Okay, good afternoon, everybody.

We're gonna go ahead and call to order the uh capital improvement bond task force for the city of Jonesboro.

Um first of all, on our agenda, we have our call to order.

So if you're on this committee and present, if you will mark your attendance on the device in front of you.

Looking on the board up here, Chris Gibson is in attendance, but he is coming in via remote today.

So Chris, can you um can you hear us yet?

Yes, I can hear you.

Can you hear me?

Okay, yes, sir, we've got you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Moving on to the next item on our agenda is going to be the approval of the minutes from the previous bond task force meeting.

So move unless there's a change to be noted.

Second.

Okay.

I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes as previously reported.

Um, anybody have any questions or comments regarding any items?

Okay.

Seeing none, we'll go ahead and we will take a vote on the approval of minutes.

Uh item does pass and brings us to the next item on our agenda being the uh sorry.

Items of new business.

And I wanted to begin this evening by just reading some prepared comments that I had for the meetings tonight outlining what we're hoping to achieve here, and just wanted to say um good evening and um welcome fellow council members, administration, and the citizens of Jonesboro.

Wanted to say thank you for being here today, and um today we're gonna be taking up a matter of great importance for the community that we serve.

The focus of today's meeting is the strategic placement of the new E911 complex and a decision that goes to the very heart of public safety for our community.

As we discuss, I encourage us all to weigh the decision through the lens of public safety, efficiency, and long-term community benefit.

Our goal should be to make a thoughtful strategic choice that reflects both the immediate needs of today and the future demands of a growing community.

With that in mind, I look forward to hearing the perspectives of each council member, department representative, and citizen.

We all working together to arrive at the best possible outcome for the entirety of the city of Jonesboro.

To keep everything in a somewhat organized format this evening, it's my recommendation that we focus on the following areas of interest and discuss any pros and cons for either site location at that time.

And those areas I've listed as follows being the economic impact, the city financial impact, and the public safety impact to the city of Jonesboro.

I feel it's worth noting that once a decision has been rendered by this task force, a recommendation will be passed up to the public safety committee.

And if approved, then that will be presented to full council for a vote to ratify any of these decisions that are going to be made.

And at this time, we'll go ahead and we will go ahead and get an update on where we currently stand on the justice complex.

I think we have some items prepared for where we currently stand on that facility.

Mr.

Craig or you and the oh, there you are.

Yes, sir.

Sorry.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize that.

I really don't have much prepared for the meeting tonight, other than we did receive a report back from the structural engineer that was hired by the insurance company to do an evaluation on the property.

And uh they their determination was that at least in their their opinion that the damage to the building was not caused by a weather uh incident, and so they're not willing to pay uh towards any of the repairs to the building because of that.

Um they reviewed the original plans for the construction of the second the remodel from the grocery store to the justice complex.

Um found some notes in there where the where the trusses, the bow trusses of the building were already damaged at that time, and were were epoxied together.

Um they had some details about how they they felt like the new roof should go on it, but that engineer's opinion was that it was just simply uh overloading of the uh roof trusses by the new roof, and it wasn't a weather-related incident, so the insurance company was not gonna pay for that uh repair.

We got an estimate and a drawing from a local structural engineer um to do a temporary or do a repair of the broken truss.

Um the estimated call or the cost was 115,000 to repair just that single trust, but we can make no guarantees that there will not be more damage, you know, in it in a very short period to some of the other trusses in the building.

So we can't say that it's a you know one year, three year, five-year fix.

It's a you know, you're gonna fix this problem, wait for the next one to happen because there's going to be another one.

If you'll remember correctly, just two years ago, we put in some columns in the courtroom to uh to remedy a problem that was developing on another one of these trusses.

So it's just a matter of time before another one uh happens.

So again, it's uh obviously the council's decision, but uh as a says citizen and taxpayer Jonesborough, I can't I hope that we don't put any more money into that building.

Um, just my own opinion.

But I'll try to answer any questions if anybody has any about that.

Thank you, Craig.

Does anybody on the committee have any questions for Craig regarding the current state of the justice complex?

Without money put into it, Craig, there's absolutely no need to put anybody back in that building.

Right.

Or have no intention to Craig.

Okay, mayor, yeah, Mr.

Chairman.

I I will just add to what Craig's comments were that uh we are looking for other facilities as well on a rental uh type basis for the next several years.

If depending on the decision of what uh council would like to do with that facility, so uh we're planning for other uh options at this time.

Thank you.

Okay, any more questions or comments regarding the current state of the justice complex?

Okay.

Seeing none, we can move over.

We can move on to the items at hand tonight being the different sites that are available to us discussing um the Caraway Road site and the Washington site as it currently stands.

Um moving on to the first um area of impact on the agenda being the economic impact for um the caraway road site and um the Washington site.

Do we have any questions or comments or any items that we want to discuss just in generalities from the economic standpoints, anything that we were to change or any site that we were to choose or anything that we saw contained in the DPC economic statement analysis?

Hearing nothing on the economic impact side of it, we'll move on to the next item being the city financial impact.

Um any pros or cons necessarily that anybody wants to discuss from a financial standpoint for the Caraway or Washington site.

Mr.

Chair, are you wanting to discuss purely the uh cost of the building and uh land acquisition at this time, or you want to talk about the finance for economic impact?

Uh we'll talk finance as far as the site purchase and the construction cost to go into it.

I I would like to have the floor then, Mr.

Chair.

Yes, sir.

Let me get my glasses on so I don't look at the wrong page.

Uh Mr.

Chair, at the last meeting, there was quite a bit of information that I asked for, and I've got to thank the mayor and his staff and Craig Light.

They provided all the relevant documentation.

I think we need to make a decision either way.

Um I was concerned at the last meeting because on the Washington side, it's not just building a new 911 center, it's also the demolition of the justice complex and the demolition of the old city hall and some drainage improvements.

And at the time that I asked for the estimates, I was quite concerned that when you tallied up the asbestos removal, the demolition and the uh various other uh on-site improvements required to build the 911 center that it would uh outpace in money the cost of developing on Caraway Road.

But this past week when the figures came in, it's actually uh kind of shocking.

The uh the estimates are broke down into two phases, a phase one for the E911, and then a phase two for the uh larger police headquarters, and uh those figures were tallied on both sites, and uh what we're obviously gonna start with first will be the uh phase one, the 911.

And when you look at those figures and you calculate the removal of the two buildings and the drainage improvement, it's approximately six hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars cheaper to be on the Washington site.

If you were to take the asbestos removal and the removal of the two buildings out of that, it would be over a million dollars cheaper to be on the Washington site.

But as Craig knows and the mayor knows, any decision that we make, we are still gonna have to remove the justice building and prove our lots down there.

So I think that's a no-brainer.

I don't I don't see us putting city employees back in a building with broken tresses at any at any point.

So when you uh actually extrapolate out into phase two, which would be the total cost of the E911 and the police station, the uh Washington site was $30,949,000, which was a little bit over a million dollars less than the Caraway Road site, and that includes remedy to our two buildings.

Now as councilman, I'm responsible for public safety, but also uh financial safety also.

And I don't see on phase one spending six hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars more money for the caraway site than we can currently remedy our problem and build the new building.

And by the way, the buildings are the same on both sides.

The uh cost for the E911 and the uh eventual police headquarters are the same price to actually construct the buildings.

So what we're really dealing with are the uh site improvements, drainage, removal of the buildings, and then on Caraway Road property acquisition to build a new road for the current property owner to access his back road, install new utilities to the back road, and uh with that in mind, I'm in favor of us utilizing the property we have downtown.

Now, some discussion has been made about possibly selling the property and using the proceeds to find if we sell the property on Washington to a private developer, the city will no longer have access to the property.

Right now, if you looked at the barbecue festival, winterfest, Christmas parade, a variety of downtown events, we utilize the parking lot and the parking spaces at the current justice system or justice building.

So there's also a benefit of us building we would maintain approximately 130 parking spots that can be used for other downtown events that we would lose if we sell that property.

So what proceeds that we get, and that range from 650,000 to some $2 million estimate on the property.

By the time we spend a million dollars less on Washington, and then we calculate the loss of the parking lot and the utilization of that property, I think uh I think it becomes clear that Washington is a better better choice.

And with that, I'll yield back.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

Appreciate you.

Yes, sir.

Anybody else from the committee?

Yes, Mr.

Street.

If you look at uh the uh I mean, and I know we grazed over it really quick, but the economic benefit to the city and our concern too is for downtown Jonesboro, a use for a museum or a mixed business complex would generate a lot more tax revenue and bring more people downtown, which is what the ultimate goal I think is of us too is encouraging business and uh traffic stuff, but with the investment we've got on Caraway Road, even if it's a million dollars more, I think it will it would it would come back very quickly with the inconvenience of traveling back and forth and back and forth from downtown to our um administration headquarters on Caraway Road.

Uh it would be much more efficient to have both in the single location.

I think central location for access by the citizens of Jonesboro out there would be a little better.

And I know some people are under the impression that if the police station is located downtown, that if there's some need for emergency uh police response, it's gonna be a lot quicker, and it's not uh mainly you've got administration down there, so there's no uh army of police officers gonna run out of the building if something happens.

They're gonna be uh uh dispatched from other areas of the city, no matter where you put the police station, whether it be out there down here or out at Craig Ed Forest.

It I don't think you're gonna have any any more uh police coverage for it.

I agree with you 100% on the building, we don't need to spend another dime on the justice complex.

That we've already spent a lot of good money on that thing, and it needs to come down.

But two, and I don't see a cost on it, but you know, you just mentioned drainage, but I'm here to tell you the drainage costs or the cost to fix the drainage for this site down here, I think may uh uh eat into that million uh if not overwhelming uh pretty easily.

Now, again, I'd defer to Craig on that or some of our engineers, but uh I think all around from from my point of view, I and I want to do the best thing for the citizens at Elmsburg too.

I mean, I'm a citizen, a taxpayer and everything else, but I believe uh I believe to build on the exit the site next to the existing building on Caraway would be in the best interest of the city in the long run.

A couple points to your comments, John, and I think you have the best interest of the city also.

From the economic standpoint, I read the report the mayor had about a children's museum or something to that effect.

And uh the economic benefits were on taxes as far as uh income would pill, I would think, to uh a large scale retail or a restaurant on Caraway Road, the proceeds we would uh net from that.

I'm with you.

I don't think there's uh I don't think it's a safety issue either way.

I think one I think we're just as safe in the city with police station on Caraway Road as we are on Washington.

I I don't I don't see that.

If you look on uh your line item on the Washington, Craig put 350,000 in there for 42 inch arch pipe and the drainage uh improvements on that site were included in on the um figure that I gave you at let me get my glasses on, I'll read it to you.

Nine nine million four hundred and eighty-four thousand three hundred dollars.

It's uh line item five, right after line item four, which when you're looking at the figures on there, and I'm not casting dispersion on the mayor, but all the site work was front loaded on the Washington site.

You'll see $700,000 on that estimate, and no site work estimate on the Caraway Road.

It was all front loaded because Craig, and I think rightfully so, the entire site would need to be graded at one time, we'd need sidewalks, we'd need curb and gutters.

It's not something that you'd want a piecemeal downtown.

So it's important to notice that it's not just $654,000.

It's also renovation of the parking lot site with sidewalks, turb and gutter, removal of the two buildings, and $350,000 and drainage work, which is greatly needed down there.

Now, as far as the inconvenience, there will be some inconvenience.

I mean, it's probably a half a mile between Caraway and the Washington site, straight down the same street, though.

And it's also important to note, and I had several people call, this isn't an either-or.

We're keeping the armory and the motor pool site no matter what.

I mean, it's not moving everything downtown, it's having both, and it's giving the chief everything he wants.

It's an E911, it's a new police headquarters, and then keep the current motor pool on Caraway Road and save a million dollars.

Now, one of the arguments, and I may have made it with Brian, I know I made it with the mayor.

One of the benefits we have downtown is stability.

Now, we see at a regular basis at the council meeting, one of our attendees always talks about businesses coming and going on Main Street and the alcohol situation and all that.

One of the things we have on stability is county and municipal government.

I am firmly convinced in the 26 years I've been on this council.

If the council had cut and run on the municipal building, we weren't anchored right here, and the county judge had cut and run on the courthouse and built a new courthouse somewhere, and the federal building wasn't here, downtown would have collapsed.

We wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to maintain it.

Having the stability of municipal buildings mixed in with private investment, I think is the key to downtown.

So I'll yield the floor back.

And I agree with you, Chris.

I was here on board when we decided to do this municipal building here.

I mean, not there, I was 100% behind this, and I think it's the best thing that could have happened.

And as you know, people were opposed to this.

But I think it was a good anchoring effect for downtown.

I think it helped downtown grow uh quite a bit to where it is today.

I'd hate to think where it'd be if this hadn't been here and a central figure.

But I don't think the police station, I mean, going back to that is gonna be the best anchor for downtown.

Uh and there is a lot of costs.

I don't know if Chief's got any figures on it or not, but with the motor pool out there, almost everybody has to go out there at some point in time for vehicle maintenance or pick up equipment from Karen or Connie, or to uh to uh do business with various CID offices or whatever out there.

Um I just think it would be more efficient use if they were both co-located.

Now, Chief may chime in on that.

He may have different opinion, but um there's a lot of offices and a lot of interaction between offices, and I just can't help but believe that we couldn't have a better facility located together with more amenities and benefits for not only for the police department for the citizens.

I think I think that site out there would provide uh one common gym for everybody to work in.

Uh you know, the fire department has great gyms.

The police department has a a pretty substantial, I mean, not substantial, it's sub-par gym on the second floor of the old uh fire station down there, the old city hall.

But you could have that.

You could have uh training classes I mean at Cope co-located, and the community could use a larger training room for various other things that that they may want to host at uh at the police station to give them another place to uh to host public meetings of different kinds for the community.

All those will still be available because it'll be the same building down on Washington.

One of the things on convenience, I think would be to the public.

So within a four-block area, we would have our municipal building, we'd have the federal courthouse, we'd have the county courthouse, we'd have the police department, and we'd have the city attorney.

Now, for the citizens who come downtown looking for government services, it doesn't get any more convenient than that.

You know, so their time is valuable also.

Well, right across the street from all of that.

There is some interaction between the community and the police department, but not as much as a lot of our other government offices downtown.

I would disagree that with that.

I mean, I think the police department's a little more of a separate agency, kind of like the fire department.

It might be nice to have the fire department down here, but you don't have that much public interaction with them.

I mean, as far as office space or anything like that.

I would love to hear what the chief's opinion is on this, because I mean I respect your opinion, and and I mean I've got mine, but I personally think that I still believe that the Caraway Road site would be the best site to put it put the whole complex on, as opposed to splitting it up as we have now and having officers going back and forth, back and forth.

You're right, it's on Washington, but man, there's a lot of a lot of traffic back and forth.

Um I just believe it'd be more efficient all the way around if they were co-located.

Chief, your name's been brought up a couple of times.

But do you mind to come to the podium?

Sure.

Would you mind speaking to any of the items that we've been talking about previously?

Sure.

Thank you, sir.

Good evening, and thank you for this opportunity.

Uh so let's talk about uh the parking for downtown barbecue fest.

Uh Mr.

Moore's right.

Uh barbecue fest this weekend, and we had at least uh four, if not five barbecue trailers set up on the patrol parking lot for the weekend.

Uh so that for barbecue fest is always played important part in the barbecue fest having that parking there.

But uh as soon as we uh break ground on that property, that's all gonna be fenced off.

There's no more public parking there.

Okay, because that that's where this 911 building's got to go, is in the back parking lot of the patrol building.

So now I'm gonna displace my patrol officers from coming to their workplace to go in for the meeting between building a new building building and phase two, as we mentioned, but phase two at 30 million dollars, that's not on today's agenda.

That's probably what five, ten years from now.

So we're gonna be displaced for five to ten plus years to we can build phase two, this new whatever it's gonna look like.

That's problematic.

We're already spread out due to this structural failure.

We can't tear the patrol building down because I have no place to put patrol officers.

I'm already displaced.

I can't tear the justice complex down to build a new dispatch center because it's connected to the existing dispatch center.

So until something's built and I can move dispatch out, there's no tearing down anything.

We're sitting there.

Now you understand, Chief, that the new E 911 can be built without tearing anything down.

That is not my understanding.

Well, you're not understanding it right.

It's going on the corner of Munro and Madison.

If you build the building, we do not have to demo either one of the other buildings in order to build the new E900.

You're gonna build the building at Monroe and Madison, but that's right.

Until it's built, you're not tearing anything down at the justice complex.

That's correct.

We're talking three years.

That building's gonna sit minimum three years if we tear it down until they get this thing built.

Agree.

It's been there for since 1952, Chief.

Agreed.

Okay.

But I'm I'm just the facts are we got two existing buildings.

We can't do really anything with we get this new building built right down there.

Now I've taken away your your extra parking.

I created a bigger parking problem because these people being moved over.

But as you said, we could go across the street to the city parking lot, which is generally blocked off during winter winter wonderland because we do rides and things like that, but we're gonna take end up taking part of it over and not be able to shut it down to the public because I gotta have a place to park my employees.

So now I've got this building, I've displaced people, and now I am moving my real-time crime center down here on Washington away from my detectives who work together hand in hand every day.

So the efficiency of the police department is gonna be even more fragmented for the next 10 years, I guess, or better, to we get this main building built.

This doesn't make sense.

Well now, if we take the oh, go ahead, Mr.

Moore.

Well, what I was gonna tell you is we're fragmented no matter what.

A new fragmented the thing is if I build a real-time crime center on caraway, we drop that piece of property in there, it will sit, that lot will sit until we can move on with the next phase of whatever that is, but at least that center has brought some, it's keeping my people where they need to be next to my investigators.

It's bringing my 911 people back closer to where they need to be.

It is a we all work together.

I don't need fragmentation.

I've been fragmented for years.

Yeah, it's been a pain in the butt for my officers, my staff to have to run up down Washington for years.

We've been like this ever since.

We've been working out of a building that's built in the 40s, 50s down here, and this department has grown three times the size it was back then.

So now we're down to we're talking about that piece of property, but we've left out the gas station.

If we're gonna raise that whole lot, well, who wants the gas station set in the middle of our all of this property?

I think the city needs to acquire that gas station so we can own the whole thing because we need the parking, correct?

Now, what's the cost of that gas station?

I don't know.

What's the cost of the environmentals to clean up, take those fuel tanks out and clean up that gas station?

Well, I bet that exceeds probably more than that million dollar mark that we're talking about because we're this is the price break we're at right now, it's about a million dollars between the two places, right?

So now we have the gas station in the mix, so we're now probably well over that million dollar threshold.

So now we're at for about even money.

No, it makes sense.

Consolidate everybody, put them on Caribbean, including coenforcement, get co-enforcement out of the basement of this building, free space up in this building because we are growing, give IT some space downstairs to move, which they need.

So it's we're planning for the future.

It's not gonna happen overnight, and I don't know what the politicalness is on buying a piece of property from Mr.

Parker, but it's been political ever since this talk has started.

And I say take the politics out of it.

This is business, this is city business.

We need to do it right, we need not cut corners.

We didn't cut corners on an 80 million dollar sports complex, and I don't expect the city to cut quarters on police services and public safety.

We've had hand me downs since I've been here, and it's time we do it, and we do it right.

Well, a couple things, Chief.

You're getting the building and the E911 that you want at either site.

There's no there's no difference in the building, the square footage, the size, the design.

It's not like the Washington property is cutting corners, and you're getting a lesser of a building than you would get when you're on Caraway Road.

You're getting what you're asking for.

Now, as far as the construction, it's gonna take the same amount of time to build the E911 at either site.

Down here, if this committee and the council votes to fund it, construction can start immediately without the demolition of either other building.

Correct, but you've displaced my patrol officers now.

Well, we don't have to displace them right now because they can stay right where they're at in that building.

They have to put on that parking lot where you're gonna build this building.

It's gonna be that is a construction becomes a construction zone.

Okay, you have a hundred and twelve spots here, Chief.

Oh, I'm very well aware where the parking is.

These officers are right they don't have to go anywhere, they can stay right in the building they're in, and they can use the parking lot at the justice complex while we construct the E9-1 with no disturbance to your guys.

Once the E11911 is completed, then the transition between the old building of the justice complex and the new E911 can happen, and then demolition can happen on the other two buildings so that you're not inconvenienced at all.

Well, it is an inconvenience because they walk from the car to inside, they're subject to call.

Now they got to get out and go across the parking lot.

Well, I wouldn't want them to murder service and emergency response.

It's a hundred feet from the building to the justice complex.

That's what you're talking about.

A hundred feet.

Okay.

So I mean, I'm not saying that's not an inconvenience walk a hundred feet.

I'm just saying you're getting everything you're asking.

I understand everything I mean.

You're not being displaced, you're not being displaced until entire construction is finished on the E911.

Everything will state just like it is.

No, it's not like it is.

Well, the displacement becomes when you start moving in to 911, you're creating a bigger division amongst the department.

I need my real-time crime people, the camera people working with my detectives.

My detectives are down here for the next 10 years.

My video people are down here.

As opposed to walking across the parking lot to the building.

Now we talk about downtown the ease access of downtown.

I got small two-lane roads.

That is not the center point of the city.

It may be the focal point for whatever businesses or government entities that you talk about, and I agree.

But I'm talking about when officers need to leave and get out from the police department.

We can hit Caraway Matthews and get to where we need to go on a four-lane road.

We can get to ASU.

These small roads downtown doesn't accommodate a high flow of traffic.

Chief, I don't know what to tell you on that.

It's six blocks versus four blocks.

It's four blocks to Mary and Barry overpass from where you're at, it's six blocks from the new side.

I mean, we're we're arguing over two blocks and a hundred feet.

Your guys might have to work.

We're going over construction.

We're well, yeah, we're hoping.

And then not counting the gas.

A million dollars is a lot of money.

So not a counting a gas station.

That'd be 20 more officers for you this year.

Well, if I could get 20 more officers, that's another thing.

Uh, you know, yet to be addressed.

But uh I mean finding people that uh want to do the job.

No, but I'm trying to be efficient in what we do as police service.

It's all about efficiency.

It'd be like, well, won't we just take the finance department out of city hall and move them down there?

Let them come back and forth day in and day out.

It's the same process.

I've got captains that are back and forth the administration several times a day because we have business to conduct at the end of the day, a beautiful building downtown, a beautiful building on Caraway.

Hey, I get it.

That at the end go, okay, that's great.

Now let's talk about functionality of this talk about you know what's good for the police department.

Anyone think uh we need to be on Washington?

Raise your hand.

Anybody think we need to be on Caraway?

We don't we can do one at a time, testimony if you'd like.

I mean, everybody has an opinion on this, we agree.

And at the end of the day, when it's all said and done, did and over with, you're probably not gonna change your stance.

I'm not gonna change my stance uh as a council as a committee.

Uh what's best for the police department, what's best for the city of Jonesboro.

Uh that's the decision that needs to be made.

But it needs to be made uh looking at it with open and objective eyes.

Uh people are making decisions for the police department and have not consulted anybody in the police department, which I find uh kind of offensive.

That uh you know there's not been set down conversations, but we get people from wherever come up and say, Well, the police department needs to be here or needs that and this, whatever.

It's like come and sit down with people at the police department before you talk about what you think the police department needs, and that has not happened by very many people on this council.

And that has not happened by very many people on this council.

So I would hope we have those talks before we make the final decision on this because again, I feel it's best suited downtown for all aspects of the police department.

So respect your opinion, but at the end of the day, I'm gonna do what I think is best for my department and my people.

Ms.

Demison.

Thank you, Chief.

Does anybody else on the committee have anything for Chief?

Okay, thank you, sir.

Okay, all good conversations, all good questions, all good points.

Wanna say thank you to Chief and to Councilman Moore for bringing up those items.

Moving on to um, you know, I feel like we've kind of already covered this in all of that, but from a public safety standpoint.

Do we have anything from anybody on the anybody on the task force, any questions, any comments or anything else surrounding the public safety aspect of either site?

Okay, gotcha.

All right, good deal.

Thank you, everybody.

Appreciate you.

Okay, so that is the three different items that I have as far that I had as far as impact from the economic from the city financial aspect of it, and also from public safety.

I didn't necessarily have anything else to focus on tonight.

You know, we've received quite a bit more data since we met last time.

We have the DPZ analysis study, which we've spoken a little bit about that from the economic aspects, the different side options, the site breakdowns, the individual line items, all that information's been made available to everybody on this committee.

I know that um it's quite a bit of information to digest, and I would um highly recommend anybody that's on city council that hasn't had an opportunity to view these items to take a look at those, um render render your decisions because this will be coming to your desk and um in in the future with whatever decision that we make here from this committee, and um of course reach out to um Chief Elliott, reach out to anybody that um you have any questions about anything else that's contained in these items.

Um tonight we will not be having a vote on this.

We um due to legislative constraints, we have to have everybody in session to be able to make that vote.

So the next meeting, which I'm going to poll the committee.

I think that it would be prudent to set another meeting for Tuesday, October 14th, at which time we can have a vote on this item and we can send a recommendation up to public safety.

Is there anybody on the commission that feels like that's that's not a good time or we need to push that out any further?

That was a Tuesday, yes, sir.

That's correct.

So we're looking at once again Tuesday, October 14th at three o'clock meeting for a vote and a recommendation to public safety regarding our site selection and recommendation.

Okay, April, would you mind putting that on the calendar for us?

Great, thank you.

Mr.

Emerson?

Yes, Councilman Gibson.

Is there any way that we could hold that on the first or third Tuesday of the month?

I've I've actually got to be in Kentucky.

I can make the next Tuesday or whatever you need, Brian.

Okay, gotcha.

So Chris, just to confirm that would be October 21st.

Uh yes, I do my best to schedule my travel schedule around the council meeting.

Sure, yes, sir.

Um, anybody else on the committee have any problems with the 21st at three o'clock?

Okay, good deal.

April, if you wouldn't mind making that change for us.

Great.

Thank you.

Mr.

Remson, we don't have um finance that day, so we can make it later if we need to.

Okay.

Perfect.

Is four o'clock better for everybody?

Okay.

I'll take the silence as a as a yes.

So we'll plan on four o'clock for Tuesday, October 21st for our next meeting to vote and send a recommendation up to the public safety commission.

Um other comments, questions, any other information that anybody can think that they want to see before moving into our next meeting on the 21st.

Might be people from the public, yeah.

I don't know.

Sure.

Right.

Okay.

So that is all under new business today.

Um that'll move us into which I guess is pending items is next.

Does anybody else have any pending items for the committee?

And other business.

I know of none.

And moving on to item seven, public comments.

Um, this will be a time that anybody can come and speak to the committee about the items that were on the agenda today, or anything to do with the SOT selection for the future E911 real-time intelligence center.

Ms.

Would you state your name and address for the record?

Yes.

Uh Patty Lack, 4108 Forrest Hill Road.

And I guess this is coming from a citizen standpoint and listening to the conversation over the past months on there.

First, I have to say I'm really glad that we're not talking about what was brought up a couple weeks ago about the children's museum.

I think that was kind of a surprise, especially when looking at the analysis report of talking about the economic impact to Jonesboro.

The economic impact they were comparing to Myrtle Beach versus Jonesboro.

We're not Myrtle Beach, and talking about the numbers.

I think we're needed, and I think it needs assistance from the city.

Um I know they're having a difficult time trying to find a location.

So given that, um, I went on the agenda and I looked at the two prices, and I do have a couple of questions as far as like on the Washington Avenue, it was talking about the best demolition and stuff like that.

We had talked at one time that maybe the ARPA funds could help with the demolition, and I think there was $361,000 in it, but I think it's $100,000 less after the finance meeting today.

But on this chart right here, it has site work as $760,000.

But if you look at the caraway one, it doesn't list site work on that.

So I don't understand why there's not a total on that.

Also, too, the drainage of $350,000 on the Washington, and I know that there's got to be some type of drainage problems over there on Caraway.

So I don't understand why that amount is not on that one right there.

Right off the bat, the Care Way project has 150 or a million five hundred thousand or a million five hundred thousand because we got to buy the property.

So that's added cost.

So even like Mr.

Moore, how you were saying is that it's close to 700,000 difference, really we're adding the 1.5 million, and I don't know where we're gonna come up with the money to purchase that land.

I don't know that the city has any extra money just sitting around.

Um but I think the bottom line is that we are talking about just an E91 center.

We have 5.5 million dollars from the bond money.

That's all we have, or we allotted for, but both of these estimates are way above there.

So where are we gonna get the extra money to do this?

I agree, you know, we could right now put that E91 center right there on Washington, and we could build it today because time's gonna start running out because I think it's three three years that we have to complete all the bond projects.

The contract from Mr.

Parker, I I guess we should say thank you very much because he reduced it for $500,000 from two million dollars that it was last year, but we still have all the conditions that the city has to meet to meet his requirements to purchase it.

I know that there was some post-it notes looking at the dates.

I think the only thing that changed on that contract was the top sheet, and it was the price part of it.

Everything else was signed except for what the city was, and I just have to tell you that property has been for sale for a long, long time.

I think it's been for sale ever since I moved here 30 some years ago.

You know, a long time ago, that property was probably worth a lot of money, but I don't know really what it's worth right now.

But I guess it's worth 1.5 million dollars for us to buy it.

I had to warn the city, you know.

I put on there with the developer.

We are developing that piece of property for Mr.

Parker to build his houses or condos.

Just a warning.

Some of the developers out there in Jonesboro might be saying, hey, you know what?

Why don't you pay for some of mine too?

Because why is Mr.

Parker being given this extra privilege that Jonesboro is doing the work that he's supposed to be doing as a developer?

Bottom line, we have 5.5 million dollars to build this, and we need it right away.

Is the buildings the same thing?

Exactly.

Is the distance that far apart?

It's not, but I think we need to get these people in a new building as soon as we can.

And that's what the goal is that you guys have to decide where it goes.

It's the same building, same price.

If you look at everything else, and where can we get it done the fastest?

And if we can't get it done at these two locations, I have to tell you guys we have property or the city has property over there on Johnson.

Why can't you put an E19 E91 Center over on Johnson and then build a brand new police station over there?

You know, keep the property over here, sell the current police station on Caraway, get that money and build on Johnson.

And there's a whole acreage right there.

So that's another option that maybe we need to start thinking of.

Because I think the difference between the two, there's not a lot of difference, except we need to use the land that the city already owns.

We don't need to go ahead and buy property for 1.5 million dollars from someone that wants that property sold.

Heck, we might as well sell the property, the police station to Mr.

Parker, then he can develop that whole area and make some money.

So my vote, and I think a lot of people in this town want it to go where the Justice Department is, and it doesn't have to be torn down, it can be built right now.

So I hope you guys take that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Welcome, sir.

Can you state your name and address for the record?

Uh I'm uh Lieutenant David McDaniel with the Jonesboro Police Department at 1001 South Caraway.

I'm here uh just to hopefully shed a little bit of light on the importance of uh the Caraway location.

Can you speak into the mic a little better?

I'm sorry, I can't hardly hear you, sir.

Is that better?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Um I have been with the police department.

I'm working on my 28th year now.

I actually uh was in the E911 dispatch center prior to coming on to the police department.

So I'm working on my 30th year uh with the City of Jonesboro.

Uh, just to kind of echo a little bit about what the chief said, uh law enforcement's a funny industry.

Um people come out with uh products and gizmos and vehicle designs.

Uh the Ford Taurus.

Uh where's my six-foot plus guys, y'all remember the Ford Tours designed with cops uh input.

There's no way.

Uh there's no way.

You can't, they had a strap on the door where you can only open it that wide.

I still don't know what that was for.

There was a lot of those things that accidentally got cut, you know, and it was just uh it's um it's hard to work in an industry where you have so many dedicated people with the integrity they have, and no one ever comes to you and say, how can we serve you better?

What is it you need?

Uh and just to shed a little bit of light and why I I feel um personally motivated to be here is currently I'm assigned as the administrator of the real-time crime center.

Uh, that is my function is to keep that place running.

Uh, we have a lean team.

Uh, one of the integral parts of that team is a relationship with the criminal investigation division.

Uh, we are adjacent to them in that building.

We have a constant flow of foot traffic in and out of that room from those investigators.

Uh, and to break that relationship geographically would be detrimental to my function, being more uh strategic and efficient.

Um, there are things that happen in that room that are uh time uh of time is of the essence.

Uh we have uh just over the weekend, uh thank God it worked out well, but the the kidnapping that occurred, it's it's important to have those investigators in their offices and us at our terminals and to be able to talk to each other in real time face to face.

Those investigators know things, they've been on the phone, they need to come look at that footage with their own eyes and see those things.

And my concern now is phase two.

If you if you take this building and you put it on Washington, and of the hundred and twelve spots that you say are at the justice complex, those that parking spot is on the north side of the patrol building.

That's where we're talking about putting that building.

Um you're gonna have is what would you say there's 30, 40 spots at the justice complex proper, maybe, and police work is 24-7.

There's shifts coming in all day long.

We have to have a place to put those guys, and we're gonna shut that whole parking lot down and set me and my division down there for the years that I have left with this agency, and have my investigators have to drive several blocks, park a hundred plus feet away to get to me where stuff that needs to happen urgently and where they need to get in that room and see these things.

Um, and I'm worried about the time that's gonna pass between the the E911 real-time center being completed and down the road when the police department is completed.

We need to bridge that gap where it's more efficient.

It's not gonna be ideal being disconnected at Caraway, but at least we're in the same parking lot.

We're there with each other, and I think that would cause as little chaos as possible during the transition, because even if we decide to build a new police department today on top of this other center, it's years down the road before this is completed.

And I think that's gonna be a detriment to how well we do our job.

And it's I think that's probably one of the main concerns I have is can we take that and overcome when it comes to public safety.

I I think it's gonna put us a step back in the wrong direction.

Um I think it's I think it's worth listening to the people that you're doing this for.

What is it that they want?

You know, you hire people to come to your home and build your furniture, like cabinetry or whatever.

They wouldn't just come in and say, Well, I've decided what's best for you.

This is for us.

It needs to be, it needs to have our input in it.

Um, and I think it's an it's an investment in the city that is very worthwhile, especially when it comes to uh the public safety factor, the the changes in technology that's coming down the pipe, and these real-time crime centers are gonna be more and more efficient quicker, and that relationship, that face-to-face relationship with officers in the room who need things uh for something that happened yesterday, something that's going on now.

I don't think we need to take that and divide it any more than it needs to be.

I'm concerned about that.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Lieutenant.

Anyone else for public comment?

Yes, sir.

So state your name and address for the record.

Jeremy Terrell, 909 Pinecrest.

Um couple things.

Number one, I agree a hundred percent.

Police department's been shafted for years.

I eat with you guys, I know a lot of you guys, dear friends of you guys, but there's a lot of stuff that's gotta be fixed, including this situation that we got.

Now, I want what's best for you guys.

100%, I talk about it all the time.

100%.

I do take a little bit of offense, Chief, with all due respect that you just say it's just a hundred or it's just a million dollars.

As a taxpayer, I want to make sure that everybody up here is spending the money based upon all the taxpayers.

So a million dollars is a ton of money.

Now, sometimes it's it's it's it makes sense, and sometimes it doesn't.

The problem that I have is number one, we're paying $600, even at the 1.5, $600,000 per acre for this place.

If you take the most prime location in Jonesboro, which is probably South or Southern Hills, it's 120 between 120 and 150 an acre.

And yet you you everybody wants the the taxpayers to be okay with spending six hundred thousand dollars, three to four times more for eight per acre.

That that's not okay.

So had had the price be adequate, maybe the maybe the citizens wouldn't be aggravated.

So you guys got all the reasons to be aggravated, trust me.

I've seen the pictures, I've walked in there, I've been in both facilities.

I think it's absolutely atrocious.

I think it's time that you guys get taken care of 100%.

But then there is the taxpayer site, and that's super important.

In some way, somehow we've got to become, we got to come together on it.

So maybe the maybe that whoever's negotiating, the mayor, whoever can go back to the person that's selling it and say, hey, let's get realistic on the price, and then that'll drive that price down, and that million dollars will be a whole lot closer because a million dollars is a ton.

What can you do with that extra million dollars?

A whole lot.

So, yeah, we need to we need to have your guys' input, but we also need to be realistic in what's going on too, and and not act like we just got money on the money tree in the back.

So is it gonna be inconvenient?

Heck yeah, you guys have been inconvenienced for 20 plus years.

Absolutely.

And I think we need to be building for the future 100%, and I don't think you guys need to be shafted anymore, without a doubt.

But this is about the taxpayers getting what they believe is right, and you guys getting what you believe is right, and at the end we can all be happy about it.

It's called meeting in the middle.

We don't like to do that anymore.

gonna be inconvenient heck yeah you guys have been inconvenienced for 20 plus years absolutely and I think we need to be building for the future 100% and I don't think you guys need to be shafted anymore without a doubt but this is about the taxpayers getting what they believe is right and you guys getting what you believe is right and at the end we can all be happy about it it's called meeting in the middle we don't like to do that anymore we don't like to work together anymore for some unbelievable reason but at some point in time that's the way we got to be we got to meet in the middle discuss what's best for everybody it's not just you guys get it and we get shafted with a million dollars it's not just us get what we want and you guys get shafted again that would that would suck I'd be just as pissed off as you are but there's a lot of things that we've got to do not just with the location but a lot of internal things and a lot of things we've got to do together not just where the doggone location is to get better so I think that this needs to go definitely again to another conversation but we can't keep acting like the money is not the taxpayers money that that's insane to me six hundred dollars an acre when the the the sports center which is the maybe the primest location was 140 an acre Mr Terrell I need you to address the committee sorry other people in the audience so you're 100% like we we also need to watch our language and purpose what did I say I am so sorry.

I just it's it's okay just let's watch our language going forward 100% apologize for that so I I do believe that this is a tough decision.

I think that this is this is 100% a big part of the future of Jonesboro 100% I will say each of you guys I sent a uh thing to you talking about today talking about the economic uh value of having the police station downtown I encourage you to go read it because it's actually the opposite of what you said having the police department downtown is way more economical or economic for downtown it will raise the prices of the the property downtown the amount of of the the patrons feeling secure you know we have the entertainment district the numbers are up if you add them upright it would make a huge difference to to downtown the property values would go way up it it that's a study that's been done across the the the United States property values going up would would far surpass anything that the children's center would bring or the children's museum would bring in so I'm for us fixing the police department 100% I just want it to be done what's best for the police department and what's best for the citizens alike.

So I would love to see it'd be a whole different conversation I think with everybody if we were buying the doggone place for you know three hundred thousand dollars instead of one point five million so thank you Mr.

Terrell just a point of order it's eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars an acre not six hundred thousand there's a six hundred thousand dollar road improvement had to be built on top of so it's eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars an acre yep eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars an acre that that that's that's robbing the taxpayers that's robbing the taxpayers show me anything else in this town where we're gonna spend that amount of money anywhere and it and it can't just be because that's where the police department wants it I mean I want a lot of things but I don't get that you know I gotta abide by everything that that you guys set and and rule and you guys are supposed to make sure that you're spending our money that's one of your guys' premier jobs is spending our money wisely and making sure that you're not getting ripped that you're not allowing us to get ripped off thanks thank you for your comments anybody else in the auditorium tonight have any comments okay seeing none that moves us on to the final item on our agenda being adjournment so move okay I have a motion and a second to adjourn all in favor?

Any opposed we do stand adjourned thank you everybody for your time this evening thank you all for sure