HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-17 - Minutes -Vacant
Ward i Position i
Council Member D'Andre Jones
Ward 1 Position 2
Council Member Sarah Moore
Ward 2 Position I
Council Member Mike Wiederkehr
Ward 2 Position 2
Mayor Lioneld Jordan
City Attorney Kit Williams
City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton
City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Meeting
October 17, 2023
City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
Page l of 42
Council Member Scott Berna
Ward 3 Position I
Council Member Sarah Bunch
Ward 3 Position 2
Council Member Teresa Turk
Ward 4 Position I
Council Member Holly Hertzberg
Ward 4 Position 2
A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on October 17, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. in Room
219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville,
Arkansas.
Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order.
PRESENT: Council Members Sarah Moore, Mike Wiederkehr, Scott Berna, Teresa Turk,
Holly Hertzberg, Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer
Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, Staff, Press
and Audience. Council Member D'Andre Jones arrived at the City Council meeting at 5:31
p.m. Council Member Sarah Bunch arrived at the City Council meeting at 5:33 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
Nla�-or's announcements, Proclamations and Recoanitions: None
City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items: None
Agenda Additions: None
Consent:
Approval of the October 3, 2023 City Council Meeting Minutes.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
Page 2 of 42
APPROVED
Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission (Membership Renewal): A resolution to
authorize the City's continued membership in the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning
Commission through 2028 and to approve the payment of membership dues for 2024 in the amount
of $79,856.65.
Resolution 216-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Drivers Select (Service Contract): A resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize a
contract with Drivers Select, Inc. for CDL drivers on an as -needed basis through December 15,
2025.
Resolution 217-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Hiring NWA (Service Contract): A resolution to waive the requirements of competitive bidding
and authorize a contract with Hiring NWA, LLC for CDL drivers on an as -needed basis through
December 15, 2025.
Resolution 218-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Crossland Heavy Contractors, Inc. (BA Correction): A resolution to approve a budget
adjustment for the Midtown Corridor Project Phase Two - 2019 Trails Bond Project.
Resolution 219-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Benchmark Construction of NWA, Inc. (Change Order No. 4): A resolution to approve Change
Order No. 4 with Benchmark Construction of NWA, Inc. in the amount of $23,351.20 for work
associated with the Nelson Hackett Boulevard Improvements Project, and to approve a budget
adjustment.
Resolution 220-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Ingram Micro, Inc. (Service Contract): A resolution to approve a three year renewal of the city's
Nutanix Server Software License for the Noland and West Side Water Resource Recovery
Facilities with Ingram Micro Inc. for the total amount of $63,732.11 plus applicable taxes, to
approve a project contingency in the amount of $10,000.00, and to approve a budget adjustment.
Resolution 221-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. (Amendment No. 3): A resolution to approve
Amendment No. 3 to the engineering services agreement with McClelland Consulting Engineers,
Inc. in the total amount of $1,446,340.00 for final engineering design for the West Corridor Water
Transmission Line Project, and to approve a budget adjustment.
Resolution 222-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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Side Path on Wedington Drive (ARDOT Cost Share): A resolution to approve a payment to the
Arkansas Department of Transportation in the amount of $45,437.00 to construct a 10 foot wide
shared use paved trail along the north side of Wedington Drive from Steamboat Drive to Salem
Road, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $25,000.00, and to approve a budget
adjustment.
Resolution 223-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Playcore Wisconsin, Inc. (Purchase Agreement): A resolution to approve the purchase of
batting cages for the Gary Hampton Softball Complex from Playcore Wisconsin, Inc. d/b/a
GameTime in the amount of $168,727.72, pursuant to an OMNIA Partners Cooperative Purchasing
Agreement, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $8,440.00, and to approve a budget
adjustment.
Resolution 224-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Titan Lawn & Landscape, LLC (Contract Amendment No. 2): A resolution to approve
Amendment No. 2 to the contract with Titan Lawn and Landscape, LLC to increase payments for
the 2024 renewal period by 4.5%, and to increase payments for future annual renewals by 3%.
Resolution 225-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Evans Construction and Remodeling, LLC (Change Order #1): A resolution to approve
Change Order No. 1 with Evans Construction and Remodeling, LLC in the amount of $8,775.00
for additional construction associated with the Wilson Park Historic Structures Roofing Project.
Resolution 226-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
911 Equipment Lease with Washington County (Resolution): A resolution to approve a
payment to Washington County for reimbursement of costs for leased 911 equipment in the
amount of $220,000.00 and maintenance costs of up to $99,000.00.
Resolution 227-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Justice Assistance Grant (Grant Award): A resolution to authorize acceptance of the 2023
Justice Assistance Grant Local Solicitation Grant Award in the amount of $85,805.00 to provide
funding for law enforcement training, equipment, and supplies, and to approve a budget
adjustment.
Resolution 228-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Council Member Bunch moved to accept the Consent Agenda as read. Council Member
Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Turk,
Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was
vacant.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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Unfinished Business:
Raze and Removal of Structure at 2860 E. Wyman Rd: A resolution to order the razing and
removal of a dilapidated and unsafe structure on property owned by Leroy H. Scharfenberg located
at 2860 East Wyman Road in the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and to approve a budget
adjustment in the amount of $17,800.00. For item history from 0710512022 through 0612012023
contact the City Clerk's Office. At the 0612012023 City Council meeting this item was tabled until
the 10/1712023 City Council meeting.
Billy Bryant, Senior Code Compliance Officer stated that since the structure on the property had
been taken down and only debris remained, staff recommended the request be tabled indefinitely.
Maya Scharfenberg, Property Owners Daughter believed that in five weeks she would have 100%
of the project completed and the demolition permit cleared. She briefly explained how she had
encountered personal issues that had impacted her timeline in removing the debris.
Council Member Bunch moved to table the resolution indefinitely. Council Member Moore
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Turk,
Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was
vacant.
This resolution was tabled indefinitely.
Misty Simpson (Water Damage Claim): A resolution pursuant to §39.10(c)(4) of the Fayetteville
City Code to authorize the Mayor to pay the amount of $50,000.00 to Misty Simpson for a Water
Damage Claim arising at 2425 East Sharon Street. At the 08115123 City Council meeting this item
was tabled to the 10/17123 City Council meeting.
Tim Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief overview of the resolution. He stated city staff
recommended maxing out the allowable payment under the newly revised ordinance, taking into
account the money already paid to the claimant, and pay the amount of $80,038.23 to Misty
Simpson. He stated the claim had been presented to the Water and Sewer Committee, who
forwarded the request to the City Council with a 4-0 vote with a recommendation of approval.
Misty Simpson, Applicant requested that the City Council approve the resolution.
City Attorney Kit Williams stated the City Council would need to move to amend the resolution
to pay the total amount of $100,000, of which $19,961.77 had already been paid.
Council Member Berna moved to amend the resolution to $100,000. Council Member Turk
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Turk,
Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was
vacant.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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Council Member Berna moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Turk seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg,
Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Resolution 229-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
2024 Millage Levy (Ordinance): An ordinance levying a tax on the real and personal property
within the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the year 2023 fixing the rate thereof at 2.3 mills for
General Fund Operations, 0.4 mills for the Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund, 0.4 mills for the
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund, 2.5 mills for Fayetteville Public Library Operations and 1.2
mills for the Fayetteville Public Library Expansion; and certifying the same to the County Clerk
of Washington County, Arkansas. At the October 3, 2023 City Council meeting, this item was left
on the First Reading.
There was brief discussion between Mayor Jordan and City Attorney Kit Williams about the
ordinance needing to be amended due to a rollback.
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer recommended the city rollback 1/10 a mill in the General
Fund. He gave a brief explanation of the other mills and how the city would get almost $500,000
more in property taxes this year.
Council Member Turk questioned how the request would affect next year and if the amount
would go back to 6.8 mills.
Paul Becker stated the City would analyze that at that point in time and come back with a
recommendation.
City Attorney Kit Williams explained how the constitution allowed up to 5 mills and the City
Council and Administration had chosen to not tax as much as was constitutionally allowed.
There was brief discussion between Mayor Jordan and City Attorney Kit Williams regarding the
ordinance needing to be amended to what the City Attorney had handed out at the meeting.
Council Member Turk moved to amend the ordinance from 6.8 mills to 6.7 mills to match
the City Attorney's Memo. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the
motion passed 7-0. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and
Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Paul Becker stated the assessor asked that the City of Fayetteville check computation, which
indicated a tenth of a mill roll back was needed, which was what staff recommended. He requested
the City Council pass the ordinance so it could be filed with the county by the 31't of October.
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There was brief discussion between Council Member Turk and City Attorney Kit Williams
regarding if the ordinance would be in effect once the City Council approved it. City Attorney Kit
Williams stated that was correct and explained how he had included language in the ordinance that
authorized Mayor Jordan to sign once it was approved.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0.
Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes.
Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Ordinance 6693 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
New Business:
Parti Investments, LLC (Condemnation): A resolution to authorize the City Attorney to seek
condemnation and possession of certain lands owned by Parti Investments, LLC needed for the
Highway 7 1 B Corridor Project.
Chris Brown, Public Works Director gave a brief description of the resolution. He stated the city
had acquired right-of-way from 12 of the 13 properties along the route. He gave a brief description
of the property and its estimated value. He stated staff had been in contact with the property owner
and felt as though progress had been made in moving forward, but still requested the approval for
condemnation if necessary so the project could stay on schedule.
Mayor Jordan questioned if the property owner was available and would like to speak on the item.
Chris Brown believed the property owner lived in France and had been notified of the City Council
meeting. No one came forward via zoom or in person to speak on the request.
Council Member Bunch moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Turk seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg,
Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Resolution 230-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
West Water Transmission Main (Condemnations): A resolution to authorize the City Attorney
to seek condemnation and possession of certain lands owned by individuals needed for the West
Transmission Water Main Project, and to approve a budget adjustment.
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Tim Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief description of the resolution. He stated construction
was planned to begin in late 2024 and that the route chosen was designed to be as unobtrusive as
possible. He stated the water line was necessary to ensure clean water remained available to
everyone in Fayetteville's water district. He explained how the city must obtain signed easements
or court ordered possessory rights for every necessary parcel by December 1st. He briefly described
how the City of Fayetteville was working with property owners to obtain the easements and the
process of appraising the properties. He addressed a question that was asked at the last meeting
regarding communication with property owners. He stated staff had communication in some form
beyond the original letter with all of the property owners involved in the condemnation.
City Attorney Kit Williams explained how there were now only 18 properties that would need to
be filed for condemnations. He requested that the City Council amend the resolution to the one he
had handed out, which removed ten of the 28 condemnations that the City Attorney's Office had
been able to settle before the meeting.
Council Member Turk addressed the first whereas statement on the new resolution the City
Attorney had drafted. She noticed it mentioned the city was unable to negotiate the acquisition of
easements on 28 properties when the City Attorney had just mentioned he had gotten that down to
18 properties.
City Attorney Kit Williams stated that would be corrected.
Council Member Moore appreciated that Tim Nyander had followed up with the City Council
regarding the additional communication that had been done with the property owners.
Council Member Moore moved to amend the resolution to match the City Attorney Memo.
Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
Council Member Turk moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Moore seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg,
Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Resolution 231-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Deputy Clerk - Communications (FTE-1): A resolution to authorize a full-time position (FTE-
1) - Deputy Clerk - Communications position, in the City Clerk Treasurer's Office.
Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer, "Good evening Mayor Jordan, City Council, City Attorney
Kit Williams and members of the public. My name is Kara Paxton, I am the City Clerk Treasurer
here at the City of Fayetteville. This agenda item that I brought before you is a position that I am
requesting to create that will have a primary responsibility to increase support and community
engagement for each board, committee and commission. There have been several vacancies that
continue to not be filled or are only filled for a short time due to someone resigning. This causes
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issues for the boards because they are not able to have an official meeting since they cannot meet
quorum. The Senior Deputy and I have discussed events and public meetings so the public can
meet each chair of each board and ask questions to understand the impact that each board has on
the City of Fayetteville. Please remember, our office will be moving to the first floor and our main
entrance will be facing Mountain Street. Based on our understanding we will be the only full
department located on the first floor. We expect to receive more walk-in traffic due to moving to
the first floor as well as answering more questions and directing citizens. There will also be an
additional meeting space that is being added to the first floor that we will be responsible for
directing people to as well. I want to ensure that there is no confusion regarding this request. Our
office followed all city policies and procedures for requesting this new position. By approving this
request, you will be supporting citizens being included in our city government decisions that affect
their everyday lives. I will be happy to answer any question for you."
Council Member Moore, "I think you touched a little bit on this at the Agenda Session, but could
you refresh my memory on some of the responsibilities that would fall on this head count if added
to your office?"
Kara Paxton, "Definitely, so if you take a look at the agenda packet what we did is, in order to be
clear and transparent we went ahead and created the job description so you would fully have all
the information that we are asking to do. So, one of those things that I can give you and explain
that came from the agenda session is regarding boards, committees and commissions and the
engagement. For example, we put all the packets together for the nominating committee, not only
do we compile all that information and answer FOIA requests for that information each and every
quarter but, we also recombine that packet again in order to match how those interviews are going
to be handled. We also call each and every person and more than likely we miss them the first time
around and have to leave a voicemail then they call back, it is a process. You can see how that
would become very intense, very quickly. Also, we don't always have the same chair of the
nominating committee as you all know. Many chairs ask for different things to happen each and
every year and we have always been very accommodating to hear the council members out and
their requests and make sure we do that because we want to be good team members with the city
council as well as other departments that also have staff on each of these boards."
Council Member Turk, "I want to comment that Jonathan has done an excellent job in staffing
the nominating committee, coordinating and organizing all those interviews and providing all the
information in a timely, efficient and responsive fashion. I do have one question for you though,
did Human Resources with the city draft the position description? How is that formulated?"
Kara Paxton, "So, how the process works here at the City of Fayetteville is it is on the department
in order to create that job description, our HR department does not create those for us. Now, they
do review them after we create them. However, in this circumstance since it is a new position it
would not be reviewed by Human Resources for it to be graded by our third -parry vendor for
grading until after it is created."
Council Member Turk, "So, in other words, every time there's a new position created irrespective
of departments it doesn't go through Human Resources it goes through the third -party vendor, is
that accurate?"
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Kara Paxton, "I want to make sure I fully understand your question. So, in the circumstance of
this position because I am not currently asking for a budget adjustment to go ahead and fund this
position, that is correct. Now for the other departments that go through those, this is the first time
that I have asked for a full-time position going outside of the budget process. So again, I did submit
that with my budget, we went through all the policies and procedures that are set forth by the City
of Fayetteville and unfortunately interviews were set up with each and every department except
for ours in order for them to advocate for their positions except ours was not allowed to do that.
So, that is why we are bringing it forward in order to have our request fully heard by Council so
we can show that we are here for the citizens and we are doing everything we can to keep their
voices heard in boards, committees and commissions process."
Council Member Turk, "So, in most cases when there is a new FTE requested isn't there a budget
adjustment requested at the same time?"
Kara Paxton, "In a lot of circumstances I would think so, one earlier this year that happened when
Economic Vitality asked for an extra position. If you give me one moment, I have some extra
information."
Council Member Turk, "I thought that position, there was no extra money requested for that
position in Economic Vitality if I remember correctly."
Kara Paxton, "Well, when you look at budget adjustments, budget adjustments can mean many
different things. It is not just money that they are asking to use that has not been used before, it is
money that is being moved from one account to another account. So, in that circumstance a budget
adjustment would have had to be done based on my understanding in order to get the funds in the
proper account."
Council Member Turk, "What I am concerned about is if we pass this FTE and we do not have
the accompanying budget to fund it then that might be a real challenge. I am trying to understand
how this is all bundled together."
Kara Paxton, "I can definitely understand your questions and I appreciate your concern. Each and
every year I have been here you have had great concern for our budget, and I can appreciate that.
If you remember earlier this year the City Attorney brought you an item exactly the same way
without a budget adjustment and without it going through the normal policies and procedures that
our office has gone through. So, in that example we are going through the same thing at this point,
so that position, just the pay alone for a Senior Assistant City Attorney was over $100,000 so with
benefits and insurance and everything it is probably close to $200,000. I am estimating, I do not
know but, the position you are looking at right now for ours, the salary is roughly, based on what
we have estimated, around $38,000. So, bumping that up with benefits, individuals are eligible for
retirement benefits after 1 year, it would be roughly $85,000 a year. Now if you take a look at the
additional information I handed out you will see I have received a memo from the City Attorney
in September 16t" of 2022 that explains his office and my office is required to go through all
policies and procedures for the City of Fayetteville and as such if you look on into the packet you'll
notice that on October 121h, I have put all this information together that shows that Kevin Springer
sent out, who is over the budget department, emails on July 6tn that said it is budget time and this
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is when you request new positions, this is when you request target overages if you are needing to
spend additional money that you cannot allocate out of your current budget. If you flip on through
it shows the calendar as well as I have included in the end that our office is the keeper of all policies
and procedures for the City of Fayetteville. On June 5th, 1989 this policy was created regarding
how the budget preparation process works and that this is the exact process that we followed."
Council Member Turk, "Thank you."
Kara Paxton, "If you take a look on the last few pages, this is information that I have been able
to collect in the last week and half because I also want to fully understand how our office affects
the budget and how this position affects our budget. We want to make sure we are being transparent
and considerate of public funds as well. If you notice in 2023, we have already had a significant
amount of regrades. Now, regrades do not come before city council for approval. They have a
process that is an administrative process only. So, if you compare from 2022, we had roughly
$53,955.00 dollars in regrades and that is for the entire year. For this year, up until the end of
September we have already had $115,849.00 worth of regrades and that again is why I chose not
to bring a budget adjustment forward at this time. I want to make sure that Council agrees with our
office that we need to have this position and at a later date if you choose not to approve the budget
adjustment, we fully understand that. Again, we want to be good team members and we want to
make sure that we are keeping public funds where they are supposed to be, making sure we are
spending funds appropriately. One last thing I want to bring your attention to was if you take a
look at the 2023 position control changes in the General Fund, you'll notice that there are actually
2 regrades for two positions. One is the Director of Industry and Employment Services and the
Director of Economic Vitality. Both of those positions received a regrade that bumped both of
them up by 2 steps. Not only did they both get a bump up two steps, they also received an entirely
new position for their office. So, that is where we are at and our point that we want to make sure
Council fully hears is what our need is when it comes to the processes that we work on every day
so that way we can meet the public's demand."
Council Member Jones, "Kara, thank you for your thorough presentation and being a good
steward of the public's money. I have a question, and you mentioned this, going back you referred
to HR and why is your office different when it comes to HRT'
Kara Paxton, "So, we are not. We adhere to all of the city policies as you can see in that memo
the City Attorney sent to us. We go by each and every one of those. In the past when I first started
here, Covid happened, so it took a minute for me to get my sea legs on but, definitely taking a look
at how our positions are related to other positions within the city. It was definitely a time to make
sure that our positions accurately described what we did, and I started that process and again, that
is called the regrading process. So, as you can see, that has happened a lot over the years. However,
when I took it, I understood it as that only happened a handful of times. So we have done everything
that we could to save the city money in order to eventually ask for a position and that is why we
have included the information in the memo regarding how much we have been able to save the
city since I was appointed to this position in December of 2019."
Council Member Jones, "Did you say $38,000 even or?"
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Kara Paxton, "It is $38,000 plus some, and again, I just want council to know that is an estimate.
That is based upon our other job descriptions within our office and the additional information I
have been able to collect. All of our positions are evaluated by the Johansson Group. I even reached
out to Blair Johansson and he explained that whenever his company receives that information it
takes roughly a week to get that information back in order to make that grading decision."
Council Member Jones, "Okay so, help me understand this because I'm just sensing there are
some holes. Normally, when it comes to these positions, they are not normally brought to the
Council?"
Kara Paxton, "They are always brought to the Council throughout the budget process. That is
something that has been a long time policy based on the information I have received from Chief
Financial Officer Paul Becker, as well as the Budget Director Kevin Springer, that anytime you
request a new position within the year you are supposed to wait and do that through the budget
process. Now, I am not saying that it does not happen, that positions have to go forward beforehand
depending on what the need is but, that is the policy that is supposed to happen."
Council Member Jones, "I don't think that your request is unreasonable and certainly $38,000 is
not a lot of money so I think that based on what you told us and everything your office does I don't
see why we can't support that."
Kara Paxton, "Thank you."
Council Member Berna, "Just want to clarify because I went back and watched the video from
Tuesday night, Jacksons presentation, he did a very good job. I was a little confused because some
of the duties that he described for the new position seems to me are already being performed by
other departments within the city. For example, communication isn't that being done by our
communication staff with the city presently?"
Kara Paxton, "Council Member Berna, I really appreciate that question and I want to be very
clear and the administration may also need to speak on their behalf. I had a meeting with Mayor
Jordan, Susan Norton and Paul Becker roughly about a week and a half ago and I actually brought
up the fact that every year our office used to be contacted to ask what have you accomplished this
year in order to provide that information to Mayor Jordan for his State of the City address. It was
explained to me that they would not be reaching to us and they are no longer going to include that
information, they are only including information about what Mayor Jordan will be doing in the
future. So, as you see in other departments, take for instance, the Police Department, they have
their own communications person that is not sent out through Lisa Thurber, Charlie Gocio or John
Mark."
Council Member Berna, "So the example I would use is just last week when the tree give away
had to be cancelled and city staff sent out a cancellation notification. I got an email and then I got
3 additional emails for the same subject. It appears that one came from the Communication
Department and 3 from your department. So that raised my antennas a little bit, why are we
duplicating work, so I went back and looked at the video and it raised the question. The second
thing is FOIA, obviously I think the Police and Fire Department handle their own FOIA requests.
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Other than that, through the city isn't that handled through the IT department and distributed out
to whatever department FOIA requests would apply to?"
Kara Paxton, "Well, let me answer your question in parts, Council Member Berna. So, when you
are talking about the emails you are receiving, you and I actually spoke about this roughly, I would
say, right after you became a Council Member because we were working on requested documents
and you had received a lot of emails. Whenever you go out there to the website and you set yourself
up to sign up for those emails, depending on what you clicked, determines what emails you receive.
We only send out one process or what we call a blast, so only one would have gone out. So, if you
have signed up for additional notifications then that is why you received those additional ones. I'm
not able to see what you have signed up for but, our office would definitely be willing to help you
go in and take a look to help hone that in a better way if you would like us to."
Council Member Berna, "But isn't that double work if the Communications Department sent out
the communication to the community, the citizens?"
Kara Paxton, "No we handle all the public meetings for the City of Fayetteville as well as roughly,
I'd say a little bit more than a year ago, Council Member Kinion came into our office extremely
upset because he wanted to have additional notifications go out for his ward meetings through the
Communications Department and he was told they would not do that so our office took that on in
order to start sending that out for each and every one of you so that your ward meetings would get
additional notifications out to the public. I mean everybody is very busy and we want to make sure
that people know that you are here to hear their concerns. So, we took that on."
Council Member Berna, "What about the FOIAT'
Kara Paxton, "So, just to let you know I have not been included in the process of moving anyone
to the IT Department. That used to be handled by the Communications Department so since that
really big workload was removed from Communications I'm not sure if any regrades happened for
their office but, my understanding is that they moved one person from another department into IT
to handle all of those FOIA requests through the new system that they got. However, that person
just inputs the request. They are not the only one who receives FOIA requests because FOIA
requests can be received by writing or verbal or by email. They are not required to be put into a
system at all or in writing at all. So actually, it is more beneficial to the citizen when we take that
FOIA request, to take it verbally, rather than type it in or write it down because we are able to take
that FOIA request and understand exactly what time period they are asking for. If we don't ask
those questions, then say they get a million documents, when really, they just needed 15. I hope
that clears everything up but, just to summarize it is everyone's responsibility to take in FOIA's."
Council Member Berna, "You submitted your request through the budget process and your
request along with many others were rejected."
Kara Paxton, "Mine was not rejected, mine received zero consideration. We did not get a meeting
with Mayor Jordan to advocate for our request as the other departments did. I actually didn't know
anything about that until Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker came to office the Thursday before
he presented those requests to you all and told me at 4:05 in the afternoon that if I was going to
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ask for a position I would have to take it forward ourselves and without going through the budget
process and he explained just like Kit did earlier in the year. So, after months and months of
waiting, we are kind of back to square one at this point looking at all of this work we could have
done. I just want to say our Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker is fantastic. I don't think that I
could ask to work with someone that is more concerned about his position that anyone I have ever
worked with to make sure that the numbers are correct and to make sure the Council gets the
information that they need."
Council Member Wiederkehr, "Your staff have been nothing but gracious to me, I was the new
kid for quite a while. They have been professional; I have received wonderful assistance and it is
the only reason why I signed up with Council Member Turk to watch the destruction of documents
that your staff do. I don't expect that to change regardless of the outcome tonight. What I want to
express just for myself is that I do not want this process playing out in public, I don't want this
process being brought out so every single department head will come to City Council for each of
the 1,000 positions that are in this budget. I want this handled administratively; I don't care how
it handles. I want to be presented a budget and positions that are approved and not approved
because we cannot afford the time to do that. Tonight's agenda is 1,500 plus pages, that is no one's
fault. It just says that there is that much going on, there is that much your staff is keeping track of,
there is that burden that is placed upon the people up here. This is a housekeeping, business
procedure that needs to be handled professionally by the professionals and you do not want to be
coming to this body to make a political decision about a financial business decision and so I'm
unhappy about this. It does not mean that I am unhappy with you. It does not mean that I am
unhappy with the Mayor. I adore you both but, this is not the way we are going to conduct business.
This needs to get resolved because the people here to do the people's business in addition to us
need to have this handled professionally and discretely. I do not want to see 99 requests come into
this City Council and say hey, I was told no but, I'm the Fire Chief and I had 10 positions that
were turned down. I want to come advocate for all 10. 1 just don't want to see that for those
practical business reasons. So, I commend you for the service that you deliver, I have no doubt
about the service that will continue but, this I just want to extort us to do better than this."
Council Member Bunch, "Mike, I really appreciate your comments and I could not agree more.
I just do not think this is the best use of the Council's time to be looking at this type of thing as
much as I deal with the Clerk's Office and I respect everyone in that office I feel like we are being
pulled into something that maybe we should not be pulled into. I do want to ask, have you gotten,
since you have been here Kara, have you got any new positions?"
Kara Paxton, "Thank you so much for that question Council Member Bunch. If you remember
back how the job started when I first came, we had 4.5 positions, the only thing that I have done
is that we have went up half a position. Now I will say in going up that half position we had one
person who continued to work throughout the year in order to receive training from the person
retiring because that was our document retention manager who had been here 40 plus years and
had records all over the city and we needed to know where all of those were. I do want to say
something back, I really had no intention of bringing an item forward to City Council to ask for
this position, that again is why I want to be very, very clear we went through the budget process
just like every department did. Thank you."
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Council Member Bunch, "Yes, I understand that but, one of the things that you brought up several
times is the City Attorney's new position and the City Attorney's office as far as I know has not
asked for a new position in, how long Kit?"
City Attorney Kit William, "22 years. I became City Attorney in 2001 and we had 3.75 FTE's
then so now we have 4 but, I did not ask for an increase until just this Summer."
Council Member Bunch, "Okay, so in my mind I know that you guys do a lot in your office and
you do it professionally and with kindness with all the public transparency but, in my mind if you
are going to make that comparison and we have a City Attorney that hasn't asked for a new position
in 22 years, I do not think you can make that comparison"
Kara Paxton, "So...
Council Member Bunch, "No, I don't feel like that is good comparison there because as the City
grows obviously, we think we are going to need some new people and some extra people in
different departments. What I regret about this coming before us tonight is it sets a standard and I
know you are kind of trying to not say this, but you are absolutely saying that you have not been
treated fairly."
Kara Paxton, "So Council Member Bunch, please do not put words into my mouth."
Council Member Bunch, "If you would let me finish, I would say that is the way I feel because I
am not putting words in your mouth but that is absolutely, you are saying we were not given a
chance, we weren't given this and we weren't given that. If you are not being treated fairly, that is
something we should know about but, maybe not at a Council Meeting. So, that is pretty much all
I have to say about that."
Kara Paxton, "So, Council Member Bunch I appreciate that and thank you for your comments.
However, whenever we come forward and you take a look at what all of our offices do our office
manages a Capital Improvement Project of over $200,000, we have equipment that costs over
$10,000 - $15,000 per device. We have to keep maintenance contracts on those devices each and
every year. We are also responsible for renegotiating our contracts when it comes to codification
services that the city receives. We actually just renegotiated a contract this year and it will roughly
save the city anywhere from $5,000 - $6,000 just on that item alone. So again, our office has very
different responsibilities than the City Attorney's office. I only mention that as Council Member
Berna had asked me in Agenda Session and wanted to be very clear about the process. Again, the
City Attorney is a separately elected individual and our office also, I am a separately elected
individual. I don't see any department coming forward and asking for an individual request from
you all. I don't even see how that could be possible especially because we have an approval process
for agenda items, something like that wouldn't even make it that far from a separate department.
To answer your questions, our department conducts ourselves with professionalism and we do that
every day. I can tell you that I work with a fantastic team of individuals and I also provide a lot of
opportunities for training for them."
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Council Member Jones, "Kara, I am going to .keep it real. I feel like tonight your office, even
though we have given you kudos, I still feel like you told us what you meant. You have provided
examples and there have been policy changes. But Kara, if you feel like you have been, if anybody
feels they have been disrespected or not treated fairly in any form or fashion, would you feel
comfortable telling anyone. Do you feel like your office is receiving and I don't want to put you
on the spot but I do feel like I need to bring this up because I feel like this is your time to say what
you need to say and I feel like the Council members have articulated what the way feels and I feel
like this is the same opportunity to do the same thing."
Kara Paxton, "I appreciate you Council Member Jones and you will have to excuse me because
that brings up some pretty difficult feelings especially over everything, we have all experienced in
the past 4 years with the pandemic. I know you can tell and as you know, I have children and a lot
of my peers still have kids in school so I have worked tirelessly, I answer your emails on weekends,
I answer your calls on weekends, and I do everything I can to make sure that our office is taking
care of our responsibilities and in a lot of times to my detriment. So, this is my way of bringing
forward an item that not only Council has talked to me about, the Nominating Committee brought
forward to me and talked to me about in the past regarding the constant vacancies that they see
here at the city. But also, to have an individual that is dedicated to make sure that our boards,
committees and commission process is receiving the proper amount of care. We receive a lot of
requests and we are asked to do a lot of different things but, we still put our best foot forward every
single day and we get it taken care of."
Council Member Jones, "I appreciate that, again, I am just going to be real, I feel like the example
that you gave to me when you compared your office to the City Attorney's office I don't think it
was disrespecting the office, I feel like you were comparing policies and what was inconsistent.
That is what it sounds like you were doing to me, you were referencing that this happened here
and why can it not happen here and then I feel like you were chastised because of that."
Kara Paxton, "So again, I appreciate you Council Member Jones. We are going to continue to put
our best foot forward and continue to serve. I can't even begin to explain some of things that have
happened over the years, but again I have talked to Mayor Jordan about those many, many times
over. We actually had a meeting, about a week and a half ago and I am confident that Mayor Jordan
and I fully understand that we are here to serve the public and we bring information forward in
facts, not in opinions as you can see all the information I brought forward to you is fact. You know
this information right here is the research I have conducted mostly outside of regular business
hours. I actually chose to be considered a regular employee as opposed to being considered elected
for vacation and leave purposes, so I accumulate just like the other department heads. So, all the
work that I do over 40 hours, I receive no comp time or overtime for that."
Council Member Jones, "Thank you Kara."
Council Member Moore, "Kara thank you for all your service. I appreciate the comments and
procedure perspective that came from other Council Members at the possibility of how we look at
the head counts and how this is conducted internally within the city before it is brought forward to
Council. However, I think one of the differences that we have to consider is that the Mayor has
certain departments that rule up to him as an elected official and we have other offices within the
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city that are also elected by the people as well. Through the budget process when people,
department heads and elected official are considering head count changes I would like to have a
more clear perspective on what that path is, and I don't know if we can clarify that tonight. I think
it sounds like it is unclear, and it is muddy. I will agree that it has been some time that the City
Attorney has had a head count change, I mean he did bring forward his head count increase which
was brought before we could understand what the impact of the increased head count could be on
the budget. I think it is a very similar request and so as a new council member I would like to
understand that process moving forward whether that is something we do tonight or in the future.
Sometimes our jobs as council members we have to get into the weeds because we are doing the
work of the people as well. So, if there is city staff that can speak on processes about how elected
officials bring forth items and how each of those needs of head count outside of budget would be
ideal but, we don't always live in an ideal world. So, whenever we do have those opportunities I
would like to understand what that process is, that can be at Agenda Session in the future or we
can speak to it tonight but, I want to know because I do think this office and myself, I can call the
City Clerk's Office at any time. So, I really do appreciate that because I go there lots of times just
for where is this or I've searched this way and I cannot locate this. That office is always
professional, and I do think that their workload will increase whenever they are on the ground floor
because they are incredibly friendly so I think they will be engaging to community members and
probably take on some additional workloads. I do appreciate you bringing this forward and I
apologize that some of us are not totally clear about what this process should be but, it sounds like
we need to get clarification and clear that up going forward."
Council Member Berna, "Kara I want to make sure that you understand our conversations tonight
in no way depict a dissatisfaction with you or your staffs work. What is happening here tonight is
very disappointing, it is very disappointing to us a City Council member to be pulled into a dispute
like this and then this be aired out in the public. As a business owner myself, if I have a dispute
with my management team, we take it behind closed doors. We may fuss and fight, but when we
walk out in front of our employees, we are a unified front. This feels like a dispute between elected
officials that should have got worked out and I am extremely disappointed that we are here right
now, and I am embarrassed that it has got to this point. Ultimately, as a business owner when I
have people come to me with a request, I have to look at it as if it was a need or a want. In this
case it feels more like a want. We don't really know what the effect of moving you to the first floor
is going to have. If we get into it six months down the road and we see a major impact, then maybe
I see a different opinion. I don't like the way this process played out, if we had other department
heads, I think we had, Paul correct me if I am wrong, about 20 positions that were requested, that
were ultimately denied. Am I right with that?"
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer, "We had 30.7 positions requested in the General Fund. We
funded 10.2 FTE's."
Council Member Berna, "So, we had 20 positions denied, 23. So, if every department head got a
negative response on their request for an employee and ultimately came to us, they don't really
have ability to because as an elected official you can bypass that process but, how is that fair."
Kara Paxton, "Council Member Berna, if you give me just one moment, I just want to make sure
that I am clear on something. So, I totally agree with you that our request should have, and it did
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go through the normal budget process. However, if we go through the normal budget process each
and every year and we get to the point where each year we are being told that our position is not
being denied but, is receiving zero consideration, then at what point would you be okay with us
bringing that before Council? If we are looking at the fact that regrades from $115,000 from
January through the beginning of October then if you always go through the normal process,
whether you are our office or you are the City Attorney's office or any other departments so much
of that money has already been taken up for the next year in regrades. I 100% agree with you and
in fact, Paul and I talked about this in great detail that our office has always gone and will continue
to go by city policy. If our office receives zero consideration for a position, and we are told that if
we want to request a position to bring it before Council and we do and your response is that it is a
want opposed to a need and that we didn't follow the process correctly, I guess I am having a really
hard time understanding at what point would you be okay with us bringing an item forward?"
Council Member Berna, "I can only speak for my time on the Council, this is the first time
something like this has come before me. This has a bad feel to it, and I go back to the want and
need. I have no problem if you come back later after we have made the move and we see what the
outcome is, and you come back to us and request something. When the City Attorney hasn't made
a request in 20 years and we have all these condemnations that are coming before us was a clear
need, an absolute need, I can get behind that. I just think at this point, this is a want and we are not
to a need yet. I'm not telling you I won't ever support it; I'm telling you that I am not there yet."
Kara Paxton, "Thank you Council Member Berna, I have not been in this position over 20 years
so I cannot tell you I haven't requested a new position in the last 22 years. I can tell you this,
Sondra Smith was the City Clerk Treasurer for 16 years before me and as far as I am aware, she
did not request a new position. So as far as I am aware, the only thing that we have changed is we
went up a halftime position. Thank you."
Council Member Bunch, "I have a question, maybe this is for Paul, I'm not sure. Did we have
any other request that received zero consideration? Kara is bringing up that this received zero
consideration. That this was, it didn't receive any consideration. Did we have any other requests
for positions that also when you looked at them that they just didn't get any consideration?"
Paul Becker, "Well, I don't believe that I would classify it as receiving zero consideration. We
did look at them and we did read through them and we did analyze them. Now the one difference
that we have to understand is City Clerk and City Attorney are elected officials. There are very,
very definite statutes that speak to that they do not report to the Mayor. Now in this particular
position the Mayor chose to talk to his direct reports because that is their last opportunity to
advocate for their positions. We did look at the positions and we felt that in this point of time, and
let me say this, when we look at this it is not easy for the Mayor or me. We look at this and do an
analysis of what the revenue is, based on that analysis I reported to the Mayor that the maximum
we could add reasonably would be roughly $1,000,000. We looked at the positions, we went
through them and funded what we thought was absolutely necessary at this point in time. If you
look at the positions, we incorporated into the Mayors budget, there are 10.2 FTE's, 1.2 FTE's
were in Parks for park programs which will receive revenue coming back. So, we really put 9 that
would be going under the current revenue or current revenue increases. So, I don't think that isn't
that we didn't analyze it. The mayor chose not to discuss this or have Kara present her advocacy
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for that because she had the opportunity to come to the Council. Again, there are a couple of statues
that relate to that. I also do want to say to Sarah's question that Kara did follow the procedure that
we request. We request any of the new positions are filed through at budget time, periodically
something comes up where we can bring them to Council. Every new position added comes to
Council, most of them at budget time and Kara did submit hers properly in the budget. However,
there is no guarantee that if it submitted properly in the budget, we feel we can support that. Those
are the comments and I hope they answer your questions."
Council Member Bunch, "It does. Thank you, Paul. There is another thing I want to bring up and
it has to do with the vacant positions on boards and committees. Having served on the nominating
committee for quite a while and I was chair for that committee for a long time. I can tell you that
the struggle is real to get some of those positions filled. It really is but, I think that some of those
positions are going to be vacant sometimes regardless of whether we have an extra person in the
Clerk's Office. It is just because those positions don't, they only meet quarterly or twice a year,
something like that. They are too specific. We have one position, I don't know if we changed it
around a little bit but, it is a requirement for, like urban forestry commission requires someone,
someone who is in the tree service industry. We never get anyone to apply that is a tree surgeon
or arborist, very rarely, and Animal Services I believe needs someone that is a veterinarian. We
rarely have anyone that is a vet that applies or someone in animal healthcare. I want to make that
clear for people who are on the Council that are not on that committee and have never served on
that committee that it is a challenge. Another one I think of is maybe the Audit Committee. That
is just not a sexy committee, it just isn't. Sometimes maybe we have had vacancies on that and the
construction board of appeals. That is one where sometimes we do not have people apply for that.
Sometimes the positions are so specific that people just don't apply. So, I want to make that clear
for people on the Council, my fellow council members to just give you a background on some of
these positions that don't get filled. We have a lot of turnover in those positions and Kara is
absolutely right on that, a lot of turnover. People move, take jobs in other cities, Bentonville,
something like that and they don't want to serve on those committees, and they move. So, that
happens, they do a lot of work in the Clerk's office to try and verify the people applying for these
positions are absolutely qualified to apply based on our standards but, some of those positions I
think are going to be vacant regardless. Thank you."
The City Council received 1 public comment regarding this resolution.
Mayor Jordan, "I do have a memo from the City Attorney myself. I'll just lay this out for you. It
is dated July 13, 2023, it states the Mayor has statutory power to directly appoint, supervise and
discipline city employees except uniformed fire and police officers who are directly supervised by
their Chiefs who are hired and supervised by the Mayor. Other employees who are in elected
officials' departments, courts, legal, City Clerk are hired and supervised by their elected official.
Uniformed officers are hired, promoted and disciplined by police or fire chief with civil service
input for hiring and promotion and may appeal the chiefs disciplinary decision with the Civil
Service Commission except for the power to authorize and fund employees positions the City
Council has no authority over the hiring and supervising or discipline of any employee. Now, I
want you all to know that I had 33 positions roll in here. 33 and we just put on 41 last year, yes
somebody was going to lose, and somebody was going to get positions. I was working in between
a million dollars at the council of my finance director. He said I think you can afford a million
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dollars but if you go much over that we will have to raise taxes and I did not want to do that. That's
just me, financial management. I did meet with all of my department heads because they directly
report to me, the City Clerk does not directly report to me, her staff is paid out of the General Fund
and that is a true statement. That is a fact. I don't tell her staff what to do, I don't tell the Police
Chiefs staff what to do, the Fire Chief or Kit's staff down there. They run that office. Now, they
do have a special clause, the departments are not going to bring you anything because they report
directly to me and I tell them, this is what we can afford, this is what we can do. There is a bottom
line here, you have to properly manage taxpayer's money. Now, I said all that to say, I did know
the City Clerk's wished to bring it to the City Council she could. I supported that; I did not have
any problem with that. I said, you want to bring it, you bring it and present your case to the City
Council. I don't disrespect the City Clerk, I do not but, there were decisions I had to make. Now,
Paul Becker can advise me but, he does not make the final call here. I do. I present it to you, and I
do the best I know how to manage the taxpayer's money and folks it is pretty easy. You got so
much coming in and so much going out and it is our job to keep it in between the road ditches.
Now, that is easy to say and hard to do when you look at department heads and tell them they
didn't get anybody this year or you're going to put 2 here or 3 there. I know the fire department
asked for 12 positions, they go 2. The police department asked for 5 positions, they got 2. We
could use more help in the custodial services, couldn't do that. I would love to have put on a Long -
Range Planner, couldn't figure out how to make it work. Code Compliance, would have loved to
put someone on there, couldn't afford it. Now, these are decisions that I have to make but, if you
are an elected official you can sort of override me and take your request to the City Council. So, I
don't have any problem with the City Clerk bringing it in here. Maybe, hindsight, I probably should
have met with her with the way this has all worked out but, I thought as an elected official she can
bring whatever she wants to bring. So, that's where I kind of am at with all this, I am just trying to
make everything work, balance the budget, keep this place afloat so we don't have to raise taxes
on people. I don't mean any disrespect to the City Clerk or anybody else in my departments. I have
to make hard decisions and they have to be made and I will make them when I have to. Now, you
can put out of the 33, 23 were turned down. City Council, you can put on whatever you want to
put on, that is your call and you can be responsible for whatever later on. We will do our best to
adjust because I respect you all, I respect the office that you hold because I once sat in your chairs
just like you did, you do. So, I can dump it all on Paul Becker, I can dump it all on you all. This
isn't state law that the Mayor will present their budget but, you control the purse strings, you sure
enough do. You can say Mayor we are not going to put on all those people or Mayor we are going
to add 5 more and I respect that, and I will try the best I can with this budget but, that is what I
work from. That is what I do, and I take that responsibility as the one I signed up for around this
place and ran for. I am not embarrassed by everybody that did not get positions, I'm just trying to
do the best I know how to do and get through without putting more tax burdens on the people. I
mean I was going to go all through this at budget time but, the City Clerk, City Attorney, the judge
has the right to bring whatever they want to bring to you, and it is up to you. I'll leave it at that."
Council Member Wiederkehr, "We have a $216,000,000 budget, a $64,000,000 General Fund
budget. We are also doing the best we can with imminent respect for people who are elected city
wide. Hell, it is hard enough to get elected in 25% of this town, so we look up to you guys. I think
I have may not worded my previous statement as efficiently as it could have been out of respect
for everybody and that would be it would certainly be more efficient in my perspective if things
followed the cycle of a budget request and we dealt with personnel request one time. Since there
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is only one General Fund budget and it has got to come out of the pot that we could consider those
requests at one time when we do that budget consideration. It does not mean that anyone did
anything wrong, I am just speaking for my own sanity that I want Kara to feel respected, I want
the City Attorney to feel respected and I want him to keep me out of jail. I want the Mayor to feel
respected. You guys work hard, I do not work any harder than you do but, for my sanity I am going
to ask that there be some semblance of process that my personal calendar can rely on for those
considerations. If we consider this tonight it would be no disrespect intended but, I would not
support it. I would like to see this request come in the normal cycle to be honest with you. There's
no obligation to table this, it would be my personal request that we do that. If you force me to vote,
I am going to be in a bind and not in the position to go there. No disrespect, you'll get nothing but
my best, I am sure that I will never get anything but your best, but that is where I am. That is the
request that I would make of the administration, I am no smarter than you guys, I know you can
work this out, I know you can make some cycle happen too help keep our sanity because we all
need help."
Mayor Jordan, "On November 81h you all are going to be having a budget session so a lot of this
stuff will be brought up. I am trying to work with everybody here. City Clerk and everybody,
trying to do the best I can do here. In fact, when I'm looking at 41 and then another 33 additions
that is 74 people in a 2-year run. It gets expensive but, anyway."
Council Member Bunch, "Mike are you asking for us to table this item, is that what you are
getting around to asking?"
Council Member Wiederkehr, "I was hinting and begging that someone might go there."
Council Member Bunch, "So, we can cover it when we do, we would have one more meeting in
October, wouldn't we? So, I need some direction here, I need to know what you are asking for."
Council Member Moore, "Can I build off of yours, just as a follow up question? If we are tabling
this tonight, my question would be looking at this item during the budget session to consider if this
is possible, trying to have it part of the budget cycle. I would like to have a discussion during that
workshop to talk about those positions."
Council Member Bunch, "That is kind of what I was thinking where we might be going but, since
Mike is the person that brought it up, I am totally putting you on the spot. I wanted to know if that
is what you were thinking about going with this."
Council Member Wiederkehr, "I will actually make a motion to table this and consider this
during the normal budget cycle when we would consider other additions and that be a pattern going
forward for this organization."
Council Member Bunch, "I think that is a good thing to do."
City Attorney Kit Williams, "So you are tabling it to a date certain?"
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Mayor Jordan, "I do not know what we are doing. I mean you are going to be starting budget
discussions on November 81n "
Council Member Turk, "Mike could we table this indefinitely and actually carve out 15 or 20
minutes, something like that for our 3 hour, 4 hour budget meeting. Something like that."
Council Member Wiederkehr, "I will amend my motion to table indefinitely."
Council Member Berna, "I have a question, if we are going to discuss it at budget is there a
reason to table it and bring it back because we would be bringing it back through the budget,
correct? Am I thinking that incorrectly?"
Council Member Turk, "So Scott, I think, and Kit correct me if I am wrong but, I was thinking
if we tabled it indefinitely that it would go away. This specific item would go away, and it would
be in the budget cycle. Maybe I misunderstand the process."
Paul Becker, "If I could make a recommendation, remember when we do the budget workshop,
we really don't make decisions during the budget workshop. We are going to need 4 hours at that
point to talk about things. However, when the budget goes to the Council that would be the time
where you can consider that and have a discussion at that time. We can have a discussion another
time to make a decision because you would have to propose an amendment to the direct budget
anyway and we normally don't do that at the budget workshop anyway. So, if you table it
indefinitely, it can be brought up when we have the budget meeting."
City Attorney Kit Williams, "Tabling indefinitely means that at any City Council meeting, if you
want to with a majority vote, remove it from the table and consider it at that time. However, if it
is never removed from the table and considered then on December 31St it goes away. So if you
considered everything in the budget and maybe it was decided at the time that you want to go
ahead and do this than you wouldn't have to worry because it would be approved through the
normal budget process and this other resolution is not needed and will end on December 31.
Kara Paxton, "Before we vote, as the applicant, you always give a chance to ask if the applicant
is okay with that."
Mayor Jordan, "Are you okay with that?"
Kara Paxton, "So again, I appreciate your consideration for this request. Our office will continue
to work extremely hard and do everything we can to be the best public servants we can be. So,
thank you. I am fine with this item being tabled indefinitely. Even if this does not get brought back
before Council before the end of the year, again, there is always the 2024 budget process request.
Council Member Wiederkehr moved to table the resolution indefinitely. Council Member
Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member Turk,
Herzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was
vacant.
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This resolution was tabled indefinitely.
Fayetteville Youth Advisory Council (Ordinance): An ordinance to enact Article XXVI
Fayetteville Youth Advisory Council in §33 Departments, Boards, Commissions and Authorities
of the Fayetteville Code.
Council Member Jones explained that the applicant, Kalvin Larson, had reached out in regard to
creating a Youth Council and explained how the council was endorsed by the Arkansas Municipal
League. He stated that the Arkansas Municipal League sent out emails about youth councils and
that Bentonville and Jonesboro had already created them. He stated that Kalvin had a presentation
prepared and that the council should have received packets of information regarding this item.
Kalvin Larson, Senior at Thaden School briefly explained who he was, where he attended school
and why he wanted to create a Youth Advisory Council. He had attempted to seek a position in
municipal government as a student but there were none applicable, so he believed the creation of
a Youth Advisory Council was the next logical step. He explained the main goals the Youth
Advisory Council would attempt to accomplish and what the definition of a Youth Advisory
Council was. He listed multiple reasons why a Youth Advisory Council was necessary and how it
could benefit the City of Fayetteville. He listed all of the individuals and groups that he had reached
out to for support; specifically, the support he had garnered from the Arkansas Municipal League.
He shared a petition of support for the creation of the Youth Advisory Council that had gathered
over 250 signatures. Kalvin shared a quote from Jane Jacobs and concluded his presentation.
Council Member Jones thanked Kalvin for his presentation and requested that he explain the
Learns Act and how students could interact with this for community service hours.
Kalvin Larson explained the Learns Act and that by utilizing the Youth Council opportunity,
those hours could be applied towards the Learns Act to help solidify their ability to graduate.
Council Member Turk thanked Kalvin for his presentation. She asked how representatives for
the Youth Council would be selected.
Kalvin Larson stated that applicants would go through the Nominating Committee and applicants
would be reviewed by the current members of the Youth Council.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "The code says that members shall be appointed by the City
Council."
Council Member Turk asked if a Youth Council currently existed.
Kalvin Larson, "No."
Council Member Turk stated that monthly meetings would be cumbersome and asked Kalvin if
he had thought about a quarterly timetable for meeting schedules.
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Kalvin Larson expressed that the timetables could be worked on and revised by the Youth Council
as more information became apparent once it had been created. He stated that because the Youth
Council would be new, the logistics would need to be figured out through trial and error.
Council Member Hertzberg thanked Kalvin for his presentation and stated she had been trying
to convince graduate students to become more involved in local government. She asked if there
would be any interview processes included in the application.
Kalvin Larson stated it would just be the application.
Council Member Bunch thanked Kalvin for the presentation. She stated that there were not many
younger people that applied for vacant positions on different boards and committees.
Council Member Berna asked if the bylaws would be passed through City Council.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "This is an advisory committee, they are not making any final
judgements or anything like that, they are going to make recommendations. Therefore, we do not
require any kind of bylaws for them. They can have the bylaws that they want and that is what
they are planning on doing. The Planning Commission has bylaws but, even those don't come to
the City Council for approval and that is obviously a commission that sometimes makes final
decisions. We have always allowed the various committees to pass bylaws, if they want to. A lot
of times, if you have a small enough group, and this would be eight, you do not need a bunch of
parliamentary procedure to get in the way of just discussing things and taking actions.
Parliamentary procedure should be able to help a group be able to arrive at a decision fairly, with
everyone that wants to be able to speak being able to speak. It should not be a strait jacket that you
have to jump through in order to get to the final decisions. We basically leave the parliamentary
procedure stuff up to the councils and committees themselves. So, they get to decide that and that
is one of the important things they will be learning, I guess, what do they need and maybe what
they do not need when it comes to parliamentary procedure."
Council Member Jones stated that himself and Council Member Moore discussed that the Youth
Advisory Council could potentially help them with daily activities doing research and getting
hands on experience. He gave a brief summary of the dates and deadlines regarding the nominating
process if the Youth Council passed at the meeting.
Council Member Wiederkehr stated that he had not seen any support for a Fayetteville Youth
Council and that he was not opposed to one being created but, the lack of support concerned him
and he had not received any feedback when he had reached out to individuals regarding the item.
Council Member Jones believed the community would speak up and voice their support for the
item. He did not think the support for the item was just limited to Fayetteville. He asked City
Attorney Kit Williams if the committee always had to meet at City Hall.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "It is not dictated in this proposed code section where they meet but,
I think City Hall is a good setting and safe place for them to meet. I would assume that they would
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be meeting here, and they would have to reserve a room through the City Clerk's Office. They are
pretty good about that and I think that the best place for them to meet at would be City Hall."
Council Member Jones stated that they would not be unsupervised.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "There would be one Council Member that is supposed to attend so
that would be supervision."
Mayor Jordan stated that he had been on the first Youth Council.
Council Member Moore felt that the item strongly aligned with Fayetteville's City Plan and that
a Youth Council could help bridge diversity gaps the city was experiencing. She expressed that
the creation of a Youth Council would have a great return on investment. She was in support.
The City Council received 7 public comments regarding this resolution.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading.
Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third reading. Council
Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member
Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position
1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0.
Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes.
Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Ordinance 6694 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Reindl Properties, Inc. (Purchase Contract): A resolution to authorize the Mayor to sign a real
estate purchase contract with Reindl Properties, Inc. for the sale of approximately 0.5 acres of City
property in the south end of the Civic Plaza for the amount of $1,247,455.00.
Susan Norton, Chief of Staff gave a summary of the order of the items that would be discussed;
terms of the contract, economic impact analysis and then discussion from the development team.
Wade Abernathy, Bond Projects & Construction Manager thanked everyone for their feedback
on the item. He stated this was a public/private partnership only to the extent that the city had
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property it was selling and then collaborating with the developer on how the property would be
utilized. He clarified that the City of Fayetteville was not partnering in the construction of a hotel.
He gave a brief summary of the real estate purchase agreement and stated there would be a
development agreement that would be signed at closing. He gave a brief overview of the details
regarding the terms of the contract.
Devin Howland, Director of Economic Vitality stated that after circulating the staff memo that
was attached to the agenda, he had reviewed the applicants market feasibility report and had
identified an additional anticipated sales associated with the hotels meeting space revenue of 1.2
million, which would bring $420,000 per year. He gave a brief description of how he came to that
number and explained how the projects economic impact could help the City of Fayetteville.
Brian Reindl, President of Reindl Properties, Inc stated he was present with Carl Kernodle, his
hotel consultant. He gave a brief description of the item's history and the details regarding the
hotel proposal. He stated he had bought a piece of land to use towards parking for the hotel and
presented a slideshow that detailed the projects financial scope.
Carl Kernodle, Hotel Consultant stated they had retained a branding company to help them
position the hotel and work on the naming and branding of the property. He stated they could
create a soft brand that had a name, aesthetic and design that was specifically reflective of the City
of Fayetteville. He gave a presentation of the details regarding branding, site plans, parking and
the hotel design details.
The City Council received 6 public comments regarding this resolution.
There was brief discussion between Council Member Moore and Jonathan Curth regarding the
zoning of the lot that had been purchased for parking and its entitlements. Jonathan Curth stated
the lot was zoned as Main Street Center and gave a brief description of its allowed uses and stated
it was an offsite parking lot as defined by the city's Development Code. He noted the property was
adjacent to a protected stream and that it could be subject to some standards if the applicants
needed to make improvements to the lot.
Council Member Moore, "One other follow up I have in regard to the parking is in the event that
it were approved for parking, are those approvals for a limited time frame or indefinite?"
Jonathan Curth, "I've seen it done multiple ways, Council Member Moore. Sometimes they're
tied to a conditional use on a separate property, for example JBGB on the northside had an offsite
parking lot serving it when they were operating as an outdoor music venue that was tied to that
outdoor music permit as well. I've also seen other ones where it has no time limitation,
immediately across the street from JBGB there's an office building that changed how its
workplaces are set up so that they received permission for an of£;ite'parking lot as an indefinite
approval. It's ultimately up to the applicant on how they request it, they could ask for it for a short
period of time or indefinitely and it would be up to the Planning Commission to approve it if they
could find a rational for why it shouldn't be approved for long term versus short term."
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There was brief discussion between Council Member Moore, City Attorney Kit Williams and
Jonathan Curth regarding how specific the plan for parking would have to be in the signed contract.
City Attorney Kit Williams stated the plan for parking would have to be specific enough that the
City Council would be satisfied with it and that it was clear enough that they knew what was going
to happen. He questioned if the parking lot landscape code would apply to the offsite parking area.
Jonathan Curth stated it likely would and explained how a parking lot would typically have
landscape requirements associated with it.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "One thing I'd like to see here for the City Council is to be able to
look at the plan in more depth and detail and I'd like to be able to see the City Council have the
authority to actually approve that, to find that it is satisfactory and sufficient, and I'd like to see
that in the contract. I think that with the smaller amount of rooms now, with the lesser amount of
parking that's required, that it's potentially attainable although I don't think you could probably
stack as many cars as you think because you do have to have landscaping on the parking lot, at
least unless I don't think that's waivable that I'm aware of but maybe it is maybe there could be a
variance for it. But, I think that it's achievable to have a plan that was detailed enough by Mr.
Reindl that he could put in paragraph K, which is where his parking is now, that it could actually
be something you could consider and approve and then you would know that you're going to get
what you think you're going to get. It's kind of like a trust but verify on this and so I think it's
possible to do that but I think there's a few other details we have to know about in the number of
spaces that actually could be feasibly put in there, assuming that it would be allowed and hopefully
it would be allowed by the Planning Commission as an offsite parking lot. I think the parking
solutions that they have talked about seem fairly reasonable, but I think they're just not detailed
enough now to know if they're going to work."
Council Member Moore spoke of how she was going in the opposite direction of being more
specific and wondered whether the City Council could have trust and if it would suffice for the
contract to say that the applicant had parking solutions they would work towards. She had concerns
that the property was situated in an area that was being proposed to park cars when it had the
availability to potentially house individuals. She was curious if the City Council could give broader
guidance to allow for creativity because conditions could change later on.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "It's clear the Letter of Intent gives the City Council the discretion
to deem something sufficient. So, if you think zero parking is sufficient and if that's what the City
Council thinks then you could deem zero as sufficient. That didn't seem to be what was happening
when the Letter of Intent was being approved, people were still concerned about parking but they
have all kinds of different opinions here and if the City Council as a whole decides that whatever
is being offered is sufficient, or zero is sufficient or that you want more of what they've already
offered, that number of spaces, to be assured then that's another consideration and that's up to the
City Council to decide at this point. My whole purpose in my memo's was to try to keep the City
Council with the power, authority and discretion to look at what's being offered for parking and
make the decision whether you think it's sufficient or not. I just want that to be your decision and
whatever decision you make on that that's what's going to be what's controlling."
Susan Norton informed the City Council that Vicki Bronson was available if they had questions
regarding specifics of the contract.
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There was brief discussion between Council Member Jones and Brian Reindl regarding how Mr.
Reindl had been flexible and adapted to suggestions over the course of the project. Council
Member Jones questioned how much work and money Mr. Reindl had put into the project. Brian
Reindl stated that all in all, he had spent around 1.1 million on the project and briefly spoke of the
details regarding the hotel and lot he had purchased for parking.
Council Member Jones questioned Mayor Jordan on what delaying the project looked like.
Mayor Jordan spoke of how the project had gone on for years and believed it was time. He stated
this was an opportunity to bring in $420,000 for the City of Fayetteville and believed the City
Council needed to make a decision.
Brian Reindl stated he had a 10-31 Exchange and needed to deploy the money and if the City
Council decided against the hotel, he needed to know so he could purchase something else.
Council Member Jones felt as though Mr. Reindl had done everything he could and had
accommodated and met the needs of the City Council throughout the process. He made a motion
to approve the resolution.
Council Member Turk spoke of how there were a lot of new interpretations of the contract that
had come forward last minute and wanted to be able to look through the documents carefully. She
did not want to pass the resolution tonight because she believed the City Council needed time to
digest the new details. She questioned if Mr. Reindl could make some kind of adjustment to his
10-31 Exchange if the City Council decided to hold the item for three weeks.
Brian Reindl stated they could still do a 10-31 Exchange in three weeks' time but had hoped the
item could move forward tonight.
Council Member Turk stated the final version Mr. Reindl had presented was new to the public
and spoke of how there was confusion regarding the specifics of the contract. She requested the
item be held for three weeks. She thanked Mr. Reindl for finding parking and trying to adjust his
proposal to previous concerns he had heard from other City Council meetings.
City Attorney Kit Williams suggested that the City Council have a Special Meeting and believed
that within the week he could have a contract that he could recommend as enforceable and fair.
Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer addressed the extra burden that calling a Special Meeting could
cause staff members. She spoke of how the proposal had been discussed for quite some time and
implored the City Council to go a different route rather than calling a Special Meeting.
Council Member Berna had watched this item be discussed a year ago. He was pleased to see the
progress Mr. Reindl had made and would like to see a contractual obligation on the amount of
rooms that would be in the hotel. He felt a responsibility to make sure the questions regarding the
contract were acknowledged and worked through to ensure they were right. He spoke of how the
applicant needed to communicate with the City of Fayetteville's downtown merchants and
believed there should be a consensus on whether or not they approved the project.
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Susan Norton noted Vicki Bronson was available and asked that she speak to the PZD, the
contract and the development agreement.
Vicki Bronson, Attorney with Conner & Winters, LLP explained that whatever the final plan was,
it would have to go through a PZD, and the City Council would then have the opportunity to
approve, disapprove or make changes to the plan.
Brian Reindl stated they would do a development agreement and then go through the PZD
process, so the City Council would get plenty of opportunity to review everything. He stated they
would not be changing the number of rooms because they had already committed to that number.
He briefly spoke of the process he had went through with negotiations on the proposal.
Council Member Wiederkehr had sent Mr. Reindl comments and questions regarding the
proposal and believed they had been taken seriously because he noticed there were design changes
that reflected his comments. He believed everyone had tried to be good stewards and that Mr.
Reindl had demonstrated a lot of good faith. He spoke of how hotels change operators every seven
years and was concerned that a new operator might not have the same standards as Mr. Reindl. He
did not want anyone to feel belittled for still having questions and believed that if Mr. Reindl
continued to work with the council, he was confident the proposal would reach the finish line.
Council Member Bunch felt as though the group that had been involved with the proposal had
reached out to the community, the City Council and staff to come up with the best possible project
they could. She would be in support of the proposal.
Council Member Jones was concerned there would still be questions in three weeks' time if the
item was tabled. He stated one constituent had reached out to him regarding the project. He noted
the City Council could always reach out to Mrs. Bronson, Brian Reindl, Susan Norton, Mayor
Jordan and staff with any questions or concerns before the meeting.
Council Member Berna had met with the developers and asked questions. He was onboard with
everything until the City Attorney had sent an email that stated to please table the request until
some items could be cleared up and felt he had a responsibility to listen to that concern.
Brian Reindl requested that if the item were delayed, could any questions or concerns the council
members had be answered sooner rather than later so that those concerns could be addressed.
City Attorney Kit Williams addressed the City Clerk Treasurers comment regarding Special
Meetings by stating the decision was up to the City Council and the Mayor.
Council Member Hertzberg thanked Mr. Reindl for meeting with all of the City Council
members. She suggested there be a Special Meeting next week so the item could be taken care of
and moved to table the item for one week.
Council Member Turk believed one week was a short interval of time and wanted to ensure all
the questions were answered in detail and resolved and that the item wasn't rushed.
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City Attorney Kit Williams stated that if Mr. Reindl didn't care about waiting three weeks then
he would rather not have a Special Meeting if it was not needed and would rather have that extra
time so long as it didn't put a hardship on Mr. Reindl.
Brian Reindl stated he was fine with either having a Special Meeting or waiting three weeks. He
noted that he might have to join via zoom for the next meeting because he had future plans.
Kara Paxton reminded the City Council that there were currently two motions on the floor without
seconds; a motion to approve the resolution and a motion to table the resolution for one week.
Council Member Jones withdrew his motion to approve the resolution. Council Member
Hertzberg's motion to table the resolution for one week failed due to a lack of a second.
Susan Norton questioned if a timeframe could be set for when new questions would stop being
accepted so that the final version could be ready for the community to view. She proposed one
week for final questions so that the attorneys could work out the language and then two weeks for
letting the community understand where the City Council was.
Council Member Berna briefly spoke of how the City Council sometimes gets information late
because the City Attorneys Office sometimes receives it late to review.
City Attorney Kit Williams briefly spoke of how an issue with the proposal had been found and
that was his reasoning for writing his memo addressing the issue.
There was discussion between City Attorney Kit Williams, Brian Reindl and Susan Norton
regarding who Mr. Reindl had as an attorney. Brian Reindl stated he would get the name of his
attorney to Kit Williams. Susan Norton stated that she wanted to ensure Mr. Reindl and Kit
Williams included the attorney who was assigned to the project, Vickie Bronson, in the loop.
Council Member Bunch believed the City Council should have a deadline for their questions so
that the proposal could move forward.
Council Member Wiederkehr stated he would send all of his questions to staff before Saturday
night. He believed that in three weeks' time it would be a great opportunity for the applicant to
have a community presentation regarding the proposal.
Council Member Moore spoke of how she had heard a lot of feedback from the community in
support of the project and believed it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. She briefly spoke of
how unique Fayetteville was and appreciated that Mr. Reindl had mentioned using local artists to
display art at the hotel. She noted that the area was a multifamily dwelling and questioned whether
or not there was the thought of the potential of putting rental units in the project as well.
Brian Reindl, "It was a possibility but it's not what we want to do, we just want to build a hotel."
Council Member Turk agreed that final questions needed to be done within a week and would
like for it to be advertised to citizens to let the City Council know of any of their questions. She
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wanted to ensure the City Council and the City Attorney was comfortable with the proposal and
appreciated the hard work that had been done on it.
Council Member Turk moved to table the resolution for three weeks to the November 7, 2023
City Council meeting. Council Member Berna seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion
passed 6-1. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted
yes. Council Member Jones voted no. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
This resolution was tabled to the November 7, 2023 City Council meeting.
Vacation-2023-0010: (33 E. 4th St./Berquist, 523): An ordinance to approve VAC 23-010 for
property located at 33 East 4th Street in Ward 1 to vacate a 0.19 acre portion of utility easement.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated the only franchise utility consent that was necessary was provided by the City of Fayetteville
Utility Department. He stated staff recommended in favor with a condition being the rededication
of the right-of-way and that any damage or relocation of the existing facility would be at the
applicant's expense. He noted Alan Reid was present as the representative for the item.
Alan Reid, Professional Land Surveyor with Alan Reid & Associates was available for questions.
He stated there was an operating sewer line in the area that needed an easement put on it.
Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Member
Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position
1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0.
Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes.
Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Ordinance 6695 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
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Vacation-2023-0008: (4089 N. Shiloh Dr/Claude Shiloh LLC, 135): An ordinance to approve
VAC 23-008 for property located at 4089 North Shiloh Drive in Ward 3 to vacate three utility
easements totaling 0.36 acres.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated that in evaluating the request, staff did not find any issues and had received every consent
from all franchise utilities. He explained how the only issue was how the construction design would
be worked through because some lines would need to be relocated and some easements would
need to be rededicated. He noted Dustin Riley was available as the applicant for the item.
Dustin Riley, Project Manager with CEI Engineering Associates, Inc. stated he was representing
the owner and developer of the Claude Shiloh Multifamily Project. He gave a brief description of
the easements. He was available for questions.
Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Hertzberg seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0.
Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes.
Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Ordinance 6696 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Vacation-2023-0009: (280 E. 12th Street/FHA Development, 563): An ordinance to approve
VAC 23-009 for property located at 280 East 12th Street in Ward 1 to vacate a portion of alley
right-of-way.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated all utility and city services consents had been received for the request. He briefly explained
the two issues staff found while reviewing the request but stated staff ultimately recommended in
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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favor of the vacation but only partially, specifically for the area that was under the structure,
acknowledging that the building was in the right-of-way. He stated the Planning Commission
ultimately agreed and forwarded to the City Council; to vacate only the portion that was under the
building. He noted the City Attorney's Office had sent out a memo and gave a brief explanation
of the three options the council could consider with the item; vacating only the right-of-way under
the building, vacating the entire right-of-way or vacating the western half of the right-of-way. He
stated Planning staff would be supportive of option three as well and he was available for
questions. He noted there had been no public comment on the item and stated Jim Crouch was
available as the attorney for the item.
Jim Crouch, Attorney with Crouch, Harwell, Fryar & Ferner, PLLC stated he was representing
FHA Development, Inc. He gave a brief description of the property and its history. He spoke of
how there was a 20 foot portion of Willow Avenue that was believed to be closed, but as far as he
could tell it was never closed and stated the seller had contracted to sell the whole property;
including that portion of Willow Avenue. He stated that if the City Council followed the Planning
Commissions recommendations, then the public would be right next to the windows of the
apartments, there would be no fences to be built, no privacy and explained how their
recommendation didn't include the air conditioning units needed for the building as well. He
briefly spoke of connectivity in the City of Fayetteville and how the area near the property didn't
lead to the park and how the sidewalks in the area were not in the best shape. He believed the fair
thing to do was to close the whole portion of the property that needed to be closed.
There was brief discussion between Mayor Jordan and Jonathan Curth regarding what staff s
recommendation on the request was. Jonathan Curth stated staff recommended option one and the
Planning Commission concurred. He stated that as an alternative, staff recommended vacating half
of the right-of-way.
Mayor Jordan questioned if Jim Crouch liked that recommendation.
Jim Crouch, "It's not that I don't like it, and I'll let the buyers talk to that, but we got a contract
to sell 20 feet of it so that's what we'd like to do."
Council Member Berna questioned why staff recommended just vacating under the building and
the western half of the property.
Jonathan Curth stated staff had concerns regarding connectivity and that building out that portion
of right-of-way in question would be enough for a pedestrian or narrow car connection.
Jim Crouch, "Greenspace is very important in this city, as it should be, but that's the yard for this
property. The front yard is a parking lot."
Council Member Turk, "Could you comment, Jonathan, on this mistake in the tax record and
some of the other documents? It appears that they bought that portion through time and so I'm a
little concerned about - I know we have standards and we want connectivity, but it looks to me
like that was part of what was sold to them, at least further back."
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Jonathan Curth, "Perhaps. Going back into it a little bit the big issue, as we both spoke to again,
was that quit claim deed that was filed in 1990, which appears to have attempted to, or at least for
a few decades, successfully folded that right-of-way into the property on the northside of 12tn
Street. I went over this with our land agents to try to identify where the issue may have arisen, it
seems like this is where it began and our suspicion is that all the subsequent maps that were created
or documents that were created reflected our assessor records, which if a quit claim deed is filed
sometimes they accept those without any sort of associated documentation, like a property line
adjustment or a lot split, and subsequent to that then all the assessor maps began to reflect that
property as a whole and then when we moved to more digital mapping platforms that mistake was
simply carried through as a result. That's the best we've been able to ascertain, I wish I had a better
answer for you."
City Attorney Kit Williams, "Who was the grantor of the quit claim deed?"
Jonathan Curth, "It appears it was private property owner to private property owner."
City Attorney Kit Williams, "Nothing to do with the city on that one, then?"
Jonathan Curth, "That's correct, and the only ordinance we've been able to identify was the one
noted from 1996 which vacated right-of-way to the south of 12th Street, not to the north."
Council Member Turk questioned if the property owner paid taxes on that portion of property.
Jonathan Curth, "I can't speak confidently to that, I also don't know if the Housing Authority
Development pays property taxes or not."
Council Member Turk, "But when it was held by private citizens, most likely they did."
Jonathan Curth, "The county does recognize it as a part of the whole, which would suggest to
me that the previous property owner was being assessed for it and paying taxes for it."
There was brief discussion of adverse possession and how it could not be made against a
municipality.
City Attorney Kit Williams, "However, in this particular case, you can consider all the factors
involved including the fact that our maps were wrong, we did a building permit on it, so we had
assumed for decades that it was not right-of-way, that it was private property and the question
would be do you want to make that true or do you want to say no, it's not true and we're not going
to vacate the whole thing."
Jim Crouch, "I learned this week that there is a line of cases that says the city can be held to have
abandoned the property when it was never open. When there is a gate across it or a fence across it,
it is never open. There is a line of cases that says when there is a building permit issued and when
it's shown on maps that way, then maybe it means abandoned. But you're right, there is a statute
that says generally you can't get adverse possession on streets."
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October 17, 2023
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Council Member Wiederkehr spoke of how it sounded as though human error was made at some
point in time and that the City Council now had three choices. He believed it seemed as though
the city would be adding value to the property if a connectivity trail were to go through that area.
Jonathan Curth believed Council Member Wiederkehr's proposal would look like option two,
the applicants request and potentially making a condition of approval dedicating a pedestrian
easement or an access easement.
Council Member Wiederkehr, "Yes, it is. Given the mood and the relationships I may have
harmed in this room tonight, though I may not find a second to that motion, but I would be willing
to move that compromise of the ten foot right-of-way and to give option three; to vacate ten feet
adjacent to the property."
The City Council received 1 public comment regarding this ordinance.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Jonathan
Curth noted that as the ordinance was written, it reflected the Planning Commission's proposal
and if Council Member Hertzberg's intent was to vacate the entirety, she would need to amend the
ordinance to remove condition number 2 in section 3. There was brief discussion regarding what
the ordinance was being amended to.
Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer notified City Council that there were currently three motions
on the table; amend 20 feet to 10 feet by Council Member Wiederkehr, move to the second reading
by Council Member Hertzberg and then a motion to vacate the entire easement by Council Member
Hertzberg and seconded by Council Member Turk.
Council Member Wiederkehr withdrew his motion. Council Member Hertzberg moved to
change her motion to amend the ordinance to option two as presented by Jonathan Curth.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to amend the ordinance to option two; to vacate the
entire easement. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion
passed 7-0. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch
voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading.
Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
Page 35 of 42
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0.
Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes.
Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Ordinance 6697 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Rezoning-2023-0025: (524 S. Willow Ave./BWB Willow LLC, 524): An ordinance to rezone
the property described in Rezoning Petition RZN 2023-025 for approximately 0.22 acres located
at 524 South Willow Avenue in Ward 1 from NC, Neighborhood Conservation to DG, Downtown
General.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated staff found the request compatible with surrounding land uses and found it to be consistent
with the City of Fayetteville's long range planning goals. He briefly spoke of the nearby zoning
districts in the area and how rezoning the property to Downtown General would create a good
transition when moving north from MLK. He noted that going from Neighborhood Conservation
to Downtown General zoning had a reduction in the required tree canopy. He stated there had been
a public comment received that spoke in opposition with concerns that the character of the
neighborhood would be negatively impacted. He stated staff recommended in favor of the request
and the Planning Commission forwarded to City Council with a vote of 5-2, with one
commissioner recusing. He noted Andrew Brink was present as the applicant for the item.
Andrew Brink, Fayetteville Planning Commissioner gave a brief explanation of his reasoning for
bringing the request forward. He stated his intention was not to put commercial use on the property
but to provide attainable housing for the residents of Fayetteville.
Mayor Jordan questioned if Council Member Jones had heard anything regarding the request.
Council Member Jones stated he had not.
The City Council received 1 public comment regarding this ordinance.
Council Member Jones addressed a public comment that spoke in regard to the proposal being in
an area that was being reviewed to be part of the historic preservation of the African American
community. He requested the item be held on the current reading so the City Council could look
more into that information.
There was brief discussion between Council Member Bunch and City Attorney Kit Williams
regarding the area possibly being defined as a historic district. City Attorney Kit Williams
explained how there was nothing enforced yet and that the map that was shown regarding the
historic district boundaries could be adjusted. He stated the City Council had the discretion
regarding rezoning requests.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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Council Member Bunch felt as though the City Council should encourage things like this because
it was building towards something that would be attainable for citizens.
Council Member Turk spoke of her concerns regarding height issues the building could cause
for the street and would like to leave the item on the first reading so there could possibly be a tour.
Council Member Berna was okay with holding the item for concern regarding height but did not
believe it would be fair to hold the applicant to the standard of a district that was not configured.
Council Member Jones briefly spoke of talking to Britin Bostick to see if the area was in the
district and the item being left on the first reading for more review.
Council Member Moore spoke of how the City Council could not legally bind the property
owners to rules that were not yet defined. She appreciated the public comment that spoke in regard
to the City Council being mindful of decisions. She understood if the City Council wanted to hold
the item on the first reading tonight and was excited to hear about a potential project in the area.
Council Member Jones questioned that if the item was held, could it also be looked into to see if
it would be considered in the historic district.
Mayor Jordan, "I don't know how we would do that, that's committee work on that isn't it?"
Jonathan Curth stated the property was within the boundaries of the document that had been
shared with City Council regarding the historic district. However, he explained how the document
that was presented to the council might not be the final district that would come forward ultimately.
There was brief discussion of how the Historic District was currently collecting signatures.
Council Member Wiederkehr believed it was appropriate to be sensitive on the topic but to also
acknowledge the property right of someone who already owned the property as well.
Council Member Jones questioned what the City Attorney recommended.
City Attorney Kit Williams stated it made sense to not move forward with the request tonight.
He gave a brief description of the property.
This ordinance was left on the First Reading.
Appeal - CUP-2023-0096: (426 N. Oliver Ave/Hogtailing Holdings LLC, 482): A resolution to
grant the appeal of Council Members Scott Berna, Sarah Bunch, and D'Andre Jones and approve
a Conditional Use Permit CUP 2023-0096 for a Short -Term Rental at 426 North Oliver Avenue.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the resolution and
the history of the property operating as a Short -Term rental. He noted the violations the property
owners had received from the City of Fayetteville for operating the Short -Term Rental illegally.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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He presented images of the property to the City Council and stated the main house had an
occupancy allowed up to ten total and the ADU could have four, with a total of 14 guests on the
property. He stated staff had no concerns regarding onsite parking but did have concerns regarding
there being no on street parking. He stated there were two Type Two Short -Term Rentals that were
licensed and operating in the area. He stated staff ultimately recommended in denial of the request
and the Planning Commission made a motion to approve, but it failed by a vote of 4-4.
Council Member Bunch, "The reason I backed the appeal is because it seemed like these people
were trying to do the right thing, but they just fell a little short at the last minute there each time
they went through it. It was my understanding that they felt as though they had their permit in
place and it fell through the cracks. We're getting close to the maximum of short-term rentals and
given that they had confusion I felt that I would back the appeal."
Council Member Jones and Council Member Berna agreed with Council Member Bunch.
Council Member Turk believed that most of the neighbors knew the family and liked them, but
they had concerned regarding the amount of short-term rentals.
Anna Broadaway, Attorney with RMP, LLP presented a packet of information to the City
Council. She stated it was the same information City Council members had received electronically
the week before. She gave a brief description of the property, the Vollendorf family and how the
item came before the City Council. She stated all correspondence between the City of Fayetteville
and the Vollendorf family was in the packet she had handed out. She described how the applicants
had believed they had completed all steps needed for their business license, but stated they were
never informed their application had been denied and was unaware that they needed to obtain a
Conditional Use Permit. She briefly spoke of parking at the property and how she believed the
parking analysis had been done in error because planning staff had sent their notification of
recommendation of denial to the applicants with a different property's pictures, not the property
in question. She also noted that when the city's report was first published, it had incorrectly stated
that the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on the property could sleep eight people rather than the
allotted four. She noted that the ADU was under 800 square feet and therefore would not have to
have parking allocated to it. She stated planning staff amended their report to contain information
regarding the correct property but refused to change their recommendation of denial as to the
parking issue. She spoke of how the violation notice that the Vollendorf family had received on
May 1 st was in the form of an email and that the email did not instruct the family to cease operating
their Short -Term Rental. She noted that the Vollendorf family hadn't received a notice of violation
in the form of certified mail or in person. She explained how the family had filed an application
for a business license in July of this year and it had been granted for the ADU. She stated that once
the family had received notice demanding that they cease operating their primary unit until they
had applied for a license, the family then delisted the property and refunded guests who had booked
the property. She noted that neither of the notices of violation the City of Fayetteville had sent the
property owners had met the standards required by the uniform development code.
Sean Vollendorf, Applicant stated that any violation they had made was unintentional and
believed they had always been cooperative. He stated that as soon as they received notice to cease
and desist, they had pulled their listing off the platforms and refunded everyone.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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Council Member Wiederkehr, "Jonathan, would it be accurate to say the reason they didn't
receive the business license and the application lapsed was because they didn't provide the
adequate tax documentation to complete the process?"
Jonathan Curth, "That's correct."
Council Member Wiederkehr spoke of how the applicants had now provided that tax information
in the document that they presented to the council. He felt as though the property owners had
thought they were doing what they were supposed to. He was concerned about the occupancy level
regarding two structures on a single property.
There was brief discussion regarding the occupancy level being set forth by ordinance within the
city code which allowed two people per bed, plus two.
Council Member Berna felt as though the family had believed they were doing the right thing;
they were well respected in the neighborhood and just had some confusion, which was why he
believed it should be considered and approved. He would be in support of the request.
Council Member Hertzberg questioned if the ADU was currently being operated as a Type One
Short -Term Rental.
Anna Broadaway spoke of how the business license for the ADU was received two weeks ago
but stated the primary property had not been relisted on any website since being taken down in
August after receiving the violation notice.
Sean Vollendorf stated they were staying at the property now and that they had also allowed
nonpaying guests to stay as well.
Council Member Hertzberg reviewed the Airbnb site and had noticed the listing on there and
questioned if that was the Type One Short -Term Rental or the Type Two.
Renee Gresham, Applicants Friend who Manages the Property stated the listing was for the ADU
and that the listing went back up the day the applicant had received their business license for it.
Council Member Bunch questioned if staff could speak to the mailing of violation notices.
Jonathan Curth explained that the process and procedure for violation notices was that it had to
be done by either certified mail or in person, which did not appear to have happened in this case.
Council Member Moore noted an email communication from Ms. Broadaway and the Volendorfs
that spoke of tailgating from the packet that Ms. Broadaway handed out. She wanted confirmation
the home was not being used as part of the tailgating business as was mentioned in the email thread.
Anna Broadaway stated there was a lower deck on the property that was used for tailgating, but
not in conjunction with Short -Term Rental activities.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
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There was brief discussion of the applicant providing the City Council photographs of the lower
deck in question.
Council Member Turk reviewed the notices of violation and questioned if the Planning
Department had modified their notices to be more clear.
Jonathan Curth stated their internal processes were being modified regarding who does
enforcement based on where a license is and how the property was operating. He believed that the
violation notices in question happened during a time where it had been caught in transition between
planning staff and the business license clerk.
There was brief discussion regarding the landlord registry and if the applicants were listed on it. It
was answered that they were.
Council Member Turk briefly spoke of the public facing webpage and making it easier for people
to be incompliance.
There was brief discussion between Council Member Wiederkehr and Jonathan Curth regarding if
the property owners could visit their home and have a tailgate party. Jonathan Curth stated that
was correct. He explained that the way the ordinance read was that special events were not
permitted in a Short -Term Rental. He stated that if the property was being used actively as a Short -
Term Rental, it would not be legal to also be having a tailgating event at the same time.
Council Member Bunch spoke of how there was a Planning Department and a Business License
Department within the City of Fayetteville and believed that could cause confusion for some.
Jonathan Curth gave a brief explanation of how the process was now centralized in the Business
License process so that one person could be the hub for where the application needed to go.
Council Member Berna moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Bunch seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 6-1. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg,
Jones, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Council Member Moore voted no. Ward 1
Position 1 was vacant.
Resolution 232-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
ARPA RFP 23-12 Recipient Selection (Resolution): A resolution to authorize Mayor Jordan to
sign a subrecipient agreement with pursuant to RFP 23-12, in the
amount of , for a project to address housing instability in Fayetteville.
Steven Dotson, Internal Auditor stated the City Council had a few options they could choose
tonight; they could select an applicant and authorize Mayor Jordan to sign a subrecipient
agreement, they could ask one or both of the applicants to provide more information via a second
interview or they could choose to reject both applicants and use the funding in a different way. He
stated that if the City Council chose to authorize Mayor Jordan to sign a subrecipient agreement,
113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 vwvw fayetteville-ar.gov
City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
Page 40 of 42
the city would have to negotiate an agreement with the applicant to ensure it met ARPA regulations
and gave a brief explanation of some of the issues he noticed with the applications.
Council Member Hertzberg, "Clarifying on the $100,000-$220,000 for New Beginnings
landscape and gardening and hydroponics. If New Beginnings was able to demonstrate the utility
of a hydroponics program as sort of a workforce development or job skills training program, would
that change the ability to use those funds in that way?"
Steven Dotson stated that was a gray area and explained how the City of Fayetteville was
responsible for the funds and if the city provided funding that the Treasury deemed not allowable,
the city was responsible for reimbursing Treasury.
There was brief discussion between Council Member Turk and Steven Dotson regarding a
comparison between the 7hills proposal and the Flintlock proposal. Steven Dotson gave a brief
explanation of both proposals and stated the 7hills project did not have a definitive number of
individuals that could be provided help and that the amount would vary. He briefly explained the
Flintlock original proposal, which could assist 16 individuals with the possibility of building an
additional nine units, and their other proposal, which could assist 24 individuals.
Council Member Turk questioned if it was a concern of Steven Dotson that when the government
started looking at the proposals he had pointed out, that one of them might not fare well.
Steven Dotson stated that had been a concern of his all along. He briefly spoke of the Serve NWA
project that had come forward in April that would have only helped 6-8 people and spoke of how
there were a lot of soft costs or administrative costs built into some of the programs.
Council Member Berna spoke of how when he had been new to the council the New Beginnings
item had come forward and he had implored themto bring something forward that showed
collaborative effort and believed that the Mills proposal showed that. He believed the proposal
accomplished what he had wanted to see done.
Council Member Moore thanked Steven Dotson for putting the information of the projects
together. She was in agreement with Council Member Berna and hoped the applications that were
received would spur the City Council to continue to investigate what could be possible and ways
to fund projects going forward. She was leaning towards supporting the Mills proposal.
Council Member Wiederkehr briefly spoke of both proposals. He felt as though the collaborative
effort that was pursued gave the chance to do something beneficial to the people that were in need
of the services. He briefly spoke of the request for proposals process with the City of Fayetteville.
He appreciated the work that both applicants had put forward.
Council Member Hertzberg stated she was excited to hear both proposals and felt that the 7hills
proposal met the immediate need of the city and that the Flintlock proposal would be good for later
on. She liked the collaborate approach that New Beginnings, Mills and NWA Care Continuum
had put together.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
Page 41 of 42
Council Member Bunch questioned Steven Dotson regarding additional services and if it had
been included in the proposal.
Steven Dotson, "I believe we said that we're looking for proposals that address that as well, I
don't think we said it was a requirement. If you recall, we were trying to cast as wide a net as we
could to get all sorts of ideas in here."
Council Member Bunch spoke of how the Flintlock proposal had given the council different
options and believed it had been a good proposal but without the additional services or the
applicant having the ability to provide that, she could not be in support of the proposal. She was
in favor of supporting the 7hills proposal.
Council Member Turk stated she felt the same way about the supportive services because in the
past the council indicated they had needed that. She believed the 7hills model was much more
collaborative and what the council had asked for. She questioned what would happen if the city
selected the 7hills proposal and questioned if Steven Dotson would still have to do a cost/benefit
analysis for the number of individuals the project would help because it was over a million dollars.
Steven Dotson stated he would still have to show the cost/benefit of the proposal and that reporting
it to Treasury would happen after the program started. He stated it was on the city to determine
whether or not the proposal would be allowable and that was why there was so much careful prep
work on the front end.
Council Member Turk, "Let's say we spent $500,000 and the Department of Treasury says that's
not okay, we could spend the remaining amount probably on these programs up here that you've
provided, but we'd still have to repay the $500,000 to the Treasury?"
Steven Dotson, "Right, any sort of expenditure you make under these ARPA programs that's
deemed unallowable you'll have to reimburse that."
There was brief discussion between Council Member Turk and Steven Dotson regarding if Mr.
Dotson had any concerns about the 7hills proposal. Steven Dotson explained how there were a lot
of moving parts in the proposal and that it would have to be funded on a reimbursement level and
that the Federal Procurement Regulations would have to be followed.
Council Member Turk was concerned about moving forward with the project as it was. She
wondered if the City Council should hold off on a decision and have the applicants come back and
have a conversation regarding further details before moving forward. She wondered if 7hills could
fund the project before getting reimbursed as Steven Dotson had mentioned.
Becci Sisson, CEO of 7hills stated they were aware of the reimbursement process and had received
ARPA funding in the past. She stated their board was prepared to do reimbursement.
Council Member Hertzberg understood the issue was complex but believed the kinks would be
worked out. She would feel comfortable selecting a proposal to move forward and work out the
details with the applicant that was chosen. She wanted to move forward with the resolution tonight.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2023
Page 42 of 42
There was brief discussion between Mayor Jordan and Council Member Moore regarding rental
assistance that had been provided by the county. Council Member Moore explained how she had
assisted individuals during the pandemic with applying for the county's rental assistance and
believed it helped many, but it was just a temporary solution and believed the 7hills project was
more of a long term part of the solution.
Council Member Hertzberg stated that one of the reasons she liked the proposal was because the
shelter that was being proposed to be built was much more permanent and could help a larger
number of individuals.
There was discussion between Steven Dotson and Becci Sisson regarding the expanding of the
7hills shelter capacity by 64 beds.
The City Council received 7 public comments regarding this resolution.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to amend the resolution to 7hills as the subrecipient for
the amount of 1.63 million. Council Member Moore seconded the motion. Upon roll call the
motion passed 7-0. Council Member Turk, Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and
Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was vacant.
Council Member Hertzberg moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Moore
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Member Turk,
Hertzberg, Jones, Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna and Bunch voted yes. Ward 1 Position 1 was
vacant.
Resolution 233-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Announcements: None
City Council Agenda Session Presentations:
REP 23-12, Interviews - Steven Dotson, Becci Sisson, Allison Quinlan.
City Council Tour: None
Adjournment: 12:50 a.m.
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113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov