04/18/2019 MINUTES
WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL
April 18, 2019
A regular meeting of the West Memphis Citv Council was held on Thursday,
April 18, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 205 S.
Redding, west Memphis. Arkansas.
Invocation was given by Pastor John Rech, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance
led by VFW Rep, Jim Fiveash. Mayor Marco McClendon called the meeting to
order at 1:30 p.m. City Clerk, Jovice Gray, called the roll. Those present were:
Mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney Michael Stephenson, City Treasurer
Flank Martin and Council Members: Wayne Croom, James Holt, Helen Harris,
Lorraine Robinson and Charles Wheeless. James Pulliaum and Willis Mandy.
Absent were Tracy Cult and Melanie Hutchinson. Quorum being present. Mayor
McClendon proceeded with the meeting.
BID OPENINGS:
INSTALLATION OF PARK BENCHES AND PARK TABLES FOR ALL CITY
PARKS
There were no bid openings submitted for the Park Benches and Tables.
Purchasing Agent, Kenneth Johnson will be rebidding the bid at the May 2.
2019 Council Meeting.
INSTALLATION OF FOUL POLES AT TILDEN RODGERS PARK
Council Member Pulliaum made motion, seconded by Council Member Croom
to refer the bids back to Administration for distribution Upon voice vote, the
voting was unanimous.
CITY FAMILY PRESENTATIONS:
Mayor McClendon recognized Ms. La Gwen Cannon for her heroic and selfless
efforts in administering first aide to two victims that had been shot during an
incident on April 6. 2019. Ms. Cannon stayed by the side of the victims and
administered CPR until emergency personal could arrive.
MINUTES
Council Member Croom moved, seconded by Council Member Robinson to
dispense with the reading of the minutes of April 4, 2019 Council Meeting and
approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous to
approve.
OLD BUSINESS:
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE NO. 1224 SECTION 3 REGARDING
DUTIES OF CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,
ARKANSAS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,
City Attorney Stephenson read the Ordinance for the THIRD and FINAL time.
Council Member Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Council Member Croom
to approve the Ordinance. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous to
approve. The Ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2503
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE 2403 AND SECTION 34.30 OF THE
WEST MEMPHIS MUNICIPAL CODE, TO SET GARBAGE COLLECTION FEES AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
City Attorney Stephenson read the Ordinance for the THIRD and FINAL time.
Council Member Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Council Member Croom
to approve the Ordinance. Discussion followed: Upon voice vote, the voting was
unanimous to approve. The Ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2504
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1548 TO ALLOW THE SALE,
CONSUMPTION OR POSSESSION OF BEER AND WINE PRODUCTS ON
PUBLIC PROPERTY OWNED AND DESIGNATED BY THE CITY OF WEST
MEMPHIS AND SUPERVISED BY THE WEST MEMPHIS ADVERTISING AND
PROMOTION COMMISSION.
City Attorney Stephenson read the Ordinance for the SECOND time by title
only.
NEW BUSINESS:
Council Member Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Robinson to read R-1 by title only. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous.
AN RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE A LOCAL
PURCHASING AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN DLT SOLUTIONS, LLC AND
THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS FOR PROCUREMENT OF PRODUCTS AND
SERVICES UNDER AWS COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENTS AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Council Member Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Council Member Mondy
to approve the Resolution. Discussion followed: Upon voice vote, the voting was
unanimous to approve. The Resolution was approved and assigned No. 2194
AN ORDINANCE WAIVING COMPETITIVE BIDDING FOR THE PURCHASE
OF A POLICE VEHICLE, DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES.
Council Member Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Robinson to add the Ordinance to the agenda. Upon voice vote, the voting was
unanimous.
Council Member Pulliaum made a motion, seconded by Council Member Croom
to read the Ordinance by Title only. Upon voice vote, the voting was
unanimous
City Attorney Stephenson read the Ordinance by title only for the FIRST time.
Council Member Croom made a motion, seconded by Council Member
Robinson to suspend the rules and place the Ordinance on its second reading.
Upon voice vole, the voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the
Ordinance by title only for the SECOND time. Council Member Robinson made
a motion. seconded by Council Member Harris to further suspend the rules
and place the Ordinance on its third reading. Upon voice vote, the voting was
unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the THIRD and
FINAL time by title only. Council Member Croom made a motion, seconded by
Council Member Wheeless to approve the Ordinance. Discussion followed:
Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous to approve. Council Member Croom
made a motion, seconded by Council Member Robinson to accept the
Emergency Clause in Section 2. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous to
accept the Emergency Clause. The Ordinance was adopted and assigned No.
2505.
PERMISSION REQUEST:
PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MACCLENDON TO SIGN RUBICON CONTRACT-
MRS. AMANDA HICKS
City Attorney Stephenson said that the permission request had already been
addressed and approved in Resolution 2194
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
POLICE COMMISSION: Council Member Mondy presented the Police
Commission report. The Police Commission met on Wednesdav April 10, 2019.
The grand jury did not have enough evidence to endite the officers they were
exonerated. The officer that was injured in the accident is still out on medical
leave, with no projected date of when he will return to duty. The license plate
readers that were discussed at the last meeting will be installed in the next two
weeks. The Police Commission meetings have been changed from Wednesdays
at 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month. The school
resource officers have been at all the schools for the last three weeks and
everything has been running smoothly. The Violent Crime Unit is back up and
running, there are four officers assigned to the unit. Mr. Dennis Morris and Mr.
Wesley Kitchens attended the last Police Commission meeting to discuss some
issues with the big trucks parking in their neighborhood. Police Chief Eddie
West addressed their concerns. Mr. Kitchens and Dennis Morris will meet
again with the Police Commission to try and resolve their issues.
AIRPORT COMMISSION: Council Member Pulliaum presented the Airport
Commission report. The Airport Commission met on April 18, 2019. The
Commission approved the payment of$6000.00 dollars audit fee to Jackson
Howell & Associates. Airport Director Candra Suiter attended the Arkansas
Aeronautics Commission meeting and they were approved for a 90/10 grant for
the runway pavement rehab and remarking project. The Commission approved
the lowest bidder Custom Pavement Maintenance and Safety as the contractor
on the project.
UTILITY COMMISSION: Council Member Pulliaum presented the Utility
Commission report. The Utility Commission met on April 11, 2019. General
Manager Todd Pederson reported that there has been 206 days since the last
recordable injury and 548 days since the last lost time injury. They approved
signing an agreement with KTI as a vendor. They are still working on filling the
open positions at the utility department.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Council Member Wheeles presented the
Chamber of Commerce report. The Chamber met on April 10. 2019 at 12:00
p.m. Council Member Croom was the speaker. Council Member Wheeless
announced that the grand lighting ceremonv for the water tower would be on
April 25, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. On April 27, 2019 they will have Delta Arts on the
Levy at Waverly Plantation it starts at 5:00 p.m. The Holmes Hammett
Scholarship fund currently has 8 applicants lined up to receive scholarships.
Council Member Wheeles is asking for others to contribute to the scholarship
fund, so that even more youth can have he opportunity to receive a
scholarship on behalf of Holmes Hammett.
ANOUNCEMENTS:
Mayor McClendon announced the expansion of the Coca Cola bottling plant.
They have decided to do a complete $33.000,000.00 million-dollar expansion
with a 200.000 square foot building and will be creating 60 to 70 newjobs in
the Community.
Mayor McClendon announced that the Grand Opening of the Laquinta Inn was
on April 17, 2019 and it was a great success.
Mayor McClendon announced that the Council discussed the recent flooding
issues during pre-Council. Plans are to meet with the City Engineer and others
involved to identify ways to improve upon the flooding issues. The Mayor said
that there are some issues that they do not have control over, but they will
continue to keep the public informed so that have a better understanding of i
what is being done. J
Mayor McClendon announced that there is a curfew law in the City of West
Memphis. If you are under the age of seventeen during a school night and you
are not at work or with an adult and it is past 11:00 p.m. you are in violation of
the curfew law. The curfew will be strongly enforced in order to protect our
children and keep our Community safe.
CITIZENS REQUEST:
Mary Bailey, Madison Perry, Amari Callaway and Richard Massey students
from West Memphis Junior High School came before Council to bring theirs
and fellow students concerns to the City Council after the fatal shooting of
fellow classmate Taylon Vail. The students voiced their fears of the direction
the City is headed and offered solutions to try and resolve the problems with
the violence toward teens. One suggestion was to have quarterly meetings
where you would bring students from East, West and Wonder Junior High
School together to open a dialog, so that they could get to know each other
before moving on to High School. The students also wanted to see more
mentoring and after school activities for youth and stronger police presence in
their communities.
Wesley Kitchens a resident of 1306 Stratford Drive West Memphis, Arkansas.
Mr. Kitchen came before Council to discuss the big trucks parking in
residential neighborhoods. Mr. Kitchen is an owner operator and relies on his
truck to make a living. Mr. Kitchens is asking Council to be considerate of
owner operators and to attempt to come to a happy medium regarding heavy
trucks and Recreational Vehicles in residential areas. Mr. Kitchen offered a
suggestion of charging a heavy road parking permit of$500.00 dollars and not
allow idling. Mr. Kitchen met previously with the Police Commission and the
gentleman that has complained about the trucks in his neighborhood and said
that the Commission will be meeting with them again to see if they can come to
a resolution.
Ms. June Simmons of 421 S. 14th Street West Memphis, Arkansas came before
Council to address the Roberta Neighborhood Center. Ms. Simmons continues
to express her strong objections to the Neighborhood Center being used as a
Senior Citizen building. Ms. Simmons is asking for the Council to consider
utilizing the Roberta Jackson Center to address the needs of the youth and the
Seniors in the Community.
Larry Brewer of Brewer Services Incorporated. a resident of Lepanto, Arkansas.
Mr. Brewer came before Council to express his displeasure with the West
Memphis Code Enforcement Office and the treatment of contractors and
citizens of West Memphis.
Mr. Tommy Martin, Tournament Director for United States Specialty Base Ball
Association (UTRIP) came before Council to inform them about the tournament
event that will be held at Tilden Rogers Park on April 20. 2019. The
tournament is one of the largest events held at Tilden Rogers Park and is
expected to have 69 baseball teams and up to 3,000 people in attendance and
785 players, with 140 games to be played in one day. Mr. Martin said that it
should be boost to the economy with the number of people scheduled to stay at
the local hotels and eating at the local restaurants.
Having no further business to come before the City Council, Council Member
Pulliaum moved, second by Council Member Croom to adjourn. Upon voice
vote, the voting was unanimous. The meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m.
PASSED and APPROVED this 2"a day of May 2019.
Nil Qi1 01—
CO MCCLENDON, MAYOR
ATrzST:
LJ GRAY, CITY CL RK
Minutes prepared by Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk