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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-08-04 - Minutes -Council Member Sonia Gutierrez Ward I Position I Council Member Sarah Marsh Ward I Position 2 Council Member Mark Kinion Ward 2 Position 1 Council Member Matthew Petty Ward 2 Position 2 Mayor Lioneld Jordan City Attorney Kit Williams City Clerk Kara Paxton City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Meeting August 4, 2020 City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 1 of 44 Council Member Sloan Scroggin Ward 3 Position 1 Council Member Sarah Bunch Ward 3 Position 2 Council Member Teresa Turk Ward 4 Position I Council Member Kyle Smith Ward 4 Position 2 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on August 4, 2020 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. In order to create social distancing due to the Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, Council Members Sonia Gutierrez, Sarah Marsh, Mark Kinion, Matthew Petty, Sloan Scroggin, Sarah Bunch, Teresa Turk, and Kyle Smith joined the meeting via online using a video conferencing service called Zoom. Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Deputy Police Chief Jamie Fields, Fire Chief Brad Hardin, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, and two staff members from the IT Department were present in City Council Chambers while demonstrating recommended social distancing. Pledge of Allegiance Mayor's Announcements, Proclamations and Recognitions: Mayor Jordan: In light of the current health concerns, Fayetteville City Hall is closed to the public. This meeting is being held virtually. I am present in Council Chambers with a handful of essential support staff. City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Deputy Police Chief Jamie Fields, Fire Chief Brad Hardin, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, and two representatives from the IT Department. City Council Members, City Staff, and the public are participating online or by phone. Other than those of us you see before 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 2 of 44 you, the voices you hear during the course of this meeting are being recorded for public record and piped into the Council Chambers. Participation remains of the upmost importance to the City of Fayetteville. We have provided many ways to participate in the meeting, which includes contacting Council Members, City Clerk office or city staff prior to the meeting. The meeting can be viewed through Fayetteville's government channel online, YouTube, joining the Zoom conference by smartphone, tablet or computer. Instructions are shown onscreen. Staff can view when you join the meeting and when you raise your virtual hand. We ask that you refrain from doing this until the public comment portion of the item on which you wish to comment. I will provide a longer than usual period of time for you to raise your virtual hand. When recognized, please state your name and address for the record. Public comment shall be allowed for all members of the audience who have signed up prior to the beginning of the agenda item they wish to address being opened for public comment. Each speaker is allowed five minutes to be broken into segments of three and two minutes, which staff will monitor. Amendments may receive public comments only if approved by the City Council by unanimous consent or majority vote. If public comment is allowed for an amendment, speakers will only be allowed to speak for three minutes. The City Council may allow both a speaker additional time and an unsigned -up person to speak by unanimous consent or majority vote. City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items: Monthly Financial Report Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer gave a summary of the Monthly Financial Report. Council Member Petty: The parking fund is taking a hit, but we have ample reserves. At the current pace, how long would you expect our reserves to be sufficient? Paul Becker: Even with the declining revenue, we are looking at this time through the end of the year and making the bond payments and keeping operations as stable as they are now. We are going to have to watch and see if that revenue changes and make the modifications we need. One of the adjustments we made is we were not able to use that approximate $200,000 for support. I anticipate next year we are not going to have that available either. I don't have any major concerns at this point through the end of this year. We are going to have to look carefully at the budget and operations for next year. Agenda Additions: None Consent: Approval of the July 14, 2020 Special City Council meeting minutes and the July 21, 2020 City Council meeting minutes. Approved 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 3 of 44 Arkansas Historic Preservation Program: A resolution to authorize a contract with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program for acceptance of a Certified Local Government grant in the amount of $790.00 to pay for travel and training expenses, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 198-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk King Electrical Contractors, Inc.: A resolution to approve two proposal from King Electrical Contractors, Inc. in the total amount of $36,951.00, pursuant to Bid No. 15-57, for electrical services associated with the Church Avenue and Meadow Street Sidewalk Improvements Project, and to approve a project contingency in the amount of $3,695.00. Resolution 199-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk H&E Equipment Services: A resolution to authorize the purchase of a tandem asphalt roller from H&E Equipment Services of Springdale for the amount of $113,600.00, pursuant to a Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract. Resolution 200-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Bid #20-47 Crossland Heavy Contractors, Inc.: A resolution to award Bid #20-47 and authorize a contract with Crossland Heavy Contractors, Inc. in the amount $379,870.00 for the construction of a new water pumping station and water main associated with the Benson Pressure Plane Improvements Project, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $56,980.50, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 201-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Hawkins -Weir Engineers, Inc. Amendment No. 4: A resolution to approve Amendment No. 4 to the professional engineering services agreement with Hawkins -Weir Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $81,380.00 for construction observation and project management services associated with the Benson Mountain Pressure Plane Improvements Project. Resolution 202-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Olsson, Inc. Amendment No. 3: A resolution to approve Amendment No. 3 to the Professional Engineering Services Agreement with Olsson, Inc. in the amount of $169,500.00 for construction phase services related to the East Fayetteville Water System and Township Pressure Plane Improvements Project, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 203-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Electric Motor Center: A resolution to authorize a payment to Electric Motor Center in the amount of $18,418.42 plus applicable taxes for the repair of Pump #2 at the Noland Water Resource Recovery Facility. Resolution 204-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 4 of 44 JCI Industries, Inc.: A resolution to accept a quote in the amount of $23,746.00 plus applicable taxes and freight charges from JCI, Industries, Inc. for the repair of a pump at the West Side Water Resource Recovery Facility. Resolution 205-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Council Member Marsh moved to accept the Consent Agenda as read. Council Member Kinion seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Unfinished Business: Arkansas and Missouri Railroad Shiloh Drive and Gregg Avenue - 2019 Transportation Bond Project: An ordinance to waive competitive bidding and authorize a New Railroad Crossing Cost and Maintenance Agreement and an Easement Agreement with the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad for a new railroad crossing at Shiloh Drive and Gregg Avenue, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $32,892.43, and to approve a budget adjustment for the estimated total project cost of $750,000.00 - 2019 Transportation Bond Project. This item was Tabled Indefinitely at the June 4, 2020 City Council meeting. City Attorney Kit Williams: This was tabled indefinitely. In order to discuss it. we will need a motion to remove this from the table so it can be discussed. Council Member Bunch moved to remove the item from the table in order to discuss it. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Chris Brown, City Engineer spoke about an amendment that had been sent to Council. He read the amendment. He stated the amendment is intended to address some concerns expressed by members of the Council, especially the Transportation Committee. Council Member Marsh moved to amend the ordinance to the suggested language. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. After discussing the amendment, Council Member Marsh withdrew her motion at the end of the topic discussion. Council Member Turk: I didn't watch the Transportation Committee meeting the other night. Could somebody expand on the last requirement of the 400 apartment complex? Chris Brown: This project is extending an access into some undeveloped property. The discussion was that the city is committing to spend $750,000 to construct a crossing, what is our return on investment and what are we getting out of it. Essentially what's happening is there are developers of this property that are interested in submitting development proposals. They are looking for assurances from the city that they will be able to have access at this location. This gives the city some assurance that we will begin to get a return on our investment of this crossing. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 5 of 44 Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. And the Mayor would not sign the agreement with the railroad until that condition is met. That is the purpose of the amendment. Mayor Jordan: I won't sign that agreement with the railroad until we get the assurances of the university that the issue is resolved. Council Member Petty: Thank you to staff for working on the amendments. The Transportation Committee made some general comments, and this helps address some of the concerns expressed by the members. I appreciate the amendment as described would mean that there is some guarantee the investment could be worth it. I have questions about the cost. This was a bond project, but we only budgeted half a million dollars for this project and the cost is now $750,000. It is typical on other projects when a cost share or an infrastructural upgrade is proposed by a developer for the necessary capacity. It's typical that our cost shares are one to one or proportional to the project if not one to one. This as written is entirely the city's responsibility for the cost, even though it exceeds our original budget and even though that's somewhat contrary to the precedent we have for other infrastructure improvements. I'm curious to see if there is support for continuing with the planned expenditure of $500,000 that was voted on in the bonds, but structuring this deal such that the overage is the responsibility of the applicant at the time of the Large Scale Development. Mayor Jordan: Do you want to hear the information Devin has? Council Member Gutierrez: Yes. Devin Howland, Director of Economic Vitality: In regard to the memo we shared with you earlier, one of the things this memo does now that we are excited about is it doesn't just talk about economics returns, but also introduce the project a little bit more. In 2019, 38.7 acres north of this crossing site was purchased by Richardson Properties. The project in question, looking at about 2,075 high end living units. They could house as much as 2,600 residents and how I got the 2,600 number was that I assumed two people in 25% of the units, which is conservative. It is 53 units per acre. When built in phases of 400 units per phase, the pacing of the development could be a little different, which is why we run two different scenarios for you. When we think about full build out potential annually after all five phases are completed, it's easily at over $1.1 million annually in revenue. That is extremely conservative because it takes inflation of only 2%. The revenue stems a lot from housing because the purchasing power of those additional residents that are there. Internet sales tax is a very big deal in this equation. The estimates are solely for this housing development. It does not take into account any other additional developments. We also calculated construction taxes. I am very excited about this project with Mr. Richardson. I have long admired his work in Central Arkansas. Mayor Jordan: The payback will be within two years? Devin Howland stated conservatively, he could say that. He stated it would depend on the pace of that additional phase. He spoke about analysis scenarios. Mayor Jordan: I had staff run the numbers on how long it would take to get payback on the railroad crossings. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 6 of 44 City Attorney Kit Williams: This was read the first time and then it was tabled indefinitely. Now we are at another meeting. It has been off the table, but it probably needs be read for the second time or have the rules suspended, so only the title needs to be read the second time. Since this is another meeting and is an ordinance, it needs to be read three times. Mayor Jordan: That is correct. What about the amendment? City Attorney Kit Williams: Sorry, I am getting ahead of myself. Go back to the amendment. Council Member Marsh: Can you read the portion again about the railroad crossing on University? That is the barrier for me. I want to make sure we are addressing keeping that crossing open to pedestrians and cyclist. Chris Brown: "Execution of these agreements shall not be authorized unless and until an acceptable alternative to the crossing at University Avenue for pedestrians and bicycles is approved by the City Council." It would be a design that we would put together, presented to the City Council, and it would be passed. Both the design and the budget at the time would be approved by the City Council. Council Member Marsh: Do we have a preliminary budget number on that? Where does that money come from? Chris Brown: We haven't identified funding source, but we have a very rough estimate of approximately $500,000 for the crossing. Council Member Marsh: Do we have any assurance that this new crossing will be in place before they are allowed to close the existing crossing? Chris Brown: We control that, as far as schedule. There is nothing explicit in here saying that the crossing will have to be in place before their other crossing is closed. Council Member Marsh: We need that language. Maybe the City Attorney can help us decide what exactly that language should be. I want no interruption in service of that crossing. Mayor Jordan: You want that crossing put in first before we do the other one? Council Member Marsh: I want that crossing to remain open to pedestrians and bicyclist. If that requires building it first before the other one or just delaying, but I don't want the crossing on University closed at any point. What do we need to do to amend it to ensure that is going to happen? Mayor Jordan: We have one amendment going. Would we put an amendment on the amendment? City Attorney Kit Williams: You could do that. Council Member Marsh: Since I motioned to include the amendment, could I amend it and just do it all in one? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 7 of 44 There was a brief discussion about the wording of a possible amendment. Council Member Smith: It sounds like, rather than just having it approved by the Council, you are looking to have it in place and open. Council Member Marsh: Yes, or they could just delay closing the crossing until the new one is built. I don't know that the railroad would do that. I want it open all the time. Mayor Jordan: You don't want that crossing shut down until we make the repairs to it, which means we may hold up the other one. You don't want that shut down at all? Council Member Marsh: Yes. We need to maintain that open. Mayor Jordan: In other words, that's got to be put in place first? Council Member Marsh: Before the other crossing could be closed. Council Member Smith: Chris, with the whole thing predicated on open the new one, close an old one, would your conversations with the railroad lead you to think they would be open to allowing us to keep them both open long enough to get that in place and still work on the northern addition? Are they going to be, no, the date this one opens the other must close? How flexible is the railroad going to be? Chris Brown: I'm not sure what the answer to that may be. I think there is enough time during the construction of the crossing and all the other things that have to happen that we can make the schedules work out. I think we can get them both done. Mayor Jordan: I do too. City Attorney Kit Williams: Let me suggest this. Leave the language in, that was already submitted by Chris and then you add another sentence to (a.) "The crossing shall remain open throughout construction." Council Member Marsh: What if we want to close it before we start construction? I feel like there is a loophole there. City Attorney Kit Williams: It shall remain open throughout construction. This is talking about the crossing at University Avenue through its construction. It will remain open through its construction. Isn't that what you want? Council Member Marsh: Yes. I don't feel like that's strong enough language. Can we hold this for another meeting and come back with acceptable language? Mayor Jordan: You are on the first reading. We are still on the amendment. Do you want to hold it for two weeks? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 8 of 44 Council Member Marsh: Yes. That gives staff time to come up with an acceptable alternative. Council Member Gutierrez and Council Member Turk were in support of holding it for two weeks. Council Member Smith: I agree. Now that we are talking about adding this new crossing at University, the cost of this has more than doubled .from what we told voters during the bond election. We have taken two half a million dollar projects and turned them into two $750,000 projects, plus another half million dollar project here, plus the cost of losing vehicular connection in two places. We should be considering that intangible cost or non -monetary cost of the closed vehicle access. I would like to see what considerations there are to offset the increase in project cost from the development. Council Member Petty: Thank you, Council Member Smith. There was a brief discussion about holding the item for two weeks. Mayor Jordan: What are we going to do with the amendment? Council Member Marsh: I withdraw my motion to add the amendment. We can work on the language and then bring it back next meeting. City Attorney Kit Williams: The memo will be left pending and anybody can suggest language in the interim before we meet again in two weeks. Mayor Jordan: Devin has the economic numbers on what we could bring into the city from the development of not only this railroad crossing, but the other one we are getting ready to talk about and Washington Regional Hospital. If you all want to hold it another two weeks, we will. City Attorney Kit Williams: At this meeting we should read it unless somebody is going to table it. It was read the first time, and this is another City Council meeting. Either we should read it or else they can table it and it stays on the first reading. Council Member Petty moved to table the ordinance until the August 18, 2020 City Council meeting. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. This ordinance was tabled to the August 18, 2020 City Council Meeting. Arkansas and Missouri Railroad Futrall Drive and Gregg Avenue - 2019 Transportation Bond Project: An ordinance to waive competitive bidding and authorize a New Railroad Crossing Cost and Maintenance Agreement and an Easement Agreement with the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad for a new railroad crossing at Futrall Drive and Gregg Avenue, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $28,344.86, and to approve a budget adjustment for the estimated 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayefteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 9 of 44 total project cost of $750,000.00 - 2019 Transportation Bond Project. This item was Tabled Indefinitely at the June 4, 2020 City Council meeting. City Attorney Kit Williams: Just like before, there needs to be a motion to remove from the table so we can discuss Chris Brown's amendment. Council Member Bunch moved to remove the item from the table in order to discuss it. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Chris Brown, City Engineer gave a brief description of the proposed amendment. He stated the amendment is to address the concern about the investment by the city in developing the railroad crossing. He stated they would see development come to pass with the crossing. Mayor Jordan: This is Washington Regional Medical Center. We sent the letter to you all from Larry Shackelford in their expansion of the hospital to that area. Mayor Jordan: We are looking for a motion to amend. Council Member Gutierrez moved to amend the ordinance to the suggested language. Council Member Petty seconded the motion. After discussing the amendment, there was no vote taken and the item was tabled at the end of the topic discussion. City Attorney Kit Williams: I would think it would be a preliminary plat as opposed to a preliminary plan in that wording. Is that right Garner? Garner Stoll, Development Services Director: Yes, it would be a preliminary plat. City Attorney Kit Williams: That is what you will be voting on. Council Member Smith: Kind of like the last one, it's hard to look at these as two separate issues. They all are wrapped up in one. As we talk about the escalating cost of combo projects, a lot of times we talk about off -site improvements accessed to a new development and what would be proportional to their development. The cost of this would go way beyond any sort of proportionality test. If we were to access a proportional surcharge on some of these developments for this overage, what number would we look at as fair? Mayor Jordan requested for staff to answer the question. Chris Brown: If the rail work was not there and the developer wanted to make this connection, they would be responsible for building the road out to the intersection and making any adjustments to the signal and all of that. It is a little more expensive on a unit basis because it's such a short distance between the railroad track and the street. We estimated pretty high on those costs. We can probably do better than what we have shown, especially if we have transportation do some of the work. We just wanted to make sure we had the budget included to do it. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 10 of 44 Council Member Smith: Would that be a conversation that would happen later on at their development or is it appropriate to have now as we are talking about contract language? Chris Brown: What the Council could do is approve these agreements for the railroad and that's the budget of the cost of the railroad agreements and leave the other part out for further discussion, if that's Councils' wish. We are looking at this as the whole package of providing the crossing, which includes work between the railroad and the street and modifying the signal. What is in front of you is to approve the agreements with the railroad. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. As in the last one, we do have more information to talk about the development. Council Member Turk: I would like to hear some more information from Devin. Mayor Jordan: This is the hospital expansion. We have been working on this for a couple of years. Devin Howland, Director of Economic Vitality: This is a separate memo and it is unique to access between the two. They are both very different. This is employment driven and the other one is housing driven. Employment is critically important to this city and so is housing. They are two very important projects and how you get .to the root of revenue for these two are different. We are excited about this project. You have a letter from Larry Shackleford, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Washington Regional. The letter further explains the necessity of these crossings in relation to Washington Regional Medical Center and Drake Farms, the development as a whole. We have broken out these projects into two separate phases. In Phase 1, including about 100,000 square feet of medical and you may see 150 full time employees, 115 apartments, restaurants, and multiple office buildings. In phase 2, consisting of an additional 250,000 square feet of health care was 600 full time employees and after reading Mr. Shackelford's letter, you could probably deduct that's not going to be everything. All in investment between the first two phases, we can conservatively calculate about $151 million dollars going into the property. Sales tax from the project is a mix from where it comes from. When we see these two phases built out, about $650,000 annually, but there will likely be much more. This property is being carefully planned and developed. When we wanted to continue to be conservative and think about recapture cost after Phase 1 has been operational for one year, you would likely be able to say the funds have been recaptured. The housing development quickly outpaces it over the phases. We based our escalation on 2.2% inflation, which has been the average rate, but ecommerce and things of that nature are climbing more rapidly. Even construction materials were not adjusted here. We are excited about these projects. There are a lot of other benefits to this property. The third memo you have takes a look at everything as a whole. Council Member Gutierrez: I see that this is a Large Scale Development and a lot of money is coming into this area, but is there a way to compare that with the railroad crossing we are removing? I am trying to get a gauge of the amount of difference. Susan Norton: Chris, I'm not sure you explained for those who are not on the Transportation Committee which railroad crossing this one relates too. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page I I of 44 Chris Brown: We started with the amendment and maybe got a little ahead of ourselves. The railroad crossing tagged with this agreement is the crossing of Garrett Drive, which is just north of Ridout Lumber. That is an unimproved crossing, which is like more of a driveway coming out of there. Removing this crossing requires the parallel routing of traffic to come down to the Township intersection, but there's not really any capital cost related to the closure of this crossing. Council Member Gutierrez: Thanks. It is important to think about that business, but I am trying to compare what we are talking about. I know it's going to be a huge difference. I will go look over there a little bit closer. Have we heard from that business? Chris Brown: No, I have not. Mayor Jordan: I have not. Council Member Gutierrez: I am also getting concerned that people aren't aware about these closures. I am still trying to wrap my head around why we have to close two to open two. Chris, can you talk a little bit more on that? Chris Brown: That was essentially what was stipulated by the railroad, just to minimize the number of crossings that they have. Adding crossings adds to their liability, so they want to minimize that as much as possible. Council Member Gutierrez: We are going to value where the economic development is happening for the best bang for our buck and where we want to put the two that we have? Chris Brown: With regard to the crossing at Garrett, there is access into the property. On the two proposed crossings, there's access on the north side, but this provides more direct access and connections to the Fulbright Expressway. In the case of the hospital, it's more direct connection to the main campus. We feel like these are important connections. Council Member Gutierrez: Absolutely. For a hospital campus, it seems really critical. I support that, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around that we have to choose one over the other. Mayor Jordan: Council, that is the deal the railroad gave us. You open up one and you have to close another one. Since we had a hospital expansion sitting out there, I thought it was a good investment to put the railroad where the hospital is going to go. Council Member Smith: Railroads are regulated differently from a lot of other things. Is eminent domain an option when it comes to securing critical access for city? City Attorney Kit Williams: Be nice if it was, but it's not. We have to work with them and work out an agreement with them. No, we can't condemn a crossing and put it where we want too. We have to pay for it, regardless. Council Member Turk: I am concerned that business close to Garrett Street is unaware of this discussion. Can somebody reach out or send a note to them and let them know this is being 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 12 of 44 discussed? I realize there are alternatives close by. It would be nice to make sure they know what is going on. I would like to look at this more closely. There are a lot of moving parts here and there's a lot of new analysis I would like to review before we move forward or make any additional decisions on these closures. Mayor Jordan: I guess you all want to hold this one for two weeks too. Council Member Petty: I agree. I find this one to be a little less problematic than the prior one, but perhaps only marginally so. I want to acknowledge that the hospital being involved is an important consideration and is a critical expansion for the city and the region. It is important to view the proposal in terms of its entire beneficiary, beyond the hospital, but also the remainder of the Drake Farms project. I have the same concerns that I expressed on the last one, which is that we budgeted a certain amount and now we are seeing cost overruns. I understand that the Phase 1 of the bond issue was built with contingency in mind, but I understand we can use that contingency for a lot of different things. We have the same kind of flexibility for that contingency as we do with the rest of the money. I'm not certain we have exhausted our options for achieving these cost overruns. It was expressed earlier that all we are voting on is the railroad agreement, but we need to acknowledge that we are also being asked to vote on a budget adjustment, which is a fairly substantial one. I am supportive of the amendment. The performance agreements are really good, but I'm not convinced they are sufficient in the face of the cost overruns. I would like to see some more partnership developed over the next two weeks to address those and we not have to be the sole budgetary source for these improvements. The midtown area near Ridout and Meeks has long- term importance for the city. It's not an area to write off. It's centrally located and adjacent to the trail system, a major tributary, major arterial, major east/west connection and it is industrial gray field land with meatal buildings. At some point it's going to be very right for development and is the ideal location for a transit station. We need to be aware of the impacts that closing this crossing may have on those future opportunities. Mayor Jordan: I will take all that back to the hospital folks. I will take it back to the developer and see what we can work out. You all want to table it for two weeks? What about the amendment? City Attorney Kit Williams: If they want to act on the amendment, they could. If they table and it passes, it will just be tabled for two weeks. Council Member Turk moved to table the ordinance until the August 18, 2020 City Council meeting. Council Member Petty seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. This ordinance was tabled to the August 18, 2020 City Council Meeting. RZN 20-7123 (23 W. 5th St./QOZB, LLC.): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-7123 for approximately 0.21 acres located at 23 West 5th Street from NC, Neighborhood Conservation to RI-U, Residential Intermediate -Urban. At the 07121120 City Council meeting this item was left on the First Reading. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 13 of 44 Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director: We got an email today indicating that Ms. Hoffman, the owner of the property, would like to address the Council. Laurel Hoffman, Applicant gave a brief description of the property. She stated the goal of the rezoning is to build small single-family homes that are compatible with the neighborhood. She stated under the current zoning, the lot could realistically only host one larger and more expensive single-family home. She stated the problem is exasperated by the fact that the property is larger than many others in the neighborhood, but still too small to be subdivided under the current NC zoning. She stated she would like to build small single-family homes and originally requested RSF-18 zoning. She stated city Planning staff recommended that RI-U would also be compatible, and Planning Commission agreed. She stated while she likes the flexibility that RI-U provides, her development plans haven't changed and would be happy with either RSF-18 or RI-U. Council Member Kinion: Ms. Hoffman wanted RSF-18 and she still wants it, but the recommendation was RI-U. I need a better understanding of the differences to see how one would better work for the vision compared to the other. Garner Stoll: The RSF-18 is a single-family district. The lot dimensions required our 30 feet minimum. The RI-U district allows single-family, but it also allows duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes. The lot dimension is 18 feet. Mayor Jordan: Does that answer your question? Council Member Kinion: It does. The RI-U would be good, not with the vision that Ms. Hoffman has, but in the future it would be more flexible if for some reason she didn't go through with the development. The RSF-18 may be more compatible with the current neighborhood zoning. Right? Garner Stoll: Neighborhood Conservation, yes, but Council has been using the RI-U district in the Walker Park neighborhood. The character of the neighborhood is mixed use and has more than single-family. I think both would be in conformance with the plan. Tom Terminella: Can somebody explain to me why there wasn't any public comment from the last two items under Unfinished Business? We had the engineers, the landowners, stakeholders, and developers all on the call. Why weren't we able to speak to the Council? There is a lot of confusion going on and we need to be able to have a full dialogue with the Council and staff. I wasn't tracking any of what was being talked about. It's like there is a total different disconnect going on. We have been working on these issues since 2013. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. It had to do with the order of business. The items were tabled. The Council requested two more weeks because they wanted to study. There wasn't discussion other than to table the item with the amendment that was proposed. They will be back in two weeks. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 14 of 44 Tom Terminella: Thank you. We could have provided more information and brought clarity to these issues. We have been waiting 6 '/2 years. The Pendegraft's and the W.G. Land Trust want an opportunity to speak to the Council and the citizens of Fayetteville. We will be back in two weeks. We respectfully ask for the floor so we can articulate our positions. Mayor Jordan: If we had got that far to the public comments, you would have been allowed to speak, but we never got that far. We had to take it off the table, first, and then they put an amendment on there and then they wanted more time to look at it. They have a right to do that. City Attorney Kit Williams: The rules changed recently. The amendment is not going to be open for public comment, unless the City Council makes a motion to do that or by unanimous consent that allows that. This is a new major change that was just passed by the City Council a few meetings ago. That was the procedure the Mayor was operating under. A motion to table is not debatable and much less with public comment. Mayor Jordan: Tom, if you followed the beginning of the meeting, I explained all that in my opening remarks. Tom Terminella: What I don't understand is there was an amendment brought up and initiated that has never been shared with myself, the Pendegraft's or landowners. I respectfully ask that we have an opportunity to talk to the Council, Mayor, and City Attorney on these issues in a public forum. Mayor Jordan: You will get to do that in two weeks. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Turk: I am a bit concerned. While we may argue whether this is spot zoning or not, there is no RI-U in the immediate proximity around this area. It seems like RSF-18 would be a better fit in stair stepping up the zoning and making this compatible with what the applicant would like. I would like to amend the ordinance to RSF-18. J Council Member Bunch: We have RI-U before us. What exactly does the applicant want? She applied for RSF-18. I see it working either way and I don't want to make it hard on the applicant. This sounds like a perfect project for an area that could use some moderately priced small homes. May I ask a question of the applicant before we go on? Mayor: Sure. Council Member Bunch: We are about to possibly vote on switching this back to RSF-18. Is that what you are wanting us to do? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 15 of 44 Laurel Hoffman: My Civil Engineer is much more up on the setbacks and technical aspects of the project than I can be. I do not plan to change my plans from single-family dwellings. I believe there are several RI-U's already in place and built within a couple of blocks of my property. I would probably prefer the flexibility that offers. I am not planning on building a fourplex or something like that. Council Member Bunch: If that works for you. If you want to build a couple of small houses, you can do that with either zoning. I don't want to pull the rug out from under you on your options for this property. Laurel Hoffman: I appreciate that. The RI-U zoning would give me more flexibility to where I place the single-family homes. Please let my Civil Engineer speak more directly to your question. Blake Jorgensen, Jorgensen & Associates: RI-U is already there and very recently voted upon within this district. We are seeing that trend in this area with that zoning type. Ms. Hoffman has building plans that are compatible with both zonings, but the Long Range Plan, RI-U is more compatible. We are leaning on staff to stay consistent with what their recommendation is and Planning Commission. We hope to continue the trend to add this popular zoning to this area. I know my client will take either zoning, but I am an advocate for RI-U. There was a brief discussion about the amendment to rezone it to RSF-18. Council Member Bunch spoke about staying with the recommended RI-U. Council Member Marsh: Our Municipal Code definition says the purpose of RI-U is designated to permit and encourage the development of detached and attached dwellings in suitable environments to provide a range of housing types compatible in scale with single-family homes and to encourage a diversity of housing types to meet demand for walkable urban living. This sounds exactly like what we need in this location. Council Member Turk made a motion to amend to RSF-18. Council Member Kinion seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion failed 2-6. Council Members Kinion and Turk voting yes. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Smith, and Gutierrez voting no. Council Member Marsh: It is important to provide opportunities for additional housing units in this area. I researched how many homes are available under $200,000 within a mile of Downtown. A mile is a 15 minute walk. Within one mile of the Square, there are only three properties available under $200,000. Two of those are contingent on the sale of a larger home on their property and one is a small condominium that doesn't qualify for traditional financing. Two miles with a 30 minute walk from Downtown, there are three additional properties. One is a tear down in a flood plain and the other two are not great options. $200,000 is just construction cost of a two bedroom, 1 '/2 bath home. To purchase a $200,000 home, a person would need $40,000 down and an income of over $58,000 a year. That is far above the average household income in the City of Fayetteville. When we talk about having a housing crisis in this city, that is what we are talking about. This is why it is so important that we build more small units within walking distance of Downtown. It is 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 16 of 44 important to support city infrastructure. If this property owner were to develop one large home on this lot, she would have to pay about $425 for a water tap, $575 for a street cut, a little over $1,800 for an impact fee, which is a grand total of just under $3,000 towards supporting city services. If four small units were here, we would have almost four times those fees to collect. We need RI-U here and we need additional density. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-1. Council Members Marsh, Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Turk voting no. Ordinance 6340 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk RZN 20-7128 (1355 W. Deane St./Pines on Deane): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-7128 for approximately 1.44 acres located at 1355 West Deane Street from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre to RSF-8, Residential Single Family, 8 units per acre. At the 7121120 City Council meeting this item was left on the First Reading. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. Mr. Bower, Applicant stated he could have had three lots, but with RSF-8 he's looking to have four lots. He stated it is a big parcel and about 300 feet deep. He spoke about his proposed project. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Marsh, Kinion, Petty, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Scroggin was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6341 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Amend §155.04 Alderman Appeal: An ordinance to amend §155.04 Alderman Appeal on Behalf of Resident to use the proper term "Council Member" and clarify when appeals can be made and to amend § 155.05 Appeals From Planning Commission Decisions (A) Appeals to City Council (3) Conditional Use Request to reduce the required number of Council Members needed for an appeal to two. At the 07121120 City Council meeting this item was left on the First Reading. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 17 of 44 Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. City Attorney Kit Williams: Following the last meeting I heard a request to keep appeals of or keep vacation of street right-of-way going to the Planning Commission before coming to the City Council. I did that and sent those revised ordinances to you with a memo on July 23, 2020. There were three minor changes that needed to be made to those two different ordinances, which is this ordinance and the next ordinance coming up. On this one I had to add, from Appeal to the City Council from the Planning Commission, Subsection (f), which says vacations of street right-of- way. If you all still want to have the street right-of-way decisions initially going to the Planning Commission, rather than coming directly to the City Council. I know eventually you are going to want to talk about Subsection (3), Conditional Use Request. Council Member Kinion: This makes sense to me. I think it's okay for the Planning Commission to do that. City Attorney Kit Williams: I would need a motion to amend from what is presented to you in your packet to add Subsection (f) vacation of street right-of-way. Council Member Kinion made a motion to amend adding Subsection (f) vacation of street right-of-way. Council Member Gutierrez second the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams: The ordinance is in good shape. Council Member Turk brought this primarily for Subsection (3) Conditional Use Request. It had always been two Council Members from that Ward, plus a third one needed for a Conditional Use appeal to the City Council. She has proposed, instead of three City Council Members, only two are required, one of which must be in the Ward where the Conditional Use is located. Mayor Jordan: Kit, we have already amended to what you wanted and now we deal with what Council Member Turk wants to do? City Attorney Kit Williams: That is correct. Mayor Jordan: We have the amended ordinance, so now we are going to discuss the other amendment. Council Member Turk: This is a very high bar for a citizen to meet if they would like to appeal a Conditional Use Permit by having to get two City Council Members from the same Ward in which the CUP is enacted and an additional Council Member. We should lower the bar and make it with one City Council Member in that Ward and an additional City Council from a different Ward in order to sponsor the appeal. That would be much more consistent with our other appeal regulations. I believe citizens need to be able to take something to the City Council if there is a gross misjudgment on the part of the Planning Commission. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 18 of 44 Council Member Kinion: Do we need to introduce the amendment now? City Attorney Kit Williams: No. It's already on the table. It was presented as proposed by Council Member Turk. I will make one correction, not only for a citizen appeal, but even a landowner who loses his Conditional Use requires now two Council Members from that Ward plus a third one. This would reduce it to one Council Member, plus another one. This Conditional Use is very unusual in that it doesn't give an automatic right for the applicant to appeal the City Council. Virtually every other type of decision, the applicant can appeal, usually on their own without even a City Council Member joining in. Council Member Kinion: I am glad you pointed that out, Kit. It seems to me the property owner should have the opportunity to appeal it and needs to be considered. Mayor Jordan: Do you all want to make an amendment? Council Member Kinion: Yes. I want to make an amendment that the property owner can appeal directly to City Council. Council Member Turk: That is a friendly amendment. I would agree to that. Council Member Kinion made a motion to amend that the property owner can appeal directly to the City Council. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Mayor Jordan: We are voting that the property owner can appeal directly to the City Council if they need too? City Attorney Kit Williams: Without any City Council sponsorship. Mayor Jordan: Okay. Council Member Smith: I'm not sure I can support that proposed amendment. It's seems to take a lot of the decision making that we have invested in Planning Commission away and almost render them useless. I'm glad we are removing the two Council Members from one Ward because that requirement means that one election can hamstring an entire Ward from being able to get access to the Council for an entire four years. Lowering that requirement makes total sense. I would be more inclined to leave it at three total Council Members rather than reducing it to two. I am not comfortable taking it to zero Council Members. Council Member Kinion: I don't think this has anything to do with the authority. It has to do with the respect of the owner of the property that has invested in it. They should have the opportunity not to have to jump through an additional hoop to bring it to City Council. Council Member Petty stated he sees Council Member Kinion's point, but has a concern about the way Conditions of Approval are made by the Planning Commission. He stated the point of the Conditional Use Permit is to provide an avenue for applicants to go above and beyond the zoning if and only if they can meet the conditions imposed by the Planning Commission. He spoke about 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 19 of 44 the conditions being technically oriented. He worries that allowing a Conditional Use Permit applicant to appeal those conditions could lead to conditions being politicized a lot more than they are today. He stated he prefers that they not do that. He spoke about sharing Council Member Smith's preference to keep it at three and remove the double Ward requirement. City Attorney Kit Williams requested for any former Council Members who served on the Planning Commission to give their opinion on the matter. Council Member Scroggin: I would want to study this specific thing we are looking at a little more before I talk. I don't know if my experiences relate with what we are looking at. Council Member Bunch: It's been a while since I was on the Planning Commission. The process was lengthy for some Conditional Use Permits and much like the process we go through on City Council. It gets a fair deal. I could not support having no Council involvement to appeal to the city. Kit, what do you want us to weigh in on? City Attorney Kit Williams: Your general experiences. I sat and watched the Planning Commission for many years, and I have seen lengthy meetings, considering Conditional Use Permits. Usually it's decided and resolved at the Planning Commission level. There have been a few appeals, but not too many. There have been a few appeals when something seemed extremely wrong with one decision, yes or no by the Planning Commission. I have seen that sometimes applicants can be forceful. If they are always given a right to appeal the City Council, the City Council would probably be spending a good deal of the portion of every one of their meetings dealing with the latest Conditional Use appeal. Council Member Bunch: That was my experience. There were a few occasions where the Planning Commission voted on a Conditional Use and then had it overturned by the Council. I feel the appeals process is there, but it is a lengthy process. I believe they get a fair and equitable process by having the opportunity to appeal to the Council if they want. Council Member Scroggin: Even though one of them affected me directly, everybody got what I thought was a fair shot. It was a lengthy process, but with Conditional Use Permits, you can write in anything. When you have that much granularity, sometimes it is going to take a while. I thought all of them were fair, even when applicants were pretty nasty. Council Member Marsh requested for the amendment to be read again. City Attorney Kit Williams: The amendment that is on the floor would be to add a new subsection (g) after the one you just added, vacations of street right-of-way. That starts off with, owners of record of the property being considered may appeal a decision by the Planning Commission to deny the following request in accordance with the procedure set forth in Section 155.02. This would add Conditional Use Request so that an applicant would have a right to do that by themselves without any support by the City Council. My belief is this change would make a very significant increase in the workload of the City Council, delay in getting a final decision for the neighborhood and also for the applicant. Often times the situations I have seen have been very contentious, which would almost guarantee if an applicant doesn't like the conditions that the 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 20 of 44 Planning Commission came up with, even if they approved to subject to those conditions, then we would be seeing a lot of appeals to the City Council and having the whole process go forward again from square one. That's a much more significant change than was originally suggested by Council Member Turk about just reducing the number of Council Members for any kind of appeal of a Conditional Use from three to two. Going down to zero is a significant change. Council Member Turk: I would like to withdraw my second on the amendment on the floor. I feel like you all have made a lot of really good points. Maybe that is too lax in the requirement for a landowner to appeal. Council Member Kinion: I withdraw the motion. Council Member Kinion withdrew his motion and Council Member Turk withdre,*� her second. Council Member Marsh: Is this proposal just to reduce it to two Council Member total or is it to three with no Ward designation? City Attorney Kit Williams: Two Council Members, one of whom must reside in the effected Ward, may in unison appeal the decision of the Planning Commission approving or denying a Conditional Use Request. Council Member Marsh: I could support just changing this to three Council Members with no requirement of them being in any particular Ward. I think two Council Members is probably not quite sufficient. Council Member Kinion: For a rezoning appeal, it's just two. Right? City Attorney Kit Williams: It's just one. Council Member Kinion: I am trying to make a comparison. City Attorney Kit Williams: If it was a zoning appeal or anything else like that, it only takes a single Council Member on behalf of a citizen to bring it forward to the City Council. Zoning is going to come automatically. The applicant can do it, but if it's recommended approval, then it's always going to come to the City Council. That's not even in the appeals chapter. Only the City Council can approve a zoning. Council Member Gutierrez: I feel like we have gone from one end to the other. The original intention that Council Member Turk brought forward is good. I will support the original proposal. Mayor Jordan: Council Member Turk's original proposal is one in the Ward and another Council Member anywhere. Council Member Scroggin: On the Conditional Use Permits, do they have to do bring it back to Planning Commission again? Can't they change a small thing and just kind of keep coming? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 21 of 44 Garner Stoll, Development Services Director: Yes, I believe so. I don't think there is a time limit like rezoning or significantly different request. Council Member Scroggin: They can keep on working on it until they get to some agreement? Garner Stoll: Yes. Council Member Turk: Council Member Scroggin made a good point that the applicant can keep working on this until they get some kind of agreement with the Planning Commission. If there is another citizen that doesn't agree with the Conditional Use Permit, the bar is set very high for them. This is a historical legacy that needs to be changed so we can be consistent in our appeals process. That was my whole reason of bringing this up. It got added on with changing language. My original intent was to make the appeals process more consistent and fairer for citizens that may want to appeal a decision that was made. Council Member Gutierrez 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 7-1. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh voting no. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh: I have concerns about this. Our Planning Commission is designed to handle these. A lot of times, people on our City Council don't have the same expertise in order to work out the minutia of these complex issues. I would be comfortable with keeping it at three Council Members, but removing the Ward specificity. As it stands now, this bar is too low for the City Council to be making these sorts of detailed decisions about large development proposals. I will not be supporting this. Council Member Smith: Would you like to phrase that as an amendment? Council Member Marsh: Sure. I propose that we amend to maintain it at three Council Members, but they can be from any Ward. City Attorney Kit Williams: Three Council Members may in unison appeal the decision of the Planning Commission approving or denying a Conditional Use Request. Council Member Marsh made a motion to amend to three Council Members may in unison appeal the decision of the Planning Commission approving or denying a Conditional Use Request. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-2. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Members Kinion and Turk voting no. There was a brief discussion about the amendment wording. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 22 of 44 Council Member Turk: Again, I was trying to go for consistency. This as it is now, amended, is inconsistent with all of our other appeals processes. Usually there is a requirement to have a member from that particular Ward and now we are completely taking that away. This is better than it was before, but we are being inconsistent. Council Member Smith spoke about Council Member Turk adding back in the requirement if she would like. He spoke about the Conditional Use Permits being substantially different than most of what the Planning Commission addresses. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-1. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Kinion voting no. Ordinance 6342 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Amend §155.06 Appeals From Staff Interpretations and Actions: An ordinance to amend § 155.06 Appeals From Staff Interpretations and Actions to direct more appeals to the Planning Commission rather than to the City Council. At the 07121120 City Council meeting this item was left on the First Reading. City Attorney Kit Rrlliams read the ordinance. Council Member Petty moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. City Attorney Kit Williams: After the last meeting when it was decided informally that you wanted the vacation street right-of-way to go the Planning Commission, I had to make a couple of changes in this proposal. One of them is when the Development Review Manager makes a decision to deny a vacation of a public easement and since that would not go to the Planning Commission, that had to be added into the City Council. If you look under (E) on the next page, it says any staff recommendation to approve or deny some or all of a requested street right-of-way vacation, shall be considered by the Planning commission with recommendation to the City Council. An easement could go directly to the City Council and will under this, but the street right-of-way vacation would go to the Planning Commission. Those are the two changes I made in response to what I heard you all say at the last meeting. Those would have to be amended to make them part of this particular requested amendment I have presented to you all. This will be part of Exhibit A, since I did not want to have to read the whole thing to you, mainly to direct more appeals to the Planning Commissions, some that went directly to the City Council, which were development appeals and usually development matters should be heard by the Planning Commission first, in my opinion. Council Member Gutierrez made a motion to amend that public easements will go directly to the City Council as what was held before, but also the street right-of-way vacation request 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 23 of 44 will be heard by the Planning Commission first before coming to City Council. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-1. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Kinion voting no. Ordinance 6343 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk New Business: Amend §164.04 Urban Agriculture: An ordinance to amend § 164.04 Urban Agriculture (Fowl, Bees & Goats) to reduce the minimum square footage requirement for goats. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Petty brought this item forward. He stated in terms of benchmarking Fayetteville against other cities, this request seems to be a reasonable proposal. He stated this proposal does not change setbacks required for the goat pen or any of the husbandry best practices that may be required. He stated any household who is keeping goats, are subject to a complaint with respect to the husbandry best practices, which those would still need to be reconciled. He spoke about a complaint that was associated with the amendment. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. Council Member Turk: What does the city do if they have a complaint about goats? Garner Stoll: On this particular complaint, we found a violation on lot size. We notified the owners of the goat and gave them time to correct that, which is still pending. Since the lot size issue was in question, we also requested animal control. The complaint included noise and odor, which is prohibited in our standards. Our Animal Control Officers could not verify that, but they did say if the complainer can verify it, that would also give us grounds for corrective action. Council Member Turk: How would the complainer verify the odor? Garner Stoll: That is a good question. Zoning enforcement staff ascertained that their shelter will need to be moved if you amend the lot size. It is too close to the residence. We didn't ask them to do that because it would be an expense that wouldn't get them in accordance unless there's a lot size adjustment. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 24 of 44 Council Member Turk: The 10,000 square foot lot size we have right now, most of the lot had a house on it. The actual area that was available for the goats was substantially less than 10,000 square feet. Did you have any cities that based on the amount of acreage or square footage that was available for the goats? Garner Stoll: I did not see any examples of that. I'm sure there are some out there. Council Member Bunch: Since this all started with a complaint, if we made the changes, they would still have to move their pen? Aside from moving the pen, would this prevent them from having goats? Garner Stoll: I believe it is just the pen. They would still need to meet the other requirements that are normally associated with keeping pets, which is keeping them sanitary, fed, and safe. I think based on staff s look at the lot, they could probably meet that, though it's going to be close. Council Member Kinion's audio was not able to be heard. Council Member Bunch: I love goats. As far as the rest of our ordinance, with chickens, you get eggs. With tiny goats, you get a pet. I don't know if you could milk them or not. Council Member Marsh stated she grew up on a goat farm. She stated pygmy goats are generally raised for milk to provide cheese and soap making. She spoke about the benefits they provide in land maintenance. Council Member Bunch: Do they stay in a pen? Can they free range in your back yard? Council Member Marsh: You need a serious enclosure. Goats like to escape, and they will eat anything. Council Member Bunch: Does our ordinance demand that they stay in their enclosure? It has to be 50 feet away from the next house. Can you turn them loose in the backyard and then put them back into the enclosure? The ordinance does not allow them to ever be in the front yard. Garner Stoll: I interpret the ordinance that they need to stay in the pen, otherwise you lose all the performance standards of staying away from the adjacent properties. Council Member Bunch: They aren't going to be clearing out honeysuckle, unless it's on the pen. Charles Sharkless, Olive Street stated he lives next door to the goats. He spoke about the odor and noise that the goats make. He spoke about the lot and enclosure sizes. He stated Fayetteville's current ordinance is an appropriate balance. He spoke about research he did. He stated his neighbor's goats are pets and are not providing milk or meat. He stated the current ordinance is clear in its intent with the provisions it sets forth. He stated changing the ordinance for a single property is not in the best interest of all of Fayetteville. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 25 of 44 Council Member Turk: Would it be appropriate for us to schedule a tour to see where the goats are residing right now? When I drove by, it was very eye opening to me. Council Member Kinion: I went by and Mr. Sharkless has a valid complaint. However, as we know from our emails, these two goats are very charismatic and cute. To a passerby, they are delightful. If you have to live next to it 24 hours a day, it is very different. It is not an ideal situation. Our ordinance as it is, is probably a good thing. I appreciate the research Mr. Sharkless provided and it has to be taken into consideration. Food insecurity has to be taken into consideration. Council Member Turk spoke about this being a big change from 10,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet. She stated the complaint is valid. She stated she is not opposed to changing the ordinance a little bit, but this is too big of a step. Council Member Smith: In the collection of comparative city policies, it would be interesting to compare their average population density to ours. Could you send me the slide show? Garner Stoll: Yes. Mayor Jordan: Does Council want to hold it here for two weeks and go look at the goats? Council Member Gutierrez: Mr. Sharkless made a good point that our current ordinance is great. I am ready to vote on this. I can hold it too. Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. 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 Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams rear/ the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance failed 4-4. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, and Smith voting yes. Council Members Kinion, Bunch, Turk, and Gutierrez voting no. This Ordinance Failed. 2020 Cops Hiring Program Grant: A resolution to authorize acceptance of the 2020 Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program grant in the amount of $250,000.00 to fund two (2) Police Officers for a period of four (4) years with the $312,710.00 required match paid by Fayetteville Public Schools, and to approve a budget adjustment. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 26 of 44 Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police gave a brief description of the ordinance. She stated the top priority in placing school Resource Officers in the schools is to provide safety for students, teachers, and staff. She stated more specifically, SRO's are there to deter and prevent a school shooting. She requested for Council to vote in support of accepting the 2020 Cops Hiring Grant as requested by Dr. Colbert, Fayetteville School Superintendent. She stated the Fayetteville Police Department recognizes Dr. Colbert as the local leading authority in what the schools need. Dr. Megan Slocum, Fayetteville Public School Associate Superintendent spoke about the school partnership with the School Resource Officers. She spoke about mentoring with social and emotional learning. She stated data shows there has been a significant decrease in the number of cases being reported about abuse or neglect in the home since March and the decrease is because teachers and Resource Officers are not having that day to day contact with students. She spoke about building positive student relationships. She stated officers that come into schools participate in Special Education training and participate in training above and beyond what the city offers. She stated SRO's are their resource for preventive maintenance plans. She stated teachers feel safer going to work and SRO's are a deterrent to activity that might happen on campus. She spoke about wanting reduced crime in the school. She stated student achievement and graduation rates correlate with that. She spoke about student enrollment increasing steadily over the last seven years. She stated serious discipline student incidence where SRO's have been assisting through the process, they have seen incidences steadily decrease from 2017 to 2019. Council Member Petty stated thank you for honoring his request to remove this from the Consent agenda. He thanked Jamie Fields and Dr. Meagan Slocum for speaking. He stated if someone is skeptical about claims regarding police, there is a sense they are being critical of people who choose to be police officers. He stated he has a healthy skepticism. He requested to know if there were 17 campuses and if each campus had a school counselor on site. Dr. Megan Slocum: Yes. Council Member Petty: That's great. How many counselors? Dr. Megan Slocum: Sorry, I don't have the total number of counselors. Council Member Petty stated every school counselor he knows has a case load they can't keep up with. He stated his skepticism comes from a place of, not are the School Resource officers performing or not performing, but are we able to achieve the same results with similar dollars or with alternative approaches. He stated it seems there has been a presumption that if there's a proposal to hire an additional officer that the City Council will rubber stamp it. He spoke about the possibility of imposing an additional hiring requirement that these officers be licensed as social workers or counselors. He spoke about school shootings and training of officers. He stated he would like to amend the resolution with the additional hiring condition. Council Member Scroggin: I had planned on voting against this. When we talked about SRO's a year ago, I said I didn't plan on voting for 15 of these straight without further questions. I wish this had come to City Council when the grant application was made, not when it was received. It would have given us more time to talk about this. I am going to stay at a no, unless we go with 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 27 of 44 what Council Member Petty said. I like all the great things the SRO's have been doing during COVID, but I believe they can do all those things without guns. I have a large issue with bringing more weapons onto campus. There is no evidence that shooters target gun free zones anymore than they target places where there are SRO's. There are very few cases where armed guards have stopped attacks. We know there is mental damage done to minorities when guns are brought onto campus. I need to know that SRO's understand the needs of the students and teachers. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. Jamie Fields has clarification on the grant process. Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: To Council Member Scroggin's comment about wishing to see this application, rather than the award notice. On March 3, 2020, City Council approved the application with Resolution 73-20. We came before the Council with a resolution to apply for this particular grant. We got the grant award notification on June 25, 2020. That is when we were given 45 days to accept. Council Member Scroggin: Thank you for the clarification. Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: Council Member Petty began his recommendation with a question about hiring a counselor. We hire the best candidates we can. I know we would never be successful in hiring a Police Officer who had the training and credentials you are referring too. The school wants seasoned Police Officers and they have an average service of 7'/2 years. We just aren't going to see that hiring counselors at this time. Council Member Petty: I appreciate that, but I feel strongly that it's time to try to do things in a new way. We have the ability to make the choice to hire a counselor or a mental health therapist. We have the ability to fund the education of existing officers to achieve those credentials, if that is the approach we prefer to take. This is a choice for us and 32% of the time these officers are going to work for the city. If we are talking about hiring a new position in an unfunded liability hanging out there in year five, it is time to try this. Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: I appreciate your perspective. All of the School Resource Officers that work for Fayetteville Public Schools, work on a cost share. We don't currently have any SRO's that are covered by a grant. City Attorney Kit Williams: In relation to hiring new applicants, Police Officers and Fire Department officials, the Civil Service Commission is what we have for our uniformed officers. The Civil Service has been granted the power under state law to interview and recommend the applicants and determine their qualifications. There are qualifications under state law that the applicants must meet. The Civil Service makes their own rules on this. They have established them over the years about how to not only hire, but also promote. It isn't up to the City Council to determine what the qualifications would be for the officers. It is the Civil Service Commission and state law that places those requirements on applicants. It's not something we can just add to a resolution and Civil Service rules are changed. That is not the way the system has been designed. The Civil Service Commission was brought into existence to remove any political pressure from the uniformed officers, either from the Mayor or City Council. The request to change something in this resolution that would then require the hiring of social workers as Police Officers, I don't 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 28 of 44 think it would be legal at this point. I wasn't aware you were going to suggest this. It is beyond what you or the City Council can do at this time when it comes to the officers. The Civil Service Commission wants to do the best they can and maybe it is something they could look at. We have to be sure that it is something that can be required under state law. They have the power when it comes to setting the requirements for applicants with Fire and Police in order for them to be hired. Council Member Petty: I don't recall that the Civil Service Commission has set a requirement that officers be seasoned or they attend all these extra trainings that have been discussed. There are minimum qualifications we expect every hired officer to have achieved. We don't want to put our thumbs on the scale for any individual application, which seems to be the intent of what the Civil Service Commission is to prevent. This seems like the kind of answers we get whenever a good idea comes up too quickly and we are asking for quick action. City Attorney Kit Williams: The additional training is stuff that has been done by the Police Department Administration themselves. Once someone is hired, they want to have as much additional education and training as they can have. That is something that could be supported by the City Council, but in hiring the individual, that is left to the Civil Service Commission. They make recommendations and the Chief selects from their recommendations. They do all the initial testing, evaluation, and interviews to select the best individuals. Once someone is a Police Officer, the Chief and his administrative staff can try to train them as best they can. They have done a very good job. I can look more into this, but I wasn't aware you were going to suggest we put a new requirement of applicants. I need time to research this. Mayor Jordan: Deputy Chief Fields, what training do these officers have? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: New hires go through an orientation at the Fayetteville Police Department. They go through firearms training, expectations of the city and Police Department. They have training on Arkansas law and city ordinances. They go to the Police Academy for several weeks. They are in a field training officer program for several months before they are ever released. Throughout their career, we have ongoing training with everything from use of force, de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention training, and child abuse investigation. We give as much training as we can possibly get for our officers. We want a well-educated and well trained Police Department. Fayetteville is a leading agency for that. Mayor Jordan: Are the School Resource Officers trained to work in the schools? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: Yes, sir they are. The Governor's Task Force outlines some training recommendations for specialized training. We are well ahead of that in seeking out the School Resource Officer certification programs, both basic and advanced. Mayor Jordan: Dr. Slocum, if you had the choice between social workers or School Resource Officers, which do you prefer? Dr. Megan Slocum: Both. It is all hands on deck. We need as much support as we can get. SRO's are not licensed social workers, but they do a lot of those type of duties. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 29 of 44 Council Member Petty: Do we have any social workers on the Police force staff? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: No, sir we do not. Council Member Petty: Do we have any employees at all who have a job description that exceeds the job description set by the Civil Service Commission? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: As far as education, a good percentage of our officers have Bachelor degrees and some have Masters. We have at least one Juris Doctorate. Those exceed the basic requirements. Council Member Petty: I am getting the impression from the advice that our City Attorney is giving us that we are not able to do more than what is required by the Civil Service Commission. I see our exemplary staff and realize we have hired people with higher qualifications than the Civil Service Commission. It is hard for me to reconcile what I see on the ground and in the staff with what we are being told today. It seems like we are getting an easy no because we are asking for quick action. I can craft a motion that gives us flexibility in case there is something that prevents us legally from imposing this requirement. We should try this. Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: I believe you have admirable goals in this effort. I feel that if you amend this ordinance to require that as a minimum standard for this grant opportunity, I do not believe we will be able to fill those positions. Council Member Petty: Is that due to the speed with which the hiring needs to take place or because you don't think it is possible at all to hire for the requirements? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: It is going to be very difficult to hire with those minimum standards. Council Member Petty: At all? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: It is very complicated. Council Member Petty: We need to try harder. Catherine Snider, Citizen stated data shows that Police officers do not make the community safer. She spoke in opposition of the resolution. Allison Williams, Citizen spoke about statistics on School Resource Officers. She spoke in opposition of the resolution. Sarah Moore, Ward 2 stated unfortunately the federal government has gotten very generous with grant money that they will offer to militarize our different jurisdictions across the country. She spoke in opposition of the resolution. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 30 of 44 Madalyn Porta, Citizen stated she wanted to echo what the other public commenters have said and what Council Member Petty brought up about different ways to go about things. She spoke in opposition of the resolution. Council Member Smith spoke about struggling to separate his role as a representative from his role as a public educator, but decided they can't be separated. He spoke about teaching for 15 years and has had good interactions with School Resource Officers. He stated he has to keep in mind that his experience as a white male adult is not always representative of what his students are feeling from their interactions. He spoke about data being inconclusive. He spoke about the history of SRO's and school shootings across the nation. He requested to know how many officers on the Fayetteville Police Department are non -white. Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: I didn't come prepared to answer that. I would say including, African American, American Indian and Latino, we are probably at 10%. Maybe better than that. Council Member Smith: How many of our School Resource Officers are non -white? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: We have one Latina and perhaps that is all off the top of my head. Council Member Smith spoke about his concerns of representation and the image being put into the schools. He stated he appreciated Council Member Petty's encouragement to increase criteria. He stated if they aren't willing to do it, he doesn't believe he can vote in favor of the resolution. He spoke about making incremental changes. Council Member Petty: Deputy Fields, you have more experience and a better sense of the hiring process than I do. Even though you are skeptical, if we ask you to do this, what does a good faith effort to hire with this extra qualification look like to you? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: Your Police Department is always looking to be progressive and we expect change. You have a progressive and professional Police Department that always seeks to be way ahead of the curve. I feel this would be a nearly impossible task to hire entry level Police Officers with a qualification that they are also licensed counselors. All of our School Resource Officers are crisis intervention trained. As far as licensed counselors, I don't see that as a possibility at this time. I don't know that we have ever had one apply as a Police Officer. I'm not saying we haven't, I just don't remember that being the case. Council Member Petty: You talked about hiring entry level Police Officers, but I was given the impression earlier that we were looking to hire Police Officers with substantial experience to be in our schools. Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: The reason I said this grant opportunity in hiring these two Police Officers for the first four years is largely cost neutral for the city is because we will apply for this grant to hire two new Police Officers. That's entry level Police Officers, but what the 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayettevilie-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 31 of 44 school wants to hire is experienced Police Officers and they pay for that. They pay for a Step H Police Corporal. The difference in that in the hourly rate is quite different. Council Member Petty spoke about his wife being a mental health counselor and had worked at Owl Creek. He stated he knows what the salary expectations are for social workers and mental health counselors and believes that it's comparable or less than an experienced officer. He stated he wanted to make a motion to, "approve the resolution and to make licensure and social work, behavioral or cognitive therapy or a similar qualification a hiring requirement unless strictly prohibited by law or proven unachievable through a good faith hiring effort." There was a brief discussion about the hiring process. Council Member Petty: The motion is to this grant application that's before us and limited to that application under the related hiring. If we are able to hire to meet these qualifications, that we would make this a requirement for all SRO's. Mayor Jordan: We have a grant before us that has certain qualifications. Council Member Petty read his motion again. Mayor Jordan: What you are saying is we look at that and if it's legal to do by law and we can achieve it, then we work toward that. With this one tonight, we have certain specifications on the ground. Correct? Jamie Fields, Deputy Chief of Police: Not hiring specifications for the grant. My concern would be the Civil Service competitive testing component. The Civil Service by state law, Civil Service has competitive testing. Applicants have to meet minimum hiring requirements. Once they meet those requirements, they take a written test. They must then pass a physical fitness requirement and an interview. All of these things amount to points and based on their point system achieved, they are ranked on the Civil Service certified list. The Chief can only hire from the top three from the certified list. What you are proposing, I don't see that it is possible based on Civil Service Commission guidelines or state law. Council Member Petty spoke about hiring someone with a double qualification. Mayor Jordan: That would put the burden on the Civil Service Commission. City Attorney Kit Williams: Right. The Civil Service Commission is pretty much in charge with the hiring and promotion of most officers. Everyone, but the Chief. Mayor Jordan: That is who I hire. Council Member Petty spoke about job boards and job descriptions. He continued to reiterate his earlier statements. He requested a vote for his proposed amendment. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 32 of 44 City Attorney Kit Williams: There should be a motion to amend the resolution to what you want it to say and then a motion to pass the resolution, rather than a motion to pass the resolution and add other stuff to it. I will look at the rules of the Civil Service Commission and state law. I agree with Deputy Chief Fields about how the Civil Service has operated through the many years in setting the minimum standards. They can't be changed overnight. They are the ones that have to change them, rather than the City Council. The Civil Service Commission was established to provide more uniformity for the selection and promotion of our uniformed officers. Council Member Petty: It is very clear, but it sounds like we won't even advertise it this way on a job board. The motion and second seems clear to the Council. If it is not, someone should speak up. It seems like we have a meeting of the minds. Council Member Bunch: The motion sounds reasonable, but I'm not an expert about the Civil Service Commission and the way they do their selection. City Attorney Kit Williams: You can vote on the motion. I will do what I can, looking at what Council Member Petty has applied. I will try to get a more complete answer to the City Council as soon as I have a chance to research this. We have experienced Council Members, as long as a decade or longer with many of these sorts of grant applications that have been approved and Resource Officers added. I am surprised that I did not hear anything through all those years or before this meeting about what was going to be requested so that I had some opportunity to research this and give you a better and more sure answer. I will look at it this week. There was a brief discussion about the wording of the amendment and process of approval. Council Member Petty stated his amendment to say, "licensure and social work, behavioral or cognitive therapy or a similar qualification shall be a hiring requirement unless strictly prohibited by law or proven unachievable through a good faith hiring process." Mayor Jordan: If we pass this tonight and Kit researches it and we can't legally do it, what do we do with the vote? City Attorney Kit Williams: It's fine because the resolution will be passed. I have to look at the law. The law is primarily the law that establishes the city's right to establish the Civil Service Commission and then it tells what the Civil Service Commission can do. It also talks about minimum standards. I don't know if the Civil Service Commission can go beyond these minimum standards, which I hope they can. That is their choice and not the city's choice. Mayor Jordan reiterated what we heard. Council Member Petty moved to amend to "licensure and social work, behavioral or cognitive therapy or a similar qualification shall be a hiring requirement unless strictly prohibited by law or proven unachievable through a good faith hiring process." Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 5-2. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, and Smith voting yes. Council Members Turk and Gutierrez voting no. Council Member Kinion was absent during the vote. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 33 of 44 Council Member Petty reiterated his earlier comments and spoke about hiring requirements and good faith efforts of the amendment. Council Member Turk: I am going to vote for this because we need to have some School Resource Officers. I appreciate the conversation that has been led by Council Member Petty, but I want to make sure we have trained and adequate Police Officers. If we can't find Police Officers with these special skills, we need to keep moving forward. We need to respect our Police force. They have been doing a very good job. We can always do better, but I do not want to hold up this funding. We are setting the bar too high. It is great to strive for this, but I want to make sure these officers are hired. Mayor Jordan stated he agreed with Council Member Turk's statement. He spoke about a lot of citizens who called him two years ago requesting more Police Officers on the trails, Downtown area, and in the schools. He stated the Task Force voted to hire School Resource Officers. He stated these other qualifications can be looked at, but the main thing tonight is to get the School Resource Officers into to the school and protect the students, teachers, and staff. Council Member Smith stated he supported the amendment because the sentiment is better than nothing. He stated he thinks the conversation indicates that it's entirely unlikely to make a difference and doesn't believe they are ready to have a conversation about changing how SRO's operate. He spoke about the system being inflexible and rigid. He spoke about data. He stated they should be looking at how they can make the schools and community better through proven methods, instead of things that feel good to the majority of people that have had a good experience with Police Officers. He spoke about having honest conversations. He stated he would be voting against the resolution. Council Member Kinion was having technical difficulties and was caught up to speed about the topic. Council Member Scroggin stated he will be voting against the resolution. He stated he has an issue with guns in the schools. He spoke about personally supporting the Police Department. He stated part of his platform was trail cops and wants more. He stated he would rather have counselors with the money in the school, instead of counselors with guns. Council Member Gutierrez stated she would be voting against the resolution. She stated they are missing the voice of the people of color that attend the schools. She spoke about data. She stated while she supported the amendment in terms of the spirit of trying hard, she feels it is not going far enough. She spoke about the current climate. She stated she voted for pursuing the grant in March and is trying hard to be more open and aware of the situation outside of herself. Council Member Marsh spoke about struggling with the vote because the school district has asked for the SRO's. She stated there is more violence in the community these days. She stated she believes in the Fayetteville Police Department and the work that they do. She spoke about putting too much responsibility on the backs of the officers. She spoke about preventive measures, mental health resources, and trauma informed care. She stated having more qualified officers would help her support the resolution. She spoke about compensation for officers that have 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 34 of 44 additional training. She spoke about a greater awareness in the community of issue that minorities are facing with Police Officers. Council Member Kinion spoke about having technical difficulties. Council Member Petty reiterated his previous conversation to Council Member Kinion. Council Member Kinion stated there is an opportunity to win the point without diminishing an opportunity the school has asked for. He stated by passing the resolution, they have a compromise that's good compared to the original resolution and can move forward with setting precedent that this is what the expectations are. He stated the experiences in Fayetteville, has to be the experience in Fayetteville, which is not the experience in other areas. He stated he will support the resolution as amended. Council Member Smith: I asked at Agenda Session for local data to compare against the national data and I have not seen that yet. It is hard to know what our experience is here in Fayetteville if we don't collect the data to demonstrate it. Council Member Marsh: I would feel better about this, especially with the amendment we passed if I felt there was more of a commitment to achieving it from the Administration, but I don't sense that. I sense a lot of roadblocks and skepticism that we are capable of achieving that. If there was a deeper commitment to ensuring we were able to meet that additional criteria, I would have more confidence in it and be willing to support it. Council Member Bunch: So many things have changed since we first looked at this in March. We approved applying for the grant in March and the school district is asking us for these SRO's. I hear everyone's comments and I agree with a lot of them, but the best thing we can do is compromise a little and approve the resolution. We will possibly get some change out of the amendment. If we can't accomplish that, then we will know how to better approach it in the future. This amendment was just presented tonight. Deputy Chief Fields has really valid points that she is making, and I don't think she is trying to be evasive. She is speaking from her perspective and is being asked to answer these questions on spur of the moment. I am voting in favor of the resolution. Council Member Petty moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 5-4. Council Members Marsh, Kinion, Bunch, and Turk voting yes. Mayor Jordan voting yes. Council Members Petty, Scroggin, Smith, and Gutierrez voting no. City Attorney Kit Williams stated the resolution as amended passes. Council Member Marsh: I would like to change my vote. Is it possible to do that? Mayor Jordan: Yes. City Attorney Kit Williams: You can move to reconsider since you are in the majority that approved the resolution. Council Member Smith: Is this a vote on the motion to reconsider or a vote on the previous item? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayeneville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 35 of 44 City Attorney Kit Williams: There needs to be a vote on the motion to reconsider first. Council Member Marsh made a motion to reconsider. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-2. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Members Kinion and Turk voting no. Council Member Petty moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution failed 3-5. Council Members Kinion, Bunch, and Turk voting yes. Council Members Marsh, Petty, Scroggin, Smith, and Gutierrez voting no. This Resolution Failed Bid #20-54 CB&I Storage Tank Solutions, LLC: A resolution to award Bid #20-54 and authorize a contract with CB&I Storage Tank Solutions, LLC in the amount of $2,517,000.00 for the construction of a new elevated water storage tank on Gulley Road, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $251,700.00, and to approve a budget adjustment. Tim Nyander, Water & Sewer Utilities Director gave a description of the project and explained this will provide coverage for customers located within an area that runs between East Gulley Rd and the White River, north and south. This also includes customers between Crossover and Habberton Road, east and west. He went on to explain this is the only water source for the Goshen Water System and fire protection. He referenced a decision that was made in 2017 that Utilities set aside $2,688,000 for this storage tank. Council Member Marsh: I have a question, but it is not about this issue. I would like to change my vote on the previous item. (Please see previous item for further discussion and decision of the vote.) Tom Terminella: Is this money coming from the General Fund or is it coming from the Water and Sewer fund? Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer: Water and Sewer Fund. Tom Terminella: Is the location of the tank in or out of the city limits of Fayetteville? Tim Nyander: It is in our service area. Tom Terminella: Is it primarily needed because of the demand of the adjoining city is putting on us? Doesn't Goshen have an issue with lack of service/lack of volume? Tim Nyander: Well, it is not Goshen. Goshen is growing, but our first lack of volume is on Sassafras Hill Road. Since this is all within service area it is our responsibility to keep everyone serviced. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 36 of 44 Tom Terminella: So, we going to be asking the citizens to pay $2.7 million dollars so we can provide adequate water service to people outside the city limits in another municipality? Tim Nyander: No, if you heard the Gulley pressure point goes to Crossover to Habberton. Then from East Gulley to the White River. Tom Terminella: So, primarily that whole region is outside the City of Fayetteville. My recommendation would be to annex all of that property so we could fully take advantage of the tax base to offset the $2.7 million dollars that we are asking the citizens to pay for. I don't understand why we would be spending $2.7 million dollars and not asking for any participation from the people that are getting the benefit. City Attorney Kit Williams: Actually, the people that are getting the benefit are paying for this. It is the rate payers who have paid into the funds who are paying for this. They include citizens of Fayetteville but also everyone that is within our water district, which is very large as you know. It is the rate payers that are paying for this and not the citizens and the rate payers are getting the benefits. Paul Becker: Those are very accurate comments. We are talking about this being funded by the rate payers or the users of the water system. These are not strictly citizens of Fayetteville. These are all the rate payers to the system. Tom Terminella: I am just questioning do we have the money in a time of declining sales tax collection and sinking revenues. $2.7 million dollars is a very large amount of money. If we are servicing the whole eastern region of this county and they are not within the annex boundaries of Fayetteville, that needs to be looked at. Mayor Jordan: Please keep in mind that the rate payers are paying for the water tank. Council Member Kinion spoke about the comments that had been made. He spoke about the fact that the money had already been set aside and the rate payers would be paying. Council Member Scroggin: Is there still land that needs to be purchased on this project? Tim Nyander: No, there are easements to be purchased. As far as the tank is concerned, it is on city property. Council Member Scroggin: To make this work, I believe you have to buy more land or get an easement. I believe the land you are purchasing I've had a financial interest with that person. I assume I need to recuse. Tim Nyander: This is just for the tank project only. The line work will be a different project that will be brought before the Council. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 37 of 44 City Attorney Kit Williams: I don't think you need to recuse. You can if you want because there is a tenuous link to another project that is going to be made possible by this. To be very careful, it might not be a bad idea to recuse. Council Member Smith: I understand the need to keep the quality of service up for existing rate payers out there. What does this do for capacity? Is this going to produce enough excess capacity out there to stimulate growth? Tim Nyander: This is a match in the old tank. I've got 750,000-gallon tanks now. It will provide adequate fire flow for future growth. Council Member Gutierrez moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Members Marsh, Kinion, Petty, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Scroggin recused. Resolution 206-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk 2021 Employee Benefits Package: A resolution to approve the 2021 Employee Benefits Package. Missy Cole, Human Resources Director spoke about the plan design, utilization, and rate structures on benefit offerings. She gave a detailed description of the percentages that the benefits will increase by. Tom Terminella: Since the Pandemic hit, has there been any furlough of any essential or non- essential staff employee for the City of Fayetteville? How many employees do we currently have at the City of Fayetteville? Mayor Jordan: No essential staff has been furloughed. Tom Terminella: There has been no staff reduction or furloughs since the Pandemic hit? Missy Cole: We have held off on hiring temporary seasonal staff and those types of things. Tom Terminella: What is the number of full-time employees receiving benefits with the City of Fayetteville? Missy Cole: We have 765 eligible full-time benefit employees. Tom Terminella: Excuse me for being repetitive. Nobody has been furloughed and City Hall remains closed? Missy Cole: We have not furloughed any of our full-time staff. That is correct. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 38 of 44 Tom Terminella: Do we have an understanding of when City Hall will reopen, and staff will get back to their offices? Nlayor Jordan: Maybe when the Pandemic ends. City Attorney Kit Williams: City Hall is closed to the public. However, many of us come to City Hall and work every day. We don't have all the employees here. For example, I have one of my employees working from home, but my other employee is here working with me. City Hall is closed to the public, but employees still come into work. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. And maintain rigorous work schedules that we go over weekly. don't believe there is any city function not being conducted. Tom Terminella: Yes ma'am. I understand and I have friends in different departments in the city and they haven't seen their department heads in months. I am just curious when we are going to get back to some normalcy of the city employees and city staff being back in their positions and City Hall being back open to the public. Mayor Jordan: Tom, do you have anything else? Tom Terminella: I am just curious to when we are going to get back to opening things up, social distancing, and wearing masks. I am concerned with no furloughs and the direction this sales tax and business climate is here in Fayetteville we are going to be in trouble. Council Member Gutierrez moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Petty seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed unanimously. Resolution 207-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Stonebrook Acquisitions, LLC: An ordinance to waive formal competitive bidding and approve a cost share agreement with Stonebrook Acquisitions, LLC for the installation of a 36-inch storm sewer with a refund in an amount not to exceed $165,829.60 to be paid by the City of Fayetteville for the cost of improvements that exceed the rough proportionality of the impact of the development, and to approve a project contingency in the amount of $25,000.00. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Chris Brown, City Engineer spoke about the project and explained issues with when large amounts of rain are received this causes drainage issues. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 39 of 44 Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6344 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk VAC 20-7136 (North of 310 S. Willow Ave./NWA Custom Homes): An ordinance to approve VAC 20-7136 for property located at 310 South Willow Avenue to vacate a portion of street right- of-way. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director spoke about the right-of-way at Willow and MLK BLVD. He went on to say that the applicant has requested to use this extra right-of-way. Garner also explained that the City of Fayetteville owns this right-of-way. He stated that if City Council vacated this request it would be the colored portion on the map he displayed via zoom. Blake Jorgensen, ESI: I am with ESI and I would be happy to answer any questions the Council has. Council Member Turk: The proposed ordinance we have before us is the one that was approved by the Planning Commission, that actually grants more of the right-of-way to the applicant. Is that correct? Garner Stoll: Yes. Typically, the City Attorney writes the ordinance according to the applicant request. City Attorney Kit Williams: I think we can amend it that way. If Planning has an exhibit, that would be able to be used both for the legal description and the map. Can you get this to me tomorrow? Garner Stoll: Yes, we do have an exhibit. City Attorney Kit Williams: The amendment would be the new Exhibit A that would reflect the Planning Department's recommendation. Council Member Turk: Yes, that is correct. Garner Stoll: I may have to have GIS amend this Exhibit A, but that can be easily done. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 40 of 44 Council Member Turk moved to amend the ordinance to have the greater right-of-way that is recommended by City Staff. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Gutierrez 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 Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. Ordinance 6345 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk VAC 20-7137 (1468 S. Coopers Cove/Tharp-Cavanaugh): An ordinance to approve VAC 20- 7137 for property located at 1468 South Coopers Cove to vacate a portion of a general utility easement. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director spoke about the project and explained that this is a vacant lot. He went on to say the Planning Commission and City Staff recommend approval. Council Member Petty moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Scroggin seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Gutierrez: Garner, under the recommendations, it says that any damage or relocation of existing facilities will be at the applicant's expense. Are you asking for us to amend to add that? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 41 of 44 Garner Stoll: That is in the ordinance. It is a border plate condition. I don't believe there are any utilities in this easement. This border plate condition is included in all vacations to cover ourselves. Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Scroggin seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. Ordinance 6346 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk RZN 20-7149 (NW of Old Missouri Rd. & Joyce Blvd./Trails at Paradise Apts): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-7149 for approximately 0.34 acres located Northwest of Old Missouri Road and Joyce Boulevard from CS, Community Services to RMF-24, Residential Multi Family, 24 units per acre. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director spoke about the project to accommodate one building in the apartment complex. He went on to say this would be added to RMF-24 so that the building can meet the setback requirements. Berry Williams, Crafton Tull: Tom was unable to attend the meeting tonight. I am here to represent the project should you have any questions. Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. 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 Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 42 of 44 Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote. Ordinance 6347 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Amend Chapter 120: Real Estate Sale and Leasing Regulations: An ordinance to amend Chapter 120: Real Estate Sale and Leasing Regulations by enacting § 120.02 Landlord's Representative Registry to require all landlords leasing more than two residential properties to provide accurate contact information. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Turk spoke about why she brought this item forward. She mentioned the difficulty her neighbors have had and the personal experience she has gone through with difficulty in getting through to a landlord. Council Member Scroggin: What is the reason that the overnight rentals are excluded? I actually get more people complaining about that than I do for long-term renters. Council Member Turk: My rationale would be that we are going to have a discussion about short-term rentals in the future. I didn't want to mix that up. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director: We presently require business licenses for three and above. We have the mechanism to collect this information and then harvest it out of Energov to create the registry. We would not have that ability for short-term rentals until that ordinance is passed. The ordinance did contemplate asking them to get a business license so that they could be added. Council Member Gutierrez: Teresa, why don't we go ahead and get the registry for everyone. Why two and more? Because if you have that issue with that one person that only has one piece of property. That is still causing a 911 call when we could have reached out to the landlord. I want to understand where that rationale came from. Council Member Turk: I would love to have every landlord on the registry, but we don't require a business license if they just have one rental property. I would like to start here and maybe there is a way to expand it in the future because I completely agree with you. Council Member Gutierrez: I think this is an amazing thing. Thank you, Council Member Turk for bringing this forward. I have been a renter for almost 30 years here in Fayetteville. This could have been super helpful for different reasons. I always had access to my landlord, but not necessarily to the ones next door. I think it can help a lot of people, so I appreciate that. Council Member Smith: Mayor, I hope we will hold it here tonight. I have some messages from folks, and it is late. They would like to consider this when we have a fresher brain. I have some 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 43 of 44 concerns about the four -county limit and whether that is wide enough for the folks that may own a small number of properties and service them themselves without forcing them to now have staff. City Attorney Kit Williams: We can just hold this on the first reading. I did notice a typo, in subsection A. It says Washington, Benton, or Madison County. It should say Washington, Benton, Crawford, or Madison County like it does later. I ask that you amend subsection A to include Crawford County. Council Member Turk moved to amend the ordinance to include Crawford County. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, and Gutierrez voting yes. Council Member Marsh was absent during the vote Council Member Turk: I would like to hold this. It is very late at night and I do not want to rush anything like this ordinance through. I would like people to be fresh and able to discuss it and be `able to be aware of it. This ordinance was left on the First Reading. Amend §171.02 Minimum Street Standards, 2020 Edition: An ordinance to amend §171.02 General Provisions and adopt the Minimum Street Standards, 2020 Edition, and to amend various provisions in Chapter 151 Definitions, Chapter 166 Development, Chapter 171 Streets and Sidewalks, and Chapter 172 Parking and Loading of the Unified Development Code to be consistent with the changes in the City's Master Street Plan. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Chris Brown, City Engineer spoke about if these changes are made, they will match up to the Master Street Plan. He talked about updating the nomenclature to adhere to best practices. Chris provided a breakdown of the timeline of this item and the changes in the fees. Council Member Turk: Chris, I want to re -confirm that everything that's in this proposal tonight is just an update with the exception of those two items you mentioned. The change in the procedure and then the fee. Is that accurate? Chris Brown: With regard to the UDC amendments, yes, those are the only changes other than updating names. The minimum street standards document, there are other changes. We have added chapters and made other changes. We typically require a traffic study for certain size developments, but we did not have a chapter in the minimum street standards that provide guidance and requirements when that was required. We would often receive questions like, "Why are you making me do a traffic study? How can you make me do that?" This has added a chapter about when it is required and what the requirements are. That is one of the bigger changes in the minimum street standards document. This ordinance was left on the First Reading. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Page 44 of 44 Announcements: None City Council Agenda Session Presentations: None ,`�����rrrrrrrr,, C\jRKi Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer I'gYET-rEVI<<E ; �= SON it'Ov,`��s 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov