City Council - Regular Meeting

Let you know the bikes are hot.

Not quite. Close. Close. Very close.

at 6 30 anything on july 28th i'd like to call the city council meeting to order postponed from july 21st um steve would you give us a prayer please that's great living heavenly father we come before you acknowledging your place and our lives and the importance that we have to put you first in all things and so as we go about the work and the business of our city today we put you first in those decisions. We pray, Lord, that you guide her thoughts, give us wisdom and discernment. And we thank you for this city. We thank you for the people that are here. Thank you for joining us tonight. We pray, Lord, that you would help our city. May we work tonight in the spirit of unity. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Please join me in a pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Thank you, Council. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll, please?

Councilmember Hall?

Here.

Councilmember Chapman?

Here.

Councilmember McMeehan? Here. Councilmember Heffner? Here. Councilmember Bowles?

Here.

Councilmember Rubel?

Here.

We have a quorum. Council first on the agenda tonight is a review and approval of the city council meeting from June 16th, 2026. If you had a chance to review, I'd entertain a motion to approve.

Motion to approve.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is the June 23rd. City Council meeting minutes. I'd entertain a motion to approve as presented.

Motion to approve.

We have a motion and a second. Any comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is department reports that were presented to you. I'd entertain a motion to approve as presented.

Motion.

We have a motion. We have a second. Second. We have a second. Any comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Also presented to you are the financials for June 26th. If I had a chance to review those, I'd entertain a motion to approve.

Motion.

We have a motion. We have a second? Second. And a second. Any comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is the Planning Commission report. There was no Planning Commission met in June or May. So there's no report. Water Waste Board Advisor Committee, I don't think you've met since the last meeting, so there's no report there. And Economic Development Committee, Council Member Chapman, we haven't met, but we did, in conjunction with Metro Plan, they did send out a survey, and they've gotten 122 respondents. So we are, that's a very good, so we'll see what that produces for us to be used and whatever we can use it for.

Was this the survey that came on the postcard that had the parks on it? Yes. I took it three times.

Did you? Okay. Voting three times. Let that be on the record.

There's three in our house. I did have a question for the Planning Commission.

He's not here. There was no report, so he's not here.

Oh, okay.

Okay. Next on the agenda is old business. The update on the right-of-way between Austin and Ward, quite frankly, I have not talked to the individual, so we'll just carry forward on that. Next on the agenda is Ordinance 2026-05. This is the third reading. Madam Clerk, if you'd read the title, please.

An ordinance amending the City of Ward Unified Development Ordinance. Third reading in approval.

Council, this is, like I said, third reading. I'd entertain a motion to approve its third reading. Motion. We have a motion. We have a second. Second. And second. Roll call, please.

Council Member Hall?

Yes.

Council Member Chapman?

Yes.

Council Member McMillan? Yes. Council Member Heffner? Can I ask a question now, or do I have to wait?

Yes, you can ask a question now.

In this Unified Development Ordinance, does it address anything about shoddy builders?

This has nothing to do with this. This is just a matter of changing it, so that is not related to what we're doing right now. okay i'm just trying to ask my question okay so what's your vote on this particular ordinance yes okay council member bowls yes and council member ruble yes order 2026-05 has been approved on its third read and i entertain a motion to approve adopt orders 2026-05 motion and a second roll call please council member chapman yes

Councilmember McMahon.

Yes.

Councilmember Hefner. Yes. Councilmember Bowles.

Yes.

Councilmember Rubel.

Yes.

And Councilmember Hall.

Yes. Orders 2026-05 has been approved and adopted to be in effect in 30 days. Next on the agenda is new business resolution 2026-32. If you read the title, please.

A resolution certifying and accepting Wagner General Contractors as a low bidder for the Ward City Hall renovation project phase two and authorizing the mayor and or city clerk to enter into a contract with Wagner General Contractors to complete the project.

Council, we went through the publication, the bidding process, and Wagner has come out as low as attached on that. I'd open it for discussion or to entertain a motion to approve.

I'm having trouble pulling that. What was the bid amount?

$459,650. The highest bid was $799,000. This, if you'll remind, this creates, it fixes the ADA problems in the City Hall. It redoes the front entrance. This entrance will have an ADA entrance in a four-year area for cover. It fixes the bathrooms in City Hall to make them fully compliant with ADA.

Motion to accept.

We have a motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

And we have a second. Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Council. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2026-33.

A resolution authorizing the mayor and or city clerk to open a certificate of deposit with bank OZK and to move funds.

Council, this is just an administrative thing to put some funds into a CD so we can gain some interest.

I make a motion we accept.

We have a motion, we have a second?

Second.

Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is resolution 202634.

A resolution amending the 2026 water and sewer budget.

Council, we reviewed a mid-year review with the CPA and HR on how our budgets, how our money's looking, and we think we're position where we give a 2% discretionary pay increase. Otherwise, it used to be known as COLA, but it's not. It's called discretionary pay increase now. 2%, and then APERS, for those who are on APERS, got hit with a 0.25% increase this year. And they're going to get hit with that until 2029. So this gives a 2% pay high mid-year and a 0.25 to offset the cost of that APERS increase. I don't floor for discussion or approval or motion to approve.

What was the January increase?

3%. And if you read this in this motion or in this resolution, any 2027 discourage rate pay increase, in other words, at the end of the year, if we are looking at a 4% COLE increase, council may want to give just a 2% because they've already given 2% already. So we have that in there that that's not a guarantee at all. We have that option if we want to offset the 2027. But with the rising prices that we're all well aware of, and we're in a position where we can do this.

I'll make a motion to approve.

We have a motion. We have a second. Second. We have a second. Any comments? Any further comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Aye.

Show one opposition. Next on the agenda is resolution 2026-35. Read title, please.

A resolution amending the 2026 general fund budget.

This is for the rest of us on general fund. You will notice if you read it, uniform officers, the police and fire only get a 2%. They don't get the .25 because they're under law fee, and law fee did not raise their contribution this year.

I'll make a motion to approve.

We have a motion to approve. We have a second. Second. And we have a second. Any comments?

Any public comment? I have a comment. Sure. So we're not giving the fire department the same amount we're going to give the police department? Did I hear that right?

No, no, no. Police and fire are getting the same. They're just not getting the .25 like APERS because they're not on APERS or on law. Law fee didn't. Right. So we have a motion and a second. Any further comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2026-36. Read the title, please.

A resolution repealing and replacing Resolution 2022-04, establishing minimum hourly rates and salary for members of the Ward Water Wastewater Department.

Council, this puts into effect for the Ward and Wastewater Department, the minimum salary is based on what you just approved on the resolution. I entertain a motion to approve.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Any motion? We have a second. Second. Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Opposed.

Show one opposed. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2026-37. Retitle, please.

A resolution repealing and replacing resolution 2022-03, establishing minimum hourly rates and salary for members of the Ward Police Department.

Councilor, this is the same thing, just setting in motion the raises for police department based on the general fund approval.

I make a motion we accept.

We have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. And we have a second. Any further comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is Resolution 202638. Read the title, please.

Establishing minimum hourly rates and salary for full-time members of the Ward Fire Department.

This is actually the first one we've done on the Fire Department because we now have full-time members. So this sets their salary based on the previously approved resolutions.

I make a motion to accept.

A motion.

Second.

And a second. Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is Ordinance 202607. Read the title, please.

An ordinance repealing and replacing Ordinance 2025-25, clarifying the duties of the Office of the Mayor for the City of Ward, Arkansas, establishing the salary of mayor for the City of Ward, Arkansas, and for other purposes.

Council, this puts in motion the raises for the mayor's position, including the $5,000 that was deferred from the first of the year.

Make a motion to approve.

Make a motion to approve. This is a first reading, by the way. Second. We have a motion and a second for first reading. Any comments? Any public comment?

I'd like to add a comment that just for general knowledge that We already proved this at the first of the year and you deferred it. Correct. Because of budget concerns.

Yes, sir. This just puts in a motion. You got to have the ordinance to make it happen. So we have a motion and a second on the first reading. Roll call, please.

Councilmember McMinn. Abstain. Councilmember Heffner.

Yes.

Councilmember Bowles.

Yes.

Councilmember Rubel.

Yes.

Council Member Hall?

Yes.

And Council Member Chapman?

Yes.

Ordinance 202607 has been approved for its first reading. I'd entertain a motion to waive the second and third readings. Motion. Motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

And we have a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. I'd entertain a motion to approve, adopt Ordinance 202607. second so we have a motion in a second i will tell you this takes effect september 1st so we have motion second to approve any comments roll call please council member hefner no council member bowles yes council member ruble yes council member hall yes council member chapman yes

And Councilmember McMillan. Abstain.

So we have one no, one abstain, and four yeses. Motion carries. And that'll take effect, like I said, one September. Next on the agenda is Ordinance 202608, if you'll read the title, please.

An ordinance repealing and replacing ordinance 2025 dash 26, setting forth the duties of the city clerk for the city of Ward, Arkansas, establishing the salary of the city clerk for the city of Ward, Arkansas, and for other purposes.

This sets of salary for the city clerk with a 2.2% pay raise. It's motion. Motion is first reading. So we have motion second on the first reading and comments. Any public comment? Hearing none, roll call please.

Council Member Bowles?

Yes.

Council Member Rubel?

Yes.

Council Member Hall?

Yes.

Council Member Chapman?

Yes.

Council Member McMahon? Yes. And Council Member Heffner?

Yes.

Orders 2026-08 has been approved on its first reading. I'd entertain a motion to suspend the rules for second and third reading. Motion. Second. Motion second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'd entertain a motion to approve Orders 2026-08.

motion motion and a second roll call please who's second okay all right and council member ruble yes council member hall yes council member chapman yes council member mcmahon yes council member hefner yes and council member bowls yes

Orders 2,026.08 has been approved, being effective 1 September. Does everybody have a question?

Yes. Come on.

Orders 2,026.07, I don't believe you adopted that. I think you just did second and third reading.

Approved.

You're right. Council, let's back up one. We did a third. No, we waived the second and third. The third, the next vote, right? For 07? Yeah. Yeah, I've got.

I've got Chapman Hall for... Yeah, we did adopt. We approved, waived, adopted. We did.

Okay, that's no problem. Keep me straight. So 07's approved.

Pardon me? There's a lot of moving around.

There is. 08's approved, correct?

Yes. Okay. Yes.

All right, now we're up to 09. Hang on, we've got to read title first. We can't just...

An ordinance repealing and replacing ordinance 2025 dash 27 appointing a city attorney for the city of Ward, Arkansas, clarifying the duties of the city attorney, establishing the salary of the city attorney and for other purposes.

For the first reading, I entertain a motion to approve.

Motion.

A motion, a second. Second. And a second. Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, roll call please.

Councilmember Hall?

Yes.

Councilmember Chapman?

Yes.

Councilmember McMinn. Yes. Councilmember Heffner. Yes. Councilmember Bowles.

Yes.

Councilmember Rubel.

Yes.

Board of Studio I-2608 has been approved on the first reading. I now entertain a motion to suspend the rules for the second and third reading.

Motion.

Second. Mr. Brooke, come forward, please.

I'd like to have some clarification on the city attorney.

Come here, sir. Come here and introduce yourself, sir.

Sorry. The city attorney's position is not salary set by the state? No, sir. Is that a change in recent?

No, sir. It's always set by us, by ordinance. It's not set by state. You're thinking of an old ordinance, old state law that's set, but no. We've set the city attorney's salary many times.

Okay.

It's by ordinance.

But it is a change in the law in the last several years?

Apparently so, because we've been doing it this way for...

Okay, thank you.

Yes, sir. Okay. Did we get a motion second to suspend the rules?

We did.

Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. I'd entertain a motion to adopt 2026-09. Second. Motion to second. Roll call, please.

Councilmember Chapman?

Yes.

Councilmember McMinn? Yes. Councilmember Heffner? Yes. Councilmember Bowles?

Yes.

Councilmember Rubel?

Yes.

Councilmember Hall?

Yes. Orders 2,026.09 has been approved and will go into effect on 1 September also. Next on the agenda is Ordinance 2,026.10. Will you title, please, clerk? Ms. Clerk, please.

An ordinance repealing and replacing Ordinance 2025-28, clarifying the duties of the city council member for the city of Ward, Arkansas establishing the salary of council members for the city of Ward, Arkansas and for other purposes.

Council, this is your pay raise and it includes $100 a month pay raise as budgeted. I entertain a motion to approve on the first reading. Motion.

I want to clarify, too, like Charles did earlier, I believe, and this, I'll just say publicly, this won't affect me at all because, and that's why I'm happy to go ahead and say in a motion, I don't anticipate that I'll still be on the council September 1st. I understand, sir. But I feel like if I've done anything in three years, this would be what I'd be doing. I'm happy that we were able to raise the standard maybe we can get more people interested in taking these positions and so that's the intent and that's that's why we did it and it's been a three-year progression and so we didn't take a large amount of money at once we've done it every year a little steady increase and so I think it's been a good thing for the council so I think so too yeah motion do we have a second okay we have a second moving public comment hearing on roll call please

Councilmember McMahon. Yes. Councilmember Heffner. No. Councilmember Bowles.

Yes.

Councilmember Rubel.

Yes.

Councilmember Hall.

Yes.

And Councilmember Chapman.

Yes. Orders 2026-10 has been approved for a first reading. I entertain a motion to suspend the rules for a second and third reading.

Motion.

We have a motion. We have a second. Second. And a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Motion to adopt. Board of 2026-10? Motion. Second. Do I have a second? Second. All right, we have a second. Roll call, please.

Councilmember Heffner? No. Councilmember Bowles?

Yes.

Councilmember Rubel?

Yes.

Councilmember Hall?

Yes.

Councilmember Chapman?

Yes.

And Councilmember McMinn? Yes.

Orders 2026-10 has been approved and will be effective 1 September. Thank you, Council. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2026-39. If you'll read the title, please.

A resolution appointing Don Waymack as the City of Ward Planning Commission Chairman.

If you recall, last month Jack Bowles had resigned because he got put on the City Council and Vice Chairman Don Waymack, I appointed him as the Chairperson. I'd entertain a motion to approve this Resolution. Motion. Second. Motion second. Any comments? Any public comment? Dawn, you got any comment on this? All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2026-40. Retire, please.

A resolution appointing Ward City Council Member Bowles to the Ward Water and Wastewater Advisory Committee and appointing Samus Chairperson.

And last month... Councilmember McMahon resigned from the Water Advisory Commission, and we appointed Jack Bowles on it. This is the formalization of that.

Motion approved.

We have a motion. We have a second?

Second.

And a second. Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2026-41. I started to read it for you.

A resolution appointing Lonnie Martinez to the City of Ward Planning Commission.

Mr. Lonnie, would you come up to the podium, please? And tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Lonnie Martinez. I work for Mid-Ark Utilities 20 years. I'm the operator in charge. And I've lived here in Ward for about 12 or 13 years. And I'm here to learn, actually.

Had a discussion with Mr. Lonnie. I think it'd be a great addition to the board planning commission. With that, I'd entertain a motion to approve.

Motion. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. I'm coming down here with you.

How you doing?

Doing all right.

All right. What I need you to do is raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Lonnie Martinez. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. I will support the Constitution of the United States. Constitution of the state of Arkansas. Constitution of the state of Arkansas. And I will faithfully discharge. I will faithfully discharge. The duties of. The duties of. City Ward Planning Commission. City Ward Planning Commission.

Upon which I am about to enter. which I'm about to enter. So help me God. So help me God. Very good. All right. Very good. Thank you.

Thank you. Sign it and put us out. All right. I need that pen. Get the right one up there. All right. Very good. Thank you. Next on the agenda is resolution 2025-43. 42. Let's do 42 first. I didn't put it on the screen. So do 42. Read off here. Sorry, Heath.

A resolution reappointing Heath Corbishley to the Ward Water Advisory Committee.

Motion. Second.

Very good. We have motion second on Resolution 2026-42. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thanks. You've already been sworn in, Pete. Yeah, that's just a reappointment. I don't have to do anything. I'll shake your hand after a while. Okay. Okay. All right. There you go. Good applause. Next on the agenda is Resolution 2025-43, if you'll read the title, please.

A resolution appointing Helen Hewitt to the Ward Water Advisory Committee.

Well, maybe we don't need you to go. You might as well come on up. Introduce yourself.

My name is Helen Hutt. I've been here in this city for over 30 years. I've been on the parks and recs committee. I've been on the planning commission. I used to be on the ambulance. And now I'm being asked and I'm looking forward to being on this committee.

she actually lives in the county we have three county positions so she's going to fill one of the three county positions so thank you so we have i understand we have motion to second hang them right all those in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries stay right there Okay. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name.

I, Helen Hewitt.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear. I will support the Constitution of the United States. I will support the Constitution of the United States. Constitution of the State of Arkansas. Constitution of the State of Arkansas.

And I will faithfully discharge.

And I will faithfully discharge.

The duties of office. The duties of office. Water Advisory Committee.

Water Advisory Committee. Which I'm about to enter. Which I'm about to enter. So help me God. So help me God. Very good. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next on the agenda is resolution 2020-644. Would you read the title, please?

A resolution authorizing the mayor and or city clerk to apply for a fun Grant Park through the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.

Because we were in the process of this. This is the formalization of this process that was approved. And we have a motion.

Second.

Any comments? A public comment? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is resolution 2026 45.

A resolution accepting carts 2027 surface transportation program block grant funds.

Council member we put in a application for engineering fees for the moon road design phase and we were awarded $150,000 and of that we'll have to come up with a $37,500 which we have. So this formalizes this process, and we need to get this to the lending. Make a motion. Second. And a second. Any comments? Any public comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. By the way, that's to put a new playground equipment right here at City Hall, ADA compliant. Resolution 2026-46. Read the title, please.

A resolution authorizing the use of a separate checking account for the City of Ward administration of justice funds.

Council, state legislature passed Act 371 of 2005, and in the process, and part of that, we have to have a separate checking account. Motion. We have a motion and a second. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is a resolution 2026-47.

A resolution authorizing the city to use one of more professional general contractors for on-call water and wastewater infrastructure services.

Council, we're having a situation where we're having to get contractors a lot of times to do some infrastructure items was, and we went out for RFQ in the paper, and we got one general contractor who applied. They're a local contractor we use quite frequently. This gives us the authorization to go to them, which we do anyway, but without having to go out and get a bunch of bids and things like that.

Motion.

Motion. We have a second? Second. We have a second. Any comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries, thank council. Next on agenda, discussion. And we've talked about this, the water rehab, vacuum rehab system. We have an opportunity to apply for funds. You know, remember, we got $790,000 loan from ANRC that we turned down to pay for it in-house. Well, there's an opportunity. We may be able to get that, it's now only $400,000 that we need, that we may be able to get to another pot of money to pay for that portion that we would have taken out of our reserves. So we've started a process. I just need a motion to go ahead and continue to proceed.

So I have a question first. Sure. We just passed a resolution where we can use people outside of the county to do all of our on-call water and wastewater infrastructure services. But now we're wanting to...

apply for funding to work on the vacuum rehab when we're having to pay outside people to come do our utility work this is the well we have an opportunity to give grant i mean we were already very agreed on that project that vacuum replacement project we're going to pay out of reserves we have an opportunity to apply for a grant and not have to pay out of reserves on that particular project this is a grant not another one that is correct

The reason I question it is because it just says new funding. It didn't say anything about being a grant, but I understand that.

There are some, the governor authorized, I think, $3.2 million in grants. There's going to be a lot more of these coming down. There's a big emphasis on the federal level and state level for water and wastewater infrastructure. So these opportunities are going to be coming back.

This is what I was hoping for when I said we didn't want to apply for the loan. So I say motion to approve that.

I thought we would. Second. This is a grant. Clarify that. Second. So it's a competitive grant, too. So whether we get it or not is a different story. Yes.

We'll get the next.

Okay. So a motion and a second. Any for the comments? Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor for a motion for me to proceed?

Yes.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Very good. Next on the agenda is added.

Yes, please.

I'd like to open discussion on a staggered four-year term for Kansas City Council. If you're unfamiliar, right now everybody on city council is two years. So every four years, like this year, the mayor, the city clerk, and all city council could be replaced. One swell poop and it's dangerous. We tried this years ago and it didn't pass. And I wish I'd have done this sooner, but I didn't. But if we want to proceed, me and the city attorney got to do some research on this. We'll try to get it on this November's ballot. And if we do and the vote is approved, then like it shows, If they approve in November, then 2028 cycle, position one will be a four-year term in city council, position two will be a two-year term. 2020, the position two term comes up as a four-year cycle. Position two in each ward. Okay, so.

Yes, please. Yes. All right.

You said 20, I was saying 30. Oh, 20, 30. 20, yeah. Anyway, and then... Position four comes up again and it's going to take four years to get this all sorted out. In the end, your city council will be staggered. One out of each ward will be up for election every two years. So if you'd like me to proceed, I need a motion to... Make a motion. A motion and several seconds appear. So all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? All right, I'll go forward with this. Very good. on the mayor's reports uh the 2023 starts five project we're still hung up on some right-of-ways issue but we're working on them trying to get them the waterways water rehab project has begun as you know the hvac lighting project the hvac and lighting has been completed they'll be here tomorrow to uh start the survey of this and we'll have to keep track of this for at least a year as i spoke earlier the moon road improvement we did get 150 000 approved for engineering fees the ad improvement city hall the pre-construction meeting will be august 4th at three o'clock and the um we've submitted the paperwork for start six which is a sidewalk down wilson loop from burr of the weatherwood we're still waiting for the second camera to be presented at busby lake and it would have been installed except somebody stole the pole they got here in the poll the poll we had a camera there but yeah if we had a camera then we could have caught them whatever but And just a reminder, election cycle starting tomorrow at noon, I believe. You can start turning in your petitions to August 5th. August 19th, early voting begins. And August and November 3rd is election day. And that's all I have for my report. And I think we have some public comments. First on is Mr. Fowler? Yeah. Okay. You have three minutes, sir. Okay. A little time is sort of, anyway.

Good evening, everyone, citizens. My name is Kenneth Fowler. I just wanted to formally introduce myself. I'm a licensed attorney here in the state of Arkansas. I was pretty much born and raised in Cabot. Me and my family had an Austin address at one point, but never a ward. I graduated from Cabot High School. went to law school in Illinois, and I've been back in North Little Rock practicing bankruptcy law. I plan to apply for the future opening of the city attorney for City of Ward, so I just wanted to come up here and formally introduce myself.

Thank you.

Yep, thank you.

Next for public comment is Mr. Troutman. Thank you, Mayor, for allowing me to introduce myself.

I'm Toby Troutman, and I'm a candidate for county judge here in Leno County. And I've been to city council meetings here in Ward before, but I've never actually formally introduced myself. I'm not a politician. This is the first time I've ever ran for anything like this in my life. I have been a businessman and an entrepreneur my whole life. In fact, I've always worked for myself. I've managed multiple companies and multiple projects at the same time. I've had hundreds of employees over the years. I've been a builder and a developer. I've done a development project here in Ward. I did Deerfield. I was one of the original developers of Greystone Development. And we originally, when we did Greystone back in the mid-90s, was going to be part of Ward. But things happened and things changed. And anyway, that's what happened. I'll tell you what I am not. I am not part of the of the chaos and the drama and the scandals and the cover ups that we tend to have in our county government here in Lono County. I can't promise that I can fix that immediately if I'm elected. but I can guarantee that I won't be a contributor to that problem. You know, our county has become a big county. We're almost 80,000 population now. You know, I'm full aware of the need for the county judge to be in concert with the towns and the cities and communities of our county. I don't believe that we've been having that the last few years. In our county, a judge's budget is right at $24 million a year. The whole county budget is even greater than that. So our county has become big business. And I think that we need a businessman running it. And that's who and what I am. You know, for the last 16 years, we've had the same leadership in our county judge's office. And with that, we've had some of the same problems over and over again. We've had roads that need repair. We've had a lack of attention on roads. We've had a lack of transparency and honesty with the people of Lone Oak County. You know, I plan on having an open door policy. I have a lot of other ideas. I'd be happy to, you know, talk about. I'm not going to now because of time limits. But again, you feel free to go on my website and I list some of the ideas that I have and plan on implementing for the county. So again, I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself. I don't know if I have any more time, but I'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have. That's it. Okay.

Can I ask you one question? Sure. What's first on your agenda?

first on my agenda. Well, you know, again, I think I kind of alluded to it a little bit. You know, I've been to the county judge's office numerous times this last year, especially since I have been contemplating running for county judge. And, you know, I've been by the county judge's office numerous times. And guess what? He's never there. And I've been told he doesn't answer his phone. He doesn't return phone calls. You know, I've been to certain buildings that the taxpayers have built, you know, in our county. And there's a big sign there. It says restricted area. Keep out. You know, I just don't think those things are right. You know, I think there needs to be more transparency. And that is what I will implement immediately.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Troutman. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Next, Mr. Julie Hill.

Good evening council members and mayor. I had the opportunity to speak with you all back in May and introduce myself as a potential candidate for the city attorney position that will be opening up when Mr. Lacey takes the bench. I just wanted to come up and continue to express my interest in that position and just refresh your recollection of my background. Just so you all know, I am from the suburb of Ward that they refer to as Cabot. Sport point there. My practice in law spans across all different areas. I've got prosecutorial experience. I was at the Lone Oak County Prosecutor's Office as well as the Attorney General's Office. From there, I have transitioned into private practice where we represent municipalities, municipality-owned transportation system. And from there, we represent all aspects and we go into employment law, to assisting with responding to FOIA requests. So whatever the city might need, I would have the knowledge and the ability to help the city grow and feel protected as the city of Ward continues to grow. So thank you for your consideration.

Thank you very much. I will tell counsel, Chris Lacey and the judge and I are working through the procedures on how we're going to handle this going forward on getting this position ready to be filled at the first of the year. So there will be more information come on that.

all right yes sir would you like to speak come on up and come on up and speak we'll put you on the list thank you mr mayor my name is art brooke i think most of you know me i am running for mayor of the city of war and currently unemployed and i have plenty of time so if you get into retire mode you're going to find you got plenty of time to do other things So I am running for the office again, and I would appreciate any votes that I get. Thank you very much. Twenty-two years I had in the municipal government. Thank you.

All right. I don't have any other public speakers. Open the floor for council. Is there any council comment for non-agenda items?

I have a few. Sure. And it's about the flock cameras. I've been getting a lot of questions, and the majority of it has been from my son, to be honest with you. He lives in the Pea Ridge area, and they have already ended their contract. And ironically, I've been getting some of the same concerns from other people. So these are questions I want to know if we can find out answers for so that it would just help. for transparency and everything else. And that is, how many flock cameras do we have currently have? I know we got one stolen pole, so.

We have four license plate, no, excuse me. We have six? Yeah, license plate readers and one PTZ in the park.

What's a PTZ?

Hand tilt and zoom. Oh, gotcha.

Okay, and then do we have any idea how many criminal cases they've actually assisted? Not off the top of my head, no. I didn't figure you would have to have this reason. It's just a conversation. How many stolen vehicles have been recovered or any leads to those? Okay. Yeah. If we had some numbers, I think it would be very helpful to get that out. Yeah.

I don't have the exact number of stolen vehicles.

Yeah. I don't expect you to. I just, if we could get that information so we could get it out to people, I think it would be very helpful. Also, obviously arrest investigative leads. And then our annual contract, is it like $10,000? Am I making that up? $10,000 just for the service part? About $2,000 a year for each camera. For each camera?

Correct.

Okay. And then is there anything that we have in the contract about the data and the release of data from it? Yes. Okay. So if we could get that stuff together, I think it would be really nice.

Contracts have been let in accordance with the Arkansas state law. Okay.

Correct. far as retention and who can get to them and things like that okay there's just a whole obviously it's a huge hot topic and there's lots of information going around about it some some is scary and some of it is you know helpful so if we have the information that we can share with people for the transparency of it especially us as council so we can answer questions that'd be great

We had a question. I'd like to add, I obviously have some knowledge of the flock system. I can tell you that, you know, it's the usage that I've used over the last years we've had it was, it was for the purpose of finding stolen vehicles and other cases. In one important case, we had a terrible murder in Beebe and The person who committed the murder was driving a stolen vehicle that got hit on in Cabot, did not know the car was associated with the crime. And we had that person arrested, detained, prior to me processing the crime scene. because she was pulled over and had blood on her clothes and body because she was driving a stolen vehicle. So I understand people's privacy. I'm just like them. You know, I'm concerned about privacy, but I don't think we have a private moment anymore hardly anywhere, so.

i just i just think it's a good thing but i understand that i understand people's questions when it's come up before obviously i lean into y'all's knowledge because you'll have way more experience with all this than i have had um but i know that there's questions and i do feel like that we need to be able to provide some you know while we while we have it and while we want to continue it one thing i'll say is there's a lot of information going around that is just completely untrue about the flock camera so people that have

Difficulties with them. Do your own research because a lot of what you're hearing and seeing everywhere in social media is made up and it's a lie.

Well, I think Rob the part like I think that's like alarming for Arkansas. I mean, there's a couple of states obviously, but in northwest Arkansas I guess last week there were three police officers that were picked up for using for personal use and then like I said the city of Pea Ridge is one that I've really looked a lot of their information and they last week decided they were going to do away with their contract and that was kind of shocking to me so that made me kind of look at it again because I'm like why?

The same people that are misusing FLOC are misusing ACIC and NCIC too and those are already felonies. That's going to be an inside thing that departments are going to have to watch for and they're going to have to maintain who has access to it and what people don't understand is every time you get on there and you run a license plate number it logged your sign in so it's just like ncic or anything that they'll be able to find out who it is and if you couldn't how would we know that three officers just got in trouble for misusing it 100 and i i mean and i guess i don't know too like what is the city's policy i'm like how do we keep up with that and and we actually have the review that implemented policy into the police manual okay

Will there be a possible way for those of the city council that want to get a demonstration of it, those of us that have never had experience with it?

Absolutely. Yeah, we can arrange that.

Well, the flock cameras also are pointing on a public road, and they are not taking pictures of people's faces. They are grabbing the license plates. My husband is very against the flock, and I'm the one that brought them in here. I know that you are, so that's not the reason I was confused. Yeah, but he's always yelling at me. My privacy. Your privacy is on your yard. You're on a public road.

I was content about how many RDoC cameras are out there.

Exactly.

And ring cameras. Exactly, ring cameras.

And those RDoC cameras take a picture of your face so they can prove you're the one that was driving that fast.

Especially if you have a cell phone in your hand and go through a war zone. But anyway, thank you for the comments. Any further comments on the subject? All right. Moving along. Announcements. Next city council meeting is August 18th. The next planning commission, hopefully, if they have an agenda, is August 24th. Having nothing further on. the agenda tonight. I'd entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion with second. All those in favor say aye. You can get up. Thank you everybody for coming. We appreciate it.