. going to a cultural event, going outside, going downtown. The thing that often comes to my mind is that people go to the casino. That is between 4% and 6% of people go to the casino as their number one reason to come into Hot Springs. The vast majority of people who are coming here besides meeting their family are coming for some cultural outdoor event that is convenient across multiple generations. And so if and when you're making decisions, I want to make sure that you all have an accurate understanding and portrayal of who it is that we're trying to attract as a tourist town, which we are. and who we're trying to be for here. So if the average family is two to three to four people and average income is somewhere between 50 and 75,000, that demographic is essentially what the city demographic is. And they're coming for lifestyle purposes, which is a lot of the reasons that people move to Hot Springs. And so you can make decisions without having to project fake people you can just imagine what is good for the community and it seems to be in line with what's good for the tourists as well so anything that you do should have outdoor entertainment and cultural value and that is possible on that three some odd acre space but if there's a five hundred person two thousand person cultural space or venue then that hits that what is it, 61% of visitors who come in for entertainment reasons, 56% come in for cultural reasons. If you just add an exhibit of some sort, you are within that cultural space. And then if you're part of the, what, 46% of people who specifically come for an outdoor activity, if there are outdoor components, then you need to look for a proposal that encompasses all three of those features, meeting a demographic that is in line with the people that you're in and around all day. So I just want to make sure that We all know that we're not making up fake people, but that we can understand who that demographic is. And if you're looking for those reports, they exist on the Visit Hot Springs reports page, and they have been put out every couple of years. And they are fascinating because people come here. We are the most visited tourist town in the state of Arkansas, which is amazing. And we should be hurrayful about the reason they come.

Very good. Any questions in this direction? thank you is that all that okay one more hand I see please come forward or two hands three hands keep popping up come on you're fine ma'am come this way thank you.

Monica Wright one hundred high rise circle and I believe I'm district one okay

I I just had a question first are y'all gonna close the library on Malvern where the city board the county runs the library the library has its own board we're not the party to answer that question okay so if a new library is built

you don't know if they're going to keep the one on Malvern open or not. Is that what you're saying?

We're not the decision makers.

OK, gotcha, gotcha. So I wanted to speak because I go to the library on Malvern every day I'm there every day I don't see a building that's being used beyond capacity there's always enough computers there's probably more people working there or about equal to the people who are visiting so I mean is this new one being built because you think the one on Malvern is over capacity I don't know. I'm just asking. Two million seems a lot to spend if you're not using the one you have to capacity. And I go there every day. And are you talking to the people who actually go to the library every day? Because I see the same people every day. You know, do they know that maybe the one on Malvern is at risk? Because I see people walk a far distance to come to the one on Malvern. And do I think they're going to walk all the way to Park Avenue?

I don't know so I just want to say that because I actually go to the library every day very good thank you I always see a hand up but I don't always see a face with it please come forward and restate your name address and district please

Hi. My name is Liberty . I live in the county, but I visit the library and such. So I just wanted to say, regardless, I do think that the library in that specific location is a great idea. But I wanted to say that allowing for this to go forward gives the voters the opportunity to decide on it. And I think that that's where the voice really needs to be, with the people. And that's all.

Thank you. Next hand. There was another hand back there. Was there another person who wanted to address the board on this topic?

That's it.

All right. That concludes it. Let me ask Mr. Adam Webb to come up and maybe make a comment, or I'll have a question or two. Adam there appears at times there's maybe some confusion just a couple speakers ago looking at us as a decision maker for what the library was going to do I mean as Brian our city attorney said this is really from our standpoint a real estate transaction. Tell us a little bit about the governance of the library, how those individuals get selected, and what your deliberations were as to having this option B resubmitted to us, or a more detailed letter of intent.

Sure, happy to. So the library is run by a volunteer board of five. It's an administrative board that's authorized under Arkansas code, gives them quite a bit of power as opposed to an advisory board or an advisory committee. Those 5 individuals are appointed by the county judge and are confirmed by the quorum court and they have a geographic distribution across the county. So we have a few members in the city of hot springs as the county seat and then we have and I believe 3 members that are outside of city limits and that is the composition of our board. To get to this point, the library initially underwent a remodel and renovation project for the existing facility. The cost on that came in way higher than we thought it was gonna be. We were looking at between $800 and $1,000 a square foot. to net us about 10,000 more square feet. That's pretty poor math when it comes to being a good steward of your money. So we went back to the people. We did focus groups. We did five focus groups. We did civic listening sessions. We sent out surveys to the community. And what we heard was a resounding, we don't want you to remodel the existing library. We want a new library. We want one downtown. And we want branch libraries. And as a county librarian, I agree with both of those prongs. Most communities have figured out that new public libraries in their downtowns are not only a civic good, but they're an economic benefit. There was one study that talked about halo spending when it comes to visits to public libraries in downtowns. And the math effectively worked out to about a third of the people who come and visit the library will visit local businesses on the same trip. Typically, a visit to the library is one of my other friends here who I'm also at the library every day, seems like, pointed out. People spend a lot of time there. So those folks get hungry or they get thirsty and they decide to go to coffee shops and restaurants and this, that, and the other. And then, of course, branch libraries have been a priority of mine as well. We're very much outside of the norms when it comes to a county library system, particularly of a county as populous as Garland County. I feel like I'm ranting a little bit. No, you're doing great. OK. Do you want me to keep going, or? Well. I want to be respectful of your time.

No, you're fine. Go ahead.

Yeah. So out of those focus groups came this notion of pursuing the majestic site. And we have followed the board's proposal process in the way that we were intended to we submitted a proposal to the hot springs metro partnership to the majestic committee I believe we presented them back in February of last year this idea of putting a new main library on the majestic site And we've just kind of followed one step after the other to get here today. It wasn't a rash decision. It's certainly not one that we just came up with on a whim or took lightly. But here we are.

can you offer us the or those in the audience and the other locations you gave consideration to and then but that ultimately the library board wanted to pursue this location

Yeah. We had two finalists, basically. One was the majestic site, and the other was the old Ouachita Memorial Hospital site beside the old high school. That property is also on the market. We wanted something that was in a walkable neighborhood, which kind of keeps out most of the commercial districts of Central Avenue or Higdon Ferry. they are not very accessible for pedestrians for people who rely on the bus system. So those were the two that really. Rang out to us where the two downtown and there was just simply too much evidence for us to ignore the benefits not only for citizens but for visitors as well of having another civic infrastructure in our downtown.

Director Dobbs Smith.

Mr. Webb, I had a question about why you chose the Majestic site over the Ouachita site. Was there a significant cost difference of the property?

Not particularly. The Majestic site is a little bit more cost effective for us because it's more acreage for the same dollar amount. The other property is just over three acres and the Majestic site's five. The other thing was we did a poll. We had a consultant that we've used a number of times do a poll and we asked likely voters on those two sites and there was a clear preference for the Majestic site. Some of the feedback we heard from that was from locals who said this will be our only opportunity to have a say in what happens in our downtown. And so that was kind of a comment that we heard a few times.

I think the reason I'm asking is when you spoke to us before and you talked about the two sites, you said you didn't need all of the Majestic site. There are some topographical challenges with the Majestic site. There's a lot of hill there. The so it's even though it's five acres five plus acres It's not really all buildable and you said you didn't need it And I think you also mentioned that you did not plan to build a parking deck there correct that that was a future possible thing so When I looked at the Ouachita side, I was super excited one of the objections I've heard from some of my constituents and some of people around the community and in the county is that they don't want to have to go through downtown to go check out a book. And when I mentioned the Ouachita site, Almost without exception, unless you've lived here a really long time, people have no idea where that is. When I say it's by the transportation plaza, it's by the Greenway Trailhead, it's by the farmer's market, then they usually perk up and go, oh, that place. And then the next thing they say is, is that big enough? But you just said that it's three.

It's a little over three acres. It would be sufficient for us.

and there is and as you mentioned or someone mentioned about the loft apartments that are going in at the Clinton Cultural Campus what used to be and that's available there's a lot of parking around there because without a parking deck I do have a concern about where people are going to park at the library if you put it at the majestic now I appreciate that I had a business there many years and I And we had parking, but some of that parking has gone away now. I don't know where it went, but somebody else owns that. So that was a plus. The other question I had was, if we vote for this tonight, our city attorney basically said we're selling it to you, right? Contingent on the village passes. Correct. So would that not tie your hands? if something else did come available are you because you just bought this and if you did buy it and and you didn't you decided to go somewhere else what happens that project that property do we just go back on the market and once once the deed goes to you it's out of the city's hands and we don't have that opportunity to make sure something goes there that is once in a lifetime I mean just questions

Sure. And I'll try to clarify that as much as I can. If we're successful at the ballot box, we're going to put out bids for construction on the Majestic site. We don't have prying eyes looking at other spots. It's really just down to two. So if we're successful and this goes through with the board, then that's where we're going to do it if we're successful at the ballot box. If you decide not to today, I'll probably be calling Collier's in the morning to try to put in some sort of contingent offer on the other side. We just kind of need to know where we're going to land if we're asking the voters for this.

Director Garcia?

Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to follow up on the lady's question. If you go forward with this, is the location on Malvern Avenue going to be closed?

It won't necessarily be closed. It certainly won't be a library in the scope that it is today. We have some preliminary plans to look at it more of a community space for the neighborhoods over on that side of town where the library will maintain a presence there, perhaps with a smaller footprint. maybe expand our Friends of the Library area, and then provide some space for local nonprofits and things to maybe have offices. But if we could have our druthers, it would be to repurpose that facility as some sort of community space.

And it would be maintained with the millage?

yeah it would still yeah it's it's still our property yeah yeah and and the ballot initiative does it include uh satellite locations other than a new location for the majestic it has one because it will be a county-wide vote so it does include the funding for an additional branch library that would be out near lake hamilton school

And has the county quorum court passed a resolution in support of this, since this is a countywide? Are they in support of this?

They have not done action one way or another. Library funding of this sort is a function of direct democracy. And so the quorum court could put forward a resolution saying they're in support of it or to oppose it. But it wouldn't change the way mustard tastes as far as the voter in November.

Thank you. Director Webb.

Thank you, Mayor. Adam, I want to touch on the ballot itself, the initiative. When does that have to be submitted to be considered to be voted on in November?

Amendment 38 says 30 days before the ballot. However, there is a conflicting federal statute which says 45 days. So we're trying to get additional clarification. We want to give the election commission as much time as possible because they've got to get all this programmed and printed and all that sort of stuff.

So if it's to coincide with what the federal statute is, that's somewhere in the middle of September? I believe that's correct. Okay. If Based on what happens here tonight, the FOI isn't awarded to you. And you do, like you just mentioned to us, start looking at other potential sites, which could include the one on Ouachita and then even Collier's. When you say Collier's, you're speaking of the 118 Lakeshore Drive next to Home Depot?

No, it's the old Ouachita Memorial Hospital site. They're the listing agent for that one. Okay.

Would that include a potential change in the millage if the site of Majestic is, if where you're trying to build your new library is different than the Majestic, would that be a change in the millage that you need?

It wouldn't. The cost would be the same. The cost per square foot is what we base that millage number on. And we're looking at building a 90,000 square foot facility. So we're looking at ballpark 27 million to build that and then having some additional funding for a branch. The acreage, how many acres do you need to do what you want to do? Three and a half is about as small as we can do and have surface parking and build a large enough facility.

And I'm going to be sharing with you later just some results of a survey that I did. But I noticed one of the explanations for why somebody voted the way they did had to do with maybe the library could renovate. where they currently are on Malvern. I know y'all have explored that because you were sharing with us earlier that that option was presented to I think a poll that you sent out and the poll results ended up favoring building a new library versus renovation. But what does that look like in terms of what you need to spend if you were to say add a second floor to the library or are you landlocked where you are? Do you have any way to come outward, like where the health department is? Is that parking lot available to the library? Have you all explored any of the expanding, say, east and west versus north and south? Can you share a little bit about that?

Sure can. We explored that for about two years, trying to renovate the library. We can't move out of our existing envelope. That was according to a needs assessment that we had done by an architect. Under city code, the only thing we can do to add square footage to that facility is a mezzanine structure. This is very specific wording. A mezzanine structure that's open on all three sides within the existing envelope of the facility. We can't expand outwards anymore. We've done that already once in this facility. The other issue that we had in renovating or remodeling was having to close the library, which we would have had to do for two years. And we couldn't find An alternative location for us to move into and we tried everywhere. We have to have a place that is zoned for assembly that is sprinklered and that can withstand the weight of book stacks, which is a different building code or building standard than a typical floor.

This year, speaking of going up, like adding a second floor, the library has to be cleared. If the satellites were available when that construction were to take place, could the satellites uphold everything until the renovation is complete?

If both satellite locations were built today, we would still need a temporary space because our building currently is 40,000 square feet, and the branches that we're looking at are a little over 9,000 square feet. So we wouldn't have enough room to store our material, let alone provide services if we were just using the satellite locations. Thank you.

Any other questions of Mr. Webb?

I have one more.

Director Dobsmith. You also were talking about a performing arts auditorium being a part of your proposal. The proposal that Mr. Driggers had mentioned also mentioned a performing arts proposal. If you did go in another spot, not the Majestic, and they did put in a performing arts center, would that change what you were going to do? Not for me and and then the other question is why we have mr. Heath here wake up We do collect that 3% tax on for entertainment purposes and for bringing visitors to hot springs and with that performing arts component. We've done study after study that say that that can't be profitable, just like civic centers aren't profitable, just like libraries aren't profitable. Have you guys had any discussion about possibly using part of that collection to help fund the performing arts center?

And we envision that auditorium space or performing arts space very much for the citizens of Hot Springs and Garland County first. So we're not really looking at it as a way to make revenue for the library. We certainly could if we wanted to rent it out for private events, but as far as performances that we would bring in, It would be similar to what we currently do, which is to charge nothing or a nominal fee just to make sure people show up and don't just reserve seats.

Thanks.

Director, trustee.

Thank you, Mayor. thank you for the clarification thank you for the proposal that you've submitted I've been contacted more about this particular proposal than anything else that voted on I'm sorry been on the board no no I've had and it's not not anything that's overwhelming I had about two dozen contacts they all said they love our library they were all very complimentary you your staff but to the person not one of those contacts supported moving the library to the majestic side today that for 47 just before an hour before this meeting I got my first contact in support of moving the library to the majestic side so. I don't know exactly how I'm going to vote but because tonight's there were about 10 folks that spoke 6 were in favor of it and 4 were not in favor of it but that's different than what I've had contact with from some of my constituents

and full transparency from the surveys that we've done there is only a slight preference for the majestic site it's not like there's this huge overwhelming everybody's in favor of it but we're looking at this is a way of you know what which path forward is going to be the one that wins it for us in November. And so we decided to go with the one that had slightly better numbers.

Sure. Well, the context I've had for District 6, it's much more convenient at the Malvern location than it would be to drive on in.

and go down hey i i'm with you i'm one of your constituents and right now my my commute to work is exactly three minutes so i mean that's a con for me that i'm gonna have to to drive that unless i move over into director holidays district which my wife would be very happy about okay well thank you appreciate all your time attention of course director holiday

Thank you. I'm going to ask you first to kind of follow up, and I hope I can find all my notes, on some of the things that other people have mentioned tonight. And so you've mentioned a little bit about the sites. I know we had someone talk about multiple sites that might be available, but it sounds like you guys have really exhausted the idea of other sites. Like you said, the walkability over, like off Higdon, would be challenging. And I know we get calls often about walkability on that side of town particularly the schools nearby but when you were looking at other sites were you actually looking at individual sites or were you just really just looking at the parts of town that made the most sense for the people who visit the library we did a little of both so we looked at parts of town and looked at things like traffic counts

average commute. We use some online tools to put pins in certain places and see how many people lived within a 15-minute radius. There's a great online tool called Smappin that's free. It has a free level anyway and you can drop pins around your community and it'll tell you how many people live within a certain drive. We looked at specific sites. We even talked with some landowners and some folks who had property for sale. and this is just kind of where we ended up at the end of the day.

Thank you. So one of the comments that came up had to do with how busy the library was and the capacity. And I'm assuming in recent years, because you were looking at an expansion or renovation that either anecdotally or concrete data, you had reason to believe that the facility that you have now is inadequate. Can you share any of that with us?

Yeah, space needs assessment was kind of the first issue that we ran into, which just talked about the age and condition of the building, what we're able to do capacity-wise, particularly with programming. I'll admit that there are very slow times in the library, just like there are when I go to Walmart Neighborhood Market at 7 in the morning. There's never anybody in there but me and maybe two other people. But Walmart seems to be doing okay. But we have programming needs, which are really the thing that's driving a lot of this for us. supporting young families, folks with preschool age kids in particular, and having to adjust to some of the new realities with the Learns Act and folks who are homeschooling their kids now, using the library kind of as their de facto campus, using meeting rooms for studying for their kids or to hire tutors. We just don't have the room to do the programming that we really want to do. the one that's really kind of gotten out of control for us surprisingly is a very basic library program which is preschool story time the other day we did one for america 250 and we had 110 parents and kids show up to a room that comfortably seats 40. so and that's just one example of the type of program that we do i know we all have probably been to programs in our auditorium as well which really only seats about 100. And I'm sure you've been in there when staff, some of whom are here tonight, are there with me dragging chairs out of the closets trying to accommodate everybody. Ultimately for us, the building was designed with a certain type of library service in mind, which is the old warehouse full of books. Model that doesn't really focus too much on on programming and cultural events and that's what we're we're trying to do both With this new building plan, which is to expand services not just programs, but also traditional library materials

Thank you. And someone had mentioned earlier about the history of the Majestic site. And I know in the conversations that you and I had early on, and I think someone else asked kind of the why, like what prompted this. And I know you were visiting the Whittington Valley Neighborhood Association, and the conversation came up about Hiram Whittington. And I think a lot of the people in the room, if they don't know that little piece of history, it might be important because, you know, from a geographic standpoint or a logistic standpoint, these two sites may be similar. However, I think that little piece of history is pretty remarkable. So if you would please.

Yeah, Hiram Whittington did start the first library in what was then the Arkansas Territory on the site of the Majestic. That was in 1833 before Arkansas was a state, before Hot Springs existed as an incorporated city, and before Garland County was a function of state government. We know from his letters, not only the books that he stocked in that library, but that it was in a seven by nine room that was adjacent to his 10 by 10 bedroom. So just a very colorful bit of history. I will point out that outside of the current library that we have for that entire history, almost 200 years, the library was downtown. And it's only been since 1995 when we left behind the courthouse that we have We have not been somewhere in the downtown area of Hot Springs.

Director Webb? Thank you, Mayor. Director Holliday, do you have any more? If you do, I'll pass it right back to you. Sorry.

Go back. I have a lot of notes. Go ahead.

Go ahead. OK. You know, I was going to hold up. Thank you, Mayor. I was going to hold up and share the survey results, like in board comments. you're here and you're at the podium so i want to share these results with you uh so that if you have any feedback to it you can provide it to us and you don't need to have to walk back and then come back up here to the podium but this is an issue that is drawing a lot of attention uh and for all the right reasons uh not just in hot springs but in the county And so it was important to me to land on where those that I serve are currently sitting with this issue. And so that led to me to provide a survey that went out to many that are in District 4, of course. But due to this being the Garland County Library, it was important to get it out to Garland County residents too. So I prepared a survey that is straight and to the point, non-biased. just to get a feel for where everybody is. And the survey went out to hundreds of residents of Garland County. And I got back somewhere around 80 results. Now that number's quite low for who all that it went to, but that was just this survey here alone. And I got back results for those who didn't really know how to work the survey that well I received a lot of text I received email responses that included the survey and like director trustee was mentioning earlier I received a lot of calls on this issue and so I want to share with you question one question one are you in favor of the Garland County Library building a new main library at the majestic property 90% were no 10% were yes a few of the reasons that was a follow-up questions was based on how you voted can you explain your vote sell to a company or person that will generate revenue that was an explanation bad place for a library prefer a location more centrally located and if possible near the expressway I think the space could be better utilized for something for tourism. Not the proper location for a library. The site should have more tourism related usage. Contributes to more traffic congestion on Central. I feel the library as presented would be an asset to downtown I think this property needs to have a development that generates tax revenue for our community the library would generate very little tax revenue if any The library on Malvern could easily be expanded to its second floor and costs would come in as much less. Wrong location, not centrally located. Wrong location. This is the crown jewel property of our city. The property needs to have a focus on tourism. Property is too valuable for a library. Why not go with a site that costs less than 2.35? I think maybe we need to improve the present library instead of building a new one. No need to increase the millage of the citizens of Garland County, especially to this extent. That's the responses that I got for question one. There's only three questions. Do you have any response to any of what I shared with you, or do you want me to keep going?

You can keep going.

OK. So the next question was, should the city of Hot Springs give the Garland County Library a non-binding letter of intent? And I want to share with you, too, that besides the survey that went out to everybody, I also included everything that was in our board packet, too, which has the context, the history, option B. Anything and everything that has to do with the library being at the Majestic site, that was all there. so anybody who might have some questions about something it was there they could call me and ask to uh question three or excuse me the next question the uh should the city of hot springs give the garland county library a non-binding letter of intent uh 86.7 said no um reasons or explanations we need a business that will generate revenue in that spot we need a good business to be on that site I have spoken to many people on this matter and no one I've spoken to is for the library being at that site again this property should be used to draw tourism utilizing the LOI demonstrates that you have faith that the people of Garland County will support this effort Our community is taxed out at this time. It has zero benefit for the city. I believe the majestic property should be used for something other than the library. Poor location. Do we need a new library or just improve the present one? And then the last question was, do you support the .9 mills? 63% said no. Now, The responses that I got for this I think are attached to their explanations. But the trend was, if you noticed, 30% of the 90% for the previous two questions went over to yes. And a majority of those that responded with a no were saying they support library just not at that site I'm not against all taxes but this is a bad use of text dollars I'm all for supporting library schools and leisure activities such as parks and recreation just don't think the library should go to the majestic site I'm in favor of money for a new library but I'm not in favor of the majestic location Plenty of taxes already. No problem for the library just to get a new building. I think the library in Hot Springs is one of the best institutions. Its programming is superb and well-rounded. I just do not believe it should be on this property. And there's some more explanations that are similar to that. So I'm sharing with you those results because that essentially is what is guiding me to where I am on this issue. But I want to hear back from you if you have any follow up.

don't know if I do and I appreciate how thorough and serious that you're taking our proposal on it if if I had an inclination that we would be much more successful at another location I mean that's what I'd pursue ultimately I want to be successful and To this day, all the polling that we've done and surveys that we've done have shown that preference for the Majestic site. I think there is a sentiment amongst people not only living in District 1 or near downtown, but just around the city that somebody wants to do it. People want to see something there. It's just been too long. And whether this is a home run versus hitting a single, either way, it's getting somebody on base. Of course, I think it's a home run concept. But I know other folks have said, we promised we were going to hit a home run with the Majestic site. And the library's proposal isn't really hitting the mark. But I know there's a lot of support for it too. So, I mean, for me it's, I mean, I've got doubt on both, but ultimately, one person kindly put it to me this is their library and I just work there so when we did public surveys and focus groups and they said we prefer the majestic site I mean I'm doing the same job that you're doing and listening to I know I'm not an elected person but I certainly have constituents and quite a folk quite a lot of folks have told me I want you to pursue that so

That's where I am. Well, I will say this in closing. You do a great job of standing up there at that podium and being a face for the library. I appreciate all that you do. Well, thank you.

there any other any other questions of that I'm director Garcia don't know if it's quite I have comments about any questions of Adam then we'll go to our discussion director holiday thank you can you please remind us some of the data that you shared before you know the the monthly or annual visitor totals as well as I know you sent us several Articles and surveys about economic impact but that seems to be something that people keep talking about as we need something that will put money back into the community or put tax dollars back in the community, so while the Performing Arts Center you did discuss would be Focused on the community as opposed to perhaps large touring events or whatever but what all in your proposal for those who haven't seen it have those economic impact markers and then again how many people you would think would would be brought downtown.

Sure. So currently our average foot traffic, which we have smart counters, over the last five years has been 300,000 people annually. Last year we had a slight dip. It was 250,000 people. We've seen an increase in the use of digital resources. So we think folks who are living farther out in the county, especially with gas prices, they're not more likely to drive all the way to the library. But 250,000. is a fairly good number. I'm confident that that's not an inflated number. We audit those counters to make sure that they are producing accurate results. So we had 250,000 people through the gates last year. If we moved to a new location downtown, typically libraries see an increase in foot traffic about 30% with new construction so we'd see over 300,000 in-person visits at a new location downtown we're pretty confident in that of those folks like I mentioned earlier that halo spending concept a third of that total will be go to local businesses beside the library or in the near vicinity of the library. So that's your restaurants, shops, coffee shops, all that sort of stuff. And then you asked about performing art space.

Well, just kind of that economic impact.

Yeah. One thing that we have not really, we haven't marketed this project to differentiate between the current library that we have and what we're envisioning. In addition to things like having a performing arts space, we're certainly looking at gallery spaces that could have traveling exhibits, which do garner quite a few tourists. I'm taking a quick weekend trip with my son to New York this weekend and we're going to go see some traveling exhibits that are at local cultural institutions. So those are the kinds of things that people, even if they don't have just kind of general library business, but are travelers to our city, they would certainly be interested in traveling exhibits. And we've seen that with ones that we've done in the past. In addition to that, we are looking at being a much more modern library with things like a coffee shop or a cafe. having our friends with the Hanamaki Toy Museum possibly as a tenant within that facility, which would bring another attraction downtown. Let's see. Oh, art gallery, and then things like a makerspace or entrepreneur lab, which would also be more of something that people might want to come and take a look at.

Thank you. And then when you talked about your survey that you sent out, was it only library cardholders, visitors, generally in the county? Who received your survey? And then I'm going to toss that question to Director Webb as well. You said geographically, but who received the survey and who responded?

So we did an internal survey which went to library cardholders and it didn't ask polling questions in the way that we might get a percentage back. It was more, do you see this as a valuable endeavor? This was the civic survey I believe I shared with city staff. The other was with a consultant which the library and the Arkansas Library Association has used throughout the years It went out to likely voters in Garland County. It was not directed at any library cardholder or not or certain political party or not. It was very much more of a poll like you would see during an election year. And we've got cross tabs that you can look at and say, what's your party affiliation? How did you vote on this? What's your age? Do you have kids at home? All that sort of data. So you can really dig into the cross tabs on that and see down to, you know, what party you vote for, whether you have a smartphone, whether you've got kids at home, that sort of stuff. And that was the one that showed the slight favor for the Majestic site.

But in these, over all of these surveys, you feel, I mean, I would imagine you and the board feel that you've gotten enough of a favorable response that you wouldn't be standing here with this if you thought you were going to be unsuccessful. Correct. And so my question to Director Webb kind of on, that dovetails on that. I think we all see a lot of comments, particularly on social media, and they sound very similar to your survey results. But did you happen to ask how many people actually travel through downtown on a regular basis?

Mayor?

Go ahead. I'm sorry.

The three questions that I asked are the three questions that I shared with Mr. Webb. So there were six questions in all, but the other three, besides the ones that I shared with Adam, were just the explanation of if you said yes, can you share why? If you said no, can you share why? Why not?

No, I appreciate that. And the reason that I ask is because downtown has changed dramatically. I know there's a lot of people. Me, I live downtown. We've had residents from the north end of town come here. And those of us who live on Whittington or Park will be confronted with whatever inconvenience that this or any development would cause from a traffic standpoint, a parking standpoint, a delay standpoint, possibly multiple times a day. And I will say from my constituents, I have had almost no negative feedback about the library going on that. One, because we do want something to happen that's positive for the community. And again, while While much of downtown is tourist space, we do live there. And we're going to have to drive through that. And I do feel that those of us who live on the north end of the city are keenly aware of the traffic patterns and the time that it actually takes to go through downtown. And I feel that some people may only come downtown during the Christmas parade, or the duck races, or the tub races, or a time when it's incredibly congested. And so that's why I was just curious The lens through which those those respondents were viewing but but that's all my questions for This this director web and that director went so Anything else director holiday Director Garcia just one more question.

You were talking about your surveys. Did it include if they were a registered voter? Yes in the majority of them were Thank you

Any further questions of Mister Adam Webb? Thank you Adam. Thank you. Discussion amongst directors? Director Garcia?

director Garcia thank you mayor when we were first approached in receive the two proposals for us that this site from the committee that had worked through the chamber and the Metro partnership I heard from people in Several people in support of the library since then with more information coming out That some thought were included in those Rendering some proposals and they weren't I've gotten less Support and in the last two weeks I overwhelmingly heard from residents that are opposed so I sought specific feedback from the residents in district five and I received comments that they wouldn't go to that site and all of my district is not just South hot springs I border with district six all the way down golf links shady Grove country club drive to Hollywood and down that area as well. So they prefer, they do not prefer that site. So I wanted to dig deeper in commercial developments versus a community library for downtown and spoke with some urban planners and people in planning. And the advantage of the commercial development mixed use combined the residential, commercial, recreational spaces fostering a vibrant community atmosphere and attracts businesses, creates jobs, and increases local tax revenues. Increase foot traffic by integrating retail, dining, and living spaces. These developments can draw more visitors and residents, boosting local businesses. And with mixed use, the diverse housing options may include affordable housing contributing to community diversity and potentially attracting younger populations. families looking for urban living and sustainability with the mixed-use developments promoting walkability, reducing the need of car travel, supporting environmental sustainability growth. But the community hub that libraries provide serve as vital community resources, offering the educational programs, resources, and gathering space for residents of all ages, enhancing community engagement. There are cultural events. It's a cultural investment because they can elevate the cultural landscape in downtown Hot Springs, attracting visitors and fostering a love for reading and learning. But what there were more challenges identified with the limited economic impact while libraries provide essential services, they may not generate the same level of economic activities as commercial developments and mixed-use developments. And the other concern that I received was the ongoing funding for staffing, resources and maintenance may be a challenge, especially in downturns. that might affect the budget. So given the goal, if looking at economic development, the pros, cons, challenges, the commercial development may be a better option for this location. The potential for more job creation, increased foot traffic, diversification of the local economy may outweigh the benefits of a library, which while valuable, may not drive sufficient economic growth. may create more dynamic urban environment in track team residents and tourists which is crucial for a battle downtown said listening to my constituents as well as other residents and I would have to agree that we have great a director of the library every body had praise for library for our the staff at the library but not for that location.

Any other comments as directors? Director Holiday?

Thank you. From a solely economic development standpoint, I don't disagree with Director Garcia. However, one of the things that I think we haven't spent a lot of time on is what does economic development look like when another entity is unsuccessful in the long run? The Majestic Hotel was eventually unsuccessful. The Velde Rose was unsuccessful. I mean, we have hotels down there that are unsuccessful. We had, you know, we just had the Amazon Center come in, which was a great reuse of a place that was vacant for I don't know how long. In a very vibrant, from an economic standpoint, a very vibrant part of town, we've had a lot of retail that has moved in and out specifically in those economic downturns, and particularly when you have a national corporation, their buy-in in a particular community, especially a small community, isn't... They're beholden to their shareholders. They're not beholden to our community. And again, ultimately, we're voting tonight to have an agreement that the voters will then... Because it's not that many months. If the voters all say no, they say no. And we're really in the same position we are now. But But if that millage were to be successful, libraries don't disappear with economic downturns. They're incredibly stable economically. And that's something we know what it looks like over the past Definitely 14 years of having a vacant lot. And how many years before that? You were there when it was still very functional. I remember going to the restaurant there. I remember my friends working in the hotel. But it's been 30 years. that that site has been languishing. And I feel like the opportunity to have something that would ultimately be stable for the rest of our lifetimes should not be overlooked. Furthermore, we don't have a commercial developer waiting to do that. That's what we talked about this whole time. That would be ideal is to have some housing and have retail. And I'm sure if you said you can have a Whole Foods at the library, we'd probably have a brawl in the street over who wants the library versus a Whole Foods on the north end of town. We'd love to have a grocery store. But I do think that that stability and that longevity is something we really need to take into consideration, especially because this board has said recently that we want to sell the property And if we sell the property to a commercial developer, there is not a public vote tied to the success of it. And there will be here. There will be funding tied to the success and the outcome of the building and of the project. And I feel that that's something that really needs to be considered, as everyone considers this, and should not be taken lightly. So thank you.

OK. Director Webb.

Thank you, Mayor. Tell you, this is a tough one to do. And it's a tough one to do because we've got an awesome library. We've got an awesome library director. We've got a great library board, who obviously is taking time and investing in the future of Hot Springs. They're trying to make sure that the library continues to grow for everybody. And that is something that I appreciate. And that is something that I think all of us that live here in Hot Springs and Garland County appreciate. So for me, it comes down to the people that I serve. And I listen to the people that I serve. They spoke on this issue, which essentially means we spoke on this issue. The survey that I put out, which went to hundreds, walks of life all sides of the political spectrum if you will because this is nonpartisan the board's nonpartisan this is a nonpartisan issue and I looked at their results I'm sharing those results with you tonight and that's going to guide me in my decision here today and I want to share with y'all too that you know if by chance the resolution doesn't pass, this is what somebody had shared with me, it doesn't mean that it can't be reconsidered after the election. So I'm gonna leave it with that. Thank you.

Any final comments from other directors? I got a few comments of closing comments and been trying to scratch down a few notes I think we got to remember that you know the majestic burned in February of twenty fourteen and it took two or three years or so for the a a D Q to clear the the the the property from any contaminants and hazardous materials we did and I'm gonna ask Bill or Lance to jump in and then we entered into an agreement with an entity that wanted to develop a Bellagio style hotel with fountains and that Bill how long was that under was that under agreement gosh that must have been about a year here which is a year I think and they had some extent you know when it would it burned

It set there as rubble for over two years. I mean, it'd still be rubble if the city had stepped up and purchased that. But I think it was on the ground for two, two and a half, three years before we actually purchased it.

And then we had it, like you said, we had an individual who said he would amass a group of investors to create something. And it was during the COVID time. You know, nobody was doing really anything then. So that kind of went on the wayside. And then we had a gentleman working with a group out of northwest Arkansas for an amphitheater. Had to be a certain size. They did a tremendous amount of due diligence. and ultimately they made a determination that that majestic site would not support the weight of the amphitheater so that individual pulled out and then we had a hot springs metro partnership step in and say hey let us work this for you know you pay us for economic development let us work this and so they went through their processes and which resulted in two proposals again they had a lot of people who expressed an interest but never submitted and And so we had the library board or we had the library proposal and then we had another individual entity propose and the metro partnership favored the the other entity that would that was not the library and then we kind of had an additional work session after that and wanted to kind of hear from each and one was going to be a proposal the non library one was going to be a proposal of the crystal museum along with some other out parcels that would be developed and uses identified at a later date the library uh offered their proposal and then the uh the non library proposal uh uh shortly I think maybe in that same meeting uh or subsequent meeting postpone their proposal to allow the library to move forward with a vote and let the voters of Garland County make make the decision so that's kind of a little bit of Timeline on that and so that's from basically February of 2014 to where we're here today in July of 2026 I've been on record time and again saying the property has to either create tax revenue, sales tax revenue, or draw people downtown who will stay downtown. It would be an attraction that would cause people to stay downtown and spend money. some of the comments that I've heard from the library director was that the library that I grew up with was was nowhere near what the libraries are today and that they're much more interactive I have a small business my wife and I have a small business downtown boutique hotel and we get a lot of families downtown in our establishment and they always say Pat what is there for us to do downtown with with our age children I always throw out things like Garvin Woodland Gardens, make sure you go to the child's garden. Mid-America Science Museum, go to Mid-America Science Museum, one of the top 10 children's science museums in the country. Bath House Row, you got Mystic Ozark, which is a satellite of Mid-America Science Museum. You got the trails. And of course, they didn't want to drive away from downtown. They might do that on their way out of town, but they didn't want to do that during their time downtown and staying. So from that standpoint, given what I'm hearing the library would be offering, there would be a draw for families who are staying in the downtown area to go and utilize that style facility if the programming was proper. Commerce in downtown is going south a little bit. You got the Hampton Inn right there at Washtenaw and Central. You've got the 900 block is developed and things are starting to spread out there. That may almost make a reason for the library to be at the old Washtenaw Hospital. But maybe not. Maybe we had a speaker today, a realtor, said Majestic is a money pit based upon the terrain. And again, the amphitheater was pulled in part when the proposer said or developer said that the rock structure was going the wrong direction and wouldn't support an amphitheater. I don't deal that's not my line of expertise All I know is there was a parking garage and hotel there But I don't know what what the difference what the amphitheater is but be that as it may you know, they pulled out so now then then we have the like I said the Metro partnership brought in two proposals and I guess part what I'm concerned with is that what I and I asked Adam this specifically the director of the library what is the structure what is your organizational structure and he indicated that we have five library board members they're appointed by the county judge and and ratified by the quorum court there and then basically they're an independent body and That's this is what they're asking for All we're doing is selling real estate. I'm not certain that we Know if we wanted to say hey, there's a better and higher use for this We haven't seen it. We haven't seen it yet. We have one that's been postponed but that wasn't a full concept and So we're not a vote in favor of this resolution. In my mind, isn't saying that we support the library at that project. We're supporting the sale of the library and let the voters decide if they want the library there. I don't think there's any problem and I'll sleep good at night knowing that the voters of Garland County are deciding this and not us supplanting the the direction of that board of the library so so those are kind of my thoughts so with that I'll close all right there's no further discussion We'll call the roll.

Director Dobbs-Smith. No. Webb.

No.

Garcia. No. Trustee.

No.

Holladay. Aye. Mayor McCabe.

Aye. Resolution fails. Moving on to new business. Please now. Please. Under new business, we have to consider ordinance 0-26-28. I'll entertain a motion and a second to suspend the rules and read by title only.

So moved. Second.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please read by title. All in favor of the motion.

All in favor of the motion.

I think if I was saying I I oppose same sign, please. Let's see Kathy Selman director of planning development will provide the staff report welcome.

This is ordinance. Oh dash 26 oh 28 an ordinance amending ordinance number 6513 codified in hot springs code title 16 chapter 2 to permit dwellings in certain commercial zone districts that concludes reading if you would entertain a motion second to adopt.

Director trustee second by director web now Kathy Selman. Thank you director of planning and development.

In March of 2025 the board voted to replace the zoning code that had been in effect since 2003. One change in that new code was to eliminate dwellings as a permitted use in commercial zone districts other than the central business district. Meant to preserve availability of properties for commerce, the provision has caused unintended problems for landowners seeking to develop much needed housing in Hot Springs. The proposed amendment implements a housing strategy goal to adopt zoning code changes that would allow the construction of missing middle housing in areas impacted by past housing demolitions. Allowing residential reuse of commercially zoned lots provides additional housing sites while also adding rooftops needed to support existing businesses. This amendment would take the commercial zone district uses back to where they were prior to adopting the new code last year. And it would allow for residential uses homes in land that is commercially zoned Planning Commission at its duly advertised June 11 2026 meeting after calling for testimony and considering the record voted 7-0 to accept the staff report findings and recommendation to recommend that you adopt an ordinance amending hot springs zoning code use matrix section 16 to 8.2 to allow dwellings in certain commercial zone districts as shown on the revised use matrix, also known as Table 8-1, as well as necessary text amendments to Section 16-8.1 to accomplish that intention. That concludes the presentation.

Any questions for Ms. Salmon? Everybody good? Thank you. Thank you. Anybody sign up?

No, sir.

Any discussion amongst directors? Hearing none, please call the roll.

Director Webb? Aye. Garcia? Aye. Trustee? Aye. Holladay? Aye. Dobbs-Smith? Aye. Mayor McCabe?

Aye. Ordinance is adopted. It concludes the action items for this evening. Now we'll be under Board of Directors' items for discussion. Any items? Director Garcia?

Thank you mayor, I just wanted to say thank you to a Westman West minister Presbyterian church when I came to my seat this evening they had a note here they met at noon and they had members of the Bible study group signed that they were praying for decisions in the best interest of our city of all of our directors, thank you thank you.

any director Dobbs Smith I would like to thank chief Chapman and officer Cervantes for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and speak to a group of district three residents and and thank you very much he did a great job thank you any other director holiday

We'll just continue on the gratitude train here. I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who worked on the event on the 4th of July downtown, the Red, White, and You picnic. There was a huge army of volunteers, National Park staff, Friends of the Park. I couldn't even tell you how many people were down there. And it was like swimming in fog. It was so hot at 9 o'clock in the morning. But it was very well attended. It was a lot of fun. I had the honor of being on the heroes panel with a couple of other people here in our community to talk about different ways that we can all be heroes in our community and serve our community. So that was a great honor and privilege. And it was an amazing event. It was great to see everyone come out and be together. And then also last week we had our annual Pride Parade and Festival and just wanted to thank everybody who helped make that happen. We did, as many people may or may not know, you can work with uniformed officers. You have off-duty officers work for events here in town. And we had two officers there who were wonderful and kept the peace. We also had, you know, just like with any other parade that we have, whether it's Christmas parade or Our Lady of Guadalupe, you know, traffic comes down to make sure everyone's safe Downtown when we have processions through downtown, so everyone was great Shout out to the businesses who came out and supported us and everyone who came in town. So So yeah, it's been it's been a fun and festive last couple of weeks And just wanted to say thanks to everybody who made those things happen Very good director webb

Thank you, Mayor. I want to just say thank you to a couple of our guests here today. Mr. Devin Heath, Visit Hot Springs. I appreciate you taking time to be here at our meeting. And I look forward to working with you over the years. Sounds like y'all are off to a good start. I know you've got a couple of good board members, one sitting here to my right. And then I want to say thank you to the CEO of Home Depot for being here too. You got a promotion. Is the open date still September 24th? Okay. How many job availability openings do you have so far? Okay, and what time in the morning do you open September 24th? 6 a.m. 6 a.m. I want to be there at 6 a.m. September 24th to buy the first product, and I'll race anybody else who wants to do that too. Appreciate y'all being here in Hot Springs. Thank you.

Very good. Anybody else? I think just about everybody spoke except Steve and I. Director Trustee?

No.

Y'all good? Director Garcia, bring us home.

I move to adjourn. Thank you. Second.

We have a motion and a second to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. We are adjourned. We do have public commentary.