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10/21/2021 PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AGENDA WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 21,2021 PRAYER: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: V F W CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: BID OPENINGS: MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF OCTOBER 7,2021 OLD BUSINESS: 2ND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO REPEAL ORDINANCE 1988, AS AMENDED,AND ADOPT A NEW COMPREHENSIVE ZONING TEXT AND ZONING MAP,AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 2ND READING OF AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY OF A ONE-FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (.25%) SALES AND USE TAX WITHIN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO (TABLED ON OCTOBER 7,2021). 2ND AN ORDINANCE CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS THE QUESTION OF LEVYING A CITY WILD ONE FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.025) SALES AND USE TAX; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO 3RD READING OF AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR ALLIED GROUP REALTY,PERMITTING A CONVENIENCE STORE AND FUEL SALES IN A C-1 GENERAL BUSINESS DISTRICT NEW BUSINESS 0-1 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECAL USE PERMIT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED NORTH OF INTERSTATE 40 ADJACENT TO ARKANSAS HIGHWAY 147,CRITTENDEN COUNTY ROAD 175,AND ARKANSAS HIGHWAY 50,PERMITTIING A SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION FACILITY AND ASSOCIATED TRANSMISSION LINES,IN THE CONSERVATION EXTRA- TERRITORIAL (CV-E)DISTRICT 0-2 AN ORDINANCE TO REPEAL ORDINANCE 876- 0-3 AN ORDINANCE CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS ON THE QUESTION OF ISSUING BONDS UNDER AMENDMENT NO. 62 TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING ALL OR A PORTION OF THE COSTS OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS; LEVYING A NEW THREE-FOURTHS OF ONE PERCENT (0.75%) SALES AND USE TAX FOR THE PURPOSE OF RETIRING SUCH BONDS; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO 0-4 AN ORDINANCE CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS ON THE QUESTION OF LEVYING A CITY-WIDE ONE-FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.25%) SALES AND USE TAX; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO r PAGE 2 AGENDA WEST MEPHIS CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 21, 2021 NEW BUSINESS CONTINUED 0-5 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY OF A ONE-FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.25%) SALES AND USE TAX WITHIN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAIINING THERETO PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN A LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND THE GOOD NEIGHBOR CENTER,INC. COMMITTEE REPORTS: APPOINTMENTS: PRESENTATIONS: MAYOR MARCO MCCLENDON ANNOUNCEMENTS CITIZENS REQUEST: ADJOURNMENT: MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 21, 2021 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday, October 21,2021 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall 205 S. Redding, West Memphis,Arkansas. Invocation was given by Councilor Harris,followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Croom. Mayor Marco McClendon called the meeting to order at 5: 00 p.m. City Clerk, James Pulliaum called the roll. Those present were Mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney, Michael Stephenson, City Treasurer,Charlie Suiter Jr., City Clerk, James Pulliaum Councilors: Gheric Bruce, Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom, Helen Harris,James Holt, Melanie Hutchinson,Lorraine Mohammed, Willis Mondy, David Murray, and. Charles Wheeless. Quorum being present Mayor, Marco McClendon proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENING: NONE MUNUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF OCTOBER 7, 2021. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to dispense with the reading of the minutes of October 7, 2021, Council meeting and to approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: 2ND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO REPEAL ORDINANCE 1988,AS AMENDED, AND ADOPT A NEW COMPREHENSIVE ZONING TEXT AND ZONING MAP, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time. The ordinance will be read for the third time at the November 4, 2021, council meeting. 2ND READING OF AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY OF A ONE - FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (.25%) SALES AND USE TAX WITHIN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS;AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO. (TABLED OCTOBER 7,2021). Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to table the ordinance indefinitely.Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to table indefinitely. 2ND READING OF AN ORDINANCE CALLING A SPECAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS THE QUESTION OF LEVYING A CITY WIDE ONE FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.25) SALES AND USE TAX; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO(TABLED OCTOBER 7,2021) Councilor Mohammed made the Motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to table the ordinance indefinitely.Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to table indefinitely. 3rd READING OF AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR ALLIED GROUP REALITY,PERMITTING A CONVIENCE STORE AND FUEL SALES IN A C-1 GENERAL BUSINESS DISTRICT City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Bruce to approve the L ordinance. Discussion followed; Planning and Development Director Paul Luker said the business would be a convivence store gas station and would be located at the corner of Broadway and Woods next to the auto zone store. The application was presented to the Planning Commission and the property was posted and a public notice was put in the newspaper.There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. The ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2589. NEW BUSINESS Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy to read 0-1, 0- 2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, by title only. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT NORTH INTERSTATE 40 ADJACENT TO ARKANSAS HIGHWAY 147, CRITTENDEN COUNTY ROAD 175,AND ARKANSAS HIGHWAY 50,PERMITTING A SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC GENERATION FACILITY AND ASSOCIATED TRANSMISSION LINES, IN THE CONVERSATION EXTRA TERRITORIAL (CV-E) r..il DISTRICT City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the FIRST time by title only. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy 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 Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Catt to further suspend the rules 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 Harris Made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray to approve. Discussion followed.Councilor Wheeless asked what the fault rate would be in the event of extreme weather conditions. Ms. Brittany Bruce and Chris Cothran a representative for NextEra Energy Resources provided a brief explanation of the project.This project is being built on a grid and is more stable. Councilor Croom asked how many customers did they have?Mr. Cothran said that this project is being built for a regulated utility in Arkansas and it will be 100% owned and operated by the purchaser which is Entergy. Once the power is injected into the grid the power is going to come into West Memphis to wholesale customers and Entergy customers as retail customers for commercial or residential and will be available to a customer base that purchases utilities from West Memphis Utilities,Jonesboro Utility and anyone buying power from MYSO South interconnected power grid will be in partnership. There being no further discussion. Mayor McClendon asked for a roll call vote. City Clerk, James Pulliaum called the roll The roll call vote was as follows: Yes: Bruce, Catt, Croom, Harris, Holt, Hutchinson, Mohammed, Mondy, Murray, and Wheeless NO: None Abstention: None Absent: None With 10 yes votes, 0 No votes, 0 Abstention votes, and 0 absent votes the motion to approve the ordinance passed.The ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2590 0-2 AN ORDINANCE TO REPEAL ORDINANCE NO 876 OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AMENDING SECTION TWO OF ORDINANCE NO 372 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the FIRST time by title only. The ordinance will be read for the second time at the November 4, 2021, council meeting. 0-3 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY OF A ONE-FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT(0.25%)SALES AND USE TAX WITHIN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS;AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the FIRST time by title only. The ordinance will be read for the second time at the November 4, 2021, council meeting. 0-4 AN ORDINANCE CALLING A SPEACIAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS ON THE QUESTION OF LEVYING A CITY-WIDE ONE- FOURTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.25%) SALES AND USE TAX; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the FIRST time by title only. The ordinance will be read for the second time at the November 4, 201, council meeting. 0-5 AN ORDINANCE CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION IN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS ON THE QUESTIONS OF ISSUING BONDS UNDER AMENDMENT NO. 62 TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING ALL OR A PORTION OF THE COSTS OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS;LEVYING A NEW THREE-FOURTHS OF ONE PERCENT (0.75%) SALES AND USE TAX FOR THE PURPOSE OF RETIRING SUCH BONDS; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance for the FIRST time by title only. The ordinance will be read for the second time at the November 4, 2021, council meeting. Councilor Catt asked about the scheduled public hearings. Mayor McClendon said there will be three public meetings held. One will be on October 26th at Faulk Elementary from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The second meeting will be held on November 2nd at Richland Elementary from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and one on November 9, 2021, at Weaver from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mayor McClendon said subsequent meetings will be scheduled as need to ensure that the citizens can receive information in order to make an informed decision. Mayor McClendon encouraged the citizens of West Memphis to attend the public meetings and said that he wanted to make it clear to the public that this is not a tax that they are forcing upon the people this is an effort to allow the citizens of West Memphis to set an election to vote on the matter and it will be the citizens decision to vote it up or vote it down once they have the true facts. PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN A LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND THE GOOD NEIGHBOR CENTER INC. Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to table the permission request indefinitely. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to table indefinitely. PERMISSION TO ADD THE DISTRIBUTION OF MAYOR MCCLENDON CHARITY DAY FUNDS OF $1500 DOLLARS TO THE LR JACKSON GIRLS CLUB Council Croom made the motion seconded by Councilor Hutchinson to add the distribution of Mayor McClendon's Charity Day Funds of$1500 dollars to the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Hutchinson to approve the distribution of $1500 dollars of Mayor McClendon's Charity Day Funds to the LR Jackson Girls Club. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Councilor Mondy and Councilor Harris were not in council chambers at the time of the vote. COMMITTEE REPORTS: FIRE COMMISSION: Councilor Harris presented the Fire Commission report. Fire Chief Ealy discussed the difference in the Fire Department employee work week verses civilian employee work week. Civilian employees work a 40-hour work week, and the Fire Department works a 53-hour work week due to having to work a 24-hour shift on a rotating schedule. Personnel update were as follows: 2 new fire fighters have been hired and there are 3 fire fighters currently attending training at the Arkansas Training Academy.There are 2 retirements scheduled for the end of October.There are currently 2 Firefighter and 6 Paramedic vacancies. The 2021 scheduled turnout gear is expected this month there has been some manufacturing delays in receiving the gear due to Covid. They will be ordering 2021 scheduled turnout replacements in November 2021, but these will not be billed until 2022. There have been some large maintenance expense issues with vehicles that may cause them to exceed the amount budgeted for the year. Station#3 has been having issues with leaking. Mr.Troop with .1 P-3 Construction Group is scheduled to make the repairs.The department has ceased out of town training with specific exceptions to reduce training expenses for out of town training the fire department is offering in house training. The number of EMS calls to date is 3,490 and EMS Collections year to date is$346,312 dollars. Chief Ealy has been in discussion with Dr. Bruce to discuss starting a program to train high school students as firefighters as a new cooperative curriculum between the Academics of West Memphis and the West Memphis Fire Department in the hopes of being able to offer the program to students next school year. This would help train our local students as firefighters after graduation. UTILITY COMMISSION: Councilor Croom presented the Utility Commission report. Safety Director Brett Sims presented the safety report. Mr. Sims reported that there were 48 days since the recordable injury and 722 days since last lost time injury. The Personnel update was as follows:There were no new hires, one voluntary resignation for the month of September. Utility currently has 18 open positions out of 83 budgeted positions. Personnel Director, Janice Coleman presented the AMPA Salary Survey. They contacted eleven Utility companies throughout the State of Arkansas. The data was based on the annual electrical revenue, number of electrical customers, and number of staff for electrical utility company.The data was broken down between 5 of the top paid utility municipalities and 6 lowest paid utility municipali ties with West Memphis falling in the lower 6. The commission also discussed changing the November commission meeting to November 10, 2021, because of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Todd Pedersen presented the West Memphis Residential Phone Survey Questionnaire which will be conducted by the people conducting the Broadband Feasibility Study and that an online survey will be available for all residents. The West Memphis Utility received a$72,500 grant that it will cover the entire cost of the study. Jeff Old and Tim Verner of Fisher&Arnold Fisher&Arnold gave the commission an update on the Corrective Action Plans for Sewer System, on plan requirements, completed and upcoming projects. The bond Issuance was finalized on October 11, 2021, and the payment schedule was presented to the commissioners.A preliminary 2022 Budget was presented to commissioners for their review. AIRPORT COMMISSION: Councilor Wheeless presented the Airport Commission report. The Airport Commission met on October 21, 2021. Airport Director, Candra Suiter reported that the contract and notice to proceed has been signed for the beacon project. Hangar #3 is nearing completion and should be ready for inspection next week. APPOINTMENTS: None PRESENTATIONS: Mayor McClendon recognized the members of AKA Sorority that were present in council chambers. Mayor McClendon presented a proclamation to Ms.Tawana Bailey President of Delta Sigma Sorority in recognition of their services with National Breast Cancer Awareness and proclaimed the month of October as National Breast Cancer awareness month in the City of West Memphis. Mr. Drew McCravin presented the Rise Of 300 Stone Moral Leaders Award to recipients Councilor Lorraine Mohammed and Maurice Blair. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor McClendon announced that this was domestic violence month and asked everyone to be in prayer for those families affected by domestic violence. Mayor McClendon announced that they will be honoring the veterans of Rolling Thunder and any other veterans at 3.00 p.m. on Friday October 22, 2021, at City Hall located at 205 S. Redding West Memphis,Arkansas City Clerk, James Pulliaum announced that the Veterans Parade will be Thursday November 11, 2021, starting at 10:00 a.m. at Lehr Arena located at 503 W. Broadway and ending at the VFW located at 406 S. Avalon. Councilor Catt announced that they have been working with the City Clerk and City Treasurer to get the council the budget information they need in a timely manner and asked if they would like to have it in another format to please let them know. Councilor Catt said City Finance Director, Tori Perry passed out the Fund Balance Report and Revenue report for council to review. Mayor McClendon said they have the information on the Parks to get the Park projects moving forward the Architecture and Engineer fees will cost $671,000 dollars to revitalize High Tower Park,Tilden Rodgers Park, Worthington Park and Franklin Park. Councilor Catt said the Budget Committee will be doing a written budget and will be presenting it to council. Councilor Catt said he would like to wait until the next council meeting to present it. Councilor Hutchinson asked everyone to keep all the bereaved families in their prayers and if anyone knows of someone who is experiencing domestic violence to say something. Councilor Hutchinson acknowledged Purple Thursday as domestic violence day. Councilor Hutchinson said she is in the process of initiating a Feed the Needy project through collaborative efforts with the Chamber and Police Department over the Thanksgiving Holiday and will be sharing the information as soon as everything is completed. Councilor Hutchinson also said that the Personnel Department is requesting to schedule a meeting with Council as soon as possible. CITIZENS REQUEST: NONE Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to adjourn. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to adjourn.The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 4TH day of NOVEMBER 2021. MARCO MCCLENDON, MAYOR ATTEST G� 61 S PULL CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk 1 1 1