Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Jonesboro City Council.

This is Tuesday evening, September 2nd.

And as I always say, the year is traveling by very quickly.

So I'm gonna go ahead and open us with the Pledge of Allegiance, and Councilman Brian Emerson will lead us in prayer.

One nation under the justice.

Would you bow your head and pray with me?

Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us here this evening to do the business of this great city.

And please keep a protecting and guiding hand upon us tonight as we make the decisions and we watch over the first responders that help protect our citizens.

And dear Lord, thank you again for everything that you bless us with, and please forgive us of our sins.

Please make us better people and please allow us to continue to do good work as you have guided us to.

Amen.

Thank you, Councilman.

If you would, we'll move on to item number three.

And uh council, if you would please press your button for presence.

And we do have 10 members present.

Everybody for this evening.

Is that right?

Hands out.

Okay, David.

All right.

Next council will move on to item number four.

And these are items on special presentations.

And uh Councilman Hafner has asked us uh to bring forward capital project updates.

And and uh Craig at this time you want to come forward.

Um these are I think he's done a good job here.

Um, and Craig will go over a little bit about the explanation of what he's presenting to you all.

But I hope you see the in-depth detail that uh what we're doing in the community of Jonesboro.

And so, Craig, the floor is yours.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Council.

Um I handed out a sheet to each of you before the meeting that has a list of our our current project list.

Uh, some of them are from the Capitol General Fund, Street Fund, and some of them are grant funded projects, but uh it's it's hard to separate those when you when you start making a list of everything that's going on.

But um at the top of the page in front of you is the list of the 2025 overlays.

Uh, they're about a third uh through for the year.

Um I know Steve Tippet and his his department has been getting those roads prepped and ready for Atlas Asphalt to work on when they get back into town.

Um so those will uh continue through the fall and uh try to get those done before the end of the year for the 2025 uh budget cycle.

Uh the next uh we move down to miscellaneous street projects.

Uh this is the miscellaneous funds that are allocated every year.

I think for this year it was about a half a million dollars.

Uh with that uh we've done five speed table projects, those are all completed.

Um we don't have any more planned for 2025.

We have a few prospects for 2026, but uh we'll uh we've created a policy uh and we're screening those against those policies to see if they actually warrant.

Greg, if you don't mind, will you go over some of the criteria for the speed tables for the community?

I don't have that sheet with me.

Um we're looking for uh a certain number of vehicles, a minimum number of vehicles, a range of uh I believe it's between three hundred and uh godly uh 1,500 vehicles a day.

That's kind of the range of a street that would warrant uh speed table, uh speeds less than 35 miles an hour, uh post it speeds about 25 miles an hour is what we're really shooting for with the speed tables.

You start getting those faster speeds or the higher volumes uh the speed tables uh become more of a detriment to uh what's going on than a safety feature.

So we can definitely make that policy sheet available to the city council.

I just uh I hope that I got those numbers right because it's been a couple days since I've looked at that.

But um so on the speed tables, those are the ones that are completed this year.

Uh so far we've completed the Crest Street lighting project.

Uh we have the lights for the Huntington section from Union to Flint designed.

Um that'll be a 2026 uh construction project if we're able to get those funds in the 2026 budget.

Uh we've been working on the North Church Hawk signal.

Uh it's been designed.

Uh we've ordered the equipment.

The equipment should be arriving this month, and we hopeful that we'll get that signal installed before the end of the year.

That's for the Parker Park Community Center swimming pool.

We are at 90% or close to 90% plans for the Southwest Drive Cobra House pedestrian improvements.

That'll be pedestrian accommodations at that intersection.

And then the Johnson Avenue side path and turn lane project.

We did obtain the permit for that.

It has been funded through the bond project.

We're beginning the property acquisitions.

There's eight properties that were touching.

Most of those are temporary easements, but we still have to get those agreements in place.

So those will be coming for you in the next couple months.

This year, we uh uh the city purchased the property on North Main Street.

We just completed the metal arc drainage improvements.

Um that's over off Aggie area, Marzian, Lesleann uh area.

We completed the Olive and Vine Street, uh some drainage work over there with the capital funds.

Uh we're about to kick off the maplewood terrace drainage improvements and a uh restudy of the Butler Ditch floodway out in the industrial park.

And so those are both uh slated to start this fall, and uh hopefully be done by the end of the year.

Uh on our sidewalk, side path projects.

Uh we've completed the Madison sidewalk project this year.

Uh the Cobra House Trail Project, there's a about a two-block section of that that is stalled out.

There's a utility relocation work that's being done there.

As soon as that utility gets out of the way, then they'll go back over there and finish that.

And the Jeff New Jefferson Avenue Trail Project, they've they're almost a walnut street, so they've gone from Flint to Walnut uh so far since July, so they're making a lot of progress on that.

And again, that's a one of the bond funded projects.

Without that bond fund, we would not be doing that project this year.

Uh we've we've spent out our sidewalk money this year, so uh we we would be stopped without those bond funds.

Uh on our industrial rail projects this year.

We've we've completed the switch point protection project, the MLK crossing projects under contract uh with the meadows construction.

We're waiting on R DOT to actually give them to the notice to proceed.

Uh R Dot's contractor has to get to a certain point for our contractor can start.

And we're continuing to work on the train info or train foe project.

Um we've got our sensors out, they're communicating.

They're um this is going to be connected to the 911 system.

South Church Street toward East Archington Avenue.

Sorry, I was looking at Jefferson Avenue.

We're across Walnut.

All right.

Um so that project continues.

I say we're we're doing some calibration on the sensoring systems, or the contractor is uh trying to get the communications with the 911 established with there, and then we'll uh we're finishing up the designs for the foundations for the for the digital message boards that are they're gonna be out in the field so the motoring public can tell when a crossing is gonna be closed before they can get there.

All right.

On the grant funded projects, we've completed the downtown to A State project this year.

We've completed the Melrose Sidewalk project this year.

Uh the abilities unlimited and the jet bus stop project are now both under contract.

We're having pre-construction conferences with those this week to get those contractors started.

Uh I think there may be some delay in the jet bus stop because on the actual bus stops themselves are not going to be available until like December.

And so there might be some hold on when the construction actually starts on that particular project.

Uh on the rail crossing elimination grant.

Uh, we're negotiating contract for for that project.

Um the Craig had Forest Park Motorized Trail Project.

We've requested uh permission to advertise from R DOT.

So as soon as we get that, we'll advertise that project.

Um the University Heights Trail.

We still have two properties left to acquire on that.

One of them belongs to Arkansas State.

We've reached out to them, and unfortunately, the other one I think is gonna end up being a condemnation that property owners uh not willing to work with us.

Uh that will be coming before to city council, most likely this month.

Um Lacey Park Soft Surface Trail.

We're planning to have the 90% plans done by the end of November for that project for 2026 construction.

Uh the Marion Berry Parkway multi-use trail project should have the 90% plans by the end of October.

We've already gotten the comments back on the 60% plans or making those changes to that.

There weren't a whole lot of items just trying to finish up some real details about the the walls that are gonna separate the traffic from the bicycles and stuff like that.

When that's uh done, we'll resubmit those to our dot for their approval.

But and then for the safe for all, those are broken up into two categories, one's for the North Church and the other one's for Johnson.

Uh the the Johnson, we're hoping that that project will go to construction uh earlier than the North Church.

Uh the lighting circuits should be easier to actually get done.

Uh we uh we have a 10% plan review meeting this coming Monday on that.

So we're just now getting in the in the design of that with Garver Engineers.

Uh council approved that contract in uh I believe it was in July.

So we're we're getting that one going.

And then a couple of the other projects is the winter wonderland renovations.

Uh we should have the 60% plans from Bracken and Crenridge uh into September.

Uh real-time Intelligence Center, the location analysis.

I think we're shooting for a September 16th deadline to have that, and we've been working very diligently on getting those numbers put together.

And then the South Caraway Road project, we still have two properties to acquire on those, um, and those we hope to uh have before council in the next month or so.

Um we're looking at a utility adjustment on that, but we do see that one going to construction in 2026, um, assuming that City Water Light's able to adjust their facilities.

But uh those are the projects that we have going right now.

Um we have a few other ones, but uh these are the major projects.

Um we're you know, coming into September, usually at this time of year, we're not sure what next year is gonna look like, but uh here we are in September, and it looks like next year is gonna be very busy for us and the next couple years.

So we're uh we're excited for that.

Um you know when it comes to building and designing and building projects, it's nice to know that the funding's gonna be there, and for a lot of years, we just never knew until you know the budget was passed what we were gonna get to do.

So do appreciate you guys passing this this bond um back in July so we could uh really plan these projects out and get these things going.

And well, I'll try to answer any questions that y'all have.

I got a few questions.

I got a few questions.

Um Craig, thanks for the update.

Just a couple follow-up questions.

Um I'm looking at the I guess the June financials is the capital improvement detail by project.

So just to I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly.

Like on the University Heights Trail, you know, we've got one point basic, basically two million of dollars of funding in there.

That's where we're waiting on the two properties to acquire, and then we'll be able to get rolling on that.

And pretty good.

Yeah, there be there'll be some utility adjustments, and then we'll still have to go through R Dot's final uh approval of the bid plans on that.

So um and as you know, we discussed at the uh connectivity meeting just two weeks ago about doing uh changing that to a 10-foot side path rather than the Crest Street design, so that may uh uh modify that a little bit, but um all right, and then just to I'm asking about some that just had been on here for carryover, but I don't see any activity on these union financials.

So the other one is the 50 spot parking lot out at Craig Head Forest.

That's still showing on here.

I thought for some reason I thought that was done, but it's still on this carryover list.

Have an update on that.

I I don't have that list in front of me to comment on.

I know there was a parking lot that was built at the front of the facility, and then there was a second parking lot that uh I believe it was larger than that, uh, had about 300 and in it.

Yeah, this just says 50 spot parking lot, 381,574 dollars, and it seems like it's been on here a couple of years.

That that one actually is we have 100% design plans on those project.

Um we have were discussed earlier this week about other priorities out at Craig Forest that that rank ahead of that parking lot project.

Um, and I believe there's some overlay money as well.

And so the discussion earlier this week was you know, really where do we want to use that money?

Um the overlays, uh street department went in and patched a lot of the potholes that were developing out there, and so it kind of has been sitting idle um determining whether or not that's uh the best use of those funds right now.

Hey Danny, do you mind uh come forward and mentioning several of the projects that have been brought up for concern for one and playground another?

Yes, sir.

Uh so as you know a lot of the the pavilions and the playgrounds out there are got some age on them, and so we we're evaluating uh some of those that need to be taken care of.

Uh currently we had one pavilion that did uh come down, it's it's been removed and uh insurance is helping take care of it to get it back in place and it has been ordered.

Uh the pavilion next to it, and we we had inspections done.

Uh Craig and Tim both went out there and did inspections on them.

We feel like that that one's needing to be replaced, so we're we're replacing it as well to make sure that we have safe pavilions for anybody out there that wants to use the park.

Along with those inspections, the rotary playground, which is our largest playground, the most used playground in Jonesboro, it is now time uh to be replaced.

And so we're looking at the evaluation of do we worry about moving that that parking lot money over to it first and make sure that it is because it is a higher priority, it is something that's that's really being used.

So that's one of the things that we're looking at is putting the money towards something that uh we deem is probably more of a necessity right now.

Yeah, it just seems like I said some of this money's been sitting on here for a couple of years with no spending, so I'd rather see it get used somewhere than just keep sitting here.

But um that's right, that's why I like these updates.

And why Danny, while you're up here, once again, I'm going off the June Financial.

Some stuff may have changed in July and August, but there was 300,000 on the 2025 budget along with 1.4 million roughly in the parks master plan, and the June Financial still didn't show any activity.

So do you know do you have an update on how that money is?

Yeah, I know that uh like right now we just had delivery of a playground at uh University Lions Park.

Uh the playground was put on the ground today, uh, and that's gonna be the uh will be our uh fourth inclusive playground for the city of Jonesboro, but our first inclusive one on the north side of town.

So it's uh a very very nice park that's going into play.

Uh they should be here within two weeks to start installing that playground.

So that's one of the first movements, and as you know, within the master park plan, that was uh uh second priority uh location.

First priority is northeast side of town.

Uh that's under design right now.

We're we're at 30% plans trying to move from 30% to 60.

Uh but with that, we're there's a lot of conversation that's happening to make sure that we are uh that we get that part done right over northeast uh northeast side of town, and a lot of that master park money may go toward helping that part uh be built right when we do that.

And hopefully when we get to July and August financials, we'll see a little bit more spending on some of this carryover funding.

But I appreciate the updates.

So councilman, I given the Allen Park update as well.

We still have a structure to be added.

Yeah, that's uh they're supposed to be here this week.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh this week, Allen Park obviously we we got it open.

Uh we tried to get open as quick as we could before school started so kids could utilize the splash pad.

Uh but there was a couple things that hadn't been installed yet.

Uh swing sets uh are going in at one end of the playground, and then there's a uh uh shade structures and picnic tables and benches uh that the splash pad itself uh is getting the shade at the far end.

That way parents will have a place to set under the shade while they're their kids are playing on the splash pad, and then from there uh once those things are installed, we're gonna go in and landscape uh around the edges of the sidewalk in certain areas and and make sure that that that park is beautified.

One one quick question, maybe a little off topic, but you and I have talked several times, Danny, about like a rolling renovation for parks.

And you mentioned the rotary park.

What's the life expectancy of one of those parks?

A lot of it depends on location.

Uh you know, I I'm gonna say that that one was uh is an unfortunate park in the location that it's in, and it had the uh splash pad uh built higher than what it is in the splash pads that we have are not passed through, they're actually chemical.

And what was happening was the water was being blown across that playground, and so you had that chlorinated water that was getting into the cracks of that playground.

And if you go in there and look, as I was doing inspection, you were starting I was finding rust within the joints of that playground, which is where the concern really has come up.

You can look at that playground from afar and go, oh, that looks great, it's a great playground.

But when you do a true inspection, you start realizing there's issues that you just can't overcome.

And so as we we change that playground and the splash pad, we're gonna go through a pass-through system so we don't have that chlorinated water that's going to be passing over that.

Uh but you can usually expect the playground to to at least be a 25-year playground uh to get you through on that system.

And and that playground is it was put in in 2005, so you know we were getting close to it.

It just was unfortunately being it's unfortunate situation.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Council, I might add, and I was gonna mention the mayor's notes uh on Friday.

I'm gonna meet with Jared Wiley, who's executive director of R Dot.

And so we're meeting tomorrow.

Matter of fact, uh, the team to prioritize and make sure that we stay on top of the R dock projects to be quite frank that we make sure that we're moving in the right direction with our Hawk Light system.

We still have one hang up there.

We need to get that taken care of.

So these conversations are ongoing, but uh Jared Wiley's an ASU graduate, he knows Jonesborough and he knows Northeast Arkansas, and so uh that conversation hopefully will end to keeping these projects on the forefront for Jonesville.

So while you're talking to him, will there be are there gonna be additional signs put up about the no trucks in downtown Jonesville like the truck route?

We can mention that.

I think there needs to be.

I've seen like two little signs that don't seem like they very much helped.

You can back off Joe's comments and while we have Craig here.

Andy Shatley made a presentation to the public works or public safety committee about restriping Main Street.

Where are we at on that?

Is that coming?

Is that come to committee yet?

It came to the he presented it to committee on the information and the engineer had the design work done.

Is that coming straight on to the council?

Because it'll have to have signs too that indicate that in correct we'll get it in committee.

Sorry about that.

And it's that has not come to engineering to move forward.

So I'm assuming it's going to Craig.

Were there some outstanding uh from the design work on that?

Were there some outstanding requests?

There were some comments that we had during the connectivity committee meeting about whether or not we needed to include some uh green pain or not on the on the plans.

Um have not talked to Martin Smith about what if he intends to modify his drawings or anything.

Okay.

All right, thank you, Craig.

I appreciate that.

Next council will move on to item number five, and these are items on consent agenda.

Move to adopt.

I would like to make a motion to remove resolution 25109 from the consent agenda.

I'll move my motion to reflect that.

We do have a motion and a second on the consent agenda, and we'll remove item 25109.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot.

Okay, and so items on the consent agenda do carry, and we did pull off resolution 25109.

I would like to make a motion to table 25109 indefinitely as it's under new ownership.

Second, we do have a motion and a second.

Uh, it's under new ownership.

Council.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Okay, council.

We'll move on to items on new business.

This is item number six.

We'll go to ordinances on the first reading.

First ordinance is 25030.

Move to suspend the rules and offer by title only.

Second.

Do you have a motion on the floor?

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

An ordinance modified ordinance 24037, which established and consolidated special traffic patterns near Jonesboro Public Schools, campuses, and for other purposes.

Do we have any questions by council members?

I don't see any.

Anyone in audience?

Anyone in the audience?

I don't see any.

That ordinance will now move on to its second reading.

Now we'll move on to ordinance 25031.

Move with suspend the rules and offer by title only.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Uh any opposed.

An ordinance to the city of Jonesboro to place various traffic signs at designated locations as determined by the traffic control committee.

We have any discussion by council.

I don't see any.

Anyone in the audience?

I don't see any as well.

Now that will move on to its second reading.

Now council will move on to unfinished business.

Item number seven, these are ordinances on their second reading.

First ordinance is 25032.

An ordinance to amend chapter 117, known as the zoning ordinance providing for changes in zoning boundaries from PDM multifamily use and office senior living use to PDM commercial use for property located at 3412 Southwest Drive as requested by Jeremy Bevel on behalf of Southern Hills Real Estate LLC.

Do we have any discussion by council?

I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any as well.

So that will now move on to its third reading.

Now we'll move on to ordinances on their third reading.

This will be voted on now by council.

First ordinance is 25025.

An ordinance by the city of Jonesboro to place various traffic signs at designated locations as determined by the traffic control committee.

Move to adopt.

Second.

I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any as well.

So if you would please cast your ballot.

And that ordinance does carry.

Next council will move on to ordinance 25028.

An ordinance to amend the code of ordinances of the city of Jonesboro to add section 50-40 entitled Park Rangers.

Move to adopt.

Second.

Do you have a motion and a second on the floor to adopt any discussion by council?

Don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any as well.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot.

And that ordinance does carry.

All right, council.

We'll move on to the last ordinance of the evening, ordinance 25029.

An ordinance for the approval of an application for a private club permit for SHJ Concepts Incorporated, doing business as Bridge Street Brewery of Jonesboro.

Move to adopt second.

We have a motion on the floor and a second to adopt any questions by counsel.

I don't see any.

Anyone in Council Chambers?

Yes, sir.

If you would please come forward, state your name and address.

And we are limiting discussion to three minutes.

James Alwin Hines, 508 Ridge Crest.

Having a little throat trouble tonight.

This is an area that has traditionally had a lot of problems.

I used to live not too far from there, used to use that area during the daytime.

I wouldn't have gone through there at night.

Not without uh not walking anyway.

Also, let me point out that it's near the bridge, which is one of the city has a shortage of overpasses over that over the railroad track.

I think everybody here is aware of that.

There aren't a whole lot of places you can cross, and we don't need to put a liquor establishment that's going to be causing problems at one of the few that we have.

All right.

Anyone else in the audience would like to come forward?

State your name and address, please.

Thank you, Jason Willett, 1804 Starling here in Jonesboro.

Uh here on behalf of SHJ Concepts doing business as Bridge Street Brewery.

Uh the nonprofit has well over a hundred members and was formed on May 15th of 2020.

Of course, our location, which is in your application, is just right literally down the street.

So I think many of y'all can speak to any issues on the crime situation.

Uh we have uh Calpesh Doss, Junior Doss, who many of you know who's an operator of some restaurants and has been in this business in the past, who is the applicant.

Davy Carter is the president, Ted Hergett's the vice president, and of course, juniors the Secretary of Treasurer.

Uh the charitable activities are to benefit the downtown Jonesboro Association as well as uh the Arkansas State uh Red Wolves Foundation.

But it's a application for a microbrewery restaurant uh that's also a private club.

So I just asked for good vote on the ordinance, and if there's any questions, uh we can answer.

Thank you for comments.

Anyone else in the audience?

Anyone else?

I don't see anyone.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot, council.

And that ordinance does carry.

All right, we'll move on to item number eight, and this is Mayor's report.

First of all, I want to express my pride in all the hard work that went on to making Paint the Town Red a fun and spirit event for all of us.

Um, and especially those who are really, really uh die hard Red Wolf fans.

We here at the municipal building did our part pulling out all stops and showing our love for Arkansas State.

As a part of our effort, showcase, however, ASU is supported by the city.

Uh we even unveiled some of our Red Wolf themed street signs that we have downtown and around the university.

Street department made these in-house, and they did a wonderful job, I might add.

Our trolleys were heavily used last weekend, both by students and by people heading to the ball game on the Red Wolf Express.

We even had some CMO fans that heard about it and used it, and I'm happy to report their ride back, was somewhat somber, but at least it was efficient.

For those who don't know, every home game our trolleys run direct shuttles from downtown to the yard in front of the ASU football stadium.

It's a great way to enjoy the game with a VIP transit, and that's about what it's about.

Let me see.

Brian, you said you left your house at five after five, uh, got on the bus, and you were dropped off in front about 525 right in front of the stadium.

So it's uh firsthand uh usage.

The football team, Carol, you used it too, didn't you?

We didn't.

It was very fast.

The football team got even involved.

They rode trolleys from Mbassy Suites to the Tailgate area for their pregame walk parade.

And again, we're engaging with Arkansas State.

There is no doubt that the closer the city and Arkansas State work and develop, uh, it's a key role for our community.

Last week I actually had lunch with Chris Pesman, the new vice chancellor of the Intercollegiate Athletics, and we discussed how the city and university could grow our partnership.

And let me just tell you it's off to a great start with Mr.

Pesman.

After this coming weekend's historic in-state matchup is on our horizon, Arkansas Razorbacks and Little Rock, our Red Wolves will actually host nationally ranked Iowa State right in here in Jonesboro.

So I would really uh recommend that everybody get out in support of Red Wolves.

I think this is the first time that I remember we've actually had a nationally ranked team coming into our midst.

And uh Iowa State is playing Iowa uh this coming weekend, so they've got a big ball game.

Maybe they'll look past us for the next weekend.

We had the pleasure of hosting the governor's 250 committee two weeks ago for an early planning session for our nation's 250th birthday next July.

The committee is being headed up by Jan Zimmerman, and the executive director, Craig Rickard of the AMP is spearheading and planning for our celebration locally.

It's early, but we look forward to working with Craig on making this important date a huge success.

Now, uh Jan and many other members across the state have been entrusted to perform where the communities are working together, whether it's flyover opportunities, celebrating the 250th in a commemorative way, but uh doing it all in the same way for our communities across the state of Arkansas.

I'm pleased to tell you that progress is being made on several of our parks on special projects.

We already mentioned them earlier.

The new park in East Jonesboro is in its early construction planning process, and we're trying to stretch every penny in the layout to ensure that we get a great park, one we can afford.

And again, a huge thank you to the Jonesboro Junior Auxiliary for their donation of 100,000 toward the project.

Your generosity will benefit Jonesboro's children for generations to come.

Our new playground equipment is starting to arrive on pallets at Lions Park, located in North Side Park.

This will be another shiny new inclusive playground with some features that will be new to our playground inventory, like turf hills and and crawl through tunnels.

It appears the cement work and some plumbing are underway at the ridge complex and the concrete could be poured in the very next few weeks.

I don't know if any of y'all saw the update uh that was given to the AMP commission, but uh some of the pool work is already constructed.

Uh concrete, I think it would be poured actually tomorrow.

They're catching up on that as we progress, and they have caught back up due to the weather that was bad in May.

So the progress of the construction of that is still on track for 18 months.

We're anticipating a great turnout for the Nica bike rally this week, uh, this month at Craig Ed Forest Park.

We're anticipating hundreds of high school students and parrots to roll into Jonesboro to take on the rolling topography of our wonderful mountain trails.

As you heard from Mr.

Light discussed earlier, we're continuing to lay down new asphalt on several roads.

I think Craig, there were about, for those in the audience, there were about 12 projects on the asphalt uh and uh obviously uh Atlas Asphalt uh garnered that bid, and so you've seen work that they're doing on the state highways in the community as well.

So uh they're a great community partner.

They're act actively uh working on pedestrian side paths on Johnson.

On the private development end, I have spoken with multiple developers regarding the Turtle Creek Mall property.

As many of you know, since the 2020 tornado, this property has been in a slow creep through the legal process as a result of insurance claims, ownership transport uh transfers and court appointed agencies.

After working with the new owners on cleaning up the grounds and preparing it for the sale, it appears we are finally going to see that next step occur.

Perhaps within a week and a half, investors will be bidding on the property.

I've spoken to many potential parties regarding ideas and visions of what could be developed, and I'm looking forward to working with a successful bidder on the best offerings for our city, Northeast Arkansas and our continued growth.

And we are asking daily, aren't we, Craig, uh, for that report.

So we've we've put the pressure on them to get that to us.

If the building has any type of repair option, I'll get an estimate and we can decide on the next steps.

Or if we want to just go to another direction.

Obviously, when we had to evacuate the building, we had to move quickly and move personnel to the fastest option for business continuity purposes until we had more information.

Our next discussion will be what to do and what we want to do in the midterm.

We are currently still using some rooms in the community centers, and I would like to see us work together on a plan that is both efficient for police and fully reopens access to these areas for our community centers.

We don't always get to make a choice, but sometimes we have to take the most necessary action to ensure safety.

And with that being said, I certainly want our residents to understand that we are working diligently on longer term plans with the limited information we have so far.

We will not jeopardize our officers or public safety, though.

As a reminder, I mentioned it during our last city council meeting.

I have to point out the amazing mural on Kate Street Avenue, uh, just off Maine.

It's now complete.

If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to park your car and stare at the beautiful artwork, not on Cape, park it in the parking lot somewhere.

And the more time you spend gazing at it, you really need to look because you're gonna appreciate a lot of the intricacies uh of the beauty of the mural.

I want to say thank you to Dan and Casey Johnson for allowing uh this on your building once again, and thank you for your public art, the public art commission for your constant work in building a beautiful city.

All right, that's the end of the mayor's report.

We'll move on to city council report, Mr.

Street.

No, thank you.

Mr.

Miller.

Oh, thank you.

Mr.

Bryant, thanks.

Mr.

Hoffner.

No, thanks.

Dr.

Anthony Coleman.

Yes, thank you.

Um, just uh observation and maybe a question if we can get answered, not today, tonight, but just some time.

I was looking at the drainage projects and uh wanted to know where we were on um the race street Niddleton area with that drainage being very bad in that area, and then um the road, and I don't I don't know the name of the road, what's the new name, but it's where the overpass by the airport, and then we were connecting or going through ASU spot to Aggie, just kind of where we are on that, and and if that's even still on the books and maybe year two and the cost.

Thanks for comments.

I know councilman, I believe, Craig, the completion date on the overpass is around November.

Uh, if I'm not mistaken, early part of the year, right?

Yeah, we're getting there, but I'll get you the updates on that.

Thank you, Councilman.

Mr.

Gibson.

I don't have anything, thank you.

Mr.

Moore?

No, ma'am.

Dr.

Charles Coleman.

Um yes, I'd like to uh get a motion passed that we move uh the October 7th meeting to uh October 9th as the National will we give out B fish and so we'd like to put a motion on the floor that we do that second.

Okay, council, we do have a motion on the floor because of night uh the national night out event.

Uh it's going to be actually held on October 7th.

We'll move city council meeting to October 9th at 5 30 p.m.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilman.

That include committees.

I know April's going to ask that next.

Yes.

Public works.

Yeah.

I think the determined last time we had that that that went along with the council meeting.

Perfect.

Thank you, Council.

Mr.

Emerson.

Nothing at this time.

Thank you.

Ms.

Porter.

Well, thank you.

All right, Council, thank you very much.

Uh, we'll move on to item number 10.

These are items in public comment.

Anyone from the audience can come forward and discuss anything that was not discussed earlier in the meeting.

Yes, sir.

If you would please come forward, state your name and address, and you do have a limit of five minutes.

James Ellen Hines 508 Ridge Crest.

I've got something, and I'd expect some objection problem that I had with a similar issue with us at a city council meeting over 30 years ago.

Over 30 years ago, the uh they were discussing problems with traffic at Arkansas State University.

And I decided to make a public comment that the biggest problem thing, best thing they could do for traffic of Arkansas State University was get traffic off campus that didn't want to be there in the first place.

Back then there was no crossing all the way from Bridge Street to what is now Red Wolf Boulevard across the railroad track.

Some things are expensive.

Mayor Brodel said with my proposal, which my proposal was that there be a bridge built on the west side of the Arkansas campus to get people across the railroad track so they didn't have to go on down to Caraway.

Mayor Brodel said that's going to take a lot of money.

And my response was I know that's why we need to start planning for it now, so someday the money will be there.

Folks, somebody needs to take a look at Cobra House.

It's one of the oldest streets in town, runs all the way from the south to the north or the north through the south, whichever way you want it.

And there are places where it is very narrow.

There are places where if you're walking pedestrian traffic has no place to go at all because there are places there's not even a shoulder on that road.

There's no sidewalk for much of it.

We need to take a look at Culber House all the way from Lawson Road to Philadelphia Road and see what we need to do to make it safe.

I suspect that street has more bicycles than any other street in town.

There are places in which there are literally hundreds of bicycles on that street at the same time.

And that leaves abs hardly any place for cars, much less anything else.

I mean, that need that's going to be a long thing.

As I said, it's going to take a lot of money, but it needs to be looked at and planned to start being developed so someday the money will be there and we can get something done.

Thank you for comments.

Anyone else in the audience?

I don't see any.

We'll move on to item number 11.

That's adjournment.

So move.

Second.

Do you have a motion on the floor?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?