City Council - Regular Meeting

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30 uh committee meeting. We have Dr. Karen Peterson with Hendricks College who would like to speak to the council about uh what an entertainment district would look like on the Hendricks campus. Dr. Peterson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's lovely to be here this evening and I appreciate the time and attention from city council and from my fellow Conwegians. Uh we are here for a proposal to establish an entertainment district in the green space in the center of the village. I am going to introduce one of my colleagues to talk a little bit about the details and then I will close us at the end with some thoughts about what this means for Hendricks and for Conway. So to go through some of the details, Mr. Brock Jones is here. He's a special assistant to the president working with me and also a resident of the village across the street. Next slide, please. Thank you, President Peterson. It's Mr. Mayor, and thank you all. I'll be very brief. We just want to talk a little bit about the logistics of how we envision this happening. We envision this as as an ongoing entertainment district, not a particular day of the year, but throughout the year, hours 11 to 11, serving stops at 10:00, although nothing is open that late at this point. In terms of enforcement, this is um you know, part of the city, so Conway uh the police department has responsibility but also we have students living in the village in the upper levels of the buildings on the market square. So our public safety does uh patrol the village as a part of its work uh providing an environment that is safe for our students. Um we have La Pista. We want to thank the Castros for being here this evening. They have been provided a terrific addition to to the village and they are very supportive. You're welcome to ask any questions if you'd like to get their thoughts on this. Roost and Tap is going to move into the spot where the Panera Bakery was. They're pending a license. I talked to the folks at Purple Cow last week and they told me that they are going to be pursuing a liquor license. They also are very supportive of of the um opportunity for an entertainment district in the village.

So, we have a lot of energy and interest among uh the the the uh the tenants uh in in our restaurant spaces. Um and we look forward to what this could mean. Um just in terms of logistics, the license holders will be responsible for compliance within their facilities. They're also responsible for ordering the cups and the wristbands from the city that will be used. Next slide, please. Um just uh you can see the map of the village. Um to the left is when you come off of Hark Rider at the roundabout into the village. Uh the area in green would be the entertainment district. Um it's uh student housing is specifically included. That's the upper levels of the buildings where the restaurants are located. Um the village at Hendricks, which is essentially a wholly owned subsidiary of Hendricks College, um will um be responsible for marking the boundaries and overseeing that part of the work as well. So those are some of the logistical details. the president will tell you uh the why why we think this is important for the village and more importantly why we think this is important for the city of Conway.

Great. Thank thank you Rock. I appreciate that. Uh and of course you have all this information in your packet as well. So if you've heard me speak anywhere at any point in the last two and a half years, you know I love Conway. It did not take me long to fall in love with Conway. It's not just the roundabouts, which I also love and adore. It's the fact that this is a this is a city that comes together in my opinion to make life better for residents. And one of the things that I'm interested in as the president of Hendricks College is ensuring that Conway is the kind of place where students want to come to attend any of one of the three institutions and want to stay. And we know based on the research that we did, our own research, uh, independent of the research that the Chamber of Commerce has done that arts, entertainment, and outdoor recreation are very important to young people in terms of drawing them to Conway, but also keeping them here after they graduate. And for us in enhancing the appeal of the area around campus, which includes the village, it's it's technically part of campus, but it is an adjacent neighborhood, the Markhamm Street corridor, all of these places, and making them more uh livable, more fun, honestly, is an important part of enhancing Conway's appeal. It also makes it also opens up the possibility of Conway becoming a destination. So people would come from out of town to Conway to experience many of the different amenities we have, dine at the village, walk around at the village market, enjoy the opportunity to be in the city, and of course we hope spend money and raise sales tax revenue for you guys to run the government. So we see this as an opportunity to enhance a part of campus that had a a grand vision 20ome years ago when it was developed is uh has a tremendous amount of potential has faltered a little bit over the last 5 to seven years and is now coming back to life and this is an important part of ensuring that we can create an environment that draws visitors to Conway and makes it feel lively when

when parents and students come visit. I'm happy to answer questions. Rock is happy to answer questions and we also have our restaurant tenants here as well. So happy to take any questions from you.

I have several general questions to this one and entertainment districts in in general. Um can we go back to the picture of the the boundaries? All right. And by the way, I'm 100% for this. I just want to make sure we do this as easily and cost as effectively as possible for everyone involved. Felicia, help me here to and maybe maybe the street is the connector. If that yellow line is the hard line, how do they get from Purple Cow or Roost and Tap into the yellow area?

They quickly walk across street. They can just walk they can just enter into the entertainment district. That's the So the property bound boundaries is the property that Hendrickx the village of Hendrickx has the street as our rightway but that's inclusive of the entertainment district. Okay. I just want to make sure and we need to draw you walk in you walk into you can roost and tap get your wristband get your cup and walk back out into the center green area. Correct. Okay. I just want to make sure that's okay. All right. Now, are we going to require calling police there 12 hours every day, all day? I got a question about

Yeah. Um, do your officers have the rest ability? They do not. Um what we would do whenever we're having a special event such as homecoming and we expect there to be more than the normal amount of people that you would have on a Tuesday night at the restaurants, we would be responsible for ensuring extra security, hiring extra officers for an event where we expect a lot of people in attendance. We don't expect a lot of people to be in attendance at a normal Tuesday night. We have some patio chairs and fire pits that sit out there in the green space that we expect people might want to use on a routine evening, but this is not a big party space.

Only thing I got the only question I got, we required them to have police and this is on your campus, but you want us to police it, but you're not going to require to have police up there? Well, this is part of So, this is part of the It's not part of the proper campus. It's part of the city. And the reason that we patrol this is because we have students living above the commercial districts. So we patrol the the area of the commercial district of the village only because students are living there and and the city patrols this entire neighborhood as part of its routine patrol. Well, I'm for it, too. But we need to do just like we did.

Well, yeah, but I'm going to go the opposite direction. We need to be a little looser on the one downtown. I don't think we need police out here 24/7 for this. And I think our what we're doing for the one downtown is a little overkill. I think it's restricting the use of it because by the time you pay two offduty police officers, the overtime plus the lot fee for 4 hours, you ain't making profit. [clears throat] So people aren't doing it. So we've got to revisit the downtown, but that's a separate issue because we're talking about it when we talk about it. But uh this one's fine just like it is to me um without extra police presence except for events like you described. Exactly. So for special events there will be that requirement that there's a large number of people for security

for art walk for example and got to love them. Um I've se I've seen I've seen I've seen the two officers out there are sitting there twiddling their thumbs and and I'm not knocking them there's nothing for them to do but we're requiring the people to pay to have them out there when they're not needed. So I think we need to be more uh flexible on events on how long they last. I mean over 8:00 correctly y'all. This wasn't for a profit when y'all were putting this in proposal. It wasn't for y'all to make a profit. It's to draw people down time. That's We'd like to make some money, but yeah, drawing people downtown giving the opportunity.

You said I can't make money with the police out there. So, which one is it? Well, I mean worth our while. And I'm talking about the road round specifically. We're the only ones who've done it yet for art walk. It's worth our while to do it. I'm just saying when you pay two officers four hours of overtime pay that starts to make you wonder whether or not it is worth it if the only thing and I'm not going to vote against it but listen uh if something happens don't have police there to break it up that can arrest somebody what's the consequence what's

and if you don't have them there and they not in this area that thing get hard and you got good people out there but you got some people that and they go way left. And I've seen it and that's the only thing I'm saying. If we going to do it, let's do it. But let's make it safe for everybody. Yeah. Well, art walk's pretty safe. But I do understand what you're saying. Yeah.

I'm [clears throat] probably dancing in the same area they are and more the question of and I'm also fully supportive of this at at the village of Hendricks to be clear. Um I the the meeting where the entertainment district downtown was approved was the last meeting in 2024. So, I was in Mr. Elsinger's seat that night, not on the council. So, it wasn't what we did, it was what y'all did. Um, I'm I'm trying to remember. Did we make a promise to say that as long as there was an entertainment district that we were going to require there be an officer anytime a permit was issued for the downtown entertainment district?

But we didn't but we didn't bake something into what that was going to look like in the future. Basically, what I'm making sure here is that we're not going back on what we promised our citizens. The ordinance is specific for the downtown entertainment district. Okay. So, just that's why we're bringing in saying it's not a timeline. Is that what you're asking? Uh, say that again, it's not time specific, right? You as we say it was going to be like I basically saying I I couldn't remember the exact procedure of how we established that or how y'all established that. Excuse me. And was making sure that we didn't say, "Okay, citizens, entertainment district will happen. here's what it will look like. And if that was specific just to downtown and not to the village and we're not, you know, going left and we said we're going to go right, I'm okay with that.

The first ordinance is specific to the downtown entertainment district. So they they will all have their own names separately. There wasn't an ordinance that established here's how we're going to do entertainment district and a separate said here's how we're going to do it downtown. There was one that said here's establishing entertainment district downtown and this essentially supersedes that. I'm sorry it doesn't that's not the right thing to say. This is a separate area. We're passing our own in. I'm clear and have no issue. Okay. One other question. If something happened to someone up there, since you're saying it's Conway's jurisdiction, but it's on Henry's Capitals, who's liable for it?

I assume it would operate like any other property in the city limits. And so if there's if there's an issue, we call Conway City Police. I'm saying is something happened to someone up there. Is Tunway responsible for him or is Henry responsible for him? I don't know the answer to that question. This is in the city limits. Funway, right? I say that is not owned by Hendricks. It's owned by individual people that have h individual houses there. Um I'm my thought is it's part of the city of community. Well that's that's my thought

since you're bringing this up. Uh Faulner County is over the whole thing. Okay.

Right. So should they have a say in this? I'm trying to find out who's going to be liable if somebody gets shot up there. Are they going to be mad at Conway or Hendrickx? I I understand the concern. Um, I I question if you know if we had a pattern of issues with people drinking and making making a mess in town or in these areas, I would be more concerned about it. What happens if somebody gets shot on Washington on any day, right? Like I I'm making sure and and I don't disagree with you, right? Like I I agree that we need to look out for safety and liability and it's fair to ask that question. I I don't know that allowing someone to have a drink in the yard out there highly exacerbates or increases the likelihood of there being a real issue is all I'm saying.

Well, I think we just had some issues with people drinking and shooting. Fair. Fair. I appreciate the concern.

And I don't know. I guess I'm a lot different. I think me working in with the sheriff's department ruined me a lot because I see how easily things can go left or right and I see it's a lot of bad people out there and you can't look at them and tell have a deterrence that's going to happen traffic in that regular basis. Well, our public safety patrols that area as part of its regular patrols because students live above the commercial district, but because it's the city of Conway. Conway Police Department also patrols, I assume, in the village as part of their routine patrol of of all city streets. Those are city streets. So, I'm assuming that Conway PD also patrols there.

That's what I would have thought as well. And we can run this by Mr. thinking binder and and get his thought. Bill, I don't want to draw you into a fight. You didn't come out. Do you have any thoughts on that? Mr. Beth is an attorney and if Brett doesn't want you to answer, that's okay. [laughter] Okay. just restating for our friends online uh in the audience, he said that he didn't see an issue there. We're talking about a very small area of Hendricks. Just for our friends that are watching online, that's what you missed. And just like with the downtown entertainment district, we also wanted to look at that um like in in a year. And so maybe with this we can look at it six months or a year, come back, give a quick update on how the district is uh doing um running, the hours that they're running, and then the type of security they're running. So maybe we can just have a quick update in six months. I think to what you just said, we since we established the district, we have the right to amend it at any time we want to. Okay. So, if this turns out to be a problem, we can amend it.

Well, and and right now, like when Hendricks has homecoming, the police department's aware of that, right? Sure. So, it it they would know if there were bigger events or things happening there

and those would require additional security from CPD. So, they they would be gentle sometimes. Well, I wouldn't think that we're that we've got a patrol officer out near Walmart in that area, Lowe's, and and everything else that's out there. We just add this little roundabout to to patrol and couple times that he is Chief Harris out there. If we want to tag him in lure him in, he's like, "No, no. [laughter] Well, while Chief is walking up here, I have one more question. And this this may be a non-starter, and y'all tell me to shut up and move on if you want, but when I'm thinking about when I would use this, we are we are big fans of your restaurant, Mr. Castro, and uh or find ourselves there often. When I think about I I don't see myself buying a cocktail and going and sitting outside. I see myself and my friends buying a bucket of mimosas on a Sunday and go sitting outside and enjoying that. that wouldn't be permissible based on what we have here if I understand correctly. Also, we might become the problem that Mr. Jones is worried about after that though. [laughter]

Chief Harris, could you come up to the mic, please? Alderman Jones has some thoughts. Alderman Jones has some thoughts he'd like to run by you, as does some of the other council. Okay. Uh they are proposing an entertainment district like we got here up on Hendrick's campus. All they have is security. Just regular security, not armed. Can't arrest anybody. So my question was, if something happens up there, who's responsible for it? The city or Hendricks?

Well, usually I find out when you have security, what they end up doing is being just like every other citizen and call 911. So, it's it's one of those things I think we would still get called anyway if they don't have any arrest authority and a crime's being committed. Um, technically, you know, we would need to be there. So, I my opinion is the same as it is downtown. If you're going to have an event, have officers working. Fair. One of the other questions that came up is Hendrickx Village is part of your normal patrol area. Yeah, that that was people wanted to make sure.

Yeah. And usually and what I mean by that, so it was like [clears throat] all those years ago when Walmart, they would have security and they would drive around the little car with the yellow light on and and if they saw something, what they would do is call the police department. So it's just like any other citizen. So that's why sometimes when you have security, you get into a bigger mess. That makes sense on process for me. I still don't think it answers Mr. Jones question of who is liable if something happens. Is it Hendrickx's problem? Is it the city's problem? Or is it who pulled the trigger's problem? I don't know. That's a probably a city attorney. But in my thing is whoever is hosting something, they have some culpability and all that.

But if we do this as what's suggested here, which is an open district that is not event driven as the ones downtown are, but rather just a blanket from the hours, I think it was 11 to 10p if I remember. It's not an event. It's just a normal day. That would be up to the council to approve that and then it would be, you know, with within the parameters. So, yeah, I mean, we would still have to be called to something. I think I understand that it's ours to approve, but I also understand Mr. Jones question of who is liable if something happens.

And I think it I think I'm not speaking for you, Mr. Jones. But I think the question started with, well, we require this for downtown Conway, then why aren't we requiring it for that? Is that fair? Yeah, that's what I was trying to find out if it's city or they had to do it. So, is it in the city or they going to get something special for it because it's not for the city, it's for Hindus. They had to do the same thing. [clears throat] We if we got the same jurisdiction as they do over them, why it's not the same thing? Very fair question.

Like Mr. Jones had a thought. Sorry, Mr. Jones.

I think for the for the downtown entertainment district when we first started, I think we wanted to um see how it would work. And so that was the best way for us to kind of see how it would work. We didn't have one restaurant or one entity that was, you know, interested in a entertainment district. I think it was everyone was interested in an open district just the way Hendrickx would be. But it was a start. So a start was to start off with event base to see one how we run it, the process kind of getting us in the groove and and we have found some pros and cons to how it is currently uh how we currently do it. Uh, but it's been great. I will say that we've had events since we passed it. We've not had any issues. Uh, we've had uh the art walk, but we've also had the birthday party for the city of Conway, which drew one of the biggest crowds for ArtWalk. Um, and we had we did have security there, but we did not have any issues. So, it's been a it's been great. But again, it was based on event based because that was a good way for the city to start. Uh, no particular like no one asked for an open

I got two questions. Uh, and like I said, this is a good idea. I just want security there. Uh, how many different restaurants have we had through this downtown

participate? Um, so we've had one for every art walk and then for the birthday party we had two restaurants participate and there is a cost for them to participate and so that could be the deterrent um when you say uh being a part of an event. I do think that each district can stand on its own. We did it this way to learn from it and we have learned from it. Each district can and should stand on its own and it's it's you have three you'll have three restaurants that were involved. You know, it'd be different if there was 30. You know, so you know, you have to look at the area. It's a very small area. three restaurants. Having a two police officers there 12 hours a day, seven days a week is just not feasible for anybody. It's not feasible for us. So, I don't have a problem with this the way it's set up, but we can always tweak it. And I think with the earlier conversation now might be a year's time for us to kind of debrief about how the eventbased downtown has worked because you know ideally what I envision is ultimately whether it's event-based or open that between downtown Markham Street to Hendricks becomes a corridor um an improved corridor We should look at how how it's worked, if we've had issues, what are the costs, what do we need to tweak?

Y'all look at me like I'm not [laughter] I do remember I do remember when we started talking about this, uh, all of us just in our offices downtown, we said, "We got to move really slow on this." And I think that's probably was our starting place. And we're just kind of learning as we go, how it works. Yeah. Yeah. So far it's worked great a lot. It hadn't worked a whole lot, but it's worked great when it has worked. If we can get Esmeralda out there to Yeah. to run run [laughter] bouncer for us, we're good. I was hoping he was going to say she could have the mimosa cart out there on the lawn. You know,

I mean, we we certainly have no interest in having problems or issues in this space, and if we do, we'll be back in front of you very quickly to amend [clears throat] this. Um, so that's we we we have a shared interest in in a space that is calm and uh enjoyable. So that right now is the committee meeting where we ask questions. Yes. And then it's on the agenda as uh for us to approve, but theoretically Mr. Finenbinder will be here for the council meeting. He will. Okay. so we can iron [clears throat] out the liability question and then other than that it's a green light for me. Any other questions for Dr. Peterson? Uh Chief Harris has a question.

Just and I walked in on the tail end of this. So if it's like you know the restaurant somebody's walking outside and a couple is there and have that's different where I'm was more concerned if we're having events bringing a large gathering. Yeah. Right. Right. So if we're talking about restaurants and then somebody standing outside with a glass of wine, we're not concerned. I'm not concerned. And President Peterson said if like for homecoming big events, they would hire they would. Yeah. If you're drawing a large crowd, then yes. And then but if this is a, you know, Tuesday night and somebody's going to eat dinner and have sitting outside or whatever, then that's not really concerning.

And Dr. Peterson specifically mentioned that this area it it isn't set up to host a lot of people, right? There's a few chairs, a fire pit. You going to come light the fire pit for me? Okay. [laughter] If there's no more questions, we'll take a five minute break. We will start at 605. Bill Beth. Thank you, sir.

Good evening everyone. In the woods, we proceed each council meeting with a word of prayer and the pledge of allegiance. If you'd like, please feel free to join us. Mr. Could I ask you to bless? Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for the opportunity to be here. And Lord, I thank you for this wonderful city that you have blessed us with. Father, I pray that you'll hold your hands over this meeting and guide and protect this city as you have for all these years. Lord, we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.

Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible. [clears throat] I'll call this meeting to order. Miss Herd, would you take the role, please? Mr. Hawkins here. Mr. Grimes, here. Mr. Spurs, here. Miss Mill here. Mr. Hawks here. Mr. Jones here. Missby here. All righty. You should have received a copy of the October 28, 2025 city council meeting minutes. Any corrections, changes, or comments? Make a m a motion for approval as submitted.

Second. Have a motion and a second to approve the October 2028, 2025 city council meeting minutes. No further discussion. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? That passes seven to zero. First up tonight we have the economic development committee and first up is consideration to approve the waving of all three readings for the ordinances and read title only. Second reading for ordinances B6, B7, B8, B9 uh on the October 11th city council agenda. Make a motion for waving those readings. Second. Have a motion and a second to wave the three readings. Further discussion? It's heard. All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Passes seven to none. Seven to zero. My bad. First up is an ordinance to approve and extend the lease for Conway Corporation to operate an electrical plant for the city of Conway. We have Mr. Carol here tonight and Mr. Wilburn. Is that correct? [clears throat]

Hey Brett. Good evening, Mayor Council. Yeah, Mr. uh Wilbur would typically be here for these kinds of things, but I told him I thought we could we could handle it. Um and really all we're doing is extending our franchising lease both for electric and telecom for for 10 years. And and the reason for that, you know, we have been talking about a couple of projects that we're focused on. You know, one of course is the the combined cycle natural gas plant that we'll be building. The other is uh uh is converting all of our our our HFC plant to to fiber. So we'll be doing fiber throughout the city. And um and so those two projects, we're going to have to borrow some money to do that. And you know, bond holders like to make sure they get paid back for uh for for the money that they for the money that uh that we owe them. And so bond counselors like to make sure that uh that the term of franchise and lease agreements are co-terminous or at least longer than um the bonds that you're borrowing to pay off. So anyway, so that's our ask tonight. And there's I know there's four different things here, but but the the the story is the same for both electric telecom and all those cases. So, but I'd be happy to entertain any questions that you guys might have about about any of those four ordinances. I don't have any questions, Brett, but I would like to say, yes, there's a lot of great things that make Conway attractive, but I've always said this, Conway Corporation is the goose that laid the golden egg in Conway. You and your staff and your people do a tremendous job. Our utilities are very, very reasonable this city. Uh, I don't know if I don't think my lights have been off in the last 10 years. So, I do like to point out and and Brett, you know, did y'all know Brett gets free electricity at his house. [laughter] For those of you watching on TV, that's a running joke that Mr. Carol and I have. He does not get free electricity. But Conway Corporation is uh is just a tremendous asset to the city and we are where we are today because of Conway Corporation.

Well, I I appreciate you saying that. Um, there are a 260 people dedicated to to serving our customers well every day. And so we make mistakes because we're human beings, but we try to learn from those and we try to to do as good as we can to to achieve our mission and serve our customers well. So, thank you for saying that. I appreciate it. Also, back to you. Make a motion for adoption of the ordinance. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt this ordinance to extend the lease for Conway Corporation to operate the electrical plant for the city of Conway. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Spurs. Hi. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Miss Mill. Hi. Mr. Jones. Yes. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Mrs. Yes. Mr. Grimes. I What number was that, Missurd? At 93.

02593. Okay. That passes 7 to zero. Next is an ordinance to approve and extend the franchise for Conway Corporation to operate a telecomun telecom telecommunication plant for the city of Conway. Good for you to say. Yeah, I had trouble with that. questions. Hey, could I mayor, just a point of clarification, do you have to approve those in order? Uh, because I think the next first one is we jumped two. We skipped two, didn't we? Yes. Yeah. Which one did I skip? The lease for the electric department

was the franchise for electric, lease for electric, uh, franchise for telecommunications, and the lease for telecommunications. I I may not know what I'm talking about, but I thought we might have skipped one. It did. We did. Which one is first? We had A2. The number number three was read was read first. Okay. Rather than number two, where where are we, Mr. Carol? Let's go back to Let's go back to two if we could to A2. Right. Conway Corporation operates electrical plant for the city of Conway. Yes. Okay, that'll put us back in order.

So that's 83, right? I mean 93, right? This will be 94. Number two will Yes. council, I'll take an uh a motion. So moved. Second. Have motion and a second to adopt this ordinance to approve and extend the franchise of Conway Corporation to operate electrical plant for the city of Conway, Arkansas. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Grimes. Hi, Mr. Jones. Yes, Miss Mill. Hi, Mr. Spurgers. Hi, Mr. Hawks. Yes, Missy. Yes, Mr. Hawkins. Yes, that passes seven to zero. Now, we're on telecommunications. Correct. All right. Any questions for Mr. Carol?

Say about fiber. Yeah. So the the the basis of this the money we're going to borrow is to convert our hybrid fiber coax plant to fiber throughout the city of Conway. That's going to involve a lot of pulling and a lot of work. Yeah. Our plan is to do that over the next three years. Yeah. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yeah. Mr. Carol, just cuz I think it could be of interest to our friends watching online. When we discussed this some months ago, I believe your plan was to not have a light switch from coax to fiber, but basically say, okay, as project date starts here, when something coax breaks, we're not fixing it. We're pulling fiber at that point from the street. That's right. And so we kind of have a slow roll here. That's right. To get fiber everywhere that we have coax now.

That's right. there's not going to be, you know, a an effort to make people convert, but obviously if an issue arises, then we'll go out there and make that change when that happens. It'll be fiber to the to the to the curb, I guess, is a better way to describe it. And then and then from the curb, uh, then we'll get it to the home. But ultimately, it's fiber throughout. It's and so, yeah, we're not going to force anybody to change, but when we have issues that we need to resolve, we're out there anyway, that's where we're going to make that make that conversion to get it to the home. Does that does that answer your question? It does. And I'm just curious for for those of us that are fiber eager, can we opt in sooner or do we just need to take a shovel to something y'all aren't looking? [laughter]

There may be it may be um you may have fiber in your area already. I'm not sure. But uh but we we're going to be um of course got a great communication marketing communications team. So we're going to be letting people know when fiber is available. And if you want it, then you know we can certainly get it. If you request it, we can certainly get it to you if if the fiber is already there. If it's already there to the curve. Yes, sir. Well, and we have converted and I think a number of people in my neighborhood have. Okay. And it's it's painless and they are so careful. It happens in just a so much so much more reliable. Yeah. Once the fiber is there. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Yes, sir. I would make a motion for the adoption of ordinance which I believe is 02595. Is that right? Correct.

Second. We have an motion and a second to approve and extend the franchise for the Conway Corporation to operate a telecommunication plant for the city of Conway. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Jones. Yes. Miss Mill. I. Msby. Yes. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Mr. Spurs. Hi. Mr. Grimes. Hi. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. That passes seven to zero. And finally, we have an ordinance to approve and extend the lease for Common Corporation to operate telecomun plant. Telecommunications plant. I did it again, Drew. from city of Conway. No, no additional feedback. I'd make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 025-96. Second.

Have a motion and a second to approve and extend the lease for Conway Corporation to operate a telecommunicate dog on it. Plant [laughter] telecommunication plant for the city of Conway. Any further discussion? I just want to make you say telecommunications again. Boy, I'm struggling. [laughter] Missurd, Mr. Hawks? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Yes, Miss Mill. Hi, Mr. Hawkins. Yes, Mr. Grimes. Hi, Mr. Spurgers. Hi, Mrs. Yes. That passes 70 to zero. Thank you, Mr. Carol. Thank you. Well, and and you know, I would just say that you know, the comments that you made earlier, it is a truly partnership between Common Core and the city of Conway. And so, we appreciate you the support that we get from you guys and it is truly a partnership and I it's one that I greatly appreciate. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Brett.

Next up, we have the community development, Mr. Hawkins. It's all you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First item on this portion of the agenda is an ordinance to approve establishment of an entertainment district in the village at Hendricks. And we talked about this at our meeting at 5:30. And uh are there any u do we need any questions answered at this point in time? I think we ought to run the one question by Mr. Finener. I think that's probably a good idea.

Mr. thinking minor uh should Hendricks College be approved uh for this entertainment district and uh they do not have law enforcement full-time like like they do if they have an event downtown you know district or district in the downtown area if there is an incident on their property is the city responsible since come PD will be patrolling that area or does liability fall on Hendricks College did I explain that correctly I think I believe so. Mr. Jones, does that speak to your question?

So, is the so that I'm clear, the question is liable for injuries or damages between private individuals? Yes. So, so say that that Shelley and I go out and have drinks at the village and she mouths off and I get a little hacked and, you know, throw some punches or shots or something. Shel knocks me [laughter] out. That's what would happen. Yeah. Shel would deck me, right? Is Hendrick's responsible? Is the city responsible? Who would the party sue? The city on So, hypothetically, if that happened,

um, no. The city's not liable. Um, all cities in Arkansas are immune by state law from negligent suits, which is what this would be, that the city failed to protect you from Miss Mel, even though we knew that she was dangerous. That's a state law. [laughter] That's a state law that applies to every city in Arkansas. pending that I I have no further concerns. I got one question I for 100%. Are we going to require them to have police when we don't require them? I mean, when we require them, we not going to require them. That's all I want to know.

Yeah, I I want to make sure I understand your question. Are we are we not going to require the entertainment district at Hendricks to have police when we do require the same for the downtown entertainment district? Understood. I think I don't know who the authority is on that, but I think the answer is no. I think this ordinance does not require that except again for large events like they talked about which would require police presence for a larger crowd like homecoming or something. Yeah.

But in general, no. we could get y'all to notify us in case, not only homecoming, but other things that might occur during the school or calendar year. Uh, y'all put it on your calendar to to notify us and let us know that notify the mayor's office. Mayor's office would be fine. And that way we could we could notify the police department that we'll have some additional people in town for that. Dr. Peterson, do you mind to come up to the mic for our friends online? [clears throat]

So, the question was, will we notify the mayor's office when we're going to have an event? And um in order for them to notify Conway PD, and we'd be happy to do that, we also notify Conway PD directly if we're going to have a large crowd on campus anyway. Um, and generally we when we hire we hire Faulner County offduty sheriff's officers or Conway PD offduty police officers for those events anyway. So they would have an awareness even beyond our typical notification. I think Mr. Frankener wants to bring something up.

Just under section 8 there there's two things and then section nine. Um, one there, the way this is written, I don't see any ability of the city to require um, anyone in the district to have extra officers or pay for extra police officers. Not saying they wouldn't, just saying that that's it's not in there to to give the city that authority to require it. Um, the second thing, and this is just a to pointed out under the penalty section, it looks like they're strictly monetary penalties. There's nothing in here about further participation being restricted in any way for repeat violations. So that's just not saying you can't do it. Just point it out that it's it's just not in section 9. I think one of the discussions we had during the committee meeting was that we would both all both parties would monitor this and if we needed to make corrections to the ordinance and that that we would bring that back before the council.

Charles, the penalty section didn't change in the Hendricks Entertainment District. It's the same penalty in the original entertainment district that we passed. So, we didn't change that. We left. Right. And I had the same issue with the first one, but it's not it's not it's not there's nothing wrong with it. It's just I have to point it out. If you want us to add it, we can you can just send it to me. We can add it. Well, if it's the same as it's the same as the original when we did the original.

One other question. You say y'all do have Fton County or whatever. When we have events on campus where we require extra security, we will hire offduty Fontner County Sheriff's officers and I assume also offduty Conway PD, but I can't I don't I can't confirm we hire offduty Conway PD, but I have definitely seen offduty partner county sheriff's officers working on campus. It says the mayor may authorize additional enforcement as needed for events on a case- by case basis. Shel, I'm going to need to know whenever you're there. [laughter] Whenever I'm there with Drew,

I love Lista. [laughter] Same. I just don't trust you to not get a little aggressive. I know. One final question. When does this go into effect? Um, so we did not do an emergency call. So 30 days from the date of publication. Before the question, we need it before then. You need it before. You need it before then, President Peterson. Need would be a strong word. Um, like,

sure. Happy to have it whenever it is most convenient for you to make it effective. And I'll make a motion that we pass the ordinance and the emergency clause. Second. Yeah, I think I think the council might need to suspend the rules to add to add the emergency to Yes. do that. I'll take a motion to suspend the rules. Move. Second. Have a motion and second to suspend the rules to add the uh emergency clause. Any further discussion? And just before you take a vote, is there is there a description of the emergency that would go that would be a part of the ordinance? Uh Thursday night,

same one that's in the other one. Yeah, I think it's the same language used with the others. Okay. Is is that a sufficient answer? Well, to the to declare an emergency for immediate passage requires that there actually be an emergency, something that the council finds action is necessary and you can't wait for the 30 days, but it's up to the council. I'm just putting it out there. Dr. Peterson, are there events in the village in the short term? Felicia, do we have cups ordered? Is this going to happen within 30 days anyways? We've got to order cups and wristbands, right? Right.

So, maybe we don't. I I think the 30 days would be I think it'll be fine. I do too. I think I think it'll be fine. I think the definition of emergency doesn't apply in this situation. So maybe control Z on suspending the rules and go back to what was planned. Go back to the original ordinance. We have a motion and a second to uh to approve to adopt the emergency clause. All in favor say I. Hold on. All those opposed. I don't think that we had a motion to get a second for the ordinance. We did get a second. Did not get a second. Did we not? I think so. Not for the emergency.

I think we did get a second. I think it was just we've now discussed the the fact that there's not really an urgency to do it. So, it would be voting on the ordinance. Yes. To approve the ordinance as is. Vote no on the emergency. Yeah. There were no positive. We should We should vote no. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. All in favor say I. Well, all opposed. No. Question, Mr. All right. Now, we're back to our original ordinance. Yes. I make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 02597. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt this ordinance to approve an entertainment district for the village at Hendricks.

Any further discussion? No. I thought I kept up with that pretty good actually. [laughter] Missurd Mill. Hi. Mr. Jones. Yes. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Mr. Grimes. Hi. Mr. Spurgers. Hi. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Mrs. Yes. That passes seven to zero. Thank you, Dr. Peterson. A comment before we move on. Not discussion. Just a comment. Dr. Peterson. I appreciate the additional attention you guys have putting in have put into revitalizing the district there. Excuse me. The revi Thank you, Shel. to revitalizing the district. Good God. Say that [laughter] again. The village. The village at Hendricks. We're big fans. Excited to see good things happening out there. Thank you guys for the attention and excited to see what comes. Thank you all very much for your support. Thank you.

You know, every time you make fun of me blubbering a word, you get [laughter] karma. It's karma. You're saving him, right, Mr. Hawkins. Next item, Mr. Mayor's an ordinance to approve the private club permit location N50 Ellis Avenue for Roost and Tap LLC DBA Roost and Tap Kitchen. And we have an ordinance to read for this item. It's ordinance 02598. Mr. Frost, are you here this evening? He is. Yeah, I saw I saw you back there. Come on up here. Hey, Charles.

Good. Good evening. So, yes, we're here uh well, I'm here uh requesting permission for private club permit location for Roo and Tap Kitchen. I think that we're going to bring some some good eats and good times to Conway and I I strive one of my goals in life here recently. The last 10 years I've been trying to bring experiences to my community and this is my community and this is uh another way I think I can do that. So, that's my thoughts. We're excited for you. We're glad you're doing this. Yes, absolutely. Thank you very much. Can you talk about the food just a little bit?

Yes. Yeah, most definitely. So, um, we're doing something a little bit different. It's elevated comfort food. I would liken us to a yard bird. Uh, if you ever been to Dallas or Vegas, but slightly a little bit downscaled. Uh, not quite chef ran, but more chef inspired. Uh, our goal is to keep our our our price point very affordable for that good mid-range. We want the college kids to come eat there. We want the uh um young professionals to come there for happy hour. We want the uh um the business meetings. We want the families. We want the kids. We want everything. Right. So, we kind of shotgun approach on our menu. We've got everything from apple butter biscuits made from scratch to 24-hour fried broaden. I'm working on a gumbo green recipe actually right now. We've got rotisserie chicken. We got steak um pastas, pork chop. kind of kind of lot a good good little mix of things. Wells bowls and salads and other things that will be great for all all walks of life. So, there's something for everybody.

All right. When are you opening? So, I think our uh JC says permit should be good by the 14th for remodel. Uh so, we're going to do a remodel, bring in some kitchen equipment, hoping to be he promised me that uh we will be open before Valentine's Day. Uh he's quoting January, but he's saying before Valentine's Day, so you know what that means. somewhere in there. So, excellent. Great. Yeah. Very good. Council, back to you. Make a motion for adoption of the ordinance 02598. Second. Have a motion and a second to adopt this ordinance to approve a private club permit for the Roost and Tap Limited Liability Corporation. Uh, any further discussion? I

think this y'all will be good neighbors is what I think. I think this looking forward to that. This will be good for everybody. borrowing a lot of sugar. Missurd. Mr. Grimes. Hi, Miss Mill. Hi, Mr. Hawkins. Yes, Mr. Spurgers. Hi, Miss Isby. Yes, Mr. Jones. Yes, Mr. Hawks. Yes. That passes seven to zero. Look forward to it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Exciter, Mr. Mayor's resolution to approve the lowest bid and enter into an agreement for the McNut Road sidewalk edition for the transportation department. and uh come on in and tell us something good. You're not Kurt Jones. No, not tonight. [laughter]

Uh so we're finishing up a pedestrian improvement to the dayboard in the Hogan intersection. Okay. And this project here will be a sidewalk that runs along the west side of McNut down to Kennedy Lane along uh Clayton Homes. So, and we actually got five bids on this one this time. So hopefully that's the new trend. good is that we get that many bids and we're just asking that you approve the lowest bid JCI for $365,160.

JCI does good work. I was going to say they do a lot of work for us. I'll make a motion for adoption of the resolution. And Miss Herd, I have it as 45. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. 2545. Thank you. Have a motion, a second to approve this resolution approving the lowest bid and entering into an agreement for the magnet road to sidewalk edition for the transportation department. Any further discussion? Just in I'm sorry. Go ahead. Oh, you go ahead. Just in appreciation. Anytime we're adding sidewalks is great. Making this more accessible, making for easier for people to connect to Walmart. So, appreciate appreciate you guys and the work here. Quite a spread on the on the bids. there was 365 to over Well, I think what you see is the the first couple are equipped to do most of the majority of the work. Yeah.

Yeah. Versus having to sub it out. It's heard. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That passes seven to zero. Thank you, Jacob. Mr. Hawkins. Next item, Mr. Mayor's resolution to approve applying for funding for the Arkansas Historic and Preservation for the Planning and Development Department. And good evening. Good evening, council. We got good stuff coming.

Yeah, it's always good to find grant monies. Um, so yeah, we have the opportunity uh to apply through the state department of parks, heritage, and tourism for the certified local government program. All of these projects have to be historic focused. And um with your approval, we would like to apply this round uh for uh staff training and educational outreach. And so we will hope we'll print out some brochures for people living in the historic district. This is a no match. That's even better. Match it. I'll make a motion for adoption of the resolution.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt this resolution approving the application for funding from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program for the planning department. Any further discussion? Just one more kind thing to say for all the feedback we get online about how we spend our money. You guys don't get anywhere near enough recognition for finding ways to save our taxpayers money and still improve the city. So, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Robbie does great job. He does. Miss Herd. All in favor say I. Any opposed? At seven to zero. Miss Herd, I'm sorry, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Mayor, is an ordinance to amend the zoning code for accessory dwelling units for compliance with act 313 of two of 202. That can't be right. It must be 2020 something. 313 of 2025 is what mine says. Mine says Mine says 202. Thank you very much for that correction. Of 2025. And this is for the planning and development department. And hi. Hi. What's up? Well, I'm still thinking about those biscuits he was talking about. [laughter]

But in this little deal, uh we're asking for this ordinance to amend the zoning code um from the last legislative section session. It to bring us in compliance with state law. So now, um, if you can meet the qualifications, your lot coverage and all that kind of stuff, anybody can have an accessory dwelling behind their home. Now, 75% of the primary structure up to a,000 square feet. Motion to approve the ordinance.

Second. Have a motion and a second to approve this ordinance to amend the zoning code for accessory dwelling units for compliance with act 8 act 313 for 2025. That correct? Yes. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Miss Mill. I. Mr. Spurgers. Hi. Mr. Grimes. Hi. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Mr. Jones. Yes. Miss Zby. Yes. That passes seven to zero. You're going to be here for a minute, aren't you? Just for a minute. Is that 99? That is 99.

All right, Mr. Hawkins. Next item, Mr. Mayor, is an ordinance 02587 amending the Conway zoning code for the purposes of building and lot coverage for the planning and development department. And this is the second reading. Is that correct? That is correct. And it is an ordinance amending the Conway zoning code Z9454 as amended for the purposes of distinguishing between building coverage and lot coverage. to remove duplicative requirements addressed through other code sections and for other purposes. And just for clarification, the next meeting will be the third meeting. Yes. And we will

act at that point act at that point. So if anybody wants to be heard, Miss Tucker, have you been getting any feedback, public feedback about any of this? We have not gotten a single phone call, which was kind of shocking to me, but no, we haven't. Uh, one little brief thing here. We've been notified that the public is having trouble hearing us tonight. So, if everybody would speak into their mics, Mr. Hawkins,

the next item, Mr. Mayor, is amending the zoning code. This is a second reading as well of ordinance 02588 amending the zoning code for the purposes of eliminating conflicts between article 4 and article 10 it provide it's providing flexibility and parking requirements simplification of language for the planning and development department and Miss Tucker I think I got off my page there hang on just a This is item B7. Okay.

I have skipped 80, 88, and 89. So, would you like to read those? I don't have them with me. I don't have it. Miss uh Issby has it.

Got it, too. So for 88, an ordinance amending the Conway zoning code as amended for the purposes of eliminating conflicts between the article 9 and article 10, switching the contents of article 4 with the contents of article 9 for ease of reference, providing flexibility and parking requirements, simplification of language, and for other purposes. And that is the second reading on that and we will act on that item uh at our next meeting. U Thank you, Miss Tucker, for that. Next item, Mr. Mayor, is ordinance 02589 amending the Conway zoning code article 10 clarifying site development review scope, process, and fee schedule for the planning and development department. And again, this is the second reading only. Miss Tucker, do you have that one?

I do. Thanks to Miss Issby. An ordinance amending the Conway zoning code 09454 as amended for the purposes of clarifying site development review scope, process, and fee schedule, providing flexibility and diversity in building material requirements, simplify language, andor for other purposes. That is the second reading on that ordinance as well and we'll act the next at the next meeting. The final thing I have here, Mr. Mayor, is uh uh the second reading on another ordinance. Uh the ordinance is 02590 that is amending the Conway zoning code 13 as amended for the purpose of defining or redefining terms for the planning and development department. And this is our second reading. Miss Tucker, do you have that one?

I do. An ordinance amending the Conway zoning code 09454 as amended for the purposes of defining or redefining terms. And that is the second reading for that one. We will have the third and final reading and action at our next meeting on those four particular items. Questions about any of that? I I just want to make sure the public knows it's all of these recommended changes came out of a working group that met how how often we met for quite a while. Yeah, I think we had with a broad group four or five different meetings where everybody had input people from the community,

right? And it was a public hearing at the planning commission. It's public hearing here. So, we've given everybody as much time and attention, yes, as many opportunities as possible to weigh in on it. And I think that the overall goal, which I think we've accomplished with this first piece, was to simplify, get rid of contradictions um and make it an easier process for anybody who's looking to develop in Conway. Right. I appreciate that committee. It's been a lot. Thank you, Miss Thank you, Tucker. Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor,

next up, we have the public service committee, and we have a resolution accepting and approving the use of grant funds from the United States Tennis Association for the Parks and Recreation Department. Mr. Thes, how's that little one doing? Do what? How's that little one doing? Oh, she's she's getting uh pretty energetic, but it's it's nice. It's nice. She's fun. U. So, this is just accepting a grant in the amount of $3,000 from the United States Tennis Association to go towards um purchasing some new equipment for the tennis center. Make a motion for the adoption of the resolution R2546. Second 47 47. Sorry.

Yeah. Have a motion and a second to approve a resolution accepting and approving funds uh for the use of grant funds from the United States Tennis Association for Parks and Wreck. Any further discussion? M heard. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? 70. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you. Next, we have public safety committee. First up is ordinance to appropriate reimbursement fund for the Conway Police Department. Is is there anyone here that has not seen a picture of Chief Harris's mu deer? Because if you have not seen it, oh, we could put it. You're one of the few people in this world that has not seen a picture of it.

I'm not sure how I missed that. [laughter] Just saying. They wanted me to come back to Colorado and throw them out of hunt. Chief, thank you. Um, yeah, we're just asking most of these reimbursement funds are for offduty work that our officers worked. We're just asking that that you all approve it to put back in their respective accounts. Make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 025100. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve this ordinance to appropriate reimbursement funds for the Conway Police Department. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Spurs. I. Mr. Grimes. I. Mr. Jones. Yes. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Miss. Yes. Miss. I.

That passes seven to zero. Next is an ordinance to appropriate funds for operation shop secure for Conway Police Department. That's hard to believe it's that time of year again. Is Chief. Uh yes. So, it is that time of year and we just ask that you approve the funds so our officers can work um security for the shopping center so citizens of Conway as well as visitors to our city have a little extra

sec security extra peace of mind knowing that the officers are out riding around and going in stores and just being a presence. I'll make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 025101 and a comment to say thank you. I see them patrolling and um I think it's a great thing for people to be able to come here to the city and feel safe. I do too. Thank you. Second. All the above. Does this need to have an emergency clause? It will because it should start what? Yeah, because it needs it will need to because we would like to start around um Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving. That be a proper use, Mr. Finenbinder. Would Thanksgiving qualify us for an emergency? Yeah. I mean, with that with that time crunch, it's got to go into effect immediately in order for the chief to have the officers doing that job. Just wanting to make sure. Point of clarification here. It it's not an uh I don't I mean if we're appropriating the money is an emergency that we it's not like the police department doesn't have the money to pay it right and I heard Felicia saying something back there. Did you have commentary Felicia? That's what you get. Oh talking out of turn. Thought you were telling us no emergency but maybe I just

All right. Maybe I just don't understand. I'm good either way. Okay. I will take a motion to suspend the rules. So move. Second. I have a motion and second to suspend the rule so we can add the emergency clause. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Passes 70 to zero. So the emergency clause is in play. Now we'll go back to the original ordinance. We had a motion. I'll make a motion for the ordinance 025101 with the addition of the emergency clause. Second. We have a motion and a second to appropri appropriate funds for operation shop secure for PD with the emergency clause. Any further discussion? Missurd. Miss Mill. Hi. Mr. Leadbeck. Excuse me. Mr. Grimes. I. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Mr. Spurs. Hi.

Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Mr. Jones. Yes. Miss Isby. Yes. That passes seven to zero. Next up, we have an ordinance to appropriate funds for fuel. Emergency clause. I'm sorry. What did I do? Emergency clause. I'm sorry. I got ahead of you. My bad. I'm put it on there. Uh, Miss Mill, the emergency clause. I Mr. Grimes. Hi. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Mr. Mr. Berser. Hi, Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Mrs. Yes. And we have that passing 702. So, that is good. All right. Next up is an ordinance to appropriate funds for fuel for the Conway Police Department. Chief,

so yes, we thought we were going to make it. We were we were doing good. We we got it through November, but uh we just need we're a little short and just need fuel for money for December. So, we average about 25,000 a year. entire year a month in fuel. So So I imagine this one will also need the emergency clause then, right? Probably not. We we got we're good for November. Um so it'd be close. So I guess if we could then just keep because our actually I don't think so. I think we would pay our December bill

in January. Okay. In January. So, we'll we'd be good. All right. This is not an ordinance of a general permanent nature. So, it go into effect immediately. Ah, okay. Say that again. That's a new one on me. [laughter] I'm still learning. Yeah. It's not an ordinance of a general or permanent nature. So, it go into effect immediately. Okay. Because this is just, you know, appropriation and not changing policy. Okay. Understood. And then you get the big books. Next question. As we are as we are deep into the throws of budget, if we ran short of what we expected, are we planning differently for next year?

So we do I mean we we've had the same budget of fuel for the last several year or several years. So I look so I mean we keep it the same because sometimes obviously gas goes up and gas goes down. So whereas last year I came in October because we ran out or we were running out of gas money and this year I thought we were going to make it. It depends on a lot of different things, too. Um, but to answer your question, yes, I can budget different. Um, like I said, it's it's averages around 25,000 um dollars a month, which comes out right now, we've spent roughly that our budget this year when November comes up.

I'll make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 025102. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt this ordinance for fuel for Conway Police Department. Any further discussion? Missurd. Missby? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Miss Mill? I. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Mr. Grimes. Hi. Mr. Spurgers. Hi. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. That passes 70. Thank you, Chief. Thank you.

All right. Next up, we have an ordinance appropriating funds for employee bonuses. Mr. Mr. Winningham, I'd like to ask you to step up here to help me explain this. This is this matches what we did last year. Uh it's $1,000 for every full-time employee and $500 for our part-time employees. Um Mr. Winningham looked deep into this for us and he can explain how we're going to fund it.

Yes, sir. Uh we have interest earned on our rescue plan account. That's one of the accounts listed at the back of the financials that you ladies and gentlemen see every month. And for the rules around spending those funds, we don't have to spend the interest earned on rescue plan approved projects. It can be spent on any legitimate city expense. So to cover uh the bonuses this year, we're asking to to spend that and save save our that account in the account. It's a little over a million

just in the interest earned account. I'm sorry. It's 800. It's on the ordinance. Okay. 81411 as of the end of October. So it'll keep earning a little bit of interest until we fully spend that. But that was a good hard number I could give you for purposes of appropriation. My next question was going to be what happens with what with uh what's left of that which is going to be you know what $93,000 or so. It stays in that account and will continue to draw interest until we spend down the rest of it at which point that interest can be transferred to the general fund and used for anything. Correct.

And the very next ordinance is going to spend some of it as well if if if approved. Right. I'll make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 025103. And um would also like to express that I am very fortunate that or thankful that we were able to find this for our employees for Christmas, especially in the times that we're in right now. And for for our friends watching online, what this funds is an appreciation to all full-time employees in the net amount of $1,000 and all part-time employees in the in the net amount of $500. So nice,

which is what we did last year. And I appreciate, Missy, you would you would be surprised at the calls we get talking about how great our city employees are, what kind of job they do. And I've said this years past, our employees that people see and work with where the rubber meets the road every day make the rest of us look good. Yeah. Thank you, Missy. Mr. Winningham, when will this be paid to the employees at our I'm sorry, Felicia, when is that? December 12th. December 12th. All right. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I believe that's the week before the employee appreciation party, right? Thank you. I'll second your motion.

We have a motion and a second appropriating funds for employee bonuses. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Jones. Yes. Miss Mill. I. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Mr. Grimes. I. Mr. Spurgers. Very happy. I Yes. Mr. Hawks. Yes.

That passes seven to zero. Just keep your spot there, Mr. Winningham. Next is an ordinance appropriating funds for longevity for pay for the city employees. Is you will call council. We talked to the fire department and told them that we would come back in November funding permitting to look at longevity pay. Comey PD already has it and uh the money is there. I'll let Mr. Winningham explain that. But I would also like to include the rest of our city employees. Uh some of this funding will come from the street department. 25,000 for their their department. 30,000 will come from uh the sanitation department. Correct me if I'm wrong here, Mr. Winningham. I think it's 187,000 total for the general fund, but the the additional just that they add the rest of the city employees that are on the general fund is uh 55,000. Is that correct?

Or did I miss that? It's it's already here. Okay. Yeah, we don't need to do any additional figuring. Yeah, but what I'm saying is I think fire is 132, PD is about 100,000. Uh, of course, street and sanitation enterprise funds will pick up theirs, but the additional to add the rest of our employees is around 55,000. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. That's that's what I want the council to know. Yes. 132,000 is the estimated cost for longevity for the fire department and then 55,000 to pick up the non-uniformed employees in the general fund for longevity. So, Mr. Grimes, if July was step one, this would be step two and not the final step, but step two.

Final step, the next step. And to clarify for people listening and to make sure we're on the same page, this begins at year 10 and it's $90 per year. So at year 10, it's $900. Year 11 would be 990 and it goes up as it can go.

And it is how to explain how it's paid out. one lump sum. One lump sum. And uh unlike the bonuses where the bonus we say your check will be $1,000 if you're full-time, your check will be 500 part-time. Longevity pay taxes are withheld and related pensions are withheld and it that goes towards the employees gross pay for the year. I I am glad we're taking this next step. Yes. And I'm assuming by doing this, well, by doing this, it becomes part of our ongoing budget. This is not a one-off that we look at every year. This is in in the budget going forward. So, this this will be recurring.

Yes, sir. That is correct, Mr. Rimes. Thank you. That is correct. And just to clarify for anybody watching at home, for this first go round, we have uh rescue plan funds that had previously been obligated for drainage projects. All of our drainage projects are now complete. So, we're asking to reallocate those drainage funds over for this to cover this first payment of it to the fire and non-uniform employees. And then 2026 ongoing, it will be part of just the general budget. Thank you.

I'll make a motion for the adoption of the ordinance 025104. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve this ordinance appropriating funds for longevity pay for all city employees. Any further discussion? Just I've got this in my brain. You're proposing to move money from a drainage account. That correct? Yes, sir. So, the money from the drainage account came from where? the our rescue funds. Rescue funds allocation. Yes, sir. So, this doesn't have anything to do with any past votes.

No, sir. Or anything? We're not Okay. Thank you very much. You've answered my question. And this is actually our interest that we made on our rescue funds and and that money can be used anywhere in the city. Make sure we weren't using something in Yes, sir. I appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely. It's funds obligated for drainage and also the interest earned on that account since we've had it. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Spurgers. Hi. Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Miss Mill. I. Mr. Jones. Yes. Mr. Hawks. Yes. Missby. Yes. Mr. Grimes. I.

That passes seven to zero. And I appreciate y'all doing that for employees council. And finally, the last is an ordinance appropriating funds for the Conway Emergency Shelter. Miss Felicia.

So, we are asking that you guys appropriate some of the interest funds left in the ARPA account uh to the shelter. The shelter was part of the original uh ARPA listing that we did for the shelter. And so, with the upcoming winter warming station, we would like to ensure that the overnight emergency shelter is able to operate, especially throughout the winter months. uh with the uncertainty of some of their funding uh federal funding that they have and so we're just asking to use the interest because the shelter was already built into the upper project listing. So make a motion to ordinance. Second

I have a motion a second to approve this ordinance appropriating funds for Conway Emergency Shelter. Any further discussion? Missurd. Mr. Grimes. I Mr. Jones. Yes. Miss Mill. Mr. Spurs. Hi. Mr. Hawks, yes. Miss Isby, yes. Mr. Hawkins, yes. That passes seven to zero. Council, that's all we have tonight. Just a reminder that we have early voting beginning tomorrow at the Fler County Courthouse. That's the only early voting location between 8 a.m. and 4:30. Then election day is one week from today. That is all I have for tonight. I will take a motion to adjourn. Second. We are journed. Thank you, council. Oh,