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03/03/2022 MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL March 3, 2022 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday, March 3, 2022, at 1:00 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 1:00 p.m. City Clerk, James Pulliaum called the roll. Those present were Mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney, Michael Stephenson, City Clerk, James Pulliaum, City Treasurer Charlie Suiter Jr., and Councilors: Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom, Helen Harris, James Holt. Melanie Hutchinson, Lorraine Mohammed, Willis Mondy, David Murray and Charles Wheeless Absent was Gheric Bruce. Quorum being present Mayor, Marco McClendon proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENING: NEW STORAGE BUILDING COMPLEX (JIM JACKSON/KENNETH JOHNSON) 2022 BID FOR CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS MUNICIPAL SPRAYING- KENNETH JOHNSON Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to add the New Storage Building Complex Bid and 2022Municipal Grass Cutting Bid to the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to accept the bids as presented and to refer them back to administration for distribution. There being no discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. Mayor McClendon recognized the West Memphis Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and State Representative Joyce Ferguson and asked for her to come forward to speak to council. Dr. Ferguson said that in odd years they are in full session, but during even years they are in a 30-day fiscal session, currently they are in the middle of a fiscal session in appropriation. The State is in great shape, and they are projecting about a 3% above projected revenue. Dr. Ferguson gave a brief run down on what they are doing in the session. The state has a balance budget amendment, so they are required as a State to have a balanced budget, but in addition to having a balanced budget they have something called revenue stabilization and that is where they are right now. They call it laying the RSA on the table. They have finished the budget and they will let it lay for three days and then they will come back and vote on it. Dr. Ferguson said what that means is that they have A B and C categories. A is always funded that's things like education and health care and all the essential services. B categories usually always gets funded and then you have your C categories which gets funded if there is enough money, so that is the way they keep the budget balanced. They have about $6 billion dollars in general revenue like sales tax and income tax and the total budget is $26 billion that includes trust funds, retirement funds and Federal Matching Dollars or Federal Dollars in general. The highway department puts up 50% and they send them 50%. They pay 70% of Medicaid and we pay 30%. For Medicaid expansion they pay 90% and we pay 10% that is where the additional above the $6 billion and $26 billion come from for matching dollars. 13% goes to higher education, 32% goes to the Department of Human Services and Arkansas Department of Health, 42% goes ;:to Public Schools and 2% for Public Safety for things like State Troopers and they did add an additional 7.3 million in additional money for State Trooper salaries, because First Responders, police and State Troopers ti have all been on the front line and have suffered. Also, .as part of that they added $45 million in surplus funds to give $5,000 onetime payment to city, and county police officer, state police and sheriffs, but they will have to request the funds and they will be available for people that meet the qualifications to receive it. One requirement is that they must be certified. It will start July 1, of 2022 and will end January of next year. Any new hire that- attends the academy will also be eligible to receive the $5,000.00 onetime payment. This was done as an incentive to attract first responders, police officers and state troopers since they are having a problem getting personal. The infrastructure bill will be billions of dollars to the State another thing they did was to pass a bill that requires Legislative Oversite of that money, this is to ensure distribution of the money will be equitable. Dr Ferguson said that she and Mayor McClendon and other Mayors around the cities attended the infrastructure compact meeting in Memphis and as everyone knows Arkansas is a boarder state and they run into a lot of problems on the interstate, so they are trying to form a compact that will involve Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi to hopefully get a third bridge built or add additional lanes to the interstate or increase the Port capabilities. Although they have run into a problem with the fact that they cannot pass the bill to participate in the compact until they go back into session in January. Mississippi and Tennessee are already in session, and they have received some resistance because there is an imminent domain clause in it. Dr. Ferguson said it is a little bit of a red herring because the highway department and other people all have imminent domain problems, so they might have to write something saying that imminent domain can't be with compact but that it must be with the agencies it exists with now. They are trying to write the bill and eventually they will benefit from it with what Tennessee and Mississippi are doing. Dr. Ferguson said that there are a lot of people that need help with Developmentally Disability services and have been on waiting list for years that need services, so they added $37 million dollars to the DDS funds budget to get people off the waiting list and added an additional $700 million dollars to hire 109 additional people to coordinate services for Children and Family Services and Work Force to improve services. Senator Ingram and Dr. Ferguson helped Work Force Service to get a $700 million dollars grant to help coordinate services. They also hired Kendra Philips to help coordinate a $150,000 thousand dollar CDC grant. Dr. Ferguson said with Medicaid expansion they have done a good job with giving people access to health care but that they have fallen short of improving the health outcome, so they are trying to address some of the social determinants. MUNUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 17, 2022 Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the February 17, 2022, council meeting and to approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve the minutes. OLD BUSINESS: NONE NEW BUSINESS: Councilor Mohammed made:the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to read R-1 by title only. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. R-1 A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE WILLINGNESS OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS TO UTILIZE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR BIG RIVER TRAIL PROJECT City Attorney Stephenson read the resolution by title only. Councilor Catt made the motion seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the resolution. Discussion followed: Councilor Mondy asked for Planning and Development Director, Paul Luker to give them an explanation of the resolution. Mr. Luker said this is for the next phase of trail work out in the Big River Park Trail area. This phase will tie the trails into the Levi they still have some reviews to get through with the Highway Department and work with the railroad and the Levi Board has embraced this. Mr. Rob Rash is going to help them navigate though getting across the railroad crossing on the Levi. This will add 6 more miles of trail and will tie back into the main-to-main trail, and it will give us greater visibility of our parks and as people pass through our community, they will see more bike riders on the Levi and bring more attention to the park and continue to be one of our biggest tourists draws this will be for an expansion not repairs. Mr. Luker said it will tie into the south end of the Levi where the main-to-main ties in south of 55 and go up north on the Levi to Dacus Lake road crossing which is close to the Marion city limits and there will be a trail out of the flood plain that ties onto the trails that we have in the flood plain that will connect to that as well. The preliminary Engineering and the construction Engineering will be paid for out of our private partner that is also helping us with the match, which is the Big River Strategic Initiative there is no general fund money being used in this project, Councilor Croom asked what the estimated start date and completion date would be. Mr. Luker said that they still had to get through the reviews with the highway department before they could determine a start date but felt that barring any unforeseen delays that hopefully they could get started by late summer. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. The resolution adopted and assigned No.2269. MAYORS STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS Mayor McClendon presented his State of the City Address. The mayor reported that although in 2021, the city was in the second year of a pandemic, a record snowstorm, the highest inflation in decades and the closing of the Hernando Desoto Bridge the City of West Memphis is STRONG. Mayor McClendon attributed the state of the city to the strong leadership of the members of council, great department heads, and outstanding employees that we were able to weather the storm and today we are stronger. Mayor McClendon said under his administration they have ushered in a new era of unprecedented economic expansion and jobs creation; bold actions; in creating diversity; safer streets; cleaner neighborhoods; historic investments in the quality of life, capital • improvements and the infrastructure, all while maintaining fiscal responsibility and staying within budget while not raising sales taxes. The mayor said that he was aware from day one of becoming the mayor of West Memphis that it was his responsibility to implement the vision of the people that have mandated him and other elected officials to keep them safe; clean up the city; create jobs; improve the parks and neighborhoods and reimagine what West Memphis could be while changing the negative perceptions that some might have our city; and to bring our city together and to move our city forward. Mayor McClendon said in three and a half years they have accomplished many things. Through the hiring of new leadership at the helm of the West Memphis Police • Department who has brought a fresh new vision, technology, training to recruit, train, and retain police officers. The department has implemented Community Policing, with the focus.on bringing the community and police department together to be proactive in preventing crime. Our Public Works department has been restructured and as a result they have created an in- house demolition department and in house grass program to address the blight in our neighborhoods and business district by demolishing a record number of houses and buildings and grass cutting of overgrown properties to improve upon the esthetics of our community. The Sanitation Department has brought on new technology to make the collection of trash more efficient. The city has seen more than one billion dollars in capital investments while creating over 1,800 new jobs. We have the major expansion of Southland Casino, renovated schools. We have had the recruitment of brands such as Coca Cola, Carvana, and Chick fil A that have added to the historic economic expansion. We have committed millions to infrastructure and are continuing to make strides toward making broadband available to every home in the city. At the recent council meeting, the Budget Chairman, Councilor Wayne Croom reported that the sales111 tax collections were 10% above last year, the city 1.5% tax has seen a 13.3% increase, county tax collections increased by 11.6% and Advertising and promotion collections increased by 49%. The city is on target with their debt reduction and Finance Director, Tori Perry has implemented an aggressive capital improvement program to adequately plan. (Mayor's State of the City Address on file in the Clerk's Office). PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN A MASTER CUSTOMER AGREEMENT BETWEEN MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC., AND THE CUSTOMER (POLICE DEPARTMENT) Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to approve. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Discussion followed: City Attorney Stephenson said that this agreement could require an ordinance be done to waive competitive bidding should the amount be over $85,000. City Attorney Stephenson said that after not much negotiation, they have made the changes that he requested to be changed. The problem was they terminated their previous attorney during the process, and it took them a while to get another attorney to make the changes that he requested. If it has not been bid out yet, which Attorney Stephenson said he did not think it had, then an ordinance would be something that would be required before the mayor signs it. Councilor Catt said he would like council to give the city attorney the go ahead to get it drafted, so that they could get it back on the next agenda and read it out three times to allow as much flexibility between the negotiation, that way they can get the body cams in as quickly .as possible. Mayor McClendon said the body cams would work with the watch guard system that they already have. Councilor Catt said it is the most cost-effective system. COMMITTEE REPORTS: PUBLIC WORKS: Councilor Mohammed presented the Public Works report. The Public Works Committee met on Tuesday March 1, 2022. The committee discussed the overlay program. Councilor Mohammed passed out a tentative list for the Council to review. Councilor Mohammed said that City Engineer, Amanda Hicks said the list can be adjusted as need be. The committee also discussed the Rubicon service, the service is a GPS system that they use to track the garbage collection and has been in use for three years. Ms. Hicks said she is no longer over the Public Works department, but she did begin the contracts with Rubicon at that time and it did go through a. procurement service at that time, but since she is no longer the Department head, Michael Bonner should try and secure the contract with the procurement service. Ms. Hicks said the contract ends at the end of the month City Attorney Stephenson said he has not seen a contract. Ms. Hicks said that they would not be doing a motion on it today but that the numbers are out there, and he has taken off the route authorization. Ms. Hicks says it has been a very good tool to utilize it lets you see where your sanitation crews are what they picked up, why they didn't pick up and to communicate with them without having to call them on the radio. Mr. Bonner likes the equipment and wants to renew the subscription they just need to go through a few more steps to get it approved by council. Councilor Mohammed said the committee did approve for the city to continue to use the Rubicon service. Councilor Mohammed said she would get with'Mr. Bonner to have him get with the City Attorney to review the contracts. The committee also discussed picking up the limbs from the ice storm, the pile will have to be 10x6x3 for the city to pick up to keep from damaging the front- end loader. There are 3 front end loaders all operational, 4 Rear-End loaders all operational. 2 One-armed bandits both are operational, 5 grapple trucks all operational. There was 12,000 tons of Recycling and 1020 tires that were dumped and picked up. ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: Councilor Hutchinson presented the Advertising & Promotion report. The A & P commission met on February 16, 2022. The commission voted unanimously to reappoint Shawna Rhinehart to the A & P commission. CVB Director, Jim Jackson presented the financial report. Mr. Jackson said he spoke with Financial Director, Tori Perry about the possibility of investing $250,000 every quarter to total $1 million dollars in addition to what has already been invested. Mr. Jackson informed the commissioners that the warehouse bids came in over the budgeted amount and they were in the process of rebidding it. There were two bids submitted for the Civic Complex Sign. Anderson Sign Company came in as the lowest bid at $39,900. Mr. Jackson gave an update on the vaccination incentive, there were four people to qualify for the $1,000 dollar incentive. All recipients have received their checks. The commission approved the amount of $5,000 for a cost estimate for remodel of the Civic Complex building. Mr. Jackson presented the plan to work with a group from Levitt Shell to put on a West Memphis Music Festival. Mr. Jackson also presented the guidelines for the small restaurants assistance program They plan to pick ten restaurants that meet the qualifications to receive a one time $5,000 each incentive award equaling up to $50,000. The commission also voted unanimously to sign the 2022 contract with the West Memphis Chamber of Commerce. The commission also voted to fund a presenting scholarship for the Mississippi River Monster Catfish Tournament up to $2500. A representative from MATA met with the commission to discuss the West Memphis Transit Proposal the commission voted to table the discussion until they receive further information Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom "to add the distribution of Councilor Melanie Hutchinson's Charity Day funds to the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. PERMISSION TO DISTRIBUTE $1,000 OF COUNCILOR HUTCHINSON CHARITY DAY FUNDS TO THE GIRLS SCOUT OF AMERICA TROOP #3255 Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the distribution of $1,000 to the Girls Scouts of America Troop #3255. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. APPOINTMENTS: Mayor McClendon said there was one resume 'submitted for consideration to be appointed to the Utility Commission. The council will decide on the candidate at the next council meeting on March 17, 2022. PRESENTATIONS: NONE E'er.,;'", .tl • ANNOUNCEMENTS: City Clerk, James Pulliaum said on April 9, 2022, a group of people will be putting on Vietnam era program at the Eugene Woods Civic Center at 3 pm. Also, in conjunction with that the Veterans Memorial Wall will be coming to Crawfordsville, Arkansas from the April 7, 2022, through April 10, 2022. Ms. Tawana Bailey and Emily Scarborough are part of the committee, and anyone has a name of person that severed during that era to please get the names to himself or Ms. Bailey or Ms. Scarborough. Mayor McClendon thanked City Clerk Pulliaum, Purchasing Agent Kenneth Johnson, Sr. Deputy City Clerk, Patricia Lane, and Council Wayne Croom for their service in the military. Mayor McClendon said that he considers the leaders and staff as family members and any time that someone is going through something we all come together as a family. The mayor offered his condolences to the Catt family on behalf of the city family. Councilor Tracy Catt recently lost his mother and Mayor McClendon asked everyone to be in prayer for the Catt family. Mayor McClendon offered his condolences to the family of Jason Lang. Mr. Lang was a Fire Fighter with the West Memphis Fire Department that was in last week of Paramedic Training School on his way to school Mr. Lang noticed an accident had occurred and unselfishly stopped to help, unfortunately Mr. Lang was struck by another semi-truck and killed while trying help the other injured driver. Mayor McClendon asked everyone to be in prayer for the Lang family through this difficult time. The mayor also thanked the members of the West Memphis Fire Department, Police Department, Sherri's Department, Fire Recruits, and other departments for how they came together as a family to give Firefighter Lang a hero's send off. Mayor McClendon said he could not have been any prouder to be at the front this amazing group of his West Memphis family members and extended family,members. I CITIZENS REQUEST: NONE • Mayor McClendon acknowledged the members of the Chamber of Commerce 2022 Jr. Leadership group. The Elected Mayor for the Day was Ms. Nicole Nelson. Mayor McClendon said that these youth make up 50% of our population but 100% of our future and our future is looking bright. Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor Harris made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to adjourn. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m. 1' PASSED and APPROVED this 17TH day of MARCH 2022. • CO MCC( NDON, MAYOR I ATTEST: - /44_,„ _ ON ` S PULL U , CITY CLERK - a Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. De u Ci Clerk P P P t3'�:.,t3'