City Council - Regular Meeting

You know, a man from Cape Springs is suing his clerk. He's doing his own clerk. He's suing the clerk. What do you mean doing? Oh, suing. He's He's suing his It's a whole It's crazy. It is. There are things going on and you're asking relationships should be better than that. What's wrong with people? Yeah, but you know the the league says the most contentious relationship they deal with is mayors and interesting. It's like moral trouble. He's like an older brother to me. He's like an older brother.

I wonder why. Maybe because they're both elected officials. So if you don't get along, you use your clerk and I'm not doing that mayor. You can't make me right. That that could happen if you disagree cuz you don't I don't work. Most people think I am on my own. So that could get tricky, but at the same time it's a safeguard in some ways. Oh yeah. And and you have a who's trying to get things in line and then you just never know. You just never know. And there's plenty of corrupt going on right now. It's crazy. Well, you know,

for even You have to stand for something in life and you should be standing for not

having. It has no It doesn't attract it. It has no attractiveness to me either. [laughter] Wanda, I'm I'm gonna turn this one on now. Yeah, that's great. Oops. I don't have my watch because I need an Oh, we're on 5:31. Yes, sir. It's time. We're live. Got all distracted.

I'll call the meeting to order. This is the work session for January 20, 2026. Uh first item is uh review of the minutes. It's for approving the minutes from December 15, 2025. So if anybody sees anything about that, you could bring that up. Okay. Um, next item I wanted to mention uh about our bond special meeting. It's February 3 at 5:30 p.m. and we have four people out of six able to come. So, if anything changes, be sure and let me know. We need to have enough people. And the closing is scheduled for March 17. Uh we had some good news last Thursday on the bond that we got a double A rating. They rate each thing individually. In our first bond we are double A minus and then last year it got approved promoted to double A. This was by Standard Empors who rates the city bonds and this new bond. So we we thought it might be double A minus but it was rated double A also. So that was uh good news. And another thing that I just wanted to mention briefly uh that is not on this agenda but it'll be on next week is since it's January of a new year, we'll be choosing a mayor prom and Jason did you want to go over the rules again for that? Uh, I can um we have rules for everything including how this happens and so once a year I always refresh the council on this. This it's rather brief. I'll read it to you.

Uh, the city council shall at the time of organizing in public session elect one of its members as mayor proemporary. Any council member may nominate himself or any other member of the city council for mayor proemporary. And no second of a nomination is required. Each council member shall vote by naming his choice by voice vote if there is more than one nominee for a position. A majority vote of the city council shall be required for election in the absence of the mayor. The mayor proemporary shall preside at the council. The mayor proemporary acting as the mayor may move second a debate from it talks about the power of the mayor proemporary. So um that's the process. So there'll be a basically a a nomination process. You may nominate yourself. No seconding required. If you have more than one nominee, you'll vote by name. Majority rules.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, next item is item B is an ordinance amending section 2551 standards applicable to special events of the code of ordinances the city of Bella Vista to eliminate the liability waiver requirement and for other purposes. Uh either Cassie or Jason, you want to say something about this?

Well, I C I'm gonna let Cassie come up too, but I can sort of tell you why it's not needed. Um this this if you recall, we we sort of readopted some spe we we took our parade ordinance and we made some changes, turned it into special events and and made several changes at one time. This is one that we should have fixed and and it somehow didn't get done. But um right now we're requiring um the applicants to basically sign a waiver saying that they're going to wave and the city from any liability that the city would have related to the project and or the the the um event.

And uh we don't have any liability. We have immunity. And so there's really no liability they need to protect us or cover us for. Um and so it's creating a lot of issues. And I'll let Cassie address this because people are asking about it. it it tends to be a a point of contention and question and it's really it's not needed and so I was going to let kind of practically speaking how you you've seen it

part of the application process that was included in that and this was just a little extra I mean either way the ability for applicants to apply for that it's just like if the council's willing to do it the sooner you do it the sooner we can eliminate the confusion

I guess would be the what I would say. So, we should put in there emergency. No, I I don't think that it's necessarily requires immediate effect, but certainly if you can bring it to a final conclusion in January with a third and final reading within 60 days, you're going to be covering events that are being the warm weather months and whatnot. So, that seems to be sufficiently timely. But Cassie may have a view on that. So, uh, if we're doing third and Well, it can't be on consent agenda anyway, is it? Because it's not a resolution. That's correct. Okay, good.

Okay, thanks, Cassie. Next one is an ordinance waving the requirements of formal competitive bidding and authorizing the purchase of streets, sand, and salt based on price and availability by informal price quotes through December 31, 2026. Uh Karen, did you want to say a couple words about this? This is just during the prior season. I did include a page just so you can see kind of what that looks like costwise and quantitywise if you were curious about that

I'm assuming because we're not a huge buyer Karen, could you hit the button on the mic? I think it's on when it's red, but we need to get closer. [clears throat] It's not red. So, yes, there we go.

Hello. So, normally, yes, we put out for and request quotes for our purchase prices, and the price varies just dependent on how much we used the prior season. So we just do that rather than try to put it out for competitive bidding. See if anybody's even willing to bid on the amount of quantities that we purchase. So it's easier for us to purchase those by quote. Okay. Uh Larry, I have a question. Is there any interest of the member metropolitan Arkansas to collectively bid that product? I I haven't asked reached out to other cities. Um, we usually don't know our quantities that we need until it's time for us to replace those.

Okay. Uh, thank you. The next item is that could be on consent. That's one of those. It could be. Okay. Excuse me. Excuse me. No, it can't. It's It's a bid waiver. Apologize. It cannot. Next one is an ordinance mandating the Bella Vista Advertising and Promotion Commission to publish and indefinitely maintain approved commission meeting minutes on its official website and for other purposes. This is suggested by Travis Harp.

Yes. [clears throat] So, a little bit of history on it. Some of the previous council members had wanted this. Uh I believe they actually had Mr. Kelly drafted up some legislation and it never made it to council because the advertising and promotion commission agreed to just do so. Uh and then they have failed to do so since then. Larry, my thought is the mandating part of it. Could we use a softer term than mandating? Well, I mean, if you don't mandate, if you if you adopt an ordinance and you don't mandate it, it would just be how it is now.

Uh Wendy, would we also want to have similar things in the future for the active trail active transportation board and for the trails or for the tree board or is it just for the AMP? Well, this ordinance is just for the AM because they collect tax money. The other one's spin tax money. So, I just didn't know. And we have we have other boards and commissions when we want to require them to provide copies to the council if nothing else.

This is just a transparency thing. If you if the council doesn't want them to post minutes and how they're spending our tax dollars, then you're welcome to vote no on it. But um I don't understand why anyone would be against the transparency of it.

I don't think anyone's against transparency. I just didn't know if you also wanted the other boards of commissions that we also have through the city um for future ordinances to follow a similar thing. Um because there are also ones like making decisions on how to spend taxpayer money too. So I didn't know if for the future if that's also desire or if it's just purely am period. That's it. Well, I think he was thinking A&M because of the tax aspect of it, but I thought the A&P already put their minutes on. Their website has posted uh one meeting minutes. That's it. Just one.

I can I do have a little information I can share. I I um um when they learned that this proposal was going to be offered, I think they've put some more up since then. I don't know how far back, but I I do know they've they've they've indicated I haven't gone to look, but it was indicated to me that there had been some more put on there. So, I'll just make sure you know that. As far as some of those other boards Wendy was talking about, are they all public meetings? They're not governing bodies. They're they're they're not typically But I I would say this, not all those boards take minutes. Yeah. So there's

Do do we know has anyone looked if other cities am commissions publish these types of things regularly? Travis, I can tell you from the research that I've done, we're very limited on what we can have the AM do. Um, but I do know that Eureka Springs makes their AM do it and a couple others in another state do so. Um, so I know that it's happening in at least a few. I'm not sure if it's widespread or not, but I feel like it should be. I don't know why they wouldn't want to publish the minutes and how they're spending our tax money. So,

Anna, um, with Mayor and Councilwoman Hughes on the board, can you all cover that in your next meeting and just work toward it or just work toward it rather than having to I don't know if we have to do an ordinance around it, but I think it's a simpler request. I have no problem having it being mandated personally. Um, it is transparency. is totally cool with me. Um, but we can make sure that's actually addressed a little more fully. We meet again in is it March or February? Uh, I think it's going to be March. March. So, we meet every few months. So, that's absolutely doable. Shay,

sorry, my computer is not letting me in. But I do remember reviewing the packet. It said some I remember having questions about the language. it it there was a kind of a 12-month prior and after and I I did have a bit of a hard time understanding that. Could you walk me through that? I can explain that. I think you're talking about the section 4 which is applicability and it says this ordinance applies to all approved minutes from and after 12 months prior to the effective date of this ordinance. So what this is saying is if you adopt it once it becomes the law then they would have to go back and put at least a year's worth of minutes out and then everything moving ahead and they would stay on there indefinitely. And it would Yes. And it would stay indefinitely.

Wendy and I did I pulled the slide right now. They do have the 2425 minutes as well on there. Um also gross revenue collections and the year to date for 2025 tax collection. So, it's on there, but I don't I'm totally fine having this being on the books, but they do have the information on there. Now,

Larry, it would seem to me that if if they kept uh 12 running months of minutes on there, so after every meeting, whenever the 12 months prior, they could drop those off so they wouldn't have to keep so many on there. It makes it makes a little more sense is to cover only a 12-month period or one year. as opposed to indefinitely. Yeah. Yeah. Creates a record keeping challenge.

Well, that's something you can all think about, I guess, until until next week. Figure out what you want to do. Okay. The next one is a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Rigs Cat pursuant to a source well cooperative purchasing agreement for the purchase of one new Caterpillar motor grader in the amount of 277,000 for use by the street department. Uh Karen, thank you for sitting close. You've got a bunch in a row here.

Yes, these these next four will all go are all related to the street department. The first three are all bond related in an effort just to get the ball rolling with them. Understanding that it's not going to be fully funded until March. All of these have delivered dates after that point. So, I just want to make sure that we're on the same page with those. So, um I know we've talked about this extensively when we were going over the bond and what to put on the bond. This one here would be a second road grader for the street department. Um, currently we operated uh we operate a 2002 model which we would retain. Um, it's a pretty solid unit that our mechanics have kept up to snuff. Having an additional road grader is really going to help us during our resurfacing season when we have our only road grader dedicated to resurfacing roads that are being prepped for new paving. So, this will give us the opportunity to maintain the gravel roads that are not receiving pavement while still keeping on track with the paving of the new construction roads.

Okay. Did you say that pre-existing one is 2002? 2002 model. Yes, we bought it used, but our we we do have some of the best mechanics around, so it's still a sound piece of equipment. It is pretty impressive the uh different kinds of equipment the mechanics work on. Actually, Bella Vista is very lucky to have. Any questions, Larry? Uh, one question would be, what might be the life expectancy that we could get out of this 2002 model? Is that good for another 10 years or do we have to think about

going off the fact that they've kept a used 2002 going currently and we intend to keep it? I I think it's got a pretty good lifespan on it. Okay, thank you. Next one's resolution F. Would that be consent? Would would that be consent issue? It's under the budget. I just Is there any objection to it? Well, I don't know. It's spending money. So, I It's on the bond and it's been voter approved already. So, yeah, that's what I was going to say over here. you won't get any objections for if it's on the bond issue then I'm fully [clears throat] consent. Yeah, I think I am too.

Okay. Okay. So, we can put that on consent. Thank you. Okay. Next one is F res resolution uh authorizing mayor mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Rick's cat pursuant to a source well co-op purchasing agreement for the purchase of one new paving and compaction roller in the amount of $164,275 for use by the street department.

Okay. Again, this one's going to be paid for through the bond when that's funded. This is also through a source cooperation agreement. So we don't have to go out for competitive bidding. And usually rollers run in conjunction with the graders. It's part of the stages of prepping a street to once you grade it to compact that to make it last. Okay. Any questions? I know we've talked about in great details.

Okay. Next one. G is authorizing mayor mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with hug and hall equipment co. pursuant to a source wall co-op purchasing agreement for the purchase of one new JCB wheeled excavator in the amount of $27,483.33 for use by the street department.

Yes, this one also same thing when it comes to the bond funding on it. Um I've included I didn't speak them out loud but I've included the estimated delivery dates on your printout in case you were curious on those. This again a source well is voter approved and it would be an additional excavator to our fleet. We currently had it well previously we had it on our 5-year CIP for purchase in 2027. So this actually allows our street department to procure that a year earlier and to service our community's needs a little sooner. Mayor Travis. Uh I'm just curious so I could tell my constituents if they ask, will any of these purchases help uh reduce some of the time to get these work orders filled?

Absolutely. That's that's the main goal is we've been building our fleet as we go. We've replaced some older ones. These ones here are additional. So that makes it easier for our crews to flex and to change which type of activities they're working on. If one person's using the excavator and a job on the other side of town needs an excavator there, it should definitely speed up the response time.

Awesome. So, I will mention on these three items, you know, we had estimates we put on the cost for things on the bond and all of these were below the estimate that she put for the bond. They encouraged us with the bond to be on the high side. So, I think the actual bond's going to end up being lower than people might think because everything's coming in lower. And then in in addition to that, we did issue letters of intent that once the bond was approved and council voted, so we were able to lock in the previous year's pricing as well. So, we did a lot of homework to try to secure these prices as low as we possibly could.

It's amazing how many people It's a new year, so that's an excuse to change the price, right? Next one's a resolution. Mr. Mayor, excuse me. What about consent agenda on FNG? Yeah, I would think so. Or do it on the greater. We should do it on

Yeah. E F and G. Okay. Next one is a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with PNK Equipment, Inc. Pursuant to a source well co-op purchasing agreement for the purchase of one new John Deere utility tractor with rotary cutter and cage in the amount of 67275 and 71 cents for use by the street department.

So this one's a little different. This one's going to be on our capital budget. Um right now what the city does is we run two mowers in each central, west, and east. We run them in pairs mainly for the safety of our employees. That way they're checking in with each other and no one's out there all day possibly in a ditch or anything like that. Um what we're hoping to do with this one is to buy a new tractor, retain an older 2012 unit that we have that had, for those who have been here long enough, it had actually been through the fire when our street department had caught fire. Mechanics rebuilt it. And then that way we could keep the 2012 as a backup so that if a park goes down, it doesn't shut down the pair on that team that's working that section of the city. So it should be able to allow our guys to continuously mow when one tractor's down because we would retain the 2012 as a as a backup and to use whenever we're doing routine maintenance or repairs. And I and what I assume as a 2012 model and what it is tradein value or resale value is probably pretty limited.

Well, we the last time we had done an auction, we we didn't really fare very well, which is why when we had the backhoe, we decided to use our older backho as a tradein because it was more beneficial to the city financially. But I think one of the main benefits, not only it not being worth a whole lot being a 2012 with the hours we have on it, but the fact that it lets our guys continue to work continuously on the mowing, I think that really greatly impacts our citizens, the look of Bella Vista, the aesthetics and also the safety perspective of keeping that grass mowed down with our topography. Okay. Is this consent also kind of a coin flip? It's not a part of the bond, but

Okay. Yeah. But it's in the budget, right? It is in our budget. It's in our capital budget. It's been approved. And I I'd like to leave it open just in case somebody has a has an issue with it, which I don't anticipate. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Someone else take the stand.

Thank you. Uh Karen was enthused about the bond passing as you might be able to tell. Uh resolution awarding bid and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter enter into a contract with Pinnacle Emergency Vehicles an amount not to exceed $251,03 for a remount of a 2017 4x4 Chief XL Braraw ambulance for the fire department. Uh we have Brian Wolf Gang here today. The chief is uh out. I do recall on this one in particular, this ambulance remount that it was on the bond. It was on for $300,000. So I noticed that 251 was

a remount done by [clears throat] Pinnacle. that's going to the ambulance question is a 2017 uh Ford F450 550 that will uh it has 138,000 miles on it. Um I believe it's in it was in the bond also and um it should leave sometime in April and come back in August. Yeah, we were doing one remount this year and one next year because you don't want to have too many ambulances out. I think we have six altogether, don't we? Six. Correct. Ambulances. Chief Wolf Gang, is that a front line or reserve currently?

No, it'll be a front line. The ambulance be remounted as reserve right now. Yes. But it after the remount will be a front. Correct. Front line. Could we put it on the consent agenda? I consent. Yeah.

Yeah, it is on the bond. Okay. Thank you. Let's see. Next one is also yours. Uh Jay, awarding bid and authorizing the mayor and sir clerk to enter in a contract with a pure automotive group total amount of 120,521 for the purchase of two Chevy Tahoe vehicles for use by the fire department. Um, one of the Taho is replacing a 2012 Tahoe. Uh, the other Tahoe is a new one for our chief building inspector. So, it'll be a brand new, but it's not replacing anything.

And [clears throat] they were they're both in uh capital. Yeah. In the capital budget. Yeah. As opposed to the bond. So viewing viewing the expense of a a Tahoe versus something else. Is that necessary to have that large of a vehicle? It's not fancy, but it's a large. So that large of a vehicle? Well, it's a at least a four passenger maybe. Maybe. Well, it's no different than a Durango or a Ford Explorer. Is that what he has now? He does. He He drives a 2015 Tahoe now. Our old uh fire department vehicle,

right? I'm I'm suggesting that we would have pick up the more economical costwise. There's not much cost difference in either one of them. What's that? There's not that much cost difference in either one of them. Well, when you say between the Tahoe or the pickup, when you say not and he does he does occasionally uh transport people with him, so I mean I guess you could. Yeah. But we've had really good luck with the Taho. Um, yeah, I guess I would ask for a cost comparison of a a crew cab pickup versus I'll give you one here in just a second. Okay.

Yeah. Item K is awarding bid and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a contract with Superior Automotive Group in total amount of 52,666 for the purchase of one Chevy Silverado pickup for use by the fire department. The this pickup that we're asking for is going to replace a 2012 Chevy pickup for the it's also in capital for a cost of 52666. So the Tahoe that you're questioning about is 55203. U if I divide 120,000 by two it's 60,250. Well

versus the 5266. Here's here's the difference. Okay. The red Tahoe with the upfit price is 65318. The white Tahoe doesn't need upfitting. It doesn't need a radio. So that's the difference in the cost. So the red Tahoe is 65218. The white Tahoe is 55203. Oh, so the difference isn't that much is your point. It's less than three grand difference. I guess I I think what Larry was trying to inquire about is is there a vehicle? Why can't he drive a Honda Civic that's, you know, $20,000? I think that's what he was asking. I don't want to

I'm I'm wondering, do we need a full-size vehicle for that position? Uh, and if we don't for that position, what about the people that support him that have the same size vehicle, can we reduce the size? Well, I mean, that's I guess that's up to you guys. I mean, yeah, he could drive a Toyota Prius if you wanted to, I guess. But yeah, we get him a bicycle. That's just what we're requesting. I'm I'm just thinking we need to perhaps be a little more frugal on our purchases that

we we buy Chevy Taho and and Chevy pickups because of longevity. I mean, we've had these 2012s and 11s and 10s that we've last year we just got rid of a 2010 Chevy pickup and I can tell you it hadn't been in the shop twice for mechanical issues. They just last and last and last. What kind of mileage is it when we uh say at the 2010 we get rid of it and get a new one? Because I've always noticed the Jeep does a good job of keeping vehicles a really long time. What kind of mile mileage does it have on it at that point?

The the pickup we got rid of had 140 something thousand on it and the Tahoe isund I it's it's over 100,000. I'm not sure exactly the miles on yet that'll be getting rid too. Yeah. Are there a lot of idle hours on those vehicles, too? Um or not?

Not much in that that aspect. Now, our our battalion chief vehicles, of course, there's a lot of idle hours on those. Uh the one that chief and I drive, not much idle hours on them, but fire trucks, ambulances, battalion chief vehicles. Yeah, there's a lot of idle hours on which really affords faster deterioration because of the wear and tear. When you buy when you buy a police vehicle, as an example, at 120,000, it's probably got 180,000. Well, just like the ambulance that we're rebounding, I'll give you an example on it. It may have 138,000 miles, but if you calculate the idle hours into that, it's got over 200,000 miles on it. Yeah. Yeah.

Shay, I just have a procedural question for Mr. Kelly. Um, it's my understanding as a city council person that I don't I don't necessarily select what vehicles are purchased, right? I can't propose an amendment for that. I can't make that decision. My my only right would be to vote no. Is that correct?

That's correct. I mean, the mayor brings the proposal the fire from the fire department and you could certainly vote that down and and um do that, but no, you can't. Keep in mind that when we procure vehicles, we've got to follow a procedure to do that. So, the the um uh we did a formal we did a competitive bid on item J, the two Chevrolet Taho. So, those have been competitively bid. So if if you thought, well, we need different vehicles, then we'd have to go back and rebid those. So that you'd have to do that on anything. Uh let's see. Well, we also did a competitive bid on the Silverado. So same story on that,

right? So there wouldn't be an amendment. There wouldn't be uh me picking my favorite car, anything like that. I just I just vote no. You'd have to vote no if you didn't want to do it. Thank you. I I think it's I feel like it's due diligence to try to see if there's way to save money, though. I I don't I feel like be hardressed to say that that's out of line of a city council member. Is that what I'm hearing? We I think Larry's question was just could we get a cheaper vehicle? I don't feel like that's out of line. That's all I'm saying.

I'm I'm not saying anything's out of line. I'm just saying that if you if you don't want to do this then and you think there could be cheaper vehicles, you could you could say we're not going to do that and then we could go bid smaller vehicles if we needed to, but we're still going to have to go through a process. We can't just say, "I found an ad last night. Let's buy this one." You can't do that. Okay.

So, uh just to clarif clarify backing up to Jay, you said those those two Taho were bid. You you you bid those, correct? Um and the pickup and they weren't available on the state bidding list or they were not really? No. No. Okay. They haven't been on the on the state list for a long time. And these are special service vehicles. Actually, even the white one's special service vehicle because we can get it. We It's not necessarily that we on the white one we need a special service vehicle, but we can get that vehicle cheaper than we can without being special service and it does have more options on it. No. Okay.

It It almost seems to me like we've had the same thing with police vehicles ever since co it's that the list hasn't been quite what it used to be. Never quite came back around all the way. The demand for them is outrageous. So they don't have to do that state bid anymore. Is that why? Yeah.

Yeah. It is interesting some of the experiences some of I know the police chief has found that uh uh if you get a bigger engine it really really spends a lot less time in the shop you know try to save money on a smaller engine they just don't seem to stand up stand up to the world as well. The real reality there though is that you buy the equipment based upon the duty it's to serve. Yeah.

If you have a booked load to pull, you don't buy a four cylinder. You buy an eight cylinder or whatever or a diesel. So, it's a matter of matching the the bid specifications to the application. It's a good point. Any more discussion? Okay. Thank you, Brian. Uh, next ordinance is

I'm on the wrong page here. L approving the mayor's appointment of Eugene Oberlander Jr. to the Bella Vista Board of Construction Appeals for a term ending December 31, 2028. And uh his uh resume is on there. I believe we just had a couple applications. Some of the things have tremendous amount of applications and this one just had a couple. So, but we were happy happy with this background. Yes. Would this be for the consent agenda? Yes. Okay. May I say something, mayor?

Sure. items like this, [clears throat] you know, serving on a border committee like that, you know, to put that on consent, I think we're doing them a disservice by not publicly publicly stating their name. Recognizing, sir, recogn.

Yeah. I mean, I I hate to just kind of read past people that volunteer, and it's not like we're gonna put a metal on their chest or something like that. It's just I think we need to acknowledge the people that do in fact volunteer and spend time on these boards and committees. I I just hate to see stuff like this just go right to consent and just kind of forgotten about. So, I mean, it only takes 30 seconds or a minute or whatever, but I I I think it's nice to have your name read. Yeah. you know, in a public forum like that. Okay. Okay,

that's a good point. Next one is a resolution setting a business license fee and renewal fee. And this is Taylor Robertson. Don't have too much for you. um sent out the comparison or the fee analysis, resent it to you guys from October of this fall. Um this is just a proposal from staff. If you guys have any amendments or want to change for the discussion tonight, um obviously that is within your right to do so. You guys set the fee per the ordinance that was recently adopted. Um just how it's written, it may be cleaner if we have an initial fee and a renewal fee. However, if you guys choose, those can be the same. But those are two separate provisions within the ordinance. And so that's what's been proposed to you um in the resolution before you today as well as just a g general um recommendation just from what the large majority of what is um being done by other cities. Um so 50 is what's being proposed to you guys and then renewals if they renew within that time frame and meet the criteria of a renewal then the following licenses would be $25 or half of that. I'm happy to take any questions. And

this is effective February 9. Correct. The ordinance is effective. Correct. Yeah. But this would be, you know, it's a resolution. So, um, once you guys approve it, it would be effective immediately. But yes, the ordinance does not take effective February 9th. Travis, why is this fee not on the big fee list? Whatever. Whatever. I can't remember what that was called. The fees schedule. It'll be added to it if you guys approve it. Okay. It'll be added to the department schedule of fees.

Okay. Um, next one is uh resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Chuck Woods to the tree advisory board position three for the remainder of a three-year unexpired term ending May 1, 2028. And I did just want to say a couple things. Um Chuck Woods is here tonight. Um he sat through the meeting um rather large agenda, but he has been a founding member of the tree advisory board. This has been his position since 2018. He installs a lot of our trees for the tree programs that we're a part of and are so glac graciously granted funds towards. Um but if you guys have any questions, he is here happy and ready to answer those in the bag.

He's also our trail guru as well. He is a trail guru of Bellisa Trails. That is correct. and like a really great name. That's what I was going to say. Ashley named

Thank you for coming, Chuck. We appreciate it. I appreciate I I appreciate the opportunity to address the council and I really enjoy Treeboard and what we're doing to make our community better. So, I know you guys are busy, so if you have questions or not, mayor. Hi, Travis. I don't have any questions, but I want to thank you for all the work that you do in our community and bringing all the different groups together. Uh, oftent times if I ask a question, they don't know, they direct me to you. So, thank you for bringing that knowledge and that experience and and just doing good things for us here in Mista.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, the next one's authorizing resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a renewal contract with Blue Eyes IT in the total amount of 73,50420 for the purchase of total security solution to enhance city cyber security efforts. John Moal.

Yeah, good evening. Uh this is nothing new. It's something that we've done over the past few years. It's a renewal of an existing contract. Um it's off of a cooperative purchasing agreement called TIPS. It includes our antivirus VPN software, 247 monitoring of our network and things like that. So um be happy to answer any questions that you have. Well, as I recall, when we had our cyber security incident, uh they identified the intrusion very fast. In fact, I think it was a Sunday afternoon or something like that. So,

yeah, they were absolutely the first to respond and a huge helper in that. Yeah. So, the 247 thing really comes in handy for sure. All right. Thank you. Could we do consent on that one? Is there any objection to consent? No, I I would do it separately. So, you do object to a consent. Okay.

Okay. Next one's a resolution designating authorized dispersing officers in municipal depository board for the city of Bella Vista for calendar year 2026. And there's a list of these on uh resolution P. This is what we did last year. And I don't know if anyone has any other thoughts about that, but it seemed to work really well. I think Larry's great for this. We there is a typo in it and uh we found that and we'll be fixing that. There's a 2025 in the body that should be 2026. Oh, okay. Is there any objection to this one being on consent?

Are you okay to Larry? I don't have a problem. We're putting you on it. Yes. Making sure you're okay. That'll be assigned, right? Is that a railroad job? Yeah.

Okay. Next one's a resolution supporting the revival of the state-run federal surplus property program administered by the state of Arkansas. And this is a resolution that was requested by the Arkansas Municipal League. our specifically our regional representative of Philip Patterson who's out of uh Asylum Springs and uh it it's a program been going for a long time. Bel Vista used it a little bit in the past. We don't use it a lot. U it's similar to Lasso only it's kind of localized type stuff. A lot of it furniture and things like that. some of these small cities uh really use it and uh the state I think was thinking about shutting it down uh because it cost them a little more money than they would like and so the municipal league just wanted us to send in the resolution saying hey we we you know they're trying to get the different cities say hey we we'd like you to keep this going so I was uh putting this on here to a great feel out of uh politeness, you know, friendship building with with the Arkansas Arkansas Municipal League. Really, Anna?

So, there's no financial commitment or cost to being part of it. That's Yeah, that's great. Yeah, there's no cost. And I guess the stuff people get it for free [clears throat] and so some there's so many, you know, when you go to a municipal league, you realize there's a lot more little cities than big ones. So many of these little cities don't have much resources and And uh I guess it helped him out a lot. So So that was the story behind that. Could this be on the consent agenda? Everyone's okay. Okay. Okay.

You know, when we decide something to be on the consent agenda, as the attorneys pointed out, if if you get here next week and say, "Hey, I thought about that. I don't think it should be." I mean, you have the right to change your mind, but it's good to figure it out ahead of time the extent we can. Next one's a resolution authorizing budgetary funding transfers between departments in the 2025 annual city budget. This is something we do every year. And the point of it is that the total budget has to be below the expenditures we mentioned at the beginning. Every once a while there's a department that runs over a little bit and other departments are under so they can make up for it. So that's the point of this.

Cleaning up the ledgers for the red and the black. Yeah. Yeah. So So you want to put that on the consent or Travis? Could this not be a permanent ordinance where it's where you don't have to renew it every year?

Um you when you you purposely restrict your annual city adopted budget to as a departmental budget. You don't necessarily have to do that. You could just say the city could spend $20 million and not designate what department it goes in, but you do designate departments. And so this is a measure to if somebody has a last minute cost overrun and someone else is under budget to be able to adjust all that within the grand total. So I guess Theoretically, you could adopt your annual budget without designating it by department.

That would be handing without no matter who's in office. I always say these things, no matter who's in office is not a statement about anybody in office. That gives the mayor tremendous authority. The council would be giving a any mayor tremendous authority to do that. Yeah. I don't like that idea. [laughter] No. And and I'm sure everyone here would handle it. And that's but I just want to make sure I say that anyway. I'm not sure I like that either. And with authority comes uh responsibility, right? So

it's a it's a housekeeping thing. So I I I I don't have a problem in dealing with it every year. Uh it's usually a straightforward thing. Uh we have a finance director and staff along with the mayor uh that manages our actual day-to-day expenditures. And uh so it's it's kind of a housekeeping thing. We just put it on the list every year in January. Okay. So, that can be on consent agenda, I guess. Will I have anything to debate?

Okay. The next one is a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into a 12th amended animal services contract for animal sheltering services with Bella Vista Animal Shelter, Inc. And uh this actually falls under the uh police budget and it's the same as last year. We pay them $5,500 a month and then we pay $60 per cat and 110 per dog. And the police chief told me that uh in 2025 the budget was 113,000 and he came in 9,000 under that. So in 26 he kept the budget 113 but uh and in off the cuff conversation recently with the head of the animal shelter she told me that the amount of cats and dogs actually is decreasing a little bit

which is good news actually because it's a a big problem and a big expense you know so didn't give a theory why that was but you thought it was declared tren Travis

one of the problems that I well at least I perceive it as a problem is we don't have anywhere to say you know deceased animals other cities like Benville and Rogers uh at their animal shelters they have like an incinerator device where they could bring the roadkill to dispose of uh the buzzards may not like it if we fix that problem but I would just encourage staff to know that that's an issue that I hear about from residents and they complain about the the roadkill. So Oh, okay. Yeah. As far as and some of these other cities handle that through the animal shelter. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. But they don't have a a way to Yeah. They don't have an incinerator. So I don't I don't have a solution to that really. I just want to bring it up for awareness. [clears throat] I was going to say it's good awareness, but we we I think the B Animal shelter is a no kill shelter. So that's probably why they don't have that device, right? Well, these other places are no kill shelters as well. But this is for animals that are already dead. Like they find deceased. You're talking about animals that are roadkill. Yes. Somebody needs to pick them up and then they need to be transported someplace. Correct. Sometimes that's an unpleasant job, I would imagine.

Right. I mean, I understand the difference between roadkill and and animals, but I think a lot of shelters have those because they are they're a kill shelter, so they're getting a lot of utilization out of that device, and I don't know that there'd be a lot of utilization, but anyway, it's a good point to bring up, something to think about. So, being a contract for service, do we want to keep that away from the consent agenda? do it independently. Whatever you want. Well, I don't know. I'm just wondering if it's

all the terms are the same. It just changes the date. It just makes it applicable for another year based on the existing. Yeah. Basically, it's a renewable thing. Yeah. So, consent agenda. Is there any objection to that? Okay. So, we'll put that on consent. Sounds like. Okay. Okay. Okay, next one's a resolution amending the rules of order and procedure of the Bella Vista City Council to lengthen the period of citizen input during regular meetings to 60 minutes and for other purposes. I think right now it's 30 minutes correct and then usually when we get there council votes to well they want to make it longer and they always say yes. So

sounds great. This was Travis suggestion. Nothing else to add. That was a beautiful description. Yeah, it's one of those things if we are we keep voting the same way, then we might as well just try to fix it. So, I'm good with it being on the consent agenda. The only thing it does is is that it we've extended the time if the there's a number of people speaking to accommodate the rest of the people that put their name down. So, I'm not sure. Not necessarily. No, this isn't allowing one person to take 60 minutes. No, no. This is allowing the to So, it's still three minutes a piece. It's still three minutes a piece, right?

It just doubles the time until we have the a window of 30 minutes for people to speak. So, you've got 10 people, right? Uh to 20 people is really your what we're dealing with tonight. So, as it works now, at the end of 30 minutes, I it hadn't happened very many times, but I'll I say mayor of 30 minutes is expired and then there's a motion to extend the time. Let everyone else speak. That's what's always typically happened. You all I think that's always been approved unanimously and uh then you go through and then each person still has three minutes. This would mean there would be up to 60 minutes

for each for people to take up to three minutes each and then at the end of 60 minutes you'd have a decision to make.

Have to extend it. Yeah. So I I I don't know do we even need it? Do we if we extend the time if we haven't changed the the speaker time individually? I don't know if it makes any difference if we open the window up because we allow the people who attend that sign up to speak anyway. I don't know that we cut them short. It's important to hear from the citizens and if they're here to speak on an issue, we want to hear from them because it may affect how we vote in the bottom line. But I don't know if we need to open that window up formally in my humble opinion.

Yeah, I don't really see the point. I mean, I think we already have a a lever [clears throat] in place that works. So, it's just sort of busy work in a way. I I I don't know if this does anything for us at all, quite frankly. I mean, you may think so, but I don't know if it does in my mind. Yeah. In my opinion, it just streamlines those nights where we have a lot of speakers. Uh we don't have to stop and take a vote and roll call. Uh it prevents that from happening. So, in my mind, it streamlines things just a little bit. So, but but out of 12 meetings, how many times do we [snorts] actually in in indulge uh more than 30 minutes time? So, that that's my bottom line question. Uh Shay,

I was just gonna say I think I'd rather personally not have this just because it does um make decisions for future councils and I also think it's kind of nice for the citizens um when that vote goes around. I always kind of see a bit of a of a reaction on their faces of like, oh good, I'm still going to get to talk. And just having that reaffirmation that we do want to hear from them and we're glad they're there. So I'm um I I would like to leave it at 60 or 30. 30. Thank you. So this is not going to be consent sounds like. So yeah. Okay.

Uh then we have some discussion items. Uh several. The first one's a child advocacy center. This was a request for $30,000 based on the fact they were short $600,000 and they felt we were 5%. So I went and visited the center and Travis Harp was there also and it was like those things you see are was very educational and learned a lot and met with the people and appreciated them. I met we met with Natalie Tibs who's the head of it and Tommy Coglin who's on the board. I think he might be over the board. Uh anyway uh they spent a good bit of time with us. So then after we did that, what happened is it came out in the news about them getting a lot of money from the state, which was nice. It was $600,000. And of course, they already got $100,000 from the county for this year for 2026. And um so it changed my thinking a little bit. And I I called Natalie and talked to her about it. And uh I'm thinking at this point, I told her we keep it in the in our minds. But at this point, I'm thinking we probably shouldn't do anything. Kind of wait and see. They they're very professional and they're very good at what they do. And you know, aside from talking to the police chief, the other day I had the opportunity to talk to some attorneys that were running for judge, and one or two of them did a lot of the sex cases, sex abuse cases in Benton County, so they were very familiar with the CAC. And I I got to talk to them about it. Everybody who deals with them

professionally thinks it's a it's a very worthwhile program. There's no question about that. And I think they're thinking in the long run maybe trying to run, you know, right now we're getting these services and not paying anything. So when they came to us and said, "Hey, we'd like $30,000." On one hand, they're a very worthwhile thing. On the other hand, you're paying $30,000 for something you're getting last year without paying $30,000, right? So, uh I think they they would like to move. They haven't really gotten there yet, but they're thinking of moving to a slightly different mode, I guess they call it, where it's more of a quid proquo kind of thing, and get all the city, the counting, all the cities to actually kick in for the service. Not count how many people you have or anything, but just a rough kind of thing. And I think they may get there. I just think we're we're kind of ahead of the curve. All the cities that use them a lot haven't done anything yet. And what the state did had a big effect, but I give them a lot of credit, you know, in visiting with them. I mean, they're very connected politically. They they had real success in the past with Susan Hutchinson, the governor's wife. She was a big advocate. And I could tell they knew all the people with the state better than I do. I mean, Bart Hester and the governor and they they really are uh doing the right thing as far as trying to, you know, work with the people you need to work with. But, uh, you know, I also thought there was some potential for charity things on their part. Uh, I was thinking

in terms in Bella Vista, a charity golf tournament. One of the advantages of those is not just the money you raise. In fact, I was asking some of their charities how much they get out of their golf tournament. Some of them do pretty well. But but it's the consciousness raising. You know, it puts your name in front of people because this is a this is something that a lot of people would be sympathetic to and prone to give money to and getting your name out there. I think their names out there a lot in Bentonville and Rogers and some of the cities that use them more. I'm not so sure their names out so much in Bella Vista and I think they might they might do well get their name out places like Bella Vista a little more. So anyway, but my thinking was not to do anything at this time and I told Natalie that that that was my thinking short term, but certainly it's something we need to keep our eye on and keep in mind because it's uh you know people tell me it's very professional thing and uh and they really do well and you can tell when you visit with them it's very professionally run sophisticated I would call it a sophisticated charity organation. really. So anyway, that was my thoughts on it. If anybody has any comments,

did the funding they get the 600,000, was that from the state or the federal? It was from the state. It was from the state. Yeah, the state had a big thing was a bunch of different people got uh money and they were uh they were one of them that was listed. Jay,

I did want to say in the article that I read, um, I think the state espoused a goal that that while they are funding it, it is their long-term goal. Kind of like what our mayor was saying that, uh, that these uh, types of organizations that received these monies uh, that they become self-sufficient, which would kind of allude to what you were saying where the cities chip in or they they do golf tournaments, things like that. that. So, I do just want us to collectively keep that in mind or you might want to go find that article yourself and read it. But there didn't seem to be any kind of commitment by the state to perpetually renew those funds. Yeah, that's a good comment. Okay. Uh Travis, did you have something?

Yeah, just real quick. The only thing that I'll add to that is in the event that they do need additional funding, I just encourage council to keep in mind that our police department uses that organization specifically to do forensic interviews to do um to help with the prosecution uh and also to reduce additional victimization of those children. So that's what separates that nonprofit from others is that our police department specifically utilizes them.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what uh the police chief was telling me when he was in Tucson that they actually had police officers trained for that, but of course that's a much bigger city. And it really strikes me in our area to have an organization like that and the different police departments not have someone makes a lot of sense. You know, they're specialists and it's a very specialized field. And I was told by these attorneys are very good at what they do. And uh you know, it wouldn't be so easy to just grab a couple police officers and and train them up. they probably wouldn't be as good as as these professionals at it for quite some time. So to me it makes especially we have so many smaller cities. So it makes a lot of sense. The way we're configured right now makes a lot of sense to me from that point of view.

So and and the reality is is that they're they don't just serve northwest Arkansas, they serve the entire state with different offices, do they not? No, they're different ones. They are different, but they're all connected, aren't they? I don't believe so. I think they're loosely connected. Like they're all They're all different. 600,000 dollar budget is for the state, is not for county. That's purely for the Bon County one. Only Northwest Arkansas. No, just the Bitten County. Washington County received about 500,000 or so. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. I wasn't aware of that. Yes, there's there's about 15 million I believe dollars dispersed to the like organizations across the county. Okay. Thank you. The state.

Yeah. Yeah. So, this really is Yeah. It's a local organization from that point of view. County organization.

Uh next one is public safety committee. That's also by Mayor Flynn. and uh you know we decided to rejuvenate this public safety committee and we put out for applications and I don't know how everyone felt I was astounded we we have five places we had something like 40 applications and uh it is very popular compared to even the other you know different uh commissions and whatnot we have so the police chief and fire chief have been working on those and uh we will have names for you next week, but I I we don't have it quite narrowed down yet. And uh so I just want to tell you where it stood.

Wendy, that's fantastic news. I was so afraid you were going to say that no one applied and I was going to cry. But I'm so glad that it was um wellreceived and that there's an interest in the community and I love Bella Vista because we have so many members who are so talented and have such big hearts and want to serve and giving them an opportunity to serve in our community I think is fantastic. So thank you for help with that. Yeah, Shay,

I know that um a lot of city council members are also really interested in this topic. Uh, is there a way where we could rotate in who could sit in on those meetings, right? Because we couldn't all go without um without having to take me meetings, creating more work for Wanda, right? So, is there I would love to be at some of them, but I don't want to dominate it. Is there possibly a way where we could take turns attending those meetings once they get started? I don't know how that would work, but that would be nice. A rotational schedule. Yeah, but we can do whatever we want as long as we don't all show up. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, we can look into that and see what uh see what can be done. Is there more than one than Shay that wants to participate? I know. I'd listen to I'm sure Travis would too. Yeah, I'm actually an applicant of that. [laughter] So, okay. I'm not feeling geek. No. How many how many are on the committee that you're looking for? Well, the way it's set up is it has the fire chief and the police chief and then five uh citizens. That's fantastic. So, the fire chief and the police chief, I assume are non voting. Yeah, I think there there's some name for I forget how it's phrased, but yeah.

So, amongst the group, the five members, they would choose a chairperson and a secretary probably for recording information. It's all in here. Okay. It functioned before. I don't think it operated with that degree of formality um in terms of minutes and things like that, but I I don't I don't recall. They they're just there to give advice to you all. So, I would just keep that in mind. And if you're telling them what you want, they're not advising you much, you know. So, yeah. So what on on what type of topics do they advise us on?

Public safety, all matters of public safety. So it could be weather, it could be streets, it could be speed limit, signage and all that nature, signals and lighting, anything dealing with public safety. It could be roadkill. It could be literally all of it. It could just be anything regarding public safety. Okay. Okay, the next one is aesthetics behind calf cafe USA council member Travis Hart. Oh,

I uh I can't take credit for printing off these, so I have no idea where they came from. Uh but I've received several complaints about the building just uh just behind Cafe USA. Um, we, you know, as the city, they they take people to court for a lot less than this. Um, we we cite people for a lot less than this. I've I've brought it up multiple times and I just I don't know what to tell people when they complain about it because it seems like we're not doing anything about it. So, who's the who's the property owner for that? It's Cooper. It's Cooper. It's still Cooper. Yeah.

Uh, Wendy. So, I know that I attended a planning commission meeting um over the summer, I believe, where the applicant Cooper had asked to bring us back to green space. And so, personally, whenever I get conversations from constituents about a complaint, whatever, I do try to reach out to staff first because we might be have an answer um before taking up more time on a council level. Um, but personally I was assuming that green space will be taken care of maybe in the spring or so, but I think Taylor might have more information since she's the one who brought up um pretty detailed plans, but whether like literally what they're planning where um are you able to speak on it at all, Taylor?

So you're insinuating I didn't bring it up to staff. That's not true. I brought it up multiple time I know I brought it up in council meetings because you brought it also up in other city council meetings and I know I said hey the planning commission actually voted on this in the summer but I think just an email or call to staff for most things can help um answer a lot of questions. Uh Taylor you want to give a little background.

Yeah I can just speak on the history of the permitting side of things u from a site development perspective. Um it was in the summer it was in June I believe or it was in May. um one of those two meetings in the summer that uh CCI, the land owner, came to the planning commission and asked for an extension of a previously approved large scale or site plan development um permit that they had received um due to um issues that they having getting everything under one contractor aka contract. They needed more time. Um planning commission gave that to them. They gave them an additional six months and so they have until June of this year, June 9th I believe um to start work. However, um the mayor asked me to bring some exhibits. That's what you guys have before. This is the approved site plan, including the planting landscape plan. And then, um I also gave you like a GIS aerial image to kind of orient yourself as to what's there right now. Um you'll see multiple unused concrete impervious surface or access curb cuts that are accessing that on-ramp right now. um red dirt and then we all know the walls from driving by it as well that are there. Uh they are proposing to remove a large amount of impervious service and a large amount of walls, grade it out, landscape it, sort it out and then um give us additional landscaping that technically wasn't even required. Um they are just doing that. So I gave you an uplose um view of what the actual intersection or interchange of town center will look like. um the native vegetation that they are giving us as well. Um so it'll be heavily landscaped right there at the first viewing of Town Center East. Um but an update um from the permitting side. Again, I can't speak to the the code compliance side, but um from the development perspective, they are now saying that they are still working on some architectural features of their contract. But um Jim Keith said that he

hopes to have the contractor in contract ready to execute and to start work by the end of this month uh January 2026. And with that I can answer any questions about permitting. So these this landscaping plan that is a part of their project plan that you're looking at. I gave you a zoomed in version of the site plan so you could see it a little better. Yeah, that's the same thing as the 11 by7 in front of you. And that's on the corner where the ramp is where the old sign. This is This is 340. And that's the correct, right? Yep.

Okay. Reviewwise, is this something that's approvable by the planning commission? Oh, it's it's already been approved. We're just waiting. Oh, it has. You're waiting for them to package up the stuff. We're waiting on their contractor. Anna, Anna, do we have any So, we're waiting for the contractor. Can we push them to work faster? Can we what what can we do to get them to work quicker?

The the concern and so we people don't like the way it looks. Okay. But as a city, we're concerned about public health and and and and all of that. So to the extent it could be considered an unsightly or an unsanitary condition then we there's a whole process we need to go go through with notice to the owner and then if if they didn't comply which you know we haven't even gotten to that as far as I know then u the taxpayers could do it u and I don't know to what extent there had been some graffiti over there it has been removed and the chief is nodding I don't know if code enforcement went over had a discussion Did you chief? You might want to come up. I think I think people want to know what's going on here. And so, um, but and it's been removed and it I'm it does kind of look like bombed out Beayroo over there. I'll be honest with you when I look at it. That's the first thought I had. Um, in terms So, there is an element of unsightly condition to it. And just because who owns it doesn't mean they're not subject to the same rules as everybody else. But I think what we we've heard is there there's a comprehensive redevelopment we've approved that's going to make it unspeakably better. Uh and so but chief want you go ahead and talk about the enforcement angle on it.

So this came to our attention a few months back. We did get some complaints I think from council Hart was one you know you brought this to our attention. We had some complaints. Code enforcement went out and met with Jim Keith, I believe, with with Cooper Communities. Uh, and that's when it was brought to our attention that they were working with planning and they actually had permits in place. They were waiting for material to get started. Now, you know, contractors uh and so we knew a we knew it was in progress. We did have them they did remove a a fence that was falling down that looked really unsightly. They had graffiti removed and and I agree it doesn't look really good, but we know there's a plan in place. So, We work with them much like we do with citizens. We don't automatically go out and site uh residents for for violations. We go out there and we work with them. Hey, your grass is tall. You have this unsightly stuff. We give them a time frame to get it cleaned up and taken care of. They take care of. We gain compliance. So, we don't we don't write citations. So, we're treating them much much similarly as as we do a regular citizen. We know they have plans in place. They have a process in place. it's taking a lot longer because it's much more than just mowing your grass or or picking up some some things in front of your house. And so so that's that's our position right now. So we have dealt with it as far as we're concerned. If they had no plans in place, they had no process of of getting it cleaned up, then I I would agree that I think we should move forward with with uh violations, citations, and things of that nature. I drove through there again uh this afternoon to take a look at it. And it is it looks old. It looks worn. It looks rund down. Uh but again, there's a plan in place to fix it. And so that's that's the position we're in right now. Questions?

Chief, can I ask you a question? Sure. Those wires, I assume none of that's electrified. All that is they're not hot because that looks like an attractive nuisance to be quite honest.

Yeah. There, you know, there I mean listen there there's are there hazards up there? I mean, you know, I guess if if you're running around not paying attention, you could trip on something. But I again, I drove through there today, it looks unckempt. It looks rund down, but I don't see any hazards, per se, that that are going to jump out and hurt somebody. I mean, if you're running along that embankment, you know, or there's not really a wall there. There is some um orange construction fencing. Some of it's fallen down because it's been up there for a while, but for the most part, I don't think there's hazards up there that are going to hurt anybody unless they're up there necessarily doing something they shouldn't be doing. There's really no reason for cars to be driving back there. There's no businesses open back there. And so, uh, so, so really I and I never see traffic back behind that portion of the of the property we're talking about. So, I just don't think it's a problem right now. It looks bad, but but again, there's a plan in place. And so, I think we should let the plan work out and let them get it done. You know, the latest update we had was end of January, you know, is is when they plan on starting, we thought, right? And that's that's what we've been told. Initially, when we met with them, they were telling us uh February or March, and now, you know, the latest one is January. So, they they know we want to get it cleaned up, and so I think they're they're they're working to get it done. So, I'm not sure what else we do to make it h happen faster.

Okay. So their so their proposal really is to clean up the base the remaining basement walls that are exposed there that are in concrete to clean that up and and uh I I haven't turn it into something that's more suitable for its area. The lower walls are being removed entirely towards the on-ramp and they're grading over that and putting saw on it making a great it'll be like a a burm. It'll be a nice hillside. Yeah, they're going to feather it out. Um and then they're going to reconstruct the large wall um that's holding up the parking lot which is along 340.

No, it's along the parking lot on the south side or on the west side. Sorry. This is north is facing the other way. Um Oh, the parking lot wall that faces the on-ramp, that wall they are bringing back up to code and compliance and making sure it's structurally sound to support the parking lot. Okay. But the walls that are west of that or towards the on-ramp are being removed, feathered out, sawed, green hillsides where the basements used to be. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So, they're going to do a facelift in there and make that better,

I believe. Well, the whole site will obviously have a facelift um with this plan, but um what per the update we got from him on January 5th, Jim Keith, it sounds like they're waiting on architectural uh plans for the building itself. So, the building will also be getting a facelift with this project. So, just the west side or the whole building that's there. I haven't seen the plan say yet, the architectural set, but it sounds like um I'm assuming just the side that's facing the west or 71 renovation. They did they did lot they did a lot on the harp side. This is the back side. Right. And they resealed the harps parking lot.

And and all of these t all of these tenant spaces along this side are all vacant, are they not? No. I think there's one. Maybe one. I think the vacation homes is still technically they might have moved. Okay. I went through there today. I didn't see anything that looked active. I've not seen any activity there for a long time. What's that? I haven't seen any activity there for a long time. that west. I think their engineers were on site last week doing a site inspection as well. Shade,

thank you. Um, just kind of while we're on this topic of sites that end up being seemingly abandoned, Taylor, can I just ask that you maybe check in on if if we should add anything to our policies or procedures or even our city code about that? I know I've received complaints from citizens about houses that have burned um and kind of the remains being left there for quite a while. Then maybe those are eventually raised and then there's kind of just a foundation also, you know, lingering for years on end and obviously we're really empathetic to anyone who's going through that situation. Um at the same time, the neighbors are kind of left uh with the situation on their side, too. So, I don't know if that's worth just taking a look at, but I did just want to express that while we're kind of on the topic of semi-abandoned areas.

Mayor, do you have this? Uh, just one question if anybody is able to answer it. How long has this particular location looked like this? It's progressively looked worse over over the years. Um, I don't really know a timeline how it's it's it's slowly become more and more abandoned as as businesses have moved out. At least a couple of years since they knocked the old bank down and three to five some of those at least two, but time flies it could be longer. But then over time things have started to fall down and it's looked worse and worse. Um, and so I don't know. Demo was after CO I think.

Thank you. Not all of those buildings went down at the same time. when they were taken down at different times.

I I'll say this because it doesn't it's not a city issue, but I know I just know Bella Vista and for anybody that's here or listening to this uh that are concerned about aesthetic issues particularly and of course they're we're dealing with safety issue talking about burned out buildings that's different. But ACC, their covenants, all of that, they have all those private rights that we're not involved in that they have not given up and which were the only law of the land up here in Bella Vista for 30 or 40 years. And so, um, those things are there. They can call the ACC about those issues as well, no matter who owns it. And and it's another avenue. Whether they'll do anything or not, I don't know. But I just want to make sure that's that reminder goes out. Okay. Uh, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

Uh, next one is X establishing Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce and Recreation. Council member Craig Honchel.

Uh, I've kind of reconsidered this um because I know we as a city, we can't establish a chamber. So kind of the point is moot. But uh the concern that I have or not a concern but being on the Bella Vista Foundation board um and being associated with other groups throughout the community, you know, with the bike park coming online um and it seems like on social media sites and stuff like that, you hear a lot of people with concerns about a certain group basically controlling the narrative in our community as far as how business is going to go or where businesses are going to be and things of that nature. And then the other side of that too, um I'm curious to see how much of an influx we get on the recreation side of things because that that that's a huge um part of what our community represents, you know, through the hiking, the the trails, the lakes, and you know, all the stuff, golf. Um and it just got my mind kind of wondering as far as people having a place at the table when it comes to how businesses are going to be represented. You know, every committee is always chasing money, um, donations and stuff like that. So I guess more so than a chamber of commerce, it may be, and this kind of silly explanation, kind of a chamber of communication to where other organizations are aware of events to where they can have representation. Um, I don't I don't know. It's I really I've I've considered this for a while and obviously I haven't fleshed this out

much further. Um, I've had conversations with uh oh, Jean and Kelly because that's the Bell Vista uh business association is essentially the Chamber of Commerce. So instead of going through the whole process of trying to reinvent the wheel and that's not what this is at all. Um, I guess this is just more I'm just curious what other members think. Um, because I really don't know how to there there's no way to drive what I'm talking about. So that that that's what I mean is uh this is kind of a not squincher. So, um I was just curious as far as what other council members thought of, uh you know, supporting the Bella Vista Business Association andor, uh the the an idea of a of our name being associated with a chamber in some way because I know that Bentonville um uh Brandon, I can't think of his last name. I I have yet to speak with him at length. We messaged back and forth, but I know that Bella Vista was at one time part of the Chamber of Commerce slashbell Bittenville Bella Vista.

Yes. Yep. And that and I'm not advocating that we, you know, budget money for that or or anything, but I just didn't know if we needed to as far as, you know, moving forward with how the community is going to grow and shape. Um, I just wanted to make sure that Bella Vista, you know, had their voice heard, you know, in that setting. So, sir, uh, Wendy.

Okay. So, Craig, I love this. Um, I have been looking at a chamber for about the past year, um, and what it would take and having these conversations. And so, I love this idea. I think it's fantastic. Um, in kind of outlining, I have this printed out for you guys, too, if you need it. Um, in early spring of last year, I reached out to the mayor and Brandon Kelly, the AMP commission, regarding possibility of chamber, um, and what involvement AMP could have. Obviously, the AMP cannot legally, um, subsidize the general doings of a of a chamber. Um, I talked to Becky Parmaly uh at the farmers market um because I'm just there all the time. So, I love the farmers market. Um, and she was the president of the BBBA for 2025 regarding a possible chamber and if there's interest within the BBBA. Um, and she said at that time that this is also something that she had wanted to have happen as well and that there had been some interest from some of the members. Um, per Becky, the grand idea would be that the BBBA would basically roll into the chamber. Um, the existing cost for membership for the BBBA is $50 annually for a um recognized nonprofit, $100 annually for a basic membership, 250 annually for a corporate membership. And I believe that she at that time also indicated that she already had some of the articles of incorporation, some of the paperwork you would need to get a chamber started, just needed to have like backing and support. Um, in August of 2025, I met with Josie and Regina with the Senitin Chamber of Commerce because I've been just following um their page, their growth. They seem like they're always having a new business open up. So, they're booming as a community. Um Jos's actually on the city council also with Centerton. Um they've only been a chamber for a few years and kind of walked me through the process how they got started which is really interesting and actually gave me a connection with the agency that they used that helped write all the

documents. Um it took about 18 months start to finish once they hired his agency out to get everything filed and put away and that their AM commission actually helped um start the funding of getting the the um study done to kind of kind of kickstart and then they kind of took over from there. Um and then I have been talking just kind of casually with the owner of that agency. He's currently the president and the um director of the McDonald County Chamber, but is allowed to help start other communities or help other communities start chambers or start their main street projects or um economic development. Um I've had some conversations with Brandon um also just kind of generally and I agree being a part of the Bentonville Chamber would not serve us. Um it didn't serve us in the past. we need to have our own community and that and I think that giving more ownership in a stronger way might help and having a chamber where it's recognized kind of universally as a source of good and community might be beneficial and so and we can help support this as a community as a council. I'm all about it. Um, I think it'd be another thing we can dangle to help entice businesses and and again having a better, bigger say. Um, because we don't want to let our smaller communities and businesses fade out due to larger entities coming in and dictating how it all should be. So, I think this is fantastic. I love it.

And that's exactly what my It's not even a I hate to say the word concern, but just trying to look down the road. Absolutely. It's foresight.

Yeah. And it's it's just trying to stay ahead of the dialogue or the conversation and making sure that we have a placeholder when that conversation happens that we are in fact in front of everything. And that's what I mean is that I didn't know how we could tie the AMP, a chamber, you know, all these entities that the city as a whole, we don't have any I don't want to say control over, but you know, we really don't we don't drive any of that involvement. So that's that's what I'm trying to flesh out is trying to understand how how to incorporate those different entities into a chamber setting. And I do have a question out to legal still with the AM um our council there asking would we be able to if the AMP decided to and there was a desire to have a chamber help fund the kickoff money. It would be subsidizing the general funds but it would be just doing this part and center was able to do it. I'm not sure how they were able to. So that's a question I do have out currently.

Find sponsorship outside of the city and that's the challenge. Absolutely. What what does a having aed chamber give the businesses that the business association doesn't already provide? And I'm not against the idea. I'm just curious what the benefits are.

Well, when I when I was on the planning commission in Fateville, I was on the uh economic development committee there and that and that their development committee ran through the chamber. So that's I'm just trying to figure out how to how to make that fusion of economic growth back through the chamber, back through a viable uh uh entity through the city that that people can go that the the problem that I think we we're having right now is that we have such a broad amount of committees, commissions, all these all these people that are parcled out throughout that there's no communication. You know, left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing ever. And what I I guess the thrust behind what I'm trying to propose is a way that everybody is, you know, in one tangible nucleus to where everybody kind of knows what's going on with the city economically. It's it's not. And and the advantage is is that if you have a pickle ball tournament or if you have some big bike race, members of that of the chamber, they're all aware because everybody's communicating back through one central hub of information. That's all I'm getting at. to where if there's opportunity for somebody to for a group to find donors or to find, you know, to advocate for membership or something like that, you know, just like the farmers market, you know, you see people with their

their canopies and all this other stuff out and, you know, trying to get people to sign up for for things and it and it's it's not so much that I'm advocating for like a membership. I'm just trying to figure out a way collectively for everybody to get basically the same information to where it's it's a it's a thing. It's an outreach from a central hub rather than word of mouth, etc.

Anna, so I I love this conversation. What one of the things I'd like to see out of something like this is the plan that we can put in place with leaders of the city such as the mayor and council and others and how we bring in new business. Um because new business will create better business for everyone that's existing. So more competition breeds better business. Everyone can succeed better if we have more business. We know we need it for tax sales tax. We know we need more business. And so I think the bigger plan has to be about yes all working together but to the goal should be to to bring in the business that Bella Vistons want and we can't have it all done through one large group. We have to be able to go out and seek and look for those businesses that can come into Bella Vista. And if we don't have a focus group helping them do that, I mean that's that's part of I think the reason I know real estate and codes and zoning is also another reason you know what's zoned. However, so I know that's an issue. We all understand that. However, in order for us to gain these new businesses, we've got to go seek them out. We have to have a concerted effort. Um, you know, I'd love to understand from the Bell Vista Business Association a little bit more about what they do. I see, you know, their regular meetings. I see a lot of promotion of current businesses. I and I don't know the answer. So, I don't know what they're doing to attract new business. Um, and I would, so I'd be curious to know what what they're doing today to do that. Um, to Craig's point, how do we all work together to understand and then work toward the same goals? Um, that's my two cents.

Well, I think a lot of chambers do help actively seek out and help bring home bring it all home. Larry, I I

I guess we're looking for expansion of businesses, probably an economic development committee uh chaired somehow and involving the city and appointing other people on it would be the way to go. Um I've talked with a number of the businesses and they're not excited about a chamber. And the reason that they're not excited is that instead of 50 or $100 a year membership, it'll be $5,000 or $10,000 because they have to support a full-time office, uh, they have to support a full-time person. It's a formal program and it's very damn expensive. And so I at least that's what they tell me, pardon my language. Uh, but their cost is going to go up hugely. And so a lot of those businesses that are a member of this group are likely to drop out and not be a part of a new group. And so they're not going to be there's not going to be any cost sharing there because there's no benefit to them. And so so the reality is I don't know if if if the chamber is really the one to do the promotion or not. Uh and and maybe we should should consider what our A&P commit group does. they they promote the city. Uh is there anything there that we can take advantage of uh to to reach out or are there any things that we can learn from them uh as to how we might go because they they do a lot of outreach programs and uh they have a director. So with yeah with the&p a totally different entity than a chamber in a different it's more about

getting people to come and stay and play in Bella Vista having them use those businesses and shop while they're here and so while it could be in conjunction like hey we make a highlight some businesses that are local which we already the NP already does they highlight the grocery stores the restaurants we have available um other things we can do it is kind of a to a separate function then a chamber and then chamber pricing can be like center chamber pricing is all over the board depending on whatever level of membership you want and there's different benefits you could get different membership levels or maybe the size your business might have a different membership level um but I don't see it being cost prohibitive personally just because I think it' probably follow a very similar model to the BVBA financially

the their operating costs are going to go up significantly because of the standards that they have to meet. A chamber of commerce is a formal thing around the countryside. And so if you go to any one of them that are chamber of commerce, they have a similar organizational structure and a similar setup. They bring legitimacy together. And uh I'm not sure if we're looking for economic development, bringing more business in whether that's the vehicle to do it with or whether we should do it with a different type of committee.

Oh, absolutely. because we've got we've got all sorts of areas in Bella Vista that need to be developed that are not platted areas. Some of them are not really suitable for commercial development because of the terrain. Well, we have a lovely tab on our website that says economic development and then it doesn't really go anywhere and so having people in those roles be fantastic too. Shay,

thank you. So, I just want to kind of recap a little bit. the the city we know we don't have the power to create a chamber of commerce. We all agree on that. It would take an independent group of citizens to to who are highly motivated to make that happen. Um so since from this seat we can't control that. Um I do I did like what I heard Larry say which was that we could look into having our own economic economic development committee. Economic development committee. That sounds like something we can control and that we could have action items on that we could have advisory on. Um, so I just want to be supportive of the things that we can at least control um, within this body.

Can I can I offer some history? I I don't know. I I'm not entering into the discussion at all, but I just want to give you some history. Uh, when Mayor Christie came on board, I I think for four to six years of his tenure, we had an economic development director that was a whose job it was to do this. and uh had very very limited not because of his skill. He's a very skilled person. He's moved on and done great things up north of us, but um just because of the existing developer was not willing to do anything. And just the the unique situation that we have here and you go to all these these conferences where there you know that these businesses come to be solicited to build PL you know all these conferences and things that happen. we would go and and there would be interest, but then you couldn't get follow through. I I would just say this. Um, you've got a new developer in Bella Vista and I don't know what all they've got planned to do, but they've got some plans to do things. We do know that. And they don't want buildings that are going to sit there empty. And I think they're going to have every motivation to put businesses in those things so they can make rent. So some of the things that we're looking at the government needing to do, there's probably already an incentive for it to be privately done now, but perhaps not on a time scale that satisfies us. So I just wanted to we we kind of we had a dedicated employee that did just what you're talking about with unfortunately very limited success,

Shay. So So the board would be unpaid, right? And um and they could probably even help with some of the programmatic things that a chamber of commerce could help with, like helping businesses uh who want to enter in these newly built buildings. Um they want to open up a private business, we could help them understand what that would take uh informed that they need a business license. So I I still really think that that could be a useful thing uh to look into. When you say economic development committee, are you envisioning it have some council people on it. One or more council people and yeah, different people from the community. Exactly.

Community leaders. There might be some business people. There might be retired folks. Those would be public meetings. And I can tell you from experience, people that are wanting to come in, do serious business, do not want to talk about it in public. Yeah. So, you'd have to one council person. Yeah. Yeah, I think I think I'm sure towards a council member and at most plus if we did anything like that. Yeah, that's a good point about the entrepreneurs wanting to talk ahead of time. That's certainly true that that's not the case. But mayor,

well, you know, if you look at Bentonville, they've got downtown Bentonville, they've got Visit Bentonville, they've got the chamber, they've got all kinds of different groups that aren't coordinated necessarily. If you look at what they've done and the business they've achieved, the uh effect of the Walton's versus the chamber is I mean chamber has almost nothing to do with Bentonville success basically and uh other other people and other things have everything to do with it. So yeah. Well, and that's the only thing I'd add is said, you know, if we had an employee of the city, economic director, whatever, you know, that's Bell Vista is just about to get Disneyland completed right in the middle of town. So, that's kind of the thrust behind this is because I think we're going to see such an upswing in foot traffic, traffic, traffic, bicycle, I mean, the whole thing. I I'm I'm trying to be cautionary moving forward because I don't think anybody really knows what to anticipate with this bike park coming online. Traffic-wise, I I it could hit us. It may be a nightmare.

Yeah. So, and that's kind of what I'm getting at is that if we had something to where, you know, my whole thing is just information and and development and how that's, you know, created and and and how it comes into the community at at a controlled pace or or however, you know, it plays out. But I just want to make sure that you know we as a community with the business leaders you know that we are a consideration primary. Um that that's pretty much the whole thing. But that's you know like the conversations that I had with the BBBA. Um you know I just want to make it very clear I'm not trying to circumvent uh the Bella Vista Business Association. They've been doing their thing since 1982, I believe. Um, so they've been around for a while. And, you know, anything that we would do moving forward, I would absolutely, you know, want to make sure that we incorporate them moving forward with whatever we do. I I think they're a wealth of information as far as uh how the community works from a business function. Larry,

uh I I guess an example um all of us have seen grow in the last 15 years or so. Uh maybe 20, but 15 for sure. Uh they don't have a chamber over there. I think they're in the process of organizing one now because of the uh they feel it's essential for them. But really the leadership there has been the mayor going out and promoting businesses to come in and getting getting them to conclude that they have a facility that can generate a return on their investment. And so as a result of that, a lot of the places that are there are the result direct result of the mayor's activity of promoting businesses. They they have a different situation because they had a a main street that was bas basically undeveloped uh which is 14th Street Center Boulevard. Uh they have other major streets that are undeveloped suitable for businesses. Bella Vista doesn't have one of those streets that's suitable for development. That's flat land. We have lots of land, but none of it really is suitable for development. So, and we have an we have developers covenants um uh developerowned property where much of this development is likely to occur because the unowned uncontrolled developer property has been bought up by Blue Crane on the east west side of 71 between Oldm and Sunset. That was the that was the the only land area that we had that was developable in a conventional city fashion. And uh some of it was more suitable for development because of its topography. Some of it was like the rest of the city ups and

downs and hills and dales. So uh I I I don't know that um an economic development committee might be might be viable for us. Uh but we have our hands tied because most of the vacant land is not under our full control. So we we we as an example the the triangle area just north of us here Rogers Road with 279 and 340 in my humble opinion the reason that hasn't developed is that it's too costly u for development and it's out of line with where it is for businesses to locate their facility. Some of them have criteria that are very strict. The coffee shop, as an example, they have to be at an intersection with a signal light so that people can turn off, go through the drive-thru, get back on again with a minimum of disruption of their time.

Exactly. Yeah. So, yeah. So, one tiny little thing to add. Okay, Wendy.

Um, so also in November, issue three will be on the ballot and this will help, if it passes, will help give cities um greater bargaining tools. So things like tax abatements we can offer to uh businesses um arrangements you can make regarding like, hey, if you want to put a buck here, fantastic. you, Bies, you pay for the infrastructure needed. Um, and you pay for up front and for the next 5 years, we give you a break on your taxes. Um, and after that, we're good. If BIES fails before then, we still get the infrastructure improvement. So, there's things like that for issue three this coming November that talk to your constituents about because it could be really great for communities like us.

Thank you. I think we can move on and uh can all give that some thought I guess. Uh the next one is why changing the code regarding electric meters and this is council member Travis Harp.

Yeah, these are some of the most frustrating issues I think well I'll just speak for myself that I deal with. I think there's probably people in this room that feel the same way. One of the biggest problems with this is the process that the council has to go through to to legislate, right? Um, and I think that first of all, I'm not opposed to what we adopted as a council. Uh, I am seeing some negative side effects, right? It's no different than the doctor giving a med that was needed, but then you have some negative side effects that you have to deal with. I think that's what we're seeing here. Um, and so I would like to change it where the current pedestals are grandfathered in. I was under the impression that those would be grandfathered in. So basically, the Carol Electric puts a green pedestal in the middle of two properties and house A gets one side of it and house B gets the other side of it. Currently, there's pedestals that only have one side of it taken. people are building houses next door and they're not able to use that current pedestal, but the other house is already hooked up to it. And I just think that's ridiculous. Um, they should be grandfathered in. Uh, I'm told there's four to 6,000 of these pedestals currently already installed that they won't be allowed to use. Um, some other problems that are are this is causing the builders is that uh there's the terrain for the panels like right if a neighborhood in Rogers that's platted out that's completely flat. It's no problem to put an electric panel on the side of the house. Also, they can use electricity from several houses down that they already built. Here, Carol Electric won't give them temporary electric. So, they won't be able to have electric to build a house until they get into the framing portion. And that's going to be troublesome for them. Um,

and so I think that it's just ridiculous that the panels that are currently already installed are not going to be grandfathered in for use. Wendy, I think the memo Jason gave us though g mechanism that we need to do. So, I think if you wanted to follow that mechanism, it would go back to the planning commission. They would do the public hearing meetings they needed to do. They make their decision determination about any kind of amendments and then it would come back to us. Right. So I think if you wanted to get it started well that's what I tried to do instead it ended up on a discussion. So that was under the adisement of Mr. Kelly.

Well because the council can't legislate immediately but what that's correct. So, what let me let me address this a couple of different ways because it's been frustrating for me because I can't get anybody who's affected by this to ask the right question here. Here's what I because I can't advise these builders and for some reason they won't go speak to their own attorney about what they need to do. But I can tell you what what my what what I would see happening in this situation. There's been an interpretation of the the zoning code, which is what our plan director does, that discusses the fact that the ordinance talks about meters, placement of meters. And so I I think that what the builders are saying is that the pedestal is an integral part of the meter and that these pedestals are there and therefore they pre-existing they pre-existed the change in the zoning code and therefore they're grandfathered. So what they have a problem with is an interpretation of the zoning code. They have a process. They take that interpretation to the board of zoning adjustment. Then the board of zoning adjustment can hear that and enter an ultimate explanation of what this code means. They could say, well, when we said meters, we meant the hookup and obviously or no, we didn't mean that. We want the meters on the house and the pedestals that aren't only used for meters, they're used for other things. Well, none of us know those things, but the people who are professionals do know those things. And they could get a hearing on that. And if the BCA determined that the term meter meant the pedestal as well, then problem solved. But instead, it's just been unending phone calls and complaints and pressure and emails and emails and emails and people trying to call me at home and everything else. And so, um, I can't advise any of those builders what to do, but I can tell you

that's the system that you all have set up to deal with this process. And I wish people would use the process because it would work if if it was used. And so, they're not without outlet in terms of that. Now, well, I think it could be I feel as a city, we should be able to tell them whether they can or can't use the pedestals. I don't I think it's ridiculous to say they need a higher I'm not I'm not trying to debate you. I'm just trying to say what the legal options are. And then the other option is as you have advocated and that is I don't want to get into this meter deal at all

and it shouldn't even be a rule or we want to clarify or what or whatever which may be needed. I that's that's certainly up to the wisdom of the council as a whole. So the ordinance says that changes can be initiated by the council, by the staff or by the planning commission. It's not by a single council member. So my recommendation to you and the why we put this as a discussion item is if the coun so there could be a you can put a resolution on the agenda that says we want to direct the planning commission to study and conduct a public hearing on changing the thing about meters. You know, it'll say more than that. And then if the council approves that then the council can initiate that. It would go to the planning commission. Public notice would take place. Public hearing would take place. They would make a vote. They may recommend it. They may not. Either way, it comes back to you as the ultimate legislators who make the decision. And if you want to adopt it, no matter maybe they maybe they come to you with a different type of suggestion, whatever, then that's ultimately up to this council. you're not denied legislative authority. But that's a long process, you know, obviously because you've got public hearing and notices and meetings and and all this and ordinance changes which take readings and then 60 days and emergency all that stuff. But there's a process in the code right now without one thing being changed where people who are affected by an interpretation of the zoning code could come to a city board and get their resolution, get something heard. they can hear the arguments about it and they may have a point. I don't know. But that's the process. And so I that's been great frustration for me and forgive me for taking time and I'm not trying to to to do that. But I I can't get anybody to even want to begin to read the code to figure out what to do. They just want to complain.

Uh Shay, I just a point of clarification. If someone wanted to appeal, they don't necessarily have to have an attorney, right? they could self-represent and they could just tell their story. Sure. And they came to the to I'm sure our staff would be willing to help them. I don't know if we have a form, but we'll certainly create a form or tell them to write us a letter, whatever. I mean, we could work that out. We've not gotten a single request. Okay. So, so what I think I'm hearing you say is that someone could could appeal. It's an informal process. it wouldn't necessarily cost them anything but their time to I don't know if we have a filing fee for an appeal of a of that on the on the

I think there may be a filing fee but it's for consideration so that's we'd have to look into that but there's a pro I can assure you there's a process there's a process and there's an application and there's a meeting okay so see we Javvis can the planning director explain to me if the builders can use the currently installed called pedestals.

She's interpreted it to to say that the me well she can address that but she issues an official determination. She's an interpreter of that. So my understanding and she can speak for herself certainly is that it says meters. So you can't you can't put more meters out there. So if there's a pedestal there with a meter on it, you can you don't have to take it down. You can use it. It's grandfathered. But you can't put more meters in the front yard. So it's the attachment of the meter in the front yard that's the issue. Am I misstating that or is that That is correct. It's very specific in it says meter. It says electric meters shall not be placed in the front plane of the home and residential zone.

So that's what we've been enforcing. Um it doesn't say any port portion of or anything like that. It's very specific electric meters. And so one of the the the the the question of interpretation is does is the pedestal an integral part of the meter? Is it when we said put those meters in front, I don't think anybody was terribly offended by the little round thing in glass. It's the whole gizmo. And so it it could be that the BZA could say, "Well, we're in we affirm your decision. It is the meter. No more meters." or we interpret it to mean if the pedestals are there, we don't care if there's a piece of glass on it. Um that's not really the concern and so we will ultimately interpret that and that's that's the process.

Javis, yeah, just to reiterate, I'm not against the change that we made. Uh I'm not against saying, hey, no more pedestals, but I am adamantly against not being able to put the meter on a pedestal that's already currently there. I think that is absolutely ridiculous and I would like us to change that if that's how the code is being interpreted because the the pedestal is going to be there already. Why not let the builder put it on there? I am totally agree that we can't put any more pedestals up. I I agree with that and even if it's costly, I agree that that's a change that's worth having. But I just

let's be careful about pressuring a particular interpretation when the code gives that lawful authority to an individual who answers to the mayor. So um just opinions expressed are fine but let's let's there's a line there we have to be very careful about as well. I

I think the one thing that I would caution all of you about uh and that is trying to direct the utility how to conduct their business. As an example water utilities typically if you have a subdivision will attempt to put a meter box between two properties with two meters in it. And I'm thinking that may be the issue that we're talking about here. Is that so? That you have you have a pedestal out there now that they put in, but it's a one meter to a pedestal to a property. Is that what it is?

Uh, essentially the big giant green boxes that you're seeing in the front yards, those typically can hold two meters, one on each side, one for each house that's on the side of the property line. So what what they're doing then is bringing a higher electric voltage and putting a transformer in that box to have that box be so big. Is that correct? I can't speak to that. I can just tell you that they're putting the meters on that pedestal. The pedestal is holding the meters, which are the gray boxes with the white glass typically that tells you how much usage you had.

The code is controlling the gray box with the meter, but they're putting them on the pedestal. They're wanting to put them on the pedestal. the pedestal is in the front yard or the front plane of the house. So that's what's causing the zoning or the setback issue. They're putting the meters forward of the home as opposed to the sideyard or on the house. Means that the setback line side behind the front plane. Yeah. In the side.

So now instead of having one pedestal in the front yard, they have one in the front and one in back. And I'm not pressuring anyone to do anything except for the right thing. And I think it's the right thing to say, "Hey, that's built. It's grandfathered in. just can't for the life of me understand. If one is on my house and the lot next to me is empty, my electric is on the pedestal. It's basically pre-plumbed for two houses. Then somebody comes and builds next to me, they have to put another pedestal or put on the side of the house. That's all I'm saying is but the question is is it really plumbed for two houses? And that's the question.

Yes. According to the folks that I talked to at Carol Electric, that was the intent. Now, when they do a meter, they have two tap lines from the main into that box. So, they're separate services from the main. There's not one service feeding the box. There's two services feeding a double meter box. Correct. And so, whether they have enough I think that's correct at least. Power capability in the line that they've run to that box is the s significant question. And that's not something we should be judging for. That's an efficiency item of operation of the utility. Well, this code did just that. So,

well, the reason I I I understand the uh head of the planning commission was very much uh in favor of this, perhaps even a driver of it originally, but the planning commission passed this and we passed it. And the reason for it was aesthetics. And uh I I don't know who came up with the brilliant idea to have a brand new $400,000 $500,000 house then have an ugly electric thing. Uh but I assure you it was an engineer who wasn't thinking about aesthetics at all. It's a the power company came up with a ridiculous idea in my opinion and I see your point

but uh there there was a public safety factor that was discussed as well because you have cars that can hit them and things like that and it's high voltage. Well, I agree with the aesthetics factor. I really do except for the ones that the pedestals that are already there and that's all I'm advocating for. I don't want any more green pedestals installed. I think that whenever I voted yes to adopt this, I was under the impression the current green pedestals that were pre-plumbed for electric meter would be grandfathered in. And that's all I agree with the code and not putting any more in. I agree that they're aesthetically unpleasing. Uh Shay,

is anyone aware of um an entity that plans on approaching this through the appeals process? I know there's a meeting tomorrow, but it's not an appeals process. Okay. Actually, the meeting that was set up for tomorrow too was to discuss the appeals process, but I believe now that it is transitioning towards a code change request from the builders. But yes, the intent was to meet with one builder to discuss the variance process where we could talk about deadlines, process, costs, legal requirements we have to meet to notify the public for state law, etc. Um, so yes, there will be one tomorrow now with multiple builders at 2 o'clock. Taylor, didn't we, just because I don't have it in front of me,

wouldn't even the BZA determination be appealable to the council? Um, anything BZA is district uh would go to the go That's right. It goes circuit court. I knew that. But both have the same process. A literal provision variance and staff appeal have the same process to the BCA um of the zoning code. So um same cost, same application. I guess I would appreciate that the council be informed if those issues come up for an appeal so that we can participate or at least be aware of it so that we can attend and and see what's going on.

Yeah. Well, we notify right the whole city um the legal ad and then it's on our website um they're the second Monday of every month. Um but but but we have to search that out

and a portion if you guys remember when we adopted the code um it's a living breathing document. So staff is already we're already in we're calling it phase five. Essentially we're looking at things that aren't working during review. We're looking at things that are becoming an issue and we are compiling a list for that cleanup audit um that we said we would do when you guys adopted this back in September. Um, and so that's what uh, just to be very transparent, that's what I told the builder who reached out for the variance application for tomorrow, um, code and variance meeting. It's both of them now. Um, but essentially, well, one, when we get a lot of variances that are approved of a section, a certain section code, that's normally one of the basic best uh, practices that says, hey, as a city uh, planning commission, you're over the development portion of the code. You guys need to look at this. it's probably not working out, especially if you're approving it every time if there's so many variances. Um, and so that process was explained and that's typically your first step. Best management practice. However, if there's a reoccurring issue during plan review, um, staff will typically approach the planning commission um, and say, "Hey, this isn't working out at during practice as we thought it would in writing um, when we adopted it." And so,

as shouldn't we encourage them to instead of filing for a variance, which they're not going to have grounds for, I can't imagine, would be to just appeal the interpretation. That's what they're wanting. And it's still the same group of people. It's the same. It's the same like require and that would actually be more beneficial not only to them and they'd have more of a right. They're gonna have a better shot is what I'm saying because I I I don't know. But I got to I got to think they may have a real good shot because I think people were talking about the the presence of the ugly pedestal and we said meter and and I don't know if everybody when they heard me they just were thinking about the physical meter versus the whole thing. I don't know that gets into the merits of it

so long as we didn't define meter which I can't tell you what it is etc right now than the code. So yeah, both options believe I mean there they they they have opt I'm again I'm sorry I'm not that there's so many there's such a way to take care of this the right way and nobody has Mayor Travis. So just to reiterate I support the change I just don't support not grandfathering in the current pedestals. So, isn't it more aesthetically pleasing to only have one pedestal versus one in the front yard? And now, if you build next door, you have one in the front yard and one behind the front plane of the house. Who's to say they're going to build a fence there? Now, it's less aesthetically pleasing than just having one. That's my point.

We can't regulate aesthetics of residences. This has to be supported by a public safety factor. Well, we were the mayor just said it was aesthetic purposes and and I agree that it's not aesthetically pleasing. This is a zoning code. So, we're looking at placement as typical with zoning code. You can't have it. It's where it is.

We're looking at place and size and height. That is what a typical zoning code oversees. So, that is what it's overseeing is the placement. We also oversees the height of things that are placed in the front yard. Um, our zoning code likes our front yards to be free of anything taller than 40 inches. So, I mean like there's there's all kinds of requirements like that. Height, size, bulk that is typical for zoning. Um, That's all I have to. So after your meeting tomorrow, people who are interested, namely builders, will have a way forward or have an idea in their mind what's the meeting with tomorrow. Yeah. I'm meeting with tomorrow.

Yes. But the builders are aware we have builders that have requested variances before. Um, I believe I probably talked about it November 3rd meeting with the builders um of what the provision or what the process will look like for this provision since it was being added to the zoning code. Um, but yes, those eight tomorrow will have a clear path forward as to what their current um processes are. What did you say the timing was on on this cleanup concept? Is that There's not a timing right now. We're just working on it. We're trying to get first round of comments and staff um just based off current practice by the end of this month. So it' be May what? Maybe in the spring or something.

I would hope in the spring at the Yeah. Could you could you explain to me the safety issue between the pedestals? I guess I'm not familiar with it's all sight distancing. Anything that's that tall that's in the front plane of the house that's towards the driveway towards the right ofway, there's a side distancing issue. So that's what anything taller than 40 inches. That's why we typically don't like seeing fences taller than three feet in the front yard. Um because anytime most of our driveways here in Mel Vista are back out. Um so anything within that that sight distance of someone sitting down and looking out typically you want to keep that free range from traffic. So could they just reduce the height of the pedestal then and it would be safe?

I don't know if that's physically possible. Our building inspector back there is saying no. Okay. That's all the discussion I have on What time is the meeting tomorrow? Is it two? It's just Yeah, it's just staff and builders. It's a pre-application meeting. Oh, it's a staff. Yes, with builders. Uh Anna.

Okay. Since we're spending so much time on this subject, so a lot of this started because of a Facebook post that um Mr. Hart made. It's like 110 comments on it. And in it there's a lot of discussion and I want to talk about just our code of conduct and ensure that we're all adhering to it and that means showing respect for our city staff, showing respect for our citizens. There's a lot of things that were said in this post that I think are really out of line and I think that we either can discuss it further. I'm happy to read some of these aloud for the record. Um, for example, one person suggested few lawyers in a class action lawsuit to which you liked that comment. There was another one um from a from a resident too much restriction on these things. Actually, I'll skip that one was about business. Typical government, Carol Electric should sue the city for the cost of moving them. You liked that one? At least you can give them give to them that they are consistently ridiculous P and Z code creation and enforcement etc. the poster child for give an idiot some authority and they will run a muck with it. To your response, I agree they are consistent in being ridiculous. I could read several more. I don't think that's acceptable. I don't think that's how we should represent the city or the council or talk about our staff. And I I'd love to hear other opinions from folks on the council, but I think we need to be better.

I guess you have to show me the code of conduct where it says I can't like someone's comment. Legal advice from you as the city council member against Carolric or the city. I've noticed uh comments. It seems that we are uh that there's certain members member that is consistently going after staff. Well, I stand by my comment. It's consistently ridiculous. It's ridiculous that they can't be grandfathered in and I think I'm well within my right to express my opinion of it being ridiculous.

Well, I I agree with what you're saying. I I I'm just going to stay out of it. And liking someone's comment is no more than an acknowledgement that I've read it. It doesn't mean I agree with them. And I I like I said, I don't think that it says anywhere in the code of conduct that I can't make a Facebook post for community engagement and that I can't interact with my constituents. Okay. Well, I guess my point is I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anybody, especially none of the staff members. I'm trying to advocate for my constituents and I'm doing the best that I can and I feel very well that I do so and they reach out to me and thank me because this is something that is ridiculous. It's ridiculous that they can't use the current pedestals. The

going to staff first with questions and legal first with questions could oftentimes give you the correct and accurate answers rather than putting it on Facebook and getting a lot of miscommunication, disinformation out there that only causes chaos within the city and puts the trust of city officials in question. Uh Shay,

I just want to say Travis, I really admire your passion for what is right. I agree with you that the pedestal should be able to be used by two houses and hopefully we will have a pathway to do that ASAP. Um I think sometimes though the passion for what is right and what is best for our citizens. I'm I'm fully aligned with you on that. I think sometimes though uh Facebook posts can have a tone and tenor that is kind of kicking the hornets's nest and we can see that happening in the comments and we can kind of see the negativity taking over. And I think when we engage in that negativity, um it doesn't always create the best situation for uh people having respect for the government and they certainly don't have to. Uh but I think our staff works really hard. I think they have their best intentions. I think we should all all of us assume positive intent and I think we should follow the proper pathways. So again, you know, if I had a magical wand, I think the responses would have looked like, hey, I've I've reached out to Taylor or not even name drop her really, but hey, I've reached out to this director. I'm advocating for you in this way. I'm pulling together this meeting. I'll be bringing it up next. Uh I understand these are the pathways for creating change that that would be my magical wand. Um rather than feeding into it. So I think there's a really positive way to use the passion that you have. Um and I would really like to see that from you and I know you're super capable of doing that. Yeah, I don't tell you all how to run your Facebooks and I don't appreciate you telling me how to run mine. Thank you. I guess it just seems that there seems to be some vigor behind your the way that you address some of the directors of our city and we are so fortunate as a community to have the people in their positions because I have been on commissions, committees, all the stuff almost 15 years of my life and I have

worked with some very talented people and there are some very talented people in this community. Did I say something about their talent? No, no, no. The way the way the way that you conduct yourself with some of these people, with some of the employees of the city is not nice. I'll just leave it at that.

Okay. I think we've Yeah. conclude our discussion on that and I appreciate everybody uh speaking their opinions tonight. Thank you.