Board of Directors - Regular Meeting

Arkansas Board of Directors to order a couple of housekeeping things. If you wish to address the board tonight, there are citizens' communication cards on the ledge. If you would fill one of those out and get that to our assistant city clerk so he could get that to me, we'd have a record of you speaking tonight. Second thing is, if you have your cell phone with you, if you would please silence your cell phones during the course of the meeting. At this time, we'll have a roll call.

Director Smith? Director Roberts?

Here.

Director Harris?

Here.

Director Holabush? Here.

Assistant Mayor Burr?

Here.

Director Jewell?

Here.

Mayor Brown?

Here. At this time, we'll stand for our invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. Let us pray. Gracious God, thank you for this day and all the blessings that you've given us, and be with us as we conduct the city's business tonight, and be with all of our citizens, and may we make the best decisions that's in the best interest of the city. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

with liberty and justice for all.

You may be seated. This time we'll move right on into citizens' communication time. Is there anyone here who wishes to address the board during citizens' communication time? Anyone here wish to address the board during citizens' communication time? Seeing and hearing none, we'll move right on into our presentations. We have an Employee Service Award. Our city manager will be presenting tonight. And that will go to none other than Mr. Christopher King with TAPD for 20 years. Thank you, Chris. Let's give Chris one more round of applause. We'll move right on into our consent agenda. Tonight we have three items on our consent agenda. Item number two is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of May 18th. Item number three is to adopt a resolution authorizing city manager to enter into a purchase agreement with ACS Playground Adventures for a shade structure at Ingram Park. Item number four is to adopt a resolution authorizing city manager to purchase a mobile adoption trailer manufactured by Hartstrom Manufacturing LLC for an animal care and adoption center. For the animal care and adoption center. What's the desire of the board for the consent? Motion to adopt. I'd like to pull three. I'd like to pull three. That leaves item number two and number four on the consent. Desire of the board. Motion to adopt. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt item number two and four. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? And those two passes. Director Jewell.

Well, I have an issue with the, this is a, what's it called, a source well. purchase that we have no bidder as such. And I'm not quite sure the procedure in that. So I looked on the sorts well site as best I could. And there's several competitors on that. So could somebody give me some understanding as to actually, do we know if we're getting the best price for these things?

I'm sorry, Director Jewell, I did email you that process for their solicitation. I meant to text you and tell you I emailed that to you, but I don't think that did, so I apologize. so the way that source well works is uh for one they they ensure that their bidding process meets um they're a government bible so understand they ensure that their bidding process meets many many states and government entities bidding requirements so they virtually follow the same bidding process still so The way they work is they get with their clients and determine what the needs are for, for instance, we need a shade structure or it could be many different things, vehicles or whatever. So they'll take that particular item or service and they will put out their request for proposals And, um, and then with that request for proposals, they have scoring criteria for, uh, for how they score those proposals when they get them back. So generally these bids consist of, uh, you know, 6% off our listing price or 10% off or something like that. Um, oftentimes we'll purchase tractors off of government by board and, lot of times those are you know 10% off MSRP or something like that so they they evaluate all those proposals that they receive back based on their scoring criteria which is not necessarily solely price price is the largest the largest factor in their scoring criteria but they also uh they also weigh in experience and quality and and that sort of thing as well and they've got a they've got a board that they they select who they award that contract to based on that scoring criteria so they're they're doing all the same things that we would do they're just They're just doing it for us and allowing us access to that. And the state does allow for that.

In my experience with all that, most of those over the years, that is the cheapest bid for that particular product. They usually, several years ago, they give an opportunity for everybody to bid on vehicles, to go bid that, and source compiles all that data. If you don't want to bid and you don't want to go through that criteria, they don't do it. But in most cases, buying from source is the cheapest route. And you don't have to use the bidding process. The staff doesn't have to use the bidding process to do it. And that statute allows you to use that without bidding. But typically, the ones I've seen, they are the cheaper.

Well, I call one of the competitors the same price as it's sourced with. But, okay, they are. But do we know in this instance whether they looked at other companies? We don't really know, do we?

Yes, sir. I don't know off the top of my head, but they make that information public. That's what I would like to know, how we navigate to it. I'd like to know who else they looked at. I got you. You want me to send you a link for that? I mean, I understand you all are about to vote on it. Yes. But, I mean, I'm happy to send you a link.

Well, did you look at those other people that they looked at to see if this was the best price? Did you happen to do that? No, sir.

Did staff do that? I doubt that staff did that. Why would they not do that? Historically, that is the best.

We accept the source bid. We accept that company's bid. That's why staff would look at it. What I would say, I don't.

I know, but why would we not look at it to see if that is the best?

Because you're using them to do it for you. So you're going to accept whatever they tell you is the cheapest buy. We trust.

If they've got three people on there. I looked at their sheet. And they've got people listed that meet their criteria. They've got a lot of people. Oh, yes, sir. So I assume those people meet their criteria somehow. So they're legitimate people that's on their list. If their board just says, well, we're going to pick this one as being the better of the best, the better of the good group, I guess I'll put it. Maybe our board will look at the second best as being better for us because they're cheaper. I'd like to know, you know, you don't always go with just – Somebody else is best as being better for your particular situation. I'd like to know more than just, well, this is source wealth, saying they're the number one. It's always been the number one. I would like to know, going forward, what those other options they looked at and what their bids are. I understand. If we're leaving $10,000 on the table just because it's source wealth, it says our board determines they're the best.

you know i might not agree with it well i i can tell you the reason i don't look at it anymore is because i have for a long time and i don't look at them anymore because i because i've never found an issue with it before um so i have come to trust in those source well quotes so i i don't bother looking anymore they have 400 something cities using them unless most of them use that the government-based

And that's a state-based bidding process. Ever since we've been mayor, that's the way we've done it. We've bid some of our own stuff out before, but for those types of things, the ones I'm experienced with that I remember, we used them and we've never had any issues with them.

Where they really come in handy is when you're purchasing something that you can't get locally. So any time that we can get something locally, we're going to bid it out. But if we have to go nationwide with it, it's much more efficient and simpler to use source well, typically, or any other government by-board.

I understand. But this is not a complicated building structure. And part of their bid is for installation that's going to be done locally. And... This should have been, I think, given a little more thought as to going in. I mean, why not look at this as, well, like you and I talked, possibly using our people to do it.

Right. I mean, I did that. I did look at that, and I would not be comfortable with our employees trying to install this. There's too many intricacies where it could go wrong, and I would not be comfortable with that. plus the price we're getting for installation, I think $14,700, something like that. It would be hard for me to believe that we can even get it done any cheaper than that using our own employees.

It's four posts and it comes with instructions.

It's more than that. You're prepping the site. You're drilling piers for foundation. You're setting rebar for foundation, pouring concrete, and then then you're setting the steel structure. And it's more than just the four poles. It's a full steel structure. It's not just four columns and then a shade structure spread across them. It's got a steel roof structure as well.

The city would be held liable if they were to install on their own, correct?

Well, I mean, the city has tort immunity, but.

The city's going to be held liable anyway. So they're not pouring concrete on this, are they?

Yes, sir.

That includes a concrete slab?

Not a slab. It includes a concrete foundation. But it's individual footings.

Yes, for the footings.

Yes, sir.

For those four poles.

Yes, sir. And it will either be a 12-foot deep pier or probably a 5-foot deep spread footing. And those certainly aren't typical things that our crews would do.

Oh, I've seen a 12-foot pier. I wasn't thinking of a 12-foot pier. I'd be interested to see. They're going to drill a 12-foot pier?

Yeah, it was either 10 or 12-foot. I don't recall, but it was one of the two. It's in here, I believe. But it's going to depend on the soils that are on site as well. I'm sorry, they call for a nine-foot deep pier. But it's also going to depend on what soils they pull out once they start drilling.

That's all the questions I have.

Any other questions? I will send you the link. If not, I'd instruct the city attorney to read the resolution.

Whereas the public works department requests that the board authorized the city manager to enter into a purchase agreement with ACS playground adventures for a shade structure at Ingram park. And whereas the purchase will be acquired through source. Well, a government by board, therefore bidding is not required for this purchase. And whereas the total cost of this purchase is $43,522 and 53 cents. and was budgeted and available in the community development block grant public facilities line item. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the board of directors of the city of Texarkana, Arkansas, that the city manager is authorized to enter into a contract with ACS Playground Adventures for the purposes set forth above with the funding from sources so indicated. Pass and approve this first day of June, 2026. City attorneys read the resolution, desire the board.

Motion to adopt. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Would you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts?

Yes.

Director Harris?

No.

Director Holabush?

Yes.

Mayor Brewer? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer, I'm sorry.

That'd be fine with me. Assistant Mayor Brewer? You say yes. Yes. Yes. director jewel no mayor brown yes and the resolution passes moving right along to item number five on our regular agenda adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter a finance agreement with government capital corporation for a new fire pumper apparatus chief fletcher good evening board mayor we currently have seven fire trucks two of these are reserves

And both are over 20 years old. Our five front-line trucks consist of a 2012 model, three 2019 models, and a 2022 model. In keeping with the CEPD standards and maintaining level of service to the community, we need to remove our oldest reserve from service and move the 2012 model to reserve status and purchase a new truck. As you can tell by the price, fire truck costs have seriously outpaced inflation, increasing by almost 50 to 70% over the last five years. And the truck we are proposing to purchase only includes what is necessary to do the job. My understanding is that purchasing one now will save a considerable amount of money compared to waiting until 2027. Any questions?

Anybody have any questions for Chief Fletcher?

Chief, I want to thank you for all that you do. And just looking at our ISO ratings now to where it was several years ago, and I think it's been imperative that we do have a new truck for response times because once we're in initiative, You know, with this old equipment and people's lives are at stake, we can't recog and say we wish we would have. And so just thank you for this long period of time. We're just still trying to make that work. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yes. Chief, you just heard me up here griping about price. Did you happen to get more than one price?

I did. That price is considerably cheaper than any place I talked to. That's one I'd like to hear. I talked to Rosenbauer, I talked to Pierce, Spartan, several apparatus makers, and I thoroughly researched the price.

But this is also a buy board? You could have done just the one deal, right?

I could have, but when you get into spec in a fire truck, they can get into 200, 300 pages. So it is good to decide what you want and then see what's available at that price.

Any other questions? Now, I looked at some numbers that they were doing nationwide. You were talking about the increase for police and fire. vehicles, they're looking up to a 12% increase in 2027. So it'd be smart to go ahead and get a new EPA regulation.

Absolutely. Any other questions? The one being replaced is going to be held in reserve while maintenance is done on the others. Is that correct?

Uh, the one we will remove one reserve and then we'll auction off the oldest truck we have.

I just want to make sure one was being sold.

Oh, yeah. It's a 2003 model.

Any other questions? Not, I'd instruct the city attorney to read the resolution.

Whereas the fire department is requesting authorization for the city manager to enter into a finance agreement with Government Capital Corporation for a new fire pumper apparatus. And whereas the fire department currently has a 2012 pumper that is due to be moved to reserve status and a new pumper is needed to maintain safety in the community. And whereas the purchase will be acquired through HGAC by a government by board, therefore bidding is not required for this purchase. And whereas the total cost of this purchase is $675,384, which will be financed through government capital corporation for 10 years, starting June, 2027, with a yearly payment of $88,782.39. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Directors of the City of Texarkana, Arkansas, that the City Manager is authorized to enter into a contract with a government capital corporation for the purposes set forth above, with funding from the sources so indicated. Pass and approved on this first day of June, 2026.

City attorneys read the resolution, desire of the Board.

Motion to adopt.

Second. Have a motion and a second. Could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. And the resolution passes. Moving right on into item number six on our agenda is to adopt an ordinance authorizing the issuance of the Capital Improvement and Refunding Limited Tax General Obligation Bond Series 2026 authorizing a trust indenture, authorizing the sale of the bonds, and the execution of the bond purchase agreement. I believe Jim Fowler's here, Jason's here, Sheena's here. You guys come forward.

Good evening, members of the board, mayor. I'm Jim Fowler, Rose Law Firm, your bond counsel. This ordinance authorizes the city to issue $29,410,000 worth of capital improvement and refunding bonds. You'll recall a little background that in November the voters approved $2,375,000 to refund the city's series 2012 bonds. They approved $41,925,000 for street improvements and $5,350,000 for drainage improvements and be supported by a five mil ad valorem tax that they approved. The proceeds are going to be used approximately $1,139,000 to refund the 2012 bonds, $24,461,000 and change for the street improvements, and approximately $4,182,000 for the drainage improvements. The bonds are being sold to Stevens, Inc. for a price of $29,489,540.45. That includes a $373,640.45 premium that the bondholders are paying for the bonds. And the bonds will be insured by assured guarantee with the municipal bond insurance policy. Bank OZK will be the bond trustee. The bond terms, they'll mature annually from 2028 out to 2051. And as I said earlier, they'll be supported by the special tax. Significant portion of the voter approved amounts is left over for additional bonds in the future. There's about $17,463,507 still available for street improvements. $1,167,441 still available for drainage improvements. The ordinance authorizes the mayor to sign the bond purchase agreement with Stevens, enter a trust indenture, a continuing disclosure agreement, and present a final official statement. And there is an emergency clause with the ordinance. Jason Holsquall with Stevens is here. He can tell you more about the financial terms of the bonds if you have any questions on that.

Does anybody have any questions for either of them?

I believe I read somewhere that the state of Arkansas was increasing the homestead credit and I really don't believe it's supposed to be. Will that have an effect on this?

Yeah, I mean, it will reduce the amount of taxes that homeowners pay, but we disclosed that fully in the preliminary official statement, even with the latest increase in the homestead credit, and showed adequate coverage for the bonds with that. Thank you.

If no other questions, I would instruct the city attorney to read the ordinance in its title form on its first reading.

An ordinance authorizing the issuance of limited tax general obligation capital improvement and refunding bonds, authorizing the execution and delivery of a bond purchase agreement providing for the sale of the bonds, authorizing the execution and delivery of a trust indenture securing the bonds, prescribing matters related thereto, and declaring an emergency and for other purposes.

So the ordinance has been read on its first reading. What would be the desire to have it read on its second reading tonight? Second reading, abbreviated form, please. Second. So the motion is second. Have it read on its second reading. Any other discussion? Could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts?

Yes.

Director Harris? Yes. Director Hollabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. An ordinance authorizing the issuance of limited tax general obligation capital improvement and refunding bonds authorizing the execution and delivery of a bond purchase agreement providing for the sale of the bonds, authorizing the execution and delivery of a trust indenture securing the bonds, prescribing matters related thereto, and declaring an emergency and for other purposes.

So ordinance has been read on its second reading. The desire to have it read on its third and final reading. Third and final. Second. We have a motion and second for third and final. Any other discussion? Would you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush?

Yes.

Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. An ordinance authorizing the issuance of limited tax general obligation capital improvement and refunding bonds, authorizing the execution and delivery of a bond purchase agreement providing for the sale of the bonds, authorizing the execution and delivery of a trust indenture securing the bonds, prescribing matters related thereto, and declaring an emergency and for other purposes.

So the ordinance has been read on its third and final reading, a desire to adopt.

Motion to adopt.

Second. We have a motion as second to adopt. Prior to the board voting to adopt this particular ordinance, is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against? Seeing and hearing none, could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts?

Yes.

Director Harris?

Yes.

Director Holabush?

Yes.

Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes, and the ordinance is adopted. We need an emergency clause to enact this. What would be the desire of the board?

Motion to attach emergency clause. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer? Yes. Director Jewell? Yes. Mayor Brown?

Yes. And the ordinance has an emergency clause attached to it. Moving right along to our next item, item number seven, is to amend ordinance K-286 to rezone the property located at 48 Big Rock Circle from R1 Rural Residential to A1 Limited Mixed Use.

Jamie. This property is... I don't have a pointer. This property is over off of Big Rock Road, which is around, that's Genoa Road you see up in the upper right-hand corner. Come on. Can you move to the next slide? Okay. Well, the property is currently zoned The property is currently zoned R1, rural residential. The property owner would like to put a storage structure on there, and A1 is the only zone that you're allowed to do that before you build a house. And there is water out there. There will be on a septic system, but there is public water out there. And Ms. Jameson is here if you have any questions for her.

Jimmy, have there been any opposition

No, not a word.

When you say storage structure, for private use or for others?

Yes, for private use, yes.

I mean, the only issue is they just want to build the storage structure for the house.

Yes, they want to build it first.

Yeah, that's no problem.

Any other questions? Hold on a second. Yeah, Director Harris.

Is that a state law thing that if you got it? Now, say again, they got sewage?

They have city water. Uh-huh.

But there's no city sewer.

Any other questions? If not, I would instruct the city attorney to read the ordinance on its first reading and title form.

An ordinance amending ordinance number K-286 as amended for declaring an emergency and for other purposes.

Ordinance has been read on its first reading. Desire to have it read on its second. Second reading. Abbreviated form, please. Second. Let's have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Would you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris?

Yes.

Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. An ordinance amending ordinance number K-286 as amended for declaring an emergency and for other purposes.

Ordinance has been read on its second reading. Desire for third and final. Third and final. Second. I have a motion and a second for third and final. Any other discussion? Would you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Hollabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. An ordinance amending ordinance number K-286 as amended for declaring an emergency and for other purposes.

Ordinance has been read on its third and final reading, a desire to adopt. Motion to adopt. Second. We have a motion and a second to adopt. Prior to the board voting to adopt this particular ordinance, is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against? Seeing and hearing none, could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts?

Yes.

Director Harris?

Yes.

Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. The ordinance is adopted. They're requesting an emergency clause, the desire to attach.

Motion to attach.

Let's have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. And the emergency clause is attached. Moving on to our last item on our agenda tonight is item number eight to amend ordinance K286 to rezone the property located at 1206 Phillips Lane from M1 Limited Manufacturing to R3 Low Density Residential. Jamie.

Okay. This property is currently zoned M1 Limited Manufacturing. The rumor that I have is that this was incorrectly rezoned from residential to M1. The property owners were told back in 2000 that they needed to rezone it to manufacturing in order to run their electrical business out of it. But they were only doing the administrative portion of it, which they could have done as a home occupation rather than rezoning it. So everything around that, can you go to the next slide please? The next one. You can see, theirs is the one that's outlined in black on the left-hand side. You can see everything around there is zoned R3, except that A1 piece to the north. So they are just asking to rezone it back to R3. They want to put a residence on it. And you can't do that in manufacturing.

Any other questions? Are they continuing to run it as an office for the electric?

Are they here?

No. They are not, to the best of my knowledge.

If they were.

Even if they were, they can get a home occupation permit. Sure.

Yeah. Which is just approved in-house.

Yeah, that's just an in-house thing.

Jamie, is that what, 20% of the work?

20% of the, there's several rules, but they can't use more than 20% of their business. They can't use any outside structures or accessory structures. They can't have other employees working for them in the home.

But that's still available.

Yeah, absolutely.

Any other questions? If not, I'd instruct the city attorney to read the ordinance on its first reading in title form.

An ordinance amending ordinance number K-286 as amended and for other purposes.

Ordinance has been read on its first reading. Desire to have it read on its second.

Second reading. Abbreviated form, please.

Second. So the motion is second for second reading. Any other discussion? Could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell? Yes. Mayor Brown?

Yes. An ordinance amending ordinance number K-286 as amended and for other purposes.

Ordinance has been read on as second reading, desired for third and final. Third and final. Second. Have a motion as second for third and final reading. Could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts?

Yes.

Director Harris?

Yes.

Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. An ordinance amending ordinance number K-286 as amended and for other purposes.

So ordinance has been read on its third and final reading, desire to adopt.

Motion to adopt.

Second. So I have a motion and a second to adopt. Prior to the board voting to adopt this particular ordinance, is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against? Seeing and hearing none, could you call the roll?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts?

Yes.

Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer? Yes. Director Jewell?

Yes.

Mayor Brown?

Yes. And the ordinance is adopted. Next, we'll move right on into board commentaries. Is there any board member that wishes to address the board? Director Harris?

I guess I got about two pages. I hope I can be brief, but I doubt it. I've been getting phone calls, which this is directed to the city manager. A person has been asking me about housing, about housing repair. And I know we met three years ago, no, two years ago with this person. And we were trying to get a housing person here that she would agree to work contract. And I guess your issue on that is no, because you haven't made no attempt. to do that and yet I'm getting phone calls from a lot of people but I do get this request about some type of housing plan or some type of housing thing and this person does live over in the college hill area and he would want to know about something to get his roof how to get money to get his roof fixed that was my first request question I'm asking then my other question I'm asking you does is the is it true that you got to have a million dollar fund be bonded for a million dollars to tear down houses within the city of Linden if so why is that I go ahead and let you answer those two questions

those are state requirements those aren't our requirements a state requirement yes those are those are not city requirements in in order to be you have to have a contractor's license and um and i'm not sure what is i don't know if it's a million dollar bond or or what but um there are requirements that the state has in order to acquire that that contractor's license but what for some reason they feel they're getting that from

somebody in public works or something saying they have to have a million dollar loan or tear down houses so I'll move along since you said and what about the housing person what is your issue on that i i have no issue with that um but you and i have talked a number of times and yeah but we talking and doing something totally two different things and i see the need of that or the people who i represent and you may not see it but you know you you and i know mary you're gonna say you got beef with me it's a personal issue every time i'm not going to say no i'm just saying every time i ask a question about words in my mouth the last time you said that you got a personal issue with mr tyler mr richard and i don't have a personal issue okay well you have to i can play them back and i tell you what uh it worked but but my thing is you know the people and i know the understanding that how the city manager works at most case I'm saying you work this case that you only really have to please for board member to keep your job you know I understand that situation so I know I hear you over there I'm going to say what I want to say and I understand that but at times you know I represent the poor neighborhood the poor poor community and I hope you see that I see a need for a housing person I wouldn't be asking this I wouldn't be bringing this up at meetings just to try to make myself look good. I know it's needed. But what I see what's needed and what you see what's needed, I know it's two different things. And then my next.

Director Harris, as far as I'm concerned, I have seven board members to please as well as 29,000 citizens. And I aim to please every single one of them. But I do everything I can to please them. It's impossible to do it all. I cannot please everyone. And I would absolutely love to do something like this. Like I've told you before, I would want to have a housing study completed before we entered into something like this. And we have not to date been able to pay for that housing study. So we have not moved forward with that.

I find that the city can pay for anything they want to pay for. If it's something that the city want to do, you will find money. And that's my comment on that. Then my next question to the city attorney. would they be in violation of any law if I ask for a water park here in town to give a safety report or to have a safety ordinance where they monthly report where the people who lifeguards up there uh how are they being trained they certified life or what type of uh issue they having like would they send a monthly report to the city as to what type of incident that that that may be needed uh that had happened because of amlam has showed up there or the police showed up there and just some type of safety report that they would have ordered that they were required to give monthly to the city based on what they're doing. And my reason behind this is obvious. A little girl died last year at the water park. And we, you know, and it looked like me, it was basically brushed to the side, complimented. when the first issue it was issued as a medical emergency they really didn't say that somebody actually died at that water park but if we had the water park to report as a as monthly to the city you know how many lifeguards they have per one thousand per state law I think the state law said well you can get the state law on that but how many lifeguards they have, what's the training of the lifeguard, and what kind of incident they have, and what's the certification which they'll be with the training of the lifeguard as to what they have. Is that too much with an ordinance to make a water part produce that?

I think you can... It's possible to pass an ordinance to... do something to that effect. Obviously, it's a private business. In short, I think there's a way to do that. Some of those things are, I mean, you can, I I think it's public information as to how many police calls are out there, ambulance calls or fire department calls are out there.

I want them to give a safety report each month. I want them to put them on the notice book because, like I said, if they can get money from the city, I want to make sure that the citizen going out there is in a safe condition. I know the city just not tore down. or the swimming pool over England, but I know nobody never died over there. But we gave money, $181,000 to an entity that somebody died out there, you know, and it don't look like we held them to being somewhat accountable, you know. And I want to help them to be accountable.

I'll look into that and see what we can request as it relates to monthly reports. Yeah.

Well, I don't know. See, they're going to open up for when they close.

Right. The season.

Season. So we know that even if they just give one a month before they open, or at the end, or maybe do it every two months, because, you know, come September,

They're virtually open Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Yeah, so they mostly close, but I just want them to do something. And then the city manager, I did send you an email today. don't know if you got it I know it's a shame I had to read out email in public to you that's what I'm saying and I do notice nobody else is not reading but my point is I'm still getting two and three years behind when I make a request on something like my first one was the creek at Pinehurst and Morrison Street has not been cleaned from my request two years ago along the housing on housing side of Morrison Street and then on that you're spraying Roundup in that creek you know I have some issues with that you're spraying Roundup where I didn't see them actually spraying the Roundup but the grass in there have turned red instead of turning brown like someone has sprayed and then killed the grass and i can't say that i just feel that the city is using too much roundup and herbicide throughout uh in my ward that i can see you know how would you propose we kill the vegetation otherwise For you spraying in the creek, you know, that's somewhat an environmental issue. You spraying Roundup near a creek or in a creek, you don't think that Roundup, then people, it's got lymphoma. You know, people, there's a class action lawsuit from Roundup from that, you know, and then I have seen the employee that spraying it does not have no problem. Mass equipment on, which I have emailed you about. I'm not bringing nothing up to him that I haven't emailed him about. If it is, I'll make that point.

They wear all the safety gear that is required from the material safety data sheets of that chemical.

Okay, so if I show you a video of the guy spraying round up over by my house last year and he didn't have not one mask on, not one nothing, you don't think that's a true and correct video of him doing that?

Mask is not necessarily a requirement.

He didn't have no gloves on?

I don't know off the top of my head what the protection requirements are, but. we require our employees to utilize the safety gear that the material safety data sheet requires when using that.

And this at 602 Gordon Street is overgrown, so I can't say you were aware of that prior to this, so I'm not going to say number three. The lot next door in my hand, I think, is five. What was that? I may have the address wrong but I think it's 1519 Panthers right across the school you know I had that meeting over there at the school they was complaining about that that lot has not never been cut to them right right beside them with the cafeteria for almost two or three years so and that was another point then my next item number four I said the ditch on the side of the house is 1602 Garfield has not been cleaned out due to the water not back up in the yard but what y'all did y'all did come and clean that out the front but you didn't go to the side of the yard and clean this out now when the water run down in the ditch it's bad enough in the yard then number five i just said light steel has been requested at grammar park that was a request i made five years ago that was by me and then number six was earnest hill park the open ditch need to clean it out and then i know i have requested that you expand that part you got an open ditch there won't you just put some pipe through there close the ditch there and just expand the park that was the next thing and then number seven mitigation plan for Jones Creek area and I know you have stated that whatever you do it's going to flood there but mitigation means that you should know what the word mitigation is but I'm going to say it anyway mitigation means to limit the effect of flood that means that if you feel that it's going to flood no matter what we're going to do there but you can do something there to limit the amount of effect when it does flood there. Now, I can write you out a mitigation plan. I don't have to be no engineer to do it. Like, I can give you one incident. That pipe down there on Seaver Street by the railroad track going all the way to the ditch there. i believe it's probably about two inch or three inch pipe i'll say you would dig that up and put maybe a bigger pipe there that way when the water uh going through there is you have more water to flow from silver street where you're going back up at that uh barbershop there that but i said i'm not a uh by engineering but I think sometime common sense can help you can help do something that you may see but I know you already see it and tell them what don't happen there what we do that Jones Creek is gone flu then I receive that the house name them up My last thing is number nine, that dirt piled up at Hobo Park. I know they've been almost three or four years, and it's still there piled up at that park, Hobo Park, along Division Street. People at that church across the street, they've been asking me about when it was you moved that pile of dirt, and I don't know what the reason why it's there. And you was emailed just today, so... And that's basically it, Mayor. Those are basically the questions.

Any other board members? I do. This is going to be a short follow-up from two weeks ago. I've had people ask me when the A&P Commission was established. And it was established October 19, 1970. And it was Ordinance H-123. And it was pursuant to the Acts of Arkansas 185 of 1965, so it's been around for over 50 years. It's been around a while, and I don't know where we're at on having a workshop because, I mean, we still have, I and I know the citizens still have a lot of questions, and the answers are just not there. And I think we, I mean, we can't make A&P meet with us But we're going to have to have answers before we can move forward. Because I know we're going to be appointing someone to the commission. And we've got to figure out exactly where we're at to know where we're going. And right now, we're just spinning. And so do we know when we're going to have us a workshop? I think it's in June. When is the deadline for the applications?

I think it's this Friday.

Is it this Friday?

June 8th. June 8th.

Well, I mean, I know it's probably going to be.

What's the workshop for?

Well, I mean, I can go over every question I've got if you'd like for me to.

I'm just looking in general. What's the purpose of the board having a workshop with A&P?

Well, first question I've got is enforcement. If they're not paying their taxes, is there an enforcement with that? How much is left on the bond that we're tied into the water park with?

I mean... We're not tied to... We don't have any obligations. I'm sorry.

A&P doesn't have any obligations. If the fund, if the A&P tax was gone, we don't owe anybody anything. No, sir. That's what I want to discuss.

But we owe Parks and Recreation a big chunk of money. And that would come from the general fund if A&P was out.

I agree, but if money's not being spent the way it needs to be spent... I mean, what do we have to show for 56 years of A&P collections? Can you name anything?

That's a convention center.

How much?

I can't advocate on behalf of the ABA and World Park. I can't advocate on what's been going on. We have new lights up there. We have equipment. It's a volunteer-based park. I support that. and on the board for 18, and A&P has been pivotal.

It's been a disaster for the past couple of years.

I don't disagree that different aspects may have a different weight on different issues. I'm just speaking on behalf of the ABA, and that world's been pivotal to our operation out there.

Well, I know that the citizens deserve answers of what's been going on. We haven't got any unless you have. And I think until we get answers, I mean, I really believe A&P needs to hold up. And I know that we're appointing someone, but why are we appointing someone right in the middle of something? I think they're more than qualified to do the job. But that goes back to we haven't got answers from two weeks ago.

Mayor, let me answer that question for you. We had a workshop last week, and also our next A&P Commission meeting is on June 16th. So I encourage everyone to come to those meetings, and that's where we take care of our A&P business, because generally there's no one attending these meetings. But I want to thank everyone that came out last week that attended the A&P meetings. And so that's... Were they allowed to come to the podium and speak?

Yes. Yes. They should be able to.

Yes.

The applicants can, but typically there's not a citizen communication time during A&P meetings.

It is now. During the workshop period, we just had a workshop last week.

A workshop or a meeting? A meeting. It was a meeting.

We started out as a workshop.

Well, it wasn't advertised as a workshop at all.

Is it legal for us to have a workshop with A&P? I know there's a lot of separations per state law.

Well, I mean, a workshop is just what it is. So you can have a workshop with another entity. The reason for workshops is because the A&P Commission nor the city board can, y'all can't talk to each other about city business. Right. Right? And so we do workshops in public and announce them so that we're not or members of the board or the city are not meeting in secret discussing business. And so that's the reason for a workshop. You can call a workshop for any reason. You can meet, co-meet with the A&P Commission. You're not conducting business.

We had a workshop. And people in the audience spoke. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of people that spoke at the meeting we had. It was open to the public. As a matter of fact, we spent several hours listening to people talk. We opened it up to their suggestions. We got numerous suggestions. And their applications for everybody, it was announced. What's our deadline, Chairman Berger? It's June 19. That's when the application deadline turns. We gave them two weeks for anybody that wanted funding for this year, 2026. They have to the 19th. We had quite a crowd there. And the city's been advertising it, I believe, announcing that. So I think everybody is aware now that money is available for this year. Those people that... The previous applicants have been, are going to be, I think they were going to be notified that we're taking their applications again. Those people have been put on notice that monies are now available and we will look, uh, starting our next meeting at applications and we will schedule those meetings. at various times to address those needs. We are listening to those needs and trying our best to take care of this mess. But it's going to take a little time. But we're trying to address the needs of those people. And we very much want their input. And the last meeting we had, we had a lot of input. And I think we're addressing it.

Does anybody have anything else? Director Harris. So I was there at the last A&B meeting myself. So he basically, what he said is true. Thank you, Dirk.

Anybody else? But now the voters with signatures and on the ballot can repeal any tax, correct?

Yes. Any tax, I don't.

Any tax. It was... Because, I mean, if the board doesn't have a desire to do something like that, and the voters do, the voters should have an opportunity to do so.

It has to be placed on the ballot by an entity that's collecting the tax. The voters can't just put something on the ballot.

You can get signatures in 2000.

Petition to have it put on the ballot.

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, it doesn't have to. I mean, citizens have a right to do that. That's why you It's based on the number that voted for the circuit clerk spot in the primaries. So yeah, there's an option there. But I just want to know if that would cover A and P. If the board does not do it by ordinance? Correct.

Off the top of my head, I can't tell you. I believe that's correct. Would you check? I will check.

There was an effort several years ago, and a petition was circulated, and a ballot initiative was started, but the enactment clause was left off, so it was kicked out on a technicality. When was that? 2012, maybe.

Okay.

Yeah, I have that petition.

Any other board commentary?

Mayor, last comment before you close out. Our focus is moving A&P in a positive direction with intentional purpose. We aim to inspire economic growth and in our local economy and relentlessly invest in our youth. That's all I have, Mayor. Anyone else? June 16th.

Tyler, you have anything? I do not, no, sir. Okay. If not, at this time we will excuse all guests and staff. We will go into a brief executive session to consider an appointment to the Advertising and Promotion Commission. I reconvene this regular meeting of the Texarkana Arkansas Board of Directors out of executive session. We were in executive session to consider an appointment to our Advertising and Promotion Commission. At this time, I would entertain a motion to appoint Rachel Scott to the Advertising and Promotion Commission.

I make a motion to appoint Rachel Scott to the A&P Commission.

Second. I have a motion and a second. I'd instruct the city attorney to read the resolution.

Whereas a vacancy exists on the Advertising and Promotion Commission, and whereas it is necessary that an appointment be made to fill the vacant position, now therefore be it resolved by the Board of Directors of the City of Texarkana, Arkansas, that the following appointments of the Advertising and Promotion Commission for the unexpired term of Allison Wright is hereby approved. Applicant Rachel Scott, term March 21, 2023 to 2027. Pass and approve this first day of June, 2026.

So we have a motion and a second for the appointment. Could you call the roll, please?

Director Smith?

Yes.

Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris?

Before I say yes, but I already said yes, but this lady came to the last aid meeting. She was from the hotel, I believe, Hampton Hotel.

That was a different one. She was in the convention center. That's not this one. It's not this one.

She was in the convention center. Oh, okay. Well, okay. Maybe I'm getting the wrong person. But I'm still going to say yes.

Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer?

Yes.

Director Jewell? Yes. Mayor Brown?

Yes. She's appointed and resolution passes. If no other business, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. If the motion is second, could you call the roll?

Director Smith? Yes. Director Roberts? Yes. Director Harris? Yes. Director Holabush? Yes. Assistant Mayor Brewer? Yes. Director Jewell? Yes. Mayor Brown?

Yes. We're adjourned.