We'll go ahead and get this evening's city council meeting started.

We'll go ahead and I'll lead in a pledge of allegiance, and Councilman Porter is going to lead us in invocation.

If you would please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic where we should stand one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Please pray with me.

Dear Father in Heaven, we come to you with grateful hearts for your bountiful blessings.

We thank you for family, friends, and neighbors.

We thank you for selfless public servants who work tirelessly for the benefit of our community.

Please grant us understanding and wisdom as we tend to the people's business.

To paraphrase Micah 68, help us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you.

This we ask in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Good job, man.

If you would, counsel, please go ahead and mark your attendance, please.

And I'll go down.

We do have a special presentation this evening.

Thank you.

It's the new room.

I'm gonna read yours.

Well, good evening, council.

Uh, it's always a privilege to stand before you, but uh this evening, as we recognize each year our public transit system.

Last year we did an appreciation as well.

But tonight we're gonna have a presentation by our new name, Gojo.

But importantly, I want to recognize all the city employees with the transit public system.

On behalf of the city, I'm proud to recognize and celebrate each of you on National Transit Employee Appreciation Day.

Your dedication, professionalism, and commitment to public service play an essential role in keeping our community connected, and your teamwork is the heartbeat behind the community-driven.

Whether you are behind the wheel, dispatching routes, maintaining vehicles, or supporting operations behind the scenes, your work ensures that residents can reach jobs, schools, health care, and many opportunities that our city has to offer.

Reliable transit is a cornerstone of a thriving community, and it would not be possible without your work and dedication.

Public transit employees often work early mornings, late evenings, and through challenging conditions, such as in climate weather to serve others.

I appreciate that, Lee.

Your willingness to go the extra mile reflects the spirit of service that makes our city so strong to help people get where they need to go in a safe way and dependable.

And in doing so, you make a meaningful difference in countless lives within our community.

So today we pause to recognize and say thank you for the vital role that you play in Jonesboro.

Please know that your efforts are supported not only today but throughout the year.

On behalf of our residents and city leadership, thank you for your commitment to excellence and for the pride you bring to public transit service in Jonesboro.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate y'all.

Thank you, sir.

You bet.

You bet.

Grab my notes.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight about the rebrand of the city's public transit system.

As we evaluated the future of transit in Jonesboro, one thing became very clear.

Many people in our community were either not aware of the service or did not realize it is a resource available to the entire city by the city.

Public transportation is not intended to serve only a small segment of the population.

It is a public service meant to support the mobility, workforce access, and daily needs of our entire community.

Because of that, we felt it was important to create a brand that was more visible, more recognizable, and more clearly connected to the city itself.

The Gojo brand helps accomplish that by directing by directly tying the system to Jonesboro and creating a simple memorable identity that encourages residents to go Jonesboro.

Our goal is to increase awareness so that when people see a bus, a shelter, or transit information, they may immediately recognize it as a service provided by the city.

This rebrand also strengthens the identity of transit as a department of the city and helps ensure that the work being done by our team is more visible to the public we serve.

By having a consistent and recognizable brand across vehicles, bus stops, shelters, and digital platforms, we can better communicate that this is a city service designed to benefit the entire community.

Another important reason for this effort is modernization.

As we continue to evaluate our routes, technology and service delivery, the system must evolve to operate more efficiently and respond to how people move around the city today.

A refreshed identity allows us to introduce improvements, whether those are operational changes, technology upgrades, or service adjustments in a way that clearly signals progress and growth.

This rebrand is not simply about a new name or a logo, it is about positioning the transit system for the future, expanding our reach, improving visibility, modernizing our operations, ensuring that public transportation continues to serve the residents of Jonesboro as effectively as possible.

We do appreciate the council's continued support as we work to make transit a more visible, accessible, and valuable service for the entire community.

Thank you.

So I wanted to talk a little bit today about the new vision for public transit.

So one of the things I handed out a while ago was our our map.

Our route map not only has our map for all of the different routes, but it also has inside that our mission statement.

That mission statement clearly defines our goals.

It talks about who we are and where we want to go.

Also, in there is our vision that's helped there to help clearly define our direction and tell you how we're going to get there.

So included in your map is also a rules to ride to help clearly understand what the expectations are whenever you ride public transit.

This is not just an external objective.

We're also working to bring these same ideas and goals to our department as a whole.

With these goals, we have already begun to make some impactful improvements to our service, and one of those is our long-awaited app.

And I'd like to bring Ryan up to discuss that, please.

Good evening, Council members.

Good evening, Mayor.

I'm Ryan Brazier.

I'm the marketing coordinator for Gojo.

And like Lee said, this has been long awaited, but before I get into it, I would like to thank all of our beta testers that helped us develop this.

Uh and Williams was also one of those beta testers, so thank you very much.

But yeah.

But anyway, the app has been long awaited and long needed.

It's gonna give us a new way and our writers a new way to look at live bus information.

Excuse me, and live stop information.

All of the maps you can clearly see where the buses are and what stops they'll get to next.

It also has a plan a trip feature.

That feature is going to allow new residents in Jonesboro or people who aren't quite as familiar with the transit system to put in their starting location and where they want to go, and that'll tell them how far they need to walk to their closest bus stop, how long the ride is going to be, and whether or not they need to transfer buses at our transfer station.

That being said, I also have a demo prepared for you guys so we can actually see how the app works instead of me just sitting here talking about it.

All right.

So introducing the Let's Gojo app.

Whenever you enter the home screen, you'll be able to see the stop that's closest to your location and how long you're gonna be waiting for that bus at that stop.

If you click that and then click the more button, you'll actually be able to see the stop's entire schedule for the rest of the day.

On this, uh you'll be able to see what routes hit that stop.

So in this case, the municipal building blue route's gonna be hitting it, and then you'll be able to see that it's hitting it about every hour.

And now let's go check out the plan a trip section.

So you hit the menu, you click plan a trip, and it will take you to the plan a trip home menu.

You start putting your uh starting location, so in this case, the municipal center, and then I put a state, and we're gonna head over to the student union.

You get to then choose some other options and details, like if you want to leave by a certain time or you want to arrive by a certain time, you can put that.

And then you can pick if you don't want to walk very far, we've got options for that because this is the public transit system, not the public walking system.

So once you get everything situated and everything that you're ready to go, you click the go button.

Here you're gonna see all the different options for the trips that you can take that will get you there at the time you specified.

So some of them have more walking than others, some of them will have different transfers, just depends on the trip you're wanting to take.

So I chose the first one, and whenever you choose your trip, you're gonna get a map that tells you the whole route that you're gonna take.

It'll tell you each stop, each route, uh, if you need to transfer all the information that you need.

And then if you need some more direction, that's where the bottom half of the screen comes into play.

And we're gonna look at it for a little bit longer until we get to go look at our live route maps.

So, same menu, you hit map, and when you click that, it'll take you to all of our live maps.

So you can see right now all of them are visible.

But if you hit that little routes tab there on the side, you can filter the routes that you want to be shown.

So I chose route the green one.

So now you get to see all of that's that specific route.

You can pick any stop on it.

You can look at the bus capacity, um, when it's due at the next bus stop, and then when it will hit those bus that stop subsequently.

Yeah.

So that's the Let's Gojo app.

Uh, we think it's gonna be a super impactful tool for our current and future riders.

I don't see how having more information in this case is ever a bad thing.

So, once again, thank you, Ann Williams for helping us beta test it.

Thank you for the rest of our uh testers.

And now I would like to talk about our social media a little bit.

So, with the rebranding, we have developed a new Facebook page.

We are Gojo on Facebook, so we'd love it if you guys gave us a follow and checked out the content we're posting.

This is gonna be everything that Jet was posting from route changes, closures, um special events that we're hosting or helping out with.

But also right now, we're still celebrating the rebrand.

I mean, we're we're posting about how the new logo and the different aspects on what it means.

So a lot of fun information coming out right now, and we hope everyone gives it a follow.

Uh, we're also pushing the hashtag community driven on it because we want to be more in the community.

We want to have that community-driven aspect uh in the past, we want it to keep it in the present.

We also want to keep driving our community forward.

So we're pushing that hashtag.

So if you're doing anything with Gojo, post something, put the hashtag on it, we'll see it, maybe share it in our story.

And then our new social media campaign that we're starting up is where do you go Joe?

If you're riding on a Gojo bus, a transit van, or you're even at an event where we have one of our trolleys, take a picture, hashtag it, where do you go, put the location.

We'd love to see where people are riding our buses and spread spread the community even further.

That being said, I would like to also invite Rachel Cook up to talk about expansions.

Good evening.

My name is Rachel Cook, and I am the field operation supervisor at Gojo, which means I handle most daily operations, if not all.

First, I'd like to say we have worked very hard over the past few months to build a foundation that shows we are community driven for expansion and for growth.

We're working on building up our staff to do that.

We are hiring CDL drivers.

We are also hiring people that are looking to obtain their CDO or the required passenger endorsement that is needed to drive one of our buses.

We do provide in-house training for the CDO and the required passenger endorsement.

And while we do offer training, it does take some time.

This isn't something they can just walk in and we put them in a bus.

Our current service that we are running is four routes Monday through Friday, 5 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

And Saturday, 9 a.m.

to 4 p.m.

And we currently have one trolley on campus that runs 9 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

Monday through Friday.

We are expecting to have two trolleys on campus from 5 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

by the end of second quarter.

We currently have Red Wolf 1 and Route 17 that provide all day service to the campus.

In addition, the addition of Red Wolf 2 will provide an average wait time of 15 to 30 minutes on campus for students, faculty, and staff.

To utilize the A state loop that gets them from one end of campus to the other.

We've also been in discussion of adding an extension to the Walmart neighborhood market on Creek Drive, which would give those that need it a direct route from campus to groceries or necessities.

With the A state route expanding, that gives us the ability to expand our other routes that do not have access to the fixed route service currently.

Those routes will include 17, 27, 37, 43, and 53.

We are still building, planning, evaluating those routes to provide the most efficient service that we can.

Expand into five routes will allow for timing improvements, which will hopefully cut the wait time down to 30 minutes on average for each route.

With those changes, Route 17 will no longer hit campus.

It will then focus on Hilltop, which will take 53 who now covers Hilltop, and they'll focus on industrial district, which hit MLK, Race Street, and Phillips Drive.

And that will cut down the wait time for individuals trying to get to work or get home from work.

With those adjustments to Route 17, they still will hit the Walmart on Highland.

These adjustments will provide decreased wait times for our passengers that in the past have had to wait up to an hour.

These changes go hand in hand with getting our trolleys on campus full-time, and we're aiming to end um for the end of second quarter or early third quarter and getting all of our five routes and our two trolley routes.

We're planning to expand and rearrange our routes, provide service to areas of Jonesboro that do not currently have easy access to public transit.

We have added Greensboro Village on Hilltop, which give those that live at the landing access to the rest of the city and also the other parts of town the ability to utilize the businesses like the social and the Malco Theater.

We currently do not have a bus stop necessarily close to the revenue office on Southwest Drive.

And to remedy that, we're expanding Route 43, which will hit Jonesboro High School, the Bark Park, and the Helping Hands food pantry on West Highland.

Along with 43, Route 27 will be rerouted to travel down South Culver House and to Southwest Drive, which will provide more possibilities for our riders to access all the businesses down Southwest Drive.

Route 27 will also extend down West Nettleton with a bus stop in front of Annie Camp.

With those added stops on and around Southwest Drive, we are going to remove a bus stop at church and campus, and no one wants to hear that we're taking away a bus stop, but a lot of our passengers that utilize that stop are going to the food pantry, are going to the revenue office or going to Jonesboro High School.

So we are eliminating our passengers having to cross Southwest Drive in order to get to those places.

We are also relocating our bus stop at Monroe at Union Park.

Currently it is on the Monroe side of Union Park, and it will move to the Union side of Union Park.

Another addition that we are adding, hopefully, and very excited for is our parks route.

This proposed route would connect downtown to Craig Head Forest Park.

This will give students, tourists, residents, a direct connection from downtown the entertainment district to our largest park.

This route is still in development, so we're not sure yet on what the average wait time will be, but our goal is for a 30 minute wait time.

We're projecting that this parks route will go live by fall.

We want to make it very clear that we are always talking, always planning, always evaluating how we can be better and provide a better service for the city.

And with that, there are always possibilities for extra additional stops.

And if you have no questions for me, I will hand it back to Lee to discuss more new items we have coming.

So I wanted to take just a quick moment and talk about some of the items that we have already talked about previously and give you an update on where those are.

So currently our shelter project is still currently it's it's ongoing.

We did order 45 shelters, two of which well, we're putting 37 locations.

Two of those, however, are going to be doubles.

That means there are two shelters side by side.

This is giving us uh 27 locations that currently have shelters that are going to get that enhancement.

This is also going to add 10 new locations to our service that were not sheltered previously.

Um, and then that will give us some spare shelters that we're going to be reviewing and looking at to see where we can utilize those in different areas.

Uh, of course, one of the steps that we have to do with this is the uh ADA improvements uh if there are any needs for that in order to make sure that they are completely accessible, and then also to get uh electricity ran to those locations for the uh upcoming enhancements that we're putting on that.

We currently have six shelters left to place and uh we are reviewing additional locations for those six spare shelters that we have.

Um, one of which, of course, will be uh considered as uh Crickhead Forest Park.

Um with these new shelters comes some LED lighting for safety and security.

As you can see on the picture here, they're very well lit.

Um, but they're also gonna have some RGB lighting included in there.

Uh you can kind of see on the picture there is a color.

Um, that color signifies the bus that is approaching, and then when the bus approaches and becomes imminently approaching, it will pulse to let those riders at the bus stop and let people close by know that the bus is getting very close, they need to quickly get to the bus stop.

Um, also with this is going to be the shelter signage.

That shelter signage you can see on here as well.

That is going to show the arrival time of the next bus and also the time uh or what that bus is.

Um, so that way you'll know in advance.

There will be some accommodations and enhancements that will be put into the full shelter, uh, one of which will be an ADA accommodation for Text to Speak if that is needed, and then also some uh opportunities for additional languages like Spanish language if that is needed as well.

Um, our transfer center is also going to get some enhancements during this project as well.

So once we start putting all of those media boxes up, we will see some uh display signage go up at the transfer center as well for tracking.

Uh that tracking system will be similar to what you see at the airports, kind of letting you know what buses are out, what buses are running, what the timings are for them, and when they'll arrive at the transfer center next.

Uh, those will also have those same enhancements to those.

Um, another thing that we have going on that uh we did go through council recently was our digital fare collections.

That's our tap to pay, swap to pay process.

Uh, thank you all for approving that.

We have that project starting at the beginning of April.

Uh, and what that will allow is for all of the buses to move away from a cash-only option to be able to go to be able to accept credit card payments, uh, whether that be a customer from out of town who's swiping their credit card, or if that's a customer who is a regular rider who wants to get a reloadable card that they can purchase and then fill up at their need, uh, that will also allow them to not only fill that card here at City Hall, but also to be able to go to some retail locations to add funds onto their card for use as well.

Um, and then uh one of the last things we have is some of our enhanced fleet.

Um we do have one item on the agenda today for some vans, but we've also gone through for some buses.

Uh, these new buses are a lower floor bus than what we've used before.

One of the benefit of that is that there's no more steps going up into the vehicle.

It is almost level with the curb.

Um, and for any that do need it, there is a ramp as opposed to a lift to be able to get any mobility devices in or those that need that added assistance to give them an easy access.

Um, another improvement on this is for driver safety.

The if you look at the image here, you can see the driver has room to exit the driver's seat into the vehicle as opposed to exiting out into traffic to walk around the vehicle to assist any people that may need assistance.

That's just another increased safety piece that we're going to be able to do uh moving forward with that.

And if uh that's all I've got.

If anyone uh does have any questions, we'd be happy to be answered that.

Um we do have some additional maps for anyone in the audience that may want one after the council meeting.

Uh and then of course we have our uh scannable logo or yeah, logo uh on the screen if you wanted to download the app.

Um does anyone have any questions?

Lee, thank you very much, and I appreciate your team.

We give you a round of applause for that presentation.

Thank you.

I also had a presentation that was going to be led this uh evening as well by our engineering department, but Craig's had to unfortunately step out for uh funeral service to attend, and so with that, I think uh councilman Moore, did you get your request on the roads?

Um I appreciate that.

I asked at the last meeting for a road list, and Tracy gave it to me, so I'm good to go.

Okay, all right, good deal.

I think it's important too, council.

Uh just real quick, Jim, if you would come forward and just kind of give us uh we have meetings on Monday morning with all the directors, and um they last quite a while, but I think it's important that the community realize hey, we're kicking the season off, and and Jim, you've got a lot going on, so just real quick, give us a real wrap-up with things.

Well, we're we're in our slow season.

Um we have youth basketball going on.

We're third week.

We have uh almost a thousand kids signed up.

We're playing 37 games every Saturday at the uh three community centers.

Um we had a friendly soccer tournament this past weekend with about 14 teams that came to Jonesboro and played.

We had an eight-man tackle football this weekend out of Joe Mack Campbell on the turf field semi-pro tackle football.

Um, South Side Softball had a the most recent tournament, um had 28 teams on the youth side and six teams on the adult side this past weekend at South Side.

Many comments were made about Southside, this biggest crowd they've seen in years.

Um, this next weekend, we have a high school team Friday and Saturday high school tournament, 48 teams signed up in South Side.

Shooting sports contest uh complex had the greatest weekend in a long time.

We had an ATA trap tournament with 200 participants.

We had a 3D archery tournament with uh 38 participants, and we had a 22 long rifle tournament with 20 participants this past weekend.

So just a short version on our slow season in April, we're gonna double all that up.

So yeah.

Thanks, Jim.

Appreciate it very much.

All right, council.

That's the end of special presentations.

We'll move on to item number five consent agenda.

Move to adopt unless changes are noted.

Second, we remove 26028.

Asked to remove 26028.

All right.

Any other motion to reflect the and I'll amend my second.

Okay.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

We'll go ahead and discuss resolution 26028.

Resolution authorizing the city of Jonesboro to enter into a contract to leave lease office space for E 911 administration administrative staff and amend the fiscal year 2026 budget.

Whereas the following, whereas following the closure of the non-reinforced portion of the Justice Complex E911 administrative and training staff have been temporarily housed in open open office space in multiple areas at City Hall.

And whereas 911 administrative staff seek a longer term office arrangement that allows for more efficient communication training needs and general usage space.

And whereas new staffing has been hired, and office spaces currently occupied by 911 administration are now needed by other department staff.

And whereas it has been determined that it is more cost-effective to rent a temporary space rather than repair the damaged justice complex building until the new 911 center is completed.

Whereas research has been performed and the space proposed has been identified as the best option in regard to pricing layout and location.

Whereas the unit is located at 624 South Main and includes approximately 1700 square feet that includes office space, a conference room for training, private restrooms, and a break room area.

Whereas the proposed lease initial term is six months with the ability for the city to renew under the same terms at a rate of two thousand three hundred dollars per month.

Whereas in order to support the lease payments, moving cost, and miscellaneous expenses associated, a fiscal year 2026 budget amendment of $25,000 is requested, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, that section one city council approves the lease contract attached to this resolution with the Continental Limited Partnership Section 2.

The City Council hereby approves a $25,000 amendment to the E911 fiscal year 2026 budget.

Section 3, the Mayor Hill Copenhagen City Clerk, April Leggett are hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jonesboro to execute all documents necessary to effectuate the agreement.

I appreciate you removing that.

Motion have a motion on the floor.

For how long you want to take to the next meeting.

I didn't hear the motion.

Was it a motion to postpone temporary until the next meeting?

Yes.

Okay.

We do have a first and second on that.

All in favor, council, say aye.

I have any opposed.

Next we'll move on to resolutions removed from consent agenda.

It's resolution 26018.

Resolution requesting free utility services from City Water and Light for a traffic signal.

Whereas City of Jonesboro is requesting that City Water and Light provide free utilities at the following location.

Section two to permit such services to be provided without charge city of Jonesboro hereby firms to City Water and Light.

That the ultimate use of CWL utilities so provided is now and shall remain a use or purpose, which the city is engaged in as part of its governmental or proprietary functions under authority to it by state law.

We have any discussion by council.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot.

Was there a motion?

Sorry, motion.

We have a motion.

A motion to approve.

Second.

Okay.

We do ask to be recused from voter discussion, mayor.

So noted.

All right.

I'll ask that again.

Any discussion by council.

Anyone in council chambers.

I don't see any.

If you would please cast your ballot.

And that resolution does carry.

Now council will move on to the next resolution 26019.

Just thinking that.

Did we?

Did we vote on the consent agenda?

I was just thinking that I was, but I wasn't going to interrupt.

I'm glad I we need to back up and vote on the consent agenda other than the one that was removed.

We did a voice vote.

You did a voice vote on the one that was removed from the consent agenda.

I don't believe you voted on the actual consent agenda.

We did have a motion on the floor.

You did have a motion and a second.

It was April this time.

All right, we're going to give her a minute to reset.

All right.

With the one item removed.

Okay, the consent agenda does carry.

Now we're going to move back to 26019.

Resolution requesting free utility services from City Water and Light for bus shelters.

Whereas the City of Jonesboro is requesting that City Water and Light provide free utilities at the following location.

1418 U East Washington Avenue, 200U Crest Avenue, 900 U West Monroe Avenue, 301U South G Street, 621U South G Street, 1421U West Nettleton Avenue, 315 U West Oak Avenue, 1210 U South Church Street, 1003 U East Matthews Avenue, 1301U South Caroline Road, 1737 U South Carrollway Road, 1834 U Grant Avenue, 2405 U East Nettleton Avenue, 1500 UN North Church Street, 2404U Race Street, 1900 U Laterette Drive, 5504 U Kruger Drive, 2601U Richardson Drive, 2904U Phillips Drive, 2608 U Fair Park Boulevard, 2106 U East Johnson Avenue, 22 220 U North Main Street.

2028 U North Church Street, 2410 U North Church Street, 1005 U Belt Street, 1435 U Belt Street, 2001 U Belt Street, 1904 U East Johnson Avenue, 300 U Carson Street, 200U Kate Street, 2046 U Century Boulevard, 401U Union Street, 301 U West Highland Drive, 125U Forest Park Drive, 3800 U Race Street, 501U West Highland Drive, 316U West Washington Avenue, 1751 U West Nettleton Avenue.

Now therefore be it resolved by the City Council for the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, that Section 1 City Water and Light be requested by this resolution to provide free utilities to the locations listed above.

Section 2 to permit such services to be provided without charge city of Jonesboro hereby affirms to Citywater and Light that the ultimate use of CWL utilities so provided is now and shall remain a use or purpose which the city is engaged in as a part of its governmental or proprietary functions under authority to it by state law.

Move to adopt second.

We do have a motion on the floor.

You need to take a breast.

Any discussion by council?

So no question.

Is it you in there just because it's utilities?

Yeah, okay.

I don't know.

I've never addressed the letter that way, so I'll it's an address with the instead of a physical address for a building, it's a utility address.

City water and require city water and light requires that um any utility that they serve meter to have a meter.

So any of these um transit stops will have a meter to run their electricity.

And so instead of giving it an actual address, you assign a U so that 911 emergency services know that it's a utility address and not an actual home address.

Thank you, Daryl.

I learned something tonight.

All right, any questions from the audience?

I don't see any.

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

All right, and that does carry.

All right, Council.

Now we move on to resolution 26024.

Oh go ahead, Carol.

I was just gonna make sure that we do have uh Mr.

Rowe on Zoom.

He is on Zoom, okay resolution by the city resolution by the Jonesboro City Council to accept an offer to settle existing liens and in-dual litigation efforts between the city of Jonesboro and Laurel Park LLC.

Whereas Laurel Park LLC representatives have made an offer to settle a lien established by the Jonesboro City Council Resolution 25106 for demolition cost of a structure located at or near 100 West Washington Avenue, commonly known as Citizens Bank, whereas a settlement offer of 110,000 dollars has been presented for consideration and whereas upon acceptance of the offer and certification of funds received has been completed, the city of Jonesboro would terminate the lien claims by the city on parcel 01-144183-4230.

Now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro that section one city of Jonesboro, Arkansas hereby authorizes the settlement of the lien established by resolution 25106 in exchange for payment of 110,000 dollars by Laurel Park LLC.

Section two upon certification of funds received by the city, the city of Jonesboro will remove current lien claims held by the city on parcel number 01-144183-4230.

Section three, Mayor and City Clerk are hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, to execute all documents necessary to effectuate the proposed settlement.

Second motion on the floor in a second.

We have any discussion, council.

I just want to make certain that um I get this.

I was just writing down, and y'all can correct me if I'm wrong.

Um we spent over three million.

The land is worth over 300,000.

We got an offer of 110,000 for the land to remove the liens minus the attorney fees.

Is that accurate?

Close.

Any other questions by council?

Has there been any have they come back and said we want to maybe increase or they this is their final?

We had legal on phone.

Uh Mr.

Rowe, would you like to answer that question?

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

So yes, this wasn't their first offer.

This was negotiated.

Um the plaintiff Laurel Park LLC believes it has and has argued it filed the appeal from the uh city's lien that it uh is it can defeat the lien, it's seeking to void the lien.

It's making essentially two arguments uh broad brush that one is they object to the legal description in the lien, another is to the timing of the notice.

Um we believe that the city can prevail, but nevertheless, the unless the city's going to develop this property at the end of the day, the city's going to have to sell the property and by if through litigation a foreclosure sale or an execution sale, one or the other, given the the pleadings that have been filed and we intend to file.

And so uh this was a negotiated settlement.

Laurel Park is the natural buyer uh here for this property because it has already invested monies in the property, and so uh this was a means of um getting to the resolution sooner rather than later, I think is a fair characterization of um of the litigation and avoid additional litigation costs, which would come out of the the total amount the city could get again uh with an appraised amount of 300,000 and then uh having to sell at a foreclosure or execution sale.

I think most of us have seen uh those those sales occur before, and typically the appraised value is not what is bid in at one of those sites.

Well, I was just wondering curious.

Have they have we had any more conversation?

So no more conversations had been had made any other offers to my knowledge.

Okay.

And Mr.

Roe, he's on legal counsel, correct?

Right.

All right.

In your experience, have you seen this um uh go to litigation and cities prevail?

Since you said you feel that we the city would prevail.

Well, there uh these cases are all gonna turn on their facts.

Um and so the what we have here is yes, I uh we have mapped out the arguments we think would prevail.

However, the uh Laurel Parks attorney believes equally strongly that he can prevail and defeat the lien.

And so what you have is litigation risk.

We can't ever take that away.

I can't make any promises that you're gonna win, nor can he make any promises his clients gonna win.

And so there is a meeting somewhere in the middle, uh, keeping in mind that the middle, if the city prevails, uh, would not be in your typical case of a foreclosure execution sale, uh, the amount of the appraised value.

It's the amount somebody will bid when they show up that day.

Yes, uh Mr.

Rowe, and I think the city attorney sort of briefed us on this, and I can't get the terminology right, the unjustly enriched or whatever the terminology is that we might have an argument that we made this property more valuable by taking down the building.

Could you walk us through that a little bit?

Yes, so um sorry, I had to stop another phone there.

Um the appeal that was filed is an appeal from the lien that the city approved last year, and then you your council approved last year and then subsequently the city filed.

Um what we have in draft, haven't completed it because these discussions started, and so there was an opportunity to resolve this uh before the litigation is is carried all the way through, and the city incurs an additional fees.

Um in our draft uh counterclaim, we have an unjust enrichment claim.

The the unjust enrichment claim uh is any alternative to the lien itself, and it depending upon how the court uh wants to give a remedy for that claim if the court feels we proved it, in that the city paid to remove that that seven story or thereabout structure on the property that was a hazard, and uh it costs three point two million dollars, therefore the the land itself was improved.

Um the question there's two questions then arise from that.

We anticipate that the um attorney for Laurel Park is going to argue that the improvement can't exceed the value, the appraised value of the property, uh, simply because uh it costs more than that to um to remove that building, and that will be for the court to decide.

Um if the city prevails and it gets a judgment against uh Laurel Park or the property for 3.2 million dollars, you still would presumably be left or you would be left with uh what is the value of that land.

That's the only source of collection that I am aware of.

The real estate itself, in the case of the lend, or Laurel Park by all the research we've done, and I think this has been confirmed by counsel, is that it this is a this is its property, uh it's sold property there.

So I certainly by the time litigation is over, wouldn't expect that uh Laurel Park would be owning three point two million dollars of other property, it seems to have been formed for the purpose of holding this single piece of property, and therefore what we're we're looking at is the same ultimate recovery uh which has to come from the property that you would have through the lend, which is the three hundred thousand dollars, which is the maximum three hundred thousand dollar appraised value uh to be sold in at foreclosure or execution sale.

Mayor, I have a question.

And I may have forgotten some stuff, so please forgive me.

Is this the only parcel of land that Laurel Park owns?

No, they own more parcels in on that property, right?

They do own a couple of other parcels on that property, yes.

I don't know which ones off the top of the idea what the total value of that property is.

The original amount when they asked us to litigate for all three pieces, purchase that was what 700 750.

I mean, could here's what I'm thinking, and I understand the cities and everyone get the 3.2 million dollar fully paid.

But the way I look at it is if that building was still there, it wouldn't be sell that property would not be sellable at all because no one was going to buy that property and tear down that building and put that.

I I don't think so.

Um I mean, there's a part of me, and and I was one that said, hey, let's see what they settled for, and let's get moving and get that thing developed.

But if they were willing to sell us that for $750,000, and I mean there's a part of me that would love them to say, you know, if we spent $3.2 million to make their property sellable.

I don't think it's unreasonable, and I know this I don't think it's unreasonable for them to pay us the $300,000, they still get $450,000 in because their lands now sellable.

If that building was still there, this property would not be sellable at all.

I mean, I don't think $300,000 is out of the question to get this thing moving.

As much as I want to see this gone, I just I'm really struggling with us only getting a hundred thousand dollars or eighty-seven thousand, whatever it is after legal fees when we made that property sale.

It's not like they're giving us three hundred thousand and they don't get that they don't have anything left to sell, they're still gonna net something plus three point two million.

Well, the flip side of that is we can litigate it for the next four years, like we have ice house, which is roughly the time period that it's taken for ice house.

We could spend another uh undetermined amount of money in that litigation and lose and have nothing.

So it's not it's not like we can we can ask them to litigate it, and then if we lose, still tell them, okay, we're gonna take the original offer, it's gonna be an all or nothing.

It's gonna be an all or nothing.

I mean, we're we're facing we're facing the maximum recovery of the appraised value of that property down there at 309,000.

We have an offer for a little over a hundred thousand.

I mean it, it's a bad situation all the way around, but in that four-year period, that property could also sell and be developed and turned back into a revenue stream from the use taxes on it.

So it's a lot more than just I mean, Ice House is sitting over not only with four years of litigation, but we've lost any and all proceeds we may have gained from that if it had been developed four years ago, and that could be a considerable chunk of money there, probably would exceed the difference in the hundred thousand dollar offer and the three hundred thousand dollar offer that you're talking about, Mr.

Afner.

I know it's not a it's not an easy situation.

It's not easy.

As Marty Lilly, the esteemed lawyer told me today, and I see Carol chuckling.

Sometimes you got to forget the cheese and get out of the trap.

And right now we're in a trap down there.

For the record, I didn't chuckle.

I saw the look on your face from here when I agree.

We probably chuckled with what Joe says, ideally, we'd get 3.2 million recovery money, but that's not gonna happen.

I think it's more realistic.

What uh Chris said I know from dealing with the ice house, we got a lot of investors in it.

Sure, don't want to come out lose.

This is a lose lose.

You hear a win-win, this is a lose lose anyway.

We go.

Um, and there is definitely a possibility of spending enough money to make it a wash for that.

So I think I'd rather see it developed and bring some revenue to downtown and enhance the downtown.

All right, well, this is the importance of having this discussion.

I meant we've got to remember it was just uh a month or two ago, we were at 55,000, so uh Mr.

Rose with litigation's been able to bring it up a little bit.

You know, I think it's one of those things too, council.

You gotta look at diminishing returns.

So uh we need to go ahead.

Uh is that the end of council comments for now?

For now.

Okay.

Uh how about public comments?

Anyone from the public that would like to make a comment.

See any.

All right, council.

If you would please go ahead and uh cast your ballot.

Okay, and that resolution does carry.

All right, council.

We'll move on to resolutions to be introduced.

This is resolution 26030.

Resolution by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, to enter into a contract to sell 1025 Hope Avenue and 405 McDaniel Street to Clint Jackson.

Whereas the City of Jonesboro desires to enter into a contract to sell 1025 Hope Avenue and 405 McDaniel Street together, known as the property to Clint Jackson, the purchaser.

And whereas the land bank commission held a regular meeting on February 10, 2026, with all members who were present voting unanimously to recommend acceptance of the purchaser's response to RFP for the purchase of the property for the purchase price of $60,000.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas, that section one, the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas shall contract with Clint Jackson for the sale of 1025 Hope Avenue and 405 McDaniel Street to purchase her for the purchase price of $60,000 plus customary closing cost.

Section two, a copy of the real estate contract is attached here to section three.

The Mayor Hill Copenhagen City Clerk and Beleggett are hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jonesboro to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this agreement.

Okay, council, we do need a motion to adopt so moved.

Second, have a motion on the floor to adopt any discussion by council.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot.

Next we'll move on to number six.

This is items on new business.

First one is 26013.

This is an unusual case.

We don't get a lot of taxi cabs.

It's been about 10 years since we've had one.

There's not really anything to vote on on that.

It's just a communication request to set a public hearing for a new taxi cab service.

And you said what date, April?

April the 7th.

That should be our first meeting in April 2026 at 525.

All right, we'll move on to ordinances on the first reading.

Ordinance 26011.

Move suspend the rules and offer buck title only.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

An ordinance to amend Chapter 117, Article 3, known as the zoning ordinance of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, providing for changes in zoning boundaries from C2 to C3 for property located at 2005 East Highland Drive.

Do we have any questions by council?

I don't see any.

Anyone in Council Chambers?

I don't see any as well.

That ordinance will now move on to its second reading.

Next, we'll move on to ordinances on the second reading.

We have ordinance 2606.

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

Have any discussion by council?

Okay, I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any as well.

That'll move on to its third reading.

Now we move on to ordinances on the third reading.

So ordinance 26005.

An ordinance to vacate and abandon a drainage easement located in lot 5R of the second edition of Block C Southern Hills, Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Move to adopt.

Second.

Do we have a motion on the floor to adopt any discussion by council?

I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers.

I don't see any as well.

Council, if you would please cast your ballot.

And the ordinance 26005 does carry.

Next, we'll move on to ordinance 2600 7.

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.

Move to adopt.

Second.

We have a motion on the floor to adopt any discussion by council.

Don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers.

I don't see any as well.

If you would please cast your ballot.

All right, council.

We'll move on to Mayor's comments.

And I kind of want to get started this evening.

Uh we'll go through this pretty quickly.

Um, but I want to make a statement first of all, and I want to kind of bring an update from my side of things on the Jonesboro Christmas parade that was brought up at the last city council meeting.

In 2024, I was made aware of the Foundation of Arts would not be serving as the primary sponsor or organizer of the Jonesboro Annual Christmas Parade.

Understanding how important this tradition is to the committee.

I remember it as a child.

It's been around for obviously for a long time.

And it's helpful to the downtown businesses as well.

The city started an effort to find someone to step up and take over those duties.

It didn't take long to see that Heather Talley was the best person to do so.

She quickly assembled a support group and began taking steps necessary for successful and safe event.

There was a challenge on how the parade could process entry fees, and it was likely too short of a time window to create a nonprofit.

After the last city council meeting, I asked staff for information about the nonprofit selection process of the parade.

In August of 2024, City Staff and Ms.

Talley met at City Hall to discuss options.

Ultimately, the City STAR's nonprofit was suggested and seemed like a good fit, assuming the respective committees saw no issues.

The parade committee requested a separate account to keep a clear line of separation between parade funds and city stars nonprofit funds.

We can ask D.P.

if there's any questions regarding that.

The city's role in the parade was similar to any other special event.

Police and fire worked with organizers on safety plans, streets and parks and sanitation, worked on road closures and cleanup.

And this was the case in the Christmas parade.

That's from my understanding.

Entry fees and parade monies were not processed through any of the City of Jonesboro accounts other than a $500 contribution by the Jonesboro AMP Commission.

As mayor, I would have made the same efforts for Veterans Parade, the MLK parade, or any other event that's important to our community in danger of ending.

I do want to express my appropriate appreciation for all the parade organizers that make the parade happen.

It's a lot of work.

And they're outstanding individuals that shouldn't be seen in a negative light for something they had no control over.

Without their efforts, this event would have likely ended in 2024.

I also would like to have Dwayne come forward.

I would like Dwayne to make a statement on progress of what we're doing on behalf of the city, and if Carol needs to make any additional comments, she can, and then I'll continue with my mayor's comments.

Dwayne.

Okay.

Good evening, council.

I've been asked to make a statement, and once I was given approval to begin our own investigation, I conducted an internal investigation of city employees of the parks department on whether they had ever witnessed any wrongdoing or received cash from Danny Capalis.

Those staff interviews determined that a small number of the staff received cash not exceeding $500 around the Christmas holidays.

They all believed it was a personal gift from Danny.

After a thorough review of the matter and careful consideration of all the information and interviews I conducted, the investigation found no evidence, my investigation found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing or misconduct by any current city employee.

So based on my investigation, no disciplinary action was necessary.

And the results of that investigation are now a part of the employee personnel file.

Okay, Duane.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you.

All right.

Good evening, Council, and I'm just going to continue with the mayor's comments.

You know, last time we met, I shared the state of the city address with updates for the entire year 2025.

There is a bound booklet for each of you with project highlights and photos in each department.

It's on the table up here by Brian.

For those of you who did not collect it last time, please feel free to get that.

A few of you received that, and it's available for you at any time to pick up.

You know, I I can't say enough the next day how much I was pleased to have a large crowd.

Well over 500 people at the Chamber of Commerce State of the City event.

I believe we had three city council members present.

Some of you in this room were also present.

We're grateful to the partner for the Chamber of Commerce and the event of that capacity.

And I appreciate Embassy Suites for providing the wonderful venue.

During the event presentation, I was happy to present Joanne Nally.

I don't know if any of you know her, but if you don't, you need to.

With a key to the city.

Her extraordinary career and lifelong dedication to early childhood education have shaped opportunities for children, families, and educators across Arkansas for over 50 years.

As the leader of Arkansas State University Childhood Services, she grew a small outreach effort into a program that now impacts communities across the state.

It was my honor to present her a key to the city as her life work continue to make an everlasting impression within our state.

It's important that we continue to support efforts for advancing education.

We also revealed and launched the brand new State of the City jet system logo, which y'all saw earlier this evening.

Gojo, go Jonesboro.

Moving Jonesboro forward.

Gojo's brand new shares, the community vision community-driven mission in a fresh way.

So download the app.

Share it with people in the community.

Also, the Plan Jonesboro input survey was also shared at the Chambers Stay of the City event, engaging hundreds in building the blueprint for a 30-year comprehensive plan with focus group meetings ongoing, such as we had one this past week.

Daryl, you in the room.

Yeah, we had uh we had pretty good meeting last week or this last Thursday, that's correct.

Um, and then we've got one this week, uh, 5 to 7, March 19th at His Way Holiness Church.

Now, Council, if you haven't participated, I'd ask you to do so.

Your input is much advised for the future of our community.

We're also going to host a design week at the end of the month.

Design week is a lifelong of focused meetings with specific groups, including an open house meeting from 5 30 to 7 30 on Monday, March 30th and April 2nd at the Jonesboro Youth Community Center, located at 1421 West Nettleson Avenue.

So please come and join us.

So with a lot of conversations and recommendations from some of you here at council.

We've also started the monthly city department reports.

The first report for both January and February included.

Each department is given an overview of projects and initiatives worked throughout the month.

Keep in mind many of these projects are ongoing.

The monthly report should keep you up to date on the process.

They're also available to pick up the desk right down there by Brian.

So the first two months of the year are ready to go, and then we'll be fastly approaching the end of March.

March and February had community cleanups at the city's Lacey Drive location, totaling 4.19 tons of trash and 68 tires collected.

The upcoming neighborhood cleanup is scheduled for April 11th behind First United Methodist Church on Union Street.

All residents are encouraged to drop off your bulky junk and recycling items.

It's important to keep our city clean, green, and beautiful.

Now, the parks department's been busy with the spring comes up a plethora of events.

So we've got a full counter.

Jim responded to that earlier.

With that, keep in mind the seasonal positions are now open.

Grounds keeping crews and lifeguard positions will be needed soon.

Check out the employment opportunities on the city's website.

Get your application as soon as possible.

The park rangers have been out in the parks, and soon festival season picks up, so they'll be out at all those events.

They opened seven cases in just last week alone, helping our city parks be safe and more engaging to the public.

Our grants department has been busy working on the process of eight new house rehabs with the CDBG program as well as RTP and TAP grants.

Their hard work serves the community in many ways, helping with securing outside funding for the general budget.

The fire department kicked the citizens' fire academy last night with their third class, approximately what, Chief?

Do you have about 20?

See over in the corner?

Yeah.

Okay, full house.

That's awesome.

It's important that they learn what goes on behind the scenes as a firefighter.

There are some of our bravest in the community, and we're grateful for the residents who want to learn about what they do and serve for our community.

Just to make you all aware, the flagpole on the municipal building appears to be bent.

I think Ronnie's in the back room.

We're having someone from Wisconsin come in to inspect it.

Many thanks to Ronnie Shavers and the facility teams for their top-notch care that they continue to provide for all of our city buildings.

Also, please take note of a fraudulent email scam.

Emails and personing impersonating the planning department are seeking payment to finalize zoning and various applications through wire transfer and include fake invoices.

Stay alert and remember, all city mail addresses end in at Jonesboro AR.gov.

Do not send money or provide financial information.

Do not respond to the sender.

Contact the City of Jonesboro's planning department to verify any request.

If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be part of the city's planning department, we encourage you to report them to the City Jonesboro Police Department.

Now City Jonesboro, we've set up, and I'm going to have Jason make a comment here a little bit later about a new website.

It's called officials at Jonesboro AR.gov email address for the public to connect with all elected officials.

We're also looking at a council at Jonesboro AR.gov or council direct at Jonesboro AR.gov email address for city council only.

I never heard back on the preference from council, so we'll look on to move on that quickly and with council direct email address, unless we hear otherwise by the end of tomorrow.

And on a happy note, a huge congratulations to Coach Des and the Arkansas State women's basketball team on their invitation to the NWNIT.

We hope to be cheering them on here at home for a few games.

And get your Red Wolf tickets.

We need to fill up the seats.

Also, this is pretty cool.

The men's baseball is nationally ranked 22nd in the United States.

It's the first time in our lifetime, even Dr.

Coleman's lifetime.

So that's the end of the mayor's report.

Next we'll move on to city council report.

Ms.

Porter.

No, thank you.

Mr.

Emerson.

Uh only thing I've got is just a uh little bit of information.

I um was going back and reflecting over past um agenda items when it came to um police pay, and I noticed it was back about two years over two and a half years ago since we've looked into that.

And I think that whenever we had ran everything through finance in the past, that we said in a two or three year period that we would come back around and look at that.

So just wanted to let everybody know that I had a brief conversation with Chief today, and we're gonna start going back and looking at any cross-comparison numbers between Jonesboro Police Department and other agencies just to make sure that we've got police pay dialed in where it needs to be.

Gotcha.

Thank you.

The older the better.

Mr.

Moore.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, I know we used to have an employee rep committee that was chaired by Larry Jackson, and I know Larry Jackson retired.

Have we got somebody that replaced him?

I know he used to make a report to us, and I don't know if uh the new the new rep will uh come and make a report to us on a yearly basis or would you like to come forward?

I know that um some of the city staffs uh been in communications with employee rep committee.

I saw Larry Jackson go down the road this week and it reminded me of that.

Yeah, we we are actively actually actually that group has actively bat on a monthly basis when uh members are present.

Um Herbert Ougles, I think it's Ogles.

Ogles, I call them Herbie for all intents and purposes.

Uh Herbie is our uh uh chair or president of that group.

Uh we've had some recent meetings in regards to just that, uh, how uh how that group is represented uh not only before uh mayor and administration but also before the city and council, and we've been kind of working through that.

I anticipate that you'll see some language in uh an upcoming handbook revision that we have that sort of outlines that as well, just so that those parameters are there and understood and readily available uh for employees to reference.

Okay, good deal.

Well, I know I know Larry used to make a report about once or twice a year to the council, and I can I guess occasionally we're gonna add an issue, so maybe we'll see Herbert at the same frequency.

So thank you, Mayor.

That's all thank you, Councilman.

Ms.

Williams.

Uh yes.

Um in line of the tragic death of Mike Dixon, the pedestrian crossing Washington.

Um, there has been a lot of concern among what wide group people in Jonesboro in regard to what measures can be taken to prevent another tragedy like that.

And so I spoke to Craig Light today at the MPO meeting and asked him, and he mentioned this all stop, which uh might be uh a good thing for us to be looking at.

And uh I know he can't uh Craig couldn't be here tonight, but I talked to Brian about it as far as explaining that and what the city is doing aggressively to implement that system.

Absolutely.

Well, and I think it's a uh gainful reminder that um these accidents can happen anywhere in our community.

Um and I I think some of you know how close Mike was to my family.

Um and um I I can he's a classmate of time, yeah.

Yeah.

Um so with that um Craig again, he was going to make a short presentation on that this evening, so at the next city council meeting we'll we'll explain that to you.

I wonder if we could um there's a lot of things.

Yeah, you can I ask him if there could be some explanation just so that people are aware of what we're talking about.

Sure.

Um so currently when you press the walk button at most intersections, uh the ones downtown, you know, you get the the little guy that that says walk.

Um however, in in this case um that we're talking about the walk light was on, however, you know, there's still a left-hand green.

Um, and so that's a that's a obviously a recipe for you know some unintended consequences of that system.

And so uh our engineering department is constantly looking at possible safety at resident area intersections, and we actually have a couple of them right now that are that are all stop conditioned, they're just not necessarily branded that way, and those are over on uh Mary and Barry Overpass.

But essentially what it would do is when when you press the button, um there are no green lights in any direction until the pedestrians are cleared from the intersection.

Uh, you know, we actually I I think uh we shared a video with the connectivity committee.

Um it's called a pedestrian scramble, I think.

I'm sure they're they're caught a lot of different things, but that um happy to send around the council um so they can kind of see in real time what that system looks like.

But uh it it would definitely halt all traffic going in any directions.

Um course those would have to be signed properly, and there's there's some equipment upgrades that are gonna be necessary as that engineering's looking into that.

It's uh but as with anything, any opportunity we have to make our our roads, not just downtown but across the entire city safer, we're gonna we're gonna look into and you know, just kind of like the the Hawk signal.

There, I I'm not so sure people truly understand how many people that helps on a daily basis.

Um, there's but 10 that segments in that at the NPO meeting that about the new one on North Church, and then he's a woman with pushing a child in a stroller crossing.

He said that makes it worthwhile.

Yeah, there's been uh tens of thousands of button pushes on that thing over the past year, and and uh Cliff Nash, our uh our our traffic guru, I guess you would you would call him his uh he he studies that pretty constantly, and uh you know he's he's passionate about public safety and and about pedestrian safety as well, so he keeps a compliance count on that.

He's constantly looking at ways to improve, and you know it it's inarguable when you look at the number of button pushes, and just truthfully the traffic slowdown just from such a big obstacle in your way, even if somebody's not using it right, no doubt, you know, has an impact on on pedestrian safety right there.

I I told him I I saw after the one installed on Johnson, a woman putting a stroller in with two kids, young children walking, and I thought, wow, that's what we could.

It's far cry from where we're a few years ago, right there.

And I think councilman too, uh, with the uh input of our camera systems throughout the city, we're able to address uh the ones by the schools.

We're seeing a lot of near misses uh by Jonesboro High School and other schools, and so we got to prioritize them.

Maybe they're at high what is it at the Highland and Southwest Drive, yes, doing an all-stop that's a critical one.

That's critical.

We've seen almost well.

It'd be good if everyone could see the video that you sent me.

That'd be good.

Thank you, Councilman.

That's all uh somewhat along those same lines.

There was some discussion here a while back about one-laning main street from Washington down to Burke.

Can we get an update on where we're at on those conversations to make it more pedestrian-friendly as well?

Sure.

Um, that was actually um sent to EDG uh environmental design group engineering to look at a striping plan and actually some hard armoring.

Um, I know there's been some discussion about that just kind of go out and and and do it.

And truthfully, the last thing that I think any one of us want to have our hands on or vote on is something that's not really been looked at by a professional traffic engineer when you're talking about a major traffic pattern.

Um I actually got an email from Martin Smith just earlier today, walking down to the council, him and Craig have been talking, and uh they're hoping they were hoping to have that proposal by the end of last week, certainly hoping by the end of this week.

I know there's some discussion about how you're gonna mark the the stoppage lane or the delivery lane.

Um, and so it's I'm I really hope that we get that by the end of this week.

Um so yes, conversations are ongoing.

Um, we're looking at maybe hopping on a call Thursday just to iron out the final proposal and make sure that it's very clear and concise because you know there's gonna be money involved, and that's gonna be brought to a resolution to approve that funding to this council.

So we definitely want it to not only be very clear, but also for y'all to feel comfortable that this has been looked at by an outside independent engineering firm to make sure that we're not doing anything that might accidentally increase uh you know any kind of pedestrian liabilities or concerns.

Just curious.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you, Councilman.

Mr.

McLean.

Yes, uh Mayor's last council meeting I raised some questions and uh some of them were answered tonight uh partially, but um was trying to figure out when we would receive the council receive a follow-up uh to that email uh because I haven't received one.

I don't know if everyone else or anyone else has received one, but was curious when we could expect um expect to hear from you.

Then I got a couple of questions I'd like to follow up with from Duane's comments.

Okay, all right.

Um, you know, council, um I'd I'd really like you to uh listen to what I've got to say.

I think it's really important, and and uh councilman McLean, I do appreciate your questions.

Um I wrote some notes down this afternoon, and I want to respond to you.

Um council, I've done my very best to be professional and respectful at all times as the mayor Jonesboro.

We've answered questions to the best of my ability, and I think we really need to get down to the bottom line here, or what are the questions you really want, and uh what are you asking?

So I'm just gonna say it.

Did I steal money?

No.

Did I knowingly turn my back so theft could occur?

No.

And the questions continue to arise.

I requested that city stars do an independent audit from a reputable firm.

Did I trust Mr.

Caballas?

Yes.

I trusted him like I trust every director and employee in this room.

There will be an appropriate time for us to discuss this, and that's when we all know the actual facts.

Right now, we are all speculating.

At this time, we can sit down and what we could have done better.

At that time, excuse me, we can sit down and review what we could have done better, what I could have done better, and how we can make improvements if there's any wrongdoing.

As mayor, I get that whatever a city employee does, either as an employee or in any other capacity, reflects on the city, and ultimately me.

If the theft allegations are true, then they should be prosecuted.

My mayor, my job as mayor is to work for the community.

Counsel with all due respect, starting now, I tend to fully rededicate my time to doing just that and let the investigators handle the investigation.

Until the process isn't complete, I'm moving on, and we'll have no more comments on city stars.

Not because it's not important, because until we know the facts, it's just speculating and taken away from what we should be focusing on, and that's all the residents of Jonesboro.

So I appreciate you allowing me to say my opinion.

I believe you said you had another question.

Yeah, I have a couple other questions, and uh again, I think respectfully, we we we are old in answering.

We if we have questions, we should be able to ask the questions.

Um this is a big deal.

This is uh a huge investigation going on in our community, and if if we all wait, well, we can ask ask questions now.

There's nothing that says we can't.

Um there's nothing from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that said we cannot ask questions.

To me, it goes beyond our relationship, it goes to the public trust.

If the public has questions, we should be able to ask because they're gonna bring them to us.

And to me, the most important thing because without it, we're not gonna be able to move forward when when we talk about police facilities, or we talk about um new things going on in our community.

If the public doesn't trust us, then none of that none of that stuff is gonna happen.

And so to me, if we have questions, we should be able to ask them, we should ask them until until we get an answer.

That's where I am on it.

So couple of questions.

Deway, you mentioned you investigate some employees.

How many employees do you know of were paid?

And what were they paid for?

You said they were given money around Christmas time.

What was that for?

What was it for just because did they say they expressed that they believed that that was sort of a Christmas gift?

It was like a Christmas bonus.

They didn't call it a bonus.

They believed it was a Christmas gift from their supervisor.

From him personally, not from the city of Jonesboro or any other entity from him personally.

That's what they expressed.

So it was not, it wasn't hey, I appreciate you working this weekend for this event.

That was one of our concerns.

Okay, right, is are we gonna find out that money was received after a particular tournament or after a particular working overtime?

And that is not what we what we determined or what HR determined when they did their interviewing.

It was that um it was believed to be a Christmas gift from their their direct supervisor, just thanking them for their hard work that they do for him.

How many you how many employees were talking?

I don't know exactly because I don't have it in front of me, but I want to say six or seven, something like that.

Now I don't know if we've gotten every single person.

Some have left the city, you know, some no longer work here.

So but that's my understanding.

Good.

That's all I got, Miss April.

Thank you.

Dr.

Anthony Coleman.

Okay.

Mr.

Hafner.

Yes, I do have one thing.

Um it's hard to believe, but it's it'll be a year ago tomorrow that we passed ordinance 2505 that amended the sidewalk ordinance and um allowed companies in the industrial park to pay uh in Lua fee.

Um I think we've had we had two companies, maybe more, but I think it's two that have been operating under a temp CO.

Um City planners tried to contact them and um has been unsuccessful.

So here we are a year later, and we still haven't been paid the in Lua fees.

So my question is is what other avenues do we have available to us to get our get our fees.

Um I don't know if municipal liens can be used for um in lieu of fees, but have to do some research on that part.

Um I mean, I think we always have an opportunity to cite people for a violation of city code, but let me look into the lien question.

I'm not gonna operate under a temp CO, so those should have a we could also revoke a temp CO.

Someone probably been out there operating under that for four or five years.

So it would just be nice to I'll get with Daryl and we'll look at what options we might have.

Enforce the ordinance to get our money collected, so appreciate any help.

Thank you.

Yeah, a few things.

Um I think the mayor wants to make this out like only a few people have questions, and when you look at foyas, the foyas from Matt Modelleschi, who was a Copenhager donor and supporter, or Matt Daniel, who's uh a Copenhagen supporter, he won't answer their questions either.

He won't answer the community's questions.

And this week he we learned he got copies of our emails in real time.

He read the council's incoming emails in real time to make sure he controlled every bit of information.

We know, I mean, from the packets from Jerry Morgan and Matt Modellski and Matt Daniel and other people.

We know he was well aware of the allegations against Danny, and yet he's nominating him for tourism person of the year or whatever the award is.

So don't be fooled by this deception.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he won't answer questions.

I think the reality is he's scared of what's happening in uh Boone County.

I I would look up uh pretty carefully there, and that's all I'll say about that.

I I will make a comment.

Uh you know, and I think in reflection, um, you know, I think it's um I think a comment's been made that we the administration are spying.

Um, and I think this is um something that all the aldermen were very aware of.

This has been going on.

Not true.

No, no.

It's 2004.

It's an alderman bulk email.

Here are over the last year, over a dozen emails that you all been CC'd in on.

I responded to the alderman email.

Carol Duncan's responded, Ryan Richardson.

And so it's clearly we're not hiding anything.

It's a bulk email.

And the FOIA laws allow anybody to have access in the state of Arkansas.

Then give us a copy of yours in real time.

Send good.

Uh tell your IT person we want your email, every single one of them in real time.

I want it done tomorrow.

You commit to that, mate?

Again, for you to say that we were spying on you is incorrect.

Incorrect.

Okay.

Mr.

Miller.

Oh, thank you.

Mr.

Street.

I just want to follow up on what Ann talked about MPO meeting today.

Craig's not here, but the hawk was installed a lot quicker than the one on Johnson.

That took years.

Especially now before swimming season starts.

For a lot of people, it'll be crossing at um Parker Park.

Hopefully, we can get some more in some other high traffic areas.

But that is Craig was very impressed that because of the one on Johnson, it was being utilized and it's been used quite a bit already.

So I'm very pleased that that's up before they they have the data, and and Brian has indicated it's pretty phenomenal.

And there are there are a lot of construction projects going on.

Um Shane Wood with District Ten engineer covered most of those.

I mean, they're still distant, a lot of its utility relocation and stuff, but there will be a lot of considerable construction going on at most of the major intersections in the peripheral areas of the city.

So just something people need to be aware of and plan accordingly when you have to be somewhere, but uh it's all good, and hopefully in a few years we'll reap some good benefits from that money that uh we finally got.

Thank you for your comments.

Jason, if you would, I'd like you to come forward and kind of um present um your findings.

Uh I think it was uh something was responded to earlier in the week that we were using an app, a signal app.

Can you respond to that, please?

Sure.

So uh council member uh LJ Bryant asked or had some concerns about some unauthorized software that may be on desktops or uh city cell phones.

Uh as far as the desktops go, you would have to have a local admin administrator password, uh, and only IT has that.

Um, so it would have to be approved by us as far as see cell phones go.

We don't have the management capabilities as we do on the desktops.

Um so uh councilmember Bryant has asked me to do a review of all the city cell phones.

Uh we are still ongoing with that review, about halfway done.

Uh so far, no uh signals app or any other messenger app.

Uh we found a few police officers that do use that for uh police investigations uh on that part, but again, uh the review is still going on, and we're about halfway halfway through.

So thank you, Jason.

I appreciate I forgot that earlier.

Thank you.

All right, we're in done with that.

We'll move on to public comments.

Anyone in the audience can come forward and uh state your name and address, and you have five minutes for a comment.

Well, my name's already been brought up.

Um I'm Heather Talley.

I live at 805 West Jefferson.

I am the Jonesboro Christmas Parade coordinator.

Um it kind of still feels strange to say that because it's not just my effort.

There's an amazing committee that worked extremely hard in 2024 and 2025 to put on what I think was a heck of a parade both years.

Um after visiting with the committee, and you know, there's there's a lot going around right now.

There's a lot of information, a lot some misinformation, some speculation, just public comments and questions.

We felt it would be in the best um idea of transparency with the public and the council to just prepare a statement, and I'd love to share that with you.

I think the mayor for his statement today to clarify some of those questions.

So this is a statement from the Jonesboro Christmas Play Parade Planning Committee.

Uh, for the record, I would like to read a prepared statement on behalf of the Jonesboro Christmas Parade Planning Committee.

In 2024, when the previous leadership of the Jonesboro Christmas Parade stepped down, a citizen-led planning committee assumed responsibility for the organizing the event with the support and cooperation of the city of Jonesboro.

And excuse me, an initial meeting was held at City Hall in July of 2024 with the parade coordinator.

That's me.

City employees and a representative of City Stars, who at the time was also a city employee to establish the administrative structure for the parade.

In August of 2024, the planning committee was formed and held its first meeting at City Hall.

In October of 2024, a designated bank account was established for the parade.

All parade funds, including registration fees, donations, and sponsorships were deposited into that bank account and were not deposited into or commingled with any city stores accounts.

The planning committee organized the parade and maintained control of its finances.

The committee considered that after expenses were satisfied and if funds remained, a donation could be made to a local nonprofit organization.

The committee voted to designate city stores as the recipient of any such donation.

The Jonesboro Christmas Parade serves the citizens and businesses of Jonesboro and is organized by a planning committee of local business owners, professionals, and civic participants.

The continued success of the Jonesboro Christmas Parade depends on participation from local businesses, organizations, and residents.

And personal insertion here, we can't do this without you guys.

It has hurt our sponsorship already, what's what's gone around and been speculated.

So I hope that that won't impede progress this year, and it won't stop people from wanting to participate and wanting to sponsor and donate.

Because this matter involves an ongoing investigation, the committee won't comment on that process, but we do appreciate your support and look forward to successful parade this year.

Thank you.

Ms.

Tally, thank you very much.

Is there anyone else who would like to make a comment?

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

My name is Donna Malone.

I live at 1208 Haven Street.

Some of you might remember me from having worked here at one time.

I retired on March 4th.

Just saying, if you don't remember me, I'm sorry about that.

I want to talk about FOIA.

Um FOIA is uh quite frankly, why I left.

It's uh it is a monster.

I have worked on FOIA for 50 years.

50 years.

I was young when I started.

I was only 12.

But it was um not really, but I you know, we start learning about FOIA very early when you're doing when you're in communications and you're in intending on going into media because you're on the other side of it.

You want you you want to get the documentation for stories, so that's why I learned about FOIA.

On the other side of it, it's a lot looks a lot different, I can assure you, but also think about the difference in what documentation and city documents and all government documents looked like, the volume from 50 years ago to now.

Think about what difference it made from 10 years ago to now.

Think about your own email boxes.

How many more emails you're getting today than you did 10 years ago?

It's it's humongous, it's oceans of it.

There's no way, with all due respect, Mr.

Bryan.

I don't think you can read every email that he got, and there's no way that I could have redacted them all.

We ran into this on a day, I ran into it on a daily basis.

There's so much more information.

In fact, I read a statistic not long ago that the generation before us received the amount of information in their lifetime that we receive in one day, we are bombarded with information.

So these FOIA requests are supposed to be for documents that exist, not documents that should be cre that have to be created.

We is this this is correct, Carol, that we are not required.

In fact, it would not be right.

It would be it would be wrong of the city government or any of you because you're under the you could be FOIA too.

You should not create documents to fulfill a FOIA.

They should be documents that exist.

If you're creating something just to fill a full to fill a FOIA, you're not giving documentation.

You're giving what your opinion is of what that person wants.

You know, you have to be a reasonable person in legal matters.

Um later, because of the the um the documentation nightmare that everyone that works with FOIA is going through.

Um, um a man named Um Brandolini, I think is his name, Brandolini, he's Italian, and he said um that you know that that really the lie that the misinformation goes spreads like wildfire, and the real information does not.

So it is it behooves us to not spread misinformation.

It is in fact what you do is you damage the city, you damage yourselves, you damage all of the all of the people who are innocent of anything, and you and you clog up the works.

We all anyone and I'm talking anybody, if I did it now that I am citizen Donna, if I FOIA'd every one of you, I would be clogging up the works of what can be done for the city.

spread misinformation it is in fact what you do is you damage the city you damage yourselves you damage all of the all of the people who are innocent of anything and you and you clog up the works we all anyone and I'm talking anybody if I did it now that I am citizen Donna if I FOIA's every one of you I would be clogging up the works of what can be done for the city if I FOIA the mayor all the time I would be stopping his progress on other projects that he needs to be working on I'm not saying don't FOIA I would never say don't FOIA I'm saying be specific be credible do not use FOIA as a weapon please don't use it as a personal grudge use it to help the city use it to help our let's be part of public servants well I'm not anymore I'm I'm one that you're serving now actually now that I think about it and I am making um a little bit of sarcastic remark there but I think it's really important that we look at ourselves I did I looked at myself as a public servant you look at yourselves as public service the mayor does as well all of these people over here who are directors are public servants and when our work is impeded by asking for tons of emails that we'll never read from from the public will that the public will never look at please be reasonable everyone who can hear my voice please be reasonable in your FOIA requests.

Don't pay attention to lies do ask questions but be smart about your FOIA request that's all I have to say thank you very much for the time I'm out of time I never thought I would do that but I am a person thank you for your time.

Thank you Miss Malone.

Anyone else in the audience would please come forward state your name and address Jeremy Terrell 909 um Pinecrest.

FOIA 100% is you guys communicating with us and it's our only checks and balance from the citizens so I'm sorry that there's a lot of FOIA's that have gone on that's for a reason and the reason is is because the amount of trust that has been lost now people are taking this personal and that is fine take it personal don't take it personal whatever the fact of the matter is is that we have an investigation there is evidence that people have known or speculated for years and we want answers and we deserve answers period and for anybody to say that we don't or or be careful or whatever that's just plain ridiculous now I'm sorry that there's more work for everybody involved I I that that does suck too but if we didn't lose our confidence in what's going on there wouldn't be all these FOIA and for instance a FOIA that I got here recently on a request is an email on that um audit done where in that the question is asked what accusations have been made so that I can make my testing defend those that was from the person that did the audit I sent it to every one of you guys I didn't send it to you that came from an FOI at the end of that it says my goal is to make sure that um at the end of this that you'll be able to present that no money is missing that was from an FOI that was lied about I'm I am so sick and tired of you guys having to defend yourself each and every week I you know with all due respect Heather you didn't even apologize you brought her name up you threw her under the bus and there's still no apology there was no I am sorry and that's happened two or three times over the last several months that it's not taken accountability that we are frustrated about this entire thing about the whole investigation should be man this is the worst thing that we could have experienced at this point in time definitely in your you know capacity as the mayor and under my duty I'll make sure that something like this never happens again and I take full responsibility that this happened under my watch this would have been done there wouldn't have been all these FOIA's they may not even have been of an investigation and that's just the truth so we keep losing what we believe to have been on the up and up we are now losing that and that's that's just the process that has happened and you guys do bear responsibility in that loss of trust period so if you got to hire another person to do FOIA's so that everybody else isn't burdened that's just what you got to do to make sure that the people are represented and they get to know what in the world is going on within their city government.

We are now losing that.

And that's that's just the process that has happened.

And you guys do bear responsibility in that loss of trust.

Period.

So if you got to hire another person to do FOIA's so that everybody else isn't burdened, that's just what you got to do to make sure that the people are represented and they get to know what in the world is going on within their city government.

Because it is their city government.

It's theirs.

With all due respect, it's our government that you serve and you serve the people.

And so at the end of the day, the FOI is our way to find out what's happening.

Because there is, unfortunately, with emails like this, things that we don't get to know that are hidden from us.

Not by you specifically, but by people that you are coming to find out you probably shouldn't have trusted.

So at some point in time, City Council, I sent you guys this.

Two people, two people answered that.

On there is do we have the confidence in that company to continue to do audits when they send somebody like that and say that kind of questioning before they did their audit.

And I would like a response from you guys.

Please.

Thank you.

All right, we've reached the maximum time.

We'll move on to the next item.

That's adjournment.

So moved.

Second.

That motion all in favor, say aye.

Any opposed?