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10/05/2023 i -, MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL October 5,2023 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday,October 5,2023, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall,205 S. Redding,West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Pastor Arlen Parham followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led 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 City Attorney Michael -Stephenson,and Council Members: Gheric Bruce,Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom,Helen Harris,James Holt, Willis Mondy,David Murray. and Charles Wheeless.Absent was City Treasurer, Charlie Suiter Jr, Melanie Hutchinson,and Lorraine Mohammed. Also,present Finance Director,Tori Perry. Evening Times Reporter Donald Wilburn was notified but was not present. Quorum being present Mayor McClendon,proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENING: INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND AT HICKS PARK,LOCATED AT 306 WEST OLIVER Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to accept the bids, and refer them back to administration for disposition,but asked that it be brought back before council at a later date since they are limited as to what they can do at this time. There being no further discussion.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 21,2023 Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to dispense with the reading of the minutes of September 21,2023,Council Meeting,and to approve them as submitted.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Mondy to read R-1 and 0-1 by title only.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. R-1 A RESOLUTION CERTIFYING THE CONDEMNATION AND REMOVAL OF HOUSES,BULDINGS AND/OR RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES CONSTITUTING A NUISANCE WITHIN THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS CORPORATE LIMITS , City Attorney Stephenson read the resolution by title only. Councilor Mondy made the motion, seconded by Councilor Harris to approve the resolution with the corrections.Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous.The resolution was adopted and assigned No.2290. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ARTICLE 5-USES AND USE CONDITIONS,TABLE 5.1-TABLE OF USES,ARTICLE 5-USES AND CONDITIONS SECTION 5.2-USE CONDITIONS-UCT TABLE 14,MAUFACTURED HOME SUBDIVISIONS,AND THE AREA SOUTH OF WONDER JUNIOR HIGH OF THE ZONING REGULATIONS AND OFFICIAL ZONING MAP ADOPTED BY ORDINANCE NO.2591 FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,ARKANSAS,AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Bruce made the motion,seconded by Councilor Mondy,to suspend the rules,and place the ordinance on its second reading. Discussion followed;Councilor Catt asked if they were not going to have a public meeting on the zoning changes or if they even needed to have one since they have ' talked about it extensively.Planning Director Chad Bowman said that he would leave it up to • the legislative body to make that decision.Mr. Bowman said that they presented it to the Planning Commission and the Planning Commission approved it, most of the mobile homes in that are dilapidated. Councilor Catt said the neighborhood would probably be in favor of it. Councilor Mondy said that he has had a conversation with one of the residents that live in the area,and he was appreciative of all the work that the city has done to clean up the area and said he was willing to relocate because he wants to see new homes built in that area. Councilor Catt said that technically the way the ordinance is written they would post the property and hold a public meeting to give the people the right to come before council to discuss it and the legislative body would then vote on the ordinance.He just wants to make sure that they did not miss a step. Councilor Mondy said that he was in favor of holding a public meeting.Mr. Bowman agreed that they could hold a public meeting and open it up to the public for discussion and then bring it back before the council by the next council meeting for a final decision. City Attorney Stephenson said that there is still a moratorium in place that was extended and is in effect at least until after the next scheduled council meeting on October 19, 2023,or sometime in November.There being no further discussion:Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time.The ordinance will be placed back on October 19,2023,council agenda for its third and final reading. (Agenda 10/19/2023). PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN TEXTMYGOV CONTRACTURAL AGREEMENT FOR DEWYNE ROSE,EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR Emergency Management Director,Dewayne Rose gave the council an explanation of TEXTMYGOV.Mr.Rose said TEXTMYGOV is a communication asset that will be used city wide by several departments,primarily by the communication department.TEXTMYGOV has a widget that they will put on the city website that is a part of the agreement that they have to be on cities website. The general public can enter their phone number and receive updates on the city's condition. They will be able to build it as big as they want to and as much information as they want to.They plan to start off slow to see what the public wants to know such as information about potholes,sidewalks,and other things. They will also generate an 870 phone number for the city that will be associated with the account where the general public can text into it to let them know where some of the problems are that they need to address.Human Resource will also be using the software to do mass notifications to the city personnel of things they need to be made aware of. His part will be the I pause alert notification,which is the public integrated alert warning system.He said what I pause does is that you do not have to have your phone number built into this account;they can take a map GO fence an area that they want to alert and send out a mass notification to that area.I Pause is monitored by FEMA and everything that goes on I Pause has to have FEMA approval.He-has already been through training and anybody that is going to interface with I Pause will have to have training per the agreement. Councilor Croom asked if a citizens needed to ask a question could they go on the site to ask the question.Mr. Rose said they would have to be signed up.Councilor Catt asked if the cost was$20,500 dollars for the first two years and then it drops down to$8,000 dollars.Mr. Rose said it is$12,000 dollars for the initial set up and training and then it is $8,000 dollars each year.Councilor Catt repeated again after the first two years of paying $25,000 dollars than it will drop back down.There being no further discussion. Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom,to give the mayor permission to sign the Text MyGov contractual agreement.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous Councilor Lorraine Mohammed came in the City Council meeting at 1:18 p.m. PLANNING COMMISSION RECCOMENDATIONS (SEE MATERIAL IN PACKETS) Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Bruce to approve the Planning Commission recommendations.Discussion followed: Councilor Croom asked for clarification on the difference between mixed residential high use and mixed residential medium use.Mr. Bowman said he was just giving an example of commercial or retail on the bottom and residential on top for the council to get an understanding of the difference between mixed residential high and mixed residential medium.Mr. Bowman said that they are currently working on correcting a few zoning errors that do not fit with the traditional zoning plans. There being no further discussion.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. COMMITTEE REPORTS: ti i POLICE COMMISSION: Councilor Mohammed presented the Police Commission report. The Police Commission met on Monday October 2,2023,at 12:00 p.m. at City Hall. The police . commission discussed gutting the old radios and putting new parts in them.Ms. Linda Logan a resident of 314 S.2nd Street West Memphis,Arkansas,came to the police commission meeting to discuss an ongoing problem that she was having with neighbors playing loud music into the early mornings. Chief Presley was available and said that he would look into her problem personally and try and help her to get her some resolution. BUDGET COMMITTEE: Councilor Catt presented the budget report.The budget committee addressed three items that they will need to present to the City Attorney to draft ordinances or amendments regarding fee structures and purchasing the Front-End Loader for the Public Works Department. APPOINTMENTS: None PRESENTATIONS: None ANNOUNCEMENTS: Finance Director,Tori Perry gave council an update on the Tilden Rogers Park,Franklin Park, and Worthington Park bonds.Ms.Perry said they received their rating,and the next step is to get a verbal ok from council to move forward to put a bid out. The bids will be presented to council at the next council meeting. Councilor Catt made a motion,seconded by Councilor Bruce to move forward to see what rate the bonds will be and where they stand in the marketplace.There being no discussion.Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. Councilor Mohammed made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to place Mr.John Eckart on the agenda to discuss the bids from RJR Enterprise for the All-Inclusive Playground. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous. Mr.John Eckart with RJR Enterprise out of Little Rock,Arkansas came before council to give some information regarding the bids submitted by RJR Playground.Mr. Eckart said he appreciated the opportunity to be able to bid on the project. He also said choosing to have an All-Inclusive playground says a lot about a community,it says you are here for everybody and are able to accommodate those with or without disabilities and provide not only a place to play but also social interaction.Mr. Eckart said RJR Enterprise is a General Contractor and has been in business for over 40 years and does their own installations and nothing is subbed out to another company. If there are issues in the future they will be the ones to call to repair it.He directed councils' attention to the bid for the Poured in Place option,he said as far as inclusivity the poured in place option is the number 1 safety surface that is suggested by all CPSI,which is • your playground safety inspectors.With this option you will get two things,one is to have the best and most inclusive surface as well as the ability to have different designs in the surface such as the West Memphis logo.Mr. Eckart said when looking at the project they should look at it as a whole and ensure that the plan they choose is ADA accessible. The other unique thing about their plan is it will have a Sonar Arch. West Memphis will be one of the only two cities in Arkansas to have it.The unique thing about it is that it will be designed as a (NDS)National Demonstration Site, and they will be able to collect data from the community.There will be signage telling the public to scan the QR code and they will be able to download the data and get feedback letting them know what the community likes and what else they would like to see in the future. Mayor McClendon asked would they still be able to use the equipment that is at the park. Mr. Eckart said yes. Councilor Holt asked what the life expectancy of the wood chips would be before they would begin to deteriorate.Mr. Eckart said typically you would have to top it off every year because it will get displaced and after 5 years over time the chips will become hard,and you would have to clean it out and put all new chips down. Mayor McClendon announced that Southland in association with the City of West Memphis will be hosting an October Truck Fest. There will be food trucks and live entertainment and the event is free to the public.The event will run for the next two weekends starting October 7, 2023. Mayor McClendon said in an effort to remain transparent with the public he is asking all council members to share the information with their constituents in their wards to get some feed back or concerns that they might have regarding proposed changes to fees in the clerk's office regarding privilege licenses for certain businesses. The fees that they are proposing to increase will be for businesses performing the following business:Home Health from$100.00 annually to$150.00,Event Center from$100.00 to$150.00,Business not classified from$100.00 to$150.00,Catering from$75.00 to$125.00 and Food Trucks from$100.00 to$150.00.The City Mosquito Spraying will increase from$1.00 to$1.50. and the Sanitation Garbage Collection from 17.75 to$18.50.The proposed changes will not occur until January 2024 if approved by council. He said he is waiting to get some feedback from the people before moving forward with the increases and presenting an ordinance to the council for their approval.Councilor Mondy said he received several calls asking if the were spraying for mosquitos. Several council members said that they have been in their neighborhoods regularly and usually spray in the later time of the evenings,but if anyone is having a problem they can contact Vector and they will come out and spray their yards. Mayor McClendon said he asked the council members to give him a list of the streets in their wards that were in need of repair and the council members have done so,he has now turned it over to the MPO Department staff and they have gone out and looked at the streets.He said some of the streets were in worse conditions than others and they came up with a plan.Woods street was removed from the plan after speaking With several people,who indicated that Wood Street was one of the better streets and putting an overlay on it would be counterproductive, but they have some ideas in place to do some other repairs. Council was given a color-coded spreadsheet to look at to identify the streets that need repair and the cost to repair each street. He said the cost to do all the streets is 2 million dollars and he is asking council to consider taking the$360,000.00 dollars that is left over from the 2023 budget and moving it into the 2024 budget where they would normally allocate him$700,00000 dollars for repairs that would put him at 1 million 50 thousand dollars and holding it,since due to the incumbent winter weather it will be too late to start the project, and then allocating the$700,000.00 dollars that is forecasted for the year 2025 budget for street repairs in advance to do the street overlays,which would mean in 2025 they would not fund that$700,000.00 dollars for street repair.The mayor said it will be the council's decision to approve his plan but noted if the plan is approved this will overlay all the streets that the council has indicated need repairing by spring of next year. He is not asking for a decision today but is asking council to consider it.Mayor McClendon asked for feedback from council regarding his request. Councilor Wheeless and Councilor Harris felt like it was a good idea. Councilor Catt asked about the slurry seal that is usually done in October and said that he had not seen any streets being done and wondered if they were still doing it prior to the snow and ice coming in.Councilor Catt said in the past any street that has a big crack they would go in and repair it with a slurry seal.Mayor McClendon said he would follow up with the Street Superintendent to find out. Councilor Bruce asked previous widen 7th,8th,9th, 13th,and 14th Street and to fill in open ditches and putting in sidewalks and wonder where they were at with that project.Mayor McClendon was not sure but said it would be something that council would have to look at when doing the budget to decide if they could allocate money for the project. The mayor spoke on the success of the National Night Out event and the excellent job that Outreach Director Teresa Bowe put together in getting the City Departments,Business and Community to participate in National Night Out.The food and fellowship was outstanding. Mayor McClendon recognized the West Memphis Fire Department for their hard work in fighting the Fire at Altium Packaging. He also thanked the Marion Fire Department for their support in assisting the West Memphis Fire Department with fighting the fire and the West • Memphis Police Department,Utility Department,local businesses, community,council members and staff that came out with Food and water to feed the firefighters.The mayor commended Community-Outreach Director,Teresa Bowe and the summer youth that had a scheduled event that day,to honor the firefighters that was interrupted by the fire who had to break down their event and move the event from City Hall to a safe location near the fire to help feed the fire fighters.He said he was honored and proud of the work that they did and grateful to all the other West Memphis Fire Department staff and City Departments that came out to show a sign of support to their brothers and sisters that were trying to get the fire under control.The mayor said he was filled with joy and pride,The actions of everyone showed the true heart of the citizens and community of West Memphis and in a time of need we are truly one city united. CITIZENS REQUEST: None Having no further business to come before the City Council,Councilor Mondy made the motion,seconded by Councilor Harris,to adjourn.Upon voice vote,the voting was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 19 day of October 2023. `14(04,1e..0 "6-o6r � MARCO MCCLENDON,MAYOR ATTEST: PATRICIA JOPLIN, ITY CLERK Minutes prepared by,Patricia Lane,Sr. Deputy City Clerk