All right, I'm showing four o'clock, and we'll go ahead and call the special called meeting of the public services to order.

Umst item of business is roll call.

Please mark your attendance.

The next and only item of business we do have a quorum, but we won't be voting on anything today.

Um, the only other order of business is communications 26035, and to that's to discuss the tabled ordinance of ordinance 26013 on the sports advisory board.

I'm not going to read that in its entirety.

If anybody needs a copy, I'll be happy to provide you one.

Um then I will open the floor for discussions.

I will ask that LJ Bryant first to read some correspondence.

Jerry Morgan was going to try to be here today, and he was unable to attend, so he sent an email to the committee earlier today.

And just out of fairness and transparent, I want to go transparency.

I want to go ahead and have that read, please.

I know you must be excited to hear me read an email, so here we go.

Uh dear public services committee in Jonesboro Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members, and this is from Jerry Morgan.

I was asked to speak at the meeting today regarding the ordinance for the sports advisory board.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflict, I will not be able to attend.

I did want to add some information and insight that I think will provide I think will be helpful in your decision on whether to forward to the city council for consideration.

These are my own comments that have not been approved by the AMP Commission.

First, it was mentioned by an individual in opposition to this ordinance that it appeared that this would be a hostile takeover and control of programs and facilities of the existing parks and recreation advisory board.

It was also mentioned by a city council member that I was not elected to promote sports tourism.

I was elected to represent people and families and children in this community, and it's not my goal to get heads and beds.

Our goal with this ordinance is not an either-or scenario, but was to add an additional component to our parks and recreation oversight that would help make decisions regarding the placement of our funds going forward.

I've attached a spreadsheet reflecting the funds that the advertising promotion commission has granted to various areas of the Jonesboro Parks and Recreation System over the past eight years.

This equates to almost 2.5 million dollars of hotel tax funds going directly to city and youth sports programs and projects.

I would estimate that recreational league sports received 80% of the benefit of these funds, while outside team weekend tournaments benefited by less than 20%.

An example is the soccer turf fields where the AMP Commission partnered with the city to spend close to three million dollars to upgrade the drainage and add turf fields.

This was at the direct request of the Parks Director in 2023.

The primary benefit to the city is stated from the Parks Director was to upgrade the facilities to allow outside weekend tournaments and not have cancellations due to rain and weather events.

This was a significant commitment from the hotel owners that collect all the tax money that the AMP used on these upgrades.

This was designated to be a win-win for all recreational players and tournament players.

After two seasons of availability of the turf, it is still unclear if any outside tournaments have occurred.

Also, a large part of our funding to the youth of the city has been for recreational league expenses that were granted to the city stars organization.

Regardless of the current investigation of funds regarding city stars, tens of thousands of our city youth have benefited from the programs that AMPs helped fund over the last decade.

Making a statement that heads and beds has not been the primary goal of the AMP Commission's funding decisions is completely contradictory to long history of partnering with the city.

Second, an additional reason for the approval of this ordinance is to add an additional layer of review for our tax dollars that are being spent by the city on recreational programming and asset allocations.

There have been many, if not most of the decisions that have been made by the city that were never reviewed, voted on, or even discussed with the existing parks and recreation committee.

For example, the decision that was made by the city administration to take over the city stars organization was never vetted by the parks and recreation committee.

City Council meeting January 6, 2026.

Then the City Parks Director stated in April that the city wasn't in the tournament business.

City Council meeting April 7th, 2026.

The director used various examples of tournament financials to make this decision.

Again, this was never discussed with the parks and recreation committee prior to that decision being made.

While it might make financial sense to get out of the tournament business, how many children in Jonesboro are there that are unable to afford to travel to play in tournaments that were robbed of their ability to play going forward?

Maybe three or more paragraphs.

Also, the cost savings to the city was minimal, if any at all, to do away with those weekend tournaments.

If a committee were established to review the cost benefits for the children and families to be able to participate here in Jonesboro, funding could possibly be available from organizations like the AMP Commission.

This would be the same as the AMP provided to city stars for several years for local tournaments.

As those tournaments also bring in family members for the weekend that support our restaurants.

Two more paragraphs.

Third, the AMP commission can provide significant data and funding that can help determine the best return for all of our citizens, both recreational and tourism related.

This information is in the form of tax collections and significant resources we've established with other cities and third party companies around the nation.

It is much better to learn from others than try and recreate the will.

A perfect example is the current Jonesboro shooting sports complex complex.

While this falls under purview or falls under review of the current parks and rec board, no proposal has ever been presented from the city or the board to determine the best path forward to expand this to eliminate the current financial deficit or expand programming for the youth of our area.

The AMP commission and the Jonesboro Facilities Boards have actively worked to propose a solution to include funding to achieve these goals.

Last paragraph.

Fourth and final, if the council members that currently serve on the public services committee feel that the current parks and rec commission committee is being provided adequate information and is adequate is actively involved in the decisions being made by the city for our youth sports, then please disregard this ordinance and continue on the path that has been used the past several years.

But as many of you who've served on the ANAMP Commission, either currently or in the past, please don't vote against this ordinance under the misinformation that it is an attempt of a takeover are only heads and beds.

Please note no comments in this email are directed toward the current parks and recreation director.

I feel that Jim Starns is working hard and a very good individual that deeply cares about John's world and the youth of this town.