The Jonesboro City Council met on May 19, 2026 at 5:30 PM at the Municipal Center. Eleven members were present, one absent. The meeting included a special award presentation, a comprehensive building permitting study presentation, approval of routine items, a public hearing on a bond issue, rezoning ordinances, and various council reports and public comment.
The following items were approved en bloc (11-0), except RES-26:043 which was removed for separate discussion:
All right, good evening, everybody. We'll go ahead and start uh City Council. This is Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, and we're gonna go ahead and call the that to order. I'll begin with the uh Pledge Allegiance, and then Dr. Anthony Coleman will lead us in prayer. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and the Republic for Nation and Liberty and Justice. Yes, if you would, Lord, we thank you for this day and this time that you've given us. Thank you for your grace that is new every morning. And so as we come together as one on tonight, I pray and thank you for the safety of our city. Thank you for those men and women who put their themselves on the line for us. Thank you for the administration and others that continue to lead and guide the city. Well, Father, your word declares in Psalms accept the Lord keep the city. Watchmen waited, but in vain. And Father, we thank you that you are watcher, watching over our city, and we appreciate you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, counsel. If you would please go ahead and mark your attendance. All right, and we do have 11 members present this evening. So next we'll move on to item number four, and these are items under special presentation. And Mr. Fowler, if you would uh please come forward, he's um uh support of the guard and reserve. I'll meet you down front with uh Marty Hamrick. He does have an award and presentation to provide good afternoon. It's uh my pleasure to be with you this evening. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Retired Gil Fowler, also known as Santa Gill. And uh tonight I want to make a special presentation to the Golden Helmet, I guess, division organization here in Jonesboro, their fire department. Uh basically I represent a group called the Employee Support of the Garden Reserve. We're a group of uh most of us veterans whose job it is working under the Secretary of I think it's defense, but maybe a secretary of war, nonetheless, to uh address the importance that our citizen soldiers bring to the local community. Uh ESGR has chapters in all 50 states in Australia and Europe throughout the world, and our job again is to basically help support our men and women in uniform and recognize the importance and value that they bring to the local community. Our all-volunteer force today basically has a lot of challenges. Being away from home, being away from family, being away from community, and doing the things that are necessary for our society to exist and continue. Since 9-11, over a million citizen soldiers have served our country. In addition to, of course, the regular force, 24-hour all purpose uh soldiers. Today I want to pay special attention to Chief Marty Hamrick and present him with what we call my boss is a patriot award. He was nominated by Spencer Saul, one of his uh employees who serves with the 1036th Engineer Company here in Jonesboro. Basically, in his nomination that goes forward to the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of War's office, and it takes several months to, in essence, be evaluated to ensure that one he's a legitimate person, and at the same time, Spencer Saul is a legitimate soldier. We want to ensure that both of those components fit together in making that nomination. But he says Chief Hamric ensures that all rules and regulations pertaining to service members are followed, and is very supportive of the employees who serve in the Arkansas Army National Guard. They recognize the work with me when I have a military commitment. The chief is a one-of-a-kind manager who goes above and beyond. He helps facilitate times that I have to be away, and is fully supportive of my service. Having a supervisor like that makes being a military member easy. He's done a fantastic job making guardsmen and their families feel welcome and appreciated. He's a true patriot, an outstanding supervisor, a professional at what he does, and yet he gets he takes the time to get to know you and your family as a person. Our workplace is both a team and the family. So tonight it's my pleasure to recognize Chief Hamric with what we call my bosses of Patriot Award. Now it's a three-part award. The first part is basically a certificate specifying that he has been recognized by the Secretary of War and by the state of Arkansas and our soldiers as being one who truly respects and understands and works with our citizen soldiers when they're not here. Secondly, we have a what we call statement of support for the Jonesboro Fire Department that we hope he will put up in a prominent place so that when soldiers and guardsmen and their families come in, they will see the seals of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, etc. And say this must be a good place to be.