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06/23/2022 MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL June 23, 2022 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday, June 23, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall 205 S. Redding, West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Councilor Murray, 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 Treasurer Charlie Suiter Jr., City Attorney Michael Stephenson, City Clerk, James Pulliaum, and Councilors: Gheric Bruce, Wayne Croom, James Holt, Lorraine Mohammed, David Murray, Willis Mondy, and Charles Wheeless. Absent was Councilor Tracy Catt, Helen Harris, and Melanie Hutchinson. Also present was Evening Times Reporter, John Rech. Quorum being present Mayor, Marco McClendon proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENING: NONE MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF JUNE 2, 2022 Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the June 2, 2022, council meeting and to approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: NONE NEW BUSINESS: NONE APPOINTMENTS: NONE • PRESENTATIONS: NONE PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR THE COUNCIL TO APPROPRIATE $21,000.00 FROM THE CARES ACT FUNDS TO GO INTO PUBLIC WORKS FUND FOR THE MAYOR'S OPERATION CLEAN UP CLEAR OUT PROJECT Mayor McClendon said the money is from the Cares Act that is left over that they are wanting to use to cut and clean up abandoned lots and properties in the community, and although it is not the cities responsibility to maintain these properties it is the cities responsibility to insure that the people in these neighborhoods do not have to live next to these neglected properties. Mayor McClendon is asking the council to approve the allocation of$21,000.00 from the Cares Act money to go into the Public Works Fund to take care of these lots. Mayor McClendon said he provided a list of 160 lots and contacted most of the council members and asked them to pick up there packets early so that they could ride through their areas and look at the lots to see if there were any lots that were accidently omitted. Mayor McClendon asked for Council's approval. Councilor-Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy. Discussion followed: Councilor Bruce said he would like to see the process of bidding out the lots continued next grass season, because the city cannot keep up with cutting all the abandoned and neglected properties as well as the city properties. Mayor McClendon said he agreed 100%. The mayor said the city has had to continuously clean up the properties and remove discarded tires. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve the allocation of$21,000.00 for Operation Clean Up Clear Out. PERMISSION TO ADD PERMISSION REQUEST TO ALLOCATE $6,500.00 TO PURCHASE ONE ADDITIONAL SKY COP CAMERA TO THE AGENDA. Mayor McClendon asked for permission to add the request for $6,500.00 to the agenda. Councilor Mohammed asked for an explanation for the request for $6,500.00. Mayor McClendon said the community recently suffered the loss of a two-year-old child who died from being shot due to the cowardly act of someone shooting into a house where the child was. The mayor said there have been numerous random'shootings in that area as well as a young man was shot in the head and killed on East Barton and on Avalon a young man was shot in the back. The mayor said it is very upsetting to him and he does not like what is going on in the community. Mayor McClendon said that it is going to take the community, churches, police, and parents to step up and get control over C their own kids and to be parents to get a handle on the situation. Mayor McClendon said they have money in the police department budget to purchase 3 Sky cop cameras, but they need.4 cameras to cover the high-risk areas and that is why he is asking for $6,500 to purchase the additional camera to provide for the protection of the community. Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy to add it the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy to approve giving Mayor McClendon $6,500 to purchase the additional camera. Discussion followed: Councilor Croom said crime appears to be ramped in all areas of the city and wanted to know if this is going to be a continuous program and if they are going to be able to put cameras up in other areas. Mayor McClendon said that would be at the discretion of the council. Councilor Croom said in the past it was his understanding that if people wanted cameras, they had to purchase them themselves. Mayor McClendon said that those were purchased by private companies such as apartment complexes, stores and that Southland purchased them for the schools. Councilor Croom said that he agreed with the words expressed by Councilor Murray when he did the opening prayer where he said that we needed to do something to get crime under control. Mayor McClendon said he agreed but all the police officers and sky cop cameras could have not done anything to prevent these incidents, but perhaps the sky cop cameras will deter some of it going forward and it is a start in trying to keep the community safe. Councilor Croom asked who monitors the cameras. There were no police personnel available at the council meeting to respond to Councilor Croom's question, but Mayor McClendon said they are being monitored. Councilor Mondy said the shooting that happened at the house on South 14 street is not the first, it has been shot up several times, the property is a rental house, and he has had conversations with the home owner Billy Ford and they have managed to get those people out of the home, but there are a group of new renters who are young and the shooting has continued and effected the surrounding homes and neighbors where there are young children in the home and it is time to step up to prevent anyone else from being injured or killed. Mayor McClendon said that the Administration, Police, and Council all know what they need to do, but the'community also needs to step up if you know something say something. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve the motion to allocate $6,500 to purchase one additional sky-cop camera. PERMISSION TO ADD THE REVISED VERSION OF THE COMMUNITY BLOCK GRANT ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM TO THE AGENDA Councilor Bruce made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray to add the Community Block Grant Entitlement Program to the agenda. Upon voice vote voting was unanimous. Mayor McClendon asked Planning & Development Director, Paul Luker to give council an explanation. Mr. Luker said this is funding that West Memphis received to address the pandemic they received the money two years ago from HUD through the CDBG program there were a lot of requirements you had to spend the money to address the pandemic. One of the eligible activities for this money is broadband services. The Utility Department is working on a Broadband project where they will be getting into providing Broadband access capability to the City of West Memphis this money would be used to provide those services to low-income areas and Hud is very much in favor of it. A Public Hearing was held and there was no opposition or objections to it. Councilor Croom asked why it was referencing Fiscal year 2019. Mr. Luker said that is how they awarded it to them, and they wanted it to be put back into 2019 and that was a HUD requirement. Councilor Croom asked if the total amount of the block grant was $300,030.00. Mr. • Luker said the original amount was $299,368.00, the first round of CDBG money was $186, 531.00 there was no round 2 and they do not know why but round 3 they received $190,000.00, so if you add the 186,531.00 and 190,000.00 together, they received $300,030.00 it comes out to $376,377.00, so they are proposing to allocate $300,030.00 which is the amount they have remaining in the account to the Broadband activity. Councilor Bruce made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray to approve the permission request to accept the revised version of the Community Block Grant Entitlement Program to allocate $300,030.00 for Broadband services. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous COMMITTEE REPORTS: POLICE COMMITTEE: Councilor Murray presented the Police Commission report The Commission did not have a quorum, but they did have a discussion. The issues discussed were the possibility of the Police Department assisting the Code Enforcement . Department with basketball goals in the street obstructing traffic and with wrecked and abandoned vehicles. The Police Department has filled 4 out of 7 vacancies and they are continuing to process more applications. Councilor Croom asked if they discussed the Fire Works ordinance. Councilor Murray said: that they did not, but council had previously discussed the ordinance last year, but nothing was done about it, currently the ordinance allows for 21 days to set off fireworks during the July 4th holiday and they would like to see the number of days reduced and address the discharging of weapons. Councilor Bruce would like to revisit the ordinance and look at making changes to the ordinance PUBLIC WORKS: Councilor Mohammed presented the Public Works report. The Public Works Committee met on June 7, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. Public Works Director, Michael Bonner presented his recommendation for getting Code Enforcement Officer George Phillips a raise. The Public Works Committee made a move on the recommendation and will refer it to the Budget Committee and then present it to Mayor McClendon for his consideration. The commission was given an update on the Fleet Report. Currently There are 3 Front End Loaders with 2 operational and 1 down, there are 4 Rear End Loaders all 4 are operational, there are 2 one arm bandits, and both are operational, there are 4 Grapple Trucks 3 are operational and 1 is down. Recycling Report There was 12,966.48 tons of recyclable material and 1000 tires picked up. City Engineer Report City Engineer, Amanda Hicks said all projects are moving as expected. Code Enforcement Report: Code Enforcement Officer, George Phillips is doing a wonderful job enforcing code violations and ordinances. FIRE COMMISSION: Councilor Mohammed presented the Fire Commission Report.The Fire Commission met on June 21, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. The Fire Department is currently interviewing for two positions. The roof at station # 1 was repaired on June 22, 2022, by Delta Roofing. The ground construction on the new training facility is complete and they are waiting on the cure time before moving containers onto the site. The Fire Department will be hosting a IFSTA class (Instructor 1) at station # 3. The year-to-date calls is 1,142 calls. EMS collections year to date is 113,823.97. The projected grand opening ceremony for station # 5 is Monday July 11, 2022, the first ten floors of the Southland Casino High Rise was approved on June 15, 2022, for occupancy. The commission also discussed the 48/96 plan for the Fire Department and eliminating the Kelly Day Plan. Councilor Mohammed asked Chief Ealy to give an explanation to council on the 48/96 plan. Chief Ealy handed out a copy of the UFLAC 48/96 report. Chief Ealy said out of 26 Fire departments in the State of Arkansas they are the only department still using the Kelly Day schedule. Some of the benefits to going to the 48/96 plan are it helps with their recruitment and retention effort and draws a larger pool of applicants. Chief Ealy said by them only having to come to work 5 times a month and working two shifts and being off four it helps them to be able to attract firefighters from further out and cuts down on their commute time and reduces sick leave abuse. Studies have shown that there is a 50% reduction in round trip commutes and time spent commuting to and from work each month, 10 additional full weekends off a year, more quality time with family and better opportunities to obtain affordable housing. It was also said that departments using the 48/96 plan increased productivity on duty, more continuity on shifts, better communication between shifts, better project follow through, less duplication of work and in some cities helped cities meet air quality/carpool mandates. It also has no negative impact on sick leave or workers compensation, provides for high quality family/personal time and a higher morale at work and happier employees overall. This plan will offer firefighters and paramedics a better chance at obtaining balance in their lives. Chief Ealy said they are looking to implement the plan at the first of the year and wanted to share the information with council. This plan will have no impact on the departments financial budget. t , PARKS COMMISSION: Councilor Mohammed said the Parks Commission did not meet because the Parks Director, Lorenzo Parker is out due to doctor's orders. ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: Councilor Mondy passed out a copy of the Advertising & Promotion report to council members for them to review. CVB Director, Jim Jackson presented the financial report to the commission. The council accepted the financials as presented. The commission discussed the old business regarding the Civic Complex Remodel the commission was concerned about the cost of the project and asked Mr. Jackson to meet with the architects to discuss cutting down the cost where it would be closer to one million dollars no further action was taken at that time. The commission also discussed the West Memphis Festival. CVB Director, Jim Jackson said that he has spoken with representatives from Levitt Shell, and they are looking forward to partnering with A& P on special events. Mr. Jackson said he has no new current information since the last meeting with West Memphis Transit/MATA the discussion was tabled. The commission discussed new business Mr. Jackson showed the commission the new digital sign for the Civic Complex and asked them to approve guidelines for the type of events that would be promoted on the digital sign. The commission would like to see something in writing that they could sign off on. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor McClendon announced that the 10-mile Bayou and Lehr Street Bridge will be going out for bid. Next week the overlay plan will be in the paper for one week and then the overlay will start around August 1, 2022. CVB Director, Jim Jackson announced that on Friday, June 24, 2022, the city would be sponsoring the Freedom Fest Activity at Tilden Rogers Park. There will be live music, food trucks and free give aways for the children. The activities will start at 6:00 p.m. and the Fire works will begin at 9:00 p.m. Mayor McClendon said he was thankful to have a world class group of industries to participate in the City of West Memphis Job Fair, as everyone knows they have Family Dollar Warehouse closing next month and most of their employees will be displaced and are people that need jobs. The City of West Memphis hosted,two Job Fair earlier in the day at the West Memphis Library and FedEx ended up hiring over 50 people and from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. there was another job fair where they had Boch, MATA,Arkansas Work Force, West Memphis Tire, City of West Memphis Fire and Police Department and Public Works Department and other City Departments and many other industries and and he is so grateful to all of them for their participation. Mayor McClendon said that several industries are looking at having more job fairs. CITIZENS REQUEST: MS. Joyce Gray A resident of 307 S. OK Street West Memphis, came before council to speak about wrecked vehicles and tall grass in the neighborhoods on the East end of town. Mayor McClendon asked Ms. Gray to provide him with a list of the properties and he would have code enforcement and the Public Works Department investigate it and try.and get some resolution. 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 5:45 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 7 day of JULY 2022. MARCO MCCLENDON, MAYOR ATTEST. I of ES PUZig) CITY CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk