Loading...
04/06/2023 • MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL April 6, 2023 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday, April 6, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 205 S. Redding, West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Councilor Helen Harris followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led I by Sr. Deputy City Clerk, Patricia.Lane Mayor Marco McClendon called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. City Clerk, Patricia Joplin, called the roll. Those present were Mayor Marco McClendon, City Attorney Michael Stephenson, and Council Members: Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom, Helen Harris, James Holt, Lorraine Mohammed, Willis Mondy, David Murray. and Charles Wheeless. Absent was City Treasurer, Charlie Suiter Jr and Councilor Gheric Bruce and Melanie Hutchinson. Also, present was Finance Director, Tori Perry, and Evening Times Reporter Donald Wilburn. Quorum being present Mayor • McClendon, proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENINGS: NONE MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF MARCH 16, 2023 Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy, to dispense with the reading of the minutes of March 16, 2023, Council Meeting and to approve/them as submitted. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS NONE NEW BUSINESS: Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Catt to read 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, and 06 by title only. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE WAIVING COMPETIVIE BIDDING FOR THE HANGING OF ELECTRICAL LINES AND FIBER ACROSS I-40, DECLARING AN EMERGNCY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray, to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless, 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 by title only for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve. Discussion followed: Councilor Mohammed asked for an explanation to be given to the public as to why the ordinance was read three times. Utility General Manager, Ward Wimbish explained that the areas North of the interstate have seen a lot of business growth and the line that services that area was installed decades ago and since then the hospital has relocated to that area and Southland Gaming & Racing has done a massive expansion, the Arkansas Travel Center is also in that area and they are seeing the need to provide more power in that area. the sub-station that provides the power has plenty of power but the line crossing the interstate is not big enough and needs to be replaced. They have also been made 111 aware of some more expansion plans by Southland scheduled for later this year and decided they needed to go ahead and get it done before the summer because air conditioning draws more power usage in the summer months. Mr. Wimbish said that they worked with the Engineers at Fischer Arnold, and they gave them a quote for half a million dollars. They felt the quote was high and they checked with Jonesboro City Water and Light who is also an AMPA member, and they provided them with a name of a company that they felt was very dependable and they would highly recommend them. Mr. Wimbish said they contacted the company and received a quote of$150,000 dollars. Mr. Wimbish said that is what is indicated in the ordinance and the reason that they are wanting to waive the bids, he said if they put it out for bids it could take them into the summer and risk not getting reliable power on the North side. Mr. L - a Wimbish said because this company is so highly recommended by Jonesboro is why they have chosen to waive the bids. Councilor Mohammed asked when the work would begin. Mr. Wimbish said that the work had not begun, but through their normal procurement process, they have procured the wires and cable that they need. Also, through working when Jonesboro they realized that needed taller poles and were able to get some poles from Jonesboro, they already have the materials and once the ordinances is approved, they will schedule a meeting with the contractor. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mohammed to approve the Emergency clause in Section- 2. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. The ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2629 0-2 AN ORDINANCE WAIVING COMPETITIVE BIDDING FOR THE INSTALLATION OF AMI WATER METERS DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Mohammed 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 by title only for the SECOND time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Monday, 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 by title only. for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray to approve. Discussion followed: Councilor Croom said he just wanted the citizens to know that this was a pilot program at first and the pilot program was a success of 250 meters. The community North of us is doing this already on their water meters and electric meters and we are catching up. Mr. Wimbish said the focus of the project had been on Electric, but they always knew that water was also an option available to them and the main reason is the water and meter have to talk to each other. The software implementation went smoothly, and it is now done and was successful. Their initial thought was that they would do the electric first and then do the water, but then they had the grant opportunity come up last year through the State and they applied for it and were successful in getting a grant to cover the cost of buying the meters and the cities in-kind cost is to install them, so that is why they are able to advance the project by a couple of years. Mr. Wimbish said that the utility employees will be coming into their neighborhoods, tagging their doors, and knocking to let people know that they will be in the side yard changing out their electric meters and they will repeat the process as they do the water meters. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray, to approve the Emergency Clause in Section- 2. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. The ordinance was adopted and assigned NO. 2630. 0-3 AN ORDINANCE WAIVING COMPETITIVE BIDDING FOR THE PURCHASE OF A NEW WATER METERS AND ACCOMPANYING AMI COMMUNICATION DEVICES DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless, to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless, 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 by title only for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Mohammed to approve. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote. 111 Voting was unanimous to approve. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Catt, to approve the Emergency Clause in Section-2. Upon voice vote voting was unanimous to approve. Discussion continued: Councilor Croom asked for an • explanation of the ordinance Mr. Wimbish said that the meter is actually in two pieces, you have to have a water meter that can accept the communication device, The other component is a transmitter which is the radio piece. The purchase is in two parts and is from two different companies. Mr. Wimbish said this was all included in the pilot program and was bid out last year The ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2631. 0-4 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 514 SOUTH 4TH STREET, PERMITTING AN AUTO WRECKER SERVICE AND AUTO STORAGE IN A I-1C INDUSTRIAL LIGHT CORE DISTRICT City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. The ordinance will be back on the agenda in two weeks for the second reading (April 20, 2023). 0-5 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 2-171 OF THE WEST MEMPHIS MUNICIPAL CODE ESTABLISHING THE SALARY FOR THE POSITION OF CITY ATTORNEY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. The ordinance will be back on the agenda in two weeks for the second reading (April 20, 2023). 0-6 AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE LOTS 2, 3 AND THE N 1/$ OF LOT 4, BOCK 8, M.L. THOMPSON 2ND ADDITION SUBDIVISION, ALSO KNOWN AS 415 PINE STREET AND 411 PINE STREET FROM MRM MIXED RESIDENTIAL MEDIUM DISTRICT TO MRH MIXED RESIDENTIAL HIGH City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Harris, to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time. Councilor Croom made the motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its third reading. Councilor Wheeless asked for permission to allow Mr. Stacy Morris to come before council to express some concerns about approving the ordinance. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless, to add Mr. Stacy Morris, a resident of 202 E Danner West Memphis, Arkansas to the agenda to speak on his opposition to the ordinance. Mr. Morris said that they already have a lot of apartments on Pine Street. Mr. Morris said the two structures that were there had already been demolished. Mr. Morris said his concern was going from medium density to high density and the issue is that they will have more people living there and it seems that when you have more people living in an area that crime increases and where the two lots are there is a Catholic Church and Catholic School right across the street from there and they are concerned about the impact it will have. Councilor Croom asked Mr. Morris , if he was aware that there were already some quads in that area. Mr. Morris said he was, but they were on Cooper Street and from his memory the high density would be on one side and the residential would be on the other side of the street and are further away from the school and church. The owner was in the audience. Mayor McClendon asked for a motion to add Mr. Frank Sullivan, the owner of the property, to the agenda. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Harris, to add Mr. Sullivan to the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. Mr. Sullivan said that there would be two quad plexuses right next to each other and it would accommodate eight families. Mr. Morris said that was his main concern if you drive down Missouri Street on Danner there is a lot of high- density development down there and they see police vehicles down there on a regular basis and where they intend to build right down the street are the Catholic Church, Catholic School, Methodist Church , Assembly of God Church, and a Presbyterian Church right across where the quad plexuses would be. Councilor Holt said he felt it was better to have a building on the property rather than an open space. Mr. Sullivan said the units will be two units on the bottom and two units on the top 1200 square feet unit with three bed two bath units and will give people a nicer option to live in. Mr. Sullivan said the other owner that is helping to build the unit actually lives right next door at 407 Pine Street. Councilor Mohammed said that after reviewing the Planning Commission's recommendation she did not have a problem with approving it. Councilor Catt said according to procedures the property was posted for all the adjoining property owners and a public hearing was held prior to the Planning Commission making their recommendations to either approve or deny. Mr. Morris said he did not see any signage. Mr. Sullivan said they did post a sign and letters were sent out to property owners and it was published in the paper. City Attorney Stephenson said that the Planning & Development Department procedures are to take pictures of the property with the sign to show that they posted the property as required. The Public Hearings are posted in the newspaper and the Planning Commission has to ensure that the property was posted before they hold the Public Meeting. There being no further discussion: City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by tile only for the THIRD and FINAL time Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve. Mayor McClendon called for a roll call vote. City Clerk, Patricia Joplin called the roll. The roll call vote was as follows: YES: Catt, Croom, Harris, Holt, Mohammed, Mondy, Murray, Wheeless NO: None ABSTENTION: None ABSENT" Bruce, Hutchinson With 8 Yes votes, 0 No votes, 0 Abstention votes, and 2 Absent votes the motion to approve the Ordinance passed. The ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2632 PERMISSION REQUEST: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS (SEE MATERIAL IN PACKETS) Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray to approve the Planning Commission recommendations, and refer them back to administration. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Advertising & Promotion: Councilor David Murray presented the Advertising & Promotion Commission report. Advertising & Promotion met on March 15, 2023, at 4:06 p.m. Director Jim Jackson reported that he asked Evening Times Reporter, Mr. Don Wilburn to post an advertisement in the Evening Times that the Advertising & Promotion Commission is accepting resumes to fill the two open commissioner positions on the Advertising & Promotion Commission. The Advertising & Promotion Financials were not ready at the time of the meeting. Mr. Jackson reported that collections were up 23% for the month and 136% over this time last year. Commissioner Scott Ferguson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner, David Murray, to approve the funding request of$8,000 dollars for the Families In Transition Festival. The motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Scott Ferguson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mike Patel, to approve the funding request from the Mississippi.River Monsters for $2,500. The motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Scott Ferguson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Murray to approve the funding request from Delta Arts for $10,000 dollars. The motion passed unanimously. Public Works: Councilor Catt presented the Public Works report. Councilor Catt said that the Public Works Committee discussed the new rate increases for the dumpster operations. Council members were given a copy of the projected increases for them to review and give their feedback to see if the rates needed to be adjusted up or down and then bring it back before council in two weeks. Public Works has picked up a total of 30,240 pounds of recycling approximately 12.5 tons , they have also picked up 3,289 tires. All equipment is operational except for one grapple truck which is having electrical issues and a one-armed bandit that was making a pickup and due to a water leak, that washed up the soil from the street, the truck hit it and it collapsed the truck, they expect that the truck will be back in operation within the week The water line has been fixed and the Street Department will go in and repair the street. Budget Committee: Councilor Catt presented the Budget report. Councilor Catt had requested that all council members attend the last budget meeting, there were several things regarding year end wrap up that needed to be addressed. Councilor Catt turned it over to.Finance Director, Tori Perry to explain the three budget amendments that was passed out to council prior to start of the meeting to review. Ms. Perry explained that the first two budget amendments were from 2022 and third one is for 2023. The first amendment is for the general funds, and it shows the excess that the city spent that was not budgeted but was approved. The second amendment is for the Airport. Ms. Perry said it is along the line as the first amendment, it was approved but not updated in the budget and was actually spent. The third amendment is for the Mayor, Treasurer, City Clerk and Councils salary increase that was just approved. Council was also given a copy of the final sales tax, A & P and Casino revenue through February. The Budget Committee is asking that it be added to the agenda. Councilor Catt made the motion seconded b Councilor Croom to add it to the agenda. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to add it to the agenda. Councilor Catt made the motion seconded by Councilor Croom to approve the budget amendments. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve. Police Commission: Councilor Mohammed reported on the March Police Commission meeting. Two citizens came before the Police Commission to express some things that they would like to see in their neighborhoods. Mr. Darrin Christley addressed the Police Commission on neighborhood safety by encouraging neighbors to invest in purchasing home security cameras and ring doorbells . Mr. Christley said if these security systems were more prevalent it might help with deterring crime and be a helpful tool in assisting the Police Department in solving crimes. Mr. Dennis Morris was also in attendance to speak on the safety of our city streets by removing basketball goals from the sidewalks, cars parking in the yards, and prohibiting 4- wheel vehicles from being in residential neighborhoods. Councilor Mohammed encouraged citizens that if they want to try and get issues addressed in their neighborhoods to not only attend City Council meetings but committee meetings as well. Police Commission meetings are held on the first Monday of every month at 12:00 noon at City Hall. Councilor Mohammed also reported on the April 3, 2023, Police Commission meeting , Lt. Gardner with the West Memphis Police Department came before the commission to present information about the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicle (MRAP) which will be given to the city through the (LESO) Law Enforcement Support office Program. This government program transfers excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies. Crittenden County has one of the vehicles and it will take about a month to two years to receive one of the vehicles. Lt Gardner would like to explain the program to the council at the first council meeting on May 4, 2023. APPOINTMENTS: NONE PRESENTATIONS: MAYOR MCCLENDON PROCLOMATION TO WEST MEMPHIS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL Mayor McClendon presented a proclamation and certificates to the West Memphis Knights Boys Basketball Team, and recognized them as the winner of the 2023 MATS Class 2 Championship. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor McClendon addressed the concerns regarding the Rich Road bridge Project. The Mayor said he understood the frustration of the people with the amount of time it has taken to get the Rich Road Bridge repaired and he not only feels their frustration but he himself and other council members are frustrated because they live in that area as well and patron Walmart and other business,in that area. Mayor McClendon said the project is a State project and ARDOT has full control. Mayor McClendon reached out to ARDOT to get an update. The mayor said he and his MPO Administrator, Ms. Rhonda Standridge, spoke with ARDOT on Wednesday and were told that ARDOT hired a company by the name of Half to design the Rich Road Bridge. Halff designed 30% of the bridge, they then sent it to ARDOT and after reviewing it ARDOT needed them to make some correction. Half then made the corrections and then sent it back to ARDOT and they are now waiting on ARDOT to approve the plans. The mayor said they have not been given'a timeline on when the plans will be approved. It could be a month or longer, but it would put the project at 60% completed, leaving 40% still to be completed. 30% of it is still in design and 10%would be the actual construction of the bridge. The mayor said when he talked to ARDOT they said they were going to start in June, however he feels that would be more the timeline of when Halff and Associates who is doing the design would be at 90% and it would still have to put it out for bid. Mayor McClendon deferred to Councilor Catt for an explanation on the timeline of the bid process. Councilor Catt said they would have to advertise the bid and post it for so many weeks and have a deadline for turning the bids in, he would estimate it should take no longer than 60 to 70 days. Mayor McClendon said that would put them into the fall. The mayor said he feels everyone's frustration, but they all want it to be designed correctly. The bridge has been down for some time, and it is an inconvenience, but ARDOT is the responsible party, they are going to fix it. They are paying the designer and they will be paying for the construction of the bridge. Mayor McClendon said that is all the information that he has right now, and he will try to provide the citizens with an update as he receives the information and is asking everyone to continue to be patient. Mayor McClendon said that it so unfair to continue to blame the council and administration for something that they have no control over, but they will continue to call and get information and share the information with the citizens of West Memphis as they get it. Mayor McClendon announced that he had a meeting with Emergency Management Director , Dewayne Rose to discuss all the rain and flooding off Pierce and Bond Street and asked Mr. Dewayne Rose to give the citizens of West Memphis a brief overview of what they discussed. Mr. Rose said that they had several people in the meeting Utility Manager, Ward Wimbish, MPO Administrator, Rhonda Standridge, and Community Development personnel, to discuss the pumps and the bayous and how they are moving water throughout the City of West Memphis. Currently there are some projects that the Utility Department is working on, especially in the areas of North Bond and Oliver, due to the amount of rainfall that they have gotten and the amount of water that stands in that area. Mr. Wimbish and his team have done a lot of work in the gutters and culverts that are moving water out of that area, and they will be watching to see if that helps with the next forecast of rain to see if the water moves more freely, if it does not Mr. Wimbish plans to run camera systems to run through that area to see if there are any obstructions. Mr. Rose said he is confident that they have some solutions for that North Bond and Oliver area to see if it remedies some of the standing water. Another area that was discussed is the Rich Road area and they repeated the same methods as they did for North Bond and Oliver area. Mr. Rose has spoken with Mr. Guy Sawyer from the MPO department and Mr. Sawyer has some ideas that he looked at that MPO was going to map out to see how some of the water can be moved into some other areas. The Bayou is overgrown and needs to be cleaned out. Mr. Rose and Street Superintendent, Odell Slaughter went out and looked at different areas in the city where the Bayou and pumps intersect with each other and they have some plans that once the water levels are at a minimum or when it is dryer, possibly during the summer where they can get some heavy equipment into the ditches and start removing some trees and especially in the Rice Street area there looks like there is some erosion going on along the banks where you see a lot of the runoff beside the Bayou and slowing the water down when it is obstructed and 111 cleaning them out. Mr. Rose said he feels they have some good plans in place, and they are just waiting for the rainy season to end.-Mr. Croom asked about Ward 4 and Ward 5. Mayor McClendon said one of the things that they are looking at is the Eastwood area, specifically the land behind the Fire Station at building a retention pond like the one on Auburn that would redirect the water away. This would be South OK Street and Polk Street . Councilor Mohammed asked about the pond near Walmart on the Service Road where the Martin Luther King exhibit is the water is about to come out onto the road and she believes it could be due to debris. Mr. Rose said he would pass the information on to Mr. Slaughter to look at it. Mr. Rose said whenever you get a large amount of rain fall in a short period of time you are going to have flooding. Mayor McClendon said even with all the systems up and running it still could not handle over 5 inches of water in a short period of time, regardless of everything that they do and all the precautions that they take to prevent flooding. Mr. Rose said when the city gets a normal amount of rain the water moves out pretty quickly. Councilor Catt asked if Mr. Rose could follow up and get them a report of what every citizen pays for Improvement Drainage System #6. He said he has not seen a report to see where that money is being spent. Mr. Rose said they actually talked about the Improvement Drainage District in the meeting that they had. He said he will get with Utility Manager, Ward Wimbish to see about getting him that information since he is in contact with the director of that establishment. Mr. Holt asked about the area near the Missouri Street of Church of Christ he said it has a lot of debris in it. Mr. Rose said that he would notify Mr. Slaughter with the Street Department to have him go out clean them up . Mr. Rose said that the core could come out and clean it up, but if they do not have a maintenance plan, they would have the same problem. Mr. Wimbish has looked into some device that is automated such as screens that screen out a lot of the debris and pull it back to the banks and prevent clogging. Councilor Murray asked about the East End of town around the ditches. Mr. Rose said the Ingram Street pumps are probably the cleanest of all of the pumps. They are very well maintained and not overgrown. There are two pumps there and both are functioning and moving water very quickly. Mayor McClendon said that they have received the permit from ADEQ for the improvement of the Wastewater for the Utility Department that the council approved spending 34 million dollars for. He said the cost is approximately 20- million dollars Mayor McClendon announced that they had the Contractors meeting on April 15, 2023, to inform the contractors on updated procedures and discussed some ideas that they could implement to make things better and he made an executive order for the Planning Department that any new construction commercial or residential would be given one year on their permits to complete the work instead of six months. Mayor McClendon said that he was going to need councils help with reviewing the fees for permits. The current cost is $45.00 for a basic permit, he has researched the permit cost in surrounding cities in Arkansas and found that West Memphis permits are substantially lower than other cities and he would like the council to consider approving a slight increase in permit cost. The last thing discussed was to ensure that the staff provide the highest standard of customer service to our customers and that there is mutual respect between the customers and city staff. Mayor McClendon said our God is awesome and he has continued to look over and protect West Memphis from the resent Tornado. The mayor asked everyone to be in prayer for our neighbors in Wynne. The mayor said that the West Memphis Fire Department went to Wynne to provide help with search and rescue. Mayor McClendon also asked that we keep Jacksonville, Littlerock, Tipton County, Rolling Fork in our prayers and provide any assistance that you can. The mayor said that they will continue to try and keep the citizens of West Memphis informed about any increment Weather and acknowledged EMO Director, Dewayne Rose for the great job he is doing in informing the citizens of West Memphis as well as Outreach Director, Teresa Bowe for coordinating efforts to provide support and supplies to help Wynne residents. Also, on April 15, 2023, West Memphis Christian School will have a truck in their parking lot collecting supplies and donations to take to Wynne. He also thanked the West Memphis Utility Department, Michael Lamb, and Mr. Bass and Water Department staff that went to Wynne to provide assistance. He also commended other city staff members that have offered their support through donations. Mayor McClendon commended all of the West Memphis Police Department Officers that received promotions at the West Memphis Promotion Ceremony earlier in the day. 6 male officers and 2 female officers were promoted. The mayor said that he was happy to see the department's efforts to be inclusive in promoting women. The individuals promoted were very deserving and he thanked them for putting their lives on the line each and every day and choosing .to run towards danger to protect the safety and welfare of the citizens of West Memphis . Mayor McClendon wanted to address the current rise of volatile incidents that have occurred in the last weeks between females that has given him grave concern. The mayor said that one incident took place at the City Hall where there was a physical confrontation between four women. City staff member Le Undrea Waller had to intercede and take possession of an infant child that was two weeks old that was caught up in the brawl. The four women were arrested, and the staff had to wait on the father of the infant to come to city to retrieve the baby. The mayor said that there was also another incident at a local gas station involving females and another infant was caught up in that encounter earlier in the day. The gentleman that reported that incident said that one of the women was actually holding a 1-year-old child in her arms while she was fighting, and someone had.to step in and pull the child out of her arms to protect the child. Mayor McClendon said he is upset at the fact that none of these women had the heart and conscious to understand that the baby could have been hit or injured due to their callousness. There was an incident at the Fair where it was recorded on face book fights between females not men. Mayor McClendon said he does not understand what they are fighting about, but there is nothing that could justify the'type of violence that we are seeing, let alone risking the health and safety of our children through these types of actions. There was an incident at the gas station by the high school where a group of young kids were fighting. The mayor deferred to the City Attorney to correct him, if need be, but said in his opinion he feels that when they removed Prayer and God out of school that is when a lot of the problems began, and he commended West Memphis Christian School for their continued efforts to maintain the standard of morality and decency towards our fellow human beings. Mayor McClendon said when you create a society of individuals that have no fear for God how are we to teach them righteousness. People complain that there is nothing for the children to do here in West Memphis, but we must be willing to create an environment where people want to come to West Memphis and invest in West Memphis. Mayor McClendon said that he is in continued prayer that the people will humble'themselves and our city will be healed. Mayor McClendon announced that the Hightower groundbreaking ceremony was moved to Wednesday April 12, 2023, at 3:30 p.m. Due to increment weather. • Councilor Croom announced that on April 29, 2023, Families In Transition will have a Walk A Mile In Her Shoes Event at Tilden Rogers Park from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to bring awareness of the program which deals with abuse against women and children and provides shelter for those abused. Councilor Croom said you can go to their website if you are interested'in'becoming a sponsor or to sign up to walk. Mayor McClendon said he also wanted to commend and thank the West Memphis Fire Department, Street Department, Litter & Debris Department and Crittenden County Inmates for packing the sandbags for the citizens of West Memphis in light of increment weather. MS. RANDA LIPMAN-MID-SOUTH TRANSPLANT FOUNDATION COMMUNITY OUTREACH MANAGER Ms. Zola Burgess, Outreach Director for Mid-South Transplant Foundation out of Cordova Tennessee came before council to provide information on shine the light on organ and tissue donation. Ms. Burgess said the month of April is Donate Life Month. Ms. Burgess said there is currently over 100,000 people on the organ donation list waiting for vital organs, but sadly 17 of those people die each and every day every nine minutes. On April 14, 2023, they will be lighting up the City of West Memphis. The bridge will be lit up with blue &green lights and they are also asking everyone to light up their business and homes because it's all about saving lives. Ms. Burgess said that she did want to commend the citizens of Arkansas because in Donate Life America. they ask that 50% of your registered drivers with licenses be registered donors but Arkansas has 70% registered donors. Anyone interested in yard sign can call their office and they will get you a yard sign or email her and she will get you one. Ms. Burgess dispelled the myths about being a registered donor. People have been reluctant to register, because they think that if they are a registered donor that efforts will not be made to save their lives. Ms. Burgess said that is false they are in the medical field and their first priority is to save lives. Ms. Burgess said the greatest act is giving and being an organ donor gives you the opportunity to extend life and saves lives. CITIZENS REQUEST: Mr. Brock Weast a resident of 273 Winchell Circle in West Memphis, Arkansas, came before council to voice his concerns about potholes, activities for children and issues with the West Memphis Police Department. Mayor McClendon suggested that Mr. Weast attend the Police Commission meeting to voice his concerns regarding the Police Department with the commission as well as to contact Chief Bradley and Inspector McMahon to make them aware of his concerns, so that they could look into the allegations. . Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Council Member Holt, to adjourn. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 2:35 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 20TH DAY OF APRIL 2023. ,,/� `KD at uc t. o l�.•L MARCO MC�NDON, MAYOR ATTEST: �Y Gv2 ✓C PATRICIA JOPLI , pTY CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk