The Jonesboro City Council met on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 5:30 PM in the Municipal Center Council Chambers. The meeting began with a public hearing at 5:25 PM regarding the abandonment of a 15-foot alley between 1810 Henry Street and 1812 Henry Street, with no one speaking for or against. The council approved consent items, heard a special presentation on the NEA Children's Museum project, passed several ordinances, and received mayoral reports.
I'm gonna go ahead and start a public hearing. Uh, this is a public hearing regarding the abandonment of 15 foot alleyway located between 1810 Henry Street and 1812 Henry Street located on Plat of David Clift as requested by David Cliff. Is there anyone in the audience or council that would like to speak in this public hearing regarding that? I don't see any, so that concludes the public hearing, and we'll start a meeting here in two minutes. Thank you. You want to, you can good evening, everybody. It is 5 30. And we'll go ahead and start uh City of Jonesboro City Council meeting this evening. I'll go ahead and call it to order and let us go ahead and rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Councilman Porter will leave us in invocation. I pledge allegiance of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. Please pray with me. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for the gift of life. For we know that every good and perfect gift is from you. We ask you to give us wisdom and understanding as we attend to the people's business. Please help us to act justly, to love mercy, and walk umbly with you. This we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. Council, if you would please go ahead and uh mark your ballot for presence. And we do have a quorum for this evening's meeting. Next, we'll move on to item number four, and this is items on special presentation. And before you counsel, we do have a presentation this evening by a group of individuals from the NEA Children's Museum project. Uh Ms. Jordan, are you gonna discuss if you want to make the introduction of those that are with you in the room? Just go ahead. My name is Jordan Carlo, and I'm the president of the Northeast Arkansas Children's Museum. Our mission is to inspire imagination, encourage exploration, and foster lifelong learning in the children of Northeast Arkansas. Our goal is to create a dedicated children's museum with exhibits that allow children to experience the themes and interests that they see in our community every day. With the help of Jonesboro Unlimited, we were able to get our museum exhibits, the site plan, and everything completed by our museum exhibitor Rhode In 2025. In 2025, we had our inaugural night at the museum fundraiser where we raised 40,000 just from the community, and we are currently planning our 2026 fundraiser and our capital campaign launch. And we are working with Cal Cook at Brackett and Crenrich to help design our facility. Some of our exhibit renderings, you'll see our health and wellness. Below you'll see our Arkansas Agriculture, the Little Wonders for our toddlers, factories, a theater, a grocery and cafe, and a veterinary clinic. You'll see our nature expired exhibits in our mini Mississippi, our woods and wetlands, our windy wonders, and the bottom left is going to be our low sensory exhibit. This project is estimated to cost about 10 to 12 million dollars, with our exhibits being 40 percent of this cost, and our final costs are dependent on the land, the parking, and if we're able to build up or out. Um our long-term low interest financing is being explored through CDFIs, access to the public sector, financing through the facilities board, and we have already have five years of debt service secured by two partners that will be named at a later date. Um our capital campaign and sponsorship will have tiered giving opportunities. Our corporate sponsors for exhibits will be offered a 10-year payout timeline, and all raised capital will go towards our debt service for early payoff. Once 50% is secured, we will submit our match grants through philanthropic state and federal funders, and our operational fees will fund 60%, and 40% or less will be supplemented by donations at fundraising and grants. So, how can the city of Jonesboro help? We're asking the City of Jonesboro to offer 215 West Monroe, which is the location of Winter Wonderland to the children's museum. We're requesting a donation or a long-term land lease, ideally solidifying this agreement before the fall of 2026 in order to maintain this proposed timeline. This partnership from the city will allow us to move forward in our project, be located in downtown as desired, and divert valuable funding from land and parking costs to our construction. We think this is the best option because it will be easy for families to enjoy all of downtown during one museum visit. It's a great opportunity to collaborate with community events and festivals. One of the goals that is outlined in the DJA strategic plan is to encourage families to visit downtown, and this is going to directly impact that goal. This project will have an economic impact on small local businesses and restaurants in downtown. And this project will increase the use of a huge city asset from two months out of a year to 12 months out of the year. So with an ass this big and a project this large, we know there's going to be some concerns. So, what is going to happen to Winter Wonderland if City Council donates or leases this land?