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06/20/24 PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AGENDA WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL JUNE 20,2024 PRAYER: PASTOR ANTWAN STINNETT PHIDELPHIA M. B. CHURCH PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: MRS. PATRICIA LANE SENIOR DEPUTY CLERK-CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: CITY CLERK- MS. PAT JOPLIN BID OPENING: WEST MEMPHIS CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU-A NEW 8.5' X 40' PORTABLE STAGE TRAILER- MR. KENNETH JOHNSON MINUTES: APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF JUNE 6, 2024 ' OLD BUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: 0-1 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE HIRING OF DERRICK CLAY DB/A CLAY'S CONSTRUCTION TO PERFORM CONTRACTING WORK FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 0-2 AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH GRASS CUTTING FEES FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.. PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN AN AMERICAN RAMP COMPANY SOURCEWELL BUILD AGREEMENT COMMITTEE REPORTS: APPOINTMENTS: PRESENTATION BY THE MAYOR: ANNOUNCEMENTS: CITIZEN REQUEST: MR. GERRY BURKE, REPUBLIC SPEAKING ON: CRITTENDEN COUNTY LANDFILL LANDFILL ADJOURNMENT: MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL June 20,2024 A regular meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on Thursday June 20, 2024, at 5:00 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 by Sr. Deputy City Clerk, Patricia Lane. Mayor Marco McClendon called the meeting to order at 5:00 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, Melanie Hutchinson, Willis Mondy, David Murray, and Charles Wheeless. Absent was City Treasurer Charlie Suiter Jr., Councilors Gheric Bruce, and Lorraine Mohammed. Also present was Finance Director,Tori Perry and Evening Times Reporter, Donald Wilburn. Quorum, being present Mayor McClendon, proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENING: WEST MEMPHIS CONVENTION &VISITORS BUREAU-A NEW 8.5 x 40 PORTABLE STAGE TRAILER- PURCHASING DIRECTOR, KENNETH JOHNSON • Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to approve the bids as submitted and refer them back to administration.There being no discussion. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. MINUTES:APPROVE OR CORRECT MINUTES OF JUNE 6,2024, COUNCIL MEETING Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Croom to dispense with the reading. of June 6, 2024, Council Minutes and to approve them as submitted. Upon voice vote,voting was. unanimous to approve. OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS. Councilor Harris made the motion, seconded by Councilor Murray to read 0-1, 0-2 by title only. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE HIRING OF DERRICK CLAY D/B/A CLAY'S CONSTRUCTION TO PERFORM CONTRACTING WORK FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,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 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 Mondy made the motion,seconded by Councilor Catt 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 for the THIRD and final time. Councilor Catt made the motion seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the ordinance. Discussion followed. Councilor Croom asked what kind of construction Mr. Clay would be doing. City Attorney Stephenson said Mr. Clay would be doing residential and commercial remodeling. Councilor Croom said he was not opposed to approving the ordinance and could be persuaded to approve the ordinance, but his concern was that the mayor is Mr. Clays direct supervisor. Councilor Mondy said that he himself has had an ordinance on file with the city for over 20 years that allows him to do business with the City of West Memphis as well as other city employee's,city employee family members and officials have ordinances in place that directly or indirectly do business with the city, in compliance with Arkansas Municipal Law. Councilor Croom said that he understands that, but he has taken issue with this in the past even during Mayor Bill Johnson's administration There being no further discussion. Mayor McClendon asked for a roll call vote. City Clerk, Patricia Joplin called the roll.The roll call vote was as follows. YES: Catt, Harris, Holt, Hutchinson, Mondy, Murray Wheeless NO: None ABSTENTION: Croom ABSENT: Bruce, Mohammed With 7 Yes votes, 0 No votes, 1 abstention vote, and 2 absent the ordinance passed.The ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2673 0-2 AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH GRASS CUTTING FEES FOR THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS 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 Murray made the motion, seconded by Councilor Harris 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 for the THIRD and FINAL time. Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Harris to approve. Discussion followed. Planning& Development Director, Chad Bowman gave the council an explanation of the ordinance and fees. Mr. Bowman said that this is an ordinance to establish fees for grass cutting for those properties that property owners are negligent of not maintaining their personnel properties or absentee landlords that are not taking care of their lots. He said traditionally the city would contract with private grass contractors to bid on the properties to cut which was not a lot of money and they were having to repeatedly cut the properties throughout the year and place a grass lien on the property owners annual taxes.The property owners do not seem to mind paying it because the cost is so low and are treating the city like a grass cutting service to maintain their personnel property. Mr. Bowman said this increase in fees is to encourage and motivate these absentee property owners to maintain their own properties because it is overwhelming expensive and time consuming for the city employees to go out and cut their lots as well as maintain the city properties and it is exuberantly expensive to contract with private grass contractors to help with cutting these properties. Mr. Bowman said that he understands that their might be elderly people that are unable to physically maintain their properties and if they see this as an issue in the future that perhaps they can look into some kind of program to provide assistance. Mr. Bowman said in the interim they need to come up with a way to motivate people to take care of their own properties, especially private residential property owners who have multiple properties and live out of town that allow their properties to be unkept and overgrown and expect the city to maintain it. Mr. Bowman saidin the future they might want to look into taking procession of the properties where the liens are substantial and unpaid and look into taking procession of them to add to the cities landbank to get these lots developed. If you an absentee landlord and you are constantly accruing fees over time it will be to expensive for them. He said that they do not necessarily need to become a money-making entity, but they could take the lots and give them to builders or home builders that are building inexpensive homes and donate the lots to them to build houses for someone to move into them and put it back into use. Mr. Bowman said this initiative is to be a deterrent that code enforcement can enforce on overgrown and unmaintained lots. Discussion continued: Councilor Holt asked how much time was given for the property owner to correct the issue. Mr. Bowman said they give them 10 days to correct the issue. He also asked about foreclosures. Mr. Bowman said even if it is a foreclosure the tax liens are attached to the property even if it is transferred or sold. He said their goal is to collect the tax lien before the property is exchanged or sold. Mr. Bowman said that they need to recoup the money for the city cutting the property before it is exchanged or sold. He said in special circumstances if there is someone that is wanting to purchase the property to build on,they will need to work with council and the county to consider removing the liens. Councilor Holt said that unkept structures decrease the value of other properties. Mr. Bowman said he understands that, and he has heard the concerns of the citizens during the mayors action tour regarding code enforcement and addressing these issues is a priority for them. Councilor Catt asked Mr. Bowman to address the 50% increase. Mr. Bowman said if the property is extremely,overgrown that they can increase the price by 50%if the grass is above 18 inches. He said 18 inches is when they will sight a property owner for not cutting their grass. In some cases where the grass is too high,they have to bring in bush hogs and other large equipment just to be able to cut it and some of the properties are large fields and they will need to increase the fee to cut those properties, he does expect that will happen with residential properties but could happen with commercial properties or large fields. Councilor Croom asked about the fees to be charged to cut 5 acres at$500.00 and said that he thought it should be more than $500.00. Mr. Bowman said that he agreed but that it would be up to council to suggest that increase. Councilor Catt said that he was in agreement with them, he said that they can recover cost but said over the next 3 months maintain a record of how long it takes for the bush hogs to get from one end of town to the other how long they were on the acreage, depreciation, and,expense and then they can determine if they need to increase that fee. He said he would just like a little more data. He also asked about reinstating spraying the grass to kill it. Mr. Bowman said that was a possibility but said that they do need to be concerned about the environmental quality of using certain chemicals, but he will do some research on what is safe for spraying some of these properties to save money and time and not having to repeatedly cut properties while not affecting adjacent properties. Councilor Catt said that will involve ensuring the employees that will be doing the spraying are trained. Councilor Catt said increasing the Y fees is reasonable, but they have to file the tax liens with the county monthly or quarterly,they cannot wait semi-annually or annually, if the properties flip or are sold,they have no legal recourse. City attorney Stephenson concurred. Council Croom asked what happens if while they are cutting grass be it the city grass contractors or private grass contractors,they damage equipment because the grass is so tall who is responsible. City Attorney Stephenson interjected that was not a question that Mr. Bowman could answer, and it would be dependent on the situation, he said that the city has governmental immunity for negligence, and it would not be intentional and probably are not going to get anything out of the property owner that does not cut their own grass. Councilor Catt said it would be less labor intensive for the employees and cost effective.There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous to approve.The ordinance was adopted and assigned No 2674. PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION FOR MAYOR MCCLENDON TO SIGN AN AMERICAN RAMP COMPANY SOURCEWELL BUILD AGREEMENT Councilor Catt made the motion,seconded by Councilor Croom to table the permission request until the next scheduled council meeting on July 11, 2024. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to table. (Tabled until July 11,2024) COMMITTEE REPORTS: FIRE COMMISSION: Councilor Croom presented the Fire Commission report.There are no vacancies on the fire side,there are 2 vacancies on the EMS side.Troy Lauderdale will be retiring after 28 years of service.The Self-Contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) are in, and they will be doing their first in-service with B-shift. Fire Station#2 and Fire Station#3 roofs are leaking.There is 1 employee attending Fire Standards training. EMS calls year to date are 2198.The EMS collections year to date is $186,332.78.The ISO Auditor representative was here for recertification of the cities rating. Staff members are in Wisconsin for the final inspection of the new pumper.The Summer Youth Workers have been assisting the Fire Department with painting Fire Hydrants.The red fire hydrants belong to the city and the blue fire hydrants are privately owned. There are 0 out of service fire hydrants. AIRPORT COMMISSION: Councilor Croom presented the Airport Commission report.The North Apron Rehab project is underway.The Fuel Farm Rehab Project tank is expected around the 1st of July. The Department of Aeronautics approved a grant for spall repairs for the apron and taxiways. APPOINTMENTS: NONE PRESENTATION: Ms. Lisa Wright of Methodist University Cardiovascular Program recognized the West Memphis Fire Department for their outstanding contributions to the Methodist University Cardiovascular Program and the community that they serve. Ms.Wright said that the West Memphis Fire Department EMS Division has played an active role in the accreditation process and the relationship that they have built together has helped to save so many lives. EMS Chief Chuck Borkowski accepted the award on behalf of the West Memphis Fire Department. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor McClendon passed out the West Memphis 2024 Street overlay Improvement Program List to the council for their review. He said the estimated cost of the project is over 2 million that was previously discussed with council.The list has been put out for bid and they will come back in two weeks and make a decision. The Rich Road Bridge is continuing to move forward The National League of Cities came to West Memphis for their 100-year anniversary. Mayor McClendon thanked EMO Director Dewyne Rose for his work in getting them to West Memphis. The Juneteenth Celebration was a success. Parks Director, Russell Jones and Parks Coordinator, Carolyn Anthony and Parks staff did a great job during the Juneteenth celebration at Hightower Park on June 15, 2024. Mayor McClendon said the music, entertainment and food and community turnout was amazing. He thanked the Devine Nine and other organizations for all of their support of the event. The annual FreedomFest will take place on Friday June 28, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at Tilden Rogers Park. CVB Director Jim Jackson has put together an amazing event in the past and the Mayor said he is confident that this years event will be amazing.They will have live musical entertainment,food vendors and fireworks. Mayor McClendon said that the regular City Council meeting is scheduled for July 4, 2024,which is a holiday and asked council when they would like to reschedule it. Councilor Harris made a motion, seconded by Councilor Mondy to reschedule the City of West Memphis Council Meeting to July 11, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. Finance Director,Tori Perry said that she sent out a meeting notice to all council members that they would be having in person training from 9:00 a.m.to 12:00 p.m. at the Utility Building on the new financial system. Mayor McClendon reminded council that this would enable them to be able to look at all the financial reports on their laptops that were provided to council and to become paperless. There being no further discussion. Upon voice vote,voting was unanimous to approve. Mayor McClendon wanted to mention that as a result of his Mayors Take Action Tours that he has been having throughout June he challenged the citizens to become more involved and knowledgeable of what is happening in the City of West Memphis by attending the monthly council meeting and he is happy to see 3 citizens in attendance today. He encouraged them to continue to come and to bring more people with them so that more people be aware firsthand of the things that the city is doing to improve the city for them. It is their goal to keep the people informed and to be transparent. Councilor Mondy spoke on the problems with gun violence, he said he was born in West Memphis and has raised his children,grand children and is now raising his great grandchildren here and when a young child is killed by gun violence chances are that he knows the child, or their family members and he gravely effected by it as if they were his own. He is making a plea to the young men to-lay their guns down. He said we all feel the effect of these senseless kills. A parent is grieving the loss of a child another is grieving the loss of the freedom of their child that is incarcerated and that is two lives gone and the families on both sides are hurting.The mayor echoed Councilor Mondy's sentiments and said the young man that was recently a victim of gun violence was 15 years old and the suspects are 15 and 16 years old. He said it is time to give them positive things to do and the parents have to step up and parent. Councilor Harris said that they have to come out of the pull pits and hit the streets,so that we can try and stop some of this violence, CITIZENS REQUEST: Mr. Gerry Burke of Republic of Critten County addressed council during pre— council and did not speak during city council meeting. Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor Mondy made the motion, seconded Councilor Harris,to adjourn. Upon voice vote,the voting was unanimous.The•meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 11th of July 2024. ‘71 44 Gb 5°K l MARCO MCCLENDON, MAYOR ATTEST: PATRICIA JOPLIN, CITY CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane,Sr. Deputy City Clerk