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01/23/24 MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL January 23,2024 • A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Tuesday,January 23,2024,at 4:00 p.m.in the City Council Chambers at CityHall,205 S. Redding,West Memphis,Arkansas. Invocation was given by Pastor Anthony King of Faith International Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Wayne Croom Mayor McClendon called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. City Clerk,Patricia Joplin called the roll.Those present were Mayor Marco McClendon,City Attorney,Michael Stephenson, Council Members: Gheric Bruce, Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom,James Holt,Melanie Hutchinson,Lorraine Mohammed,and David Murray. Absent were City Treasurer, Charlie Suiter Jr.,Helen Harris, Willis Mondy and Charles Wheeless. Evening Times Reporter Donald Wilburn was notified but was not present. Quorum,being present Mayor McClendon,proceeded with the meeting. Mayor McClendon said the January 18,2024,Council Meeting was rescheduled to January 23, 2024,due to the lack of a quorum. BID OPENING:NONE • MINUTES:APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF JANUARY 18,2024 Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom,to dispense with the reading of the minutes of January 18,2024,Council Meeting,and to approve them as submitted.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: • 3RD READING AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH FEES FOR PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS AT RESIDENTIAL RATES AND COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL RATES WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Bruce to approve.Discussion followed. Councilor Mohammed asked when it would take effect.Mayor McClendon said it would take effect in 30 days.Mayor McClendon asked Planning Director,Chad Bowman to give council an explanation of the ordinance. Mr. Bowman said that this would be a small increase on several of the permit fees. The differential in the increase of fees was because there was no differential in the amount of fees between residential and commercial fees.Mr.Bowman said due to the increment weather they were not able to hold the public meeting on the scheduled date and they have rescheduled the public meeting to January 31,2024,to allow the public to express their concerns and that he is requesting that the council hold off on voting on it until the next council meeting,so that they can follow the proper protocol. Councilor Mohammed made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to table the ordinance until February 1,2024.Mayor McClendon said he reviewed the fees and did not see a substantial increase in the fees.Mr.Bowman said that the department has done their research in regard to fees and found that they are leaving a lot of revenue on the table especially in the commercial area with all the redevelopment and in the next six months they will continue to look at the fee structure and present it to council to see what will be more beneficial for the city. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to table the vote until February 1,2024. 2ND READING AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT KUHN RD/SERVICE RD.PERMITTING A 125 FOOT MONOPOLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS TOWER IN A 1-1 LIGHT INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time.Mayor McClendon said Attorney Butler Bernard representing Tillman Enterprises Infrastructure was present in the council chambers at the January 18,2024,council meeting that was rescheduled for lack of a quorum and is present today,but it was his understanding that Mr. Greg Ferris was to have forwarded some information to the council for them to look at and asked had anyone received anything. Attorney Butler Bernard said it was his understanding that Mr. Ferris had sent a packet to the council but he himself had not seen anything and no council member indicated that they had.Mr.Bernard said that Mr. Ferris was going to track it and is asking if council would table the matter until February 15,2024. Councilor Catt made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom,to table the matter until February 15,2024.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to table the ordinance until February 15,2024,meeting,where it will be read for the third time. NEW BUSINESS: Councilor Mohammed made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to suspend the rules, and read R-1 and R-2 by title only.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. R-1 A RESOLUTION CERTIFYING THE AMOUNTS OF LIENS IMPOSED ON CERTAIN PROPERTIES FOR GRASS CUTTING, CLEANING LITTER/DEBRIS AND TREE LIMBS;ETC.,CONTRACTED BY THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS PURSUANT TO ORDINANCE NO. 1385 City Attorney Stephenson read the resolution by title only. Councilor Mohammed made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to approve the resolution.Discussion followed. Councilor Catt said that he handed out a spreadsheet at the January 18,2024,council meeting for council to look at on the list of properties. Councilor Catt said nineteen of those properties have already been purchased. Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom, to amend the resolution to remove the nineteen properties from the lien list that had been sold. Discussion continued,Councilor Croom asked if they had reached a decision on changing the length of time in the policy procedures that it takes to impose the liens on properties before the properties are sold. Councilor Catt said they discussed the policy procedure issues but that they did not have a quorum in which to make a decision.He said this is something that they will need to discuss in the committee meeting and then work with the staff to see if they can get the liens filed sooner,but there is a cost that will come into play.There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve the amendments to the resolution. Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Bruce to approve the resolution as amended,Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. The resolution was adopted and assigned No.2295. R-2 A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE THE PURCHASE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS ARKANSAS,AND JAMES HARRIS,AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND THE CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS City Attorney Stephenson read the resolution by title only. Councilor Croom made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray,to approve the resolution. Discussion followed. Councilor Catt said that there is some wording in the sales contract that is past their date,and he felt that they needed to schedule a work session to correct the dates on the purchase agreement and then the mayor can inform the council on when the lots are acquired and what his plans are for either developing the properties for rental or single family or multifamily units.Councilor Catt said you are looking at roughly$300,000 to$350,000 thousand dollars.Councilor Catt said he is hoping that they could get a grant from HUD to go ahead and purchase and do the grading work to get the elevation up above the flood plain level and possibly work with a private developer to come in and build.Mayor McClendon said they are looking into working with private developers.Planning Director,Chad Bowman said he could look at the contracts and amend the dates. He said the initial date was for them to sign an agreement and the second date to actually close before January 31,2024,was the second date and if it was going to exceed that date,they will need to change those dates and if Mr.Harris does not have a problem with it, they will resign and extend those dates. City Attorney Stephenson said there was one date that he saw of December 18,2023,that referenced something about an inspection and a couple of others in December that he saw.Mr. Bowen said in reference to inspections they will not be taking over any physical structures,they will possibly possess the property once they acquire it and demo any structure on it.A lot of the structures have been determined to be uninhabitable or are nuisance property.Councilor Catt said on the second page where it states all cash offer, he is assuming that the date of December 31,2023,has been missed and asked if an unrelated third party has written a letter guarantying payment of funds.Mr.Bowman indicated no. Councilor Catt said that will need to be changed.He also said where it states closing cost certified check or cashier check drawn on a financial institution. Councilor Catt said most closings are done with trust check by whichever title company but that is not allowed in this 1 situation.The closing date specifies January 31,2024,but it also specifies all rents.He said the tenants that are still living there will have to go through an eviction process which could take 30 days to 6 months. Councilor Catt said in assuming the properties,who is going to take the responsibility of legal fees for the tenants to be moved from the property. On the second page there is a survey that is supposed to be in by December 18,2023,and was not sure that they had received a copy of the survey. Also,on the title it says celebratory title search report to be delivered to the buyer and he was not sure if that had been done. It also talks about inspections and the City Inspectors will do that and eventually they will be tearing the properties down and remove them and that is where the January 27,2024,date comes into play and there is a statement that says the buyer shall have until January 2,2024,and he was not sure if they had provided a report to the seller on that particular clause.Mr. Bowman interjected that they only did the document to present the agreement and they knew that they needed to go through the regular process before they could impose anything or commit.They will need to get with the City Attorney, and this is not the final sales document. Councilor Catt said this is a residential purchase agreement and is not a tentative agreement to exercise options at certain times.Mr. Bowman said that they could adjust the dates for a later date until they get all of the information and get with the City Attorney to amend it or retitle it. Councilor Catt recommended that they table it and rewrite it and go until March 1,2024,to get all the other dates done and then actually approve the contract.Mayor McClendon asked if council decides to go until March 1,2024,could they move forward with the process of asking the people that live there to start looking for alternative living arrangements.He said they have been working with the Housing Authority to get certificates for those individuals to be able to move,so that they can move the process forward instead of waiting until the 31st.Mr. Bowman said he has already spoken with Ms. Sheila Handy at the Housing Authority office about relocating individuals that are living in the properties.Mr. Bowman plans to work with Mr.Harris to get him the information,so that they can make applications to ensure that they qualify and get proper housing by the time the process is over Councilor Catt said there is no question that council has been looking at these properties over the past years and would like to see something move forward,so that it can be developed but the only thing that concerns him is that it is a residential purchase agreement.Ms. Hutchinson asked how many tenants would be impacted. There would be 7 tenants impacted. Councilor Bruce asked if the people that live in those homes,if they already have connections with the housing authority or do,they still have to do applications.Mr.Bowman said two of the individuals are already on the list and are in the process of receiving vouchers,The remaining 5 will be contingent upon availability and once they get a census of those that require housing,they will go from that point but feels with a later date he is sure that they will be able to find them housing. Councilor Bruce asked if these were the trailers in that area.Mr. Bowman confirmed that they were. Councilor Bruce asked if the city was going to purchase these properties and what their plans are for the properties.Mayor McClendon said the plans are to purchase the properties,demo the trailers,and clear the area out.They have been working with private contractors that want to build homes in that area. Councilor Bruce said his understanding is the city will purchase the properties and then the builders that want to build homes will purchase the property from the city.Mayor McClendon said that is the plan.Mayor McClendon said it would be the council's decision on what the city sales the property for. Councilor Mohammed's only concern is that the residents have a place to live once they are relocated. Councilor Catt's concern is that there are 76 parcels, and the city currently owns 7 so there are still 69 parcels and in order to develop you would want to own all 76 parcels and he is curious on how long it would take them to get to that point as well as you might have to put 2 lots together to build a true single family home and with only owning 6 to 7 lots how much development can you do.He said if you were to buy everything at accessed value you would be looking at roughly$350,000 dollars and how do we develop a public private relationship with a developer to build single family units or duplexes that are home ownership not rentals.He said he would rather have a work session to discuss where we want to be in two years in order to make this dream become a reality.Mayor McClendon interjected and said some of the properties were purchased by the Public Facility Board.The Durbin family owns some of the properties and the Durbin family has already been developing homes in that area. He said it would not be like the city is taking it all over. They are working with a developer that has built one street already. Councilor Catt said that if they ran into the problem of a resident not wanting to move into Public Housing then they would have to move toward an eviction process and encumber eviction expenses. Councilor Catt said if they are going to move toward developing the area,they might have to cross that path.Mayor McClendon said that they had a recommendation to move this to March 1,2024,and between that time they will have a work session to discuss how they want to move forward.He is asking his Planning Department to reach out to the individuals to try and assist them with the process of obtaining alternate living arrangements and to get the agreements corrected. Councilor Mohammed asked how long the vouchers would be for.Mayor McClendon did not know how long the vouchers would be for.Mr. Harris said when they started this process his goal was not to cause hardship to the residents by throwing them out into the streets.Mr. Bowman said they are not looking to cause another problem they are trying to create affordable housing not homelessness,but rather or not the city was purchasing the properties or not the dwellings have been determined to be uninhabitable and their goal should be to find safe and decent housing for these individuals and in regard to how long they can stay on the subsidy it would be dependent on their economic conditions,if a lot of them are seniors it will not change it would be perpetual and they will get better higher quality housing.In other situations,there might be an opportunity for families to improve their economic condition and have the opportunity to purchase affordable housing and improve their lives.Mr. Bowman believes that they should do it in phases and if they could get an area of consolidated lots whether it is 10 or 20 and start moving in that area,they could stimulate development for the private sector and they might get private developers that want to take part in development.Mr.Bowman said they already started the West Memphis Housing Coalition they have held one meeting and the council chambers were packed with people,and they will be hosting their second meeting on Saturday February 3, 2024,from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. There will be local bankers and realtors so that they can be part of the conversation for affordable housing.Their goal is to shift the dynamics of having renters to home ownership.Mr. Bowman said research has shown that homeownership installs a since of pride and reduces code violations,crime, and transients. This objective will not only benefit West Memphians but will entice people to relocate to West Memphis. Councilor Bruce asked if the goal were for the city to buy,build and sale the properties and if so,he would like to see it done throughout the city as well.Mayor McClendon said the city had a program for first time home buyers in the past called Hope Three that assisted first time home buyers with qualifying to purchase a home.There being no further discussion. Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Mohammed to table this until February 15,2024, and to contract with a local title company so they can go ahead and keep moving this forward and get all the information that Mr. Bowman needs showing that the properties are free and clear from any liens and develop a private public partnership agreement where the city is going to participate but will not be building the homes and council will make every effort to see that Mr. Bowmans department has every access made available to them to get that done.There being no further discussion.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to table until February 15,2024,council meeting Councilor Helen Harris and Councilor Mondy came into the council meeting at 4:24 p.m. PERMISSION REQUEST: NONE COMMITTEE REPORTS: There were no committee reports presented at the meeting due to the new assignments. The committees will be meeting in February to elect the chairman's and to set their meeting dates and time and will inform the mayor and clerk's office.The Police Commission will meet after the council meeting to set a date and time. APPOINTMENTS: Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Bruce to reappoint Mike Patel term to expire 12/31/27 and Altoria Brisbon term to expire 12/31/2028 to the Advertisement and Promotion Committee.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. ANNOUNCEMENTS: NONE Mayor McClendon said Councilor Bruce and Councilor Mohammed and Councilor Murray approached him about two situations and he wanted them to know that they have addressed the situation and given the individuals a grace period to take corrective action to bring the properties into compliance,but they will follow up to ensure that they are compliant,or the city will move forward with corrective actions. • Mayor McClendon is asking to meet with both council members that represent each ward to discuss what they would like to see done in their wards. Mayor McClendon said the Sanitation Department has done a great job adjusting to the new schedule.The weather caused some issues this past week due to inclement weather with snow and ice on the ground.They had to take the safety of the Sanitation crew into account,but they are getting back on track.As well as the landfill closing up at 10:00 a.m.They had to dump a lot of trash on the Sanitation lot in order to move forward to the next day pick up. Mayor McClendon said the groundbreaking for the animal shelter was a great event.Southland Casino blessed the City of West Memphis with 1.7 million dollars to build the new Ness and Carolyn Seacrest Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. He is thankful for the private public partnership with Southland and seeing it come to fruition. The Animal Control&Adoption Center is much needed.He said Animal Shelter Director Kerry Facello and her staff have done a wonderful job. Mayor McClendon announced that on Tuesday January 29,2024,at 10:30 a.m. they will have the official grand opening for the West Memphis Parks and Recreation Department located in the old library building. Councilor Bruce asked about the sidewalks that were supposed to be installed from 25th Street and Polk.Mayor McClendon said that will be part of the Walkable West Memphis Plan through the Metropolitan Planning Organization.They are moving to the next step and once the State Metropolitan Planning Organization approves it,they will start to get funding.They will be • installing sidewalks and redoing the streets from Wonder Junior High School,which is 25th Street to 20th Street,there will be sidewalks on both sides of the street.They will be installing sidewalks on the West Memphis Junior High School side.To ensure the children have a safe walkway to the schools. Mayor McClendon thanked Assistant Police Chief,James Prestley,Community Development Brizendine,Special Ed Director Bowe, and Odell Slauter and Street Department for their hard work during the ice storm as well as Pastor Josh Hall of First Baptist Church who opened his door for a warming center. Councilor Mohammed thanked Faith International for opening their gym to provide a warming center for youth during the inclement weather.Mayor McClendon echoed his appreciation for all the work that Pastor King is doing for the children in West Memphis. Councilor Mohammed asked for everyone to be in prayer for her daughter that will be going through surgery.Mayor McClendon said they will keep her uplifted in prayer. CITIZENS REQUEST: Ms. Erin Nave,Occupational Therapist and Ms. Carissa Tarkington,Spiritual Advisor and Kris Brizendine,Special Ed Director came before council to speak on Project Neuro. Project Neuro is a non-project organization that helps young adults between the age of 14 and 26 years in age that suffer from trauma,behavioral problems with life skills,job skills,and to give them a supportive community.Neurodiverse are individuals that interact with the world in a different way than usual such as those with ADHD,Autism,Dyslexia,Depression.Anxiety,Trauma, Epilepsy,or Tourettes. Project Neuro provides guidance and training for neurodiverse individuals that enables them to develop and discover their talents,strengths,and further their careers and hobbies. They are looking for individuals to sponsor or mentor young adults who don't have the funds to participate in excursions,They are seeking expert volunteers to offer I their advice for internet safety,navigation of community resources,educational counseling, home economics and social etiquette.Project Neuro is located at First United Methodist Church in West Memphis,Arkansas and they meet 3 times a month.They are 100%non-profit and will be hosting a fund raiser on May 4,2024,Kentucky Derby Watch Party at the Civic Center to raise funds and invite everyone to participate.They are looking for local businesses and the city to partner with them to help provide funding to help sponsor children that do not have the funds to participate in outings. Having no further business to come before the City Council,Councilor Bruce made the motion, seconded Councilor Murray,to adjourn.Upon voice vote,the voting was unanimous.The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. � a .1 m PASSED and APPROVED this 1ST day of February 2024. ( MARC MCCLENDON,MAYOR ATTEST: (Gum n PATRICIA JOPLIN,CITY CLERK Minutes prepared by,Patricia Lane,Sr. Deputy City Clerk