City Council - Regular Meeting

been the past couple years. I can't remember a time, so I thought it would be prudent to provide an update to our regulatory authority about just a few things. I want to talk about projects that are really driving a lot of our, really keeping us busy, taking a lot of our time and energy right now. I want to talk about our strategic planning process a little bit, and I want to recognize some of my leadership team because, you know, without Without them, a lot of these projects that I'm going to talk about are not going to happen. So I wanted to do that. And this is just a conversation. As I'm going through this, if you guys have questions, then feel free to ask those of me, and I'll be happy to try to answer them as best I can. We do a strategic planning. We go through a strategic planning process every three to five years with our board of directors. And during that process, we developed our mission, our vision, and our core values, along with staff. And so our vision is we're committed to serving our customers with excellence, planning for the future, and delivering exceptional services to our community. And then our mission, it's very simple. You know, we are dedicated to exceeding our customers' expectations in producing and delivering safe, affordable, reliable, innovative, and environmentally sound utility and telecommunication services while enhancing the quality of life in our community. So everything that we do, we try to filter through that mission. So it's very important to us, and we try to live that mission every day. And then I talked about our core values. There are seven of them. It's really the culture, of our company, the personnel of our company, and they're very important to us. And that's how we think about the work that we do. It's how we think about how we build our team, and it's how we respond to our customers. So it's customer satisfaction, innovation, reliability, safety, responsibility, community, and employee engagement, and they're really important to us. And I think they've always been core values of Conway Corp, but we never really wrote them down until just a few years ago. And again, that's along with our mission. That's really how we try to serve our customers and achieve our mission. So, uh, speaking of team, I wanted to recognize some of my leadership team. Uh, they are here, uh, Crystal Kemp, our chief customer officer, she's here, Erin Brown. our chief financial officer, Aaron's in attendance, Jason Hansen, our chief information officer, and Brett McDaniel, our chief operating officer. So they're all here. They're the officers that I work with. I'm very proud of this team. I've worked with many, as you can see, the tenure that's there, I've worked with a lot of them many years. I also have Chris Odom. He's a regulatory and risk management director. Many of you guys remember Bill Buffay. Bill retired earlier this year, and Chris took Bill's spot. Amanda Jessen is really our executive assistant. Amanda does a lot for all of us. Jim Clark is our human resources director, and Monica Reap is our internal audit director. And between us, there's 165 years of combined experience. So I think that's important. And one thing also that I would note, if you're on the leadership team, it is written into the job description. You have to live in the city limits. You have to live... in Common Corp service territory, because I think we better empathize and serve our customers if we understand what they're going through. So all of those people live in the City Limits of Common. They live in our services, and I think that's really important. And as long as I'm in charge, that's going to continue to be a requirement for the executive leadership team. And then our strategic priorities. So there's five of them. And our board of directors is very involved in our strategic planning process. They help us set our strategic priorities and our strategic areas of focus. And then staff develops goals to achieve and execute against those strategic priorities. So customer experience, you know, we want to foster a culture where customers feel confident, engaged, respected, and valued. We take customer service very seriously. Enterprise risk management, that's where our finance and accounting department You know, identify, assess, and balance risks and opportunities to enhance organization decision-making. Infrastructure, that's a big one for us right now, and we want to plan and invest in infrastructure to ensure safety, efficiency, and reliability. And then the last two is team. Track, develop, and retain knowledgeable and high-performing teams. while encouraging individual growth and organizational excellence. And then technology. We want to collaborate and deliver innovative technology while enabling organizational efficiency, agility, and data-driven decisions. So those are our five strategic priorities. There are goals associated with each of them. I'll go over them in just a few minutes. But I wanted you to understand that, you know, our board is very involved in that process and helps us step through that. We do everyone every three to five years. And the one that we're currently working on is one that will carry us from 2025 through 2030. So I talked about customer experience. I'm not gonna cover every bullet point in here. There are a handful of projects that are very important that are really taking most of our time and energy right now. I'll focus most of the discussion on those projects I want you to be. Now you've probably heard of them, either through our newsletters or our annual report, or maybe as we've talked about bond issues related to funding some of these projects. You will be aware of them, but I wanted to give you a little more detail. And by the way, there is a packet on your desk A white packet there that has our strategic plan. It also has our annual report. It also has information on that. It has information on our independence gas plan, a new project that we're working on. And then it has some information on our long-term water supply project. And so I want you to have that information, just a little more detail there, but I wanted you to have that. so you could review it. And then if you have questions for me later, I'd be happy to answer those questions. But anyway, with regard to customer experience, we take that very seriously. And again, I'm not going to read each of the bullet items, but I do want to focus on the last two. You know, we elevate our commitment to the community by increasing meaningful engagement through services, education, and economic development initiatives. And we continue to invest in customer service training across all levels of the organization. So regardless of where you work, you don't have to have customer service in your title to be focused on customer service. So if our employees in the field bump into somebody and they're asking about something that's going on at Conway Corp., we don't want them to say, that's not my job. I don't know what's going on there. We want them to be able to get them to somebody who can answer that question. So we take customer service very, very seriously. And we want everybody to be involved in that regardless of what their title might be. Enterprise risk management, we try to really mitigate things that can impact our financial health, but also from a safety perspective, we try to mitigate risk from a safety perspective. We also try to mitigate risk from a cyber security perspective. So those things are front and center, top of mind all the time for us. But I wanted to just talk about those things in particular. Our financial health is very strong. But it's something you have to pay attention to along with the other items that are listed here. And by the way, I should mention, I'll go back to the previous slide if I can. So customer experience, that's really an area that Crystal Camp is responsible for. The enterprise risk management, that's an area that Aaron Brown is responsible for. And then I'll move on to infrastructure. That's Brett McDaniel's concern. I will talk in more detail about the first three bullets. Those are very important projects to us, and I'll talk in more detail about those. But in the strategic planning process, the members of my leadership team are assigned certain parts of strategic planning just to make sure. Now, they're not responsible for every bit of the work. They have a team that works on these things, but But if I have a question about anything related to infrastructure, I go to Brett and Daniel. And enterprise risk management, I go to Aaron Brown. Customer experience, I go to Crystal Kim. Team, that's Jim Clark. He's our HR director. And again, I think we, over the years, we've developed a very engaging culture. I think that there's a lot of ways to measure that as we built the team. The Common Corp team, there's a lot of ways that you can measure that. But our turnover is virtually nonexistent. Now, we do engagement surveys to understand how our employees are engaged and how we can make improvements in those areas. But we have very little turnover. And I think if there's one thing you can look at about whether or not you've got a good place to work, I think that is an important factor. And we, again, take that very, very seriously. And, again, Jim Clark is responsible for the team part of our strategic plan. Technology, that's Jason Hansen's area. I will talk in more detail about the second bullet, our enterprise resource planning customer information system, work order management implementation. That's an important project. We'll go live early next year, and I'll talk in more detail about that. But technology is important to us. It helps us work efficiently. It helps us plan for the future. And so I'm thankful that we certainly plan around the work that we're doing there and hold ourselves accountable to those things. All right, replacement generation. So there's a handful of projects I want to talk about in more detail, just to give you guys some information about them. So as you guys probably remember, White Bluff and Independence that we have ownership interest in, they're going to cease burning coal in 2028, 2030. As you might remember in 2018, Entergy had a settlement with the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. So Really at that time, we decided, well, we need to be thinking about additional basal generation. How are we gonna plan for the future to serve our customers? And so really we began to think in 2018, what are we gonna do with those coal plants going away? And so for all the reasons that it made sense to us in the late 70s, 1977, to invest in some generation facilities, it still makes sense to us today. There's an important component. We have generation interconnection rights at that facility. So we have firm transmission in the mycelium market. It's an extremely important concept. There's no studies that have to be done to make sure we can you know, put electrons on the grid. And also it gives us some price certainty. It mitigates our customers' exposure to the market, all of our customers, residential through industrial. And so having that ownership really is a good hedge and it helps us keep our electric rates low. Some of our project partners on this project are the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Jonesboro, the city of Jonesboro, the city of West Memphis, and the East Texas Electric Cooperative. So they all had ownership interests in White Bluff and Independence, and they'll have an ownership interest in this project as well. And to let you know, our ownership interest in this is about 4%. That about 4% is what Conway Corp owns or will own. It's a combined cycle natural gas generation facility. And I think one of the reasons that's important is that the carbon emission profile related to a combined cycle natural gas plant is half of what it is related to coal. So that's gonna be really good for the environment, certainly compared to what we're dealing with right now. It's very efficient. We believe that it'll generate more electricity. Sometimes, frankly, the coal plants are just not in the money, but we believe this natural gas plant will be. We estimate completion of this project January the 1st of 2031 is when we hope to be putting electrons onto the grid. And then our estimated cost, just the Common Core portion, is $100 million. That's the estimate. You guys might remember we came to the city council, oh, maybe it was last year, to borrow the first tranche of money related to this project. So anyway, so I wanted to let you guys know about that. But that's a rendering of what it will look like. And that's in the Newark area. Independence County is where that project is. Any questions about that so far? That's, I think, a great picture of work that we did. You guys might remember being under mandatory curtailment in September of 2024. It had nothing to do with the lake level. We had a lot of water in the lake at that time. But we have one lake line that comes from Brewer to the city of Conway. It's about 45 years old. It's a single point of failure. And typically when we find an area that needs maintenance, we have a clamp that we can put on the line that will fix it temporarily until we can get out there and do a permanent fix when the water demands are down. But when we begin to uncover this line, The bottom sort of fell out of it, and so we had to deal with it right then. So we made sure our tanks were full, and then we went out there about midnight and got started, and they got the work done the very next day. So it was a great effort. But I think, you know, I told them, if there's the silver lining, it reminds us why we need a parallel line, because this will give us some redundancy if we need to work on one or the other. We've got a line to cover. to get water to our water treatment plant. So the Brewer Lake water line, the parallel line, will not only provide us some redundancy related to our 45-year-old line, but also will give us some extra supply and capacity to our water treatment plant. We've expanded that by eight million gallons and we can't take advantage of that capacity until we get an extra line. So that's an important part of this project. We expect to issue bonds on this in the first or second quarter of next year. Construction will be from 2027 to 2028, and we estimate the cost of this is around $50 million. So it's an expensive project. In the long-term water source, you guys have heard us talk about that a little bit. And just to give you some context about the timing of these projects. We joined, oh, sorry. I'm not going to mess with this. I want to keep that right there. So we joined the Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance in 2001. They are, it's an association of 27 water providers. We're one of them. And really the reason for that is because when you deal with governmental agencies like the Corps of Engineers, they're not going to deal with 27 individual water providers, but they will deal with one organization that represents them And so that's what what mid Arkansas water lies is and so we're members of that association We got our first allocation from Greer's Ferry, and that's a right to use water from that lake And that was approved in 2010 so nine years later And sometimes it just takes a while when you're working With the government and so we got our first allocation in 2010 eight years later. We got our second allocation and And so between 2010 and 2018, the allocations totaled 6 million gallons a day. And then we got a third allocation of a million gallons in 2020. And that was because one of the members decided they didn't want a million gallons. And so we said, yeah, we'll actually take that. And we had to sort of compete with two other water providers to get that allocation. So we have about... seven million gallons a day our partnership with community water systems provides us about 21 million gallons a day and uh we did a water supply study in 2019 chris engineers helped us with that and what they said based on our population growth we expected that we need another source of water in 2035 to 2037. that was the expectation And so anyway, that's what we're working towards. The project partners on that are Community Water Systems, Conway County, a regional water distribution district. So they share Lake Brewer with us. They also have an allocation from Greer's Ferry. And then some additional steps related to this project. So we'll work with the Corps of Engineers for permitting. We have an application into them right now. There'll be design work that's required. There'll be right-of-way acquisition that we'll need to perform, and then construction. We expect the construction to take place between 2030 and 2035 with an estimated total cost of $450 million. Now that's not just our cost, that's the total project cost we're still working on. The details with community water systems to determine how to allocate those costs but that's what the estimated total costs are right now. So it's 37 miles from the intake to the land that we purchased on the northeast side of town and so that's a that that's a one of the critical path items is just working with those landowners to get access to run a raw water line through their property right and then fiber that's that's a big project for us um that we hope to complete over the next three years or substantially complete by 2028 so we're in a competitive market there we're competing with other broadband providers and technology companies, and so we've gotta make sure we provide competitive solutions. If we have fiber that offers additional products and services that are currently not available with our HFC, hybrid-fibered coax network, and because fiber, there's not a lot of actives on the system, there's not amplifiers and things like that, it'll reduce O&M cost. So we're excited about that, and again, substantial completion. is expected in the fourth quarter of 2028 with an estimated cost of $35 million. And that's the area that we have planned to build fiber in. So that's, again, a very important project for us. And then finally, this is more internal infrastructure. So we're on an old legacy work order management customer information system. It's on an AS400 platform. People that program on those platforms They're not educating them anymore. RPG programming is not something that they teach in school anymore. And frankly... RPG programmers are getting up in age. So the existing system that we have is nearing obsolescence, and there are some functional limitations. So we expect increased operational efficiency. It's a flexible cloud-based solution with strong security and integration capabilities. We plan to go live with this early next year, May 17th of 2027. It's about a $4.5 million project. SpryPoint is the software that we selected, and Whitlock Consulting is helping us with this very important project. And ours is unique. You know, if it was just electric water and sewer, it would be relatively easy. Nothing's extremely easy, but we're relatively easy. But when you introduce the telecommunications component, it makes it much more challenging. So they've been good partners and everything is moving along as we expect. Any questions about any of those projects? I know I went through those pretty quickly. So, Dave, do you have a question?

Yes, sir. And I may not ask this exactly the right way, but back to the community water project. Yes, sir.

Yeah.

So, currently with Brewer Lake, and disregard for a minute the curtailment and the drought and everything that's going on now, but under normal circumstances, what is the... average daily use out of Lake Brewer? Or how much do we get out of Lake Brewer daily on average?

Yeah, okay. Yeah, I understand your question. So we have 12.3 or 12.4 million gallons a day of firm yield. And so the average during the course of the year, David, the average over the year is about 10 million gallons a day. That's the average. Now, in the summer months, it could be 15, 16 million gallons a day. We've reached a peak in 2012. We never sold as much water as we did in 2012. We reached a peak of 19 million gallons a day. in 2012, but the average is about 10 million gallons a day.

So on that, when this community water system project is up and running fully, tell me again, how much we can get daily from Griers Ferry? Yeah.

Well, the plant that we plan to build is a 16 MGD. So a 16 million gallon a day plant. Uh, and again, part of that will be allocated to community water systems. So we, we don't know the exact, you know, they're serving customers in the county. We've talked about 60-40, 60% us, 40% them, so 60% of 16 MGD, but nothing is, we're still in the planning process right now, but that's sort of the plan right now. The footprint of the property will allow us to expand the size of the plan. We can double the size of the plan, but the initial build is planned for 16 million gallons a day. Okay, great. Thank you, sir.

You bet.

Good question. So I want to talk a little bit, as I'm kind of wrapping up, I want to talk a little bit about what I believe to be the value of your community-owned utility system. So we've been a part of this community for 97 years. Our employees are committed to excellence and exceeding our customers' expectations. We're a nonprofit corporation. I think that translates into the graphic that you see to the right. We enjoy some of the lowest electric rates in the state. Our electric rates are 30% cheaper than if you move outside in the county. So our residential, our customers save, this is residential customers, they save 33% on their electric bill, and water is 43% cheaper. So we think that's very important, one of the reasons why a community-owned utility system is important. And then finally, you know, we support the local government through lease and franchise fees. Our employees live and work, not all of our employees live in the city limits, but they live and work in our community. There's 260 employees that live here, shop here, eat here. I think that's an important benefit. You know, we were formed in 1929 to serve education. There were two, as you guys well know, there were two institutions, Hendricks and CBC. They were thinking about leaving our community. That's when we incorporated. So we continue to support education across all levels at the higher ed, secondary, public and parochial schools. And so that's important. You know, the educational part of our community is extremely important. I mean, I moved here. I came to UCA as a college student. And apart from three years when I lived in Russellville, I've lived in Conway now longer than I lived anywhere else. And so that's an important driver of our economy is young people move to our community, end up going to Hendrix, UCA or CBC, and they end up staying in Conway. And so that's an important part of our relationship. Reliability. We are a RP3 or reliable public power provider, diamond designee. There are other reliable public power providers in the state, but we're the only diamond designee. So I think our team works really hard to make that happen. Local customer service and support. If you call, if you have to call somebody, you're talking to somebody right here in Conway or somebody that lives, your neighbor, somebody that you know. And so we believe that's important. We take that very seriously. We believe that's a competitive advantage for us. And finally, we talked about the cost of some of these projects, but I want to let you know that our engineering team works real hard to try to secure state and federal grants. for the projects that we're working on. And just over the past few years, they've secured almost 24 million gallons, 24 million gallons, $24 million of grants for water and sewer projects. And that's money that we didn't have to get from our customers, that we didn't have to recover through rates. We just secured that because of hard work and the dedicated need, in demonstrating the need for money to help those projects. So I just wanted to share that with you guys as well. And then that's all that I have. I'd be happy to entertain questions, ask any question that you guys, answer any question that you guys may have. Yeah, sure. Sure, Mark. Yeah. I think Brett may be able to, Brett McDaniel may be able to help me on that, but I think early next year is the plan for completion. Is that accurate, Brett? October this year or next year. Okay. So even quicker, even. Yeah. So even, even quicker October of this year. So I knew it was coming up. I didn't know exactly when. So I know it's a, it's a inconvenient for our customers driving over bumpy roads and having to shut things down, but, You have to remember there's important infrastructure under there, and the only way to get to it is to do that. We've been so thankful for the partnership with the city and the transportation department. We try to work together so that when they have roads that they need to work on, we try to fix the infrastructure that's under those roads. It's important to coordinate those efforts.

Questions? Thank you, Mr. Carroll. I appreciate your team. I know your team, and they are exceptional. Yeah. Anytime we reach out there, they're great to work with.

Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. I know that you guys are busy, but I appreciate it. I thought it was prudent to just give you guys an update about the things we're working on. If you have questions later, feel free to give me a call.

Thank you very much. Council, we'll take about a five-minute break, and we'll kick off.

She did not.

Thank you. Good evening everyone.

Good evening, everyone. We start each council meeting with a word of prayer and pledge of allegiance. If you would like, please feel free to join us.

I thought this meeting to order misheard.

Mr. Grimes? Here. Mr. Spergers?

Here.

Ms. Mill? Here. Mr. Ledbetter? Here. Mr. Jones?

Here.

Okay, you should have received copies of the minutes from July 28, 2026. Any corrections, changes, or comments?

Make a motion to approve.

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes as submitted. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Passes five to zero. Before we get started with business night, Judge Chuck Clawson is here to give us a quick update on the Free Sea Project. Judge.

Mayor, Council, thank you all for your time. I'm going to be real quick. I was here probably eight months ago, give or take, and kind of gave you an update. Free Seat Project is kind of a general term for a couple of grants that the Drug Court was blessed to be awarded with. So just real quick, Drug Court is an intensive outpatient program that's also combined with court supervision and accountability. Um, we've been in operation for, I think almost 20, we're going to 25 years, one of the first drug courts in the state. And when I took the bench in 2021, that was one of the things that I wanted to make sure that I continue to grow. Um, and I doing my best to do that. So, uh, To qualify for drug court, you've got to obviously have a drug charge, drug problem, got to live in Faulkner County, can't be a sex offender or a violent criminal. We've got two grants that we've been awarded, and that's kind of what I want to talk to you about what we've been doing with that money. Substance abuse disorder is not always fun to talk about, but I think everybody realizes that it's kind of an issue, obviously, in most communities, and it's no different here in Conway. But I think it's important to share with community leaders what we're trying to do with the resources that we have to kind of combat that and deal with it. So we got two grants about two years ago, give or take. So we're kind of halfway through our grant cycle right now. One was specifically for the drug courts. It's a BJA grant, so the Bureau of Justice. And then we got the free C grant. It's really, it overlaps with the first grant, but it also takes care of folks outside of drug court. And so we've been able to implement some of the things I told you I was gonna work on when I was here last time. Thanks to these grants, we're fully staffed now. I can always take – I always want more, but you need all the help you can get when you're dealing with folks that have the disease of addiction. We've got two counselors, a case manager, a program director, two probation officers, and two peer support specialists. Now, those probation officers and counselors that we have are funded by the state and not by the city or the grant money. But that's who we've got working on us, and they're a dedicated group of people that are very passionate about what they do So, since we met last, we've continued to increase our agreements. We have memorandums of understanding and additional relationships with people that help us with rapid rehousing. Employers, named some of them that have been huge partners with us, Virco, Simcoe, TruFab, and Goodwill employees, about 15 of our participants. They also have their own program it's called the teo program transitional employment opportunity that we have our some of our folks go through and at least they work while they're going through the program and then they help them find employment afterwards and that's been a huge partner we've additionally brought on additional counseling services online medical and dental partners we partnered with just recently with a local dentist and we're kind of trying to finalize the details as you might imagine A lot of folks that come with us have neglected some of those things over the years. And so it's good to kind of get them back, especially when they're going to be going for job interviews or whatever they have to do. It helps with self-esteem and just presentation overall. One of the biggest highlights I want to kind of point out, initially drug court was drug court. So you had to qualify for drug court, meaning you had to meet those criteria that we met, but you also had to be high risk and high needs. A lot of times people weren't qualifying, and those are state standards that are set. A lot of times people weren't qualifying because they were high need, they weren't high risk. What does that mean? They didn't have an extensive criminal history. well, I'd really like to catch folks before they have that extensive criminal history. So we started what's called our Track 2, and Track 2 meets those folks that are high risk, excuse me, high needs, but they're moderate risk, meaning they just don't have the criminal history. It's really an entirely separate program. It has some of the basic components, but they don't intermingle at counseling or group sessions or therapy or anything like that. We actually have The morning that we have drug court, we have drug court track one come in, and the afternoon track two comes in. And we implemented that within the last six months. We've got five people currently in that program, and we're trying to grow it more. We've even had a couple of people that have graduated out of the first and second phase of that program. It's slightly shorter, so instead of taking two years to complete, they can complete it maybe 14 to 18 months, but they still get all those resources that we talked about. And a lot of the resources these grants provide, housing, transportation, and treatment. And that's in addition to anything that they're receiving, of course, in drug court and through that program. So it kind of enhances the program, amplifies it. We can even provide anger management now, parenting classes, things like that. And again, that other grant that we talked about, the free C grant the mayor referenced, those are for people that aren't even in drug court. And really, We're looking, now we're working with folks and groups and different organizations to get outside referrals, people that aren't even in the criminal justice system, but may have had law enforcement contact. And that's a really vague term. We want to keep it as vague as possible so we can bring more of those folks on to do that. So we've got track one, track two, and we've got veterans court as well. So, Previously, I'd reported that we'd increased our or decreased our contact time with folks that are in need of services from months to days. And we've been able to maintain that contact efficiency since the last time I visited with you. So before people get arrested, they'd sit in jail, maybe they bond out, they'd come to their arraignment, they'd get an attorney. and their first pretrial may be four or six months down the road, and then all of a sudden drug court or treatment options would kind of come into the picture. Well, this whole time they've still been suffering from substance abuse. Well, now we get them almost right after first appearance. You're talking within 72 hours. And so there's a way that we can make contact with them, and then peer support will go out and meet with them at the jail or set up meetings after if they're able to bond out after that. So we've maintained that contact. So to date, these are rough numbers. I try to get my program director to update these numbers for me, but the last time we ran any reports, we've saved taxpayers approximately $400,000 since we started these grants. And what that is is limiting police contacts because the folks we're helping are not... The police officers are having to go out, answer calls, pick them up, put them in detention. And also, the main driver of that number is the number of days people aren't spending in jail. It's very expensive to hold people in custody. And so once we get these folks kind of online, we find them housing and we get them out of jail. And so that's one of the things that's been really a huge... success for us. We've implemented what we call the RISE program. And so folks that maybe don't want drug court or they're being assessed for drug court, but they're not in custody, so they're on pretrial or after probation, let's say they don't qualify, but they still have substance abuse disorder, we put them on this RISE program, but they're still required to meet with a counselor to have random drug screens or more drug screens than they would normally have regular probation and report back to the court as to what's going on there. Now we're implementing mental health assessments through River Valley Medical for anybody that's involved in getting resources from either one of these grants. We can continue to really assess them to find out because you've had these like co-occurring diagnosis and we can help kind of track their treatment or at least dial it in a little bit better. We've provided 4,500 rides to those that are receiving services. So that's going to probation office, going to work, going to the counselor, coming to court, those kind of things. We've added a case management through the natural state. So they're handling those cases where people are not necessarily, they don't have charges pending. And so we can manage those folks a little bit better to make sure they're going to their counseling and staying on top of it so they can stay in that program and continue to receive services. We've increased long-term residential stability, meaning a lot of times people don't have housing. They're homeless, unhoused, or obviously they've been in custody a little while, they've lost their apartment, whatever it may be. And so once we get them stabilized somewhere and we transition them out of the Bethlehem House or Coho or wherever that may be, then we've got some funds to transition them into six-month, one-year leases, things of that nature through some of our partners in the community. Um, and that, you know, that's a big deal. That's a big deal. I mean, some of the biggest days that we get to see are when people have had long-term sobriety and they start to see their kids again. Um, or that day that they move into their apartment, they may, they may not have had something like that in many, many years. So it's a big win for them and helps keep them on track, uh, working to bring on, um, We're in talks right now with another, I'm going to say entrepreneur, but we're looking to bring him on. to build or develop a sober living facility. It would be a multi-unit facility, and we're kind of in the talks with him right now. It won't cost anybody anything, but he would hold 12 to 14 beds or rooms for folks that are involved with our program and receiving services. We've also, in trying to limit any objections, any excuses, this came up the other day, and we've got A lot of help from the Conway Animal Shelter. Director's a great guy. Don't need to pay him more. But anyway, we've had a couple people along the way say, hey, I can't go to treatment for 30 days because I got a dog or a cat or whatever. So we're working with Animal Shelter to see if there's a way that we can house their animal in that facility, pay a daily rate, and then just for a limited period of time while they receive treatment and get stable. Okay, so last thing I'll leave you with is the folks that are in our program and receiving services, we have an employment rate of 95%. So I think that says a lot about the work that my team's doing. I'll take any questions, but just wanted to update you and let you know that we're working every day trying to improve on the situation that we inherited. Yes, sir.

It's not a question, it's a comment. I think it's really grown since I was over there. And that makes a lot of sense, helping somebody before they get the second offense. You're trying to prevent that. So I'm glad you came up with that. I don't know why other people don't do that. Why wait until they get in bad need? Try to keep them from getting in that situation.

One of the big benefits of going through the drug court program is you can seal your record. And, you know, we get If you're in track one, you get to seal what you're there for. They may have things all over the state, and that's usually the case. But in a track two situation, they're usually first-time felony offenders, and they can seal that. And we have one lady right now, she used to be in the healthcare profession. She was a nurse and lost her license. Her goal is to get that back, and that can happen. We've had some huge success stories over the years of nurses going back and getting recertified or someone going to law school or becoming a police officer or whatever it may be. Those kind of things, those can happen. They just have to have the right resources. And we know, listen, we're not... We're not going to help everybody because everybody's journey in recovery is different. But if we can give them the option and opportunity to get better and be the person that they want to be, then we want to try to do that.

Well, to echo what Theo said, I do sincerely appreciate your efforts at rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration. I think we need to try that in a lot of other areas and a lot more. But it seems to work pretty well here. You know, you're not only saving dollars, but you're saving lives. You're saving families. You're saving futures. So thank you very much for your efforts. Thank you, Mr. Grimes.

Any other questions? Judge, 95% employment rate, and what you guys are doing for the folks here, it's obviously a success, and it is greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the hard work that you and your team do.

Absolutely. Well, I'm going to keep you up to date. I'm going to keep bugging you. I'll be back in about a year and let you know that we're probably back in the application cycle for the next round of grants. Hopefully, we can maintain our funding and continue to help as many people as possible. I can tell you right now where I've... where I wanna be, we're not there yet. We've got close to 50, 55, I think, people in drug court. We only have four in veterans court, and we're having just issues at the detention facility and just out in the community identifying veterans that have substance abuse problems. And so I need to figure out a way to try to identify those people so we can get them in the program, get them the help they need. Working with veterans is very rewarding, and I definitely, you know, there's a lot of groups I want to give back to, and that's definitely one of them. So I'm hoping in a year when I talk to you again with another update, I can tell you that we've grown that Veterans Corps program a little bit more. All right? Thank you, Judge. All right. Appreciate y'all's time. Thank you.

First up, we have Mr. Winningham with our monthly financials. Mr. Winningham.

Good evening, council. We are looking at the month of July. Start with the general fund, as always. In the revenue section on the state tax turn back line, we got our first installment for the year for the LOPPE credit. That's reflected there. So that will help that number compared to budget as we go on through the year. Typically we talk about sales tax. I'm not gonna talk about that right now. We're gonna come back to that at the end. If you get down in the expenditure section, we were hit pretty hard in July. We had, and I say hit hard, they were budgeted items, not unexpected items, but they were just, they all came due at once. We paid our property insurance, insurance on our buildings and facility. That was a little over half a million dollars. The loan payment was due for the 911 radio system and the fire truck that we purchased last year. Altogether, that was $886,000. And then on top of all that, it was a three payroll month. So that added about $1.5 million to the outlay for the month. We're still within our budget. A seven-month budget would be 58%. We're sitting at 57%. The issue is our spending is outpacing our revenues at this point in time. Moving on to the street fund. Street fund, we're still waiting on Connect Conway reimbursements there. So that's why you see the 1.5 million net expense for the year. Sanitation fund is good. Airport is okay. They're spending a slightly ahead of income, but nothing to be worried about there. If you go to the last page, the major project funds, you'll see that looks a little different. Now that we've got the two new sales taxes, the left-hand column is all sales tax project funds, and then the two impact fee funds I put over on the right-hand column. So you'll see our public safety tax and streets and drainage sales tax, the last two on the left side. You'll see those balances now every month going forward. And the larger overall sales tax discussion, I'm going to plug this up, hopefully. Everything just works. Here we go. All right, I'll just use my mouse as kind of my pointer. So looking at July, we were down 2.8%. We got our August numbers. Yesterday, we were down 2.9%. So we've got three months in a row of collected less sales tax this month than we did the prior year. So I think that deserves a little bit of a deeper dive. So one thing you gotta take into consideration when you start comparing since the new sales taxes are in effect, prior to April 1st, the rate in the city was 1.75%. Now it's 2.125. We added three eighths, which is a 21% increase. So if you look for any growth, it's gotta at least be 21% or you're flat. So I went and pulled the data that I can get from the state. And this is July 25 versus 26. And this is going to be data for May sales. So if you see a line in yellow, it did not beat the new tax increase. So it's going to be less than 21%. And if it's green, it did beat it. Now, I didn't analyze every single line item because there's hundreds of them. but I did hit the ones that I think they were either a large variance or it's a sector that is important to our local economy. So we'll just scroll through a few of these. Natural gas distribution, that one took a big hit. Plumbing, heating, and air conditioning contractors took a big hit. Residential and non-residential building construction took a big hit. There's not a lot of dollars there. Most of your sales tax on construction is the material itself, not necessarily the contractor. Building equipment contractors was up, but only 4%. So you can count that as a downward trend. And some of these, if the category of the description was a little bit vague or whatever. I just kind of looked up what an example might be. So in Conway, there's NABCO. Let me preface this with saying, when businesses report their sales tax to the state and they put in their NAICS code, they self-report that. They're not ever told, this is your code. So... Just because NABCO is an example of what might be a building equipment contractor in Conway, that does not mean that they have reported on this line item. I want to make that disclosure. So we'll scroll down here. We get to, and this was interesting, so I blocked them. We've got a category called professional and commercial equipment and supplies wholesalers. And there is a category called professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers. I have no idea what the difference is. So you can see why these numbers can be useful, but they're not to be relied on very extensively because of factors like this and the fact that the businesses self-report. So you can see in this category of that title, they had a great month of 56%. This one was basically flat, so you would count that as being down compared to the prior month. These three categories were all down, electrical goods wholesalers, wholesalers around the building industry, electrical goods, I put this example on there. When I say electrical goods, for some reason my mind goes to like tech stuff, but this is actually Elliott Electric Supply would be an example of a business that might report in this category. Professional, okay, yeah. So here, Tipton Restaurant Supply, another example of a business that might report in that category. To the top. So this one had a good month. Household Appliances. Electrical, electronic goods, merchant, wholesalers, an example might be Mid-South Distributing. They're up 32%, so they beat the new tax increase. So you could say that they had a positive month compared to the year before. I won't go through all these, but you can just see the trend here is we got way more yellow than we do green. So to me, that points to an overall slowing in our local economy, which is going to lead to a down month of sales tax. And I'll be happy to share this with anybody that wants to take a further look at it. I'm going to scroll all the way down here to the bottom to show you the total. So the total sales tax collected, sales and use tax, I should add. In July 25, 3.4 million. In July 26, it was a little over 4 million. 18% increase, but we had to hit at least 21 to account for the new sales tax. So there's your down sales tax right there. And as I've kind of mentioned before, when we go over this, this is just strictly the numbers. I'm not an economist. I don't know why these numbers are down, but at least we know we can see verifiable evidence of the trends we're seeing on our financials.

Any questions or comments on any of that? I do a couple things. On the street fund, you mentioned the reimbursement we're waiting on for Connect Conway. I'm assuming that's the same one we've talked about the past few months from the federal government. Yes, sir. I think the mayor mentioned we were no longer doing any, they were spending any money on that project at this point. Is that correct?

The, the, the brakes were hit on it, but the brakes were hit at a point that there were still, there was, there, there was work that had been done by the engineers. So we have gotten another bill or two since then.

Yeah, that's, that's fine. But yeah, but we, but we're, we're, we put the brakes on it. I believe so.

And we're waiting for the federal government to pay what, what the hell is right now.

Yeah. And at some point they will, um, I don't know what point at some point they will on the new public safety sales tax, I guess, through. 2 months, it's been right at 460,000 a month. Yes, sir, 461 to 460 and we're going to use that to pay the general fund back for the. Fire truck, correct? Yes, we've not yet paid for the fire truck. But that will be, oh, we've not paid for it yet?

No, sir. Last we heard from the fire chief, he was expecting, I think, to get that truck in October.

Okay, and that's when we'll pay for it? Yes, sir. I thought we had to pay like the minute we signed the contract. But we took it out of the contract.

fund balance didn't we we appropriated it from the fund balance that's what you're okay okay but since we're actually now collecting some of that money we're going to be able to kind of hedge that a little bit so to speak and and hopefully we don't have to go to the general fund for the full 2.3 million right off the bat so this so when we look at the fund balance appropriations the 2.4 million appropriated hasn't really been spent yet correct and so we may not need we may can

readjust that appropriation. Actually, we'll adjust it back to zero eventually. Yes. Because we'll pay it back fully.

Because we will fully pay it back.

Okay, perfect. All right, thank you. Yes, sir.

Any other questions for Mr. Winningham?

I'll make one closing comment. Next meeting, we're going to have a presentation. I think it's scheduled for the committee meeting on our non-uniform pension. Our actuaries are going to be here presenting on that, and it's really good news.

Yes, it is. Thank you, Mr. Winningham.

Looking forward to that.

Okay. First up, y'all get stuck with me tonight. Mr. Hawkins is out of town. First up, we have a public hearing to discuss a grant submittal. Oh, I'm sorry. I will take a motion to approve the financials. Thank you.

Take a motion to approve the financials as presented.

I have a motion and a second to approve the financials as presented. Any further discussion? It's heard.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

that's five to zero thank you reminding me of that first up we have a public hearing to discuss a grant submittal for bike Conway Trails Grant project I don't think there's any bike people here but uh I'll now open this public hearing up we're going to start with Robbie Allison the grant administrator and he'll explain a little bit and then we also will hear from Terry Coddington and Andrew Thames even Council Mayor

We are proposing tonight a grant application submitting for funding through the Arkansas Office of Outdoor Recreation, and this grant program is just called the Matching Grant Program. Part of this grant application is to do community engagement and to solicit input from the public, so that's what we are here for tonight. We did hold a public involvement meeting last Thursday on the 20th, and we had a great attendance. We had about 60 people come through and sign the sign-in sheet and then we had about 24 comment forms that were submitted so all all good things for that meeting last thursday and good public input so tonight we're officially opening up and having this public hearing for this grant application we do have comment forms in the back if you are nervous to come up here and voice your opinion on the project we do have comment forms in the back and an informational packet that i believe you guys probably have in front of you as well but um there should be some of these forms in the back too for the public uh talking about the problem project uh this grant program is pretty specific and we feel that um trails is the best project to submit for this program. So I just wanted to mention that. And we just encourage anyone who'd like to speak tonight for this project or give us input through the comment form. That'd be great. Any questions?

Any questions, Robbie? Mr. Thames or Mr. Coddington, one of you guys want to speak?

Good afternoon, Terry Coddington. I'm the bike and pedestrian coordinator for the city of Conway, and I would be remiss if I didn't kind of point out the future leaders of Conway standing in the back of the room there in their cycling jerseys. I wanted to thank them for showing up. um this grant application the the whole purpose is to create some soft surface trail connections which obviously uh you've seen the proposals for connect conway and how much a concrete trail or asphalt trail these are soft surface trails that uh run around 30 to 34 dollars a linear foot it is a outdoor matching grant through the state trail connectivity and connecting different parts of Conway is very important so whenever you think of like our Kinley trail system Stone Dam Creek so a lot of this grant is improving some existing trails and making them more sustainable also creating as you know Conway is very flat we hear about that all the time every time it rains so uh creating a progression of features and different things as well as connecting stone dam creek to the conway meadows tech park which is one of the more popular trails via other easements and stuff and eventually connecting to lake conway so whenever that project is done out there having a trail system that connects The bulk of Conway East and West going under the interstate is going to be very important. So. 1 of the things that's important is creating amenities. For our families to do, it will make Conway a better place to live. In addition, it's going to make Conway maybe a more feasible place for folks to relocate their families and create economic impact. We're already seeing events being held in Conway at some of our local trails. This past weekend, Conway hosted about 3,000 people from all over the state for a NICA event out at the Meadows Tech Park. There's another one September 19th and 20th as well. So hopefully you have had a chance to look at that trails master plan there's a there's a lot in there and i look forward to answering any questions you may have about that project in addition to uh andrew here the park and recs director

Good evening, Council. I've got to express that this is a fantastic grant, a fantastic opportunity for Conway. Not only is the connectivity and the quality of life. A lot of times when we talk about parks and recreation, recreation, the first thing people think about is baseball or softball or soccer, somewhere along those lines. But as you can tell behind me, biking is big in our community. And so this is just another way that we want to expand kind of what we have to offer to People brag about our parks all the time, and we just want to give back and make sure that we're, you know, appealing to everybody and what their hobbies may be. So, again, I think this is a fantastic opportunity and happy to answer any questions you guys have.

Thank you. At this time, we'll open the floor to anyone who would like to comment for or against when you approach the mic. If you would, please state your name for the record. Open to anyone who'd like to speak for or against.

Hello, my name is Joya Yorgy. I am a former chair of the Fonway Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board. I'm also sitting Justice of the Peace representing District 11 of Faulkner County. But I'm here today just as a private citizen with the kids and a family who enjoys biking. We are often up and down the Kinley Trail, Tucker Creek area. and previously had very, very much enjoyed learning, our kids learning how to bike along the Pompey Park flow trails and the pump tracks in Gatlin Park. We love the new park, the Veterans Plaza that we have there now at Pompey Park, but our family has been disappointed that those trails have continued to be neglected or just haven't been resuscitated to their former self. So I sincerely hope that the city will invest in at least recovering some of those trails that currently exist. and i think this grant is a great opportunity to do that better and to do more the projects that are in the proposal all look excellent my family would 100 take advantage of those trails so i'm fully in support and i hope that you will also approve the submission of this grant thank you thank you

Hello. My name is Kinsley Moore. I'm 15 years old. I'm on the Conway Bearcats mountain biking team. And I really like to ride on the trails that we have. And it would be really awesome to have more soft surface trails to ride on. And I think it'll be really fun.

I've watched you Bearcats in the past. Y'all are impressive.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak for or against?

I'll get up and say something. West Pruitt, I think I know all you guys pretty well. Currently on the A&P Commission, previously on the City Council, coached for the Bearcats for the last 10 years. To see what Terry and Andrew and everybody here at the, you know, city have done for the trail so far has been pretty amazing. Uh, when they brought this to us at the AP commission, uh, I think it was this month earlier this month. It was kind of a no brainer for us. We were like, yeah, this is exactly what we want to do. You know, like, you know, if we get a matching grant, they're gonna, the state's gonna give us plenty of money to kind of help out with what we need. Uh, I think it's just a, it's a great project for the city. Um, I think, you know, Bart, you came out a few times to the races and seen all the people that it brings. You know, they were here this last week, and as Terry said earlier, people were posting online about it, talking about restaurants, talking about hotels. I mean, it just brings, and for someone that's spent a lot of time in northwest Arkansas over the last 20 years, to see it change from what it was 20 years ago to what it is now. You know, 20 years ago, it shut down at six o'clock. There was nobody out, everything kind of shut down. Now in Northwest Arkansas, because of cycling, there is people, you can't find a parking spot downtown. I mean, I don't want that necessarily to happen here right yet, but you know, it's on their way there. So like, obviously I'm fully in support of this. And I think, you know, the rest of the A&P commission was as well. So, you know, thank you guys.

It's great that the younger generation is really getting into this. I'm okay. I would like to point out that the matching grants for this will come from the A&P Commission. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Good evening, Council Rory Thompson, 100 South Country Club. I actually live on the bike trail and I see firsthand. We moved there about a year ago and I see firsthand how much it gets used. It's an outdoor event. A lot of people can do it. Families do it. Kids do it. And I do think as we kind of grew up in Conway and have my kids participate in youth sports, I realize not everyone cycles. And so people may think, well, that's not a big deal. They may say the same thing about the sports, like the baseball and softball, and I've firsthand seen how many people come to Conway and interact with Conway because of that investment that we made, and I think it's paid huge dividends to the city, and I see this as a missing piece in our city, and I think it's a good opportunity for us to take advantage of it.

Thank you for your time. Anyone else like to speak for or against?

Good evening. I'm Ralph McKenna. Been a while, Ralph.

How are you? How are you doing?

Good. My family and I have lived here since 1976. I was a Hendricks College professor for 37 years. I'm still teaching, believe it or not, at age 86 at the LifeQuest Program for Seniors. I was an original member of the Conway Advocates for Bicycling, CAB. At the time we started, I think we had five to seven people that showed up. Last December around there, we had a meeting at O'Malley's that just absolutely packed the place. I was astounded there are so many people doing it now. uh jim bruce peter male number of people that were involved with it still are cab itself just a couple of words about it it does great things in terms of bikes for kids it holds weekend rides for the community there's a special place where you can get your bike repaired if you want to donate a bike they fix it up and give it to the kids in the community The project grant itself, I usually do the turkey trot in November. It starts at UCA, and it goes along Stone Dam Creek, which is just a beautiful place. And apparently, one of the connectors is going to extend that, which I just think is terrific. Flow trails, I looked it up on my computer to see what a flow trail was because I didn't know. And it showed somebody up on top of a mountain screaming down. I said, well, I'm not about to try that. But when I looked at what was presented in this packet, it looks like it's possible. I may get my mountain bike out and air up the tires and give it a shot at some point. Some of these other points, and I'll just make them briefly, have already been stated, and I don't want to be repetitive, but I think it's a terrific opportunity for the citizens of Conway to have something like this. The idea of attracting new residents. I'm sure you all know that Conway is, percentage-wise, I think the fastest-growing city in Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas has been mentioned. Conway is connected to that in a lot of respects. We have many of the same professionals, many of the same interests in colleges and universities, attracting some of the best and brightest to Conway. We've got some terrific organizations in terms of companies that are involved here. I think it will help make Conway a destination for people looking for a great lifestyle. Anyway, thank you very much.

Good to see you, Ralph. Hi there.

My name is Anya Dergazarian. I recently moved here from Fayetteville, specifically because Conway is the type of community that takes advantage of projects just like these to create the community that I loved so much in Fayetteville. I'm really excited to see what kind of connectivity this project could bring to the city, and specifically because amenities like these bring economic impact that doesn't require parking spaces, electricity, or utilities. These are things that can be open and free to the public, for families, for field trips, for education. And I think that this is an amazing opportunity and one of the reasons why I moved here.

Welcome to Conway.

Hello. My name is Gabe Ernie. I moved to Conway from Hamilton, Ohio about one and a half years ago, I think. Yeah. But I started mountain biking when I was six, I think. And I started out by going to a park in northern Kentucky and and trails there were pretty nice, but I felt like this is fun. So after I moved here, I went up to Kohler once and the trails up there were like awesome. And I'm hoping for there to be flow trails, drop trails, jump lines, more of those here in Conway. Yeah.

Well, let me say, I am very impressed that you came up in front of a group of people to talk.

You've got a great future ahead of you.

Welcome to Conway.

So I'm one of NICA's coaches for the Conway Bearcats. The only thing I want to really discuss or let you guys know, not only do we have like the athletes here, but we have a lot of athletes that have special needs, autism, things like that, that are not able to play football, that play other sports. So part of NICA is equally involving everyone in it. So we have had kids that have never learned how to ride a bike that now ride a bike and race and podium and feel included in a group that they're not included outside of biking. So I just want to make sure that you guys are aware of other things that go on besides just our athletes that are here.

Thank you. Anyone else like to speak for or against?

My name is Brady White. I've pretty much been biking like my whole life. I've been in Nika for about five years. I think I'm really involved in it. The greenways have like really been helpful and accessible for me. Like whenever I was really little, I remember riding like the Tucker Creek Trail, Gatling, all that, and that's pretty much where I learned how to ride a bike. The Nika team is really rapidly growing since I first started. And just last weekend we had a Nika event at the Meadows Tech Park. And like Terry said, we had like thousands of people there. It was really, really fun, really inclusive. I think this rant would be really good because Many of the trails here, we have a trail going alongside the Tucker Creek Trail and a trail called the Bunny Slope. And those trails don't really get maintained. They've really fallen into disrepair. And so I think this grant would really help make these more sustainable. Um, and I hope that more trails are built, more soft surface trails, more flow trails are built, um, to be more like Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville, Bentonville. Um, because there are always people riding up there and they're always like really improving. The biking community is expanding rapidly up there and I hope the same would happen here. So I think this grant would be a really great opportunity. Thank you. Thank you.

Mike Brown, I just want to say I appreciate the years that you guys have invested into our community, letting us build trails. One of the things that was mentioned a while ago was the autism athletes, and to see those kids come out of a shell from being nonverbal to learn to communicate and learn to navigate a trail on a bicycle, I get teared up about it. Um, but on a more practical thing, um, all of these athletes, we have about 53 athletes between both of the teams this year and about 37 coaches. And all of us are required to do 10 hours of community service. So we really needed some more trails to, uh, put these kids to work on. Um, that is one of the beautiful things about the cycling community. I mean, I know there's always mowing to do that the parks and recreation department has to do, but whenever it comes to building the bridges on the trails and actually going out and running the equipment on the trails and raking the trails and clipping the limbs and doing all of that maintenance work, it's this crew that's standing back here behind us. All these kids they carry loppers and rakes and blowers and they're like a little army going through the woods. And so we would love to have some more trails to give them more opportunities to serve the community and to be visible and to give back. Thank you. Thank you, Mike.

Anyone else like to speak for or against? Okay, we'll now close this public hearing or public input. We will move forward. In case... If you've never had the chance, it's worth going to a NICA event to watch Terry and Wes and Jamie Gates run through the woods trying to keep up with their kids that are riding in these events. Did I see Mr. Gates here? Mr. Gates got a very prestigious award yesterday. He was recognized as one of the top economic developers in Arkansas, and Jamie's well-deserved. Terry, can I get you to briefly come up and give the public a quick update on our pump track and where we are on that? Is it pump or bump?

We do have A pump track that is a dirt pump track at Gatling park. Part of this grant is to improve that. Uh, Pompey park is a is a flow trail as we refer to it. That is most visible off of Prince there next to Chick fil A. Whenever the Veterans Park was built, there was a greenway that cut through and kind of severed the trail. We do have a it's a feature called a wall ride that will reconnect. It will be two loops going forward that is scheduled to that's scheduled to be completed here in September. Uh, probably mid September would be the best, uh, completion date. So materials already there. We're just waiting on the trail builder to come out and, uh, and finish that that South loop. Uh, there is, uh, we did, uh, have host some work days and complete the North side of that loop. And that's mainly for safety reasons that. It was 1 continuous loop and now there's 2 smaller loops. one is very kid friendly for youngsters and all of that and then the other one has some features and progression built in it with some jumps and drops and stuff so That's kind of the whole process. And obviously some of the grant is going through and I believe the bunny slope was mentioned. One of the issues we have out there is drainage. Every time we know Tucker Creek floods, every time the water crests the banks, the leaves move around and we kind of lose the trail and we have to go out and clean all that back up. So part of this is to elevate that trail with what we call cut and tilt.

and elevate the trail once it's elevated it'll be rideable year round so good deal all right thank you all right and you folks uh knock appreciate all the work you've done for conway and what you do for conway thank you all all right thank you thank you terry mr mayor yes sir if i could interrupt um given that i think most of these folks are here for the second to last item tonight i would like to move to spin the rules to bump c4 to the top of the agenda

I have a motion and a second to suspend the rules and move item C4 to the top of the agenda. Ms. Hurd.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Passes five to zero. All right. Oh, council, while I'm thinking of it, B5 has been removed tonight.

B5?

Yes, sir.

B5 has been removed.

Okay, so we're talking here is not the resolution to approve applying for the outdoor recreation matching grant for the Parks Recreation Department. Thank you, Mr. Grimes. Mr. Albertson, would you like to come back up in case the council has any question?

I'll make a motion to approve the resolution R26.

28.

28.

Second. We have a motion and a second to approve this resolution approving applying for the outdoor recreation matching grant for the Parks Recreation Department. Any further discussion?

Robbie, how soon would we hear about this?

So public hearings are held at the end of October. So I would assume before the end of the year. We should know. Any further discussion?

Miss Heard?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

This is five to zero. Thank you, Robbie.

All right.

B-5. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It'll be up to Ms. Tucker.

It'll be on the agenda for September 22nd.

Okay.

Thank you.

I don't always read my text, Dan. All right. So item B-5 has been pulled. So we have the Community Development Committee and We will start with consideration to approve waiving all three readings for the ordinances on August 25th, 2026 City Council meeting.

Mayor, I don't think we can vote on ordinances tonight. We've got five of us.

Yeah, it takes five votes to pass an ordinance, and the mayor can vote to pass an ordinance if necessary. We can't waive the readings, though. The mayor can vote to waive the three readings. There we go. He just can't vote for an emergency clause.

So back to you, council. Okay. We'll move to the next item. So this is an ordinance, so we will not be able to do anything. Is that correct? I think you said we can.

Yeah, so it's an eight-member council, so it takes five members to vote yes in order to pass an ordinance. and y'all have five members here. And the mayor can vote if his vote is needed to pass. It's the only time a mayor can vote if his vote is needed. And if there was a four-to-one vote, for example, four votes is not enough to pass an ordinance on an eight-member council, but the mayor could decide to vote yes, and that would be five votes and enough to pass the ordinance.

So I was waiting on a motion.

Okay, so if we don't vote on...

Waving the readings.

Waving the readings. All these have to be read three times, correct?

Yeah.

Or at least one more time.

Yeah. And I did want to mention, too, because this has come up before about the three readings. And I think that the last council meeting or the one before that I had discussed the state law on waiving the three readings. That's a... That's the law as it's written, but I think that in general, every ordinance of a general permanent nature should be read three different times distinctly, unless there's a good reason not to. I didn't want to insinuate at the last one that this is kind of an old law from a quainter time. If anything, the need for the public to have three readings on separate days is more applicable now than it probably was when the law was first passed. There's so much more going on. And having three readings on different days definitely gives the public a lot more time to catch up on what's going on, to contact their council members, to voice support or opposition. And I've seen just myself from this point of view that it can cause problems. It can make it look like everything's moving too fast. So I think having three readings on three different days for any ordinance of a general permanent nature, unless there's a good reason not to, is a really good idea. And that would include zoning? Most, absolutely. In fact, zoning should probably be at the top of the list of ordinances of a general permanent nature that probably should always be read three different times.

So in the event of City Council Chambers, The only lens that i'm thinking of this through is in the lens of a rezoning if we have you know I think Mr Thompson left, but you know pick any developer that's working a project through. City Council Chambers, The process of working through planning is often not quick and so saying that each of those will be read three times means that they're going to wait for planning Commission and then, after it comes here from planning Commission with a recommendation from planning Commission. If it's the summer, you're going to wait another three or four months. If it's other time of the year, it's still going to be at least six weeks. Am I understanding that correctly?

I don't set the council schedule, but if the council chooses to go into a one meeting a month rule for the summer, sure. But I think it's more important for the public to have more time to stay informed. I'm not just saying that that's my opinion. I think if you read the statute, that's implied that the three readings should only be waived if there's a good reason to. And that might be a good reason, and that would really be up to the counsel, not up to the attorney. The council may conclude that this project has been delayed, for example, for reasons that aren't the developer's fault. And there has been a lot of public input on this project.

I mean, there are definitely.

There are definitely reasons that the council could say there's good cause. To wave the 3 readings with regard to this particular development, but I think just. As a rule to always wave is probably not in keeping with the statute and I don't think it helps the public to stay informed.

So realistically, the city's not been staying within the confines of the law for the last 20 years?

I wouldn't say that because the law does allow the council to waive the three readings. Well, there you go. I got a question.

Well, and you also... And you stated it at the beginning. It's for the ordinances for a more permanent nature. So, for example, appropriating grant reimbursement funds, just because it's an ordinance doesn't mean it needs to be read three times.

Correct. And to give you good examples of an ordinance of a general or permanent nature, anything that makes a change to the municipal code. So if the council created a new offense of you can only have a blue dog in the city limits of Conway. And if you have a red dog or any other color than blue, you pay a 50 dollar fine. That would be an ordinance of a general permanent nature rezoning would be, but appropriations now, appropriations are temporary ordinances to approve a contract, for example, would not be a general permanent nature.

So moving ahead, should you review all of our ordinances and say which ones should be read three times and which ones don't need to be read three times?

Yeah, I review the ordinances. I usually, I mean, sometimes I'll get them earlier than Friday before, but sometimes, but I always look at them.

Okay, but we have the full list, but not all of these on the list tonight need to be read three times.

Correct.

So which ones would you say?

Can I ask? Yes, sir. Is it the law you have to read it on three different meetings or just read it three times?

Three different days. Not necessarily three different meetings, but three different days. Distinctly read three different days. Hold on.

Clarify that. Not three different meetings, but three different days.

Right. But, I mean, you would read it at a meeting is what I'm saying. But the council could call a special meeting to satisfy the different days. Does that make sense? Okay. You wouldn't have to have it on a regularly scheduled meeting, just a public meeting.

Okay, I'll tell you what, uh, I'm fine with doing things while we've been doing them. I mean, if we have the ability to do it for a good reason. Any zoning ordinance to me is a good reason not to lay somebody another 2 months. They've already got money and time invested in doing that. Um, as far as the, I don't know why it was set up 150 years ago, but I assume it's because there was no Internet. A website to find agendas. Now people can find agendas and watch them online by planning commission information. So it's more transparent now than it was when the law was written, in my opinion. So I'm fine with doing it the way we've been doing it.

And to Ms. Mel's question, so looking at the agenda for tonight, for example, the only ordinances that I see on here that would qualify under the statute as a general and permanent nature would be items B-6, 7, and 8.

That's just what I was just talking about. We had... HAD THEM COME BACK ALREADY ONE TIME. AND SO THIS IS GOING TO PUSH IT BACK FOR THREE MORE MEETINGS. AND IT'S NOT FEASIBLE FOR US TO CALL A SPECIAL MEETING TO READ THE AUDIENCE. I MEAN, I'M JUST SAYING. ALL RIGHT?

I WOULD AGREE.

FOR THREE ITEMS?

ALL RIGHT. TO THE AGENDA. A1, I make a motion we approve A1, waive the three readings.

We got to go back to where we started with the consideration to approve waiving all three readings. I make a motion to do that. Okay. I'm sorry, B1. B1, okay.

Thank you.

I have a motion and a second to approve waiving three readings for all ordinances in this agenda. Any further discussion?

To be clear, we're not voting on a change in policy. We're voting on tonight's agenda only. Ray.

I got one thing before we go any further. In the future, if we're going to do this, we shouldn't have this designated on our agenda, which one that you suggested we read three times instead of getting to the meeting and the people that's got it on the agenda find out then that it got to be read three times. Like you said, everybody's got internet and stuff, and that would be more people-friendly to me. For them to come here, then they got to come back two more times and not finding out until they got here.

Let's go back to our first meeting in January when this council approves our rules for the year. If this is the way we should be doing it, it should have been brought up January 1st. And I think you approve those rules, do you not, Mr. Finkelman?

Oh, yeah, but this doesn't go into the rules or the bylaws. This is just a state law.

That we conduct business, though. Correct. So if this is how we should have been doing it all along, it should have been done 20 years ago, but it should have been brought to our attention in January. Anyway, we've got a motion and a second to approve the weighting of three readings for all ordinances on this agenda. Any further discussion? Ms. Hurd.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

This is 6-0.

Can I ask one more question on this? I believe that it doesn't. To Mr. Jones point about this, specifically, if we're going to read planning ordinances in the future, does that mean that the applicant would need to attend each of those three meetings to hear the ordinance read and be available?

That will be up to the council.

I am 100% in the interest of transparency, more accessibility. I've I have tried to be as transparent as possible about what's going on and what we know. I would not be, in principle, in favor of making development more difficult. If we have public input at Planning Commission and then come back here and have public input again, those are two meetings that our agendas publish in advance. They are available on YouTube, on Comic Corp Television, or on Facebook. There's plenty of opportunity there. In my opinion, for what that is, I would not be in favor of slowing. As slow as things move as it is, I think that just makes it more difficult.

I got one thing to say about that. If we don't require the developer to come, what about the people that are supposed to? See, if you're going to do it, it should be both ways. See what I'm saying? You can't exclude somebody.

I agree.

I agree with you. If we're going to do it, we've got to do it for both of them to be here, opposed and for them.

But the three rezoning, potential rezoning ordinances tonight, it was heard at the Planning Commission. It was heard at our last meeting. So this would be the third time. That's what I'm saying.

These three here, if we did it three times, you had to go back the last time. I don't know. Whatever y'all decide, I'm just stating that I think it should be fair for everybody, not just one wing.

We can revisit this if we need to at a committee meeting in the future. Let's move along. First up, or next up, we have an ordinance appropriating grant reimbursement funds for the Conway Tree Board. Ms. Tucker.

We didn't coordinate this very well.

You didn't text him?

But as you know, we have... We have... been working towards the conway community forest grant or plan through davie resource group and we have had to pay them as we go and now we're getting reimbursed 122 000 122 738 dollars and 72 cents all right and make a motion to pass the ordinance 026 49 49

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve this ordinance.

Sheila's not here. Everything stops. I know.

I thought you had your comrade over there.

I did, but you're not backing me up here.

I second. I'm sorry. Appropriate grant reimbursement for the treaty board. Any further discussion? Ms. Hurd.

Mr. Ledbetter. Mr. Spergers.

Aye. Ms. Mill.

Aye. Mr. Grimes.

Aye.

Mr. Jones.

Yes.

Do you have to vote?

No, ma'am. I do not have to vote on this. Passes five to zero. Next is ordinance to approve a private club permit for smoking bones located at 1025 South Amity. Is the applicant here? Come on up.

I'm trying to stay out of your way.

So we're talking barbecue here?

We're talking barbecue.

Would you please state your name for the record?

Joanna.

Thank you. All righty. What are we looking for? Ann, do you got a picture for us? No. Oh, okay. So tell us a little bit about Smoke and Bones.

Well, Smoke and Bones has been incorporated in 2024 and with four brothers, two of which are doctors in the military, so they're not full-time with us. However, after multiple degrees and dollars spent in those very important degrees, the brothers decided to do barbecue. Which is a good thing. They grew up doing barbecue with their dad pretty much their entire life. And so as a family, together, we're on board with that 100%. They started off with one food truck, had that one built. Community accepted them very well. That was in West Little Rock on Chennault. Less than one year, they went from the food truck to three more food trucks catering throughout the whole state of Arkansas. They do a lot with D1 Sports Center in Fayetteville and some other areas throughout the state. and went in their first brick and mortar not long ago. That eight-month lease was bought out, or a 12-month, rather, was bought at eight months, and then a new location in Chennault. That's where they're at currently on Chennault and Cantrell. And now they've found this location and it's been a great fit and excited to bring some great barbecue and some other really good all home cooked food. Long traditional line of Pentecostal Southern Baptist, Louisiana, Texas to the city of Conway.

Great deal.

So is this their second brick and mortar?

It will be a second brick and mortar. Yes, sir.

We bring samples tonight.

You know, I've thought about it, and I didn't want to, you know, yeah, I thought you guys can come and try us out and see the live pits. We're going to have the live pits over there we smoke with. My number one question probably is what kind of wood do you use? And our number one answer is brownwood. We use brownwood. So you'll get to see us smoking that brownwood in the live pits. We have 1,000-gallon tank pits that will be on site, four of those, and a lot of dedication and hard work from our family.

Welcome to Conway. I know you probably don't believe this. Mr. Ledbetter and I, we like barbecue.

That's great. Hopefully we can turn down to some new barbecue.

We're glad to see you guys here.

Thank you. We appreciate y'all.

Council, back to you. I would make a motion for adoption of the ordinance 026-50. I have a motion and a second to adopt this ordinance to approve a private club permit for smoking bones at 1025 South Amity. Any further discussion? Ms. Hurd? Mr. Jones? Yes. Ms. Mill?

Aye. Mr. Grimes?

Aye. Mr. Spergers? Aye. Mr. Ledbetter?

Yes.

That passes 5-0. All right. Next is consideration to approve a conditional use permit to allow up to 18 units per acre.

Can I say one thing? Yes, ma'am. This is my first city council meeting. And so I literally left the pits in this outfit. So I'm underdressed. So I apologize for that. You don't apologize. My biggest thing is sitting in this council meeting, this is super unique for me to be involved in all of what you guys are doing here. And I felt nothing but sincere love and care for the whole city of Conway with you guys. I just felt like there's this family with you guys. So I think you are truly special. And, yeah. I wanted to say that after I got passed, so I didn't.

First of all, never apologize for the way you addressed. You're fine. You presented your case very well. Thank you. Welcome to Conway.

Thank you. Appreciate y'all. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Next, I'm sorry I read that, but I'll read it again. Consideration to approve a conditional use permit to allow up to 18 units per acre at properly located at 1050 Andrews Drive. Ms. Tucker.

Yes, sir. Okay. So, the applicant is asking for a CUP. I'm going to go ahead and pull this up. Okay, so the applicant is asking for a CUP to To have 18 acres per acre at 1050 Andrews Drive, the applicant is asking for the CUP for this parcel that is currently zoned C2. There is a current CUP on this parcel for a golfing range that was never developed, and that would become null and void should this one be approved. The applicant is asking for MF2 density, which allows for 18 units per acre. The existing acreage would accommodate 93 units, but that's just straight math. That's not taking infrastructure into account. The configuration on the screen, almost. Almost. That's the configuration right there. That has not been through SCR, and it likely would end up accommodating somewhere around 75 units if the applicant's plan for 1,000 square foot footprints is realized. The development would likely have two entrances off of Lee Andrew. And I'll pull up here so you can see those entrances. and one off of Museum. Over here you can see on the plan that there are direct accesses straight off of Le Andrews into driveways and those would not exist. We wouldn't be able to do that. There's nine conditions associated with this. A couple of them are this will connect to the Connect Conway Trail System. It will abide by C2 zoning regulations regarding setbacks and lock coverage. And they also include a designated open space for recreational use by the residents. And the applicant has agreed to all conditions.

Is Mr. Sanders here? Yes, he is. Would you like to come on up and speak? How are you doing, Landon? Good.

All right. Landon Sanders here for the applicant. The main thing that I want everybody to know, sorry about that, is that that drawing was just a concept, and that was before we met with staff. And, of course, that doesn't really comply with some of the conditions. We are in agreement with all of the conditions that were proposed and Um, it's currently zone C2. Um, this is, it's just a conditional use for for this 1, uh, use of up to 18 units per acre. Um, 1 of the questions, uh, that was asked that the planning was regarding traffic and I think if that if y'all have questions about that. The traffic, uh, numbers, the estimated daily trips are actually less than. some of the uses, most of the uses that are allowed by right. And so I think we've covered that issue as well. I'm here for any questions you guys might have.

Ms. Tucker, did any conversation come up about the morning drop off and pick up traffic from Theodore Jones? Because I know it can back all the way up to Rialto and back into the roundabout.

Yes, ma'am. I mean, that'll be taken into consideration during SCR.

I mean, I think having the entrance and exit over on Museum will help with that. Yes. That you wouldn't have to come down.

And like he said, this configuration is very likely going to change, and we may have more entrances off of Museum than we do on Lee Andrews.

Any questions for Mr. Sanders or Ms. Tucker?

Now open the floor.

Would anyone in the audience like to speak for or against?

Thank you.

Thank you, Landon.

Not seeing anyone. Council, back to you. Based on the Planning Commission's 7-0 and what we heard from Mr. Sanders, I would make a motion for the adoption of the conditional use permit.

I have a motion and a second to approve this conditional use permit to allow up to 18 units per acre on property located at 1050 Andrews Drive. Any further discussion? It's heard.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

It's five to zero. Thank you, Ann. Ann gets to stay up. Next is consideration to approve a conditional use.

Wait a minute.

Nope, that hasn't been pulled. All right. Ordinance to rezone property located at 125 Conway Boulevard from S1 to R2. Ms. Tucker.

Okay, Council, since these items weren't, according to robert's rules of order and our municipal code these items were not considered because they failed for a lack of a second so that's what they're doing back on the agenda the 12-month rule doesn't apply because they weren't ever considered um i can i can tell you what that says if you'd like for me to but What I'm asking the council to do is take action on these three requests. I believe it's six, seven, and eight, yes. With either a motion in the positive with a second, and then you can vote it up or down. A motion in the positive, but amending the motion to a down zone, such as R2A, which is within your rights. And then a second and a vote up or down. Or a motion to remand back to Planning Commission to work out the proper zoning. However, Planning Commission has unanimously approved this at R2, so I don't know what good that would do. anyway bobby french was representing all three parcels and he cannot be here or not but mr patel that owns two of them is um mr johnson the owner of 113 was called away unexpectedly and he's agreeable to tabling his request if the council would rather not hear that one tonight since he there's no representation

113, number 7?

Yes, it'll be number 7. B7.

I'd be fine to proceed. He was here.

It was a very unexpected thing.

Yeah, emergencies happen to all of us.

Yes, sir. The image on the screen, almost, again, I'm not super fast. This image is the original plot for the area showing 50-foot wide lots. Lot lines have changed over the years. Some were merged. Three of them within that, and that's not oriented right, but anyway, three of them within that block remain in the original configuration with 50-foot lots. So just for some context, a duplex in an R2 zone requires a 50-foot wide lot. R2 requires a 100-foot lot. In either scenario, One duplex per lot is allowed, either one of them. However, if a 100-foot lot that has been zoned R2A, they can replat it into two lots, put two single-family homes on it with an accessory dwelling unit behind it. So the density... I just wanted to give you guys every scenario that was possible. And Mrs. Walters was here to speak on this the last time. I'm happy to say that she's here again. So if you want to hear from her again, she made it to the meeting.

We're going to open the floor. Okay. So we'd love to hear from Ms. Walters. Would anyone like to speak for or against? Come on up.

I was very confused. I didn't know. She called me tonight to let me know about the meeting because I think there was some on-off thing about it. But at the meeting I attended on July 20th, I thought it was tabled about the decision.

There was never a second. So what did that mean? It means that it didn't fall into the normal pattern of things, whereas it would be a 12-month down the road thing if it had been voted down.

Okay.

Yeah. All right. Or it could have been brought back up. Yeah. So that's what Ann was trying to ask us to at least to not do a yes or no vote, up or down vote. Yeah. Is that fair, Ms.?

Did I explain that right enough for you? And it's basically like we're hearing it for the first time tonight. Yes. Yeah, exactly.

Well, I kept driving by the signs, and they never changed. So otherwise, if I had known ahead of time, I probably would have tried to get some of the other people to come. Realistically, there's not a lot of people there that own their homes, so maybe it's a moot point. But I know when we... I think what I went into a long history about stuff, but mainly it's in the old Conway, let's see, old Conway design overlay district. And so with that, I created that to maintain characteristics of the neighborhood. And I think that's probably where I have a point to be made on that, that it's the homes and then there's not many duplexes. If you go on Oliver Street, I think there's two duplexes built long ago. And if you're passing by there, you probably wouldn't even know they were duplexes because they don't stand out. And that's probably what people kind of meant by duplexes back then. Or I don't know when all this restrictions and zoning was all created. So this is a different thing. I know it's zoned for duplexes already. No, it's S1 now, isn't it? But much of the area around there, I think, possibly of a house or single duplex. That's one.

You're correct.

Yes. And anyway, to have it duplex after duplex after duplex and fiddle them into 50-foot lots, again, that's not character of the neighborhood. And I think I pointed out last time, if you go down Center Street, that's the next street over and keep going south of Robbins, you'll see what duplex after duplex after duplex looks like. And one advantage to Conway, I know the overlay district, you do have some restrictions at least. The front of the house has to look like such and such a thing. So that is good in that way. But it's the density that I was talking about and with more duplexes come more traffic, come more barking dogs, more parties. And I have that experience living catty-cornered to some rental properties. So anyway, that's where I was coming from, to maintain the character of the neighborhood and what's left of old Conway. And I know there are some duplexes on Robbins Street, and I hate for more crowded duplexes, numerous duplexes, and then what's to stop over across the street for more duplexes, because this is zone for more duplexes, and then up Conway Boulevard, because those are old houses. My house I don't know if somebody would buy it and just go ahead and build a duplex on it either, because that's pretty much what people do. And then even there's an empty lot next to me and my biggest fear is a duplex. And actually, when I heard that Baptist bought all this. All that. A lot. I couldn't believe that. And I was kind of upset about it. And then I said, well, I think I'd rather live next to a sports duplex than to live across by a bunch of duplexes. And that's the truth. But again, where I'm coming from is the less dense. Less dense is what the rest of the neighborhood looks like. All right. Thank you, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. Anyone else like to speak for or against?

Behind you, Ann.

Hey, my name is Lou Zamora. I come to represent my client, Ankur Patel. So this project, you know, first, Mr. Ankur Patel, he has a lot of rentals. He likes to develop in Conway. He's You know, I think his only... He loves Conway. He's trying to make Conway beautiful again, right? So this area does need a lot of help. Some of the buildings are older. He's trying to, you know, provide more housing. Conway's in a housing crisis. We ran, you know, I think the city had a... They did a report on it that we're short on housing. He's going to build something here that's going to help that area. There is duplexes on Robins, all around there you could see. And as he had mentioned, there was a, it's also, you know, if it doesn't get approved as R2, there's a possibility that even if it gets approved as R2A, that somebody could do ADUs because that is allowed. So the density issue, I think, it's kind of null and void because somebody could do that anyways, and we'd rather have him develop something. Now, he owns 125. He doesn't own 141. So 141 is currently owned by CBC. We're under contract for it. But if it doesn't get approved to his development, because they are deep lots there. I think all of you guys were here last time when Bobby was explaining how deep those lots are. And we're basically trying to give use to that land. And I know you guys mentioned some other duplexes, some other areas. Well, those areas, you know, they weren't part of the overlay. So they didn't have the oversight of the committee. These are going to be built probably, you know, they have certain standards to meet. And anyway, so I just wanted to say that, you know, he's trying to better the community by doing developments like these. So we really appreciate your support. Thank you, sir.

I'm Lisa Martin. I came to college here in 1978, kind of like the Conway Corp gentleman was speaking earlier, and I came and I stayed. So here I am. My husband and I left for a few years. He did residency in Pine Bluff. He finished med school. I finished nursing school at UAMS in Little Rock. And then we went to Pine Bluff for a few years, and we came back to Conway in 1986, where he has practiced medicine as a family practice physician here for many years. I'm also a nurse practitioner. And have been a health care provider in Conway and Faulkner County for that amount of time as well. I still do that. I'm getting older, so I'm getting close to that.

And you're very good at it.

Hanging up that hat.

Remember, you got me started on the insulin pump.

Yeah, I had to boss him around a little bit. Somebody has to. Anyway, about 12 or 13 years ago, I got my real estate license because it was another area of service. Because I thought, you know, I enjoy serving people. And so I've been a real estate broker also and have had the opportunity to represent Central Baptist College in selling some of their properties. They originally bought those properties to expand a sports facility but have pulled back that plan to focus more in other areas and maybe in the future develop one. but they are moving some of those properties and have sold some to the city. And then we've sold some to Mr. Patel and to 113. CBC sold to them as well. And Dr. Langley, the president, was not able to be here this evening because he was teaching, speaking to a group of students. So I asked him if I should share anything from him. So these are his words. He said, we fully support the request. There is a significant need for quality student housing in our neighborhood, and we feel like Mr. Patel's plans support that need. We hope the administration of the city of colleges will help us meet this need. They don't have enough space for their students on campus, so they are using some of the houses that they still have and have purchased some others to use for students. And so their plan is hopefully to be able to rent some of the properties around the area for some of their students for whom they don't have space on campus there. Thanks.

Thank you, Lisa. Tucker? Anyone else I can speak for or against? Okay. Council, it's back to you.

Any questions for Ms. Tucker? My opinion has not changed since the last time. There are indeed places in Conwell where R2 is appropriate. I believe we rezoned six acres to R2 on the outskirts of town last meeting, but R2 is not appropriate here. It's surrounded by R2A. It used to be R2A. In my opinion, it needs to go back to R2A and develop that way. And so I would make a motion to amend the ordinance to change R2 to R2A.

Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve this rezoning.

And that's for B6?

That's for all of them?

Correct. If we do them individually.

If we do them individually. With the change that would be R2A, correct?

Need to vote on that amendment to the ordinance first. Yes. Those applicants are okay with this, correct? I don't know if they are or not.

Can you wait until you're at the mic, please? People can't hear you online.

So the applicant is not okay with that because that would reduce, you know, what his planned development would be. And, I mean, we are under contract on one, but we would not proceed with the purchase of that because of this, right? I will amend my motion.

I will remove my amendment. And I will move to approve this as is, firmly voting no to turn it down. My motion is to approve C6. B6. B6.

And I'll second it. And just so that people watching or in the audience know, this is the appropriate way that we make a motion in the affirmative. And then it's just clear to understand what's happening. And then the council can vote for or against it. Up or down, yeah. Deny it and then you have to vote. Yes, and it gets confusing.

So this is the most straightforward way to handle it We have a motion in a second to approve the ordinance to reason on the property located at 125 Conway Boulevard from s1 to r2 any further discussion It's 51.

No, yes It's heard Oh 26 51 miss Mel. No, mr. Jones. Oh, mr. Sperger's Oh, mr. Grimes. No, mr. Ledbetter.

Yes, I

Okay, that fails to pass four to one. Next up is an ordinance to, no, we're still good on that one.

Yeah, he said, yeah.

Next up is ordinance to regional property located at 113 Conway Boulevard from S1 to R2. Ms. Tucker.

Same thing. The only thing is this one is already approved A portion of it is R2A already, but the back portion of the lot is S1.

So we could amend this one to make it all R2A.

You could, yes.

The owner of this property is not here, though. We can't do that.

No, we can't. We can. Half of the lot is already R2A.

He's got to stress his desire to do that, not the council. I would agree.

I'll make a motion to approve the ordinance as written.

Second.

I have a motion and a second to approve the ordinance to rezone property located at 113 Callaway Boulevard from S1 to R2.

I'm sorry. I'm confused. Isn't this what we just said no to? To a property next to it? Yes. Three separate ones. We're doing them individually. Right. But this property owner isn't here, and we're about to do on this property what the previous one that we just said no to asked for, if I understand correctly.

I would ask for you to table it.

I'm fine with that.

I'll withdraw my motion. I think so. And we'll table this one.

And I'll withdraw my second.

Okay. Thank you. I have a motion to second to table the rezoning for the property located at 113 Conway Boulevard. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes 5-0. All right. Moving along. Ordinance to rezone property located at 141 Conway Boulevard from S1 to R2.

I'll move for the adoption of the ordinance as written.

I have a motion and a second to approve this ordinance as written. Is the owner here? Is the owner here, Ann? Yes. Would he like to speak?

CBC.

That was CBC.

That was the CBC.

I thought so, but we're doing this individually, so I wanted to do it correctly. All right.

And your comments stand?

Okay. Okay. Thank you. But these are voting individually, so I wanted to open the floor to you if you want to speak. Okay. So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Ms. Hurd?

This is 02652. Ms. Mill? No. Mr. Jones? No. Mr. Grimes?

No.

Mr. Ledbetter? Yes. Mr. Spergers?

No. Okay, that fails four to one. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, council.

All right. Next up, we have public service. First, we have a resolution to approve applying for funding for the Best Friends grant for the program for the Conway Animal Services. Mr. Clausen? Good evening. Did you pack dinner tonight?

Pardon me? Did you pack dinner tonight? Oh, I should have. I'm eating those airplane pellets. All right. Best Friends Animal Society of South Central has provided us with an opportunity to enter into a grant with them for $3,000. This funding will go to help set up a neonatal kitten foster program. It'll support... Say that again.

Neonatal kitten. Neonatal kitten.

Okay. There's all sorts of reasons why this could happen, but when... They're very, very young and somebody calls and says, animal services, we've got, had kittens under my car, we will get them. Sometimes the mother might not be healthy or there'll be some situation where they have to be bottle fed or they have just special needs at age until they can get to a more playful, what you would think about a kitten. They kind of more look like mice at a certain age range. And this money will go to help us develop our foster program with medical fosters, foster kits, bottles and supplies, anything that would be needed. Where this is going to be very important is it gets the kittens out of our shelter so that our staff does not have to tend to these bottle feeding and all the needs required to do that. So this $3,000 is going to be a lot of help to us.

Yep. Just another commendation for you guys are doing great work here. And, man, what an easy yes. I would make a motion for adoption of the resolution. I don't know the number, Ms. Hurd.

We have a motion and a second to adopt this resolution for apply for funding for the Best Friends Grant Program for the Coal and Animal Services. Any further discussion?

It's R26.

29. 29. 29. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

This is 5-0. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Next up is a resolution to approve the purchase of truck scales for the Department of Sanitation. Mr. Hopper. You guys do a great job at sanitation, Joe. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Yes, we're in need of replacing our truck scales. They're 22 years old. We've been patching them up for a good amount of time, and it's becoming very expensive. We put this out for bid in July. We had one competitive bid from System Scale in the amount of $238,025. That was included in our 2026 budget, and we're ready to replace them.

I'll make a motion to approve the resolution, R2630. Second.

I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution to purchase of truck scales for the Department of Sanitation. Any further discussion? Ms. Hurd?

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

That's just five to zero. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Next up is consideration to approve the removal of inventory of vehicles for the Parks and Recreation Department. Mr. Thames.

Good evening again. We are looking to remove a Dodge Durango from our inventory. The engine has seized and we've gotten a couple of different shops to look at it and there's really just no bringing it back.

Okay. Six years. We didn't get a lot out of that.

No.

I'm used to seeing much older vehicles on these.

Actually, that needs to be changed. I believe it's a 2015. I can double check. That sounds more closer to it.

I would feel better about giving up on it if it was 11 years old.

This one will probably go to auction rather than scrap. I think we can probably still get a little bit out of it. Its purpose is over for us.

I'll make a motion to approve removing this from inventory.

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the removal of inventory for the Parks Department, this vehicle. Any further discussion? It's heard.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Passes five to zero. Item four, been voted on. Final item is ordinance to appropriate funds for the replacement of HVAC units for the Conway Expo and Event Center. That has been an ongoing issue. Mr. Thames.

It has. We've got 12 units over there that are out. These units have been kind of depending on other units to keep them up, and we've lost, I think, probably five, maybe six is on its way out within the last couple of months, as hard as it's been. So just typical maintenance and upkeep. When buildings get older, we've got to replace them. So, with this, we're looking to enter into an agreement with Four Seasons, who's on tips, for $365,000 out of our advertising and promotion fund balance.

Six units. Twelve units. How many? Twelve units. Okay, twelve units. So, those units are $30,000 a pop? Yes, sir, pretty much. And I see that this is on tips, cooperative purchasing. Does that mean we forego bidding on this? Correct.

Actually, to be more accurate, bidding has already been done when you go through these. You're not waiving the bidding. You're just basically piggybacking on somebody else that's already put them out for bids. And that's what the law allows. And it's a streamlined process that helps cities save money by going through a bid process when somebody else has already done it. Okay.

How old are these units, Andrew? They're original to the buildings. So give me a ballpark date.

2017.

Yeah, for the event center, Expo is going to be a little bit older.

It seems like we opened it 2017, so 2016. They're around 10 years old.

Yeah. Which is the life expectancy anymore for those these days?

Plus, the Expo Center is always busy.

It is.

I mean, every time I've been out there, you look at the schedule, which is what we built it for.

I think the only weekends we have off are Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.

They're booked. I received a couple questions from folks about this and have been nagging Felicia about it. Man, that's a lot of money. And one of the things that Felicia responded was that they were that they run while the garage doors are open all the time in there?

Is that... So depending on the event that we have, you know, you could take Ray Lana, for example. People are coming in all day throughout the day. I mean, they're there until 2 a.m. sometimes. And to load and unload trucks or whatever it is, sometimes the garage doors will have to be open. But those units, they've just... they're like i said piggybacking on each other and when one goes out the other ones have to pick it up and then another one goes out and it's just kind of a snowball effect of taking them out that we do our best to make sure the doors are shut and air is not escaping but again when the weather's like this the last couple of weeks there's only so much we can do yeah just curious do we do any kind of maintenance on these like do we have some kind of service contract where these units are serviced a time or two year cleaned etc etc There hasn't been, but with these new units, we will implement that. As we've gotten more units throughout the park system, we just got one at Don Owen, regular maintenance will be required on these so that this doesn't happen in the future.

Yeah. I don't know what we need to do to make sure that, and I think we need to look at that elsewhere as well, because HVAC expense is just going to go up, and if we can save some money by maintaining them instead of replacing them every 10 years, I mean, the Man, I hope we don't spend half a million.

Our newer ones that we've installed, we do have service agreements for those. Okay. Yeah. I know we have one city hall, and I think PD's probably up to replace some coming next. Okay.

Yeah, I'm certainly in favor of replacing it. Just, man, that hurts.

That's coming from A&P, but, you know, it's not going to hit the general fund. And that is the part. It's a lot of money.

And that is the parts A&P account, not the A&P commission. Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I do know that during Ray Lana's and the gun show, there were some concerns about the warmth inside the building.

Yeah, I received comments during both of those. So, yeah. All right. Yeah, I would make a motion to adopt the ordinance 026-53, I think. Yes. There we go.

Second. I have a motion and a second to appropriate funds for the replacement of the HVAC units at the Conway Expo and Event Center. Any further discussion? No.

Mr. Grimes?

Aye.

Ms. Mell? Aye. Mr. Spergers?

Aye.

Mr. Ledbetter? Yes. Mr. Jones?

Yes. That passes five to zero. Thank you, Andrew. Council, I'll take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Adjourned.

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