Quorum Court - Regular Meeting

My apologies. That got ahead of me. Good evening and will the county services committee please come to order. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we have asked Justice Ricker if he would lead us in the prayer and the pledge. Justice Ricker, if you'll bow your heads. Lord, we ask you to watch over the people of Washington County, especially our first responders who are working in this winter weather. And if you would help us to make decisions for the betterment of our county in Jesus name we ask. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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, Justice Ricker.

Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? I have a motion by Justice Ricker and second by Justice Slimming. All in favor?

Are there any Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see. One moment, please. Justice Brens, uh, I make a motion that we take number nine off the agenda. It was, uh, voted uh, down last month or last Thursday. And uh I think the appeal process, the attorney can tell me differently, but I think the appeal process is that we go if we vote it down at the corn court meeting, it has to go to or they can appeal it, but they have to appeal it to the circuit court. I understand that, but I believe it needs to stay on the agenda for discussion.

Just one moment. We're going to have County Attorney Lester address the issues if you would please.

So, your your ordinance requires that you pass an ordinance affirming your decision. So what happened the last time is the ordinance to pass the cup failed. So that doesn't that doesn't get filed. There's not a number under your own ordinances. You have to pass an ordinance that um that that says what your position is. Um that memorializes that's what your ordinance says. It says the court shall pass an ordinance that memorializes its decision. And when you don't pass an ordinance then that ordinance never gets filed. That ordinance doesn't exist. And so to memorialize your decision, you need to pass an ordinance denying the CUP. That's why it's on there.

Are we okay? No, I totally disagree. Well, whether you disagree or not, that's the law. Justice, I haven't seen that law. I'm sorry. Well, we're moving on. Justice Kogot. Wait a minute. I'm sorry. We have a motion and a second to remove item number nine.

You're right. There was a motion. Is there a second? That motion fails for lack of second. Thank you. Now, I do believe I have Justice Koger. One moment, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have uh I've had lots of people call me about this um about that item number nine and I understand what attorney Lester just said, but why is it that we have to have when we have a cup that we have to vote for and against but we don't vote for and against on other ordinances. Can you that's what I'm trying to understand

because you have passed an ordinance in the past not necessarily maybe you sitting here but this quorum court that says that the quorum court shall memorialize its decision by ordinance. So you you must memorialize your decision by ordinance. That's that's the only reason. I don't get it, but okay. Perhaps we can have a conversation after and find out what it is. Is that okay? Okay. Thank you. I have Justice Massenale. Yes. One moment, please.

Yeah. Sorry, I tried turning it off. I got the same question. Every time we deny a cup that was approved by the planning commission, are we going to have this twice or should that original vote against it been an ordinance? Did we make a mistake?

As long as you have as long as you have a provision in the planning code, as there is now that says that the quorum court shall memorialize its decision via ordinance, then you will have to pass an ordinance. So either you remove that provision and then if an ordinance just fails, it fails. Um but as it stands now, because of that provision, you have to pass an ordinance. So that's those are your options. And at this point, you got to pass the ordinance because you haven't amended the planning code. That would start that amendment would have to go all the way back to the planning board and work its process. So, for this, I would suggest you go ahead and memorialize your decision by denying the CUP and then we then we're done with it. That's it. It's not real difficult really.

Justice Brens, I don't understand why we're doing it on this one. We don't do it on others. You do it on every single one. No, we don't. No, we don't. No, there was no first reading of this. So this So at the quorum court, you can do all three readings at the quorum court, but it'll it'll it was never moved. It was never read for the first time. And yes, every every cup that's ever ever failed has an ordinance denying the CUP as long as there's been cups in Washington County since 2006.

I have Justice Lming. Well, a lot of these is handled normally at corn court nights. That happened at a special called meeting. That's kind of why we're having to add this and finalizing what we did. Is that Well, because the quorum court never moved this ordinance on in a reading. So, it has to be read three times. I thought it brought it on here to kind of have this discussion so that we didn't have a bunch of people wondering why we were having it at Coral Court. And so, we've got you've got to you've got to pass the ordinance denying it to memorialize that. And so is this in the new freedom package that we y'all just passed? Yes, but it's been in it. It's part it's been in the cup process forever, too. Yep. Okay. Thank you,

Justice Washington.

So, I I understand what you're saying and I think maybe to simplify it for the group, what he's saying is that if we vote no on approving an ordinance, that is not the same as denying the ordinance. what memorializes it is the denial, the actual action that we want to take. So, I understand that it could be a little confusing, but those two things are not the same. So, what we did was we uh there was a motion to approve and then we it didn't get a good vote. So, now we just need to say it's still the same action, but we're just saying, hey, we're denying it. So, it's nothing different. It's just the wording is different because denying something is not the same as not approving. If that simplifies it.

And if I'm incorrect, just correct me. No, that's correct. Justice Koger. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Uh my question then is and also I was asked this question. I didn't Why is it on county services? I don't remember a cup ever being on a county services meeting. Typically, it would not be on a county services meeting.

It it originally the reason it was on here is so that you would all would understand why it's going to be on the quorum court meeting, right? So, we can have this discussion. Hey, we still have this ordinance out there. It needs to be passed on. It needs to be put on the quorum court agenda. So, that's why it's here. That it was only forformational so we could ask all these questions and there wasn't more confusion at a quorum court meeting than there is right now. That's why it was that's why it's on here. Okay. Thank you. That's why I asked Mr. Allen to put it on. Okay. I have Justice Lions and I I think councelor you just answered mine. Tonight's vote only moves it to the corn court. That's correct.

Pass it or anything. It's it's like everything we do out committee. It's a motion to move pass it to the corn court. Whatever. That's correct. I have Justice Pond. Yes. Thank you. Uh, and I'm I'm supportive of doing this this way. I I recall not too long ago at a meeting, we had one of these where we had a motion to deny and a motion to approve, and we were discussing and voting on both of them at the same time, which was very confusing to the public. Uh, and

well, they weren't they're technically not motions. You don't get to the approval part of a of an ordinance until after the third reading. It was their request. We always term them as motions, but it's really a request for one thing to be read for the first time. I'm I'm all for doing whatever we can to to make this where we're sure it's legal when we're through with it. I So, I appreciate what you're doing. Thank you.

Thank you. Now I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. Are there any additional amendments to the agenda? All in favor of adopting the agenda? Say I. All oppose. I.

We have the agenda has been adopted. Moving on to item number four is the chairman's report. Take off my glasses so I can read. For anything to work well, it takes leadership. During the past few weeks, Washington County experienced the harshest winter weather this year. I am pleased to report that under the leadership of Judge Deakons and the exceptional dedication of the employees in the roads department, county roads were well treated and maintained during the winter storm. The primary concern of the roads department employees was to ensure the safety of Washington County citizens. These individuals work tirelessly around the clock, focusing on keeping the roads safe and accessible during the winter storm. I have often said that it is not only about the people served, but it is also about the people who provide the service. Numerous employees from various elected officials offices demonstrated their commitment by braving the winter storm conditions and reporting to work, ensuring uninterrupted services to the citizens of Washington County. Ultimately, for anything to work well, it requires strong leadership. Here in Washington County, we are fortunate to have excellent leaders guiding our community through challenging times. And I think the roads department men need to be recognized. If you see them out on the roads, roll down your window, slow down, and tell them thank you for a job well done. But I want to say thank you to our roads department guys very much. They work tirelessly.

Okay, moving on. Item number five, the juvenile detention report by Director Tinsley.

Good evening, Director Tensley. Good evening, Madam Chair,

and good evening to the county service committee members. I'd like to share our juvenile detention center monthly report for January 2026. This report covers 28 days of data. In January, we had 24 intakes and the average length of stay was about 14.60 days. Our average daily population came out to just over 14.25 residents. The most common charge for intakes was terroristic threatening felony at six cases. Of the 24 intakes from Washington and Madison counties, 11 intakes were from division 8 and 12 intakes were from division 3. We also had six transports during the month of January. Five were handled by the juvenile detention center and one was done by the Washington County Sheriff's Office. That concludes the January 2026 report. Are there any questions that I can answer at this time? I have Justice Hires.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You may not be able to answer this, but I am so curious because I have never seen inciting a riot on one of your reports. Yes, ma'am.

What can you tell us about that? Well, um, as much as I can get into it, uh, Justice Hires, um, a lot of times we have young men, young women, they go to treatment facilities. And a lot of these children are from out of state, from Texas, Ohio, what have you. And so they kind of band together and um, and try to incite a riot at some of these facilities. And so that's what happened this particular month. And so that's why terroristic threatening was at six and inciting a riot because we had a couple of young ladies come in uh all on the same charge. Yes, ma'am. Young ladies.

Thank you. I'm just morbidly curious. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Justice Lopez. Yeah, I think I might share that that morbid curiosity. I've never seen obstruction on here either. Um was this uh corresponding to the same incident that they were charged on? Yes, sir. It was. Yeah. Understood. Thank you. Any other questions for Director Tinsley? I have Justice Koger. Oops. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Would you please do that again? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I've have just a couple of things. Uh, first of all, I'm glad to see that the number is down the end of month considerably from what it was at the first of the month. Yes ma'am. And also I want to thank director Tinsley for the information he gave about 2000 comparing 2004 and 2005 2524 and 2025. I know you put a lot of work into that report and I really appreciate it. It's very informative. I did have one question. Sure. But I I'm still going through it but if I understand it correctly on during that time only four children or juveniles were charged as adults. Is that how you Yes, ma'am. And uh and that was in 2024.

24. Okay. I believe so. I'm sorry. I'm trying to go through my notes, but uh Yes, ma'am. We had four in 2024. Okay. Well, again, I thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Likewise. Thank you for bringing that to the forefront, Justice Koger. It was really good to get that report and we appreciate it very much. Yes, sir.

You're doing a great job. Thank you uh Madam Chair and uh Justice Dennis uh it it took a while but you know as promised that we were going to try to start doing our all annual report every year. It was just when we had this um when we went to a new right track system a lot of data got lost. So we've been having to hand do everything. So it it was consecutive days of just trying to make sure that we had accurate numbers from uh from from the division of youth services and other entities. And so uh next month we will try to have a social work um all annual report that's going to reflect how many kids went to treatment, how many kids went to DY. So, it's going to break down uh some more numbers in a different department that that's in JDC because they do a lot of assessments and they work around the clock to make sure that these kids are getting the mental health services that they need. And that's also the court making those referrals to uh to get SWIP assessments for these young men and women. So, we we'll just appreciate everyone that that helps us out.

Thank you, Justice Dennis. Any other questions? Seems none. Thank you, sir. Have a good evening. You too, Madam Chair. Thank you. Next on the agenda is item number six, the sheriff's report, and we have Sheriff Jay Canrell. Good evening, Sheriff.

Uh, good evening, Madam Chair. I'll start with this. This is a representative sample of the mats that our detainees sleep on. This is a salesman's representative sample. I'm going to pass this around and so you can kind of see what uh when we talk about them sleeping uh uh on their bunk or or off their bunk. This is what they this is what they sleep on. Now, since you brought that up, is is the bunk itself a metal uh frame down at the bottom is what you put the mattress on? Some are metal and some are concrete. And some are concrete.

Yeah. Some are concrete. Elevated uh concrete uh platforms and then some are metal bunk beds. Metal frame bunk beds. But you know the the u what is it? The support of the of the bunk itself is what they put the mattress on. Yes. It's a piece of flat steel. Flat steel. Yes.

So no wonder they want to sleep on that thing. Anyway, thank you. Yeah. All right. U you've got uh the report in front of you. Um you can see the calls for service for our enforcement field services division is up a little bit. We've kind of seen a bit of increase in that, but we've seen a bit of increase in our population also. So uh nothing surprising about that. Detention intakes up a little bit over uh the prior year. Uh we've sent just a tick fewer, just three fewer to prison over the same time period last year. Uh you can see our average daily high count is down a little bit. We can attribute that to the average pre-trial numbers which are down over a hundred from this time last year. Um anyway, the reports there and I I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

I have Justice Koger. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh Sheriff Canterell, thank you for bringing that. Uh it looks a lot different than the what I saw the last time I toured the jail. So, you've upgraded? Well, yes. Those are the the ones that we're currently purchasing. Uh now, there are still some old ones there, and after uh you know, a year or so of lying on that, it's going to be a little flatter, but uh but that's uh that's how they start out. Okay. Well, I appreciate that. So, I have my regular questions then. Um Yes, ma'am. Starting with the 309's. How many do 309's do we have?

Uh currently have uh 35 309's, 16 males and 19 females. Okay. 19 females. Okay. What about COVID and quarantine? Uh, no COVID. Uh, today we haven't had COVID since January 12th. So, yeah, we're fortunate still have some flu and uh, you know, just the winter sniffles and colds and stuff like that, but no COVID. So, people with the flu, are they under quarantine? Well, there Yes, we we keep them separate just to try to help from spreading throughout the detention population. And how many did you have sleeping on those mattresses or whatever they are on the floor last night without a Last night? Uh 168.

Okay. Um what about federal prisoners? Federal we have 79 US Marshall and five immigration. That was as of two o'clock this afternoon.

Okay. And I haven't asked about staffing in a few months. If you could bring us up to date on the staffing for both the detention and the enforcement divisions. Yeah, enforcement. We've made uh some uh some inroads. We're only three uh deputies short on patrol and uh one in dispatch. Uh we have had one young lady that we hired from Sylum Springs, but her heart was just still at Sylum. She and she wanted to go back, so she left. We have one opening in dispatch and we have 33 jail openings. 13 of those openings are funded positions. Then, as you recall during the budget, we have 20 that are unfunded. If we once we get those 13 funded positions filled, then we'll come back to you and say we'd like to fund a few more of those unfunded. But but we still got 13 funded ones and seeing a uptick in applications. Uh which is encouraging. Um so we're hopeful that we can make some inroads into those detention openings. It must be hard when you like yesterday you had 740 people in the jail and you still you're short 32 on detention. Is that correct?

That's correct. Yes. But how do you staff that? I mean that's got to be hard. Just like everybody else that uh works in their office and works short-handed or works extra. It's like the road department did over the winter weather. We just uh uh people come together and shoulder the load and and get it done. there are some things that that we'd like to do that we can't uh some programs that we we would like to implement or or maybe bring in. You know, we don't have the space and we don't have the deputies to to watch them. Uh and they need some oversight sometimes for those programs just to have somebody present. But uh anyway, we're making some progress with our hiring. Okay. Excited for that. Thank you. That's all I had.

I have Justice Lopez. Oops. Would you please turn that on again? No problem. Thank you, chair. Uh, Sheriff, I have Sheriff, you're going to have to turn I hit accidentally delete all instead of mic on. There we go. Okay. Thank you, sir. Uh, thank you, chair. Uh, sheriff, I I do have a question here. I just want to make sure that I'm interpreting uh this correct. So, calls of service have gone up. Detentions have gone up from from year to year. Um, but our daily average headcount is lower and our pre-trial is lower. So, I'm taking it that either our process for processing these people has gotten quicker in in the last year. Would that be a fair assessment of the situation or

Yes, I believe that's correct. The prosecutor told me last week that that his uh county, this county was the busiest one in Arkansas as far as processing cases last year. uh that they processed uh a higher percentage of cases than any other county. So the the judges, the the prosecutor, the public defenders have all come together and and realized that we had a backlog and have worked hard to to bring that down. So thank you. We're thankful for that. Just one moment. Justice. I have Justice Massingale.

Yeah. Thank you, Sheriff. Uh you've answered most of my questions. Just have one more. What's the design capacity of the jail? 710 is the uh uh bed capacity. We have 30 beds at the uh current CRI, which uh gives us a a little bit of uh help with those extra 30 beds. But we lost 96 beds during our construction phase that they had to take down to add the additional CO mitigation beds on. But we'll get those back um July or August. We think they they they feel like they're ahead of schedule, but you know that that'll bring you back up to 710.

710 plus the 30 that we have at the CRI. So that'll that'll take us to 740 740 beds. The county counties as a rule probably should operate about 80% of their max uh as their maximum operating capacity. So that should put us about, you know, 620 or so for operating capacity, but we're a good bit over that. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. I have Justice Brens. Um, yes. I heard about the road department. Were very proud of them. U, but I guess all your people were home in bed asleep.

Well, uh, no, not not hardly. You know, we're we're a 24-hour day, 7 day a week operation. So, we we were out out in the middle of it just like uh all the other emergency responders. Uh, fortunately we didn't have any crashes. Uh, nobody ran into us. We didn't run into anybody else. Didn't get any cars in the ditch. So, it was a it was a good event for us as far as no damage to any of our property. Helped a lot of people get home and get back to work. Um, and you know, just answered our calls for service that came in, worked a lot of accidents, helped state police out on the interstate a lot. I heard from a lot of people in the south part of the county that we're very appreciative of your agency for all their help. So, we dearly appreciate you.

Yeah. Thank you, sir. Are there any other questions for Sheriff? Um, I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Have a great evening. Yes. Next on the agenda is the lost my agenda is the CRI returning home update by Nick Robbins.

Good evening.

Good evening. Good to see you. Yeah, appreciate the opportunity. Uh so just kind of give you some highlights. Um from the first uh from 2025 uh for CRI, we were able to serve 129 individuals. Um we had a number of partners come alongside us. Kind of wanted to share uh what some of that looked like. One of them uh is becoming a big partner is Cross Church. They actually did an event for the families of um those that we were working with in CRI. So, the mothers and guardians and children uh were able to all attend an event and they got Christmas gifts and and um connected to some resources. So, that was a a pretty awesome and very well attended uh event. Um uh as always, Orisa Health is a huge partner providing the mental health services on site. Um, Tyson Foods has also been a partner on site as far as their team comes out and does um mock interviewing and kind of preps them uh for to get get into the employment space um as well as uh they agreed to pay for. So any individual that has a DUI or a DWI um has to go through a program called DSAP and victim's impact um to be eligible to get their license back. So, if an individual has one day and one, uh, victim's impact, it's $190, um, to sign up, um, get assessed, and then attend that class. Uh, so Tyson's actually paying for everybody to that attends comes to CRI to go through those, uh, classes. So we set up a um computer space where the guys can tend for eight hours um at at a time for the dayap and to so the individual is eligible to get their driver's license once they get back to the community. So

that was a that was a huge blessing and and a a big burden off the individuals to get that done. And Orisa Health oversees it for the state of Arkansas. So they actually send a staff member to us and they assess the guys. So, typically when you're out, you you just uh go online and you log in and you just sit there and watch the things spin and and and in hopes that somebody shows up and assesses you. It could take between 15 minutes to a few hours um before an assessor is available. And so knowing that they're sending somebody uh from the Little Rock area, she drives down every two weeks to assess all the individuals that are in CRI to make sure that they get that accomplished and make sure that Tyson gets that paid for and gets that done is a huge blessing uh for our guys. Uh we also um partnered with the Goodwill Academy in Springdale and what that did is we used that same new computer lab um to give our clients access to uh uh a number of classes um some certifications uh so the different certifications is project management so that's a Google um course uh digital marketing and e-commerce uh data analytics uh UX design uh cyber security, IT, uh, automation and Python. And to kind of give you an idea, um, so an individual that gets signed up and goes to the academy in the community typically. So, uh, when we were getting our guys kind of prepped and and getting them excited about attending this, the their staff let them know, hey, it's going to take three to six months is a typical time to complete this um, these course, like one single course. And so we sat down the guys and we're like, "Hey, you don't have that much time, so we need to we need to really buckle down and and

get these things accomplished." Um, our first individual completed his course in seven days. Wow.

And that same individual completed every single course that was available to him. He created a um an app and um he's got a a business that he'll be launching once he gets released. and we actually are connecting him with some potential investors. Um we've got a lot of individuals with the right guidance have so much potential and and it's a it's a real honor to come alongside them and be able to walk through doors for them and get opportunities made available to them. And they're in a really unique space right now that they've got time and they've got their attention and they're sober and and and the the weight of the world isn't on them at this moment. And so we're seeing them at their highest potential and and they're completing things that they never imagined they could complete. So that's a pretty exciting opportunity that we've been able to open up. Um also, uh Fateville Adult Education has been uh coming on site and doing GED prep and that's been going really well. Um so we've had guys complete their GEDs while they're with us. And then um the we have five different housing providers that do residential services. uh once a person is uh in the community and so all of them are coming on site and meeting individuals and doing interviews and getting to know them and uh so we've had uh 26 individuals utilize those services uh when they got out and so that's pretty exciting. Some of them weren't aware of of the different opportunities that that were made aware um through that process and so that is increasing that social capital that they need to be uh successful when they get out. So, that's kind of the highlights from uh the first nine months of of the program. Are there any questions?

Oh my goodness. Trying to digest all of that. I've got a smile from ear to ear. I know that we can't do this, but I would love to to just hear a testimony from the individuals. This is what this did for me. This is how it did this for me. And now this is a path forward. I have a brighter future because of this. Um to complete a course in seven days is amazing. Yeah. And then to create an app, but he was stuck in this cycle of breaking the lawn, sitting in jail, and here we go. Yeah.

And now he's moving forward. That is what this program is all about. Tyson partnering with you is huge. This is a collaborative effort. It's a whole county. It's not just Nick Robbins and returning home and taking the you know what you applied there and applying it here. Everybody is lifting up this boat and everybody is investing in these these men and then soon women. Absolutely. I mean the women's program is not into in too far. Yeah. Distance is it? Yeah, we're working on it.

Are there any questions for um Mr. Robbins at this time? I'm just amazed. This is this is amazing. I have Justice Koger. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. My question deals with the afterare. You said that there were five housing places that you work with. How do you follow up with I mean I they're spread out these houses places. So, how do the people who stay there get to work? Because I know if they're with you or when they were in Springdale, you took them to or you made sure they got to work. So, how do we guarantee that these people get to work? You mean in the other programs?

So, each program does have their their way to um employ them. I I don't know of any that aren't um working on the employment side of things. Um yeah, and we have a peer support specialist that follows up with them. Uh so we we we keep an eye on them. They actually come back. Um one of the things that that they do while they're with us is they go through um some training and and one of them is get to Narcan. And so they actually when they're released from the county jail, they come back, they get their uh Narcan, and they get a to- go bag and we're able to do different things if it's get them phones or things like that. So they stay connected to the peer sport specialist to to make sure that they um are successful once they get out and and the individuals doing really well.

Okay. Thank you. Yep. Tell us what Narcan is. What Narcan is? It it's to keep individuals from overdosing um primarily on opioids. So it it was a grant that we received the county received. Uh they also have it at drug court and so to take them through the training so they know how to use it. Um and then you know one thing that we encourage them it's to help a loved one um is the primary focus. So somebody that hasn't uh achieved the sobriety that they may have that they can still um help them.

That's that's wonderful. We used to have that I think in 2015 then Sheriff Helder they had that on Narcan was available to them. Yeah. That's when they they said law enforcement you can go on calls and you'll have this. and how useful a tool it was in saving people's lives that had overdosed. So, I didn't know now it was available to individuals through a grant. Yep. Good. Are there any I have Justice Lopez. One moment, please.

Uh thank you guys for for the work that you do, everyone involved in your program. I'm I'm glad to see um so much progress being made by the people involved in the program. My question is uh pretty quick here. When it's average bond amount, is that in aggregate for for everyone that that $48,833 28? Okay, that's an aggregate for you there. Okay, that was my only question. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing that there's none, thank you so much for your report and we appreciate it. Absolutely. Next on the agenda, we have the Northwest Arkansas Land and Trust presentation. Good evening, gentlemen. How are you?

Good evening. How are you all? Good.

Thank you guys for the invitation tonight. More specifically, uh, Justice Evelyn, I appreciate. Uh, my name is Evan Johnson. I serve as the conservation easement manager for the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. To my left, we have Ben Spade, our land protection director. Uh, I will respect your guys' time tonight. This is going to be a very simple who we are, what we do, and how we can help you and your constituents. Um, Ben Spade's going to give the second half of this presentation of the more details of our work. Uh, I'll start us off on our first slide here. We'll go to the next if you don't mind. Oh, I have a clicker. Um, perfect. So, we're a 501c3 nonprofit. We were founded in 2003 by a group of volunteers. Uh we really did not get going until 2009 for our f first full-time staff member and we currently have seven full-time staff members uh working to protect land in Northwest Arkansas. Um we really we uh we take it uh u our that local and accredited aspect means a lot to us. Uh we work here, we play here, we have a lot of stake in this community, in this area. And Ben's going to get more into our accreditation and what that really means. Our mission here is to preserve and protect uh uh we're here to preserve and enhance the quality of life for all people in Northwest Arkansas through the permanent protection of land. So where do we work? We service the uh four counties in Northwest Arkansas, Washington, Benton, Carroll, and uh Madison County. We also serve 13 counties in this area as well. um and we are able to operate in Oklahoma and Missouri. Uh we we work with private land owners to place conservation easements on their property to ensure that these properties uh are stay intact and are not able to be developed on in the future. Uh of our conservation easements, we have over 50 conservation

easements totaling up to around 9,600 acres um within this area as well as nine fe simple properties. These are properties that have either been donated to us or that we have purchased for uh public benefits and uh um public access as well. So back to that mission of how what do we do to enhance the quality of life for all people in Northwest Arkansas. When you protect land on the front end, we tend to see cleaner water. we see tend to see watershed protection, corridor protection for wildlife, scenic uh scenic view sheds that are protected, outdoor recreation um as well as local food systems in this area. And to kind of get into the more details of what are the true benefits of conservation in this area, you know, I really want to show this map because it really highlights the slide I was about to talk about. This is the projected growth in uh northwest Arkansas along the I49 corridor uh from 2011 to 2050. As that corridor continues to expand, we will we know we will experience a lot more flash flooding events in this area, a lot more flooding events uh uh that will not be stopped unless we protect land in Northwest Arkansas. When we have protected green space, there is now hard data that proves that it is critical for flood reduction and flood prevention. Um, as well as when you protect land, people want to be close to green space. People recognize the benefits of being uh close to publicly accessible areas as well as they can feel the benefits of that clean air, the clean water for all people in this area. As well as I'm no tax advisor. I don't want to give any tax advice tonight, but there are tax advantages for these private land owners that wish to place conservation easements on their properties. uh both for the state riperian tax credit as well as um some other tax credits available. I now want to hand it over to

our land protection director, Ben Spate, who's going to get into the more details of how do we actually protect this land. Thank you guys. Thank you, sir. Good evening.

Good evening. Thank you for having us. Um so, yeah, we have really four main tools. Conservation easements. Um we accept land donations. We'll partner with people to try to protect land and uh we also occasionally purchase land but our main tool is conservation easements which a lot of people kind of don't know a lot about. Uh but it's a voluntary legal agreement between us and the land owner um that permanently protects their land through um stopping development basically. And so they uh it runs with the land in perpetuity, attaches to the deed just like any other easement um in Arkansas law. But the difference here is we meet with the land owners and we come up with all of their future uses for the property. Anything they think they could do, their children could do, a future owner could do, and we draft the restrictions on the conservation easement to match what the land owner wants. Um, and those restrictions are typically very flexible. It's all up to the land owner what they want to do. Our main goal is protection of what we call conservation values. And so I'll push back a little bit about, you know, protecting water quality and forest and things like that, but really it's up to the landowner and the landowner has a lot of discretion over how they want to draft the easement. Um, but yeah, and then as the conservation's easements placed, we uh monitor the easements once a year to ensure compliance with those restrictions. Um, and yeah, they last uh like we said, in perpetuity. And so the way to think of it is like property law 101. Um, your property rights are a bundle of sticks and in those is the ability to your ownership rights, ability to sell, the ability to keep people out. Um, what we do is we do not own your land. We take two sticks out of the bundle and that's subdivision rights and development rights. And those development rights that we hold are the ones that we agree upon with the land owner. U, but this is just to show uh how customizable it can be. You know, we do a lot of a easements. We have total forested tracks. Um it really is every

we have 54 easements, 52 easements and every single one of them is different and everyone's tailored to how that land owner wanted it to be written. Um and how do we ensure forever? So we're an accredited land trust by the land trust alliance. It's a national accrediting body. Um we get audited every five years over that and it ensures fiscal responsibility, ensures we're checking all our due diligence steps that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and upholding our public mission. Um, yeah, and we're very proud of that and we just got reacredited this year. So, um, and these are some of our recent conservation wins. Uh, we've protected Lincoln Lake with the city of Lincoln owns that property and we hold an easement on it which ensures that it is open for outdoor recreation and public use in perpetuity. Uh, we just recently announced that we have worked with a couple partners to protect the headarters of the White River, which feeds Beaver Lake and all of our drinking water. So, that's a huge win for water quality in the region and for the residents of Washington County. Uh, we also protected Flint Creek, which is in Benton County, but that's a huge uh tributary of the Illinois River wershed, which is one of our big focuses. So, we're really focused on the Illinois River wershed in that western side of the county. And then, sorry, I can't read. Oh, we just closed out our Beaver Lake 319 grant, which is through the EPA and through the Arkansas Department of Natural Resources. And through that, we protected 692 acres over seven properties. So, we're very proud of that. Um, it was a huge success. We beat our metrics by almost 200 acres and three properties. So, uh, yeah, we're very excited about that. We're happy that we're working to protect the water in Northwest Arkansas. And is anybody have any questions that I could answer?

That was a great presentation. Do we have any questions? I have Justice Limming. Uh, thank you, sir. Yeah. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. The, uh, when you say you purchase property, where do you come up with the funds to do that? Where, who funds you? It's very project specific, and that's honestly, it's pretty rare that we do that. Um, it would have to be an extreme case, you know, like the perfect property that we're trying to conserve. Um, and then we go out and seek whether we could find federal money, state money, private donors, anyone like that that's willing to contribute. Um, but that's reserved for the most, you know,

I like the sounds of what you said to keep the commercial growth out of the out of that area. What What have you heard or what have you seen or what have you done anything about the Illinois's wershed where we're having this problem with Mr. Drummond over in Oklahoma? Um, so we do we haven't like I said we are really uh focused on protecting with voluntary land owners. So people that we either drum up through outreach events or anything like that that comes to us and wants to protect their property. So basically you're trying to say that if I want to take my 400 acres and tell the government they could never do anything else with it, that's what you would do do for me is you'd make sure that never had anything built on it.

That's our goal. Um unfortunately imminent domain is very strong power. So if some if a government entity wants to take it, they can. But as far as private land owners in the future, that's what we do. whatever you agree in that easement, we uphold. Um so yeah, we So have you done much work at all in the Illinois wershed? We've done a couple projects. We're really trying to get more into that watershed, but we have um a Lake Francis preserve, our Flint Creek preserve, and then we have a I'm not sure the exact number of easements. We have quite a few hundred acres over there as well. You said you had it preserved, but you had that water test and it test good. Uh we haven't specifically tested it ourselves, but yeah, we're working tested. Who tested it for you?

Uh, we haven't done any testing yet. Um, so you don't know if you've improved it or not. Well, I I there is hard science based on how many acres of forested environment that you keep uh forested and what that effect on water quality is because it gives a chance for rain water to dissipate for all those phosphorus and nitrogen and everything like that to go into the soil and not into the river that goes into the drinking water. So, do you think that the cities put off more pollution versus the farms? Uh, it's a tough question. I guess it would depend. Um, obviously with all of the um, you know, cars, everything that goes on in a city, it's going to have a dramatic impact. Correct.

Everything has an impact on water quality. It's just about how much and how much and it's all specific to the area. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. I have Justice Massenale. Yeah. Thank you for your presentation. Um, are these tracks of land open to the public typically or how's that? How's it?

So, our it's all up to the land owner. Most of our conservation easements, there's no public access requirement whatsoever. It's their property to do with what they please. Um, sometimes maybe people do want to have public access. We've had that. Um, we basically manage our preserves for public access and not necessarily um our conservation easements. We don't take any management responsibility of the easement. Really what we do is draft those restrictions and then make sure that those restrictions are upheld. Um and if the land owner wanted people to come on their property, we can write that in and that they're more than welcome to do that, but it's not a requirement. Okay. What do you typically see? Do they do they typically want to allow public access?

No, most people do not. They want to keep their family or keep their land in their family, keep farming it, keep doing whatever they're doing. Um it's very rare actually that someone wants public access. Okay. And um I guess once the person I guess while they're living on it they'll they'll pay the property taxes, but is there a point where u they're not paying the taxes and you guys have to pick that up or No. So really our interest as defined by the easement is to uphold the easement. So all of the management ownership property taxes requirements are still the land land owners. Um really all we're doing is making sure that those restrictions that we agreed on are upheld. So all of that stuff is still the responsibility of the land owner.

How would that be handled if the taxes weren't paid? So you it's just like any other property. Um we just we never been through that situation and we'd have to figure it out as we go along, but it would be just like anything else. It would, you know, the state could come in and take it, things like that. Um but yeah. Okay. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Of course. I have Justice Rose Stafford. Thank you, Chair. Do you all have a minimum size on a property to of being protected?

So, that's my I get that question a lot. Um, we actually do not. But back to that conservation value that I talked about. Um, the smaller the property, the higher the conservation value. So, if it's an acre uh lot with the spring that feeds whichever creek, I would be interested in that. Um, and then the bigger it is, the less things like that it has to have. Um, so it's really just property dependent. I don't have a size requirement. It's just conservation value, which I know is a big term, but it's you know it when you see it kind of situation. Okay. And then uh if a member of the public wanted to learn more or contact you to preserve their land, how would they do that?

Yeah, we have a uh our website um nwalandrust.org. Think I got that right. Um you can reach us there. It has all our contact information on there and reach out. Okay. Thank you all for this great presentation and thanks for Evan for reaching out. Thank you all. I do have a final question because I I do believe that u your group was brought up in this um Gully Ranch CUP that you all wanted to purchase his property from him. Is that a truth or is that just an assumption, a false assumption? I believe that's an assumption. We we never made any um we never made that point or took that stance. Okay. Thank you. Just wanted to clarify that.

Okay. I appreciate it. It's great presentation. Oh, JP Dennis, I apologize. Mic's on. You're welcome. Thank you. What does your budget look like? um just on a day-to-day or like where do the funds come from? A yearly budget as far as hard numbers like yeah salary uh you know um you know I don't actually handle the day-to-day budget. You got someone trying to bail you out back there. I appreciate that. That's our executive director, Grady Span. You know they say follow the money. So tell us where the money tell us about the money.

Hello. I'm Grady Span. I'm the executive director of the land trust. So, it's our honor to be here. It takes about um annually about $600,000 to operate with salaries and you know operations of maintaining the land, the preserves and so forth. And that all comes from grassroots efforts of raising money uh through public donations. We apply for a lot of grants and uh work with a lot of farm or land owners to accomplish that. So, every day is a challenge with fundraising, as you know, with any nonprofit, but uh we're blessed to be up in Northwest Arkansas where that is a priority. I'm not sure I know what a nonprofit is anymore.

How many people? How many people? How many employees? We have seven full-time employees.

Good salaries. Good salaries. 600,000 for seven employees. Well, that that's that's 600,000 for the full operation. That's leasing equipment. That's maintaining two vehicles. That's uh paying for the preserves and and keeping those uh accessible to the public. And so salaries is not that full amount. No. Okay. And insurance. And insurance. We we do cover insurance for our employees, too. So there's there's a lot of other costs just like um which is normal with any business. Okay. Okay. Just a hard question I wanted to ask. Thank you. Well, thank you for being interested. Yes, sir. Are there any other questions?

Oh, Justice Ricker. One more. One more. Sure. I don't really have a question. I was just going to say I worked with them for quite a few months when I was working for City of Greenland. We put about 70 acres of our river frontage in a conservation easement through them. Their attorneys drew up the easements, filed everything, never cost the city a nickel, but it they did their conservation easement to allow the city to do all the projects they wanted along that river, but not to allow anything else, any development coming in or anything. And they did all of it. Didn't cost us a nickel. Appreciate.

Thank you. That's wonderful. Good to hear. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation and the website was again would you share that? Yes, it's nwalandtrust.org.org. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have an ordinance denying a conditional use permit recommended for approval by the planning board of adjustments for the Gully Ranch project. I have justice lines.

As we we all discussed earlier, um seems pretty obvious basing the the the vote in the last special quorum court and we just didn't memorialize that by passing an actual denial of that comp. Therefore, I move we pass this all to the full courts to do pass recommendation. I have a motion and a second to pass it on to the full corn court with a due pass recommendation. Is there any discussion? I have Justice Stafford. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, you know, I uh I only have control over my own comments and what I say at quorum court. Um, but I couldn't help but notice that some of my colleagues uh didn't give a rationale the last time we voted on this on why you were voting the way you were voting whether you're for or against. And um, you know, this is probably almost certainly going to go to circuit court. And I think we would all have an easier time at circuit court because if it goes there, we're probably all going to all get deposed and spend time there. and we just went through a big uh legal battle in in federal court. Um so it may make our lives easier if some of the folks who didn't speak up last time gave their ration uh for their votes on this one. Um and I voted uh I voted yes on the last one, so I'm voting no on this one. Thanks.

Thank you. Um Justice Stafford. I have Justice Pond. Uh yes. Uh seeing that what what we're discussing here is an ordinance for denying this CUP. Uh I would like for the county attorney to uh advise us what uh what legal reasons we could have for denial that would hold up in a circuit court. It's not I have um let me see. Okay, here are the criteria and and um the criteria for allowance of a conditional use that a written application has been filed with the planning office and the appropriate fee has been paid. That's one. Two, the applicant has provided proof that each property owner has set out in section 5N has been notified by return receipt mail. Three, that adequate utilities, roads, drainage, and other public services are available and adequate or will be made available and adequate if the use is granted. Four, that the proposed use is compatible with the surrounding area. Five, that the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the conditional use will not detrimental not be detrimental or to or endanger the public health, safety, morals, comfort, or general welfare. Six, that the conditional use will not be injurious to the use and enjoyment of other property in the surrounding area for the purposes already permitted, nor substantially diminish and impair property values within the surrounding area. And the seventh one is that the establishment of the conditional use will not impede the normal and orderly

development and improvement of the surrounding area for uses permitted in the zone.

Thank you. Thank you, Justice Stafford, for making it clear that we all just have one vote. But that night, it was observed not only by me, by quite a few people out in the county who observed that the only justice on the court that gave reason why they were going to deny it was Justice Koger. Nobody else gave a reason why they were denying it. Although there was objections to there being liquor sold or alcohol sold, but he said, "I'm not going to have an alcohol license." That I'm I'm not going to do that. That's not what I have. But yet it was still um something that was brought up the reason why they wouldn't support it. Justice says I don't want to get sued again. I don't think it's right of us to make decisions that compromise the citizens out in the county and we have to use their taxpayer money that they pay to settle a lawsuit because we just don't agree or like or want that particular person in our neighborhood. And I think we need to be very very careful on how we vote because that is where this is going to end up and we're going to get sued again when the planning board had approved it.

And I asked them, "What what are your reasons for not?" Other reasons were it's going to be a wedding venue and they don't want 300 drunk Washington County citizens going to a wedding and driving up and down their county roads. Well, it's not a wedding venue. It was a retreat center. It was an events where and it was small. 3,000 square feet to 3500 square feet is a small area. I'm just very concerned on how loosely and recklessly we're treating taxpayer money have Justice Lopez.

Um, absolutely. I I'd be happy to I I'm sorry. I believe a point of order was there was a point of order. I'm sorry. Didn't a point of order. One moment, please. One moment, please. Let me get you on the mic. There I have a point of order by Justice Koger. Are you calling the point of order for a vote or this item for a vote? Okay,

that is not a point of order. I have Justice Lopez. One moment, please.

You're fine. Uh I I I believe that um there were several people who voiced um their concerns within uh the parameters of the criteria that we're allowed to list. I think that voicing those concerns is kind of linked to this is the reason that I'm justifying the decision that I had. Uh I I know that I made it a point to to refer back to the material and what exactly we were allowed to consider. Um, I did do that and I I think that there were other people who did that. I I don't think that uh anyone was taking this decision on a whim. I I acknowledge that it is a hard decision whenever we make a decision to take away somebody else's dream. That is a hard thing to do. Um, but it is something that we are trusted on by our constituents to uphold for them to to to look out for them because that's part of part of our duty is to look at a dream and say is this dream compatible uh with the dreams of the other property owners around there. Um, I had a feeling and it is again it is it is self-discriminate. I I have uh in my mind I do believe that it was not compatible in the sense that it would injure um how the people who would who who already live there could enjoy their property. That was my reasoning. Um and I'm I'm happy to express that to the court and to everyone because it is of course a hard decision. Um a lot of good people come here with uh you know wanting to pursue their dream but that doesn't mean that everyone's dream can uh can happen and I understand that that's hard and it's a heavy decision to make but that was my reasoning and I I contend that it continues to be my reasoning.

I do believe and I agree with you that you said number six injurous to the other residents that live there. Although you made that their enjoyment, I have Justice Wilson. Will you please ceue up your mic again, please? Justice Wilson.

Thank you, Chair. I wanted to say a couple of things on this issue. Number one is I've heard a couple of individuals may I hadn't been trying to keep a tally sheet or anything, but I think a couple of times it's been mentioned a possibility of ending up in a courtroom setting again or or being depositioned or whatever. Um, a person should always be wise and judicious with those things in mind. But on the other hand, I don't think anybody should live in fear of a court case uh to the point that it interferes with our duties. Um so there's a fine there's a balance to that. I think we all understand that. Um but I also wanted to mention that um if we discuss this extensively tonight, uh and it looks like we're headed down that road. I I just would caution us against that because we we at some point we're going to cross a line. We're we're rehashing the entire thing tonight and I don't think we need to do that, especially if someone is fearful that there might be a court case concerning this at some point in the future. Um you want to rehash, relitigate the entire thing, redate it all tonight, we do that. we provide ammunition for someone to go to uh to trial with something or at least to try to. So, I just think we we shouldn't be flirting with doing something again. I mean, we we had a robust discussion before and it is true that not everybody provided reasons for their vote. I wanted to speak to that as well. I don't think I provided a reason for my vote at the time. Um, but I I think I want to speak to that. I believe all of us and I think everybody would agree we have a moral obligation to have reasons why we vote one way or

another. I mean, no, nobody in here I don't I don't believe anybody uh on this court or in this committee tonight uh comes in here and just tosses a coin and says, "I'm going to vote one way or another." I think most people are serious and deliberate about what they do and try to be fairminded. So I don't want to take anything away from that. Uh so we have a moral obligation to do our homework and be prepared and be responsible. I think everybody here does that. But I don't think we have a moral obligation to explain all of the rationale that we have gone through in our own mind to arrive at a decision. It's up to each of us if we want to share that or not. Um I don't always share everything in my mind about how I arrived at a decision. Um, and that's just me. But, um, you know, if if someone asked me in a legal sense why I did something, I can I feel confident that I can provide a reason or reasons why I did it. Um, but sometimes I'm not going to explain um every every pathway I went through in my mind to arrive at a certain conclusion. So for the good of the order, I just submit that. I I hope that's helpful. Uh that's just the way I feel about the current discussion. So thank you so much for indulging me.

Have Justice lines.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I find it interesting that all of a sudden we have some colleagues that are trying to compel people to voice their mind. Quite honestly, whether we go to court or not, doesn't matter what we say here. Matters on the outcome of the vote. Period. You're going to get sued if somebody wants to sue you and and it doesn't matter from anything else around that. I agree with my colleague. We all need the basis for our vote because if it does go to court, we will be deposed and we will have to provide that. And I'll be, you know, there's we've been counseledled to be careful about what we say in public forums because it may go to court. So it it it's a it's a line that it's a gray line we all have to walk. We all have to justify to oursel why we voted and the way we voted and to justify it. So if it goes to court, so again, I think we just need to um move this to the quorum court and quite honestly, regardless what happens, it's going to happen based on the results. If we vote to deny it, then yeah, we may get sued by the applicant. We also know if we approve it, just like we are with Molly Wagon, we're being sued by the community. So I I I honestly don't think what we say here makes a difference on whether we get sued or not. That's what the vote comes out to. Thank you.

I will have to say and I will defer to the counselor that you are wrong. You do have to justify why you are voting one way or the other on a cup. And it's been that way ever since I've been on the court. You've had to say for this reason one, two, or four or seven or whatever when you are voting on that. And you have to say that when you give your vote. That's the way it whether

I think he has a question. I was just prepared to answer. Okay. My response is we've never done that. We don't even compel the planning board to give reason for their vote. I don't just if you want to do it, that's fine. Let's put it in the ordinance. Everybody's compelled to answer those six criteria on how they vote. Planning board members and us. I'm more than willing to do it. We've never done it to date. To my memory, I've never had to do it. None of us has had to do it. The planning board has never had to do it as long as I've been on this court. So again, I don't disagree with it, but if we're going to do it, let's be consistent. let's put it in the ordinance and compel people to do it, then there's no question to it.

So, the my advice has been and I think I went over this one or two of these ago and went through that criteria that um when you vote, you make it clear on that based on those criteria. The reason for that is there are seven criteria um that are utilized. And so, if something's litigated, the first question that's going to be asked is why did you vote like you did? which one of these seven reasons tell me based on these seven reasons how you voted.

And so it's it's better or sometimes better um for us to to for you all to be on the record uh if there's something particular on there. You don't have to know um but it it does help out a lot uh when we talk about it because what ultimately we're looking at is whether or not the court acted in a manner that was arbitrary and capriccious. And so if you don't have if you say well I just I just don't like this project that kind of leans towards arbitrary and capriccious and a court wants to know why it is there needs to be a rationale and those are the seven criteria that are listed. So, it's advisable that you you know, if there's something on there as a reason for voting either for or against um you know that that's that that's stated that may cut down on the number of depositions that an attorney takes, you know, which is time time taken out of your day. So, yeah, but you don't there's no requirement that you you go on the record and say that.

It's just advised. Okay. Next, I have Justice Massingale. Yeah. Can I call the question? You sure may? Okay. I'd like to do that. We have the question that's been called. All in favor? Do I have a second? I have a second from uh Justice Lines. All in favor, raise your hand by saying yes. Yes. Calling the question. Yes. All in favor say I or raise your hand.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. All opposed. One, two, three, four, five. That motion carries. And so that it's not debatable. Madam Chair, I would like to comment that um I had my mic on. It's not debatable. It's It's already been closed before a lot of these other people did. Was not allowed.

Sir, it's been done. It's over. I'm sorry. Do we have any public comment? Seeing that there's no public comment, all in favor of Do I have a public comment? You need a please come to the mic and state your name?

Uh Jacob White. I live at 15582 East Black Oak Road. As you guys can imagine, when we saw Gully Ranch back on the agenda, we kind of freaked out because we were like, "Oh no, we're redoing the vote." Uh, and I do want to uh thank uh attorney Lester for explaining the situation. That helped calm everybody down and we had a less stressful weekend than we would have had otherwise. Um, I do want to say uh legally speaking, you guys are not required to state your your rationale into the record. The circuit court is going to look at the facts that have been presented to you in the record and decide if your decision was arbitrary and capriccious. As a lawyer, I always tell my clients, be quiet. you know, you can justify what you did in a deposition when you're asked. So, that's my free free legal advice. Uh, if you do want more evidence, I would point out that at the January 15th forum court meeting, at the last minute, the applicant decided to change the entire scope of his project by saying he was moving all of the Airbnbs. So, for you guys to assess these applications, you have to know what the project is. Big last minute changes are a good reason to deny. Um, oh, this isn't Eagle Crest. The county is not going to be liable for money damages for turning down the cup. There's no protected class services being provided here. So, respectfully, uh, you guys are not going to be held into federal court on an ADA claim where you owe money. So, uh, the remedy that's going to be asked for by the circuit court is to kick this back down for another vote. It's not going to be money damages. So, I don't think you guys have to worry about, you know, the public pocketbook getting picked here if the applicant decides to sue. All right, that's it. Thank you for your time.

Is there any other public comment? Seems none, all in favor of moving this to the full quorum court say I. I.

And raise your hand, please, so we can get a vote. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. All opposed? One, two, three, four, five, six. That motion carries. Item number nine will be added to the quorum court agenda. Moving on to item number 10. We have Mr. Maloney who will do a update on where we are with the Industrial Development Authority Agency. Good evening, sir. How are you?

Very well. Yourselves? Doing well, thank you.

Mr. Point, just be I'm stuck on a couple throat laws and just bear with me. So, by way of update, it's been a couple months since we we were here before you. Um, latest update is Benton County approved it uh last week with a couple amendments added to it that were of concerns to them and so we're um now we've been working with you as well as Madison County jointly. So, come before you this evening um to ask uh one, do we need a refresher because it's been many months or two, do we have enough questions that I can answer? Um it's really however you all want to to handle and proceed.

Court, what do you feel? I have Justice Lming. We got all night because there's going to be a ton of questions on this deal. Uh so do do you want him to do a refresher update of where we are or do you want to just dive into the questions? Well, we probably need a kind of a to where we're where we're headed and why we're headed and who's pushing this and who's backing it and who's going to pay the money and who who who who. So, let's get started. Thank you. Well, I think it sounds like we got a lot of questions. Why don't you update us with um what exactly maybe refocus what the purpose of the idea is for

okay if we can do that so we don't even need the uh presentation for that so no um

uh the easiest way to put it if you think about XNA airport authority has a it's an authority has a strict mandate to do something in that case it was to develop an airport and run a well functioning uh airport the industrial develment authority. The regional district devel authority as we're proposing has a very narrow mandate as well. We uh if you remember when I was here last time, we talked about we have a uh we have a real estate problem in Northwest Arkansas. We um by and large if you uh want a distribution grade building or cross stock facility that that we can find in our market all day long. But as the region's economic developer for four and a half years now, we generally have to pass or we are eliminated on every advanced manufacturing or technology project because we don't build real estate appropriate for it. Not only that, we don't even develop sites u engineered for those types of buildings. So the whole purpose of the industrial development authority should you grant it along with the two other counties is our mandate would be to find specific um sites by which are very compelling that would be transformative and high impact to build the kind of product that we don't build in this market right now. I give you an example. Um I shared it with now of course this is this is a Benton County example but it it's easy to um it also impacted Washington County. So I was asked by a colleague earlier this a couple weeks ago. Ron when you say we don't what when you say we don't build this type of product what do you actually mean? Can you give me some examples? So, I said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do, and I will gladly share it around with this uh I'll send it to Justice Eki, and she can share it

with you. Uh I don't know why I didn't send it to her already, but um I merely said, "Okay, here's five projects that we've lost uh throughout Northwest Arkansas in the last year." Now, they uh primarily focused in and around aerospace and defense, and only one of them required a runway. show the rest it wasn't wasn't dependent upon an airport or something but it's the product and that was being built in all cases uh these were very larger facilities three over 300,000 square feet um the prospects that were looking were like looking for product that was already existing wanted to know if they can could conclude a lease within 60 days or 90 days wanted to know if the buildings were capable of uh handling overhead cranes of various tonnage sizes. If the flooring and the the uh scaffolding the the rigging of the building could support those that is much different than a distrib distribution distribution grade building that we build throughout northwest Arkansas. So it gives you an example. So then like I said the whole purpose of the regional industrial development authority as we propose it has a very strict mandate just like say the airport authority does. It's it's a real estate development. It's to build what the private sector won't. It's not a criticism of the private sector at all. If I was a developer and I knew I could build a certain type of building, it would be leased before the foundation's ever done. It would be a good deal for me. However, as I shared with the Benton County Corn Court and as well as the Madison uh County Court, the outside market looks at Northwest Arkansas and says, "Well, look, we believe you have talent. We believe you have people. We believe there's still a remnant, although it declines year after, you know, every year of

people who know how to make stuff, want to make stuff. and we think we want to site an operation here from some company that they're representing. But after uh like I said, I've been here four and a half years and we have not been successful in landing one such project. So that's a lot of prosperity that's passing us by. It's a lot of increasing wages. Wage is enough. I mean, right now, if you look at what our region's average annual wage is right now, but compared to some of these advanced more advanced and manufacturing projects, you're looking at an average annual wage of over $100,000 versus below $100,000. It's a lot of prosperity. That's a lot of mobility for people. That's a lot of chance for people who maybe are here and want to go there and they need upskilling or they need further training. So I think the point one thing is I want to make clear because this was something that was asked um in the other corn courts when we say transformational and high impact does that equal big and the answer is it does not equal big what we do and what we have been doing because the authority doesn't exist yet but working for the Northwest Arkansas Council what we do is we look at all opportunities and we say okay let's do do an impact anal economic impact analysis. Let us look at how that plays out 20 years out. And not only does it how it plays out 20 years out for the community it's in or the counties in in, but how does that play with the other two counties that make up our MSA? We are a region and there's almost nothing that we will do now and decisions we won't make now or do in the future that will not impact the other counties. I don't know if many of you are aware um

probably do uh but in 2009 the federal office of management budget OMB changed our MSA. Our MSA before used to be Washington Benton and McDonald County, Missouri. Well, every now and then they perically uh reassess three things. How do people move? How do goods move? And how does money flow? In 2019, they determined McDonald County, Missouri was no longer part of that ecosystem the way they evaluated. And now Madison County to our general east was. And so that change was made. And so our region now consists of these three counties. And each county needs something a little different, but by and large they need some of the same. So that's all the whole purpose of the regional industrial development authority as we propose it is to exist. It's to solve a real estate problem. And that real estate problem leads to other greater things. I shared with you last time I was in front of the court. I've been doing this for 27 26 years, multiple states and internationally. And I'm going to overeneneralize uh the dynamics of location consulting and how locations either from a company that's already in our region that wants to grow or someone from without the region. It's very simple. I'm going to oversimplify it, but this is the way I see it after 26 years. If you don't have the right sites, you're not going to have the right buildings. Real estate gets you in the hunt. It gets you in the game, whatever term you want to use. as you continue through that very exhaustive selection process and at some point your people are going to win it for you. We're going to move if we've got if we prove that we've got the right sites and the right real estate, we advance onto that search and as we get we get from the top 10 and into the top 10, get down to the top five, it's very competitive.

Uh your people will win the day for you. Okay? And then when you get down to the last two, it's going to be your quality of life that seals the deal. But it all starts with real estate. And so, not to overemphasize or be repetitive, but that's the whole purpose of the industrial real regional industrial development authority is we're bringing it forward to all the three counties. It's to solve a solve a need with a very strict mandate and everything else beyond that is either an outcome or an outgrowth of it. And I would love to take any questions that you have. And I'm sure there's many because I've been put through five months of the ringer with Benton County. So please, I know there's questions.

I um I do have a question and I shared this with you earlier. there are um guard rails, sideboards that we can put up because Washington County at present has a zoning ordinance that has to be abide by. And I mentioned that we had a lot of feedback from our county citizens that they do not want wind farms in Washington County, nor do they want manufacturers manufacturing those turbines in our county. If that was one of the the um sidebars, guard rails to say we don't want this, now is the time to put that language in. Correct.

It it would be. But here's the thing, and this was a great question that was asked over in Madison County, who is struggling with planning and zoning in the county right now. There was a point that was asked by several members of the corn over there. I said, "Hey, Ron, um, if we do move ahead with planning and zoning, is the authority, if it's created, going to abide by it?" It's a very simple answer. I gave it to them. Wherever zoning and planning exists anywhere in the state of Arkansas, a company, a board, an authority is required to abide by it. Creating an authority like an industrial development authority does not supersede, circumvent or anything like that. So whatever guard rails you all put in place are the rules by which we play. And now can you address imminent domain?

Sure. So if you recall my very first presentation I gave there was a particular slide um it was a map of the United States and Arkansas sitting in the middle was yellow with five or seven dots green dots and then it showed all the surrounding states and the darker the green the more pervasive the use of ind industrial development technology authorities but when you looked at Arkansas just thoughts and everyone I remember when we were first here and I know this was months ago but you may remember everyone goes oh that's where the ports are along the navable rivers so when industrial development authority legislation was first introduced and became popular was in the 1960s and almost all the states did the same thing it started at the ports or naval river inland ports inland rivers but then as time went on they became more perver per pervasively used uh first they went to cities then they went the counties uh then they became regional in the nature in which they operated. Arkansas never changed until we uh had uh act 576 was put into law in the last legislative session and Arkansas was still operating in a 1960s paradigm when the rest of the nation moved on. Put yourself in my place as an economic developer. Say, "Hey, Ron, we need you to go out and do this and say we create the authority." You say, "Ron, on behalf of the region, we need you to go out and do this." And I go, "Great. All right. The best tool for that is X." And I reach into my toolbox, and I whatever your favorite tool is in your toolbox, imagine it's not there. What it's like for an economic developer when you don't even have the benefits that go along with your creating authority like this. So, eminent domain was in the original legislation from 1961.

I might be off one year on that. When we expanded the original legislation, uh the ports asked us not to change their enabling legislation. So what we did is we took their enabling legislation and we simply added to it. So what I mean by added to it was in the old legislation said you had to be on a port naval river. So that left almost all of Arkansas out of the game, out of the opportunity. So we changed, we expanded it so it could be any city could have it. Any county could have it. Any two counties could have it. Any two counties could cooperate. One city over here and a county there could cooperate. And we just expanded so there' be the maximum amount of opportunity. Um something you always hear me say, there's always multiple ways to get to X. Now when we when we expanded it, we had to balance or we tried to balance liberty and agency and um what's the word I'm looking for? And um just uh ease of use. So if you determine as a community, anybody in the state of Arkansas determines as a community, we decide we want to do this, maybe five cities in one county want to do it, that's their right, that's their freedom. We think at this point in time the way our region operates the best way to do it is a as a region. Now when we upgrade like I said so that's what the when I say we expanded the legislation that's what we're talking about never thought to take eminent domain out just it had been there for since 1960 never even thought to take it out. Now, one of the things that the Benton County Court has asked us to do, and I committed this in public, uh, is that when we go back into the next legislative session, uh, we will reopen

that legislation and we will take it out. Personally, so you know, I am not a believer in eminent domain, okay? Never have. I've been doing this for 26 years. I've done over I I don't know. I stopped counting at three at 3,000. Done 3,000 projects in my career and not once was there ever an occasion where eminent domain or condemnation was a way to solve something. If you want to lose friends and lose the faith and trust of community, use eminent domain. Like I said, I I I'm not a believer in it and it would not if I am running the IDA, it would not be the way we do business. But I know words are cheap. So, as we said in the Benton County Court, we've already talked to uh Senator D's and Representative Tories and they have also publicly said or said in public that they will lead the charge along with others that we will get as far as a delegation. We will reopen act 576 and remove. There's a couple things we want to tweak as far as board appointments and the way to recall people should you get a bad actor on a board on IDA board, but also to remove eminent domain

because we just it's just it is I I I want to say this it is not um by no means what am I going to say is am I diminishing it. It is a very important issue. However, again, from my perspective, 3,000 opportunities I've never never seen an opportunity where I'd even think that that was the right way to do. You know, the responsible way is to work with the land owner and that's what we do. And that's what I've done a few other cases where I've had, you know, what was I willing to pay more money? Was I able to find an ulterior solution? Absolutely. And that's the way we would proceed here.

We have some questions. I have uh Justice Bassingale. Yeah. Thank you, Ron. Hey, how are you? Good. You? Very well.

So, one question I keep u trying to understand is I mean I think what you're you've got planned out is a really good thing and we we need some strategic planning and getting industrial development. Um, the only question I've got or the biggest question I've got is why do you need why do you need an IDA? Um, why can't you just go do this without that as an entity? Because you're going to raise money selling bonds and then you're going to develop these projects. Why can't that be done without uh having this as an IDA? So when you form an IDA um you have ability to bond and other tools. Okay. If you if someone does not give us a permission and I so think what just so everybody so uh justice Masco understands that when you create an IDA it becomes a public body. So it becomes separate a living entity within the state of Arkansas. Okay. So, just so we're clear on that, when you create that, when when let's say all three counties, like Benton does, and the other two counties approve it, this thing now becomes a living entity and it has those abilities. Now, you could as a city or a county, you could do your own. That's perfectly your right. And um but again, then let me ask you if how many how many cities and towns are in Washington County.

13.

13. Okay. So now all of a sudden 13 towns decide they're going to all do the same thing. They're going to be repetitive. They're going to create staffs, salaries, operating budgets, and they're all they're all going to do that. Now, that's a huge expansion of government. Whereas if you if you want to look from an efficiency standpoint, you could do it at a regional level. one staff serving three counties or two counties, whatever it is the counties end up doing. It is again your your decision how to balance this. You know, when we when we expanded act five and what became 576, we said we need to allow community local communities to the freedom to do as they want, but we also want to offer efficiency. And um the other reason is the business has changed. since I came into it in the 1990s. At that time, there wasn't the data sets and the internet and email was brand new and no one even trusted it. You could communicate by it, but you wouldn't dare trust an attachment to it. Um, but now, and so location consultants, companies, they had to reach out to you because if they wanted answers to questions, they had to reach out to the economic developer. Okay. Well, so if you were a city of someone was interested and they reached out to you. But today, starting about 2009, it was a complete change because the the internet large data sets and now AI, which allows you to comb through data even easier. Now most communities don't even know they were ever considered. So they now instead of starting at a local facility or a local community and asking questions and getting uh you know getting proof if they need it of like an

ordinance or zoning or whatever it is. Now you're often considered and you're off the list and you never knew it because what they do now is they start at a state. They go to regions and the regions are really the gateways now. not a gateway as a keeper but as a gateway of entrance to get information and so we are what we propose and one of the reasons for doing this as a threecount regional IDA is simply if this is where the opportunity is coming through that doorway who's better to handle that and we quite frankly we have every we have the interest of every county I mean it's not like there's no competition here um I'm going to share something with you So, um, Justice Bowlinger asked us in the last session at the, um, court meeting, uh, and he didn't know this, and I never even thought to tell him to it, but, I don't know if you all know that when projects and opportunities come in to the region, they come through the Northwest Arkansas Council. For every city that has a chamber, we have a protocol set out. that's been this way for over a decade. And that is no matter what the project is, whatever the opportunity is. We send it out to everybody. Doesn't matter. It's not like Ron sits back in the office goes, I think this is a good thing for them, not a good one for them, and this one's a better sit fit. Everybody gets equal shot at it. And so at the IDA, we're doing the same thing. We're just elevating that. So like the council, we handle things coming in, but what we want to do at the IDA is make sure that every community has the best opportunity to to grow and get a best shot at it. And that's that's what I could say.

Great. I have Oh, I'm not good. Go ahead. Can I ask more questions? Certainly. Okay. Um, so what what document uh defines this IDA? Is there a document that says what this entity is? Yes, I sent in an email. Oh, okay. All of those documents. Okay. Sorry. I guess I didn't get that yet. Okay. Um I mean, I probably have it in my inbox. So, act just since every it sounds like some people remember this is what it was the first time we came to court. Some remember some people had it, some didn't. So, here's here's what it is. Act 576 is the enabling legislation. then signed by the governor.

Signed by the governor as part of her, if you remember there, she 23 things she passed in her economic development uh package.

Uh the next thing is that I've sent over time is a draft of what the ordinance would look like, a draft of what the proposed bylaws would look like, as well as an operating agreement. So when the IDA gets formed, you're going to the judge deakons or is going to pro uh bring candidates for board members to you. You guys are going to vet those and approve those and then he will uh make those appointments and that will happen by all three counties. So when the three counties come together, there's going to be an operating agreement and there's a draft of that as well that says, "Okay, well now that we're all together, this is our board size. these are how we're going to make decisions and so on and so forth. And so those are that's that kind of body of documentation that uh some have some have seen. I think last time half of you it was in your junk folder like for whatever reason an email comes from me it just goes into junk but some of you had it and maybe that's what's going on here again this time. This time I did send them to justice so that hopefully that won't be the case again. So

yeah still got some questions. Okay. Um so this creates another government entity. Um what what powers does this entity have? Has the has the power to buy, own, sell, develop, lease real estate in a nutshell. Okay.

And we have the power to bond using industrial revenue bonds versus general obligation bonds of the community. In other words, when you do an industrial revenue bond, the company that is is getting the the you're doing the bonds on their app. Yeah. They're paying repaying the bond. It is not the citizens or the community. So, does the the IDA have the authority to grant special tax benefits

under certain circumstances? So, um there let's make a distinction. There's there's an abatement and then there's what's called payment in lie of taxes. So an abatement is you're you're abating it as the word says. Payment le of taxes. What you're doing is you're structuring tax payments. And would that come to the court for approval or would that just be approved by the IDA without

It would be depending upon ownership of the land. So if the IDA owns land, we would be able to do a payment in lie of taxes. If we develop some land and we sell it and the company is it's not owned by the IDA and the company has purchased it, it then goes on the tax roles, then that comes before you or whatever that whatever your county process is. If that makes any sense. If it doesn't, I'll be glad to talk more about it.

It does say on on um the financial exposure, revenue protections, and infrastructure risk. Question number 10 was, how does the IDA protect the county's revenue base? The IDA has no taxing authority and cannot commit county funds.

That's correct. So, we're not a So, we're not asking for money. We're not going to come to the county and ask. So let's the easiest way I can put it is when we do a development site, let's just say it's a square. We draw a square here. We're responsible for doing everything right within that square. Now, but that doesn't mean we come to the county and we say, "Oh, hey, uh, we need you to pay for these interior roads or we need a water line extended or whatever." That is our job using the bonding ability and the proceeds that come from it to take care of that. So that's how we're protecting county resources.

But it sounds like you do have on land that you own, you retain the authority to implement an abatement or a payment low tax. Okay. So what we have in act 576 is not the ability to abate only the ability to do payment in lie of taxes. Is that just for the property or the improvements on the property?

Well, so if you Well, it depends what So, not all real estate is equal at at a moment in time, but let's just take a very simple example. Let's say oh I we find somewhere somewhere here in Washington County, we find a piece of property that for whatever reason can be of with some improvements becomes quite more valuable. So maybe right now that land whatever it is, whatever size it is, pays what $4,000 a year in taxes or or whatever. So, we make those improvements and that land becomes much more valuable and a company comes along and says, "Yeah, we're going to invest a couple hundred million dollars." Okay? They're putting a lot of money up front. This is the difference between abatement and payment and loan taxes. payment and loan of taxes says we're going to negotiate so that the community does get some tax versus abatement is an abatement. So the company says we're going to put a lot of money in. So can you can we structure tax payment so that we're paying less in the beginning but more on the back end. And in the Arkansas's law you can't be less than 35% and greater than 60. So just do the math. If the property was originally only producing $3,000 of real estate income tax for the community and we do our job right and we maximize that property and now it's going to be assessed at a much higher value with a potential tax payment. Well, sometimes payment in L of taxes is how you see you you get a company to say okay I will commit all that money up front. So then when that payment and loop of tax agreements is over then it enters the role of the the tax roles

at at the assessed value the time and payment of lo taxes is also it's there is no set formula. It's not like it's a it's not like a granted like oh it's always 30 years or it's always 10 or it's whatever. It's literally a negotiated a negotiation, but it is what is best for the community. And I think this is a little something that I would want to interject here. So even though the authority is a living thing and it becomes a a living thing within the state of Arkansas, this is a question that was asked a lot over in Madison County. There was this automatic assumption that somehow the once it gets created, we just go off and do what we're going to do. Well, no one just operates in a vacuum, okay? We're going to be part of communities, part of the county, and if you think that we're not going to be seeking input, public comment, and all of this, it's just not the way we do good business. I mean, you couldn't, no one else could operate that way. Why would you think we would? I mean, this is a IDAS are not some big bad thing. We are a collaborative instrument that is going to help any region, any county in this region, any community where we we can. It's the whole reason we exist because the private sector isn't doing it. We're trying to help the communities and help the counties. And you can only truly, you know, in any facet of life, you can only help somebody if you're collaborative, you're empathetic, you're communicative. That's just the way What the way you translate it into business as you would do in life in general?

Okay. I have Justice Lopez. Uh, chair, may I ask uh since I have comments to make, I I don't have questions at the moment that I go after. I'd like to let the people get their their questions first. Certainly. Just cue your mic when you're ready. Thank I have Justice Stafford.

Thank you, chair. And bear with me because I think I have like five deep dive questions here. Um, so you know, I read the news article about Benton County passing their version of this. Um, they passed like three to four amendments added on to it that are not in the version that we have in front of us. They had to do with couple you mentioned already, imminent domain, um, recalling members.

Yes. um a severability clause basically saying if anything if any part of it was determined to be invalid, it wouldn't invalidate the whole thing. And it sounds like maybe they passed one that had to do with um appointing a member of their quorum court to the authority board. I'm not sure if that passed or not, but regardless, it's already in there. It is in there. Okay. So the version that we have in front of us, at least this ordinance doesn't have any of those specific things in it. Is that in the are those things in this bigger document or or what? Okay. So and I have a follow-up question to that too.

So there are two amendments in the severability clause. So uh when I sent those to Justice Aki, we didn't have the signed document from Bendon County, right? So what I did send her was the two amendments and the severability clause. Now this afternoon I got it from the Benton court the signed dated version which I could then just send on tomorrow. So but it would be this you'd have what it looks like but I did send the two amendments in the seability clause.

Okay. So and this may be a question for Mr. Lester too. What if and and because Madison County hasn't even voted on theirs yet. What if different counties vote on different amendments that contradict each other or in or in opposition to each other? Well, then the three if So, if in general it passes, it's because there's a general desire to do it. Yeah. So, if we get three ordinances that look slightly different, well, then they're going to have to be a process of of harmonizing, so to speak. Yeah. And that just means we come back, we do more work together. Okay. So,

Okay. So, does that mean that we need to put the same amendments into our ordinance that Benton County has in theirs to harmonize or how does that work? Um, to be truthful, I don't know. We We're This is We are the first ones in Arkansas to do this. So, we are we are leading. Sometimes leading means we are okay taking some unknown steps. But at the end of the day, what we need to do is come up with an ordinance that is uniform for the three. Right. Okay. So, and that's why I'm asking because right now ours doesn't match theirs.

Right. But but if I had sent what I got at 3:00 to Just then you would have at least what the Benton what it Benton looks like. So, just so you know, the first amendment um one of the amendments um dealing with eminent domain that they lifted right out of the Madison County ordinance. So, that's that's like there's already a there's some agreement already between Madison and and Benton because they they sat there in the court and and Ton the the uh county attorney just pulled up Madison says because they were debating this and they said, "Well, well, wait a second. why don't we just look and see if the language that's already in the the Madison County ordinance if that works for you guys. So he read it out loud and everyone goes, "Yeah." So they just literally took it from Madison's plenton. Um what I would say is let's just work through the process. Okay? And when we come at the end of the day, this ordinance on what you all decide is maybe slightly different than what was in the Benton and maybe what will be slightly different in Madison. But at the end of the day, if we really believe in what we're doing, all we just do is a little more good work till we're all satisfied with a product that we could live with.

Okay. Yeah. So, that kind of leads me to my second question, which has to do with this uh uh disaster supplemental grant. Yes, there's a deadline coming up on that. There's a deadline March 3rd. And it sounds like Madison County isn't even going to vote until February 17th and then assuming that we all then we after that we may all have to come back and vote again to coordinate. It doesn't sound like we're going to make that.

No, we are going to make that. So, here's here's the clarity. So, Uh, one of the justices on the Benton County Court says, "How come we're only hearing about this now?" I said, and I, if you read the article was at the uh, committee of the whole meeting, I said, "Look, we can't we came to you five months ago. Never thought it'd take us five months to get here." At the time, it wasn't urgent because it was five months earlier. And you know, a lot of this is my personality, okay? I personally don't think it's ever fair to start any conversation with anybody by dangling a carrot. So even if it was six months, five months, or three months ago, I would never come to any of you and said, "Oh, there's this grant out here and we need to hurry up and do this." That's that's smacks of being disingenuous and I am not that kind of person. But to go back to what I said, I never thought it would take Benton County five months to get where they're at. But what we've decided is if we could have done and got where the IDA together, that would have been like putting your A+ team to win the grant. However, the Northwest Arkansas Council is still an economic development organization. It qualifies by the rules. It's like putting your A minus. So, I can live with that. And um so we are going to make the application. We are working on it. The grant application right now. There is something in for um something for it in every part every county. I'm telling you that right now. So there's not one county that does not have some kind of project that's in this. So the EDA, let me make so everyone understands the EDA grant is not to replace things that were lost

during the tornadoes 2024. All that EDA grant says is if you were did were impacted as a region and you suffered, well then what we're going to do is we're making x amount of money available to do things that make your economy more resilient in the future, more transformative, and that's what we're doing. So there are there's a transformative aspect to the EDA grant which is up to $50 million. Then there's project implementation and planning and so there are planning elements of it implementation uh portions to it and then the overall transformational piece and like right now there is no there is no county that will not be represented in that grant. So, even though here followup question to that, even though the Northwest Arkansas uh council

council is applying for the grant, then would they only be able to administer that or could that be used for an eventual IDA if it passes? So there are what we're going to do is we are hoping that by time March 3 happens at 5:00 pm we at least have an approved ordinance from all three counties. Okay. And the EDA only requires us to show that we are moving forward in that that place because one of the things you can do with the EDA grant is let's say you are applying for another grant which we are that gives us some initial operating costs for a staff of two you can then if you can show that you're on your way to creating that thing and so let's say we don't have it all done but we have ordinance has been approved. Okay. Then what we can do is you there's a a part of that called the the uh planning and implementation where certain costs within the budget of the grant that we're applying for to get us off the ground can then be maximized and met considered as a match and then they'll match towards it. So that gives uh if you want to look at it this way the IDA a little more runway initial grant that we're applying for already EDA matches that. What we're really looking at is implementation projects because remember I said the IDA exists to develop real estate that is going to lead us to a better and prosperous future. So there are some there are some communities uh in all three counties who they just simply need help with planning like we've got a site or we've got this asset and we need to be able to do more but we don't know how to do that yet. So for those instance, we're going to put in the in the community in the grant for that kind of money to help with that. But then there are actual real estate development projects that we want to do.

And the one thing that is beautiful about this EDA grant is that it allows for infrastructure improvements. So you need to move dirt, you need to grade a site, you need to add a water line, you need to move water lines, you need to put a pump station, you need you name it. Unlike a lot of the EDA grants in the last number of years which were more a little more theoretical and pie in the sky, what I love as an economic gem, this one allows you to apply it to infrastructure. So there are many infrastructure projects uh and development projects that we will and that leads towards the over uh overarching transformational aspect.

Okay. So I think you may be partially answering my third question that I'm coming to fire at me

which is a chicken and an egg question right so I'm familiar with how uh you know industrial parks work public private kind of things you know the classic example if anybody like watch a documentary about the history of Silicon Valley and how Silicon Valley became Silicon Valley back in the 1940s and a lot of it started with Stanford Industrial Park which was jointly run by Stanford University and the city of PaloAlto and through that public private partnership you created this gigantic like global economic engine but the seed of that right so you have a right you have an industrial park and you you improve a a piece of land to make it like shovel ready so that you can attract a high-tech company to either purchase or lease that piece of land and then the revenue from that gets used I assume to work on the next piece of land and so on and so on. Right.

Correct. But how do you get how do you start? How do you get that first piece of land purchased and made shovel ready be in order to attract somebody if you haven't attracted somebody yet?

Well, there's many ways of one of I'll tell you the example I did in in Mississippi. So set the stage so everyone understands I worked uh for the Golden Triangle Development Link which uh there's two counties Octivaha which is where Mississippi State is and then Columbus City Columbus and Loun County Clay County right to the north very rural very poor county um not very large at all and they were basically a two horse and both businesses left. Well, there's three horse town and one remained, but the other two left. And um the year before I took the job there, unemployment was over 27%. And when I got there was down to 17, but still 17% is that's a lot of unemployment. So, uh, my boss who I worked for, we looked, uh, we had looked at sites and, um, the community, to your point, had before they asked the Columbus Lounge Development Link to to to undertake this project on their behalf, they uh, they had to picked a site that they thought was a great industrial site, and they didn't have a site visit in 10 years. the community was completely demoralized. Whereas the development link one county south was just kicking butt and taking names $6.5 billion dollars in new investment 4,000 new jobs and uh the county says what about us? So u they decided they would join the link and their one request was that we get a economic

developer dedicated to us me. But it goes to your point Justice there has to be a certain amount of vision. There has to be a certain amount of courage to act. Um so what we did to your point in this particular one we auctioned the land. So, we didn't have the money to buy the land, but we auctioned the land. And uh then we went out and proceeded to go find the client, the right client. And then before we did that though, and this is uh part of the way I operate, if I'm if we stand up the IDA and I am the executive director of it, everything every project that we will do, the community gets a chance to have input to it. So we did sure the fire marshals not appreciate me saying this but the community development community center held 800 people and we had 1100 but we invited 10% of the community in. We said look this is this is what we think the best opportunity is and if you agree then this is who we're going to go after. And the community was fine and they said well what does this what does this sound like? What does this smell like? What's jobs like we shared it all. we've just laid it out for them. And they said, "Okay, we trust you. Go forth and do." So then we ended up when we brought them, they, you know, not everybody wants a tire plant, but I guess when you have 17% unemployment, the tire plant looks pretty good. But that's what they wanted. We went out and we delivered it. So we had auctioned the land. And then when we did the agreement in the deal, part of it was done through their so in in most places like in Georgia and Mississippi, almost every county has an a small industrial development authority with the same powers that we're talking about with this one that runs in the background forward- facing ED e economic development unit. So with that and with

money from the state of Mississippi, this we took the option and executed it and we bought the property and then it was sold to them and Yokohama has it's on phase two now and it's I haven't visited in 10 years but it's got like thousands of people working there. So the point is there's lots of ways we can do you can option land when you if you start um you if you look at the legislation somebody can even donate land if they want. Okay. So it's there is so many ways like I said you will hear me as your regional economic developer you will hear me say this all the time. There's a dozen ways to get to the X. just have to figure out which one's the right way.

Okay, I'm glad I asked. So, there's a lot of different I thought you were going to say the disaster grant or something like it. Well, the disaster grant won't let me buy property,

but what it will do is allow allow us if we have different projects allows me to figure out. So, it's not just buying the property, it's the improvements to the property. So, what this grant does is allows us to apply money for improvements. Infrastructure is costly. We know this. You you're core in court. You're just like Benton and everybody else. You are struggling with infrastructure all the time, right? There's always questions. Where do we get the money for water? Where do we get the roads for sewer, roads, everything? These are the questions that face you probably all the time. So, as the IDA, this comes back to this collaborative nature of a partnership is when someone asked us in the Bent County court, well, we're on how do you tackle how would the IDA impact infrastructure? Uh and the way we do it is I say if this is I'm not being you know this is the site I'm responsible for everything in it engineering it right studying it right getting it right so that I'm minimizing the impact and also going out and getting the money for it so that we're not coming back to the community and saying oh hey we misjudged can you help us put a road or this that's not it's not we have a professional staff at an ID like for

okay last question for now I promise um this is an agreement among counties right the sites in the you know the the enabling uh agreement the the site can the sites be anywhere can they only be in uninccorporated land in the county can they be within city limits

so remember the idea behind this is it's to be impactful ful and transformative which again I always stress does not equal big. It is what will does that if we look at if we do this and we measure that out 20 years does it really have not just an impact on that community whether it's unincorporated land or within a city does it really have that kind of maximum benefit and if it does then the next question we ask ourselves is how does it benefit everybody around them that's our guiding principles to this. Thank you. You're welcome.

Okay. I just saw there you are, Kyle Lines. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, the good news is you answered some of my questions. Thank Thank you, JP Stafford. Um, talking about a lot of you took us through the shovel ready. that that helps. Um, you talked about just the the dive a little bit more in into the funding. You get your funding through grants, bonds that you put that you sell, etc. And then when when a company comes in, they buy it from you and of course you have to pay back those bonds, etc. And then anything other than that then gets reinvested. So there's three ways. There's generally three ways we when we get land and we're using it, there's three ways we can do it. Some companies just want to execute a land lease. Others will say we want the IDA to do a build a suit lease back to us. And others will say we want an outright sell the land.

Okay? So each way one of those makes it. Now the a well-run IDA becomes self-funding at a certain point. This is why we've never come to any of the three counties and said we we're asking you to put money in because we we know that if we do these right as we uh not only just from the bonds but from the rental agreements and everything else in time we are going to be self-funded and that's the whole reason to do this is to take the burden off the communities.

We're talking about planning ordinances and and all the planning ordinances of the county takes precedence but when does that get initiated? So for example, I'm giving you my assumption, but for example, in Washington County, everything is residential and a if you want to do anything else anywhere in the county, you have to go through the cup process, right? Which we discussed earlier. So that process gets started after the company decides they want to come here, they like your site, they want to buy your site, and then they go through the cup process. That way the the company and the type of industry that's going to go in there will be known. or is it done when you're doing the shovel readiness per se of it?

So, it starts during the shovel readiness. So, like I said, a company is going to trigger the actual going through the planning and zoning. Okay. However, when we're doing a development site, if this is if if we know that a comm just forget set for a moment, set aside planning and zoning specifically. However, if we're going to de a site and uh maybe it's I don't know it's an unincorporated but right across the street is the boundary of of a town one of the towns okay we would be negligent s if not negligent stupid not to go talk to the community is it what you want I would go have a preliminary conversation coming back to planning and zoning and come back and have a preliminary conversation with planning and zoning because no one wants to be surprised at the end. Okay? No one wants to be feel like oh our back is against the wall, time is against us. That's just not professionally how we operate. So, you know, during the development phase, if we believe that we certain types of companies are going to be the ones that would want to take advantage of this development, then we're going to go fill the community out and we're going to fill the county out. And then we're going to start having some preliminary discussions with planning and zoning to make sure it would be acceptable. benefits when the the example I gave you Mississippi they had some little bit of zoning but no planning in the county but still that's the reason we pulled 1100 people in 10% of the county's population is so that we could have a sounding board kind of experience with the community because why would you go down a road to find out when you get down to the end of the road nobody wants

And and that that's kind of where I'm going because well, first of all, if you're going to put infrastructure in, you have to follow our planning and planning. I mean, we specify roads and all that stuff, right? And you abide by that. But you go through it when you're doing that infrastructure, it's going to be difficult because the citizens may maybe what you're saying, you're going to come and say, "Here are the types of companies we're going to attract. We just don't know which one's going to actually take it. And I guess given going through the cup process throughout my career on this this body. Um I'm not sure that that's going to go over with citizens. They're going to want to know what type of industry you're going to bring in, who's it going to be, and then you're going to get the reaction based based on that. Where that's at in that process is going to matter, I think.

Does that make sense? I think I followed you. Okay. Um, what I Let me just tell you what I think I heard and tell me if I'm I'm right. You're saying you would every the communities, the county would like a little more upfront about like what kind of industries we're going to go after.

That's fair and that's something we would do. It's not there's no hidden agendas here, you know. Um we we know already I can tell you right now uh there is so much interest coming to Northwest Arkansas from all things aerospace and defense. Now does that mean there everything is about building aircraft? No. But there's a lot of innovation and research being done at the university and there's components and systems to these things and it's part of what we're part of what we're seeing and this is part a little bit I think where the nature might go with with Washington County because you have the research university whereas the other counties don't. So this is why I'm saying it's not going to be a cookie cutter for every county. Each county I had this very explicit discussion with the folks in Madison. Every county in this region has something that's special and unique about it. It's not to say the other counties don't have it, but there's something really really compelling about each county. And Madison was like, "Well, what's compelling about us?" Well, one, uh, we're going to this aerospace and defense. one, you have a county airport that has no flight restrictions on it because where it sits, it's outside of all military operation areas. You know, if we had a couple small drone manufacturers, mobility, uh, you know, I don't want to say like flying cars, but you know what I mean, like EV toll type vehicles that get, you know, like flying taxis and things like that. That would be a perfect place to do it. And can you imagine one or two companies in Madison County kind of that kind of technology. We're talking like a 50,000 square foot

building in each case with 50 to 60 employees being pale well paid. That is that's transformational and impactful for them, but it would be different for Washington County. And because you've got an R1 university here, it might be a little different than what it looks like in in Benton County. So the point is is we I can tell you generally already what a lot of companies are looking at all of Northwest Arkansas for in very broad brush strokes. It's technology. It can be in multiple industries, not just industry and defense, aerospace and defense, but technology and technology needs to be made and assembled. This is where we've gotten a ton of interest in Northwest Arkansas. So, it's a matter of finding the right sites, the right places that fit with the community's makeup and what the community wants. And then we we just it's just all about thoughtful conversation. This isn't really this isn't I don't know. I know in other places where I've worked, it's kind of like the heavy hand of government and and economic development and the communities feel like things are being pushed down on them. This is not the way. First of all, we all know this is not the way we do things in Northwest Arkansas. That's not the way the industrial would do it either.

Appreciate it. I I just I just believe based on my time here going through the cups, if we try to zone it through a cup, not knowing what the industry is, we're going to get a lot of citizens against it because they don't know what the industry is. It's just these types of industries. But if we wait until we know what the industry is, we haven't solved the problem. Well, like I said, we're going to start that process early. And plus, we already have like as as Justice Aki said, you know, like look, if you've got the guard rails in place or even let's I mean, the guardrail can be more than just what's absolutely written in your planning and zoning. This is why you go out and you do community listing sessions. Yeah. Because if you know what communities want and they don't want, that's an unofficial way of finding this out. before you actually even get the planning and zoning. Like it's just the responsible way to do economic development. That way when you do get the planning and zoning, you're able to say, I mean, the companies will trigger. But you're right, you're going to want an advanced notice. So what I'm saying is I may not always be able to tell you yet what the company is because maybe the company hasn't come, but I can certainly tell you the direction and the avenue we're going. And so you have that sense already and then you're going okay well Ron tell me who that what that universe of companies might look like and I will do that and it could be multiple industries and I'll say you know this is this is kind of how I've made my name in my industry for 26 years is I'm really super good at looking at industries and I can tell you who's made their move and who's going to make their move and it really becomes not too hard a rocket scientist to figure out who you might be getting. It's just if you're willing to spend a little money on data tools and you're an inquisitive mind, you can figure this out. It's not really that hard.

Okay. Earlier you talked about a scenario and I don't know that I wrote it down right to where what I think I heard was the IDA provides permission for a company to do a purchase in lie of taxes. Did I understand that correctly? That can be true. Yes. On ownership of the who owns the land.

Just for my confusion in your FAQs that was provided, I think the first set number 11, how does payment in le of taxes agreements work? A pilot purchase and property tax payments to ease company costs while guaranteeing revenue to local government. Pilots require approval by the county or city involved in our project specific. So that leads me to believe that IDA does not have the authority to give that and it's got to come back to us to provide the pilot. Can you help me resolve that confusion?

Sure. First of all, that was the early that was an earlier one that we gave you and we since had council clarify that and that it was in that clarification that council gave us that it becomes a matter of who owns the land. So going back to the example so IDA improved product and company comes along and says okay we want to buy that land. Okay. So when they buy that land, it's no longer within the control of the IDA, which is a public body. And so then it becomes you, they come before you. Now the the IDA, which is public body, if the land is staying in and someone says, "Okay, we're going to do a build to suit lease back." Okay, we can do that. The IDA can do that. We had to we had council clarify that. That was even a question I had because I needed to make sure I was clear on Arkansas law. And so we can do that and that's that's what we would do. But still the taxing bodies are going to get they're they're going to get paid, you know, based on the negotiation. It's not an abatement though. Let's be very clear on that.

Yeah, I see I see your example. Not really a pilot, right? Maybe I'm wrong, but we're not we're not taking payment in le of taxes. you're because you own it and you're leasing, you know, leasing it back to them. They may get some advantages from that, but I I don't know that they're getting tax advantages, are they? So, remember, payment in L of taxes is not a guarantee. It is a case byase situation. Okay? Every it there's this assumption that it's going to happen on every deal. Payment in le of tax agreements are just that it's a negotiation

and that's when it's asked for, but it's not always asked for. I know there are some that believe that every company out there is going to ask for it and it's a given and I know there is a strong setting about a cake. So bonding and payment and loot taxes, these these two things are are separate, but you know, when you get into payment and loot taxes, it starts a smack of an incentive. Okay? And I want to separate that. Um, just so you know, within my own industry, I take some grief because I would probably be the closest thing to an economic developer that doesn't really strongly believe in incentives. There's financing mechanisms and then there are incentives. And uh, unfortunately, incentives used to be a rarity. Incentives used to be something like if you had two dominoes standing there and you want to you want to make the domino fall your way you that was like a little incentive to get it but now incentives have become egregious you read about them in the paper all the time it basically states buying a project that's not that is not my personal philosophy so payment in le of taxes coming back to justice lions is not a given a case by case basis the ownership of the land will determine who decides that.

Okay. I I think I'm not going to belabor it here, but I think we need to work on that. I pulled up the regional what was this? It's one of them JPI sent us regional IDA formal briefing packet updated final 10825. Okay. And it still leads me to believe that any of those agreements have to come back in front of the court of court. So we we can work on that. But so we have there's a confusion factor there. Okay. I can have our council. We have a memorandum already on that. We can that's fine. We can get that settled. But again, it comes back to who owns the land. That's all. Okay. Just in interest of time. Yes.

We'll move on. But we'll look at that. The the other confusion I have is, you know, we we've heard a lot there's no risk to the county. I think you and I talked and I think one of the items came up in the Benton County Corum Court was there's no risk to the county but plenty of upside for the county. Right. I believe that one of the JPs there said that. But again, as I was reading through the items that was provided this week, um, and I don't remember which one, I apologize. It talked about if a local separated from the IDA, they're responsible for paying back their part of the debt, which there's not. Why? We've not asked you for any which there is not. Okay. Then that just because it was in there, it it led to the question of what did that really mean? Right.

Right. Okay. So there so there would be no debt. So again, there is truly no risk to the county. That's correct. Because we're not asking you to put anything into it. Yep. It just it caused a Nope. Great question. No, it's why we're having this discussion. The the templates that were in here or the draft templates, did they I think you said this right. I I think I missed it. I couldn't hear. Where did those come from? Were those created by the you guys, the council? Drafted by our council. By the council. You drafted those based on state input, other I mean, there's five or six locations in here you talked about that's already doing this. and things that they were doing. I mean, what what was the basis for those drafts?

So, the the basis for drafts were based on uh both what was required in act 576 as far as ordinances, bylaws and operating agreement. But then we also looked at um somehow some other states that use regional IDAs and we looked at some of their language. Okay. Just so we just so we had a perspective of were we just looking at Arkansas or we were kind of looking at it broadly at other states like Virginia if you look at their economic development performance

very well uh top performer in the last couple years they've literally broken to the top 10 category of everything and they are also the ones that are most leading the charge on regional economic development for IDAS. Okay. So, we we wanted to make sure we were uh applying Arkansas law, but we also wanted to make sure we were looking at best practice. That was my assumption, but I appreciate the clarification. Thank you,

Justice Brens. Thank you. I have uh in the past done quite a bit of development. We talked about that.

Yeah. When you and I met, we talked about all that stuff and um you know, it it ends up it's all about money. Uh development's all about somebody getting paid, somebody getting making money somewhere. And so I'm curious, um, I heard you say that it wouldn't cost the county any money um, for the project. Correct. Correct.

There be grants for that. Is that grants? But also as the authority makes money Uhhuh. It doesn't pay. It's not like a corporation that pays a dividend out. It takes that income and reapplies it into the next development. So when the next development opportunity comes along, we have the money to put into it. So they do an ROI basically. Yeah. Um Yeah. Return on investment.

Uhhuh. So you got you got that entity. What about your uh personnel and salary and and your facilities and stuff like that? How is that paid for until you get a project? Okay, great question. So, um in in the next version of the draft operating agreement, what we're going to do is uh it will be two people. It will be myself. If the board and remember the board, if you approve it all, three counties are going to report their board members and the board members will hire the executive director. I'm sorry.

So, I'm sorry. If you'll speak into the mic, it really helps bring it down closer. Um, when the three if the three counties all oper authorize it and you appoint your board members,

okay, the board members will then be responsible for hiring the executive director. Okay. So, if that is me, it's not a given because I mean the IDA hasn't been founded yet and the board hasn't been created, but if that's me right now, what we envision it will be a staff of two in the beginning. Um, there is no reason to go out and get drone office space. we've uh agre got is an agreement with the Northwest Arkansas Council that we will do a shared services agreement so that we're using their back office, their payroll, their human resources for the first couple years till till the board of the IDA feels like it's financially able to go on its own, so to speak. So, it's kind of like a startup. you are judicious with your money and your funds and that's the way we intend uh to have the IDA operate. So instead of going out and doing everything recreating all the systems ourselves.

Okay. So the the county Washington County would not be responsible for any of your salaries. That's correct. Anything. Okay. That's correct. All right. Now, uh, I did hear you say something, and please correct me if I'm wrong. Um, I thought I heard you say that, um, you know, if you go out here and you do a let's say a project that's 10 acres, okay?

Okay. And you have basically got CPU for that acreage that is says you can build um a factory on it. And then all of a sudden you go out on the other side and you all build department uh because it's you've got your C cu to build it for differently than residential andor um agriculture which is what our restrictions are. Then um is there do you all have any internal saying that you're just going to um try to turn over that three acres whatever it is um for this project and then go to the next project and get another CPU CUP. We are going to abide by whatever the zoning the planning process and regulations are.

That's um we are to we are about industrial and technology development. So, I'm I'm not sure I was following you, but I think you were asking like, well, would we if we first of all, I don't ever envision us having a project as small as 10 acres. But I understand you were using an example, but I if I if I understood you, I think you were saying, well, what if you did what what you were approved to do and you did it on seven acres and now you've got a remaining three. Would you use that remaining three for some other alternative purpose? And that would not if is that what was I understanding you?

It it would still fit CUP because all the CUP is basically done unless the attorney tells me differently. Um says that you don't have to make it residential and you don't have to make it agriculture. I I would simply say that whatever whatever we are approved to do, that's what we're going to stick to and we're our like I said the authority has a a strict mandate. It's going to do X

and we're not going to verify out of that. It would be like X and A saying well you know we for all these years decades we've run an airport but we decided now we're going to do this. It's the same thing with the Industrial Development Authority. We have a strict mandate and we're going to stay in that and whatever you approve if we bring a if we bring a opportunity a project uh to planning and zoning and they say you are approved to do X that is what we're going to do. We're not going to deviate from it because that's what we've been approved to do.

Um okay. it this this whole project sounds to me like that you're um sort of like a and again I don't know your organization that well so just from what you and I talked about but it sounds like a facilities board for a chamber. Are you going to and do you have any experience with y'all working with a chamber that we can follow up on? Sure. Well, yes. If you want to follow up on the Northwest Arkansas Council, like I said, we have a a over 10-year agreement with all the chambers uh throughout Northwest Arkansas. You can ask how we perform as a partner,

as a collaborator, all of that. Um, you can't ask, well, how how how would the IDA because the IDA doesn't exist yet. But yes, you could

you call anybody and they will tell you how we all work together. Well, that's all we all I wanted to know because every everything was asking was sounding to me like we were headed to a facilities board and they already most big cities already have a facilities board and they run it through their chamber and I for one don't want to see y'all competing That's that's just the point. So there isn't a competition because what we're what we're doing at a regional level is we're looking at projects that a either the private sector or even a local chamber would not undertake and of itself. It has to it has to meet for the IDA to do that project. has to meet the threshold is is in is it extremely impactful and is it transformational and not only will it benefit the local but does it benefit the entire region otherwise there's no reason for us to do it and so when you look at a local chamber or city their facilities board that meets the local content but that doesn't meet does it does it make the whole region blossom does it does it impact the entire region So that's the whole reason for the reason we're proposing a regional industrial development and technology authority is to go beyond just looking myopically at communities and saying can we do something as an organization that not only does benefit the community, it benefits the county and it benefits the three county. If it meets those criteria, we will do it. If it doesn't meet those bars, there's no reason for us to do it. And we could write all this in u prior to signing.

Sure. Okay. Yeah. I have Justice Limming.

Thank you, Lisa. Uh I've heard tale of like I know what you're saying, a big deal. I've heard tell like Boeing wants to build a big plant up by the XNA and and that's the type facility you're talking about bringing to Northwest Arkansas. It cover hundreds of acres and it'd be a monstrous deal to we they would have all the buildings and all the glory up there and Washington County would probably be able to send some employees to get employees up there. So the benefit for one or the other would be better or less. So question to you. If you set the IDA board up and you get your three members from Washington County, three members from Benton County, one member from Madison County, who's going to set your salary in this game? Is it going to be the board? Is it going to be the

be the board? The board, the six people, the seven people, right? Once that board's a form, once you get your authority, what authority is left to the corn court? There is there is none the way I read it to see. Is that correct? Directly. Yes. Because corn courts don't manage organizations, but your representatives do.

So, and I seen in there also if say like we have a representative that is appointed on that board and they move to California, the way I read it, they could still be on that board. Is that correct? Well, that's why we that's one of the amendments that was put in into the agreement because yeah, there wasn't a removal clause in the original old legislation. So, that's the amendment that was added in that allows you to to to do that.

When you say old legislation, how many times has this been going so far? I mean, you you're getting just now getting started. Is that correct? What I'm saying is, as I said earlier, the original legislation was what enabled the ports in Arkansas to do. They are industrial development authorities. They're just called ports, but they have the same abilities. So, you're saying you went off the paperwork was started in 1960. Yes. But then we expanded it to uh we expanded the use in that. But one of the things we didn't see um was that there wasn't a removal clause. So that's why we put the amendment in the Benton one.

So that there is a way to remove somebody until we open up Act 576 and and insert the fix. Okay. So once your IDA is set up and once your board set up, tell this corner what powers any of us have left and tell us what your powers are and what you can do and we have nothing to do with. Well, you have the power to appoint the board members and when they're you said earlier the judge was going to tell us who we could appoint. So does the corn court appoint him or does the judge appoint? The judge appoints but we approve. You approve. Okay. Okay. And that's going to be occur. Well, that's the way it was explained to me. And that's

that's that's that's so you're I see people shaking heads. So when if Judge Deakons presents a slate of people, you guys don't have any say in it. Is that what everyone's shaking their heads? He does whenever he does the committee meeting that he does for like Washington water authority and stuff that's involved in Washington County. He wouldn't have no authority to do anything in Benton County. Well, it's not. That's but I want him to explain to us what this authority does. That's what I want. Your power

and what you can do and what we can't do and what our people just like you're talking about. I think what you're talking about on this stuff about our CUP and our zoning, I think that crap's out the window because I think you're working above us and working with the state of Arkansas and that's you can go over us if I read it right and see it right. You don't you talk a big story, but I don't think by law if you form your IDA, I think you can do whatever the heck you want to. Okay. Well, um that is explain it. Tell me why I can't why I don't feel that way. Because I don't have the statue with me right now, but I provided the Madison County Court because they had the same question.

This is Washington County Court. I understand that, sir. Well, give it to Okay, let's let's be respectful. just asked the question and I did not bring that with you, but I can provide it for you, sir, tomorrow. But there is there is legislation in Arkansas that says if a county or municipality has zoning and planning regulations in place, the IDA is responsible for abiding by those and working through that process. And I will send that to Justice Eki tomorrow and she can share it with you. I would greatly appreciate that. I will do that as will the rest of the court. Justice, let me cue your mic again, please.

I don't believe it needs to go to Miss Eeki until it goes through our county attorney first to give us his opinion because he's the one that's supposed to take our take care of us. It's the way I would see it. Well, then, Justice Eky, will you provide it to your council, County Council? I will.

Okay. And if there is a disagreement in the way we understand the law and we've gotten it from our council, two councils can do what councils do. But this insinuation that somehow we're above just because we're created as a separate public body within the state of Arkansas. This idea that we're somehow above everything and that we don't cooperate and we don't follow policy and procedure and follow law is just that is not correct. Okay.

Okay. I have Justice Koger. Robert Dennis is next. I thought JP Rivera Lopez was before me. I asked about

Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, let me get to my notes here that I've been taking. Um, and this is my opinion, but this act that we're looking at, act three, uh, I've got a 61. In my opinion, it grants almost limitless of power to the authority. The only thing I read that you cannot do is condemn a public utility system. We talk about guard wells. Guard rails. Well, they can be ripped away by a court of competent jurisdiction. And I do not agree that the authority has a strict mandate. It grants labor policy decisions to the authority. The the authority is governed by its board of directors, not the quorum court. Uh there's I don't want a severability clause because that could wipe out any amendments that we do make. And I heard what you said about imminent domain may be taken out, but we don't have a guarantee that imminent domain is going to be taken out. There's no guarantee of that. Uh if Washington County taxpayers are going to subsidize industries like with a pilot and tax abatements, I want those decisions made here in this court, not by not by anyone else. Uh the act also, I want to point this out, gives the federal government a lot of power. It even says that the federal government condemns property, the authority will pay the judgment. con condemnation decisions by the federal government should be federal accountability and funding not the local authority. Those also there is also a provision that allows the federal government or any of its agencies to take over authority facilities. Uh the authority can set their own bylaws and rules, decide who gets help, decide who does not get help. They can change the rules and bylaws on their own. Um, it's like whoever wrote this act just threw everything in that they could think of thinking that the leg legislature might take some of it out,

but evidently they didn't. Um, will it be subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act? Yeah,

absolutely. Mostly this is going to impact rural Washington County because there's not much space left in Fyville and Springdale for industrial industrial development and there's a lot it's very expensive. So I see this affecting mostly rural Washington County and I don't want Bitten County or Madison County make a decision about Washington County. So if we have three me if we appoint three members, Madison County appoints one and Benton County appoints three, then Benton County and Madison County, that's four votes. They'd have authority over whatever happened here. Um I'm also fearful that this is going to bring a data center. We do not want a data data data center in Washington County.

Nor do we anywhere in the region. I'm sorry. Nor do we anywhere in the region. Well, can you promise me that won't come? That can be one of the side rails. Not going to be a guardrail. But I guardwells can be wiped away.

So, um I can't say when it's going to be published, but we just were interviewed myself and Nelson Peacock, the the president CEO of the council. U we were just interviewed and asked what uh what is Northwest Arkansas's position on data centers. And we said that basically from an infrastructure standpoint, it would uh our region because of the amount of energy they use. And we do not advocate for them as a region would when companies come to try to bring them here to Northwest Arkansas. Uh Northwest Arkansas Council does not does not even entertain them because they're just not good. They're I mean they take too much energy and depending on their technology system if it's an older data center they're going to use too much water which we are careful of. So we we do not at the council advocate for data centers and at the IDA we would not either because remember it comes back to the the guard rails our principle guardrails is it has to be high impact and transformational. Most data centers use a ton of infrastructure. Yes, they may be one 200 well-paid jobs, six figures, and the community itself, wherever it's located, will get a lot of real estate tax, but that's that doesn't meet the bar of benefiting the entire region. So, that would be not a project that would fall within that the IDA would ever want to do. We are not in favor of them here in Northwest Arkansas. We simply don't have the power. We are on our way as a region being a million people. We have to balance the ability to to provide energy for for industry and for all the the residential growth that's going to come. And one data center would us. So, you know, most of most of Northwest Arkansas serviced by the co-ops. Now there is a small portion

that comes through Washington County is directly uh served by SWEPCO and um I don't know if anyone pays attention but the the co-op association of Arkansas is only enter uh only planning and building one gigawatt of new energy generation which is going to have that one gigawatt is going to have to be shared by all the co-ops. One data center could take up an entire gigawatt right off the bat. There is not room in Northwest Arkansas's energy system for data centers. And that's what we have said that will be out. I don't know when the publication's coming out, but that's what we were interviewed and that's what we shared and that's our position.

What's your position on what I said about three from Madison? I mean, one from Madison County and three from Benton County could overrule and decide what happens in Washington County. Well, a board could work that way, but it could go the other way around, too. What if uh Washington and Madison said, "Well, too bad, Benton County." So, we're getting we're getting back into parochialism in in this this this myopic way of thinking here. The reason that's not going to happen because we're looking at projects that meet those higher guidelines. And I know, you know, I can see by the smiles on people's faces and stuff, but look, Northwest Arkansas is growing. The genie can't be put back in the bottle. Okay? So, there's two ways you're going to respond to growth. You're either going to be reactive to it, which is rarely ever a good way, or you get proactive and you go out and you build what a community wants, what is going to make sense and provide a higher value. But That's that's the way we we're going to get our that's the way northwest Arkansas is going to grow here and grow. Well, yeah. It's not going to be I think we're this is the same this is the same discussion that the Benton County court uh started to go down about well we want to control how many seats we've got versus somebody else. Okay. That defeat defeats the whole purpose of regionalism. I mean either either we are a region or we're not a region. Either we behave as one or we don't behave as one. Either e either we talk that we are but then when it comes right down to it we all just want to seek to our own. I mean I can't tell you how how how you want to do your business. Now if you don't you know if you don't see the value in this then

you don't see the value in it. But you do have controls. Okay. Yeah. You're creating another public body and that body has a mandate to build real estate and that's it. And there's no other higher purpose to it. No other alternative purpose to it. And you do have control. Every county judge is I know it's Judge Deakons right now. Who knows what it is in the future, but every time the board appointments are done, new ones are going to be brought on. If you think this is if you any of you listen to my conversations with the Benton County Court, I we had this discussion. And I said, "If you're really that concerned about it, then I pleaded with him, and I'm not using that word frivolously, you will hear me say, I plead with you to make sure you give us the best board members possible. The judge is going to bring them to you, and I know I'm using the wrong term, but it's in my mind, it's kind of like advise and consent with the Senate." You do have input, and I would hope you do. It's just I'm saying the same thing you right now. He said to the members of the Benton Court, "When that time comes, help Judge Deacons and in the future, whoever the other judges are, make sure we always get the best board members and make sure those board members know what your mind is, okay? We're not just appointing people for the sake of appointing people. No, appoint people that see things the way you see them, that want things to happen the way you want. That way when they're combined as a board, your will is being known.

Well, the act says that we, not the we, the corn court, not judge deakons, chooses the members. How I read it. Also, uh, Madam Chair, I would like to make a motion that we postpone this item indefinitely. That's my motion.

I have a motion and a second to postpone this item indefinitely. There's no discussion. Is there or is there discussion? Okay. If there's Thank you, Councelor Lester. Is there any discussion? Justice Dennis.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I had it written down on mine right here. almost the same thing to table until the March. So I would like to amend it to specific time March uh committee county committee. I have a motion to amend to March County Services Committee meeting. Do I have a second? I have a second from Justice Lines. All in favor, raise your right hand. My motion. Hold on.

We have to have discussion. Is there any discussion to the amendment? Why are we not discussing my motion? We did. Yes, we did. because this is a privileged motion. You have a main motion and then the the privilege motion is to amend the motion that you've made. So that has to be taken care of first before we go back to your main motion. Okay.

Is there any discussion to sending it to the March County Services meeting? Is there any discussion? I I do. Justice Dennis.

The reason I want a time specific, and correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I want it to be able to come back up. If you do it indefinitely, then you're killing it. And so, I could be mistaken on what I've read and what I've understood. I'm not I'm not a I'm not champion in it, but I also I don't want to be foolish and not study it out even more, but I sat here and read a lot of things on I AI using the someone's electric electricity. Uh and I'm not ready to make a decision tonight. So, I hate for it to die. And so, but I'm also not if I have to vote tonight, I'd vote no. So therefore, I wanted wanted to stay alive until next county services meeting. And I think that's what you have to do in order to uh because indefinitely doesn't mean a direct time. And so if you put put in a definite time, then it keeps it alive. We can all do our studies a lot. There's a lot to learn on this. And so I'm trying to be fair on both ways. But if I have to vote tonight, I'll vote no. But if it goes indefinitely, that's the same as a no the way I understand it. So that's why I made the made the amendment to the motion and welcome your discussion. Thank you.

Thank you. I have um Justice Lines.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And and JP Dennis, I agree. And that's the reason I am not for postponing indefinitely because it kills it. I'm not ready to kill it. However, I do believe we're not ready. There's a lot more questions. There's a lot of things we've heard that I'll get this to you, I'll get that to you. Um, whatever. And I I think we need those, but we need those and to understand I mean, some of the amendments we want to bring to this based on the the information being provided, right? I agree that if you're not in one of the three counties, you shouldn't be on the board. That's it. Period. Right? And that's not addressed. Right? Although I think Vincent County did address it. Um, could be others out there. So, um, that's why I am in favor of the amendment to postpone until the next county services committee is what I think is what you said, right? Correct.

Thank you. I have Justice Lopez. Thank you, Chair. Um I I had been wanting to make a couple of comments on this and and perhaps being in a different stage in in my life. Um I I I see a lot of the benefits in this is I've you know come out of high school and gone to college uh and I had friends who left to to find opportunities in point of order. Justice Wilson, can you can you queue up your mic please? Justice Wilson, what is your point?

I have no objection to hearing any colleagues thoughts on this issue. Um, but I I question whether his thoughts right now are gerine to the motion that's being considered. Yeah. Uh, absolutely. I will make an effort. I am making it germanine to the issue of postponing. Why I am not in favor of it. I was just trying to provide my justification as to why I was not as to why you're not in favor of it. Yes. In postponing. Okay. Am I allowed to continue? Yes. Please continue.

Absolutely. Um and for that very nature reason for that in that in that very same nature I I do believe that it is prudent for us um not to kill something because we we need to come to a decision at some point. Um to to parrot some of the same things that have been said, growth is going to come whether we like it or not. Um the northern corridor of Highway 612 is going to happen whether we like it or not. That is not something that was is within the control of this body whether we like it or not. There are going to be things that are going to lead to development and it is going to grow. But I I do think that it is uh prudent of us um not to delay making decisions on things like this indefinitely. Um if people need more time to be more informed on the decision that they're making, absolutely. Um that is a different discussion. But to kill something um when it, you know, when it may provide jobs that are meaningful or opportunity that is meaningful, I I don't believe is uh the right course of action for this body or or or for anybody. Um I I was going to support this tonight. I will support it in the future. Um, I I continue to believe that it is uh meaningful to be proactive about how we view development in our county. Um, and I I if the only way to hear this is to postpone until March, I'll support that as well. Thank you.

Is there any more discussion? We're ready to vote. I have a motion and a second to postpone this discussion, but to amend. Thank you. the discussion till March County Services meeting. Correct. You need a mic up, please.

Justice Dennis, you you quoted it as being a date specific. Wasn't that the uh amended motion to forward it to the March to postpone it until the March County Services meeting? Correct. Correct is what I said. Not the date. Because if you say the 12th and it's No, I didn't say the 12th. I thought I said the March County Services meeting because we're not on the 12th. Yes, we're on the first. That's this month. That's this month. Okay.

Are we clear on the motion of the amendment? All in favor say I and raise your right hand. Five seven. All oppose.

The motion passes. So now this discussion will be or back to the main motion. And there's a motion to postpone to March. to the March meeting, county services meeting.

All in favor? No. Is there any any more discussion? Whether you are in favor or opposed to the motion that this will go to the county services March meeting. That was the amendment. That was to amend. And now this is a main motion and we have to vote on it. It's like the It's Yes. Yes.

After you amend a motion, you have to then vote on the main motion. Okay. Is there any discussion? No public comment. All in favor, raise your right hand.

That's the main motion.

It was amended. It was amended. Your motion. Your motion was amended. So now the main motion on the floor is a motion to postpone until the March core or the March County Services meeting. And that was the main motion brought by Justice Koger and was seconded by um Justice Massingale. Correct. So that's what's on the floor is a motion to postpone until the March County Services meeting.

All in favor, raise your right hand. All opposed. Passes. The motion passes. Further discussion. Move on. We're moving on.

Ju just a moment. Okay. Okay. My point of order goes back to an earlier item that we have that I've been getting questions about. So, on the Gully Park thing, why did we not have to How did it move on to the full corn on its first reading? It's not on a reading. It's not on a reading. What? I'm sorry. It's not on a reading. It'll be on its first reading at the core court meeting. Readings don't occur at committee meetings. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I feel better. Is there any public comment?

Good evening.

Good evening. Uh Nikki Lockett at 12283 Greasy Valley in Prairie Grove. And Justice Ricker is my JP. and it's been several months since I've gotten up here to talk to you all about the wind turbine situation, but I haven't gone away. So, um I did attend the hearing, the Arkansas Public Services um commission hearing in Little Rock in December, and it was really wonderful and I'm glad I went. Um, one thing I want the community of Washington County to be aware of and we would really love to see you all come out to this event. We're having a community event on Monday, February the 23rd at the Lincoln Community Center in Lincoln, Arkansas, right on the square. It's a beautiful facility. Um, and we are going to have guest speakers of the concerned citizens of the Ozark, and they are going to cover Act 945 and also give updates about what's um happened since the hearing in Little Rock. and they want to discuss or they're going to cover um where there are weaknesses in Act 945 and how a county ordinance could close the gaps on those weaknesses of the act. Um and so the um we we're asking everybody to arrive by 6:00 p.m. The presentation will start at 6:30 p.m. Um we will have time for question and answers after the presentation and we plan on being wrapped up by 8:00 p.m. Would love to see you all come out. Um, and then just one note, this was really, really interesting tonight. I just wanted to make a point. I really do appreciate I think you all do do your diligence and I've watched some other county committee meetings happen throughout the state and other areas and um I just really want to appreciate all of you all. But I do want to say as a voter Washington County, I vote to elect people who will represent me on the court, which is you all. Um I don't u

support a separate governing body that's not elected by the people that make decisions for um things that will impact people in the county. Thank you. It's uh Monday, February the 23rd, 6 PM and then presentation starts and we will have light refreshments. So Nikki, will you do us a favor? Can you email us the information? Absolutely. to um the corn court and that way we can get it and I'll be sending a press release to the uh uh local papers as well. So, thank you. Okay. Thank you. Public comment. Good evening.

Good evening, county services. Uh Bryson Awesome, resident of Fateville, Arkansas. Um, I want to echo the sentiments and saying that tonight you all did a really good job um of questioning and making sure that uh development within the region doesn't get out of um out of the hands of the people that we elect uh to serve us. Um, I would also like to say uh we would or or like to request as soon as possible a full update on the CO mitigation project and also any monies that have been spent on the CAP program, CRI, um, and a kind of a full overview of what we're doing in terms of law enforcement in the county. Thank you.

Thank you. Is any other public comment? Seeing that there's none, this meeting is adjourned.