OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Finance & Administration Council Committee Meeting - July 28, 2026

Meeting PortalTuesday, July 28, 2026
BodyJonesboro, Arkansas
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, July 28, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 44:33
Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

But he said it's not expensive.

0:01

And he said what they were it's actually beneficial to fish habitat.

0:07

Like three thirty or forty feet.

0:10

And then skip thirty forty feet another guy's went out there.

0:19

You can do like gaps around and you can fish the whole lake and I don't know what's great.

0:30

Tomorrow and uh he said he would get me the info and I will give it to you.

0:34

But that would be cheaper too.

0:36

You wouldn't have to kill everything because you know, get into the lake, you just do like sections of it around the key fish, but you still so you don't have to be doing half the area.

0:55

No, I'm joking.

0:57

Not even just about that with good fish out.

1:04

Anything else?

1:07

So that's totally that's somebody that's my question.

1:11

Yeah, no, it's easy.

1:12

It's uh it's not that not that cost me at all.

1:15

So I will uh be hollow to that one.

1:24

Okay, that was not hard to go back to the market.

1:58

Yeah, what's it like to have fruits?

2:05

Yeah.

2:06

Well, I think we'll work on a gun, which is fine.

2:39

Well I saw the summary on the leader.

3:03

I know about the water.

3:28

We just have to make sure that we took that one.

3:38

I already had a following by the end of the room.

3:51

I would say that's when the total number of other people are just it's not in the area, it's in an office.

5:05

It's backwards that red means we're on it and green means we're on it.

5:23

Okay, she's good, Joe.

5:24

Okay.

5:25

All right.

5:37

All right, good afternoon, everybody.

5:38

It's four o'clock.

5:39

I'll call today's finance administration council committee meeting to order.

5:44

Um please confirm your attendance by pushing the appropriate button.

5:50

We do have five presents, so we do have a quorum today.

5:53

Next up is approval of minutes from the finance committee meeting on Tuesday, July 14th, 2026.

5:59

Move to approval if there's no to change.

6:02

Motion of second, any questions or comments on the minutes as presented.

6:07

If not, please record your party on whether or not to approve the minutes.

6:25

Moving to new business.

6:26

First up is resolution 26074.

6:29

A resolution by the city council, City of Jones for Arkansas to amend a portion of the employee handbook for all employees for the City of Jones Rural, whereas the current handbook employee handbook was previously revised by resolution 24167 on December 17, 2024, whereas this handbook serves as a primary policies and procedure manual for all employees, and whereas the city council desires to revise a portion of the employee handbook regarding the city's nepotism policy.

7:15

Up to but not including the section entitled Drug-Free Workplace Policy is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following.

7:59

This prohibition means not only that a person cannot supervise a relative, but also that the relative cannot be in that person's chain of command.

8:28

Examples include an employee signing an evaluation for a relative or in signing slash approving a check payable to a relative.

8:35

Number three, employees are required to notify the city's human relations department of a any existing familial relationships, b any familial relationships that are created among employees, for example, by marriage of two employees, and C the potential employment by the city of a relative.

8:54

Number four, the city will refuse to hire a job applicant who is a relative of a current employee if the applicant or current employee would be at a supervisory or subordinate position to another city employees who marry one another during their employment will be allowed to remain with the city unless they are in a superior um subordinate relationship and there is no open position to which one of them may be moved.

9:18

Number five, any person who is a relative of the mayor or city count or any city council member will not be eligible for hire with the city during the term of the mayor or city council member.

9:30

A relative of either the city clerk or the city attorney will be eligible for hire with the city so long as they do not work in the office or under the supervision of the elected official with whom they share a familial relationship.

9:42

Number six, familial relationship within the meaning of this policy means a husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, or granddaughter, or any of the those relationships arising as a result of marriage, for example, brother-in-law.

10:02

Number seven, relative, means anyone with whom there is a film familial relationship, all hires that must be considered nepotism will be will require the mayor or the mayor's design approval, failure to approve the mayor's or the failure to obtain the mayor's or the mayor's design's approval will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

10:22

Neither the mayor nor the city, neither the mayor nor the mayor's examine may approve a new hire in violation of number paragraph five of this policy regarding relatives of elected officials.

10:34

It is important that any relationship that may cause a conflict of interest be reported to a human resources to re human resources for the necessary approvals.

10:43

Personal dating relationships.

10:58

With knowledge, their employment may be affected if with the if the relationship results in inappropriate or unprofessional behavior.

11:06

Negatively impacts the common good or morale of other employees or creates conflicts of interest.

11:11

If such relationships exist between employees, then employees must report it to their supervisor and HR.

11:19

The city reserves the right to take the appropriate action it deems necessary.

11:23

Dating relationships in which one of the employees is a direct supervisor or prohibited.

11:28

If you plan on entering into a dating relationship with another employee in your department, and one of you is in a direct supervisory position, the following actions must be taken.

11:38

Number one, you must notify your supervisor and the human resource director immediately.

11:43

Two, one of you will be required to resign or transfer to another department if there's a position available within 30 calendar days.

11:52

Three, you may mutually agree on which of you will transfer or resign.

11:56

Four, if you cannot agree, the employee with the lowest with the lower classification will be required to transfer or resign.

12:04

Section two, the employee handbook table contents will be amended to the extent necessary to accurately reflect the sections and page numbers.

12:13

Section three, any portion of the employee handbook, not specifically revised, deleted, or amended herein shall remain in full force and effect.

12:21

Move forward full counsel to get it on the uh table for discussion.

12:28

I got a few things to say regarding this before I open the floor up to other council members.

12:36

Um number one, you know, typically when the resolution is brought up to us, um, especially with the handbook, it's addressing a problem.

12:46

Um I personally don't believe that there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

12:51

I think that our current um nepotism policy is um you know covers what needs to be covered.

12:59

I looked at you know, other cities, including Little Rock, Conway, Cabot.

13:04

Our policy falls in line with those.

13:08

Um, I spoke to Dwayne Douglas today, our HR director, and Dwayne told me that he didn't see any um issues that needed to be addressed by this policy change.

13:21

Um, in particular, you know, the the one that you know obviously hits closer to home with us is the any person who is a relative of the mayor or city council member shall not be eligible for hire with the city during the term of the mayor or city council member.

13:36

I mean, we currently have 49 openings in the city of Jonesboro.

13:41

Um, those are there's quite a few in the um police department, the fire department, streets, engineering, city planning, communications, um, and I I would just really hate to limit our job pool because you know, one of our grandkids or nephews or nieces or cousins want to apply for a job with the city.

14:08

Um I feel that there's checks and balances in place.

14:13

You know, we there was a change to nepotism policy, I believe, in 2024.

14:17

Um you know, in this in talking with Carol, the state law that this was based on ACA 2180101, um, it deals with state boards and commissions.

14:35

It doesn't deal with uh a city council or mayor and a mayor, city council relationship.

14:41

So I just don't really feel that there's a need for this change.

14:48

I'll open the floor up for other discussion.

14:50

And I'll just say to clarify that there's just not a state law that feels mayor, city council.

14:54

That's why that was what I think that they were looking at as correct.

15:04

Is there some issue that brought this up for a change?

15:07

Is there something specific that brought it about?

15:13

Your it's your resolution.

15:14

Your well, I don't guess I've ever stood here, so this is really different.

15:23

Yeah, yeah.

15:24

LJ Brown.

15:27

This was a conversation with Carol.

15:29

I mean, I've just kind of witnessed over the years, I mean, the problems we've had primarily in state government and schools, schools have a zero tolerance policy, and Dr.

15:38

Coleman maybe could speak to that.

15:39

I mean, I know I read an article recently, like the Conway School Board president had to resign from being on the Conway School Board so their kid could be a teacher.

15:46

So we've obviously had a problem over the years with mayors hiring their kids.

15:52

I mean, happened with mayor parents happened with this mayor too.

15:55

So I think from a public perspective, we just kind of have to be above reproach.

16:01

And I hear Councilman Hafner's point, you know, yeah, a lot of open jobs.

16:07

There's no doubt that there's difficulty filling jobs, but the challenge is the public just needs to know that it's fair.

16:13

And I don't have the statistic in front of me.

16:16

I can't remember.

16:17

Um, but I I think in the instance uh when we created the um park ranger program, we had four jobs, and man, I can't remember the statistic off the top of my head.

16:29

I want to say 40, 50, 60 people applied, and the mayor's son got one of the four jobs, and maybe he was absolutely entitled to it, maybe that's great.

16:37

Maybe the same thing's true for mayor perrin's son.

16:40

Maybe that's fantastic.

16:41

Maybe he was the perfect person for the job.

16:42

I was not around for any of that.

16:44

This just prevents any of those problems, prevents any of those sort of conflicts.

16:49

And so I think it's a obviously it's something schools absolutely abide by.

16:53

Uh the state has had that problem historically.

16:56

If you'll remember back in the day, Gus Wingfield was the state treasurer, he put two of his kids on the state payroll, gave them both cars, and so then the state started to take action against constitutional officers misuse and resources.

17:09

So I think when it comes to public officials, much like we can't take a gift over X amount of dollars, and we can't take a contribution over X amount of dollars, and we have to fill out a statement of financial interest saying where our money comes from.

17:21

I think the public just wants to know we're way above reproach.

17:25

And so this prevents any of those issues.

17:27

So that was my motivation, if you will, uh, to prevent any future problems, because I think public integrity is super important.

17:33

Um and people now are more skeptical of us than ever.

17:36

So anyway, that's that's why I brought it forward.

17:39

Mr.

17:39

Chairman, if I may, um so and I'm not in.

17:46

I think it's something that is is not a problem until it is a problem.

17:49

Um and so I think one of the things that we gotta be reminded of, Mr.

17:53

Bryan just brought it up, um, previous administration had someone employed, um employed, uh that son was found to be doing something on um city computers and uh accessing firewalls, all that kind of stuff, and then it became a problem.

18:10

Um former uh IT director was terminated.

18:13

Uh so to me, like I said, it's not a problem until it's a problem.

18:17

So I uh anything that um will give us uh some clearance in terms of this is our policy, you cannot go beyond this.

18:26

Uh I feel like that would be um moving in the right direction, so we don't have uh some issue that arises.

18:35

But wasn't if the wasn't the current this prior mayor's son terminated when he was found doing something wrong, so it seems like there was a check and balance in place there.

18:49

Oh, but somebody else lost their job from it.

18:52

But I think that's getting into the we somewhat assuming that it was retaliatory.

18:58

Um I just think this is far reaching when it talks about you know, like one of my nephews can't be hired to be a lifeguard at a pool when we're looking for swim guards and having to code schools early last summer because we didn't have enough lifeguards.

19:12

I just think this is I understand with being above approach.

19:15

I think that's why there's you know, you while you have an HR director, you have an HR department, you have directors, you know, you have um pot you have procedures you can go through if there's an you know uh if someone feels like they were wrong somewhat, but uh you know I think this is I understand you don't need to have nepotism, you know, have favoritism that results in problems.

19:40

I just think this is way over the top for our current situation.

19:46

And I think my final comment is you know, even in our small town, your last name gets you special favors, you know, and there's just no way to design a system that's fair when you're part of a certain family, and this prevents any of those conflicts.

20:01

But anyway, appreciate the consideration, and that's why I was brought forward.

20:05

Any other comments from the committee?

20:07

Uh one more last thing.

20:10

Like I said, it's not a problem to this problem going forward.

20:13

Uh looking 20 years down the road.

20:15

Um, I don't know if not having something in place is a well, I mean, I understand we have a current, but maybe something with a little more teeth would um prevent things from happening.

20:27

Thank you.

20:29

I don't I don't happen to have any problem having something in place, but I think at the same time, uh it need to be on an individual basis, more or less more than collectively.

20:47

Would this would this affect anybody employed right now?

20:51

No.

20:51

No.

20:52

It would nothing else from the committee.

21:01

Anything from staff?

21:02

Thank you, Chairman.

21:05

Staff.

21:07

You could Dwayne.

21:09

I mean, it's totally up to you, but just this is now your time.

21:13

So bring the check while you go.

21:18

Say what?

21:20

Okay.

21:21

Um well, the current policy basically I I feel like addresses all the needs that we wanted it to.

21:27

Back in 24, that's what we did was kind of strengthen that.

21:30

So you have to have certain um approvals in place to make sure there's try to avoid some conflict.

21:37

Um, and so the only difference in our policy and the one that's recommended is that paragraph number five or point number five about being able to hire the council member or the mayor's uh family.

21:50

So you know, I would hate also to restrict it's hard enough to fill positions.

21:56

Uh I would hate to think if um one of your members of your family or something like that wanted to be a lifeguard or work in parks, wanted to serve their community, they would not be required to do so.

22:07

And so and you get all kinds of um uh employment issues, and sometimes most of them don't have anything to do with nepotism.

22:18

You deal with them as you get them, and so we address those thing, and so and we try our best to do so.

22:24

So we'll go to the mr Mr.

22:28

Miller.

22:32

Thanks.

22:33

Kevin Miller, 1111 layman, Jonesboro.

22:36

I agree with a lot of what you said.

22:38

I understand needing to have a nepotism policy.

22:41

I think we have one.

22:42

I think it works.

22:43

I do think this is a step too far.

22:46

I wanted to absolutely make sure that this doesn't affect in any shape, form, or fashion current employees.

22:52

Guaranteed lockdown.

22:53

This isn't going to affect any current employees.

23:00

And that's good, it shouldn't.

23:03

But I also don't like the idea of excluding potential employees.

23:08

Now my kids are grown and got their own careers and moving down, but it would absolutely thrill me someday if one of my grandkids decided they wanted to follow in my footpaths and maybe join the fire department.

23:18

But because of who they're related to, we simply have to tell them you're not welcome here.

23:23

That's simple.

23:24

I also did a little research checking with some other cities.

23:26

I understand school districts have different policies, state has different policies, but I checked with Paragul, Fort Smith, Conway, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Hot Springs, Little Rock.

23:38

None of them have a policy like this.

23:40

Most of their policies pretty much mirror our existing policy.

23:45

No one has that additional step.

23:49

Excluding people that we don't have to.

23:52

We have a system in place to address those potential conflicts without adding another layer.

23:57

That that that's my opinion.

23:58

Thank you.

24:00

Any other questions or comments on this item?

24:04

If not, um please vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26074 to full council.

24:22

All right.

24:23

Next item is a municipal lien.

24:26

I'll just read these by their title only.

24:29

Resolution 26079.

24:32

Resolution by the city council of the city of Jonesburg, Arkansas, to place the municipal lien on property located at 218 West Forest, parcel 01-144, 073-27900 on by Durr Levant and the amount of 315.

24:48

Move forward full counsel.

24:50

Second.

24:51

Motion stating forward full council.

24:52

Any questions or comments on this item?

24:55

Anything from staff republican attendance.

25:00

If not, please vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26079 to full council.

25:21

Parcel 01-144-302-18300 owned by Sand Hill property management in the amount of 1,240 dollars.

25:30

Move forward to full council.

25:32

Second.

25:35

Any questions or comments on this item?

25:39

Anything from staff or public in attendance?

25:43

All right.

25:44

If not, please cast your vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26080 to full council.

25:57

Resolution 26081.

26:00

Resolution by the City Council City of Jones for Arkansas to place municipal end on property located at 616 East Oak, parcel 01-144, 191-17500 on by Joyce Scarborough in the amount of 275 dollars.

26:13

Move forward full council.

26:25

Please cast your ballot on whether or not to forward resolution 26081 to full council.

26:38

Resolution 26082.

26:40

Resolution by the city council of the city of Jones for Arkansas to place Miss Full Lien on property located at 704 bind, parcel 01-143-134-2200 owned by ECB UCO in the amount of 275 dollars.

26:56

Move forward full counsel.

26:58

Second.

27:17

Resolution by the City Council of City of Jonesburg, Arkansas, place municipal lane on property located at 1702 West Nettleton, parcel 01-143-242-00800 on by EF HOCO.

27:34

WRESS RIO LLC in the amount of $315.

27:39

Move forward to full council.

27:41

Second.

27:41

Motion stating forward to full council.

27:43

Any questions or comments on this item?

27:46

All right.

27:47

Seeing none, please cast your ballot on whether or not to forward resolution 26083 to full council.

27:57

Resolution 26084.

28:02

Resolution by the City Council City of Jonesburg, Arkansas, to place municipal line on property located at 517 Mount Carmel, parcel 01-133, 013-01500, owned by Catherine Arterberry in the amount of 465 dollars.

28:17

Move forward to full council.

28:20

Second.

28:20

Motion statement forward to full council.

28:22

Any questions or comments on this item?

28:27

Seeing none, please cast your vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26084 to full council.

28:41

Resolution by the City Council of City of Jonesburg, Arkansas to adopt a revised employee handbook for the city of Jonesboro.

28:47

Whereas the current employee handbook was so was previously revised by resolution 24167 on December 17, 2024.

28:55

And whereas this handbook serves as a primary policies and procedures manual for all employees.

29:00

And whereas there is a need for a revised employee handbook that outlines updated information and procedures.

29:07

Be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jonesboro, Arkansas.

29:10

That section one, the City of Jonesville Ham employee handbook is hereby adopted by reference as though set out here in word by word as a guide for all employees of the city of Jonesboro.

29:21

Section two, the City of Jonesboro employee handbook will be affected for all employees.

29:26

Section three, all previous editions of any employee handbook for the city of Jonesboro are hereby repealed in their entirety.

29:34

This need to be postponed and definitely to do away with or is this codify the other one?

29:43

My mic isn't working for some reason, but this is different than the other.

29:47

Do we need a motion?

29:49

We'll move forward to full council.

29:51

Yeah.

29:52

Second.

29:59

Yeah.

30:00

Um since the nepotism uh change was coming up, we um kind of been uh working on a whole new handbook revision.

30:07

Uh but these are a couple of items that uh had some urgency in them, like the AI policy.

30:13

Um if we were going to make a change, then we go ahead and get the AI updated in there, and then also the umployee rep committee has been requesting to try to have some language put in there to more define their role, and so if we're going to council to make the any kind of change, we thought we need to at least get those two updates, uh, but also to have a um working on a total you know update to the whole handbook, basically.

30:41

Um you want these to go ahead and go to full council or I'd rather it wait myself.

30:47

But but these policies um what do you think, Carol?

30:52

Um I mean I have some concerns about AI that I think we do need a written policy on AI.

30:57

So I personally think we could change it any time.

31:00

You know, if we have further changes down the road, we could do those, but my biggest concern is cities have had problems with employees not realizing that when they upload personal sensitive or confidential information into like chat GPT to get it to help them write a letter, they're not realizing that that personal sensitive information is being stored by whatever free service they've uploaded that to, and it's no longer personal and private.

31:24

So, like if you want Chat GPT to I'm not gonna say HR would do this, but I'm gonna use HR as an example.

31:30

Let's say they're about to, you know, terminate you, and they say I need help writing a letter because he did this, this, and this, and and these are all the personal things that would not be releasable other than in that letter, but they upload it to Chat GPT to help them write a letter.

31:46

Many of those databases then store that information.

31:50

We had a lot of education on this at the municipal league this time, but they store that information, and then you have released essentially confidential information to someone that you don't realize who you're releasing it to, dates of birth, those security numbers, things like that.

32:03

So they were really using wanting us to use caution on and wanting cities to develop an AI policy.

32:10

So I think that one's pretty important.

32:12

I would like to see us go ahead and approve that.

32:14

And if there are additional changes to the handbook later, we can also bring those back.

32:17

But I think an AI policy that just makes it and then some education, right?

32:21

Of our employees after that can follow this, but to have a policy in place that says you're not allowed to do this, and also something about human oversight that says check your work.

32:31

You know, we've we learned at the municipal league about attorneys that submitted briefs where they said, write me a brief that argues this, and it would write that brief okay, but it would also um make up case law that doesn't exist to support what it's saying, and they didn't go back then and check that case law to see if that was real case law, and it wasn't chat GPT or whoever just made it up, and then they submitted that to a court and got in trouble.

32:55

And I'm not saying it would be that serious here.

32:56

My office is certainly smarter than that.

32:58

But what I'm saying is it I think that we need to employees don't realize that yes, it is smart and yes, it is helpful, but use caution when you're using it with private information and double checking that it that it's telling you what it what you need to be told.

33:15

This is also city-owned devices, is what you're talking about.

33:18

I'm just talking about city information essentially.

33:21

I don't care if you use chat BT to write a letter to break up with your boyfriend.

33:25

I mean, I don't I don't care about that.

33:26

I'm talking about if you're in a department where you have access to what's considered confidential information, whether that's the police department or HR or finance or you know, wherever that we have access to confidential information, we need something in place that tells employees what oversight and what they need what our policy is on putting that information into a computer somewhere that you don't know anything about really that's storing that city that's what I'm asking.

33:55

Specific for like city devices or city employees, but just employees of the whole.

33:59

So I mean, how would you know if I got my letter from my chat GPT account versus well?

34:04

I mean, if we find out that confidential I can't talk, confidential information has been in some way, it's a violation of our policy.

34:12

If I'm using it to write something up, I just make sure I remove names, confidential information.

34:16

I mean, you can say help me fire a guy named David, and here's what he did without without saying like you know it was it was McLean, and here's the social security number, and here's his data bar.

34:28

I see what you're saying.

34:29

I see kids' names, and you know, you don't want to put that personal information out there.

34:33

Sure.

34:34

Um it's dangerous, and people don't realize how dangerous it is.

34:37

So these two changes are two changes that kind of have some urgency to them, especially the AI piece.

34:43

Yeah, um, so yeah, it would benefit going to council and getting approved.

34:48

Uh, but know that shortly we'll have other changes.

34:51

Other changes coming.

34:53

Um can you explain what the other change is?

35:00

Uh yeah, there's been changes uh in along the police and fire uh fire has adopted the um uh bill of rights and things of like uh of that nature.

35:06

So a lot of that uh in this one city handbook gets kind of confusing trying to separate the uniform and non-uniform.

35:16

So the changes you'll c see coming will be you'll have a non-uniform employee handbook like this one, uh, but then you'll have one for police and fire separately as well.

35:26

And I think the only other change in here is about the rep committee, right?

35:29

Yes, that's correct.

35:30

Yeah, that's the only other change in the current one that's in front of you.

35:33

You asked us that to uh relay this but laid it out.

35:37

I'm sorry, you you asked and not but this not to go to the council right now.

35:41

Just I think Carol wants it to.

35:43

I think the AI is important to go in.

35:45

Yeah, I'm kind of confused.

35:48

They're saying go ahead and approve this and send it to council, and then later we'll have other changes coming.

35:53

Okay, so that's well, okay.

35:55

And I'm fine with that.

35:57

So any other questions or comments from anybody in council chambers.

36:03

Uh if not, please cast your vote on whether or not to forward resolution 26085 to full council.

36:13

All right, last item under new business is um resolution 26086, a resolution by City of Jones for Arkansas to accept the low bid and enter into a contract with RL Persons Construction Incorporated for the South Caraway Road widening project job number 2026 20, whereas the City of Jones Road has it desires to accept the low bid and enter into a contract for the South Caraway Road Widening Project, whereas the low bidder and the firm selected for the South Caraway Road Widening Project is RL Persons Construction Incorporated, whereas the funding for the execution of the contract shall come from the capital improvement revenue bond budget and compensation shall be paid in accordance with the contract documents.

36:57

Now therefore, be it resolved by city council for the city of Jones for Arkansas that section one, the City of Jonesville shall accept the low bid and enter into a contract with RL Persons and Construction Incorporated for the South Caraway Road Widening Project.

37:10

Section two, the funding for the execution of the contract shall come from the capital improvement revenue bond budget and compensation shall be paid in accordance with the contract documents.

37:19

Section three, the mayor and city clerk are hereby authorized by the city council for the city of Jones for to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this contract.

37:27

Moved forward to full council.

37:30

Have most thank forward to full council.

37:31

Any questions or comments from the committee?

37:33

Just one.

37:34

Uh Ms.

37:34

Chairman, if I may.

37:35

Yep.

37:36

Um so I know there um have we worked with this group before?

37:40

No.

37:41

Um then also have we spoken to any other cut you know any other cities, I almost said countries, any other cities that maybe have have worked with them, just I mean our how they are on completion time, maybe um change orders and uh stuff along those lines where if there are if there are any concerns for that RL Persons has been a contractor in this area for far back as I can remember, they've done lots and lots of projects.

38:11

I don't anticipate we're gonna have any problem with them as a contractor on the job.

38:16

Um they've been in business for a long time doing highway projects.

38:21

Well we haven't you haven't talked to anybody else about using the the um the construction manager project manager from them I have worked with before.

38:29

So I so I think it's gonna be fine.

38:32

Okay.

38:33

Thank you.

38:34

Any other questions or comments regarding this item from the committee?

38:38

Anything from the public or staff in attendance.

38:42

If not, please cast your vote on whether or not to afford resolution 26086 to full council.

38:51

All right, that was the last item under new business.

38:55

Not aware of any pending items.

38:59

Um Steve, do we have a update on the depository committee meeting?

39:16

Mr.

39:16

Chairman, since we've worked on the depository services RFP, we've also been coordinating a bid for a short-term loan.

39:26

We're planning to bring both of those items to the depository committee for their review.

39:33

Additionally, regarding the depository services RFP, we are preparing a document that will allow us to understand all of the intricacies in redeveloping our account relationship.

39:48

So we're gathering this information.

39:51

Uh tentatively, we've looked at it, and there are approximately 300 ACH transfers that are gonna have to be coordinated.

40:05

How either a new successful banking relationship would have to manage that with us.

40:11

So kind of still gathering information.

40:14

Do you have like a estimated date or tentative date when the committee will meet?

40:19

At this time, we'll monitor the legislation relative to the short-term loan and factor that in.

40:28

Okay, good deal.

40:28

Thank you.

40:29

I also believe the mayor would like to make a comment.

40:35

Appreciate it, Mr.

40:36

Chairman.

40:37

I'm gonna go ahead and make um uh mayor's comments tonight so I don't drag it out tonight.

40:42

I'm just kidding.

40:43

Um I did want to give you, and I'm just here just to make a statement on the shelter facility, kind of give you an update on the tentative guidelines uh that we anticipate moving forward.

40:56

So this is more just information, and then um I just wanted to follow up with y'all because it's very important that we be methodical, but also uh to educate the public in the process.

41:08

So we're currently working and almost complete with the facts and questions that uh you as council have proposed to us.

41:16

We're still asking for any of those, and we anticipate having a special called finance and public safety meeting next week to walk through the facts and questions uh and have a public discussion on this situation and matter.

41:33

Um at that point in time, the process is a timeline, and we need to note that it is a short-term loan, it's being proposed.

41:43

There will be two pieces of legislation, much like we did the revenue bond, a resolution to purchase the building, and an ordinance to approve amendment 78 loan.

41:55

So given the nature of the loan interest rates and quotes, it is standard that those are read three times in one meeting, so an ordinance.

42:03

But at the same time, we would need to waive those readings in one meeting.

42:09

So, thus, I proposed the joint and public safety meeting next week to walk through facts and questions, then present the resolution and load and ordinance on August 11th at the finance meeting.

42:24

Thus, you've got another time frame, and if advanced, then both items for the final vote on August 18th at that following city council meeting.

42:34

So this timeline allows us to close purchase of the building under the whole terms of the agreed pawn selling price with the popping owner.

42:44

So I just wanted to bring that forward.

42:46

I appreciate it, Mr.

42:46

Chairman.

42:47

Thank you.

42:50

Yes, sir.

42:51

Uh, before you I knew we're getting ready to go to other business, but I'm gonna ask this anyway.

42:55

Uh I've been out of town, so I don't know.

42:58

Uh, what is the update on Scott Roger?

43:01

Oh Scott Um the news as of last night, and uh Councilman Hefner can support this.

43:10

Um, and if I leave anything out, uh obviously we're very concerned with his condition.

43:16

Um the good news is today that his fever did break, uh, it became lower.

43:22

Um he is still on uh underwatch, I should say, in a very concerning manner.

43:29

Uh and his situation is grave concern.

43:33

So we are prayers are needed for uh a dear friend of many of us, but more importantly, his family as well.

43:43

Um they are steady and strong.

43:45

Uh he's got a good physicians team behind him, uh, but we have seen up and lows with Mr.

43:51

Roberts and I think right now we're seeing some more positive results.

43:55

So we need to stay strong as a city for him, but I appreciate you asking about that.

43:59

And I'll keep I'll keep you updated as well.

44:01

I knew this is kind of out of order, but it you know, I'm out of all my life, so I'm just gonna finish.

44:06

Did I leave anything else out there?

44:08

Have we got a have we got a card or something going around to the family or that type thing?

44:12

Yeah, I I think we can uh we'll make that occur.

44:15

Okay, thank you, Councilman.

44:17

Thank you.

44:18

All right, we'll move into public comments, anything from the public that we have not already discussed on today's agenda.

44:26

If not, next items adjournment.

44:28

So move second any opposed and adjourned.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Personnel Matters████████████████████████████████████36%
Municipal Liens█████████████████17%
Governance Accountability█████████████13%
Public Safety██████████10%
Technology and Innovation████████8%
Water And Wastewater Management███████7%
Engineering And Infrastructure█████5%
Procedural████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Finance & Administration Council Committee Meeting - July 28, 2026

The Finance & Administration Council Committee of the City of Jonesboro met on July 28, 2026, at 4:00 PM at the Municipal Center. The committee considered several resolutions, including amendments to the employee handbook, municipal liens, and a road widening contract. Key discussions centered on a proposed nepotism policy change, the adoption of a revised employee handbook, and updates on a shelter facility and the health of a colleague.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the July 14, 2026 Finance Committee meeting were approved unanimously.
  • Municipal Liens: The following lien resolutions were forwarded to full council without discussion:
    • RES-26:079 (218 W. Forrest, $315)
    • RES-26:080 (413 Parkview, $1,240)
    • RES-26:081 (616 E. Oak, $275)
    • RES-26:082 (704 Vine, $275)
    • RES-26:083 (1702 W. Nettleton, $315)
    • RES-26:084 (5017 Mt. Carmel, $465)

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Kevin Miller (1111 Layman, Jonesboro) expressed opposition to the proposed nepotism policy change, stating it was too restrictive and would exclude potential employees. He noted that other cities (Paragould, Fort Smith, Conway, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Hot Springs, Little Rock) do not have a similar policy. He confirmed the change would not affect current employees and argued that the existing policy is sufficient.

Discussion Items

  • RES-26:074 – Nepotism Policy Amendment: Councilman LJ Bryant introduced the resolution to amend the employee handbook's nepotism policy, specifically prohibiting relatives of the mayor or city council members from being hired during their term. Councilman Bobby Hafner opposed the change, stating no problem exists, the current policy aligns with other cities, and HR Director Dwayne Douglas saw no issues. He noted 49 city openings and argued the change would limit the applicant pool. Bryant argued for public integrity, citing past issues with mayors hiring relatives. Councilman Kevin Miller echoed opposition, noting other cities lack such a policy. The resolution was forwarded to full council on a motion.
  • RES-26:085 – Revised Employee Handbook: The resolution sought to adopt a revised handbook incorporating an AI policy and clarifying the employee representative committee's role. City Attorney Carol Duncan emphasized the urgency of an AI policy to prevent employees from uploading confidential information into public AI tools. HR Director Dwayne Douglas noted that further changes (separate handbooks for police/fire) are planned. The resolution was forwarded to full council on a motion.
  • RES-26:086 – South Caraway Road Widening Contract: The committee accepted the low bid from RL Persons Construction, Inc. for the widening project (Job No. 2026:20), funded by the capital improvement revenue bond budget. Councilman Hafner asked about the contractor's history; Chairman Steve confirmed they have worked with them before. The resolution was forwarded to full council.
  • Depository Committee Update: Chairman Steve reported ongoing work on the depository services RFP and a short-term loan bid, noting approximately 300 ACH transfers to coordinate. No firm meeting date was set.
  • Mayor's Comments on Shelter Facility: The mayor outlined a timeline for a proposed shelter facility: a special joint finance and public safety committee meeting next week to discuss facts and questions, then presentation of a resolution and ordinance on August 11, with a final vote on August 18. The timeline allows closing on the building under the agreed purchase terms.
  • Update on Scott Roger: The mayor reported that Scott Roger's fever broke and he is under close watch; his condition remains grave but with some positive signs. Prayers were requested for his family.

Key Outcomes

  • RES-26:074 (Nepotism policy amendment) forwarded to full council.
  • All six municipal lien resolutions (RES-26:079 through RES-26:084) forwarded to full council.
  • RES-26:085 (Revised employee handbook) forwarded to full council.
  • RES-26:086 (South Caraway Road widening contract) forwarded to full council.
  • The committee noted the pending depository committee meeting and the mayor's proposed timeline for the shelter facility.
  • The meeting was adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

But he said it's not expensive. And he said what they were it's actually beneficial to fish habitat. Like three thirty or forty feet. And then skip thirty forty feet another guy's went out there. You can do like gaps around and you can fish the whole lake and I don't know what's great. Tomorrow and uh he said he would get me the info and I will give it to you. But that would be cheaper too. You wouldn't have to kill everything because you know, get into the lake, you just do like sections of it around the key fish, but you still so you don't have to be doing half the area. No, I'm joking. Not even just about that with good fish out. Anything else? So that's totally that's somebody that's my question. Yeah, no, it's easy. It's uh it's not that not that cost me at all. So I will uh be hollow to that one. Okay, that was not hard to go back to the market. Yeah, what's it like to have fruits? Yeah. Well, I think we'll work on a gun, which is fine. Well I saw the summary on the leader. I know about the water. We just have to make sure that we took that one. I already had a following by the end of the room. I would say that's when the total number of other people are just it's not in the area, it's in an office. It's backwards that red means we're on it and green means we're on it. Okay, she's good, Joe. Okay. All right. All right, good afternoon, everybody. It's four o'clock. I'll call today's finance administration council committee meeting to order. Um please confirm your attendance by pushing the appropriate button. We do have five presents, so we do have a quorum today. Next up is approval of minutes from the finance committee meeting on Tuesday, July 14th, 2026. Move to approval if there's no to change. Motion of second, any questions or comments on the minutes as presented. If not, please record your party on whether or not to approve the minutes. Moving to new business. First up is resolution 26074. A resolution by the city council, City of Jones for Arkansas to amend a portion of the employee handbook for all employees for the City of Jones Rural, whereas the current handbook employee handbook was previously revised by resolution 24167 on December 17, 2024, whereas this handbook serves as a primary policies and procedure manual for all employees, and whereas the city council desires to revise a portion of the employee handbook regarding the city's nepotism policy. Up to but not including the section entitled Drug-Free Workplace Policy is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following. This prohibition means not only that a person cannot supervise a relative, but also that the relative cannot be in that person's chain of command. Examples include an employee signing an evaluation for a relative or in signing slash approving a check payable to a relative. Number three, employees are required to notify the city's human relations department of a any existing familial relationships, b any familial relationships that are created among employees, for example, by marriage of two employees, and C the potential employment by the city of a relative. Number four, the city will refuse to hire a job applicant who is a relative of a current employee if the applicant or current employee would be at a supervisory or subordinate position to another city employees who marry one another during their employment will be allowed to remain with the city unless they are in a superior um subordinate relationship and there is no open position to which one of them may be moved. Number five, any person who is a relative of the mayor or city count or any city council member will not be eligible for hire with the city during the term of the mayor or city council member. A relative of either the city clerk or the city attorney will be eligible for hire with the city so long as they do not work in the office or under the supervision of the elected official with whom they share a familial relationship. Number six, familial relationship within the meaning of this policy means a husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, or granddaughter, or any of the those relationships arising as a result of marriage, for example, brother-in-law. Number seven, relative, means anyone with whom there is a film familial relationship, all hires that must be considered nepotism will be will require the mayor or the mayor's design approval, failure to approve the mayor's or the failure to obtain the mayor's or the mayor's design's approval will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. Neither the mayor nor the city, neither the mayor nor the mayor's examine may approve a new hire in violation of number paragraph five of this policy regarding relatives of elected officials.

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