Okay, everybody.

Good evening.

And we are gonna get started with our agenda session.

The pinwheel is in honor of tomorrow, which kicks off April 1st.

Also um National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the city of Fayetteville.

So I spent this afternoon at the Boys and Girls Club, and we have a partnership with them and the Children's Safety Center in raising awareness for child abuse.

And therefore we they put pinwheels out, and so now I have a pinwheel that is broken.

But they're no fault of those fine organizations.

It's the thought that counts.

Yes.

So uh welcome to the agenda session, Tuesday, March 31st.

And the first thing up on the will be our presentations.

We will begin next week with the sales tax and monthly financial report that Steven will deliver.

And then after that, I personally am very excited, and I know many of you are as well for the 2026 Annual Housing Needs Assessment Report.

This will be uh Marley Stark's first time to deliver this report, and she'll be doing that in collaboration with Britton, who has historically done the report.

Um I'll now go through and read the consent.

Um after we approve two sets of minutes, we'll have an annual acceptance of an annual program donation in the amount of 24,685 dollars and thirty-three eighty-three cents.

Um repre representing donation revenue from friends of YRCC to fund the 2026 programs offered at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center.

And um Joshua is here.

Josh uh from the YRCC to talk about that now.

Should you all have questions?

Just stop me at any time and he can come up.

Um the next item is a bid waiver.

It's a resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize the purchase of vehicle wash chemicals from whiting systems inc on an as needed basis within the approved budget through September 30th of 2028.

I believe that's an item from Ross in our fleet department who is also here.

Pardon me.

A5.

Oh, and I I was uh have neglected to ask Keith.

Do we have any council members that have called in that are on Zoom?

Can we check just so?

Yes, Councilmember Jones is on Zoom.

Okay, got it, Dr.

Jones.

Um, is he able to raise his hand and jump in if he needs to, or do we need to okay, got it?

So just let me know or Dr.

Jones, just speak up.

You should be able to unmute yourself if you need to, if you need to say something.

Um A5 is a resolution to award bid 26-25 and approve a contract with Southern Brothers construction in the amount of 180,977 for the installation of a fueling station at the Fayetteville Police Department to approve a project contingency in the amount of $38,000 and to approve a budget amendment.

And we have Chief Reynolds here if anybody has questions about that one.

I believe Miss Moore, you you you're indicating that you do.

Just was hoping we can do get a brief to update on it.

I know that it was something that had gotten pulled out of the initial new police station.

So just wanted to also understand if there's any potential with how this was um scoped, if there's the potential that this would have any additional aspects of the project in the future.

Just wasn't sure if this was all inclusive.

Got it.

Good questions, and I misspoke.

It is not Chief Reynolds, it's Quinn Thompson who's here that's kind of leading that project and can speak to it.

And you voted.

Thank you, council member.

Sorry.

I was just thanking you for your civic duty.

You have your I voted sticker.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

In fact, I did.

Um, so that was a lot of questions.

Would you mind kind of yep?

So I may refer to you, I may need to refer to Ross.

Yeah, yeah, so I know that whenever we were looking at this project, um, it had been pulled out of the I think the original um project of the 40 million dollar police station.

And so I didn't know if this when it was um spec'd with this cost, if this is everything we will potentially see for any of the fueling needs for this, or if there might potentially be any additional parts of the project that we'll see going forward.

No, I think this is the the final piece of this.

We've already ordered some of the components, uh, the tank and some other parts in order to beat some really long lead times on it.

So I think this is the last piece.

This is actually installation of equipment that we've already approved and purchased.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Quinn.

Um A6 is a Walker Park Swepcoat electrical easement.

It's a resolution to authorize the mayor to convey an electrical easement to Southwestern Electric Power Company for the Walker Park Improvement Project.

Ted Jack is here if we would like to.

I'm sorry, Ted Jack.

We have representatives from parks here who can speak to that if we oh, there's Ted.

We've got plenty of parks people here who can talk about that if you have questions about it.

Minister Jones.

I just had a question of like how much of the easement were we offering.

If I can get some more information about it, yeah, I think Ted's got that info.

Good evening, Council members.

Uh this easement um comes off as South 15th where the power comes across and there's a dip uh coming down, and then it runs due north about I would say about 400 feet into the park to where we get to where the new transformer location will be.

And there's a map in there that'll give you a little better indication of where it is.

Sure.

Thank you, Ted.

Uh Ted, stay there if you don't mind.

I just reading it was it's underground.

I just didn't know.

Um, the other electrics that's around at Walker Park, is all of it gonna be underground at Walker?

Are we will we still have like some overhead as well?

Uh all of this in this area is underground.

I'm not sure about other parts of the park, but generally when we're doing park work, we try to put everything underground.

I just was surprised recently in my own neighborhood.

There was um one of the houses that was underground, and when they were um uh redeveloping the house, they actually chose and they went above uh above, and I really thought that was odd because I thought that was such an improvement.

So that's why I just didn't know utility-wise, um, it seems like it's not always just one way.

And so I was just curious with the park thinking about.

I know I was trying to fly a kite in another city, you know, with my kids, and it was in a park space, and I was like, oh my gosh, I was like, there's all this electric that was so dangerous.

So it just it kind of is front of mind because of that.

So I just was curious.

Yeah, it's kind of a best practice in parks to put them underground.

Matter of fact, there's some federal grants that require the power to be put underground.

So Ms.

Turk.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, Ted, I have one final question.

So when you mentioned transformer, I was like, is that across the street or is that also underground?

The uh so the the power comes across the street aerial, and then there's a pole, and the power goes down the pole, then it goes underground going north to where the transformers located.

So it's high high uh um voltage lines coming in, and then the transformer, of course, reduces it down to where we can use it.

And is the transformer I'm assuming is above ground, and is it within the park also?

Yes, it is.

And then you're gonna shield it in some way.

I just want to do that.

Yes, it's kind of we've kind of located it as best place we could to uh to not be in the way of uh park activities and so forth.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much.

Sure.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Ted.

Um that brings us to A7, approval of bid 26-21 construction for Lake Fayetteville Bridge and Nature Trail.

It's a resolution to award the bid and approve a contract with Milestone Construction Company for the Lake Fayetteville Bridge and Nature Trail project in the amount of 272,177.88 cents, and to approve a project contingency in the amount of $30,000.

And we have one of our parks planners here.

Um that could actually can you Zach, can you go ahead and come up and tell us a little bit more about this.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh so uh milestone construction was our lowest qualified bidder with the submittal of 272,177.88 cents.

Uh this bid was well within our certified amount of 350,000 dollars.

Um so the funding will use three different sources.

We'll use um 2024 bond funding, 2022 grant funding from the recreational trails program through the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and we'll use some remaining funds with the Parkland Dedication Northeast Quadrant.

Uh the scope will be uh 450 foot, 10 foot wide accessible trail that will connect Veterans Park playground to the Razorback Greenway.

Uh the accessible trail includes a 70-foot bridge that will span a wooded ravine, and uh this will offer some unique and educational views for park visitors and those interested in lake ecology.

Um this is a part of an early trail system that we'd like to develop and complete at Lake Fayetteville, which would align with our goal for more uh immersive and accessible trails for all patrons.

So happy to answer any other questions.

Thank you.

I just looking at the um what's proposed, it looks like so it will come right off the existing playground so that folks that they're accessing that they can go and just play and extend right into it.

trail system that we'd like to develop and and complete at Lake Fayetteville which would align with our goal for more uh immersive and accessible trails for all patrons so happy to answer any other questions more thank you i just looking at the um what's proposed it looks like so it will come right off the existing playground so that folks that they're accessing that they can go and just play and extend right into it is that kind of correct yes ma'am okay all right thank you thank you Zach thank you item A eight and either Alan or Chris I know we are gonna want to hear more about this one um it's a resolution to approve amendment six to the professional engineering services agreement with Hawkins Weir and the amount of 12300 for construction observation services associated with the project to alleviate flooding near the North College Avenue and East Sunbridge Drive intersection and um if you could just give us a brief on where we are with that since we've recently yes sure uh so as many of y'all are aware this is a drainage project it's north of Sunbridge and west of College Avenue uh replacing some some pipe through a neighborhood we have had a contractor that has been severely underperforming on that project uh so we have decided to uh bring in both city forces uh which are currently on the ground uh getting ready uh making making preparations uh they've been removing some some uh driveways in preparation for replacing those uh and some other things on the west end of the project uh so they're working right now today uh within the next couple of weeks we will have sweets or construction another contractor in to begin placing curb uh sidewalk and driveways and start putting that project back together so uh we've essentially uh in the process of removing all of that repair from the current contractor's scope of work change ordering that out and uh taking taking that portion of it and uh and doing it another way uh the item that's in front of you is for additional engineering services necessary uh the uh Hawkins Weir is the is the engineer on the project uh this will provide staking that's needed for all of this this curb and gutter uh and also some additional um inspection services because the project has taken so long and I can answer any questions if anybody has further questions thank you mayor um Chris uh I appreciate y'all stepping in because as we know this has been a really mess for the for the neighborhoods could you give us an overview of kind of a timeline so the the neighbors might have some ideal of how much longer this project is going to go I know we're gonna speed it up but still it's gonna take a little while so give us a timeline of what you're thinking.

Yeah I I and it'll be it'll depend on where you're at in the project but starting on the west end um of the project is where we will begin placing curb replacing driveways uh really within uh the first few weeks that sweet sir is there they we expect to have uh have the first block of that done um so it it's going to move pretty quickly once we once we get in there uh there is quite a bit of work to prepare for that so our our forces will be doing that grading the the uh the existing road uh getting everything ready and then the final cleanup uh so we're looking at probably somewhere into September October to be completely 100% done but the residents on the west end will begin seeing relief they're the been the ones who've dealt with it the longest so they'll start seeing relief much sooner than that I also want to thank Keith for going door to door and handing out uh letters to all of the neighbors we sent them a note um from the mayor's office I shared with the ward three representatives um just uh apologizing for how long this has taken had taken and letting them know that things were were looking up I don't know who was first so let's go uh Ms.

Bunch and then Minister Jones.

Thank you.

Um Chris so do we had problems with the contractor are we are we in a position where we have enough staff that if if something like this happens again are we are we where we can kind of fill in until we can get a new contractor in is this something we can because we had some problems on another project in our ward that I won't name I'm not going to mention it.

But but but we uh we had some trouble with another project that just took a really long time and it was solely the contractor's fault so I'm hoping that that we don't have more challenges like this but I'm hoping if we do we have we can fill in with staff and and get it kind of moving along instead of just leaving it there languaging.

Yes.

So everything you said to Scott you know sounds sounds good to me but I'm I am hoping we can get this done quicker and and if we have any problems like this in any in our ward or anybody else's ward that we have the staff that we can fill in so that so that our our constituents don't find themselves in the position these folks did.

Thank you.

Okay.

Minister Jones.

Thank you, Mayor.

Hi Chris.

Um I brought this up a year ago that we should have a grading system for these contractors so we don't continue to rotate them in.

There is no system and there was no system when I started on the city council board.

And I have an issue with that because we could recycle bad contractors not knowing because it's all based on um subjective views of someone else that has used them before versus truly um grading and documenting issues that we've had with work with plan completion and I'd like to see that document it somewhere so we don't continue to award bids to individuals that do not do good work for the city.

And I would like for Steven to speak a little bit more to how they're handling that on the procurement side.

Thanks Mayor we we do have that process in place.

We've got a form and whenever our departments utilize contractors for services uh we ask that they complete an online electronic form that then goes into a database and when we're going out to um to bid for additional work we can take that into consideration when we receive um applicants uh looking for a city service um we can we can take that into consideration our past performance so this is something that uh you know after that conversation that you and I had um it's something that we you know have continued to take seriously and we have a process in place for that thank you Ms.

Turk thank you mayor um um uh council member jones really pretty much echoed my concerns and so is that system in place for all contractors the performance review so that even if we have good performance that's noted and dictated in there or is it only for those where we've had um challenging issues no it's uh it's a full feedback form for both for good and for bad okay thank you so much I think that's really good that you're implementing that sure and as you recall like uh you you've been on a number of our selection committees and you know that's one of the things that we take into consideration when we're uh determining whether or not to award a contract to a vendor so is our past performance so we we definitely uh take that very seriously Keith did you want to add anything?

Yeah I'll just add I think the staff is as frustrated as um a lot of you are on this I mean something that we have to deal with and and take our staff off of other projects so we've had a lot of internal conversations on how we can do better on this and that form that like I said procurement and Steve's group has come up with will help us in the rating system to where that's information that we have uh internally and then also at our RFP meetings or bid openings.

Mr.

Witaker Ms Moore and then Miss Bunch again.

Thank you Mayor um sometimes cities get caught with only one bidder on a project and I was curious if maybe this was one of those instances.

Yes.

Okay.

So I mean we have to start combing our hair and brushing our teeth and appearing more attractive when we go out to bid apparently so we'll all work on that.

Yep and we've had those discussions too Keith do you want to address that?

Yeah and uh Chris may be able to more intelligently talk about this but we're doing a more of a construction manager at risk con uh model and some of our projects going forward to assist with that and we hope that that'll drive uh more competition Ms.

Moore.

Thank you Mayor um Chris and if this is in the packet I apologize I've I've missed it but we did have the previous contractor and then this looks like it's 123000 that we're having to make an adjustment additionally is there any responsibility possible um with that contractor that will get some kind of um amount that's going to help to bridge some of this since we're we're having to make those changes because of them not being able to move forward with the project yes so what one thing that we will be doing um we have uh what we call liquidated damages which is basically a daily amount that the the contractor agrees this is in the agreement that if they don't finish on time they're charged this uh this daily amount until they do complete the work and that amount is 750 dollars per day um the the contract period ran out um about a month and a half ago um so uh that they they will be into some significant um liquidated damages uh at this point we we don't anticipate um any other um damages that we that we might pursue uh but we're we're not done yet um we do have some some requests from some vendors who've not been paid and so we've got to address that and we do have bonds to help cover us with those things uh but we'll be working with the with the surety company uh and and can can assist with claims towards those so uh there still are some other legal avenues we have that we might pursue if it's not too complicated to get into this this is a easier follow up just to email later I'm just curious about the seven hundred and fifty dollars because like you said it does add up but really when you do think about the inconvenience the the timeline

And we do have bonds to help cover us with those things.

Uh but we'll be working with the with the surety company uh and and can assist with claims towards those.

So uh there still are some other legal avenues we have that we might pursue.

If it's not too complicated again until this is a easier follow-up just to email later, I'm just curious about the $750 because like you said, it does add up, but really when you do think about the inconvenience, the the timeline, et cetera.

That doesn't again, I you have a balancing act of like you don't want to put someone totally under, but it has to hurt a lot if you're gonna end up going, you know, past what your expectation is.

And so I'm just real curious how that's that formula works out and how often it's kind of looked at to adjust it to.

Yeah, we we've used that as a standard for a while.

Ultimately, um what uh and and this is this is from all my years in talking with attorneys.

Uh what they tell us is that the damages that you can get uh for this are are really based on what your actual costs are, what those damages are, and you have to be able to identify those.

So the liquidated damages is kind of a simple objective way to say everybody agrees if you don't finish on time, this is what the cost is gonna be.

Uh that $750 is pretty low, and it's something that uh we continue to evaluate.

If if a contractor, if it if it's not painful enough for a contractor that they can just continue to pay at their making money somewhere else, then uh it it doesn't really catch their attention.

So yes, that is something we can look at adjusting over time.

Thank you, Chris.

I I have zero interest in continuing to do the same thing with the same vendor again and again and again and expecting it'll be different.

So my patience was um, which is on a good day thin, was completely um worn out by this project, and we just we're not we can't continue to tolerate it.

It's not fair to the residents.

Keith.

Yeah, and just to follow up on that, this is one been a big priority for the mayor.

I know like I said, I was personally out handing the letters.

Uh Kit and uh his team went out and drove it to kind of get a lay of the land on what's going on out there.

And our staff has been out there consistently, as Chris said.

Um, you know, we have teams out there, but this has been uh you know, a daily conversation in the mayor's office trying to get how do we address this.

Part of that is we had to work through some of the legal logistics on it to make sure that uh when we came to the table with the contractor that we had our ducks in a row, um, which Chris and I met with him last week and Alan and some of the other team just to make sure that we have a solid path forward that we're confident with that uh the time frame that Chris brought up.

Thank you all.

Okay, our next item is A9, 120 water ink.

It's a resolution to approve amendment two to the professional services agreement with 120 water ink in an amount not to exceed 84,500 for additional services related to water service, water service line inventory compliance.

And Tim is here if we have questions about this one, or it may be one that you're already familiar with and gone through.

Um A10 is bid 26-24 NEC Inc.

It's for concrete.

It's a resolution to award bid 2624 and approve the purchase of concrete construction from NEC Incorporated as a secondary supplier on an as-needed basis within the approved budget.

Um A11 is a resolution awarding RFQ 25-01 selection 17 to authorize a professional engineering services agreement with McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc.

in an amount not to exceed $634,940 for services associated with utility relocations required by RDOT and to approve a budget adjustment.

Tim is also here and can tell us about that one.

Minister Jones.

Yes, is this um the bid for the uh utility services on MLK?

Trying to forget which where is this is I think more uh the 412 area, but Tim can speak to that.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good evening, council.

This uh amendment is for we've been notified by RDOT that uh we need to relocate our water and sewer lines out on the intersection of 264 and Primrose.

Uh they're building a uh extending the four lane all the way to 412 on near Beaver Lake.

Basically, it runs right over our two main transmission lines come from Beaver Water, a 42 inch and a 36-inch.

So uh this is an agreement is gonna do the design to move these out of the way.

We're expecting uh about 1,800 feet of 30 36 inch, 1,800 feet of 42, but with all the alignments that need to be realignments done to get around this is probably gonna be somewhere around 8,000 feet of line to do.

Um we don't have a relocation agreement.

We've got to do the engineering first to come up and see uh what the exact qualifications will be.

We are expecting that nearly all of this, if not all of this, will be reimbursable by our not.

But uh all this includes engineering services, survey, uh, and design.

Be happy to answer any questions on that.

All right.

Thank you, Tim.

I think that's it on that one.

A12 is my favorite one.

It's a resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize the purchase of 10 additional bus stop benches in the amount of $9,025 plus any applicable sales taxes and shipping charges from Brasco International, because y'all know I love a bus stop bench and a bus stop shelter, and we're gonna put them everywhere.

So Dane is here and can ask questions, answer questions about that if you have them.

Minister Jones.

Thank you, Mayor.

Hi, Dane.

Um I guess I I have questions in the areas where um because when we first ran Route 10, because there's very few sidewalks in ward one, that there were not areas that we could do bus put bus stops.

What are what are your proposals or just doing bus stops down college?

Are you looking everywhere?

Literally.

Sure, we are looking everywhere.

Uh the goal that the mayor's put forward is to have uh seating accessible bus stops for all bus stops in Fable.

So that's what we're working toward.

Uh these benches are just an addition to uh an order that was approved uh previously this year uh for 24 shelters, and so these are additional benches uh to use in cases where we might not be able to fit a full shelter, and so they're a little bit more versatile.

We can uh use them in spaces that are more constrained.

I guess my question would be um it goes back to will benches just be in the most impoverished and marginalized areas because you don't have those sidewalks.

And so what you find is where there's development where there's new roads, there's new sidewalks, they'll get new benches.

But if someone doesn't have that in their area, they'll get new shelters, which is totally different than a bench.

A shelter is a covered stop where someone can sit and be out of the elements, and a bench is just what it is.

It's an open bench where you just seated.

Is there any plans in area that you see that there is high need for shelters that we're at least considering how many people are using that area?

Yes, and we yeah, we do have plans for Route 10.

Some of the some of the shelters are gonna go on Route 10, and in uh in the South Fayetteville, those wards, uh mostly where we have a lot of our ORT ridership, especially.

And uh, but College Avenue is also just a huge priority because it is getting upgraded with the sidewalks, and we want to make sure that those are served with transit.

I think can I ask a question, Dane?

Because I think there may be confusion and and hearing Minister Jones, I think you bring up a really good point because when I know when we've talked about our goal, it's a shelter, a true shelter at every stop.

So you're covered, you're not waiting in the elements.

But the benches are oftentimes integrated into that shelter.

And so I think when we're talking about benches, I wanted you to clarify that it's not our goal to put just a bench without a cover over it.

And I think maybe that's why that got correct.

Yeah, yes.

Yes.

All right.

Yep.

Anyway, that's it.

Thanks.

Keith, did you have something?

Yeah, just something to add is that um we have reviewed ridership statistics to try to prioritize to make sure that we're uh putting shelters in the highest priority areas as quickly as possible.

And as mentioned the mayor's priority on getting a shelter every stop.

But the mayor and I were at ORT, was it last week or the week before?

And we were reviewing with them to make sure they understood that was our priority too.

So obviously we have to work with both Razorback Transit and ORT.

But it's a uh between looking at ridership statistics and also looking at um making sure that we have the space to put a shelter because some of this current uh spots don't have space.

That's something that we talked to ORTs saying, hey, is that something could we move a space a little bit if a different you know, a close location to that uh current stop has the ability for a shelter, but the current stop does not.

So that's something all those things are on the table to look at.

Um okay, then A13.

I think this is the one you were thinking of, Minister Jones, about MLK and the utility.

It's a resolution to award RFQ 26-1 and authorize a professional engineering services contract with Crafton Talland Associates and the amount of 114,376 for the design of the Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard Pedestrian Improvement Project and to approve a master agreement addendum with the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Um Mr.

Mahalovich, can you tell us a little bit more about that one, please?

Sure, good evening, Mayor and Council.

Um we were awarded $500,000 grant uh to improve the sidewalks or create sidewalks on the south side of MLK between church and wood streets.

Uh yeah, it's exciting project.

Um so part of that uh the grant does um allow for design, the design work to be funded as part of the grant.

And so that's what this is doing is uh that master task order with RDOT because the grants through RDOT uh allows the consultant to get you know, you know, get paid, and then it's craft and toll was selected uh to do our design work.

So we're trying to get it going.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Okay.

Um and A14 and um Clerk Paxson, you'll have to let me know what the procedurally this needs to be done in terms of publishing and kit, you can weigh in as well.

But the staff is would not like to have this considered on uh Tuesday.

We would like to bring it forward at a later meeting.

So if there's I think as a sponsor, she you should be allowed to do that.

Actually, in one of the changes to the uh uh rules of order and procedure, I had a provision that would say exactly that, but I think we ought to be able to do it.

And I would like to see that provision changed so it's clear that the sponsor can remove that if it has not hit the final agenda.

Got it.

Okay.

So, but you will be seeing it again soon, and then that will bring us to unfinished business.

Um first item of unfinished business is from Councilmember Turk sponsored an ordinance to amend 161.38 district CCR, conservation, cultural, and recreation to prohibit detention and retention ponds on CCR zone property.

Miss Turk.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I don't have any updates right now.

Um, Jonathan and I are gonna meet tomorrow and talk about some things, and um, so hopefully we'll have something to report back next Tuesday.

Okay, great.

So that will bring us into new business.

And the first item is a vacation of vacation 2025-34, northeast of South Washington Avenue and East Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Um ward one to vacate.11 acres of utility easement.

Jonathan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, council.

This uh piece of property is just southeast of downtown where we're sitting now.

It's at the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Washington.

Uh the lot is currently undeveloped and includes about a third of an acre of land, of which about a third of that is currently within general utility easements.

Um the applicant has submitted all the necessary paperwork to see it vacated uh with uh only SWEPCO, uh, the local uh electrical provider having a specific condition of approval asking to retain some easement around an existing power pool on the site.

Uh with that, staff is recommending approval of the request.

And I did want to point out as you read through the report, uh, we did mistakenly note that staff and the planning commission recommend approval of this.

As a reminder, easements do not go to our planning commission.

So sorry for that error.

This uh the this is purely an administrative item in that regard.

Um I'm happy to take any questions the council has.

Okay, I don't see any.

So we will go to the second item, which brings us to South Hill Avenue.

Um, RZN 2026-4 for approximately 0.5 acres located at 957 South Hill, also in ward one from RMF 24 residential multifamily to RIU residential intermediate urban.

Jonathan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, this property is just about the same distance from us, but southwest uh of us.

It is on South Hill, as Mayor noted.

Uh it is a few hundred feet south of the University of Arkansas Arts District uh with the request to rezone it from its existing RMF 24 residential multifamily 24 units per acre zoning designation to RIU residential intermediate urban uh staff and the planning commission are recommending in favor of this.

Uh the planning commission forwarded it to city council unanimously recommending approval.

And to date, we've not received any public comment uh one way or another on the item.

And I uh can take any questions that the council may have.

Thank you.

Okay.

That brings us to our next item, C3, which is amending section 114.02 of city code to update regulations governing the farmers market operations.

Um, an ordinance to expand the physical footprint of the Fayetteville's farmers.

We need to be consistent with our apostrophes here on farmers on the Fayetteville, like isn't a market for farmers, or is it multiple farmers that have the market of the Fayetteville Farmers Market, allowing additional market days and times and authorizing the sale of alcoholic beverages by amending section 114.02, farmers market of the Fayetteville code.

Farmers market of the Fayetteville code.

Or Justin, come on up.

Hi, Justin.

Today we kind of received a comment from somebody that had been with the farmers market in the past about adding uh I think a Fayetteville uh city staff person or liaison or uh an additional other um city folks there uh because it is on public land and we are kind of in a way managing it.

Um did you all have conversations about that or consider that um action?

So we had so I responded, and I don't know if you had a chance to see my response to the agenda comment, and I did that earlier today.

Um it is something that I asked Keith about briefly, and we discussed it for about 10 seconds, and so we have not had we've not done due diligence to have a robust conversation about staff opinion on that.

I know I'd as I noted in the response to the um to the person that that called in, we do certainly have different nonprofit organizations where we have that relationship where we dictate a person on their governance, but that's typically when we have a lot of shared capital investment, like a building co-ownership, or where we have a lot of um financial support going to them.

So this is a little bit different.

So I would just want to talk through it with staff before we had a recommendation on what we would like to do.

But of course, council, you all can have your own separate opinions.

Uh I'm glad you all are thinking about this.

I've heard comments like that in the past.

So this person, um, this is not really a new comment.

I just hadn't really thought about it much, but there have been similar comments or recommendations in the past.

So uh that would be great if you all talked about a little bit more.

Great.

Uh Minister Jones and then Mr.

Wheedaker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I guess Justin, the concern that I've heard when I first got on council, I'm still hearing the same.

It becomes very subjective to one person deciding who's coming in and who's not.

And I think what he's looking for is an objective view of how are you grading for someone to be included, and how are we grading to expand?

Um, I think it's um being done in um just a small group of individuals that are not considering community voices and or city voices.

And I think that's only fair because if this is part of the city, as the mayor just said, it's not something that we own, it's on a public place.

I think the public should have a autonomy and an opportunity to be part of the board.

I think when it and especially if it's not objective.

If you don't have any rules, rigs, and it's not chick in the box and it's subjective on one person can say yes or no.

I think it needs to be looked at, and we need to revisit that.

Uh Mr.

Whitaker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I mean, God forbid we have fun and have alcohol sales.

So I think my only two concerns are the downtown Fayetteville coalition representing businesses that also would serve alcohol, that this might be viewed as competition, and then to coordinate with our aura program so that only aura cups are being used, I presume that this is alcohol in the street.

So those would be the two details I would ask the people to check on, and that's that's it for me.

I appreciate your efforts.

Great.

And so just to recap checking on the opinion of DFC and their view of of this proposal, and then also what the Aura regulations, how they would manage that.

Okay.

Ms.

Moore.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I'm I'm excited.

I think uh over the last several years, there's been a lot of um additional things that have been added and kind of expanded.

Um so I'm just hopeful either tonight or Tuesday night that we would be able to kind of hear too from the farmers market folks if they're cool with that.

I see you here.

Um, to just let us know.

Um, kind of, you know, some of my council members have kind of talked about, you know, understanding kind of like the criteria.

You probably have something, but we maybe just don't know.

But can you, you know, walk us through you have a lot of interest and a lot of people apply, you know, what gets weighed, and then we've added in a lot of different areas of like um items folks can make and kind of expand outside of just being like produce, etc.

And so curious too about like what you you guys are seeing or hearing um feedback on and kind of what you're thinking is gonna happen kind of as we start market.

I think we're all you know excited as it's it's getting started.

Um, and and would love to kind of have your insights too on these changes and how you're envisioning um how that changes how the market looks.

I mean, we've been in what foot footprint for a really long time, and so it's exciting that we're gonna do that expansion, and so really trying to understand too when that opens up to new vendors.

What does that look like?

Um, we have a lot of you know Fayetteville residents that are real excited to start their businesses locally, and so they're real excited to try to apply and come be a part of that.

So just want to kind of hear what your vision is and how you're envisioning that so we can help to uh spread that out in the community.

Okay, yeah.

So that's a good so we have public comment on and then on Tuesday.

If you'll be if market representatives will be here, I'm assuming Tuesday they'd be able to speak to that.

I think that'd be great.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you, Justin.

Oh, I'm sorry, Minister Jones.

I was like looking right at you.

I'm sorry.

Justin, do you have access to um what um Councilman Moore was just um replying to is the criteria?

Do you have access to that?

Uh no, so just to I think clarify this item, these are requests that came from the farmers market.

Um City Code sets out the guidelines and and regulations on their operations.

They're requesting basically four changes to the city code to um support their operations.

Uh, and then I think representatives from the market could would be better uh uh to speak to to their bylaws and their um how their operations are governed uh and how their vendors are selected.

That's not something that the city is involved in.

Thank you.

And they're here tonight and we'll be here Tuesday.

Oh, be here on Tuesday to be able to address that.

Okay, all right, great.

Thank you.

Um is that it?

Oh no, it is not it, it is not it at all.

C4, and an ordinance to amend 39.10 C, 39.10 C and 39.11 C to authorize the use of an experienced insurance adjuster to allow rare, exceptional and substantially proven claims above 100,000 to be paid if approved by unanimous consent of the city council and to declare an emergency.

Councilmember Berna.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, and I want to thank the uh ordinance review members be and staff that met on this uh topic.

Uh this is a direct result of the damage claim that came before us what was it uh month ago?

Um and our hands were kind of tied because the ordinance says max was a hundred thousand dollars.

Uh we had to look at this as uh both city council members and citizens of Fayetteville, uh, what's the the right thing to do?

So uh in looking at all options, the option we came up with was leave the criteria in place that we have presently, and we'll have a slide on Tuesday, but the max was a hundred thousand dollars uh by um a majority vote of the council.

Uh we said, okay, in this situation, we've got a verified appraised amount that's above the hundred thousand dollars.

How do we address that?

Uh so what we came up with was we have the hundred thousand dollar cap uh for uh uh majority vote, but two-thirds, okay.

Thank you.

Uh two-thirds uh anything above the hundred thousand dollars up to the appraised amount of the third party appraisal appraiser could be approved by unanimous consent of the council.

And the reason we landed on unanimous consent was we felt like if we escalated up each step of the ladder of of the amount, increase the amount of uh needed approval levels, so we felt like this was appropriate.

So we'll have slides Tuesday night to show you exactly what the levels are, but that's that's how we came to this conclusion.

So thank you.

Okay.

Um thank you, Mr.

Berna, and the ordinance review committee and everybody who worked on that.

Um I believe we have some announcements starting with the clerk's office.

Good evening.

Uh, a couple of announcements.

The first one is is that our office is currently accepting applications on behalf of the city of Fayetteville for the Fayetteville Youth Advisory Council.

Applications must be submitted by 4 30 p.m.

on Friday, April 17th.

And then separately, you'd received an email about the new board committee and commission policy because of that change in policy and working with Mayor Ron's office.

Our office has actually moved um the time periods that applications are accepted, so that way we're announcing the vacancies in the first month of each quarter as opposed to the second month of each quarter.

And basically that's to give additional time to incorporate the changes that we've added, which brings in the boards and the staff contact to have a more inclusive process.

So again, that's why you're seeing uh the vacancy come up for boards, committees, and commissions.

So just to let you all know, um the vacancy will be announced starting April 3rd, and the deadline will be April 24th at 5 p.m.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um Keith.

Yeah, the only thing I have is that we have a transportation committee meeting immediately after this on a separate Zoom link.

Okay.

Um and then my final announcement is that the ULI will be hosting a public finance symposium on Thursday of this week at um Heroncrest, which is a venue in Elm Springs slash Springdale, um to learn about public finance.

And um, I think a couple different city staff members are speaking on panels.

Um if anybody on the council is interested in that, please reach out to me as we have some um registration discount codes.

So except for Mr.

Weedaker, who apparently already paid full freight for his.

I'm sure they appreciate the donation.

All right, that's all.

Thank you.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Um Ms.

Bunch.

It's Thursday, but what time?

That is a very valid and pertinent question.

Um 8 30 to 6.

No, I think it's five.

Is it six?

Really?

You don't have to stay the whole time.

Okay, yes.

8 30 to 6, says Mr.

Wheedaker.

Okay.

I thought it was eight to five, but but he probably knows more than me.

Yes.

Thank you all.