Good evening, everybody, and welcome to City Council.

This is March 3rd, 2026.

Let me see.

Councilman Emerson, would you like to lead us in prayer?

I hadn't asked.

All right, great.

All right, we'll go ahead and open this evening's minutes, and I'll start with Pledge Allegiance, an invitation will be led out.

I pledge allegiance through the flag of the United States of America.

And the Republic for which it stands one nation.

Liberty and justice for all.

Would you be a good pray with me?

Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us all here today to do the business of the great city of Jonesboro.

And we just ask a hand of healing and calm and just looking over all of our troops, all of our soldiers, everybody that's overseas that's in conflict right now, along with our first responders that are here in Jonesboro.

And uh just ask that you forgive us of our sins and look after us as we go about as we go about our day, and um trying to live life in the way that you would want us to lead it.

Thank you so much for everything that you've given us.

Amen.

Amen.

If you would please go ahead and do roll call.

Got it.

All right, we do have 10 present.

Next we'll move on to special presentations.

Good evening item for special presentation.

The Honorable Mayor Harold Copenhagen will present the state of the city address.

Good evening, council and everybody in the community.

I appreciate everybody for being present.

Council, I want to tell you it's an honor to provide you the state of the city address for Jonesboro.

You know, it's an honor to work with Tony Thomas, Brian Richardson, Tanya, Tracy, April Leggett, our city clerk, and city attorney Carol Duncan to invest and improve in our city.

This is my sixth state of the city address, and every single time, I'm thrilled for the privilege to stand before you.

You know, this is an amazing city, and we're doing amazing things together.

I'd also like to recognize our city employees.

The city team works incredibly hard to ensure city services and programs run smoothly.

Last year, more than one and a half million hours of their labor was dedicated to this community in the rain, cold, sunshine, and the recent snow.

Their dedication to the residents of this city is on display every day for this community.

I certainly want to thank those who make sure our tax dollars are well kept.

Last year, Steve Pertie and our finance department processed a hundred and seven thousand various transactions.

They managed nearly 5,000 business licenses and distributed nearly 40 million dollars in payroll checks.

Now, let me back up and restate that.

They processed 107,000 transactions with the staff of 10.

They oversaw nearly 100 million dollars in revenue, and they did that with exceptional professionalism.

In route to receiving 15 consecutive clean audits by the Arkansas legislative audit.

That means not one of those transactions violated the accounting standards for local, state, or federal law.

That's incredible.

Thank you, Steve.

Lastly, I'd like to thank all the residents of Jonesboro.

Now, Jonesboro is a great community.

It's a community to build a life in, a family, business, and every individual though, contributes to our community.

You are the heartbeat of Jonesboro.

So the state of Jonesboro is thriving because our people make it that way.

Jonesboro is filled with amazing people who go above and beyond.

Some are in this room.

Our financial position is solid.

We wrapped up 2025 with 28.1 million dollars in reserves.

9.6 million of which is required by city policy.

The closing months of 2025 also reflect economic growth and the strengthening of the local economy, which sales tax returns month after month surpassing those of the previous year.

Our chamber cut ribbons on 150 new businesses in Jonesboro last year.

150.

That's 150 new opportunities for individuals to have jobs and millions in the economic impact.

There was recently announcement of a new industry coming to Jonesboro.

In VoAsian, it's going to bring 200 plus more jobs to Jonesboro.

Jonesboro's growth, though, is directly tied to the decisions that's made in this room.

Decisions to fund safety needs, quality of life projects, zoning, and policy decisions, and allocating funding for infrastructure investments that literally pave the way for development.

In this room, decisions are made to fund positions to carry out the needs of the city.

Last year, our human resources department onboarded 232 employees to fill existing openings.

136 were part-time.

Jason Ratliff, the information systems team worked daily to protect our most sensitive information from cyber attacks.

The number is in the tens of thousands in attempts of every year.

They close 3,154 tickets for technical help from city employees.

Maintain more than 600 computer workstations, and even managed last year the transition from Jonesboro.org to Jonesboro AR.gov that included updating every city email address.

You are all aware that Jonesboro does not receive the same financial resources compared to any other city our size in the state.

Our combined sales tax rate is the lowest among our peers.

Unlike most, it also has to pay for services most communities charge separate for, like sanitation cost.

Without an aggressive approach to securing grants and appropriations as a city, we simply could not function.

Our grants department has handled more than $75 million in funding in the last five years.

Notable funding.

They worked hard to secure in 2025 1.2 million railroad elimination study grant, a $500,000 TAP grant for the Marion Barry overpass, and $4.5 million in federal appropriations.

They work closely with local nonprofits to assist with resources and identifying and manage our community development block grant program that provides $600 of annual funding back to our community.

To keep pace with market, council also approved a much needed cost of living for the full-time employees.

Now, after not receiving a COLA for multiple years prior, this marked the fifth straight year of employees receiving both their annual STEP and COLA.

All in all, our 2025 workforce included roughly 800 full and part-time employees, oversaw nearly a hundred million dollars in total revenues, and managed nearly 15 million dollars in capital improvements.

What's worked and what needs to work.

Progress by design, not by happenstance.

This is what Destination 100K is all about.

To reiterate from last year, Destination 100K is not a goal or a push to grow Jonesboro to 100,000 people.

It's coming whether we like it or not.

It's about ensuring the coming growth is carefully managed, planned, and adequately prepared for.

Some of these projects have been planned for nearly 20 years.

They are finally funded.

They will soon be visible with concrete and steel.

We will soon begin to break down, break ground on a 911 public safety center.

This is a five and a half million dollar investment in public safety.

Senator Bozeman knows how important this center is.

He recently secured $3.5 million in federal appropriations to enhance this project.

For years, a common complaint about Jonesboro was the lack of sidewalks and the amount of traffic bottlenecking on South Caraway Road.

We are finally moving forward this year with a funded project, moving on the project that predates basically all of our city officials and staff.

Our street department, under the direction of Steve Tippett, works to take preventative steps to extend our road life.

They are, though, in a constant state of upkeep.

Our street signs, our line markings, managing our drainage system and maintaining miles of public right away.

Listen, we are investing more than $3 million in road overlays this year from reserves.

Like I said last year, it's time we start investing some of our reserves back into our community.

Street crews clean nearly 17,000 linear feet of residential drainage ways and mowed 65 miles with heavy equipment.

They mowed Interstate 555 20 times and performed 80 miles of blitter pickup efforts.

In addition to all they do, without hesitation, they, along with several other departments, loaded up to head to Hardy and the Monette to assist when disaster recovery efforts are needed.

While not a city government project, most all of our West End neighborhood now rest upon a new sewer system thanks to the multi-million dollar project by our friends and partners at City Water and Light.

While those living in the area are aware of the project, many who pass through just assume this is poor road maintenance.

To those with that belief, I want to remind them that now that most of the work is complete and permanent repairs will soon begin as warmer weather arrives.

Now not all infrastructure is built for wheels, tires, or feet each year.

Each year we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars solely on drainage infrastructure to maintain our drainage ways.

Just last week released that Congressman Crawford secured an additional million dollars to help flooding along Lost Creek.

We will spend nearly one and a half million dollars this year on improving our industrial rail system that supplies our industrial partners with a raw product and transports their finished goods around the world.

In 2025, we saw an award of 1.2 million dollar rail elimination grant to study crossings throughout the city.

This will provide the type of data that we need to secure funding for major safety and infrastructure improvements where our streets meet our railroad tracks.

Now, our DOT is investing as Jonesboro as well.

They have more than 100 million dollars of projects under construction here as we speak.

The airport road overpass will soon be complete.

Martin Luther King Drive Jr.

bypass is in its final stages.

Southwest Drive and Parker are getting a major overhaul in Highway 351 five-lane expansion project will soon serve the Hilltop community, which is growing as fast as anywhere in the state.

But RDOT isn't just pouring concrete here.

They see what you see.

Jonesboro's future is bright, but we better prepare for it right now.

Private dollars are also pouring into the city.

Constructing buildings to housing new residents and businesses.

They're choosing Jonesboro.

Last year, our inspections department issued more than 5,000 permits that included approvals of more than 500 commercial and residential construction projects.

Not only do new construction projects have to meet building codes, zoning codes or landscaping codes, but they also must be developed in a way that doesn't harm those downstream with stormwater runoff to cause traffic backup.

Our engineering department conducted nearly 2,000 stormwater drainage inspections last year on commercial and residential development.

They reviewed nearly 100 traffic and speed limit requests, conducted 75 traffic count studies, and assisted in more than 1,000 utility locate requests to make underground hazards for projects that involve digging.

Folks, those numbers I just shared with you and will throughout this evening represent a lot of work that's performed by a surprisingly small amount of city employees.

Our priority is a safe city.

But we also want to be more streamlined and efficient community to build in.

So last year, we engaged matrix consulting to research our codes, analyze our processes, and make recommendations on how we can both reduce red tape and encourage better projects.

That study should be wrapping up soon.

I look forward to seeing how we can make those necessary adjustments together.

By most any metric, public safety and quality of life is how a family judges the value of a city.

How we as parents decide where we raise our children and where our children choose to build their lives.

Nearly 40 million of money is well spent, though.

Jonesboro isn't just a great city.

It's a safe city.

An increasing population naturally results in more calls for emergency services.

Firefighters responded to, we have some in the room, I think, don't we?

Gentlemen.

Firefighters responded to 10% more calls in 2025 than 2024.

It's 11,501 calls.

They conducted 3,200 inspections and reached more than 13,000 residents and youth through public education pieces.

So thank you to Chief Marty Hamrick, Assistant Chief Basham and Ricky Houghton.

And thank you for every firefighter for what you do.

Now, even with Jonesboro's considerable population growth over the last decade, recently released statistics by the Federal Bureau of Investigations show violent crimes is the lowest in Jonesboro has seen in a decade.

Now think about that.

More people, less actual crimes committed.

That's impressive.

You know why?

It's because our police department is impressive.

Thank you to your leadership, Rick Elliott and Assistant Chief Lynn Waterworth.

Our police department oversees more than 800 cameras that were referenced over 2,000 times in investigations last year for the real-time crime center.

They processed more than 1,500 FOIA requests last year.

Officers participated in more than 100 community outreach events and connected with 25,000 residents.

Safety is a priority.

Also for our furry friends as well.

Under the leadership of Larry Rogers, our Animal Services Division sponsors, regular low cost shock clinics with residents.

Thousands attend a year to receive that.

That takes a lot of work that people have no idea what goes on behind the scenes.

They keep a watchful eye as well on disease trends and rabies and distemper and rescue an occasional Kenton from a storm drain every now and then.

You know, lives are being saved though monthly by our newly incorporated and trendsetter award-winning emergency medical dispatch program, incorporated by our 911 dispatch team led by Director Ronnie Sturch and Melanie Bennett.

In 2025, more than 100,000 calls were answered by our dispatchers.

Seven of those calls were dispatchers saving a life, calmly, and walking panicked loved ones through CPR.

And one of those recently even provided support to successfully deliver a baby.

You know, we have challenges in this community when it comes to trash and litter in our community.

But it's all of our responsibility to do our part.

Code enforcement, led by Scott Roper.

Investigated more than 7,500 cases in 2025.

Nearly 7,000 of those are now in compliance.

Think about that.

Think about that.

Between condemnations and working with property owners, more than 100 blighted structures were demolished and removed from our neighborhoods.

Park rangers.

What a success for our community and for our parks.

It provides safety at a level that we haven't had before.

And a communication between our community.

Our sanitation department, in addition to providing daily collection, saw more than 250 tons of junk.

Over 1,000 tires brought, though, directly to us, either through our monthly neighborhood cleanups and our new bulky junk drop off on Lacey Drive.

We invested significantly in parks last year, but not with just dollars.

We did it with hands.

We did it with backs and the hearts of the best park state staff in the state.

They've been through a lot lately, but they've stayed focused on what matters.

And that's service, service to our community.

Planning for a new park in Northeast Jonesboro is well underway.

This project is possible thanks to a million-dollar grant by the Arkansas Parks Grant and a hundred thousand dollar act of heartfelt benevolence by the Junior Auxiliary of Jonesboro.

Allen Park, University Lions Park saw totally new playgrounds installed in 2025.

Alan Park was also a recipient of a brand new splash pad.

Our beautiful walking path around Craighead Forest Park is now lit to provide more than a hundred thousand park visitors a year the ability to walk at night when the day gets short.

We cut ribbon on a new pocket park downtown, and we're working daily to improve our recreational sports and activity offerings.

Walls now stand tall at the Ridge Athletic Center.

Drive by and check out the progress.

This time next year, I look forward to watching young athletes from around the country competing in multi-day tournaments, packing our hotels, restaurants, and stores.

But this amenity won't be just for sports tourists.

It will provide year-round swimming opportunities for Jonesboro residents.

200,000 square foot of indoor recreational space and outdoor aquatic sparks.

You know, there's momentum as well building in downtown too.

Hey, the old bank building's gone.

That's prime real estate for development.

New restaurants are opening and thriving.

We're seeing great attendance as well in our festivals and events.

One of which saw thousands pack downtown to watch the historic Clydesdales parade downtown on Main Street to outstanding fanfare.

Look in every direction.

You see growth.

What's happening in Hilltop?

What's happening at Southwest Drive is amazing.

The core is also improving.

The once struggling Caraway Road is now lined with new development and homes in the historic West End neighborhood.

They're as popular as ever.

We have a lot to be proud of in Jonesboro.

But folks, we've got a lot to accomplish.

A city can be stressful if people can get where they want to go or need to go.

Infrastructure move from here to there is a serious but expensive challenge.

It's an evolution of a growing city.

More is a wonderful problem to have when you consider the alternative is to climb.

Our MPO works daily on identifying immediate needs and long-term goals, including completing the 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

They work together on planning future highway routes, R Dot, and are consistently seeking ways to make our roads safer.

But not everyone can or wants to drive everywhere.

So we will soon be renovating the Marion Barry Overpass.

This joint project with Arkansas State University will create a direct trail connection between the university and downtown Jonesboro.

We are investing in making Jonesboro more walkable, more rideable with our JBR trail system.

The new JBR brand was envisioned thanks to J.D.

Ranwater and other connectivity committee members to both provide an identity for our system and to show that progress should be celebrated, but not defended.

We should all stand united in making Jonesboro safer for all residents to enjoy.

Taking pride in doing the right thing isn't always easy, though.

There are plenty of naysayers who think pedestrian infrastructure is a waste, that buses, trolleys are worthless.

And if a dollar spent doesn't directly benefit them, it's bad government.

Cities don't design for one person, one special interest group or a vocal minority.

Nor is Jonesboro about just you or me.

It's about all the residents.

So to the naysayers who think pedestrian infrastructure is a waste of money.

I say saving lives starts with investing in them, investing in mothers, fathers, children's, grandparents, and friends who choose to have to navigate our community without a vehicle.

They matter to me.

And I know they matter to this city council.

And I know we won't turn the blind eye to the basic needs of our community.

Connectivity also means better connecting Jonesboro with other communities.

Our airport will soon open its doors on a new six million dollar terminal building.

Our runways have been strengthened.

They've been lengthened to handle larger planes and carry more passengers to and from Jonesboro.

As a direct result of more than 20 million dollars in investment in our airport in the last four years, we've received four commercial bids for air service this past year, two of which were jet service.

So connectivity isn't just about physically connecting people either.

It's also about sharing ideas, achievements, and connecting Jonesboro's story with other communities and potential future residents.

Council, great cities set trends.

This year, Jonesboro brought home three trendsetter awards.

On a statewide level, we were recognized as trend setting with our emergency medical dispatch system.

The first of its kind Park Ranger Program and the JBR connectivity system efforts.

JoyFest was awarded the Arkansas Parks Association event of the year.

And our first annual skirmish gravel cycle race was named Festival of the Year by the Arkansas Delta Byways.

The Downtown Jonesboro Alliance won downtown Revitalization Award for the City of Jonesboro and was named Volunteer City of the Year, our Youth Engagement by Engage Arkansas.

That's a big deal.

In Jonesboro, we do big things.

And people from big areas and small ones, they see them.

They attend our festivals, and might I dare say they envy what they see going on here.

But you know what?

That's something for us to be proud of.

Because when your city is being recognized across Arkansas, across the region, and across the nation, when other communities are looking to us, for example, you know what?

Council, that's worth celebrating.

Connectivity is also about how the government connects with residents to keep them informed.

Our communications department processed 294 FOIA requests in just FOIA last year, and dozens more via email or in person.

That's hundreds of hours spent researching relevant documents, reviewing and uploading them into a system for fulfillment.

They filmed and produced 59 videos, 39 press releases, and created 36 community progress reports along with hundreds of public service announcements, and covered in detail the Citizens Bank building project with regular updates.

So when we talk about overall city connectivity, public transit is also a foundational piece.

We've seen all the new trolley buses we acquired in my first term.

We've expanded that fleet, though, and more are on the way.

We've added routes, began a partnership with Arkansas State University to connect students with the community.

We operate the Red Wolf Express to ferry people from downtown right to the front gates of home football games, and they're updating our bus shelters as well that y'all are aware of.

Now the future.

Nothing we do or that any city does for that matter is universally agreed upon by every resident.

All of us have ideas for what's best for the long-term growth of our city, but contrary to how other cities and towns prepare for growth.

We need public input.

We want to grow Jonesboro together.

This past August, we funded Plan Jonesboro.

We kicked it off last month with an open house at Earl Bell.

We had over a hundred members from the public that attended.

We're hosting events and meetings, and a big one is happening this month in a form of a week-long event at the Y, March 30th to April 3rd.

Please participate.

This is an effort to show the open door and challenge the public to get them involved to be a part of the solution to help craft a blueprint, a blueprint to a smarter, safer, stronger city that belongs to all of us.

So in conclusion, growth is exciting, but it's expensive to be ready for growth to propel us rather than to burden us.

It's going to require more investment, not just from the government, but from the community.

It's more hospital beds, more homes, more roads, more entertainment venues, more businesses, more jobs, more vehicles.

We have to be prepared.

Police presence, fire protection.

It's going to be expensive.

And we need more of everything.

The cost of doing business in the city continues to rise.

Just like the cost of operating in the private market.

In Jonesboro, when you look back 10 years, compared to today's number, it's eye-opening.

Police salaries are up 63% since 2015.

Firefighter salaries are up 52%.

Concrete is up 25%.

Asphalt is up 50%.

Across the board, the price of doing business climbs each year.

At some point, soon, conservative budgeting simply won't be enough to meet the demands of a growing city with needs.

So to succeed, we must plan.

Work together with our state, federal leaders for continued funding.

Work together with our wonderful chamber to attract jobs and work together with Arkansas State University and ASU Newport to keep churning out a talented workforce.

You know, we must work together with our local schools.

Provide our children with the foundation needed for success.

As I have always said, if you can't see it, you can't be it.

If you can't see it, you can't be it.

And if we don't allow our youth in our community to see it, then shame on us.

We need to make sure that we work with charities and nonprofits serving those in need and work together with community and faith leaders to guide our journey with wise counsel.

You know, I'm honored to serve alongside this city council for the way we represent this community.

We don't always agree on every matter.

And we shouldn't.

But a healthy debate of goals and thoughts is what drives new ideas.

What's important is that we never lose sight of why we are here.

That's to work together in a way that best serves the people of Jonesboro.

I consider myself and the residents of Jonesboro very fortunate to benefit from the years of combined experience in municipal service present in this room.

I've discussed a lot of numbers, stats, and financial figures this evening.

There's a lot going on, but all those numbers can add up to an overall total of one, one goal, one responsibility to make Jonesboro the best city we can.

Your friendship and your dedication will provide this community a bright future.

Thank you and God bless.

Council, thank you for allowing me that time this evening.

And next we'll move on to item number five on consent agenda.

Make a motion to adopt unless there's an item to be removed.

Second.

We do have a motion on the floor to adopt.

Any items to be removed.

I don't see any.

If you would please cast your ballot.

Okay, Dr.

Coleman.

And that does carry.

Next, we'll move on to item number six, and these are items on new business ordinance on the first reading, ordinance 26006.

Move we suspend the rules and offer by title of second.

Do you have a motion on the floor?

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

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

Any discussion by council?

I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any as well.

That'll move on to its next reading.

Now we'll move on to item number seven.

These are items on unfinished business.

We'll start with ordinance on the second reading, ordinance 26005.

Any discussion by council.

I don't see any.

Anyone in Council Chambers?

I don't see any as well.

That'll move on to its next reading.

Now we'll move on to ordinance 2607.

An ordinance to amend Chapter 117, known as the zoning ordinance providing for changes in zoning boundaries from R1 to RS6 for property located at 900 North Caraway Road as requested by Klaus Property Management LLC.

We have any discussion by council.

I don't see any.

Anyone in Council Chambers?

Okay.

I don't see as well.

All right, that will move on to its next reading.

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

We do have one that is ordinance 2600 four.

Move to adopt.

So we have a motion and second on the floor to adopt any discussion by council.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any.

If you would please cast your ballot.

And that ordinance does carry.

All right.

Just give me a second here, Council.

All right, Council.

Next, we'll move on to item eight.

These are city council or mayor report.

I'm going to begin tonight's comments as though y'all haven't heard me speak enough by recognizing, though, the unfortunate passing of Bruce Burrow.

He died Thursday at the flow in Phil Jones hospice house in Jonesboro.

Most of you knew Mr.

Burrow.

He was a renowned commercial real estate developer who chose to build his career in Jonesboro.

He was instrumental in the building of the Mall Turtle Creek, a project in which he took great pride.

He built Walmart centers, hotels, and many other retail buildings.

So it is not an exaggeration to say Bruce Burrow made an impact on Jonesboro and helped build the city that we live in today.

Last week I had the pleasure of welcoming the leadership Jonesboro class of 2026 to City Hall.

We discussed city operations, future projects, and key initiatives in shaping Jonesboro.

The group engaged in a great question and answer session, discussing everything from community growth to economic development from a city perspective.

The group also met with the Jonesboro Police Department and Fire Department touring the facilities, viewing equipment and vehicles.

You're never too old to be fascinated by fire trucks.

All the while gaining close-up insight to public safety operations.

We're proud to see these leaders learned more about our city works.

Thank you to the regional chamber of commerce for fostering leadership and civic engagement.

There were some well-attended entertainment opportunities last week in support of our community clubs and foundations.

The Foundation of Arts hosted an extreme karaoke night Friday, and the city staff was represented by Cliff Natch Nash, who came away with second place prize.

But I think the key is he had 30 city support supporters from the community there that are city employees.

So that's the kind of support that our employees provide to other city employees.

I understand the rest of the crowd know exactly who the city staffers were and supported him that night.

Saturday night also marked the occasion of Jonesboro Junior Auxiliar's annual charity ball with more than 650 attendants and their auction.

The event raises enough money to support many efforts in our community, include their own donation of 100,000 to our new park being built in East Jonesboro.

It was a great time, and I was proud to have the pleasure of taking my daughter to the event.

At this time, I would like Steve Pertis to come forward and take the podium to explain to everyone the current accounting processes of our city youth sports program.

Steve.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good evening, City Council.

Just wanted to go over a few comments, basically an overview of our accounting for youth sports.

Recently, you've received updates from Director Stearns on his department's continuation and transition of youth sports activities.

Mayor Copenhager asked that I also update the city council on the transition of the financial and accounting process for the same.

All youth sports financial activities are presently being reviewed by the finance department and have been since early December of last year.

Accounting systems are being developed to include reporting of all youth sports activities consistent with existing park activities.

That transition.

First, internal audit process.

In the early stages of the transition, we re-established the audit contract service that was earlier being provided by Mike Burroughs.

Mike is a retired legislative auditor and former City of Jonesboro City Accountant.

He most recently provided internal audit review of select cash activities and audit of receipt records for the city.

Mike's focus on this transition has been reviewing all cash activities generating through youth sports for the existence of proper documentation, evidence of proper controls, and verification of proper disposition.

I want to go through an overview of several account groupings or grouping of activities.

Number one, deposits, real important feature, a function of parks activities.

All deposit activities are now processed by the business collections office here at the municipal center.

Immediately during the transition, Director Stearns developed standard operating positions or procedures for his staff to follow relative to the handling of cash and cash activities within his department.

These procedures provide for count verification, dual control, and have been expanded to provide for the ability to account numerically.

What I mean by that is via tickets, armbands, etc.

for event admission.

At present, while it may be impractical to numerically account for all concession activities, this handling of cash still follows the verification and dual control measures that have been established.

All of these activities are reviewed by our internal auditor, Mike Burroughs.

We talk about withdrawals.

Dual control measures are maintained throughout the establishment of the starting cash position.

What I mean by that is you have a certain amount of starting cash that starts each event.

The same starting cash balances are accounted completely through restoration of the account wherefore they were withdrawn.

Expenses are documented with actual invoices and are reviewed for legitimacy.

Consistent with the softball program has been for a number of years now.

Check registers for contract worker payments are provided and reconciled to the bank records.

Time sheets presently being used in the softball program for the payment of officials are also being developed to use in all youth sports.

All purchasing within youth sports will be approved according to the purchasing guidelines approved by this city council in June of 2023.

Let me talk about electronic activities.

These will be relating to event registration, credit card settlements, those types of things.

All electronic activities are verified through the vendor portal activity detail, and proper disposition is verified through the bank records.

Again confirmed by our city accountant or internal auditor, rather.

Let me kind of go over the accounting process itself.

Reporting will be provided through the currently existing sports program cost center.

Director Stearns has approved the establishment of four different sport grouping categories, consisting of youth volleyball, youth basketball, youth soccer, and youth football and cheer.

Subaccount general ledger accounts will be established for each.

Indirect costs will also be accounted for sport to the extent possible.

Due to the seasonality of the majority of these programs and the overlap overlap of park staff serving these sports programs, it may be impractical to account for all costs at the sport level.

However, all expenses will be accounted in the sports program cost center.

Further for accounting, the frequency of reporting will be monthly, consistent with all other financial reporting, as you have your December financials in your packet this evening.

Since previous youth sports activities were not accounted for through the city financials, budgeting will be developed with administration and not Director Stern's input.

A future budget amendment will be prepared for city council approval.

Another key component of this transition is a review with legislative audit.

Legislative auditors will be here the week of March the 9th, that's next Monday, to begin the 2025 audit of the city's financials.

As youth sports accounting systems are developed, these practices and routines will be shared with them to seek their initial input on them.

As far as a future process, current software services for most parked activities are supported by the active software vendor.

Director Stearns and staff are reviewing to see if the available equipment and process may be expanded to support youth sports as well.

And my final comment.

Setting aside a specific reserve will preserve the remaining fund for how it was originally established, centered around youth sports.

As of December 31, 2025, this reserve was approximately 70,000.

Thank you.

Steve earlier today I took part in the U.S.

Mayor's conference panel meeting serving as a panelist.

I had the opportunity to share information about our rail crossing project, which is making progress.

If you recall, the rail crossing project is an information system that, among other features, helps our nine E11 dispatchers route emergency response vehicles around road crossings that may be blocked by train traffic.

If you can imagine the life-saving impact that will have, but more importantly, there were 200 mayors across the United States sharing ideas on how to improve their community.

And so it was an honor to be a part of that panelist group.

Council, I hope you're able to take a minute to read the press release this week by Plan Jonesboro Project.

I'm how I'm happy to see the strong turnout for the first meeting and they continued interest of the citizens participating in this 30-year planning project for setting priorities in the growth of the city.

I have a few folks I'd like to recognize tonight for their achievements.

First, there's Roger McKinney, who thoughtfully and faithfully is the caretaker of the Jonesboro Black History Museum for the U Boo and Watson Center.

He received the leaving legacy living legacy award from Arkansas State University Living Legacy Program.

Also, Dr.

Charles Coleman, one of our own, was awarded the Edway Community Support Award at the recent red dress gala in support of the community health education foundation.

I also want to congratulate our employee of the month, Dennis Trinidad from our IT department, and thank you for First Security Bank for sponsoring this program for the city.

And lastly, I would like to say thank you to Donna Malone.

I'd like to say publicly, I appreciate you taking on the challenges the last two years of communications.

It's a growing demand that we see change every day.

And uh it can be stressful in so many ways that the community doesn't appreciate the job that you did.

We as a community want to say thank you to you publicly, and we wish you well on your second retirement, but more importantly, you're gonna stay here in our community, you're gonna be engaged, and that's what it's all about.

So thank you for your commitment to the city of Jonesboro.

Thank you, Donna.

Now we move on to item nine.

This is City Council Reports.

Mr.

Street.

No, thank you.

Mr.

Miller.

Oh, thank you.

Mr.

Bryant.

A couple of things.

Um Steve referenced the 70,000 dollars, I guess, that was left over from City STARS.

So my question is more for Miss Duncan.

Do we have any concerns about doing anything with that before the indictment potential indictment or the end of the FBI investigation?

None have been expressed to us from the FBI.

They actually also have an amount of cash that they seized during their initial visit to the parks department that they are looking at trying to get return to us.

It's we're just waiting on that to occur.

So I'll say a couple of other things.

I've got like three or four notes, and I'll try to be quick because we've had a long meeting.

I agree with the mayor on sidewalks, and I appreciate your commitment to that because it is important, and I can't remember the percentage of people in this community that don't drive, but it's like a shocking percentage.

I mean, okay, there we go.

So I mean it's a really shocking number, and um we tend to, like you said, we tend to think about what we do, and most of the people in this room probably have a car or two, and we get around, we don't think about others enough, so I think that's a really good point.

And I'll say too about the growth of the community.

I spent the weekend in Little Rock, and there was a headline in Little Rock this weekend that their fire department is so underfunded, like the people are responding in their personal vehicles to calls because some of the fire trucks aren't working.

So I think as we look long term, we're gonna have challenges because the growth is coming, and then I think two we're up simultaneously against people's lack of trust in government in general, just not not here, but just a national trend, and we see in Florida there's a trend to reduce property taxes, and granted we don't get very much money for property taxes, primarily, I guess, police and fire pension, but I think there'll be challenges long term as we try to seek any other money, so I'll make those points, and I'll make two other points.

You know, we were challenged.

I guess I was I was I was gone the last meeting, so I guess it was a meeting before last.

I mean, I tried to pour through some of the requests, and it's so much to review.

And I primarily looked at two, I guess, that others had requested.

There was a two-page summary from the parks department about people working tournaments, and I think my concerns on that one was we didn't have records about who had worked the tournaments, you know, in this two-page something that concerns me from a couple of different perspectives.

You know, just kind of from a department of labor perspective and from an overtime perspective, and just you know, the threshold of you know, their salary employees, of course, that you can make work overtime and salary employees that you can't make work overtime based on certain thresholds, and so that was a concern for me on that one.

And then the other, and this was more like I think in kind of the Daniel Geary thousands of documents.

I mean, I don't know if I if I had a hundred hours if I could possibly review all of them, but in doing the best I could to review them, there were so many invoices to city stars in the past that went to city employee email addresses and had like the Earl Bell Community Center um address on there.

So I think as we go forward, we just need to make sure we all try to review those materials as we really try to acknowledge what happened in the past.

Thank you for your comments.

Dr.

Anthony Coleman.

Not much.

Um thank you, Mayor, for uh sharing today and to each of you.

Just uh I literally just thought about this when um council member LJ was was sharing, and I just wanted to know, and then we don't have to answer it today, but Carol, and y'all just have to help me understand this.

So we're taking over the city stars thing, but then it was run by a nonprofit, and I just want to make certain that we were legal.

We're not taking over the nonprofit status.

The 501c3 still exists, and they own that.

Okay.

So all they did as a board of the nonprofit was transfer the money, basically, to the city of Jonesboro.

I mean, that's the easiest way to explain it.

They transferred their financials to us so that we could take over that.

But we don't have anything to do with the 501c.

Sure, but it's in their documentation that they if there was any documentation they transferred that to us.

I might under I haven't seen it.

My understanding is that was limited as to what we got.

I'm saying even documents, so I'm including minutes that's saying, hey, we're running.

I just want to make sure we're we're legal.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm my understanding is their board voted to turn that over to us.

Um that's what you know, before we considered accepting that money from them, we requested that their board voted to turn that over to us.

My understanding is that occurred, and then beyond that, I don't know how much documentation we got from city stars as far as what was happening, but um that's where we are.

We mostly took over the financial part of it, sure.

And of course, ultimately managing city youth sports.

Yeah, that's all.

Thank you.

Mr.

McLean.

I've got a couple bit of stuff that I need to want to visit about.

Um couple things.

One uh from Steve's comments, where are we in terms of moving to either partial um cash list in terms of youth sports?

I know I've had someone send me a picture that from a table from one of the events around town that was cash only.

So we how far out are we in terms of moving to a system where we don't only take Jim, you got a few minutes.

Kind of give us an update.

So working closely with IT currently to assess the equipment cost and the infrastructure we'll take to make sure there's stalling Wi-Fi at all facilities.

Um we've put together a phase one program, which would just be the equipment cost.

I can have that, I can gladly send that to you.

Please um, and then IT and I are working with RitterNet and some of the other various internet providers to see what the cost would be to truly create all our parks with solid Wi-Fi.

Okay, you think that's gonna be next 30, 60, 45?

How many days you think?

Um I the the first phase part part of the program, I can send that document to you in the morning.

Okay, um, we're still waiting on a little bit of info from IT um as well as from Ritter Net to see what that cost would be to make sure there's enough Wi-Fi and all the places to truly convert.

Jim, also go into the accountability at this point, and I think Steve alluded to it as well.

The checks and balances you currently have.

I mean, we're you're obviously still dealing with cash, right?

And uh I know it.

I go every weekend as well, and so processes are in place.

Currently, the the process of handling cash is very solid.

Um there's there's multiple accountability trails and multiple checks and balances to make sure that cash is accounted for, and each person gets some semblance of a receipt when they make that transaction, either through a ticket, an armband or a uh a pass card.

All right, um a couple of few other questions.

Um so I appreciate you number once in that response to my email.

Um, but one in particular question I I really feel like we need to get to the bottom of um and the question my question was has the city looking to whether any employees have been paid in cash at any time.

You mentioned city employees did not receive cash compensation from the city of Jonesboro, which I understand that.

But I think beyond that, I think the follow-up I have is have have you asked parks and rec employees have they been paid in cash in the past for working events or in the form of Christmas bonuses?

Okay.

Okay, we have okay.

Um if you however you get back to me, I really would appreciate it via email.

Um, and then I think also and a few other questions I'll have here in a second, that we should have the council as a whole should know the responses.

Um a couple other things is as Mr.

Bryan said you encourage some citizens to look things up.

Um part of some of the information that was sent to me as it relates to city stars uh goes to our city parade or Christmas the Christmas parade that was held.

Um one of the biggest questions, I think one of the biggest concerns I have is were you aware the Christmas parade was run through City Stars and all the financial transactions were run through that account.

I didn't know if you knew that you should no or no okay.

Yeah, they work.

Um was there I guess who made that call and why would we do that in the midst of a lot of concerns and questions about the finances?

May I receive Mr.

McClain?

I think if I will indicate this, I will confirm this.

Through the ANP commission, they funded $500 to the Christmas parade fund through City Stars.

There was a check that I saw in the account that where that was processed by the parade committee.

So that's the only thing parade related that I'm aware of.

I can confirm that.

So okay.

Like I said, I'd appreciate it.

And same thing.

Whatever responses you you guys.

May I ask a question?

What information do you have that that I could reference to to see that?

Yeah, so I can see I'll send you some information.

So that I can verify for sure.

I'll send you some information uh that was requested again from before your request that shows City SARS was the parade and for parade money was run through the City Star's account.

So I'll send that to you.

Yeah, I'm not familiar with that for you.

So okay.

Yeah.

So go ahead.

Ryan.

Um, yeah, kind of thinking back on this.

If we if we look back in time, um, of course, the parade was going through a position of um they didn't exactly know who was going to take it over when the foundation of arts um kind of stepped aside.

And so there was a a committee that was formed um for the parade, and kind of that committee chose to engage with with city stars because there had to be a nonprofit to be able to work that through since it was going to be related to uh I guess donations or or account fees or or whatever type of entry phase that they had.

And that was a decision that was made by the by the uh I guess you'd say the showrunners of the parade.

Um, you know, I know that Heather Talley's been kind of been heading that up, and I would say that on any questions regarding why those decisions were made or anything as far as the accounting goes that Heather would be, you know, would obviously have some information on that, but you know, as far as the city involvement, you know, we we don't sponsor parades.

Um, you know, we we worked with them to help make sure they have what they needed to be able to do it.

So you know that would be.

I think that like I said, Brian, the biggest concern I have is we ran it through.

Now I don't I guess I don't understand why we could not run the funds through the city just straight directly to the city.

Well, and just to clarification, we didn't do anything that the city parade had a had a committee that worked with city stars.

So, you know, there as far as I know, there was no money from the parade that that ever came into that to the city conference.

We just assisted when with you know, event request and and and you know, some special event codes and all that kind of stuff.

So I like I said I'll I'll uh if you want me to shoot you, I'll I will, but um, like I said, I would love for us for you to respond to the full council.

I don't know what we need to do, Carol, to be compliant with FOIA, but um, but I do feel like everybody we all need to get to the bottom of things.

I'm not sure what the question is about FOIA.

No, if he responds, if he sends an email to the questions I've asked tonight, he sends it to the full council.

What does he need to do to make sure he's we're complying?

I mean, I think that FOIA allows you to provide information.

So I think that that would be considered background information that could be provided.

I mean, obviously anybody that wants a copy can request it, and I'm sure they will.

Um, but I don't think there's anything wrong with providing background information to the council.

We just don't need to have an open discussion via email about that information.

I understand that.

Um, I will say that initially, just to answer the question about employees being paid with cash.

Initially, we were very cautious about asking any employees any questions after our first meeting with the FBI because of the fact that it was an ongoing investigation and they were going to be initiating interviews with employees, and we felt it was important to step back from asking any questions that were involved in that investigation and allowed them to do their investigation.

We didn't want to do anything should that investigation or that questioning implicate anyone else.

We wanted to not have interfered with that.

We wanted to allow the FBI to do their investigation.

So part of that decision was after our first meeting that that we were not going to ask any questions until the FBI conducted their investigation.

So I don't know where we are in that now.

We can certainly reach out to the investigator and make sure that we're good to ask our own questions at this point.

But I do want y'all to understand why I after I met with you know director Stearns and I were were in a meeting with the investigator, and and we did not want to do anything as far as asking questions about cash payments that would in any way impede his investigation of that issue in case there were other people that he needed to take a look at, if that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah, it makes it makes sense.

But since then, there'sn't been no conversations.

As far as I know, he's he's not finished with his investigation until it gets to an indictment or a grand jury or however they proceed with that.

So we have just let that part of the investigation be handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigations so as not to to interfere.

But I can certainly reach out to him and say, we've had these questions from counsel.

Is there any concern now with us?

And I don't know if he's conducted every interview he intends to conduct.

I know he's conducted quite a few.

I don't know if there's still some that he's working on, but I can certainly reach out and ask that question and see if we are good then to interview our employees and ask those questions.

We just did not want to impede his investigation in any way.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Gibson.

Uh just real briefly, I don't have a timeline nailed down just yet, but I will be calling a specially called uh public services meeting in the very near future.

Thank you.

Ms.

Williams, no, thank you.

Mr.

Moore.

Uh Mayor, what was the timeline on the repairs on the streets downtown from CWL's sewer?

We've got the meeting um tomorrow uh Thursday morning at nine o'clock.

So I'll get that information to you expediently.

So they're they're ready to move forward.

I think most people downtown are ready to move forward.

So we are too.

That's all.

Dr.

Charles Coleman.

No comment.

Mr.

Emerson.

Nothing at this time.

Thank you.

All right, that's the end of city council reports.

Next we'll move on to public comments, and these are limited to five minutes in the audience.

If anyone would like to come forward, please state your name and address Matt Daniel 2203 Durral Drive, Jonesboro.

For the record, I voted for Mayor Copenhagen.

I believe he earned his seat in the election cycle, much like his actions have earned the seat that he is sitting in tonight.

Also, for the record, I'm a first-time speaker in front of this council.

I may have been in council a handful of times in my lifetime, including once when I received a key to the city, which I still proudly display in my home.

I've never had a desire to stand at this podium.

I'm not here tonight because I enjoy this.

I'm here because clarity matters.

I'm aware at the conclusion of this meeting, I may be painted in a negative light, viewed as an enemy, or even targeted.

That would be unfortunate, because as I can promise you, I have no desire to be any of the three.

In fact, the opposite.

I made no accusations, mentioned no titles, and certainly no singular person by name.

That was also intentional on my on my part out of respect at that time.

Yet, here we are.

This conversation is heavy, and I recognize that.

I want to be clear for any backlash that may come.

I speak for myself as a single person.

I do not speak for my wife and children, my parents, or any extended family, or any long lasting relationships that I have in a city where I was born, raised, and chose to return my family as a positive contributor in a place that I love dearly.

This burden tonight is mine and mine alone.

Leadership requires hard decisions and the willingness to do up to address what others would rather avoid.

Let me begin with this.

In his very deliberate comments to this council on February 3rd, the mayor closed his statement with this.

I won't change my integrity, and I won't lie.

Integrity and truth.

At that same meeting, the mayor referenced my name and my resignation letter and publicly stated that parts of it were incorrect.

Accuracy matters to me.

So I reviewed my letter.

I reviewed the proposal and also other documentation.

And I stand by what I wrote, every word of it.

The mayor stated that the proposal we presented at his request, by the way, sought 500,000 public funding free from city oversight.

That is not accurate.

Plainly, not true.

The mayor stated it was an incorrect belief that the city controlled aspects of the city star's budget.

My actual words were that city employees controlled the budget.

And as you all know, the parks director, a city employee, did in fact control the city star's budget and operations.

It appears it may have been always been set up to run that way.

In my letter, I wrote the city was committing a large portion, which has a subjective understanding of the proposal number to facility programming and staffing.

The mayor stated that the city contributed a definitive zero towards city stars.

Yet, three city employees were paid to work City Star's leagues and events.

That was their jobs.

One of those being soccer, of course.

Those positions existed on city payroll.

Additionally, they had part-time sports staff that worked for the city and weren't conducting youth sports, formerly city stars.

That is also documented, both included in an email from the department head on February 9th, six days after the mayor's statements.

A direct contradiction.

I am not here to debate intent.

I am not here to assign motive.

I'm here to simply clarify the record.

But the examples above do not stand alone.

The city has publicly maintained that the city stars operated independently and outside of oversight, yet contracts, payroll involvement, event insurance filings, and operational interweaving shows a far more entangled relationship, including a Christmas parade under this administration.

Outside of the purpose of the original agreement of youth athletics.

I do maintain with conviction, even if it is our isn't our business how outside entities handle their accounting, it falls solely on our governance to make sure the organizations or businesses we have relationships with are healthy and they are honoring their portion ethically and with good faith.

If the contract or relationship is unhealthy, break it.

If there is no contract, even better, just start anew.

Individually, each of these might be explained away.

Collectively, they reveal something larger.

When public statements do not align with written records, when oversight appears blurred, when independence is claimed, but entanglement exists.

I'll let you go ahead and continue.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I'm happy to ask for a motion.

I understand I don't want to be here, but I just feel like it's proper.

I'm fine.

I'll be brief.

When oversight appears blurred, when independence is claimed, but entanglement exists, that is not a technical disagreement.

That is not a technical disagreement.

That is a governance issue.

Regardless of indictment, regardless of any proposal, regardless of personalities, leadership is not measured by whether mistakes happen.

Mistakes happen in every administration.

Leadership is measured by transparency, ownership, and corrective action when concerns are raised.

Concerns were raised, and corrective action could have been taken.

Instead, our leadership's compass led us in a different direction entirely.

Deflect and defend.

Leaders find solutions, not excuses.

Public confidence has eroded.

For what it's worth, I've never FOI'd anything.

I don't even know how that process works.

These documents I mentioned were either part, I was either a part of, or they found their way to me, and I have them for you tonight.

And I can assure you there are more topics than even departments where current concerns exist.

Mayor Copenhaver, I have lost all confidence in your leadership for our city.

If this is how you this is not personal for me.

To city employees, to families, to volunteers, and to the reputation of our community.

Silence, inaction, deferral, and accountability are all decisions.

This community needs you.

If you have the confidence in this administration, say so.

If you do not, say so.

Jonesboro deserves clarity.

Thank you for your extended time.

I have these documents for you.

I'll pass out.

Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to come forward and speak?

See so we'll move on to item 11.

That's adjournment.

So moved.

Do you have a motion on the floor?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?