City Council - Regular Meeting

How are you tonight, Anna? Half a second. Yeah. Half a minute.

You're talking about half a second. You've been watching too much Olympics. Yeah, I'm looking at the time down here at the bottom. I figure that's that's got to be the mark and that's my same as my letters. You're 910 900 and a second behind. You're in third place. Yeah, six o'clock. It's just one. Okay. I'd like to call the meeting to order. This is a regular meeting of Bella Vista City Council for February 23, 2026. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance.

I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Council members Isabelle here. Honchel here. Harp here. Hughes here. Newport here. Wilms here. And Mayor Flynn is here.

Okay. First uh thing we'll have is citizen input. Per the rules, there's a three minute per person time limit to address the council on any topic of that person's choosing. And the first person on the list is Tom Gorino of 86 Eley.

Good evening. I'm here on this one. I don't know how we represent 48 town homes. We have 3 acres. Oh, I didn't get good of common property and um we have seven volunteer council members that are town home owners. Um, some of us own houses and town homes and uh we have one general manager, one secretary, one supervisor and about 13 guys that mow blow and cut away the stuff. So, we're not a huge organization. Um, we wanted to reach out, familiarize you with who we are. We don't know what the relationship with the city's been in the past. Um, I think one of your planning documents talks about the three major stakeholders. Uh we think we're a fairly sizable private stakeholder in the community with over a,048 residences. Um about a year ago, we started a project looking at one of the small retaining walls. We were going to do some work on it and in that process discovered that it's really unclear if we even own all these walls along the roadways. Many of them are constructed well to the extent there is a rideway. Cooper didn't do anybody any any favors when they superimpose their maps. I have some experience in the past dealing with this and I can tell you I don't envy your planners and public works folks at all. But there's a lot of these walls and some of them are quite substantial if you drive through that are 50 years old. So in the process of looking at maybe fixing one of them, uh we don't

have a lot of money. Uh we I'll tell you we get about a h 100,000 a month and 96 of it goes to labor and mowers and stuff. Um we're a good neighbor. I was telling the council we remove 111 tons of leaves a year and spend almost 3,000 mana hours doing it and the city benefits from that because those leaves we pick up out of the gutters in all those town homes keep the city's gutters from flooding. Um, and so that's the theme that we're a good neighbor and we want to reach out. But these walls are an issue. Um, they're going to start failing. This 50-year-old infrastructure that we have for all these town homes um is having problems. A lot of the town homes have built up parking areas. So, let's apply I've met your planning director, nice lady. So, let's apply the normal zoning and all the rules that you have and your setbacks and and some of these places you're in somebody's living room by the time you take the footage. Um, but a lot of them have a road, a gutter, and these big walls. And it could easily be several hundred,000 to fix one of those walls. Am I out of time?

Yes. Okay. So, I'll close with this. Um, we're reaching out to you tonight. I'm going to meet with the mayor here in a week or so and we hope to move this along um because it's been since last August that we've been trying to do it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much, sir. Uh the next speaker is Joel Steinley of 53 Melbourne. Mr. Mayor, council members, my name is Joel Steinley. Um, I'm here today to share a story in hopes to raise some awareness and create a safer, more peaceful city. Uh, something I think that we all have in common. I don't expect a response as I'm it's unlikely that any of you are able to offer one at this time. Anyway, uh, many of you know me. You've seen me campaign. You've seen me at Bella Vista Business Association meetings. You've seen or heard of me lending a hand to neighbors when they were in need. Uh you've seen me with my children in many of these settings and you likely remember that I've been a single father of three children uh since 2020. Many of you know me well enough that you would even likely feel confident making a statement regarding my character and the type of person that I am. Something that you likely don't know is that I also have a rare form of nocturnal epilepsy. Something that started for me when I was 16 years old. I've had seven nocturnal seizures in my life and during three of those I have become violent during the post-dictal phase, the phase immediately following the seizure. Now, I had not had a seizure since 2009, but in August 2024, I had a breakthrough event. Uh since then, I've had three total seizures and I had been working with my primary care physician to find medication to disable these storms. Uh during the first two, my oldest daughter was the only person in the house that I recognized immediately following the seizure. On the third, I didn't even recognize her and I became violent with my own daughter during the post-dictal phase of a seizure. On December 4th, 2025, I was one of those neighbors that was in need and instead I was not treated as such. The first thing I remember was standing on my porch with

Bel Vista PD AR-15 strapped to their chest, grabbing my arm and asking me, "Do you know why you're under arrest?" To which I replied, "No, but I must have had a seizure because my tongue hurt so bad. It was nearly bitten in half." I had no idea what had transpired, and I assumed I had hurt my fianceé, Megan, during the seizure. I remember emotionally asking the officer in the car, "Are my kids okay?" which must have angered him because he yelled at me. I already told you they're fine. The next memories I have are being booked in the Benton County jail. For brevity's sake, I'll have to spare the nightmare of how things continue to unfold. That's not why I'm here today. Why I am here is to raise awareness. My constitutional rights were violated when a clear medical emergency was responded to with deliberate indifference. And instead of being treated like a neighbor that needed help, I was treated like a criminal who deserved nothing. This is unacceptable. The police report clearly states from every single witness the medical situation that had f had had unfolded. Yet the officer ignored all of that and decided to take matters in a different direction. No amount of funding, vehicles, bomb dogs, assault weapons, SWAT teams can replace training. Training to recognize nuance and differentiate crimes from medical emergencies. Unfortunately, it seems Vista PD lacked this training. The Epilepsy Foundation has many training resources available specifically for law enforcement. These training programs have been distributed to over 20,000 police departments nationwide and can be of use here. I am certainly not the only person in Bella Vista seizures and being able to recognize the post-dictal confusion and aggression and deescalate these situations instead of create more harm should be a priority moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh the next matter on the agenda is uh council reply if anyone would like to comment. Wendy Tom, thank you for coming tonight and I hope we can get some great relations going with the townhouse association and the city and the POA and all the partners and stakeholders. And then Joel, thank you for coming and speaking today. I'm sorry that you guys are going through a hard time and the medical issues that are have happened and I hope that you are getting the medical help and treatment that you're needing that hope we can get those procedures at bay. Thank you for speaking tonight. Uh Larry,

I guess I would I would apologize on behalf of the city for for a miscar miscarriic of the events that transpired with you, Mr. Steinley. Um, so I feel really bad about it and I do agree that there is a difference between a medical emergency and a actual physical accostation of your family and it's a Can I can I can I can I say something? If there's a matter that's currently in court,

it's probably best to not address that too specifically in terms of facts or might be in court. I just want to provide that was I was at the end. Thank you. Anyone else?

Okay. Uh thank you. Uh the next matter is reports and we have a monthly financial report. You know, last month we already did the time period ending November 30 and we don't have the year end yet. It always takes a little longer to get the year end. For one thing, it includes transactions for the next 60 days often are included. So, uh we we won't have the year in this month. I thought I'd mention a few things for the sake of the uh residents. You know, in February 3, we had a special meeting about the bond, and I thought I'd just mention a few facts about the bond. Uh this is our extension of the existing 1% sales tax bond and the trustee on the uh new version is going to be bank OK. Our financial advisor of course was the same as it was on the first uh bond was Raymond James out of the Little Rock office. And uh the two underwriters were also the same as on the first bond. It was Cruz and Associates Inc. and Stevens Inc. and uh Kim Hall, the director of finance and myself thought we to be fair to the taxpayers, we should put the underwriting out for bids. And I was very pleased that those two uh companies got it because they are Arkansas firms that we're familiar with and they're familiar with us. The bond is going to close on March 17, 2026. And we did uh once again get a double A rating which I was very pleased with. And uh when it closes in March, we're going to have a takeown of $25 million and that will pay off the old 1% bond

and also pay off the revenue bond and that's 8.7 million. And 16.4 million is new projects. Um, that's not all the new projects. We uh any projects you do have to be completed in three years. So, we're going to have a second takedown uh in a year or two for fire station number five and for the uh pumper fire truck. We actually ordered the pumper fire truck. Council approved that in December, but it takes 35 months to get it. And so since the time limit is 36 months, we thought it would be safer to include that in a later takedown for fire station number five. We had an interest rate of 3.76%. And uh I was really pleased with this. The estimated payoff even counting the new takedown is 7 and a half years. It's fall of 2033. And that's assuming that there's no increase in our sales tax receipts, which is highly unlikely. It's highly likely there will be an increase since we've had an increase every year for quite a few years and we have some new businesses coming on. So anyway, I was very pleased with the way the bond came out and some of the folks uh involved in it. So that helped us with it. So I just want to give that summary for the financial report. Uh the next item is awards. Uh, and we have uh a certificate of recognition for uh some history museum folks. And I thought what I'd do first is read these with the microphone and then walk down and uh we'll have some photos. First one's a certificate of recognition presented to Zeta Lucas

in recognition of the time and energy you have spent across many years to research and preserve the history of Bella Vista as well as provide thorough and interesting education become a trusted source of knowledge and ensure the lasting preservation of the story of Bella Vista's beginnings. The service you have continued to offer those who live and visit here is unmatched and that presented this 23rd day of February 2025 uh city of Bella Vza uh John D. Flynn mayor. Second one is certificate of recognition presented to Dale Phillips in recognition of your service to our community in the time you have generously offered educating and informing those interested in the history of our city and region. Your devotion to the region's historical importance and extensive knowledge base is helping to preserve the story of the unique beginnings of our city and continue to build a legacy of what we will be in the future. presented this 23rd day of February, 2026, John Flynn, Mayor. And the third one is a certificate of recognition presented to the Bella Vista Historical Museum in recognition of all those who serve the residents and visitors of Bella Vista by giving of your own time and energy to help preserve the history of our city. Honor the city's beginnings and historical milestones and provide education and information about such to all who come through the doors of the museum. The museum has become a treasure within the city full of information, exhibits, and artifacts capturing the true story of Bella Vista. And that's pre presented 23rd day of February, 2026. There's so many uh volunteers at the museum. We thought they deserve some recognition as well.

Thank you so much. didn't want to be behind the camera.

Okay. The next item is the consent agenda and we have on there tonight the approval of the minutes of February 3, 2026 and January 26, 2026. Motion to approve. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and second by Larry Wilms. A roll call vote. Council member Isbel, yes. Honchel, yes. Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. I would now like to entertain a motion to suspend the rules of order and procedure to allow all ordinances on the agenda to be read by title only. Some move to approve. Second. Okay. That was Larry Wellms and Travis Harp. for you. I think it was a tie. Roll call vote. Council member Zisbell, yes. Honel, yes. HARP, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next one is in unfinished business an ordinance mandating mandating the Bella Vista Advertising and Promotion Commission publish and indefinitely maintain and approve commission meeting minutes on its official website and for other purposes and I believe this is on second reading. I should have written that down

Travis. Yeah, just to reiterate the purpose behind this and my desire to to move forward with this is that this is an entity that collects taxes um that collect taxes on prepared food and lodging here in Bella Vista. They have little to no oversight from the city or anybody else for that matter. And I think this is a small ask of us for someone that collects over half a million dollars in taxes a year is to post their minutes online. Was there a amendment by Mr. Wilms? I I submitted an amendment that should have come with your packet. I think the attorney prepared that. It's in there. You

creating uh a better verbiage than what I presented at the original meeting. So So Larry, are you excuse me, Mr. Wilms, are you moving to amend the proposed ordinance to read as presented in your amendment? Yes. Second. That was motion by Larry Wilm, second by uh Wendy Hughes. Is there any conversation about the amendment? Anna,

I just want to point out I agree with um the amendment generally that both of you put forward, Mr. Harp and Mr. Wilms. I do think there is some oversight though since we do have two members, both the mayor and currently Wendy Hughes on the AMP commission. So there is that level of oversight. But I do agree with the amendment and um keeping those minutes online. Uh Wendy

um I support the amendment and the main difference was basically the website retention period and both said that minimum of two years but yours request also indefinitely. Correct me if I'm wrong um Mr. Kelly but I believe that cities in Arkansas only had to post their minutes uh for a year. They have to keep them forever, but they only they only have to maintain them for a year online. For Forgive me, but I don't know off the top of my head. I'd have to to look at the statute to give you a certain answer. I think Wanda is Yeah, I did look up this. Okay. Well, then y'all have an answer. That's

so RB imposing a additional year that cities, which I think cities arguably are probably more important than AP commissions in general, would have to hold. So, I'm absolutely fine having retention and minutes. I think it's great. I think having a two-year cap rolling and then people are welcome to foyer those minutes like they do city minutes as well.

Uh Travis, yeah, the only thing I would say to that is nobody reached out to me and said that it would it would not be doable or feasible or that it would cost additional money once you post it on the website to just leave it there. Uh, so I'm I'm more in favor of of the original version without the amendment, but obviously that's council's choice. So, okay, I think everybody's discussed. Can we have a roll call vote on the uh whether to pass the amendment that would uh as presented in the packet? Council members Isbel, yes. Honchel, yes. Harp,

no. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes. Uh, the amendment carried five to one. So, mayor, at this time, you're still on second reading. Um, and you can continue on debate on second reading or proceed as the council deems fit. Sir, motion to suspend the rules and go to third final. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel. Is there any discussion about that? Doesn't look like it. Okay. Roll call vote on uh suspending the rules and going to third and final. Council members Isbel,

yes. Hansel, yes. HARP, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes. Motion carries six to zero. So, I'll go ahead and read it. Mayor Mayor, I just want to note that the amendment changed the title. So, you now got the the new title we need to read. That will be for the third reading. Yeah. Don't read the old one. Very good. I'm I'm here to This is what I do. You're here to keep us on a straight narrow. It's a full-time job. Mandating the bill of No, that's not it. No, it's it starts with the word requiring.

It's should be after that. Should be right after that packet. Okay, let's see. That's not it.

There is We got to add some more pages in there. No, that's that's Oh, okay. Clearly, it's not a good amendment. Okay. Uh, thank you. requiring the Bell Vista Advertising and Promotion Commission to publish approved meeting minutes on its official website and for other purposes. Motion to approve. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel. Any more discussion? Are we ready? Okay. Uh roll call vote. Council members Isbel, yes. Hanso, yes. HAP, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. and Wilms.

Yes.

Uh motion carried six to zero. So the ordinance is passed as amended. Uh, next item is new business resolution awarding bid and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to enter into into a contract with Superior Automotive Group in the total amount of 43,990 for the purchase of one Chevrolet Silverado 1500 four-wheel drive pickup for use by the planning and development department. Is there discussion? Uh, Travis Yeah, I uh got a list of all the vehicles that we own currently. At least I think it's a updated list. And we have things like a 2011 Tahoe with 31,000 mi that's unassigned, a 2012 Tahoe with 33,000 mi unassigned, an '04 Chevy Express, another Dodge Charger, a 21 Chevy Traverse with 34,000 mi, and the the list goes on. So, uh I was wondering why we can't use one of those vehicles instead of procuring a new one. I think those uh vehicles are by department and I think uh some of the unassigned ones you this is just off top of my head some of the unassigned ones you're referring to probably in the police pool that they you know and this is for the planning development department. So the police pull I think Chief Graves could probably explain a little better, but I think they people use them when a car breaks down or I know once or twice they gave it to council people to drive down to Little Rock for meetings and things like that. So I think planning and development is kind of looking at, you know, operating within their own department.

So the unassigned vehicles are actually assigned to the police department, just not currently assigned to a police officer. Is that what you're telling me? Yes. Yeah, that's what they mean by assigned. Yeah. Motion to approve. Second. That was uh Wendy Hughes and Larry Wilms. Is there uh that was a motion to approve. Any more discussion? Okay. Roll call vote. Council members Isbel? Yes. Hel? Yes. Park? No. Hughes? Yes. Newport. Yes. And Wilms abstain.

Uh motion carried four to one with one abstain. Thank you for that. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Eric Batkin to the public safety advisory committee for a term ending December 31, 2027. Uh, since Eric has kindly attended the meeting, could you stand up so people could He told me he's retiring in 3 days or 4 days, something like that. So, he's ready to go. Congratulations. Motion to approve. Second.

That was uh Wendy Hughes and Shay Newport. Motion to approve. Uh, roll call vote. Council members Isbel, yes. Honchel, yes. HARP, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next one's a resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Roberto Siz to the public safety advisory committee for a term ending December 31, 2027. Is there any discuss Travis? Yeah, I mentioned it in the work session, but I'm thrilled to see that this board is coming together. Although I was hoping for some of our active police or fire, maybe a family member uh to to be appointed to this board. I just want to reiterate that mayor and the police chief and fire chief and members of the command staff made phenomenal selections and I'll enthusiastically approve their appointments. Wendy,

I think that the reason that they might have had to exclude any current staff members or relatives of staff might have been a perceived comp um especially when they're an advisory board to the council. But again, I believe in the chief's discernment on this and the mayor's excellent choices. Motion to approve. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel on motion to approve. Roll call vote. Council members Isbel, yes. Hansel, yes. Hart, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is approving the mayor's appointment of Beth Shaw to the public safety advisory committee for a term ending December 31, 2027. And she's here. Thank you for attending. Appreciate that. Motion to approve. Second. That was Travis Harp and Wendy Hughes. A roll call vote on motion to approve. Beth Shaw. Council members Isbel. Yes. Honcho. Yes. Harp. Yes. Hughes? Yes. Newport? Yes. And Wilms? Yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Billy Winsel to the public safety advisory committee for a term ending December 31, 2027. Is there any discussion? Motion to approve. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and Travis Harp. A roll call vote on motion to approve. Billy Winsel. Council member Zisbo. Yes. Hansel. Yes. Harp. Yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Kevin Aden to the public safety advisory committee for a term ending December 31, 2027. And Kevin's here again. Thank you for coming. Motion to approve. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel. A roll call vote on a motion to approve. Kevin Eden, council members Isbel, yes. Honcho, yes. HAP, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Thank you for that. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's reappoint of JB Portillo for planning commission for a term expiring March 1, 2030. And if JB could stand up, she wasn't able to make it last week, so I want to make sure you all know who she is. Motion to approve. Second. That was uh Larry Wilms and uh Hughes. Wendy Hughes. A roll call vote on a motion to approve JB Portillo. Council members Isbel, yes. Hansshaw, yes. Harp,

yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes. Motion carried six to zero. Next one is a resolution approving the reappoint of Clayton Sedbury to the planning commission for a term expiring March 1, 2030. Move to approve. Second. That was Larry Wilms and Wendy Hughes. Uh roll call vote. Council members Isbel. Yes. Hansel. Yes. Hard. Yes. Hughes? Yes. Newport? Yes. And Wilms? Yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's reappoint of Kenny Williams to the active transportation advisory board for a three-year term beginning March 1, 2026. And Mr. Williams did come last week to the work session. Motion to approve. Second. That is Wendy Hughes and Anna Isbel. A roll call vote. Council members Isbel. Yes. Honaw. Yes. Harp. Yes. Hughes? Yes. Newport. Yes. And Wilms. Yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's appointment of Abby Sidell to the active transportation advisory board position five for a term expiring March 1, 2029. Motion to approve. Second. That was Wendy Hughes and Travis Harp. And I wanted to mention that uh Abby did come last week to the work session also. Uh roll call vote. Council members Isbel? Yes. Honchel? Yes. Hard? Yes. Hughes? Yes. Newport? Yes. And Wilms? Yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is a resolution approving the mayor's reappoint of Isaac Marman to the active transportation advisory board as an exeicio youth member for a term expiring March 1, 2027 and Isaac was at the work session last week. Also motion to approve. Second. That was Larry Wilms and Wendy Hughes. Uh roll call vote. Council members Isbel, yes. Honel, yes. Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport. Yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried six to zero. Next one is resolution of appointing Anna Isbel to serve as a city governing body member of the Bella Vista Advertising and Promotion Commission effective immediately replacing John Flynn. Motion to approve. Second. That was uh Mr. Wilms and Wendy Hughes. Uh roll call vote. Council members Isbel, yes. Honaw, yes. Harp, yes. Hughes, yes. Newport, yes. And Wilms, yes.

Motion carried 6 to zero. Congratulations to everybody for being appointed to the various boards. Uh announcements. The next city council work session is 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 16 at Bella Vista District Court. Next, city council regular meeting 6 pm Monday, March 23, Bella Vista District Court. Planning Commission work session is 4:30 p.m. Thursday, February 26 at Bella Vista District Court. Planning Commission regular meeting 4:30 p.m. or immediately following the BCA Monday, March 9 at Bell Vista District Court. Board of Construction Appeals is 3 PM Tuesday, March 10, if necessary, at fire station number four, conference room 1639 Forest Hills Boulevard. So, if there's nothing else, we're uh Craig,

I just wanted to uh and of course Karen's not here tonight. Um, I had a conversation with Karen a couple months ago about the lowwater bridge uh on Gordon Hollow Drive and asked her if she had much of a relationship with Missouri uh road department yada yada. So anyway, I mentioned that to her and I am just so pleased that we got that low water bridge, the big dips around that bridge, but Karen got it all squared away. I just wanted to thank her and I just wanted to say uh if there's ever an alternate position for the safety committee, I just did want to give a shout out to Galloway back there and just applaud her for all that she does volunteer-wise. I know she was really anxious to get on this, but uh just point out that she does so much for the city and that's all I have to say. Thanks.

Thank you. Okay. Uh meetings adjourned. Thank you very