Finance & Administration Council Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, good afternoon, everybody. It's 4 o'clock. I'll call today's meeting in conjunction with the Public Safety Council Committee to order. Please record your attendance.

I'm going to have to take a roll call vote. And I've already marked everyone that's here. So because of two committees, I can't put it in one agenda. Okay.

Give you some slack. So she's already marked attendance? Yes. OK. And as you all know, today is just a discussion, public discussion. There will be no votes taken today. So it doesn't really matter if we have a quorum or not, I guess. But we obviously do. But just a few housekeeping things today. I think probably the best thing to do is let the mayor and his team go through any presentation they have. Then the committee members can ask questions. I just ask that you wait until you're recognized before you speak so we kind of keep some form of control in here, some form of order, not control, that wasn't a good term. And then if someone's in the public wants to come to the podium and make a comment, we just ask that you state your name and address for the record. With that, we'll move to item number three, other business. A public discussion about the Shelter Insurance Agency building. And I will turn the floor over to the mayor. The flair. I'm combining words, trying to save time.

All right, thank you, Councilman. I appreciate it. Council, I thank you for attending a special call meeting. I just want to start by thanking everybody in the room and everybody that's I've been a part of this for the past two years. We continue to look for a suitable facility. It's not been an easy task, and I know we've looked at several good properties that just didn't work for one reason or another, and I want to thank each of those owners for taking the time to meet with us, even if it didn't work out. So we are in a position of a need. The shelter building on Highland, is a rare find that we feel that almost exactly fits what we're looking for for a fair price. I think this building represents that, and by all accounts, it's a good, sturdy, and certainly a well-kept facility. It has a lot of office spaces, includes furniture, and is a very favorable location, both for our intended use and for the future potential resale if required. This facility fits what we need. Our police leadership has looked at it. Engineers and architects have looked at it. Our building maintenance team has looked at it. An appraiser has reviewed the pricing. I took all those opinions under consideration and felt comfortable making the offer we are discussing today. Not only does it allow us to consolidate our police departments into two facilities, but it also frees up our community centers and will allow them to be returned back to the full use of the public. Since the emergency closure of the Justice Complex, which was not intended, our police have been working out of a temporary facility, including Allen and Parker Park Community Centers, the E. Boone Watson Center, which is home of our beloved African American Cultural Museum, which has been significantly impacted from a public access standpoint. So I wanted to make sure today, as we've done in the past, we wanted to make sure that we answered the who, what, when, where, and why for you, council, and for the community. We wanted to have this open forum, because I think it's appropriate to do so in transparency. And I worry that in the future that we will have a major issue with our old city hall building. We deemed it not feasible more than 20 years ago. It's gonna need a new roof, it's gonna need probably a couple hundred thousand dollars in HVAC work, it floods, and countless other items would need immediate attention. If we do not need to sink good money into a facility, we already know It's bad. We have spent a lot of time over the last month either researching questions for the council in one form or another. And I want to thank you for those that asked the questions and trying to anticipate what questions may have you asked. We have assembled an information packet and we want to walk that through with you now. So we will move forward. So if you would please open to the first page.

Are we doing questions while we go through this?

No, we're going to wait until we'll kind of go through the presentation.

Yeah, let's hold the questions until the end, because some of them may be answered while the presentation is going on.

OK. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. So at this point in time, Steve Pertee and Chief Elliott are going to work through. And again, the staff, we have Craig here if we need any additional questions for that as well. So the first page, background and purpose. Since the closure of the Justice Complex, I don't want to read this word for word. I think we all know our temporary conditions and the facilities that we currently are in the arrangement we have. Over the past year, multiple facilities have been reviewed as possible temporary locations and have been ruled out for various reasons. Purchase of this facility would allow the police department to again operate out of only two main facilities and free up space currently occupied our community tenants. we would flip to the next page chief that's a basic facility information so council in case you're not aware the address is listed on East Highland Drive the current use is a shelter building insurance facility the square footage is fourteen thousand four hundred and eighteen square feet it has 51 parking spots it's on two point oh five acres and the utilities are electric and natural gas now On this map that you see here, we also have in Legistar, if you wanna see an internal layout, a footprint of the floor plan, that is also on Legistar. So let's go to the next page. I've got proposed usage and details of the facility. So I've asked Chief Elliott to speak on the needs and the necessities of this facility for his department.

Well, thank you, Mayor and Council and Committee, for coming today for this important hearing or discussion on this topic. So with the purchase of this building and moving forward, we intend on moving 30 plus officers and staff into the facility. The planned divisions going into the shelter building will be police administration, our records division, criminal investigations, community outreach and recruiting, and the D.A.R.E. officers. Vacating the Parks Department and the old City Hall in Washington and consolidating all those individuals into the current building on Caraway would be Evidence ICAC, Patrol, Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator, Training Division, Warrants Division, Court Services, and the Real-Time Crime Center. I will note that Evidence ICAC and Real-Time Crime Center currently occupy that facility as it is today. Once the new Real-Time Crime Center Dispatch Center is completed, they will move over into that building, which will free up more room at the Carraway facility. Going on to the next page, the purchase price, $2,750. Renovation cost anticipated is around 250. We had IT look at it, give us a cost. We're looking at approximately 80,000 in IT infrastructure. That includes servers. Most of the infrastructure wiring is already there because it is a business office. So the cabling that's to each office will suffice for our needs. but we will have to set the server's connectivity back to the city. Then we want to add some additional security cameras to the outside of the facility. The inside does have some existing cameras, which is good. And then we want to upgrade the open path door lock system to what is compatible with what we're using across the city. I will say that The front of the building, the front lobby, the front wall of the building when you came in, the front foyer piece where our receptionist will sit, that wall in glass has been ballistically, ballistic material was put in place several years ago by a shelter. Apparently, due to the threats that they've had over claims, they had to add a ballistic wall and ballistic glass for their protection. So, which in today's times, I get it, people upset over whatever. So that is a very expensive piece, but it obviously is a big advantage to us and our security as we move forward with the police department. The purchasing funding, as you can see below, the details, I think it's self-explanatory. If there's any need to elaborate further on that, Steve Pertee can come up and.

And I know everybody's got some questions. And like I said, as we go through this, please make notes. But I think hopefully we will answer majority of your questions through this process. Steve, if you would, please go ahead then. I know most everybody is really gonna focus in on the funding mechanism and how we came about the request at this point.

Thank you, Mayor. Just to recap, Chief's already laid out that the purchase price is $2,750,000, potential renovation costs of $250,000 as an estimate. To assemble that, that would require a $3 million outlay. One program that we're looking at is a short-term Amendment 78 loan. That is a loan that is basically based on the full faith and credit of the city as the repair. It will be supported through the general fund. We had submitted an RFP for bids on that on July 17th. Had four banks that responded. That information will be in your packets for finance committee going out, I think, later today.

It's out.

Okay, thank you. Those details are in that packet. We did go through that. It appears that the most favorable position for this was Arvest Bank. They offered a rate at 4.83%. If you calculate that, that would be interest costs of $382,820 on a five-year monthly amortizing loan. If you consider that that $3 million would remain in our bank accounts, anticipating that they would have on average a 3% rate of return over that same period of time, that would realize interest earnings of about $237,000. So the net cost of this financing over that five-year period would be $145,043. Okay. There are a couple of key components to that. When you just microscopically look down at just simply the insurance coverage on these properties. Again, we're talking about the Justice Building that is unoccupied currently. You can see in the middle of this slide that that's an interest cost of a little over $16,000 a year. That coverage is provided through a blanket policy through the Arkansas Municipal League, which we are a participant in. Also, in addition to that, the former city hall building on West Washington, that cost for insurance only is a little over $7,000. So you've got roughly $23,000 of expense in that currently going on on those two properties. If we were to acquire this Highland Drive property, that would have an annual insurance cost of a little over $9,000. So you can see that the net savings for insurance alone is about $14,000 when all of the conclusion of these properties occur. So that certainly looks like a benefit. And again, we've got a property that's currently unoccupied, has been deemed unsuitable for, And then secondly, the former city hall building, that there's indication that that thing, that needs multiple dollars of expenses as well. So those are considered here, that indication as well. You know, it's a real good question about why would we not use reserves for this. You know, if you look at your June report, we've got about 12 million in reserves before, or excuse me, after our reserve requirement or minimum requirement. Three million of that, again, we could use that to support grant programs, other things relative to expediting those funds out of the reserve into other programs and opportunities. We would give up the interest earnings on that as well, as we've indicated. But there just seems like to be many more opportunities relative to that. That roughly $12 million in reserves that's in your June financial packet, by the way, on the second page of that report, that is further impacted by a little over $4 million in capital improvement programs that remain to be appropriated and funded relative to that. And again, you see that in your June financials as well on page 24 if you happen to look into those reports. So again, we just feel like that this gives us many more opportunities maintaining those reserves in their current state, seeking this property through a short-term lending arrangement always with the option that it could be prepaid early without penalty, paid off early, amortized over the life of the loan, amortized partially through the life of the loan. There are just many options that could be initiated relative to that. I'll let you have the timeline.

Thank you, Steve. Council, as we learned with the revenue bond, I think it's important too that we show you a projected timeline. And as many of you know, it is my job to bring forth to you opportunities for you all to vote on one way or the other. And so I think it's important you see a projected timeline of this. Again, we called a special call meeting on the sixth. It will be on the finance, it already is, Appropriation Council Committee for review on next Tuesday. And then up for city consideration, which will include the resolution and ordinance at the same time. And mind you, There's an MOU here with this facility. So again, if that is not chosen at that point in time, then that facility will be open for public bid once again. And I want council to be aware of that. The closing will be quickly thereafter on August 21st, approximately a day or two, but primarily looking at August 21st, and then renovations would begin on a facility to move in within three days after that closing. Hopefully at that point in time, both facilities, we can locate, we were anticipating about two months of movement for that, and then obviously at the end of the year, the hopeful demolition of the Washington Avenue facility could be in place in order to provide a future opportunity for our downtown community until further notice and use of that facility. So again, that's a projected timeline, and I wanted you and the public to be what we're projecting in that process. The next part of this is basically some FAQs that, and I'm not gonna read these word for word, but if you would please scroll through them. I think for the public record, we did have a question on how will this affect the city budget in the coming years? And Steve, if you don't mind addressing that, I think you can go into a little bit more detail about the opportunities. Again, this is a loan that can be paid off early. if we have the opportunity to do so as well. But Steve, how about that, and how are we gonna approach that in the budget in the coming years?

Yes, sir, Mayor. This obligation is about $700,000 a year in the monthly payments that would be made. When you look at your June report again, you'll notice that sales tax returns this year are trending ahead of last year. The July distribution that came in just a couple of weeks ago left us at a position about $840,000 ahead of previous year sales tax returns. That's about $80,000 over our budget projection. When you dig down deeper into that, thinking about, okay, well, we've got $800,000 additional funding that we didn't have last year, We've held a flat budget for sales tax for the last two budget cycles with a 3% growth relative to that. So then if you further look at the June financials, you'll notice that the revenue for the general fund is ahead of budget, just right about $200,000. The expenses are slightly behind budget, and primarily that's relating to we have all of our insurance programs are paid lump sum at the beginning of the year for the full year, so that budget does catch up through the year. So if you look at only sales tax and realizing that you can kind of confirm that by looking at the budget variance now, about 200,000 for the first six months, positive in that, that more than supports this particular obligation. The other thing that is in the budget, you'll notice we have a little over $400,000, about $427,000 in franchise fees that were not committed to the bond program. So those are sitting in the general fund. And again, as I said earlier, this obligation would be repaid from the general fund. That's the only way it can be repaid. So those two or three components combined, everything else just being equal, would support this obligation. Obviously, when we go into our budgeting process, we look at those commitments already on the books, those records. We allow for those first, and then after that, we do the look at the various requests of our directors relative to what they need to do in their department specifically, and then combine that for the budget position. Again, specifically looking at the general fund.

Great. Thank you, Steve. I appreciate that. Council, we'll move on then to the next FAQ, and this is why is a temporary facility needed? I think we've gone over that several times, but Chief, do you want to elaborate any more on that question other than what we've answered? Yes.

I can. Thank you, Mayor. Again, this is something we've touched on many times through several meetings. But getting our services consolidated into two facilities would certainly make us more efficient in what we do day in and day out. We are scattered out in five locations right now across town. And it just becomes hard to communicate at times. And just getting together and keep inform what's going on. Yes, we have phones, we have emails, but there's a lot of moving parts. four or five people working in small areas, confined areas. We've got equipment scattered out and still in the justice complex and other buildings. I just need to get everything housed in two locations for efficiency and better service. And we're causing the public to go to multiple locations for their needs. Our recruits are having to go to Allen Park to meet the recruiting officer up there. If you're going to court services, you have to go to the E. Boone Watson Center. You need to meet with them over there. So for the general public, there's a lot of moving back and forth. Again, consolidation back down to two locations.

DAVID BURRAGE. And you mentioned to me the other day as well about new officers. seeing facilities.

Well, that's true. You're correct. The old building, patrol building down on Washington, the old city hall, I don't know if you've been in it or not been into it, but it's a, you walk in, it's a blast from the 60s. You know, the tile, the couple offices that have carpet, one's got the Berber carpet and paneling, the wooden desk that are falling apart, literally, and some of the furniture that was donated. So when we talk about moving and what does that look like, I'm kind of jumping ahead, but whatever's in the patrol building, other than personal effects, will stay in the patrol building. It'll go down with the ship. It's not worth moving. Some of those desks couldn't stand to be moved. They're falling apart. Whenever we leave, on Carraway, moved from Carraway to the Shelter Building. Again, we've got new furniture that's going there. When I vacate some of the park facilities, some of the furniture that we drug out of the criminal justice complex, I'll leave it for the parks department. Most of it's not worth moving either. So I'll let Mr. Stern deal with that or store it or dump it or whatever. So when it comes down to move, we're literally picking up computers, personal effects, going to different locations and plugging up and going back to work. We gave a projected timeline of November reality once IT is established. I think we accomplished most of it in two weeks.

Also speak on the equipment. I think that from the furniture, we talked about it briefly, but shelter is also providing about 95% of the contents to stay on board with this.

You're correct, Mayor. That was part of the arranged agreement. Office furniture, each office, there's 29 offices. Each office is equipped with very nice furnishings. It has a three-piece desk with overhead cabinet and chairs. There's a conference room, nice conference tables, nice chairs, a big break room, refrigerator, chairs. There's chairs in the hallway just for casual seating, just decorative tables and whatever. They're walking away leaving everything. So literally walking in and have a nice facility with some signage changes, and we're up and running. But getting back to the patrol building, it's kind of embarrassing that we've hired officers from other states. I hired a gentleman from California out of Mississippi recently, a gentleman out of California. Tennessee that work for agencies over there big big agencies and they come to Jonesboro and their first day at patrol building is this 1960s looking building that's in need of a lot of repairs and full of asbestos and mold and they just kind of look like wow So for our patrol officers and the people have to work in that building, it's embarrassing. Uh, I think it's a health hazard because, uh, the roof has been leaking for 12 years. And when I did have people upstairs, when it rains, we have to put out buckets to catch the water. So it's a matter of time before there's a structural failure or will be mandated to leave out of that building. And then here we are again, looking for a place to go and get out of the weather.

All right, thank you, Chief. Council will now move on to the next question. Why doesn't the city just build a new police station downtown? I think we all pretty well have the idea of why, because the long-term plan is to build one downtown. But right now, the city simply does not have enough funding for the project. A new downtown police station will cost more than $20 million, and it's not affordable until we can find new revenues, and once those revenues are identified, then that possibility could occur. But even if funding is identified, the current downtown police building will need to be torn down to make room for new construction, leaving dozens of officers without a location for more than two years anticipated for construction and timeline. So I wish I could have a crystal ball and see into the future, but this is reality and this is what we're dealing with at the current time and this is the plan. The next question, if the citizens pass a proposed safety tax in November, would this facility still be needed? In short, yes, even if funding existed to build a permanent police station today. A temporary location would still be necessary because of the current location of the Jonesboro Police Department Traffic and Patrol Division and all of our other facilities as well. Also, I think many of you are aware on council that this does flood, and I think we've seen that happen many times throughout the last several years. But more importantly, it's an expensive remedy in the long run. The next question was, why buy a building and not rent? Steve, do you mind coming forward on that as well and discuss that maybe in a little bit of detail?

I think that we earlier looked at a couple of proposals of lease opportunities, and we vetted those properties, I thought, very well over the last months, even a year, it seems. You know, as with any... you look at the opportunity cost, and again, we've talked about that relative to the, sure, we would keep three million. It would have a monthly lease obligation after that if we found something similar relative to a commercial building that would be suitable. The analysis here is a 15,000 square foot building average GSA rental rate of $17.50 a foot. You can see the calculation here is for basically the five year period of this loan increment is a million 312 over that time period. Obviously, we know that through a lease program, there is no residual at the end, nothing to sell, of course. You can't sell a leased space when you're no longer needing it. And then if you look at that over a 10-year cycle, basically that would be a a very modest lease amount of 2.6 million for that same 10 year period, most likely you would be also looking at a property with a triple net lease responsibility as well. So you would have that expense going forward potentially also. So again, that's just kind of real brief difference between purchasing and leasing.

All right. Thank you, Steve. Also, the last sentence here, Council, I feel is important. Purchasing a building would provide the city with a sellable asset once its need has passed, should that occur. The next question has the property been reviewed by a third party appraiser? Um, and yes, an independent appraiser conducted a review of the property via letter of transmittal to create a market value conclusion that projects the current value of the property between $187 to $204 per square foot. So that correlates to 2.7 million to 3 million. for the 14,418 square footage. Now keep in mind, again, that appraisal didn't include the contents as well. So the contents are on top of that. So for that value of 2.750. So the next question, what is the long-term plan for the police department facilities? Chief?

Well, again, the long-term plan would be to build a new police department on Washington Avenue. Shelter building is an interim option. Again, it all boils down to funding. We don't know what those funds are. as the council has an idea of where our funding is at and 20, $25 million is not there today, if this sales or this public safety tax passes, would that be included in that capital project? That was the design would be the desire of that tax if it passed, yet along with a couple of fire stations. But we can't bank on what may and may not happen in November on a sales tax initiative. Without that, there's no going forward, as you don't see with our current situation. So we have to look as a council at how would we come up with $20 million, then what would financing on $20 million look like over the next whatever. So that's kind of where we're at on this. Again, this is a short-term interim facility, and I use the word interim sales tax passed or the public safety tax passes then that interim could be just a few years if it does not pass it could be 10 15 20. i don't know you know projection of sales tax in the city and what kind of growth that is what are the sources of income that comes into the city we don't know we can't predict that future But you, as the sitting body of the council, have a better idea of where the money is and how it needs to go. And there's other expenses across the city that has to be fulfilled also. So this is, again, a quick solution to an ongoing problem. DAVID BURRAGE.

Thank you, Chief. Next council will move on then to one of the last questions we had. Will the city make its money back on the purchase when and if the building is sold? And obviously as Chief just alluded to, we can't predict the future, but I think we all know the relevance of that corner lot and where it's located. We feel from what our appraiser said that obviously it'll hold its value and we know how rates have been going up when it comes to per square foot cost in the city of Jonesboro and the valuation. And, uh, if that time were to come that we would need to sell that facility, uh, I think we have a pretty good opportunity for getting back our funds, maybe even more than what the value we paid for the property. So, uh, are there anything else that you would like to add Steve or chief, um, before I turn it back over to Joe? Okay. Councilman Haffner.

All right. Thanks mayor. Um, and before I open the floor up to other committee members, I'm going to, give the Public Safety Committee Chairman Brian Emerson a chance to speak and say a few words or ask questions.

Sure thing, gotcha. Thank you, Chairman Hafner. I just wanna say great job on the presentation, Chief, administration, and Steve, I've been following the RFP on the short-term financing, and I would say from the banking side of the house, it's more than aggressive. I mean, 4.83% for what we're seeing for $3 million on a, I'm sorry, on an Amendment 87-type loan. It's a real good position for the city to be in on a five-year amortization that's on that side. Just a couple of questions I did have for you, Chief, and I had one that I also had for Mr. Pertee, is that what does this look like from our room to grow? Do we have room at that point in each of these facilities? How many years do you think that that might hypothetically put us in place for?

So, sure. The shelter building, the day we occupy it, we have about one office space left. Now, part of this... money that we're setting aside for some modifications in there would be to add two more offices go ahead and build it now for future growth i will first utilize this space for a kind of a conference room for our detectives then once we get to the point later down the road that i need more office space then we can sub that out into two maybe three more offices So there is that option. Again, once the real-time crime center moves out of Carraway, then that will free up space in that building also. So when we talk about the department growing, the criminal investigation division is down a couple of detectives, so that growth is going to be about, with the number they're at, plus two for the next several years. So not much growth going into the shelter building. Patrol division, those numbers, patrol officers, they're in for a briefing, they're out on the street. Whatever we have in records, that's pretty much gonna be the number we have in records. So as far as civilian staff, the only other growth I project down the road would be our media person, that has to deal with FOIAs and videos, things like that, because that's becoming the thing now, people wanting videos, and those demands, I've already hired one civilian for that, and she's got all that she can say grace over, plus Sally Smith, and there'll be a point in time I'll probably have to bring on another one, but there's room in this facility, the shelter building, to accommodate that. So as we look for the next 10, 15, we're stuck there in two buildings for the next 20 years. Can we make it happen? Sure.

Good deal. Thank you, Chief. Next question I had was in regards to the 57, and I think you spoke to this a little bit before, the old city hall. As far as that facility, once we have the new E911 center basically built out and there's no more need for the justice complex and the 57, is there anything at that point from us necessarily just demoing both of those buildings?

Well, my suggestion would be to demo the patrol building, probably as we're building the new real-time crime center. Once, when you have a new building set up, I really hate having this eyesore next to it. Two, we had a presentation the other night of the Children's Museum at the old Winter Wonderland, And I thought, well, this is kind of perfect timing that if we're looking at moving forward with that project, this would be additional space that could be used for parking or just additional green space downtown. But either way it goes, removing the eyesore would certainly make our new building more appealing. And then if the Children's Museum is going to tear that down and build a new facility, it would certainly enhance the looks of the whole block area down there. And then once we get rid of the criminal justice complex, after they move into the new building, and that will just free up more space. So between the two properties, when the day comes and the funding comes, we'll build a brand new police department.

Great, good deal. Thank you, Chief. Next thing, as far as these other departments that are gonna be moving to the Carraway Road location, do we foresee any cost associated with having to make any of those changes? I know we've already got a pretty big parking lot and a secure parking lot at that.

No, Carraway will accommodate... The number of people is about the same as what's in there now, so there's no difference. We fill the building up and we still have plenty of parking for classes of up to 30 plus people with parking left over. So right now it's kind of full. We're finishing up a fleet of cars and starting to get those out. And in the same process, we're starting to get rid of old cars, getting them off the lot. So what you see on the lot now will certainly change in the next few months. We're just getting stuff out of inventory and put into the fleet. So that whole lot is very spacious.

Good deal. Thank you, Chief. The next questions that I have are specific to finance, so I'll have Mr. Pertee. Thank you again, Chief. Mr. Steve, once again, just wanted to say good work on the RFP and we've been doing a little conversation back and forth today on the financing side of it and really appreciate your financial acumen kind of guiding us through this. One of the things that I just wanted to follow up on, which I would stand to say I'm in agreeance of purchasing the building and not necessarily going out of reserves, but for doing the financing side of it, But tell me, another reason that I was thinking that we would want to go that direction is because if we were to use the reserves that we had in there, doesn't that affect if we did any more bond issuances in the forward, I'm sorry, if we did any bond issuances moving forward as far as how that would affect our credit rating?

Now, our credit rating is such that to the extent of what level we would be probably extending the city would probably fit within the credit rating relative to that. I think what would be more impacting is any additional bonding is gonna have to have a specific revenue stream to support that. unless there happened to be a general sales tax pass relative to that. And then at that point, the council can commit some of that future funding for that. So it would be the creation of an additional revenue stream relative to that. As far as the guidelines, there's a 5% guideline of all of the assessed property in the city of Jonesboro Obviously, we're well within that with a $17 million loan and a $3 million short-term, $17 million bond and a $3 million short-term loan. So we're certainly within those categories as well. Another thing that you allude to that I think is important is that $3 million, as we kind of alluded to earlier, you know, if you look at an 8020 grant opportunity, that 20% match is going to produce $15 million of opportunity relative to other programs. So, you know, that's another thing that we look at there is, you know, we keep talking about those next home run grant opportunities that might come about. So just keeping ourselves aware of that as well. So I don't know if I specifically answered your question. So

You did, yes, sir. And it's always good to have ammunition for whenever those targets come around for us.

Exactly. You'll spend your reserve one time. Right. And then you've got to replenish it. And obviously, we already know what our operation budget is and how skinny it is on an annual year-over-year budget process. Yes, sir.

Gotcha. Thank you, Steve. That's all. Chairman Haffner.

Thank you. At this point, I'll recognize Dr. Charles Coleman.

I know we're not voting on anything and I'm excited about what I see, but, uh, I'm just going to make it just plain as I normally make playing. Uh, I appreciate the fastest of trying to get this information together, but I hope we'd be as fast when we start trying to give raises to the offices, you know, when we didn't want our budget. And I'm very serious about that because of the, the growth of what Jonesville, the second part of it, uh, I've been, I guess, almost drowning weekly with somebody asking me about moving out to Yvonne Watt Center so that people can get back in there. So community is almost driving me nuts about that. And I really didn't have any answers for them. So now I do have some. So those are the two main things that I'm going to always look for. It's okay to build a building. It's kind of like a church. Church people get stupid. They build buildings, but they don't build people. And so it's the same thing. If we build our people from a finance standpoint, you know, it would help us in this community.

Thank you, Chairman. You're not a doctor. Go ahead. Fisher Street.

Chief, there's 51 parking spots out there. Are you still confident that that will be adequate for the foreseeable future?

Yes, we're looking at 31 staff members moving in over there, so we'll have room for whatever visitors show up.

So you wouldn't foresee any expenditure for additional parking anytime soon?

You know, if it comes down to it, there's not a lot we could carve out. But if it does, that's something the city could probably handle pretty easy. But on this initial move, no, I'm not looking to make any additional changes. parking spots i think there is a little bit of concrete work that we have to do we have to add a exit door off of the training room for a fire code issue and i think there's some concrete that has to be flushed out to the parking lot for a path so other than that there's a wall that has to go in by the training room fire for fire code and so that's a quick quick fix, so that's the two biggest construction items. Couple HVAC issues and IT and we're moving. And in fact, even with those construction projects, I'm not looking to hold off not making any moves, depending on those, because the training room doesn't affect daily operations. They can come in and knock a hole in the wall and frame it up and put a door in and it won't affect anybody. And the wall in the hallway won't affect anybody. literally putting up a frame sheet rocket and put a door in. That will not hinder anything, what we're trying to do as far as getting in the facility up and running. This whole operation, this whole move, we're literally moving computers and personal effects. Most of the big bulky stuff is staying. I've got seven file cabinets out of records. That's about the biggest things that are being moved. And then after that, the existing furniture that's where it's at now is pretty much staying where it is. So theoretically, once you hand me the keys, could we be working within a week?

I think it's an excellent opportunity.

It all depends on IT, and IT assures us we can be up and running pretty quick. So, Dr. Coleman, for you and your constituents and your ward, yes, our goal would be to get out of the Eboo Center as soon as we can, get it painted and fixed up.

So if this is done the 23rd, that means you can move out that afternoon?

Our timeline goal was to be out by November, but I will— I'll take that challenge, but I think I can do it by October, if not sooner. I agree. I get the same comments as you do, and I agree that it has hindered the operation over there, and so, one, we're eager to get out of it because they're all You know, you've got six people in one open space trying to conduct business and bringing people in and gathering information to cause people on probation. So it's just not conducive to a good work environment. We're going to guess.

I was just going to tell him the police department is the last department I think we've got that we haven't really expended much on as far as consolidating, we've accommodated almost every other department and it's, I agree with Chief, the 57 is just, it's pathetic. It's fallen down around itself. There's actually trees and grass growing on top of the roof, have been for years. I saw on Scott Truth, there's a tree growing up there. but it leaks, and it's bad, and it is embarrassing, and I think this is a great opportunity for the city, and it'll take care of our short-term needs anyway, and I really believe that that's correct, that after we're done with the use of the building, with the appreciation rates, and LJ can probably attest to that, that's happening with most of the commercial properties right now. I don't see that we would lose anything on it at all. We would probably, in fact, gain a little money on it after we're done with it.

Thank you, Mr. McLean. All right, couple of questions. One, I appreciate the, I got a chance to walk through the building yesterday with Chief and I feel like it will provide something that's needed. A few questions though, maybe for Steve. Steve said we got 700,000 that it'll cost us yearly. I really, if that's the math on five year, 4.8, interest rate 700,000. My question is, and I would like to see, instead of something along these lines, I would like to see a financial analysis that gives me an idea how does that impact our budget? Especially if we have, uh, if we were fully staffed in the PD, we're fully staffed. Um, what does that do with, and we add 700,000, what does that do to us? Um, for the next five years? Uh, I think we should have that information on hand, um, in order to make a decision. Number one, um, Second thing, or second, I got a couple other things, was looking at the disclosure, and I did not see, I don't know if we have one, but it doesn't look like we got an inspection on the building. Does anybody know if we got an actual inspection on the building? I understand I saw your report as well, Craig, but again, inspection from someone that they do inspections, actual climb on the roof. Tell me if we had, again, there was some, there were a couple of water spots I saw also in the bill when you walk first walk in, you know, my question is, are we, are we buying an issue that we're going to spend more than,

We've had an architect and his supporting engineering staff or consultants go out and check all the systems at the facility.

No actual inspection tell me if the roof is good, if the roof is bad?

Our building inspections department has looked at the facility and we've done a pretty thorough job looking at the building.

Any concerns about water getting in anymore or?

No, we didn't see any water issues with the building.

Also, I didn't see any on the contract, no termite. Maybe that's not a big deal, I don't know, but they weren't providing that as well. Just a couple of small things, I think. Again, I don't want us to, take over an issue if it becomes one. But again, I would like to see something that gives us a breakdown and shows us what this impact, what this 700,000 is gonna do overall, again, if we are fully staffed at the PD. Because right now we're not fully staffed. Chief, you said you had some money left over from salaries right now. But again, if we're fully, and I would like to see, again, I'm a visual learner, so I need to see it. I know y'all explain things, but I'd like to see

Our current budget, as you currently have for 2026, is budgeted fully staffed. We will slightly trim some departments. Police department, for instance, we trimmed that by 10 patrol officers relative to a full budget. But other than that, we budget fully staffed.

allowing for a little bit of transition of turnover so the budget already includes fully staffed okay so when you send us something that shows us again we're adding 700 000 i'd like to see again maybe nobody else wants to see it but i would like to see it sure yeah um and follow up again on the Do y'all feel confident with not having an inspection, that our inspections department is good with that?

No, I think, Councilman, that's a point that obviously we can address with the party involved. Okay.

I think part of the inspections that didn't get brought up was when they looked at the HVAC system, that all the system was evaluated. There's 10 units. And it's my understanding from the staff at the facility that two of those were just recently replaced in the past few weeks. There was a couple... modifications that Kyle Cook and his group found on the HVAC that they'd like to make some modifications to kind of help with controlling the humidity. And again, some dampers or something, some change out things, and that's all included in this cost. So those are things they looked at, but other than that, everything's good to go.

I'd like to see a report on that as well. I think it's worth the money to get it looked at.

Did you get the report from Kyle Cook?

Yes. Again, that's an architect that's saying, hey, this is what it's going to cost me to fix.

He identified the potential HVAC issues in his report. That's what I'm speaking about.

I think we should have the roof looked at, have those water spots looked at, again, walk through it with a fine-tooth comb. If we all of a sudden discover, I don't think the roof is bad, but if we discover, you know, there's some wear on there that we need to address, I think we should get them to address it on the front end instead of us taking it on and all of a sudden we look up and we gotta spend, you know, X amount on a new roof on top of what we're already spending. That's my, again, that's my thoughts.

Okay. Yes, Mr. McClain. All right, we'll go to Mr. Miller.

Just one basic comment. I know nothing's perfect, but I think this building opportunity is very good. I don't want perfect getting in the way of good, as the old saying goes. I appreciate you getting back to me with the questions I've had. The presentation answered a lot of the questions I had. I was one of the ones that was basically asking questions, but why don't we purchase the building outright versus taking the loan? Steve, I appreciate you explaining that and breaking it down. Very reasonable. I understand that aspect, and I appreciate you putting that in there. But I think this is a good idea that I would like to see tried to move forward with.

Ms. Porter, Ms. Williams, do you all have anything at this time? Dr. Anthony Coleman?

The only thing I was thinking about was something that Dr. Coleman said earlier, and then just kind of spoke to what Mr. McClain said, too, is looking at the $700,000, but then also considering being fully staffed, having enough patrol on our growth, as well as increasing our officers salaries and how that would look. So if we can kind of project that, what would be a good number? I mean, I don't know, but I think that's good, which is why I asked earlier a few weeks ago about the plan itself. And so I appreciate it. That's all I had. Oh, one more thing. The appraiser, I wanted to know who the appraiser is.

Is there anything else at this time from the staff, the committee? If not, we'll open the floor up to the public. If anybody wants to come up and make a comment, ask a question, please state your name and address for the record.

Patty Lack, 4108 Forest Hill Road. So I just wanna say is that I'm not either for this or against this. I know that there's a need, but is it the city's top priority right now? I was a little shocked when I saw in the newspaper that, Mayor, that you had already offered a price offer on the building. I thought that's probably on contingent whether or not you guys pass it or not and I understand holding it but I was a little shocked to see that because I thought first we need to have a discussion first and then go from that. I know I spent some time with Chief Elliot a couple months ago when you guys were thinking about the two other buildings that we were having and talking about how many people were displaced and thank heavens we had those locations for them. But I think on this one right here is that not only all the numbers and the figures and stuff like that, you're looking at the cost of the building and the added $80,000 for the IT and some added costs there. I think one thing too that you have to think about is how much improvement are we gonna have to do at the office on Caraway to make that conducive to the people that are gonna be there at that location. So that's gonna be an extra cost and I haven't heard that. I think as city council people, I think, Here's just some of the things that, just food for thought that you guys have to think of before you say yes or no to. I know in the past city council meetings is that, I know Brian has said several times is that the money is pretty tight. We haven't rehired like our communications director. Some of the positions haven't been rehired and other people are doing that. But I've heard the money is tight. There's an election in November. What's the economy going to, how is it going to change? Is it going to change? I know that I heard that there's 17 officers that still need to be hired. And I think the incentive program is a great incentive program. And I'm glad to see that we've got some hired. But once again, is that you're going to have to look at the budget for next year and keeping and maintaining those people so they stay on. I know Steve Pertee mentioned something about this sales tax. If it stayed up and down, not really great or anything like that, I hope that we're not all counting on the sportsplex to be helping the city of Jonesboro. I think if we do this is that all of us are gonna have to be responsible for bringing in new businesses and keeping the old ones here to make sure that our sales tax stays the same or higher. The Safety First team, I have to tell you, those guys are busting their butt trying to get 3,600 signatures to get it on the ballot. They're busting their butt and I met with them and I told them the one reason why I have an idea that this is not going to pass and that's the thing is that I don't think we can assume that it's going to pass is that when it came out in the newspaper is that here was a list of items that was listed of saying what we could do with that sales tax if it passed. People don't like this. They want a specific area of where that's going. And all these guys that I've talked to is that the needs that they have is talking about maybe a new fire station, looking at their safety gear and helping them out versus paying money on a building. So when you think of that, is that we're at what, at 80,000 people? And I know we wanna get to 100,000 people, but we're so far behind, we're playing catch up. So how do we catch up if we don't pass the sales tax, but we get a new building, which definitely we do, but where's our priority right now? And I think when you look at all the needs of these the people that are trying to get the sales tax passed, I don't hear any of what we're gonna get other than maybe that money can go to the building. So I think what we have to do, and you guys have to do, And then plus two, people had their property taxes just increase. So you put a sales tax increase on a ballot, you're probably not going to get it passed. So I hope that if it's on the ballot, people pass it because we probably need it. But is it going to pass? It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. And I think the last thing that I have to say to all of you and I think this is, and you know, thank heavens for your input here and the work that you guys do, but as of last year, and we haven't heard a whisper about this, and I hate to say his name, but we have no idea what's going on with the investigation with Danny Kapolis, and when their spending of money is that the taxpayer is looking at all of you guys of are you spending it the most wisely, because if it was your money, would you invest it? And so to me is that it's a trust factor that people are gonna be looking at this, but I hope you take into account all these ideas before you decide.

Thank you.

Anybody else from the public or chief, you got a comment?

Yeah, if I can give a rebuttal to, that's one of Ms. Lack's comments about making changes. So we're literally leaving one desk and going across town to another desk. in all aspects. So whatever offices at Caraway that these people vacate, other groups are coming in and sitting at the same desk and going back to work. So at best, if there's maybe some paint that needs to be done or whatever, but that's just part of routine maintenance that the maintenance department handles. That's not part of this project. We're literally just picking up personal effects and shifting everything around, setting back down, going back to work. As I said earlier, there's not a lot of big pieces of equipment to be moving. This is why this facility with all the furnishings is a deal. We're talking 150 plus thousand dollars in furnishings, and I think that's conservative.

Thank you. Anybody else from the public like to make a comment or ask a question? Going once, going twice. If there's, Mayor, do you have anything else you want to say?

I'm good.

I just want to say I appreciate everybody's time and effort they put into today's presentation. A lot of good discussion, a lot of good questions. And we'll see where this goes. At this time, I'll call for a motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We stand adjourned. Thank you all.