Agenda Session for September 9, 2025: Presentations and Consent Items
Agenda Session for September 9, 2025
The city council held an agenda session on September 9, 2025, to finalize upcoming meeting agendas and receive presentations. No votes were taken. Items discussed include consent agenda approvals, budget adjustments, a new aquatic feasibility study, and updates on the SWEPCO rate case and climate action plan.
Consent Calendar
- Resolution to award contract with Partwise for sculpture: $125,000 to commission artist David Eaton for an interactive playable art structure in the Upper Ramble. Funding shortfall from the Upper Ramble project will be covered by HMR reserves. The project was publicly advertised locally and nationally; the selection committee unanimously chose this piece.
- Resolution to authorize termination of agreement with Prime Sanitation: For hauling and disposal of solid waste.
- Resolution to award bid for Walker Park Improvements Phase One: Contract with Kinko Contract Constructors for $4,697,184.26, plus recognition of $613,685 in Southeast Quadrant Park Land Dedication funds and a $255,000 project contingency.
- Resolution to approve three-year lease with Elite Aircraft Services LLC: ~1,128 sq. ft. at Drake Field terminal for $1,200/month (first year).
- Resolution to approve three-year lease with Skydive Fayetteville: ~833 sq. ft. at terminal for $1,041.25/month (first year).
- Resolution to approve three-year lease with Scout Time Aviation LLC: ~297 sq. ft. at terminal for $437/month (first year).
- Resolution to approve amendment to cost share agreement with Greater Productions: $160,729 for sanitary sewer and storm drainage upgrades serving the park hotel and other downtown developments. Original agreement was ~$1 million; increased to ~$1.2 million due to added storm drain improvements identified during sewer work.
- Resolution to approve budget adjustment for water and sewer sales tax inventory: $190,000 to cover projected sales tax on remaining 2025 purchases.
- Resolution to approve contract amendment with Gaul's LLC for uniforms and equipment: 9% inflationary increase from suppliers, adding ~$7,400-$7,500 to the $82,556 annual budget. Contract runs through 2027 but may see another adjustment.
Discussion Items
- C1: Property tax levy ordinance for 2026: Fixes millage rate at 6.8 mills (same as last 15 of 16 years): 2.3 for general fund, 4.4 for fire pension, 0.4 for police pension, 2.5 for library, 1.2 for library expansion. Required to be certified to Washington County by October. Next countywide reappraisal is 2027; millage rollback would be calculated in 2028.
- C2 & C3: Franchise fee special revenue fund and budget adjustment: Establishes a new fund to disburse up to $250,000 to outside agencies for homelessness initiatives (Salvation Army and new beginnings). This framework protects funds from illegal exaction claims. The city annually receives ~$7.6 million in franchise fees (from utility companies and trash haulers) normally deposited into the general fund.</li>
- C5: Vacate 0.03 acres of utility easement at 322 South Walker Avenue: Applicant seeks to develop an accessory dwelling unit; all franchise utilities have approved.
- C6: Amendment to Holt Village PCD in Ward 4: Adjusts lot widths from 24 ft to 22 ft in planning area two and modifies planning area one lot orientation. Staff found acreage inconsistencies to be corrected before council vote.
- C7: Rezone 9.9 acres at 3900 Westmore Trail from NC to CS (Community Services): Property located off Dinsmore near Rupple Road. Staff and planning commission recommend approval.
- C8: Ordinance to approve PCD for ~49.2 acres on North Raven Lane (Ward 2): Site near Underwood Park. Staff recommends approval; planning commission unanimously forwarded. A request to remove a public street from the master street plan was denied by staff and planning commission; condition requires at least one public street through subdivision. Infill score varies from 2 to 6.
- C9 & C10: Annexation and rezoning of ~19.92 acres on West Lyarley Lane (Ward 4): Annexation from RA to NC (Neighborhood Conservation). Staff recommends approval; planning commission split on rezoning due to density concerns. Infill score varies from 2 to 4. Wet weather capacity concerns downstream in Cliver Creek lift station may require developer contributions to upgrades.
- C11: Appeal of planning commission denial for rezoning at 3070 West Mount Comfort Road: Applicant originally sought NSG (Neighborhood Services General); planning commission voted 3-6 to deny. Developer now proposes amending request to RSF-18 (single-family, 18 units/acre), removing commercial rights. Neighbors have engaged with developer.
Key Outcomes
- All consent items are expected to be voted on as a block at the next business meeting.
- C2 and C3 were moved to consent.
- C5 was moved to consent.
- C9 and C10 are linked; if C9 fails or is tabled, C10 will be tabled automatically.
- C11 will be heard as an appeal; council expects a formal request from developer to amend to RSF-18.
- Presentations received without formal action: SWEPCO rate case (city opposed the 27.3% increase; public hearing scheduled December 4); climate action plan update (12 of 82 actions completed; 42 ongoing; solar array near Waldron to provide 93% clean electricity by end of year); 2024 greenhouse gas inventory (community emissions down 6% from 2023, 22.5% below 2010 baseline; per capita emissions down 45% since 2010); aquatic feasibility study (recommends base program ~50,000 sq. ft. indoor facility plus outdoor leisure pool at the Lewis Soccer Complex site; comprehensive model may be possible if funding allows; bond discussion likely).
- A water and sewer committee meeting will follow after this agenda session.
Meeting Transcript
All right. This, as you all know, is a is the agenda session. So it is not a business meeting. We will not be voting. We will be finalizing our agendas and having some presentations. So the first up next week we'll have a nominating committee report, which I believe Stafford, you chair that committee, so you'll be delivering that report next week. I hope so. Okay. Um and then we move into consent. Um we have several um staff members here that are, you know, you've received information about all of these items that were placing on consent in your packet. We also may give you the opportunity to talk about them more. So if you want to go into more detail about any of them, we have people here who are ready to present. So just say the word and don't be shy. Um after we approve the meeting minutes, the next item will be a resolution to award an RIP to approve a contract with partwise. It's in the amount of $125,000 to commission artist David Eaton to create the sculpture in Brock Depth for the upper ramble and to approve the related budget adjustment. And Joanna, because we've already gotten some questions from council members. Can you give us a refresher in this funding and how it came about? Or this plan and this piece. So this piece um tent was to be an interactive um playable art structure in the upper ramble, uh, in the sort of art garden area of the upper ramble. Um and the idea is that we sought a national sort of we we went on a national search for an artist who would be capable of making a piece that was both durable to be interactive in our space in one of the most sort of public facing areas of our city. Um so this is generally associated with the upper ramble project. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Yes, I my question is this is this something that was on the budget. Uh yes, this um is coming. Um, the budget adjustment is because the project funds weren't quite sufficient enough to cover in it in the sculpture in its entirety. So we are bringing funds from uh HMR reserves to cover the rest of the cost required. What was the total cost? Is the total cost 125? Okay. What was budgeted and what are you bringing in? I guess. Um, it was entirely budgeted as part of the upper ramble project, though some of those there were cost overruns elsewhere in the project by the time we got to the art commission. And I think I think her question is something we can try to find out. Um is the the additional amount, the overage amount. Yeah, so the this piece was always envisioned to be 125,000. However, the project ran out of funds before the art was able to be purchased. There wasn't an overage in the art project. There was an overage in the project as a whole, not leaving enough for the budgeted art. Correct. And I just want to double check the uh RFP one out and local artists had as much opportunity to uh apply or correct. Despite as non-local. So the project went through the RFP process, so it was publicized on all of the regular city channels, but then we specifically publicized it in additional places, including Americans for the arts, uh, Coda Works, which is a public art commissioning website, uh, and uh Creative West, which is another public art commissioning website. So it was in all of the places where a firm uh capable of doing this scope of work would be able to see it. And we did have uh applications from local firms as well as national firms. And I'll just say that was on the selection committee, and um I believe this was a unanimous uh decision. We were very excited about this particular piece. Thanks, Joanne. Great.
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