City Council - Regular Meeting

All right.

And I'm showing us back online live. So I'd like to call this meeting back to order for a brief whatever. We had a little technical problem and computer died on me. But anyway, we're back up and running now. So we're still in a discussion about flock cameras and public comments. So if anybody else would like to come up and talk, please do so.

identify yourself and whether you live in a city or not please yes my name is crystal sweeney yes um i have a word address but a tragic incident that happened to my family in 2022 which only occurred due to the negligence of the ward police department made me painfully aware that we were not in fact considered citizens of this city My comment is that there seems to be more and more overreach on citizens and taxpayers than ever there's any accountability from those sworn to protect and serve. And I think that a lot of these technologies are rolled out under the guise of safety when they are in fact becoming increasingly invasive on the lives of everyday people while the elites are reserving their rights to privacy. So thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Any other comments? Hearing none, council, what's your pleasure?

I think I've already made my... Move along into the next.

Is there any further discussion by the council?

I mean, I would like to carry it on to the next council meeting if we can. Well, we're going to have. Okay. It'll be an agenda item. Okay. So moving on.

All right.

Moving on to the mayor's report. I will tell you that SART 5 sidewalk project down Brewer Street to Moon Road extension, we've finally got all the easements obtained and filed. I've sent the paperwork off today to get permission to advertise the project for bid. The wastewater rehab project has begun. The HVAC lighting update project for City Hall and other facilities has been completed. The Moon Road improvement, we're waiting on RDOT and Metro Plan for the next step. We did get the $150,000 ENGINERY FEES. THE ADA IMPROVEMENT TO CITY HALL, YOU CAN SEE THAT'S OPENING. YOU KNOW THAT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW. THE FUND GRANT APPLICATION FOR A NEW ADA PLAYGROUND RIGHT HERE BEHIND US TO REPLACE THE ONE, WE HAVE SUBMITTED THAT GRANT PROPOSAL. HOPEFULLY WE GET APPROVAL OF THAT. $96,000 GRANT TO IMPROVE THIS PARK. Block live feed commanders, as Stacy said earlier, we still have one that's outstanding, a camera that's going to go at Busby Lake, a live feed. Council, we have a lease with an individual who's leasing the 50 acres out on 31 for hay. He has asked me if we would consider modifying that lease to allow him to be considered the first right of refusal should we decide to sell it. I have no problem with that. Council, do you have a problem with that? Give me a motion to allow me to modify the contract. So moved.

Second.

Motion and second. Any public comment? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Also, Council Fire Department, chief is looking at a drone purchase for the fire department. A commercial grade drone used by the fire department. would be used by trained and licensed fire department operators only, used to maintain overwatch of wildland fires in particular. That has become a great asset for other departments. In other situations described by the SOP, it would be maintained in the fire chief's vehicle. I'd like an understanding and a motion to explore that opportunity.

Motion. Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Yes, Charles. Quick question. If we get a camera, is it going to have thermal capability? Chief? Yes, sir.

The drone will have thermal capabilities. We can use it on structure fires to actually see the fires inside the houses. And like the mayor said, on wild lands. We have game and fish outside the city. We get a hunter down out in the woods somewhere, can't find him, can't locate him, any woods around here. IT WOULD BE AN ASSET TO US AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS, SO. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.

WOULD IT BE AVAILABLE FOR POLICE DEPARTMENT USE? BUT, AGAIN, IT'S FIRE DEPARTMENT'S OPERATORS WOULD BE OPERATING IT. OKAY. WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, SAY AYE. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. We'll explore that. The 2000, the election cycle is well underway as we've introduced a couple guys here who are going to be on City Council. There is going to be a voting center change because of the construction. Voting will, and if you've been here around for a long time, we used to vote at the Ward Chamber and Commerce Building. We're moving it back there. So it'll be emptied after a couple of weeks. Jobs4U is moving into their new facility in Cabot. So that facility will be open and available. So we are moving the voting center to Ward Chamber of Commerce, which actually is a better situation for us. And that's all I have for my mayor's report this month. Now I have time for public comment on non-agenda items. Melissa Dunk, you just signed. And Jeffrey Campbell? Okay. That's fine. You didn't want to speak? Okay.

That's fine.

Okay. That's fine. Just want to make sure. All right. Any council comment on non-agenda items?

Mr. Steve? Yes, thank you. Mayor Gaston, City Clerk Rummel, members of the City Council and the Ward Citizens, please accept this. I'm providing my formal letter of resignation from the elected position of member of Ward City Council, effective tonight. August 18th, 2026, the conclusion of the council meeting. After nearly four years of serving the citizens of Ward, I have made the decision because I'm anticipating a move from Ward, from the Ward I currently represent and relocating to the city of Beebe. Because of this anticipated change in residency, I believe resigning my position is appropriate course of action. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Ward during these past several years. I am grateful for the trust the citizens placed in me by allowing me to represent them on the city council. I'm also proud of the progress and accomplishments that have taken place in our city during my tenure. Where does continue to grow and move forward? And I'm thankful that I was able to play a small part in that progress. I've appreciated the opportunity to work alongside the mayor and these council members and city employees and others who have dedicated themselves to making word a better place. I leave this position with many good memories and with genuine appreciation the opportunity I've had to serve I wish the City of Ward and its leaderships, employees, and citizens success in the years to come. Thank you again for the privilege of serving you in this capacity.

I'd like to present you with a certificate of appreciation, sir.

This certifies the board's team at all, board, city council member, dedication to the City of Ward. We wish you the best in your future endeavors, both personally and professionally. You will be missed, sir. Take your name tag home with you tonight, please. Now, council, I need a motion to accept the resignation and declare the position vacant. those we have a motion we have a second second and a second all those in favor say aye aye any opposed didn't think so all right if um if you live in board one and um you want to be on the city council for to the end of the year because you take over at the beginning of the year anyway um you must live within the in ward in the big city curve reward one being a qualified electorate fill out an affidavit of eligibility THEY'RE PROVIDED TO THE CITY CLERK VIA THE H.R. OFFICE NO LATER THAN 12 NOON, SEPTEMBER 15TH. CITY CLERK WILL IN TURN COMPLETE OR COMPILE A LISTING OF ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES AND THEN ON THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING IN SEPTEMBER, COUNCIL WILL INTERVIEW PERSPECTIVE CANDIDATES DURING COUNCIL MEETINGS AND THEN VOTE ON THE REPLACEMENT. UPON ELECTION, THE MAYOR WILL SWEAR ON A NEW MEMBER AND THE NEW MEMBER WILL IMMEDIATELY TAKE HIS POSITION OR HER POSITION ON THE COUNCIL. So that position is officially open.

Sir, may I ask you a very quick question?

It's directly related to this.

On the City of Ward website, there is a map of the various wards. Sure. It's very difficult to make out detail.

It's small.

Yeah, it's very small. I was wondering if there's a higher resolution graphic that could be swapped in there or even just a PDF or something like that that's downloadable.

I think it's PDF anyway. I think it is.

It's like a JPEG basically or PNG file.

We'll make sure it's PDF available to download.

Cool. That would be great because we talked about that the other day on Facebook. People were trying to figure out what ward are we in and just couldn't make out the boundaries. So that's just a suggestion. Thank you, sir.

We'll take care of it. Thank you, sir. All right. There'll be no further business from the council. I have something. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. I spoke too soon.

Sorry. I have two things. One, I spoke with the mayor about how we can change speed limits on certain roads. There's some really oddities, like there's some roads that are very narrow and the speed limit on them are 25, but then like one or two over. there's some water streets that you can actually pass somebody and it's on 50 it's 15 and there's been lots of concern about speeding down some of those narrow roads so I was informed that that's something the city council can like work on right so I'm asking if we could get a group together to either work on that or look at that to see what our options are so that we could have some more continuity whether it's like the whip that helps determine the speed or what

A lot of it's probably history. It's been that way. I hate to say this. I agree. I know.

I'm not disagreeing with that.

I hate that term, but it's true. What I would suggest is that we come back to this council next month with a listing of the streets and the current speed limit on each street. Okay. And then if the council wants to take action after that, we can do that.

I've got a list. I'll bring it next time. Oh, good. Send it to me. Okay. And other thing is, and this was a suggestion that someone gave me, and I like this suggestion. I just don't know if it's feasible. There are a lot of people that can't attend. We have, you know, our community is pretty much really young or my age or older. Some being nice. So some people don't come to the city council meetings, but they do watch on YouTube where they would like to. And they were asking if there was any way that they could ever do any public comments on that section. And I know that like when you do a Facebook live feed that you can comment. but it would require someone to be a moderator and be able to have that person's name and everything like that to be able to do that. I don't know if that's feasible and I don't know if there's other things that you know, like municipality-wise, that that's anything that's legal.

Well, it's certainly legal to do that. We have not done that before because of the issues with people who don't live in the city limits making comments. And that's a big problem. You know, one particular Facebook page, Concerned Citizens Award, there's over 7,000 or 14,000, a bunch of people. I did a study a long time ago, and it was like 85% weren't even living in either one of the cities. So allowing open comments like that can lead to problems. And my philosophy, and as far as I'm there, come to the meetings. We give you time. during the meeting and after the meeting to talk. Contact your city council member if you have questions or comments about what's gone in. Contact me. My information's out there. Contact us. Any further comments?

All right.

Announcements. Planning commissioners meet at 6.30. There's actually nothing on the agenda, but they've got to meet because they've got to meet every quarter. So they've got to meet anyway. So they're going to meet and break bread or something. I don't know. And then city offices will be closed for Labor Day on September 7th, and the next city council meeting is September 15th. And we'll have you on the agenda, Mr. Russell.

Thank you, sir.

That's all I have. I'd entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion. Motion. Second? Second. Motion adjourned.