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07/15/2021 Y PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AGENDA WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL JULY 15,2021 PRAYER: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: AMERICAN LEGION CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: BID OPENINGS: - MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF JULY 1,2021 OLD BUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: R-1 A RSOLUTION EXPRESSING THE WILLINGNESS OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS TO UTILIZE FEDERAL-AID FUNDS FOR THE RICH ROAD BRIDGE REPLACEMENT 0-1 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1400 INGRAM.,PERMITTING A 150 FT. TALL COMMUNICATIONS TOWER IN A C-2 OPEN 1 DISPLAY COMMERCIAL DISTRICT PERMISSION REQUEST: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS (SEE MATERIAL IN PACKETS) PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON AND CITY ATTORNEY MIKE STEPHENSON TO SIGN THE AGREEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND THE ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND ETFC ARCHITECTS FOR HIGHTOWER PARK IMPROVEMENTS PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND ETFC ARCHITECTS FOR TILDEN RODGERS PARK IMPROVEMENTS PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN THE REFINANCING BOND FOR THE WEST MEMPHIS AIRPORT WITH RAYMOND JAMES PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO USE$109,000 OF MAINSTREET MONEY TO COVER THE MAINSTTREET MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL July 15, 2021 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday, July 15, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall 205 S. Redding, West Memphis, Arkansas. L Invocation was given by Councilor Hams, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Croom. Mayor McClendon called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. City Clerk, James Pulliaum called the roll. Those presents were: Mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney Michael Stephenson, City Treasurer Charlie Suiter Jr., City Clerk, James Pulliaum and Councilors: Gheric Bruce, Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom, Helen Harris, James Holt, Lorraine Mohammed, Melanie Hutchinson Willis Mondy, and. Charles Wheeless Absent was David Murray. Quorum being present Mayor McClendon proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENING: NONE MUNUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF JULY 1, 2021 Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to dispense with the reading of the minutes of July 1, 2021, City Council meeting and to approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: NONE Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Catt to add ordinance 2561 to the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Catt to read R- 1, 0-1, and 0-2 by title only. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. NEW BUSINESS: R-1 A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE WILLINGNESS OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS TO UTILIZE FEDERAL-AID FUNDS FOR RICH ROAD BRIDGE REPLACEMENT. City Attorney Stephenson read the resolution by title only. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the resolution. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous approve. The resolution was adopted and assigned No. 2257. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1400 INGRAM., PERMITTING A 150 ft. TALL COMMUNICATIONS TOWER IN A C-2 OPEN DISPLAY COMMERCIAL DISTRICT City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. The ordinance will be read for the second time at the August 5, 2021, council meeting. 0-2 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE NO. 2561 AUTHORIZING ALDERMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL TO PURCHASE SERVICES FROM CHARLES SUITER, JR., D/B/A SUITER CONSTRUCTION CO., INC., AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. City attorney Stepheson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to suspend the rules, and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the SECOND time by title only. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to further suspend the rues, and place the ordinance on its third reading. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the THIRD and FINAL time by title only. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the ordinance. Discussion followed: Councilor Mohammed asked for an explanation of the ordinance. Mayor McClendon said that he met with the legislative auditors, and they requested since the city had previously conducted business with City Treasurer, Charlie Suiter, Jr., DBA Suiter Construction on November 5, 2020, that they amend the ordinance making it retroactive to January 1, 2020, to make sure that he is covered, and they can report it in their findings. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. The ordinance was adopted and assigned No.2582. PERMISSION REQUEST: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS (SEE MATERIAL IN PACKET) PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON AND CITY ATTORNEY MIKE STEPHENSON TO SIGN THE AGREEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND THE ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve giving the mayor and city attorney permission to sign the agreement with the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEPHIS AND ETFC ARCHITECTS FOR HIGHTOWER PARK IMPROVEMENTS Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to table the permission request indefinitely. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to table indefinitely. PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEPHIS AND ETFC ARCHITECTS FOR TILDEN ROGERS PARK IMPROVEMENTS Mayor McClendon asked for permission to amend the title to read to include all four parks Tilden Rogers Park, Hightower Park, Worthington Park and Franklin Park and to amend the amount to 9,000,050.00 thousand dollars. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Bruce to approve the permission request as amended. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Councilor Catt said that now that Council has approved it the architecture will have to work with the mayor since they had not approved this item in the 2021 budget, so when they give the mayor the amount, he would need to bring it back before council to do a budget amendment in two weeks and no money could be spent until they approve the budget amendment. • PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN THE REFINCING BOND FOR THE WEST MEPHIS AIRPORT WITH RAYMOND JAMES Mayor McClendon disclosed to the council that Raymond James did invite him to attend a Grizzly Game and he has also disclosed this to the auditor's so that there would be no question of impropriety, Mayor McClendon said that he would also like it to be on record that at no time did he have a discussion with any council member to persuade them to vote a certain way. Mayor McClendon asked council to amend the agreement to add the Friday Firm to serve as the bond council. The city has used the Friday Firm many times to conduct bond business. Councilor Croom did not understand the amendment. Councilor Catt provided an explanation of the amendment Councilor Catt said in every bond issue the city has ever done it has had two structures, one is an agent, and the other is someone like Raymond James who handles everything. The agent represents the city and makes sure that everything is done the way they want it done. There being no further discussion: Councilor Harris made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy to approve the permission request as amended. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Mayor McClendon asked for permission to add the letter of intent to sign the agreement with Raymond James. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the permission request. Upon voice vote voting was unanimous to approve. PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO USE $109,000 OF MAINSTREET MONEY TO COVER THE MAINSTREET DEMOLITION PROJECTS LOCATED AT 501 EAST BROADWAY, (OLD RAMROD BUILDING) AND 801 EAST BROADWAY STREET Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the permission request. Discussion followed: Councilor Wheeless asked if the project would be bid out. Mayor McClendon said it has already been bid out and the building has been approved for demolition for several years and they rebid it to try and get the owners to do something and they still have not done anything with it. Councilor Catt said there will be a lien placed on both properties. Mayor McClendon said there were two bids submitted one from Howards Construction and one from Crisp Contractors. The demolition money would come out of the Mainstreet budget since the building is on Main Street. The mayor said there were other buildings identified for demolition, but they would have to try and find other funding to demo those buildings. Council Croom said he would like to amend the permission request to hold off on the demo for 801 E. Broadway until they could have some further discussion. Mayor McClendon said 809 E Broadway has already donated their building to Main Street and he is trying to clean up Broadway and he is trying to remove the blithe and improve Broadway. Councilor Croom said he is not trying to take 801 E Broadway off the table, but he said he would like to consider turning it into an open park. Councilor Mohammed said that she agreed that we do not need any more parks but asked for Main Street Director, Deborah Abernathy to give council some information on what she is proposing for that location. Mainstreet Director, Deborah Abernathy said she represents Mainstreet West Memphis they receive grant money from the legislation to put towards improving the Mainstreet area. Mainstreet tries to help all business and property owners to maintain their buildings and give them the grant funds to help them. The city has a history and currently she is in the building of KWEM radio station, and they are unable to do anything there because where they are at belongs to regions bank. They have tried to promote the KWEM radio station because they get people that com into town to see the original site. They are proposing to not completely tearing it down 801 E Broadway because it does have temporary walls, structural walls, and steel beams. If they were to open it up, they could move their KWEM products, enhance the history of KWEM and create a mural and lights. They are asking the city to accept the property from the owner and maintain it. This will also allow them to repurpose the building. Main Street can offer the grant funds, but they cannot own or maintain a building. Ms. Abernathy said this would be a win for West Memphis instead of another empty space. Councilor Harris asked could they revitalize the entire building and make a museum out of it. Ms. Abernathy said based on the study they had done it shows that the city does not qualify for a museum based on its community and surrounding areas, but that she would still like to preserve the history. Ms. Abernathy said they could show the opportunity for growth and entice investors that want to invest in Main Street. Councilor Hutchinson asked had they previously considered doing something like this anywhere else on Main Street. Ms. Abernathy said they had considered the park next to Regions Bank, but they were not interested. Councilor Hutchinson asked about the location where the water tower is located and if that location could not be used as a location for the open park. Ms. Abernathy said the space would not be large enough. Mayor McClendon asked if the location at 901 E Broadway could be used for the KWEM radio project. Ms. Abernathy said they could not pay for the demolition. There being no further discussion. Mayor McClendon asked for a roll call vote to demo both buildings. Councilor Catt made a motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to move ahead with the demolition of 501 E Broadway and in two weeks after getting all the final data and final approvals from the State of Arkansas to revisit the demolition removal of the 801 E Broadway location. Mayor McClendon said that this building has been in this condition for years. Mayor McClendon again asked for a roll call vote for the amendment presented by Councilor Catt. City Clerk, James Pulliaum called the roll. The roll call vote was as follows: YES: Catt, Croom, Holt, Hutchinson, Mohammed, Wheeless NO: Bruce, Harris, Mondy ABSTENTION: None ABSENT: Murray With 6 yes votes, 3 No Votes 0 abstention votes, and 1 absent vote the motion to 1.11 bring 801 E. Broadway back before Council in two weeks passed Mayor McClendon asked for a roll call vote for permission for the mayor to use part of the $109,000 of Mainstreet money to cover the Mainstreet demolition project located at 501 East Broadway, (Old Railroad Building). YES: Bruce, Catt, Croom, Harris, Holt, Hutchinson, Mohammed, Mondy and Wheeless NO: None ABSTENTION: None ABSENT: Murray With 9 Yes votes, 0 No votes, 0 Abstention votes, 1 absent vote the permission request. Passed. COMMITTEE REPORTS: POLICE COMMISSION: Council Member Mohammed presented the Police Commission report. The Police Commission met on July 12, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. members present were Chairperson Lorraine Mohammed, Commissioners Melanie Hutchison. James Holt, Charles Wheeless. Absent was Commissioner Willis Mondy. Also, present were. Mayor Marco McClendon, Police Chief Michael Pope, Major Allen, Sergeant Hayes, City Clerk James Pulliaum, Councilor Catt, Councilor Wayne Croom, Councilor David Murray, Communication Director, Nick Coulter and Evening Times Reported, John Rech. Chief Pope gave a Star & Bars Report. Chief Pope thanked the Local, State and Federal partners for their assistance in helping keep West Memphis safe on the4th of July weekend. There were 25 felony arrest, 10 Misdemeanor arrest, 7 firearms seized, 2 ounces of cocaine, 5 grams of crack cocaine, 2 grams of methamphetamine, 215 grams of marijuana and 1 stolen ATV recovered. DVC REPORT-The Department Vehicle Review Board has been put in place to review accidents that police officers are involved in while in pursuit. If officers are found guilty, they are dealt with accordingly. There were 6 accidents and of those 6, 4 were found guilty of the infraction. This program was put into effect on June 1, 2021, and the last infraction was on June 11. BOLAWRAP The commission watched a presentation on the Bolawrap. This is a device that can be used in place of the teaser. The wrap is dispensed and wrapped around the offender's leg and/or upper body part. The cost of one wrap is approximately $900.00. DRONE UNIT DEMOSTRATION: Sgt. Daryl Hayes used his personal drone to demonstrate the effectiveness of the drone. The drone was used during the 4th of July Stars and Bars apprehension and is a very good device to use in helping apprehend offenders. They are researching the cost of the drone. The last item discussed was the need for police body cameras. This measure has been approved by the City Council and they are waiting for officials to sign off on the paperwork. Councilor Mohammed asked for an update on when this would be completed. City Attorney Stephenson said he has had some email communication with the corporate council that is going to have to make some changes to the document and he has reviewed the contracts and there will have to be some changes made to them that are the standard changes and he is hoping they will be able to do something soon. City Attorney Stephenson said he could not give Councilor Mohammed a definite time when this would be accomplished since it is dependent on when all parties involved are able to meet dependent on their schedule. Councilor Mohammed said it was important to get this done for the safety of the officers and citizens. City Attorney Stephenson said there are still some changes that need to be ironed out such as how are they going to redact some things. And the attorneys will have to work this out before they can move forward. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Councilor Croom presented the Chamber report. The Chamber of Commerce met on June 9th,2021, but will not meet in July. The Chamber is preparing for the Chamber banquet and preparing for the upcoming leadership programs. The chamber helped acquire vendors for the upcoming Freedom Fest and will be helping with the touch a truck event. In August. UTILITY COMMISSION: Council Croom presented the Utility Commission report. The Utility Commission met on July 8, 2021, at 8:30 a.m. Safety Director Brett Sims reported that there was 240 days since last recordable injury and 624 days since last lost time injury. The utility department currently has 10 open positions out of 83 budgeted positions. Director of Environmental Quality, Denise Bosnick discussed the impact that wet wipes are having on the city collection system. Ms. Bosnick said the repair cost for clogged sewer pipes can cost around $1,000 dollars in repair bills. The 2020 Financial Audit was approved. The last item discussed was the approval of a Consulting Firm to do a feasibility study on WMUC providing internet. AIRPORT COMMISSION: Council Wheeless presented the Airport Commission report. The Airport Commission met on July 15, 2021, at 8:51 a.m. The Commission approved a $59.000 grant through the American Rescue Plan Act 2021 (ARPA) This is a Covid relief grant. Hangar #3 rehab is nearing completion. APPOINTMENTS: NONE PRESENTATIONS: NONE ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor McClendon announced that the Covid pandemic is on the uprise. There have been a total of 42 active cases reported throughout Crittenden County. Mayor McClendon is asking everyone to be cautious and to follow CDC protocol and to wear their mask. Mayor McClendon said that he has received a confirmation from Mr. Bobby Rush who will be coming to West Memphis to do a book signing as well as they have been in conversation with Ms. Shirley Brown, and Al Green and Decatur & Carr about doing an exhibition to promote our music history. Councilor Helen Harris asked if any notification was being sent to the citizens of West Memphis regarding the wet wipes and effect on our sewer system. Utility Manager, Todd Pedersen said that a flyer was being included in the utility bills to inform the residents. Councilor Holt requested t schedule a meeting with Parks Director, Lorenzo Parker to discuss some issues. Mayor McClendon said that he would call a meeting with Council and Mr. Parker so that they could address any concerns. City Clerk James Pulliaum said with the support of Mayor McClendon hat additional voice recorders would be ordered to be given to all the commission chairs to record their meetings and return to the Clerk staff after each meeting to download their recordings to be compliant with Arkansas Municipal League requirements. City Clerk Pulliaum also addressed commission minutes and the importance of having them turned in, in a timely manner. City Attorney Stephenson said they must be signed and must be kept until audited. CITIZENS REQUEST: NONE Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor Harris made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mohammed to adjourn. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 5th day of August 2021. Lit-,(avie-c) MARCO MCCLENDON, MAYOR ATTEST /4..L► ; ►� , CITY CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk