Call this order meeting to order of the property owner's appeal board.

Today is December 8th, 2025.

It is 11 p.m.

A.m.

11 a.m.

So we will get started.

Chair, would you call the role, please?

Just fair.

Present.

Megan Rayner.

Present.

Cameron.

Pete Hanham.

Present.

All right.

We have quorum.

So we'll just jump right in.

Um following the agenda today.

Uh we need uh to approve the minutes of the July 14th.

Sorry about that.

Can everybody hear me?

Okay.

So we need to approve the minutes of the July 14th, 2025 meeting.

And the September 4th and September 10th, 2025 appeal hearings.

I take it.

Everyone got a copy of the minutes.

Does anybody have any questions about the minutes?

No.

I'll make the motion.

Accept the minutes.

As presented.

I have a motion to uh accept the minutes as presented.

Second.

Second.

All favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Those minutes are approved.

So items of business.

Today we will discuss the case of uh 1515 North 34th Street.

And Sean, would you like to present for the city?

Yes, good morning.

Inspector Myzel, he is the property maintenance inspector who handled this property.

I'm gonna let him start and uh go through the uh chronological order of defense on this property.

Good morning, all so this is a chronology of the property of uh 1515 North 34th Street.

And so I'll start the top of the wall with you.

Uh yeah, go ahead.

Okay.

Uh DCS number 24, 2924, addresses 1515, 134th Street, homework remote and CW TIPR.

Violation of 16 section 165 guidelines and ordering.

The cutting and removal of trees, grasses, weeds.

The authorized department shall proceed by the following guidelines.

The owners and occupants of all lands shall remove or cause to be removed all dead or dying leaves or trees and dead parts of living trees from such lands when such dead or dying trees or dead parts of trees constitute a hazard to personal safety of property due to the imminent possibility of a ball upon being blown upon public property or property of other owners.

Or when such trees, because of disease or decay, constitute admissions and or imminent health threat to other trees located on public property or property of other owners.

On August 5th, 2024, a code violation was observed of the dead tree in the front yard, and it was documented and posted at the seven-day notice.

On August 5th, office staff conducted a legal search and no more was found.

August 5th, certified letter was mailed to the owner along with the first class letter sent to the tenant.

August 12th, certified letter receipt return signed by the owner, read the tidw.

August 19th, follow-up inspection, no progress.

A second notice was posted along with the warning ticket.

August 26, 2024, final inspection conducted and property remaining remain non-compliant and documented via digital film media for assessment.

Excuse me, for assignment to contractor for abatement action.

August 26, 2024.

Assignment to regular contractor, and the tree was too large for Cedar Creek services to abate.

August 27th, 2024, property assigned to contractor, all American free service for abatement action.

On September 28th, 2024, property abated by contractor and barred in compliance with city codes.

Note uh from Director Guard on April 11th, 2025.

Uh Director of Neighborhood Services meeting with Mr.

Tidwell in the office.

The process was gone over, photos were shared, and it was discussed that we had no contact from Mr.

Tipwell.

He explained he explained he was working on getting that taken care of, and it was explained that we have no records of him contacting us to ask for an extension on time.

He did not say that he tried to contact the inspector other than he was working on getting it taken care of.

Mr.

Tidwell felt that the cost of the tree removal was excessive and that he could have got it taken care of for much less.

It was covered with Mr.

Tidwell that we should have worked with him if he had contacted the department.

It was further covered with Mr.

Tidwell.

It was further covered with Mr.

Tidwell should he get another notice in the future from neighborhood services and cannot resolve the nuisance violation within the allotted time to contact the number on the news and communicate with that inspector.

928, 2024 abatement.

Contractor fee is $1,900.

Code enforcement fees with 9494.

Financial fees, 59.6.

Total cost of abatement was $2,054 and 62 cents.

Note the neighborhood services department followed due process of posting notification and abatement action protocol for this property.

The city would request that all fines and these be assessed.

And this is the video of the tree.

Such notice shall be deemed to be properly served if a copy therefore is delivered personally or sent by certified or first class mail adjustment or last note address.

If the notice is returned showing that the letter is not delivered, a copy there all thereof shall be posted in conspicuous place in or about the structure affected by such notice.

That was uh met.

The requirement for legal service was met when the uh property owner signed for the certified letter, plus notification was posted on the property.

Uh the authorization for the city of Fort Smith to go on to a property to abate a violation per section 16-10 abatement of city and lien after the order of services are delivered or posted pursuant to the provisions of section 16-8 above for the period of seven days that the conditions listed in such order or notice shall not have been abated during that period of time.

The city administrator is hereby authorized to direct the appropriate city department to take all required actions to abate the conditions listed in the order of notice.

The costs and expenses of baiting such conditions shall be charged to the owner or owners of such real property, and then the city shall have a lien upon the property of such property for such costs and expenses.

So we met the requirements for uh being authorized to enter onto the property and abate the conditions, and uh at that at that time uh as stated in the video.

Uh uh Inspector Myzel can clarify this was based off a complaint that he received.

Yes.

So Mr.

Is it Chill?

Sure, yes.

Yeah, Chidwell was here to address the appeal board, and he will have five minutes.

All right, Mr.

Tidwell.

Uh go ahead.

Like uh Sherry said you'll have five minutes to speak.

I'm here on behalf of my parents, Rema and Charles.

Try to make this quick.

Um about three different things here that uh are an issue fundamentally.

There's some flaws in how the system is either working or not working.

First, I'm gonna use some paperwork here to establish that the price of this job was considerably higher than the standard because we use two tree companies on a regular basis because this is what we do.

Oh, thank you, sir.

All right, yeah.

That's a job.

Uh launch tree service.

They've done a lot of work for us for me personally in the last 15 years.

My parents were longer than that.

We also use a gentleman by the name of Merlin Brenneman.

You probably know Mr.

Brennerman.

He's the best tree man around.

He's just a lot older now, but he's an excellent tree climber.

And those are our two guys, two companies that we use.

And my parents have been very successful.

My mom was a school teacher, and my dad, you know, he was one of the last commanding officers of the reserve center here.

And they got into real estate 40 years ago, and now they've got property all over the town.

And so we've cut trees down all over town for the last 40 years and do it a lot.

And that tree obviously needed to come down.

And they brought it to our attention.

And so as the documentation shows, my mother signed for that uh notice in mid-August, and I started working on it.

My father went with me.

We met with Mr.

Brennerman, Merlin Brennan, Brennan Tree Service a really long time.

Went over there, assessed it.

Mr.

Brennan said, you know, a few more few years ago I would have taken that on, but let's let's go talk to Lopez.

I think we could team up on this job.

And so we went and tried to talk, track down Lopus Tree Service, and their location had shifted, and so that didn't work out.

So then we followed up with Wands Tree Service, which I've got receipts and invoices from Juan's.

The doctor we've used Juan's lots of times, and they you know sometimes get back to us quicker, sometimes later, and it can be a process.

And the paper I just gave you was for two trees at two locations.

That's two different addresses.

So that's 750 a tree.

Those are large trees.

I've got other paperwork, I know what a time limit, but I can provide it if you like of you know four trees on one property for $1,100.

And then I'd like to provide how we approach this process.

This is how we communicate with our neighbors.

Yes, sir.

We've been in this business.

We you know have to look out for our tenants, we have to look out for our properties, and our neighbors.

So this is one of my properties on Park Avenue.

Large dead tree, very similar to the one on 34th Street.

Definitely a danger to my property and the neighbor's property.

It was in her backyard, just past the fence line in her backyard, and I went over it.

You know, I did not know the neighbor, it's a rental property on my side.

She's the owner, so I talked to her and said, hey, we've got this dead tree, it's actually in your yard, but you know, it's in both of our interests to cut this tree down.

Um, it's not going to fall today, tomorrow, but it's going to fall eventually on its own, or because of weather or whatever.

And so we started the process.

I gave her my cell phone number, she texted me.

That's the first text.

That's the end of May.

She introduced herself, said, Hey, I said, Hey, this is me, nice meeting you.

We're going to start this process.

So later in the summer, I got a hold of launch tree service, and we started this.

I said, Hello again, Shane.

This is your neighbor at 4800 Park.

I called and got a bid to cut the dead tree down that's between the two houses.

And again, this is in her backyard.

So I'm being proactive to protect her property and mine and everybody in both properties.

The best scenario here would have been the tree falling in my driveway, and hopefully nobody was there in that situation.

But trying to get ahead of it.

So you read through here, it says, bid is 950.

950 for a tree as neighbor bigger than the one on 34th Street, which seems pretty reasonable for cutting it down and hauling it off.

If we split it, it'd be 475 apiece.

Let me know if that works for you.

Get it on the schedule.

And so this progressed, and you can see us July 30th.

Hi there, Che, that does sound like a reasonable bid.

Before we move forward, would you be able to send me a copy of the quote or the text of the pitch?

Thank you.

I followed up.

It was just a simple text.

I talked to Eric with Ron Launch Tree Service.

Eric is one son, he's running the business now.

Does a lot of work for us.

He just sent me a message and said 950 cutting all off.

But I can, you know, I followed up and said, Wand tree service.

Both Juan and his son Eric has done a lot of work for us over the years, and they've done quality work for a fair price.

That said, we probably could get something in writing from them before we start before they start.

Well may I may I finish?

We don't have anybody else here.

I think more than five minutes would be.

I don't think we need to go through all the text in this.

Okay.

Yeah, so if you'll finish up, finish up.

We'll so I'm establishing this is how we handle it with our neighbors, try to get out ahead of it, and we communicate with the neighbor.

One of the things that I'm trying to point out is pretty clear, that was $950 compared to twice that price on 34th Street.

In addition, throughout this process, it's a long process.

It took a long time to communicate back and forth.

Once I got the bid, it took from late July until end of August.

They had maintenance issues with their tree equipment, and we finally got done.

But the main thing I want to point out to you is we had a little delay on that.

August 26th.

I said, imagine it.

Just got a message from Longs Creek Service.

They will be cutting the dead tree on Park Avenue tomorrow, Wednesday morning.

What's the importance of that message?

It's safety.

Safety, safety, safety.

I know that's part of this discussion, but we're missing that with this department's side of this case.

We are very intentional about making sure the neighbors' property is safe, our property is safe, but also more importantly, the people in it.

And even the dogs in the backyard.

And I can go on and on about the amount of times that I've gone above and beyond to make sure you know the guys working in the yard know what's happening and when there's going to be a uh a tree cut.

And I'm emphasizing that this is how we do it.

This is the right way to do it.

We just heard the other side.

And throughout this process, we cited this department cited the minimum of what they need to do to go out and do this, the minimum based off of code.

It was not the maximum.

I think we can all agree.

Because no, I don't quite agree with that.

Okay, let me finish.

We had no notice that a tree company was going to come to our property.

The property owners did not get a notice that a tree company was going to come and do heavy equipment work on our property.

That is but this notice was a small property, a certified letter that was sent to your parents' property and signed by your mother.

What happened between when they signed the letter?

Did they go out and check?

Did they contact the city saying we went out and we started the process of did you contact the city?

We received it and started working on the problem.

We had no notification.

So I can understand that part.

But the process that I'm showing you of how it's properly handled for safety's sake.

But residents, property owners.

And if this is how you handle this with everybody in Fort Smith, I would encourage you to reevaluate process because it's fundamentally flawed.

That's you're going out the city's not in the business of taking care of personal trees, but in an instance like this, this is what happened.

So how else would we have should we have handled it?

You're missing the point of we're talking about safety.

But I'm talking about the process of why we why it was done.

Does nobody think that notifying the property owners of when the tree is going to be removed and when they have the equipment?

We're talking bucket trucks, chainsaws.

You can't even go in the national forest and run a chainsaw without a permit and getting permission from authorities.

I'm a trail maintenance guy on Highlands Trail.

We're missing a step in the process here.

So if I may, before we before we actually have a contractor arrive on site, we post an abate on film notice.

That is the notice that you're talking about up there.

That was posted on the property wasn't the film.

So whenever we do that, that allows the property owner to understand the height.

Because you've not abated this violation.

Then yes, we are going to move forward with having script that down.

If you're talking about safety, it was an initial safety issue.

That's why we were there.

It's a dangerous death tree.

With a family next door and a family inside.

So we are following the utmost of our code as it is written.

Everything was posted properly.

Tickets on this.

I never heard a thing.

If we don't hear anything, we can't we can't work with me people otherwise.

Okay.

My position is still the same.

And this is for every situation of Fort Smith.

Your department or any department's going to come out and run heavy equipment that could harm the property or harm anybody in living in the property.

Well the neighboring property.

I agree with you.

That tree is was a danger.

It was.

And not informing us when it's going to be taken down.

But we did so that it's posted on the property.

You you posted the date, it was going to be removed.

I don't think you did.

We posted the date that the property was assigned to a contractor.

That's different than the then what I'm pointing out is what I showed.

I contacted the lady next door.

That was that was great communication there.

I I agree.

So there was no communication between any of the Tig wells and the city.

What's the time you she Ms.

Tigwell signed for the card and the time that uh the tree was made?

That's correct.

There was no communication whatsoever.

I spoke with the tent.

I spoke with neighbors.

Uh I posted the property with that notice.

It was another 30 days almost.

It was almost a full two months before that tree was finally taken down.

Because the first initial contractor, it was too big for you to do it.

It was too close to the house, such a damage.

The second contractor, elementary tree service had the bucket truck and the equipment stuff to do it safely.

Okay.

Did the tree die within this summer?

Because you said you're being very proactive in the past.

But I looked on Google Maps, it kind of looks like that tree's been dead or sick for a very long time.

That doesn't look very proactive.

I'm just saying, I mean, as a person that's also cut down a lot of trees and has a large properties.

I mean, I understand being proactive, but I think that one may have gotten missed also.

No, it came to our attention.

And I feel like uh seeing the pictures, it is very close to that one structure.

It needed a bucket truck.

And I I agree that you can get some trees cut down at cheaper in these estimates.

We don't see how close they are to the structures, but in that case, I've had one had a pine tree that was about a hundred years old that was very close, and it cost me 2800, and that was a very good price, I thought, to get it safely removed from falling on the house.

Um so in my opinion, I think needing the button having that heavy equipment to beat it safe, might have warranted this.

No, I I mean you had you had missing points here.

Maybe on the the bucket truck was required, correct machine.

Which would which would make the estimates usually higher or the cost more higher?

This one street service uses a bucket truck, and this particular case it was wedged between the two houses and it needed a surgical, and it was $950.

But we split it between the two neighbors, 475.

And what I'm pointing out here is this process where we worked together at the end, right before they were going to cut the tree.

I made sure she knew when there was going to be a bucket truck above her house cutting a tree that could damage her house or harm somebody inside.

That is the part that you all you skipped past that.

No, we did not, sir.

What has been missed is communication with us once the initial notice was received.

This all you wouldn't even be sitting here right now if you were to communicate with us.

Okay.

What's the process for getting bids on tree removals?

On tree removals, we'll we'll contact three different contractors.

If it's under if it's under $2,000 per city ordinance, we don't have to send it out to bids.

The initial one we uh the initial bid that the initial contractor we got a hold of went out there, saw the sheer size of this, the close proximity to two structures, which was a safety factor, and he did not feel confident.

All American Tree Service is a tree contractor that the city has used for many years now.

Uh usually comes in at the lowest bid that we have any time that we have somebody give us a bid on a tree.

He was under $2,000.

He has the necessary safety equipment, the bucket trucks and a crew to go out there to safely remove the tree, cut it down, lower it down to sections, and his cleanup is amazing.

He removes the whole thing, does not leave nothing on side.

So, but if it had exceeded $2,000, we would have to go on with the lowest bid.

I have one more thing to got one copy of this.

Oops.

So after this tree was removed, the tenant later informed what's the date or so.

This says May 28th, what year?

Is it this year?

So that's that's spring of this year.

Okay, thank you.

So uh back in the fall, the tenant, she informed my father that during this process, part of that tree was dropped on the house.

And at the time we're like, well, that's interesting.

This is a he said she said situation.

Um found it interesting, frustrating.

Fast forward to the spring.

Um we were working on the property, and then you can see the texts.

Top text is is from our maintenance guy.

He said, Hey, we got a leak.

Uh send a picture, the pictures on the back.

It's in the front of the house, right above the front door.

I said, Hey, where is it at?

And he described it.

And the second text is our rooker.

He went over, uh, identified it, and I said, You get it fixed.

And he said it was a puncture from something that fell on the roof.

And anyone called the city after anyone call the city after the tree was cut down to say, hey, you guys cut this tree down and it fell on the roof.

No, I just pointed out the tenant came to us and it was kind of a he said she said situation, and then later we have a leak in the front of the house right below where the tree was taken down.

Could that have happened because the tree was dying?

It could have happened in the week of the There's a lot of scenarios.

That's what I'm saying.

We can't we don't know for sure that this was he he said it was a limb, and you know, there's a puncture, and he put a little sheet of metal over it and you know passed it, and now it doesn't leak anymore.

But it it's a result of what happened there, and maybe maybe not.

I don't know.

I don't think that there's a or department.

And from the start of this whole uh this case.

Um is anyone with the board have any further questions for Mr.

Tigwell or for the city?

How many properties do you all own throughout the city?

Uh 60, 70, 80, and it's my parents own property, I own property, and my brother's own property.

Have you had any other issues with the city's uh violation or any kind of notice sent to you all?

Have you had any kind of uh history with the city's department?

Notices on a regular basis.

And and generally when you get a notice, do you call and ask them with that?

Or do you think that's the case?

We go to the we take the issue.

We tend to the issue.

And I will tell you on one case I called and you know questioned how the process was handling, and I was told that we gotta do this to cover us.

That was that was the quote.

I was kind of astounded.

We we gotta do this to to cover to cover us.

And I was taken back that that's that was what I was told on the phone.

Um I as a citizen of this wonderful city, I think Fort Smith's a great place to live.

I think the way this uh department operates is fundamentally flawed, and I think there could be improvements on how you uh take care of these issues and and deal with citizens and homeowners in the city for that.

And I think that's it.

Uh we had a big property of his over on 50th Street right by the college, right next door.

And he had a tenant that had an Amazon whatever Ben shop or something going on under his carport, and it was under the carboard, the whole backyard was well.

This is a large parcel, whole front yard was school, and I went on and on and on with this guy and finally got him to where he was making progress, but he he went right back into it right at the first of the year the next year.

Long story short, I told the guy I was gonna write a citation if you didn't get it cleaned up.

Well, Mr.

Timwell called me the dad and communicates with me.

Hey, we're gonna evict this guy, you know.

I can't get it done until the end of the month.

Will you work with me?

I said, Absolutely.

As long as as long as you're making progress, I am glad to work with you.

That's what we say to everybody.

Yeah, we don't want to make anybody's property.

That's just the next step we gotta go through.

That's that's what we have to do if the property owners that own all these properties.

Cannot take the responsibility of taking credit properties.

Right.

And the the case he's referring to, we that was a tenant from hell.

Um we've had plenty of those, and most of our notices that we get from your department are because of trashed yards, like the gentleman, yeah, the guy you were talking about.

But he did communicate.

Let's say that's the way we are everyone.

Yeah, and my point will remain the same that you're gonna bring heavy machinery, bucket trucks, chainsaws on anybody's property, your property, yours, yours.

I go to my neighbor and just start running chainsaws because you know his tree needs to come down.

It's you're skipping steps in the process.

I would just highly recommend that a notice clearly that on September 5th, between 2 and 6 p.m., we're gonna be doing heavy machinery work that's dangerous.

And that that didn't happen in this case, and I don't think it ever happened.

Well it sounds like music city did make you guys aware that they were in the process of getting something done.

And and a simple phone call probably could have phone calls are great old bosa.

Right.

If well, if you guys had notified the city, hey, I got a guy coming.

Give me 10 more days, maybe we can get this done in 10 days or 25 days.

Just you know a card you're talking about a phone call at a different juncture.

I'm talking about safety, you know, the day, the week before.

I've got I've got a you know, I was looking through the files for this property, and we had a you know a planning commission meeting about somebody doing something on their property nearby, and there was a process, and we were notified of when that was going to take place.

If the utility companies are going to turn off your utilities to do work, they will notify you and say on Thursday between 2 p.m.

and 6 p.m.

You're not gonna have you know uh water or electric and we're gonna be working and there may be issues on the property.

This is a lot more dangerous than that.

And it didn't happen in this case, and it's not part even part of the the process.

I think well, I mean, we've got to see your uh your your position on this, but I think we're ready for uh to take action or as uh anyone have a motion to make.

I move that we recommend to the board of directors a rolling out of the delinquent lane and saying be certified to the Sebastian County tax collector for placement on the tax workers.

Have a motion to have a second.

I second this.

Um motion's been made.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right, motion carries.

Is there any further business before the board?

Uh I will just say that that ordinance to certify the line plus the 10% penalty to the Sebastian County tax collector will be placed on the agenda for the board of directors meeting on December the 16th.

Okay.

No.

Any further any further business today?

If not, I would uh entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Yeah, second.

Second.

All in favor, say aye.

Adjourn.