Finance & Administration Council Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, It's 04:00. I'm gonna call today's Finance and Administration Council Committee meeting to order. Please record your attendance by pushing the appropriate button. We do have a quorum today. Next up is approval of minutes from the committee meeting on Tuesday, 01/13/2026.

Move to approve unless there's no change.

Second.

Motion second to approve. Any comments on the minutes as presented. If not, please record your vote on whether or not to approve the minutes. All right, we'll move into new question. Board.

I department jet, whereas the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, through its Jonesboro Economic Transit operations, has an ongoing need to maintain and improve safe, reliable, and ADA compliant transportation services for the public, and whereas staff performed extensive research to locate vehicles to replace current vehicles that need replaced in our current fleet, whereas the city has identified the need to purchase three low floor buses to support transit and mobility services, and whereas a quote has been received from ARBOC Specialty Vehicles LLC for three ARBOC type K low floor cutaway and whereas the quoted vehicle is available for purchase through the state of Oklahoma contract number SW0797CFY2026, which qualifies as a cooperativestate bid procurement method permitted under applicable purchasing laws and policies for $211,074 each or $633,222 total and whereas sufficient funds have been identified and are available for this purchase in the appropriate budget or grant accounts, therefore be resolved by City Council of City of Jonesboro, Arkansas that's number one, the City of Jonesboro hereby approves the purchase of three Arbok type K low floor cutaway vehicles from ARBOC Specialty Vehicles LLC, utilizing the reciprocal bid for the State of Oklahoma contract number SW0797CFY2026 in accordance with the submitted quote dated 01/21/2026.

Number two, Mayor Harold Copenhagen, City Kirk April Leggett are hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jonesboro to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this purchase.

Moving forward to full council. Second.

Motion seconded forward to full council. Any questions or comments regarding this To

approve that accepted, we need to go back and change that up. Amid the title.

Title? Can you tell me what the title needs to be?

The title should read a resolution to accept the bid authorizing the purchase of three buses for the transit department.

So take out the waiving.

Okay, I'll make a motion that we exchange that with the update of what that term needs to be in that

motion. Second.

Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. Anything else, Doctor. Coleman? That's it. Mr. McLane? Yeah,

do have a couple of questions. Replacing current vehicles or is this in addition to what we currently have?

It's actually a little bit of both. So we do still have some of our older fleet vehicles that we have in service. I don't know the specifics right off the top of my head, but I believe it's two of them will be replacing two of the ones that we have. But then also there will be one that will be in addition to. What that's helping us do is to get to our surplus amount. So the FDA does require for the number of routes that you have, the number of vehicles that you have in service that you have 20% in a reserve. So that way if one of them were to be offline, you would be able to have that backup vehicle and not lose service during that time.

Is this are the so these are the ADA vans?

They're not vans, they are actually buses. This is a slight departure from the buses that you've seen previously. This ARBOC company that makes their low floor, they are actually a front load similar to what you'd see in a traditional transit bus at one of the other cities. There's only one entrance way. That same entrance way is both for the walking public and for any of those that are ADA.

Your securement locations are right there by the driver. What this is going to allow is it's going to allow the drivers to not have to get out of the vehicle into traffic, walk around the vehicle, operate the lift and be able to load those customers whenever we have them. They can actually step from their seat directly into where the customers are, assist those customers as they are loading and then be able to secure them right there by where the driver seat area is and still have all of the same amount of room that a standard cutaway bus that we utilize does. So it's just a better format for what we've been using.

So you said how much will we get for trading? Because I know we're going to spend $633 but do we have a number on that?

The standard process with the FDA is it's not like a trade in like what some of the other departments do where they'll trade in an old vehicle. Once a vehicle has met its useful life, which is so many years and or so many miles, which the ones that we're looking at replacing are all way over their exceeded life. What that is, is that value for that vehicle is no longer enough for the FDA to account for it. So what our vehicles, what typically happen for those is they will go into an auction whenever that auction comes around. With the FDA, if we do actually sell the vehicle or trade it in, and again, I don't know numbers off the top of my head, but if we exceed a certain percentage of what the vehicle was originally purchased for, we have to pay back that FTA portion in full.

So what what we do is we use those vehicles basically until they're done, done and then they go to auction. The two vehicles in question that we're looking at, they're upwards of 300,000 miles that they have on them.

Thank you.

Yes. Anything else from the committee? Anything else from staff or the public in attendance?

Yes. So with this as an ADA item, know it's either 8020 or did we I might have to ask Chris to look on that if this one would qualify for the $85.15 Typically a capital purchase is 80.2 but there are some ADA grant capabilities that may allow us to get just a little bit more, but I think this one is at $80.2 I'd have double check to confirm but eightytwenty is still great.

You. Anything else? Alright, if there's nothing further, please cast your vote on whether or not to forward resolution twenty six zero zero nine to full council. Next up is resolution twenty six zero one one, a resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorized purchase of streetlights, whereas the City of Jonesboro mayor's office has determined the RAB ALED five T52PCT LED post top light or equivalent light fixtures and RAB PR4 dash 11 dash 15 D two or equivalent light posed to be the city standard for all pedestrian friendly and pedestrian priority streets, or as a local distributor can start these fixtures as part of their normal inventory and can maintain an adequate supply of replacement parts as needed. Now therefore be it resolved by city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas that section one, the specialized, the best, specified light fixtures and light poles are available from Tech Electric of Jonesboro, Arkansas per the attached quote.

Section two, due to the need to be able to access this lighting and replacement parts quickly for the preservation of public safety in the community, the city council in accordance with the terms of ACA section fourteen-fifty eight-three zero three hereby weigh the requirement of competitive bidding and direct the purchasing agent to purchase the above described light fixtures and light poles for the price set forth above.

Move forward to full council. Second.

Motion taken forward to full council. Any questions or comments from the committee? Anything from staff or the public in attendance? If not, please record your vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26,011 to full council. Resolution 26,012, resolution by the city council of Jonesboro, Arkansas authorizing the offer and acceptance to purchase additional right of way on South Fairway Road for the purpose of constructing and maintaining roadway improvements, whereas the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas desires to purchase the following described right of way for the purpose of constructing and maintaining roadway improvements.

Legal description follows and follows and follows. Whereas an offer has been made and accepted to sell the above described property for the price of $154,700 Where as the tax offer and acceptance will be executed upon passage of this resolution. Whereas the funding for this purchase shall come from the capital improvement budget, therefore be it resolved by city council for the city of Jonesboro that section one, the mayor and city clerk are hereby authorized to execute the documents necessary to effectuate this transaction.

Move forward to full council. Second.

Second. Any questions or comments from the committee?

I was wanting to get some clarity on where this starts. I haven't gone out there and mapped this out dense north eighty four degrees, forty nine feet and fifty one inches. Was just

It is the intersection of Laderette and South Caraway. The lots to the north on the West side of the road, there's two of them. They're owned by BC Express and we're buying frontage along Caraway Road between Ladder Red and the bridge on the west side of the road.

Is that I guess this is in addition to what we have already planned through our bond, our revenue

bond? This is part of that bond project, yes. This is for the South Caraway Road project for the construction. This is the very last piece of right of way for that project.

That's what I was gonna ask you.

How many more we had to go? Know you didn't have many.

Yeah, we were down to two and they were both kind of expensive and we were kind of waiting until we knew we had funding for the project before we ran them through. So as the project's funded, we know that it's time to buy them right away. So these are the last pieces for that.

Is there a reason we didn't use the bond funds to purchase this property?

I mean, we're using

This capital improvement?

I mean, it can come from the bond. We can modify that, I think, if that's what we need to do. Don't know how much was set aside in the bond for this particular project, 5,500,000.0.

Do we need to amend something here?

We've not purchased any other property through the bond. It's always been through capital improvement.

Talking about a capital improvement for the other properties? We just don't want to have this on the consent agenda or I mean, do we need to hold it or?

I can make sure it's not on consent. What? I can make sure that's not on consent.

Yeah, just don't, we'd not put it on consent agenda and we can decide if we need to amend it or not.

Yeah, mean the bond does allow proceeds from the bond are legally allowed to purchase right away in any part of the project there and forth. We can double check our finances to make sure there's nothing wrong with putting this on the capital improvement bond schedule. But either which way, I mean, was a budgeted project, but if we can charge it back to the capital improvement bonds, that's fine too. But we can check and make sure that there's no issue with that.

Any other questions from the committee? Any other comments from staff? Seeing none, please cast your vote on whether or not forward resolution 26,012 to full counsel. Resolution 26,013, resolution expressing the willingness of city of Jonesboro to submit an application to the US Department of Transportation for the FY 2026 better utilizing investments to leverage development grant, whereas the application process is now open and is accepting proposals for the US Department of Transportation FY 2026 bill grant, and whereas the project would complete a makeover of the busy Caraway Road commercial corridor, Koffameni City and RDOT projects along the I555 interchange corridor and whereas this project would improve vehicular traffic on two roads leading to a new 203,000 square foot Ridge Athletic Center complex scheduled to open next year, whereas The Ridge was conceived to address local and regional demand for large scale amateur sports venue with an economic impact estimated at $43,000,000 annually, and whereas The Ridge's long term success depends on, one, widening Caraway Road, two, expanding the intersection at Race, and three, accommodating pedestrians en route to The Ridge with sidewalks and side paths, and whereas the City Jonesboro is requesting up to 21,000,000 in bill grant funding to widen Caraway Road, expand the intersection at Ray Street, and accommodate pedestrians en route to The Ridge with sidewalks and side paths.

Now therefore be it resolved by city council, for the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas that section one, the Jonesboro City Council supports the submission of the FY 2026 build grant application to the United States Department of Transportation. Section two, the mayor and city clerk are hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas to execute all necessary documents to effectuate this application. Section three, the grants and community development department is hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas to submit all necessary documents for this federal aid program. Section four, the city council does hereby authorize the mayor and his designee to execute all agreements and contracts regarding any future award of bill grant funds.

Move forward for council. Second.

Motion taken for council.

We'll go

ahead and

Y'all wanna hear it?

Yeah, have before we ask

a description of what we're talking about here if you want. So this is in years past, I guess last couple of years it's been the RAISE grant and it's gone back to be called the BUILD grant now. That's the RAISE grant was the rebuilding American infrastructure with sustainability and equity and this administration has gone back to build which is better utilizing investments to leverage development. And I think the last couple of years it's been the application has been for trails that we can connect with Brooklyn Paragould and here. And after we got the notice of funding opportunity, it was released, I believe 05:00 the day before Thanksgiving is when that came out.

And when we got that and we read through that application, I mean, the first thing that stood out was that nowhere in that notice was the word trails. And so it's definitely a shift in priorities. There was an emphasis on building vehicular capacity and things like that. And also in being able to tie in to existing investments or maybe even completing a project. So we started looking for something that we could tie into larger investments and then also where there was a need, especially to help with traffic and then also with pedestrians with them being able to be out of the flow of traffic.

And so that's how we came up with this intersection there at Race And Caraway which leads to the new Ridge Complex. So we've got this investment that the city is making there, making a large investment there. There's a lot of traffic that goes through that intersection. And so when you're gonna have events there and you're gonna have tournaments and all those things, it's gonna just increase that traffic. And so being able to put work into that intersection help that and then also the pedestrian accommodations.

And then being able to take it over five fifty five, which we talked with the highway department about, Department of Transportation about being able to do pedestrian accommodations across the overpass and then connect with South Care Way and that allows us to connect it with the investments the city is making in South Care Way. So there's an investment of 5,500,000.0 or so South Care Way and then we're going to connect that to North Care Way over the overpass to this intersection there, Race And Care Way and have pedestrian accommodations. And so that just allows us to we're making an investment, the city's making an investment in this complex and also in South Caraway. The state is making an investment in the things that they are doing on 555. And so we can tag onto that to try and strengthen our application to be able to get this grant.

And we think it's taken a lot of work in the last couple months to try and figure out, it was kind of like nailing Jell O to the wall as our grant writer Mark said a few times as we were working through this process. And Craig and his department really helped us get the information we need to be able to, we think we were able to put together a strong proposal, strong application that reflects the priorities of the current Department of Transportation. So that's what we went for.

Thanks for all your work on this. Sure. It'd be great to get it. Any questions from the committee?

Just wanted to make sure I'm understanding and I'm looking at it correct. Can you email us these diagrams?

I think so, Yeah.

Just so I can see.

Now north is gonna be North is to the right. Yeah, north will be to your right.

And then to the left, I'll see all the red

lines.

Yes. Are those, explain to me, is that sidewalk, side path? Which one is side path? The red. The red is

side path.

The blue is sidewalk.

Now I can see it.

And then yellow, what is yellow?

Anything? The

yellow section down by Higginbotham Creek, you see that going all the way down to the storage units? Or is it

That's just the center lines of the road. So you can see the multi lane roadway. So the yellow is the yellow lines making it five lane down to three lane.

Well, this doesn't even go there. This actually goes to what, Parker Road or Phillips?

That's showing what the city's already gonna do.

South Gareway, yes. I should be looking at Parker Road going north to Ray Street going west, correct? I believe so, yes. We go. Zoom in for me.

There go.

All right. Okay.

Yeah, that's right.

Okay. And then so we're going the other way. Scroll the other way. There we go. There it is.

And Got it. And making improvements there on Phillips Drive. So it's Phillips Drive And Caraway, Ray Street Caraway? Yes.

Going Okay. All

the way up to Highland. That's good. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. And highway department or Department of Transportation, always still wanna call them the highway department. We've talked to them and they're gonna work with us on right away and different things to be able to get those pedestrian accommodations done. So that's a big deal for them to allow us to do it across that overpass.

Mean that carry away is a state highway correct?

No, it's not. No, that overpass going Ayersburg Redwood. Yeah, 555, that's them letting us put pedestrian accommodations there. Got it.

Right, thank you.

Anything else from anybody on this one? Mr. Richardson?

Similar to the comments I made earlier today, grants department and engineering department refused to brag on themselves. But to be able to turn around from a notice of funding the day before Thanksgiving to completing this project and doing all the research involved is a pretty herculean task when you're putting together a bill grant or a raise grant. It's really data driven and I'd just like to thank them for all their hard work and that staff. There's a lot of research that goes into it. And thankfully, we had a lot of traffic studies and stuff related to the Ridge Athletic Center that we're able to kind of piggyback off of.

There's a lot of work that's went into this. At the end of the day, we're improving intersections that are identified that are already performing below optimal preferences. So if we're able to get this, I think that between the work the city is doing south of the interstate and combine this with North Interstate, we're really preparing Caraway Road for kind of a revitalization and a redevelopment of a lot of properties that are still undeveloped. And I think that investment in the Coralworth City between that and Reggie Athletic Center will really pay dividends for a long time.

I like the fact that the pedestrian pedestrian accommodations are coming in at this point rather than after the fact because we've done that later having the more northern part of Caraway later that was outside walls for a long time. Then after the back some after some time, finally got sidewalks there. And so it's good to have it early on in the early stages.

Yeah. It's certainly over the years. Lack of pedestrian infrastructure on Carroll Road is a very common complaint. I think the the city council and administration and and all the departments were working together to help fund a big chunk of that and hopefully this gets us all the way to Highland Drive.

Because we finally with Carrowway finally accomplished it using ramps for public transportation for jets because of the stops there on Caraway using some of that for capital improvement. But that shows how long Caraway and that portion of Caraway was without sidewalks. Infrastructure

is expensive. So this will be a great boost to that.

All right, well if there's no further questions or comments, please cast your vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26,013 to full council. Last time under new business is a municipal lien. I'll just read it by title only. Resolution 26,015, resolution by city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, to place a municipal lien on property located at 2404 Brazos, Parcel One-one Hundred 44280 One-twenty 9400 owned by Kingdom Assets LLC in the amount of $275

Move forward to full council. Second.

Any questions or comments on this item from anybody in council chambers? Seeing none, please place your vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26.015 to full council. Right, last time under new business, I'm not aware of any pending items. Does anybody on the committee have any other business for us today? If not, we'll move into public comments. Gives public a chance to comment on something that was not already discussed on today's agenda. Takers? Next item is adjournment.

So moved.

Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We stand adjourned.