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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-12-21 - Minutes -Council Member Sonia Harvey Ward 1 Position I Council Member D"Andre Jones Ward I Position 2 Council Member Mark Kinion Ward 2 Position 1 Vacant Ward 2 Position 2 Mayor Lioneld Jordan City Attorney Kit Williams City Clerk Kara Paxton City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Meeting December 7, 2021 City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 1 of 29 Council Member Sloan Scroggin Ward 3 Position I Council Member Sarah Bunch Ward 3 Position 2 Council Member Teresa Turk Ward 4 Position I Council Member Holly Hertzberg Ward 4 Position 2 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on December 7, 2021 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 D'Andre Jones, Mark Kinion, Sloan Scroggin, and Teresa Turk joined the meeting via online using a video conferencing service called Zoom. Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Council Member Holly Hertzberg, Council Member Bunch, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, Chief of Police Mike Reynolds, Fire Chief Brad Hardin and staff members from the IT Department were present in City Council Chambers while demonstrating recommended social distancing. Absent: Council Member Sonia Harvey Pledge of Allegiance Mayor's Announcements, Proclamations and Recognitions: Mayor Jordan: If our City Council business is not complete by 9:30 pm, we are going to recess to join the Fayetteville Police Department in a Last Call honoring Officer Stephen Carr, whose death was at 9:41 pm on December 7, 2019. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 2 of 29 UCI Bike City Designation Award Presentation: Molly Rawn, Experience Fayetteville presented the UCI Bike City Designation Award to Mayor Jordan. She stated the award is given to cities around the world and since it began only 20 cities have received this designation. She stated Fayetteville is the only one in the United States and only one of two in North America. She stated this award is given to cities that not only host major UCI cycling events, but also cities that have shown a track record of investing in cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and community cycling initiatives. Mayor Jordan: Thank you, Molly. It is a great honor for the city. Award Recognizing Former A&P Commissioner Robert Rhoads: Council Member Bunch presented an A&P Commissioner Award to Robert Rhoads. She stated Mr. Rhoads exemplifies the term, public servant. She stated he has served on the Fayetteville City Council, but it is in his capacity as a long standing member of the Advertising & Promotion Committee that we honor him. He has a cumulative of 10 years and during this time our city saw unprecedented growth and a global pandemic. She stated his wisdom and guidance have proved invaluable in helping set the city on a pathway for years to come. Robert Rhoads: My foster parents said you take a lot out of a community and you should put something back into it. My foster parents volunteered for a lot of things and I have tried to follow that. Thank you. City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items: Monthly Financial Report Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer gave a summary of the Monthly Financial Report. He stated the city's revenue was strong. He stated year to date, sales tax is up 15.5% compared to the prior year. He stated all in all, the city is up 12% in the General Fund for the year. He stated it has been a strong year for the City of Fayetteville, which was factored into the 2022 Budget. Council Member Turk: To date, are we up on our budget? You made an estimate at the Agenda Session about the current budget for this year. How much in excess are we for 2021 ? Paul Becker: We are in excess of $6 million. As far as sales tax is concerned, we are up a little more than that. Our budget estimates look very strong for next year. Agenda Additions: None 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 3 of 29 Consent: Approval of the November 16, 2021 City Council Meeting Minutes. APPROVED Police Department Policy 16.2.3 Temporary Light Duty: A resolution to approve Fayetteville Police Department Policy 16.2.3 Temporary Light Duty. Resolution 289-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Police Parking Lot Security: A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $100,000.00 to pay for additional fencing, lighting and other security improvements to the city owned parking lots at the corner of Block Avenue and Rock Street. Resolution 290-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Garver, LLC Amendment No. 1 - 2019 Transportation Bond: A resolution to approve Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Engineering Services Agreement with Garver, LLC in the amount of $976,235.00 for additional design services associated with the South School Avenue and College Avenue Corridor Improvements Project, and to approve a budget adjustment - 2019 Transportation Bond. Resolution 291-21 as recorded in the oft<ce of the City Clerk Community Access Television, Inc. d/b/a Your Media: A resolution to approve a contract with Community Access Television, Inc. d/b/a Your Media in the amount of $198,500.00 for the provision of public access television services and the operation of the public access television channel through 2022, contingent on approval of the 2022 Annual City Budget and Work Program. Resolution 292-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Airport Rescue Grant: A resolution to authorize the acceptance of an Airport Rescue Grant from the Federal Aviation Administration in the amount of $59,000.00, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 293-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Graybar Electric Company, Inc.: A resolution to approve the purchase of electrical, lighting, data communications and security products and related products, services and solutions from Graybar Electric Company, Inc., pursuant to an Omnia Partners Cooperative purchasing contract, on an as -needed basis through January 31, 2023, and any future renewal periods. Resolution 294-21 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 December 7, 2021 Page 4 of 29 Budget Adjustment for Water and Sewer Construction Materials: A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $140,000.00 for water distribution construction materials and water and sewer connections construction materials for the remainder of 2021. Resolution 295-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Bid # 21-77 Goins Enterprises, Inc.: A resolution to award Bid # 21-77 and authorize a contract with Goins Enterprises, Inc. in the amount of $788,000.00 for construction of approximately 2,600 feet of 8 inch and smaller waterlines for the South Garland Avenue Waterline Replacement Project, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $157,600.00, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 296-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Vac -Con Titan Dual Engine Sewer Cleaning Truck: A resolution to approve the purchase of a Vac -Con Titan Dual Engine Sewer Cleaning Truck from Vac -Con, Inc. in the amount of $499,784.00 plus any applicable delivery charges, pursuant to a Houston -Galveston Area Council cooperative Purchasing contract, for use by the Utilities Department. Resolution 297-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Cues, Inc. Ford F550 Box Truck with Sewer Inspection Camera: A resolution to approve the purchase of a Ford F550 Box Truck with sewer inspection camera from Cues, Inc. in the amount of $287,970.00 plus any applicable delivery charges, pursuant to a Houston -Galveston Area council cooperative purchasing contract, for use by the Utilities Department, and to approve a budget adjustment. Resolution 298-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Parks and Recreation Department Donation Revenue: A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the total amount of $14,681.00 recognizing donation revenue from citizens and local businesses to the Parks and Recreation Department. Resolution 299-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Lushbaugh Holdings, LLC: A resolution to approve an Agreement for Easements with Lushbaugh Holdings, LLC as well as Parking and Access, Sidewalk, and Temporary Construction and Grading Easements for property located at 418 West Meadow Street associated with the West Avenue Streetscapes Improvement Project. Resolution 300-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Boston Mountain Solid Waste District Memorandum of Understanding: A resolution to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with Boston Mountain Solid Waste District in the amount of $24,000.00 for the collection of household hazardous waste in Fayetteville in 2022. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 5 of 29 Resolution 301-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Certified Local Government Grant: A resolution to authorize an application for a Certified Local Government Grant in the amount of $60,000.00 through the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program to complete a community wide preservation plan and a cultural resource survey of the University Heights and Haskell Heights Neighborhoods. Resolution 302-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk PPL-2021-018 (3855 W. Weir Rd./Magnolia Park SD PH. III & IV): A resolution pursuant to § 166.04(b)(2) of the Fayetteville Unified Development Code to approve the dedication of a reduced amount of right of way for internal residential link streets associated with Phases 3 and 4 of the Magnolia Park Subdivision by approximately two feet to provide for five-foot sidewalks to match previous phases of the subdivision, and to reduce the master street plan right of way dedication for these internal streets. Resolution 303-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Express the Intent of the City Council to Sell Approximately 0.25 Acres: A resolution to express the intent of the City Council to sell approximately 0.25 acres of city property located at 900 South Hollywood Avenue. Resolution 304-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Johnson Re -Zoning Approval: A resolution pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 14-56- 306(b) agreeing to a change in zoning from A-1 Agricultural to H-C Highway Corridor and l-I Light Industrial for property located in the City of Johnson that adjoins the City of Fayetteville. Resolution 305-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Council Member Bunch moved to accept the Consent Agenda as read. Council Member Hertzberg seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. Unfinished Business: ANX-2021-003 (South of 2936 S. Black Oak Rd./Riverside Village): An ordinance to annex that property described in annexation petition ANX 21-003 submitted by Rausch Coleman Homes, Inc. for property located south of 2936 South Black Oak Road containing approximately 101.77 acres. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Scroggin seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 6 of 29 Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He spoke about the intended connection of the St. Paul Trail through the Commerce Park across the West Fork of the White River and on eastward to Dead Horse Mountain Road. He spoke about the impact of the sanitary sewer impacts that this project could potentially have on the city's network. He stated the Utility Department's recommendation is that when a development is submitted here, that they provide an addendum or additional study for FTN, which is the city's sanitary sewer consultant, to evaluate what upgrades, if any would be necessary to make that connection. He spoke about parkland. He stated using the city's parkland dedication ratio, approximately five acres of parkland dedication would be required. He stated beyond that is what the applicant proposes as donation, which totals about 28 acres and altogether equals about a third of the overall 100 acre property. He stated he contacted the state about an archaeological survey, and they shared that the survey was not currently available for public release. He stated there are some standards whether these can or cannot be released to the public. He stated it's based on the property owner. He stated staff is recommending approval of both the annexation and associated Planned Zoning District. He stated the Planning Commission recommended forwarding it to Council with a vote of 8-1. Jesse Fulcher, Applicant for Rausch Coleman stated in regard to the archaeological survey, they found two areas of some remnant arrowhead tool type items in the fields and in the woods. He stated those are documented in the survey. He stated it says that the project proposed on the site could move forward, as long as they didn't disturb those areas. He stated we're not going to get into those areas and will make sure those remain in the parkland area. He spoke about utilizing gravity sewer. He spoke about this being a deliberately designed project. He spoke about streams. He spoke about infill, housing type styles and price points. Melissa Lee, Executive Broker and Attorney with NWA Real Estate Solutions stated she represents the southern sellers of the 51.2 acres. She spoke about the need of affordable housing and the low inventory of homes in Fayetteville. Theresa Pockrus, Representing the Trustee of the Southern part stated Fayetteville needs affordable housing. She stated approving the annexation and rezoning these 110 acres will allow such housing to be built in Fayetteville. Council Member Turk: Thank you to the applicant and Jonathan for the tour. We got a chance to see exactly where the houses were going to go and see the natural landscape and features. It did not seem to me that there were any prairie mounds out there. I understand there have not been any endangered species, rare plants or anything like that discovered in that area. I appreciate the archaeological report. That gives me a lot more comfort there was a survey conducted and some sites found, but not in the area where they're proposing to build. I found that the preservation of the approximately 30 acres out there, that will link up with the parkland is wonderful, because that will help preserve the West Fork of the White River. The city will own that, and it will be a great connectivity to already city own parkland. Because of those things, even though it had a very low 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 7 of 29 infill score. I'll be supporting annexation of this land and also of the proposed development. The applicant took the natural features and landscape into consideration when they were designing it. I appreciate that and want to encourage other developers to do the same thing. Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. Ordinance 6510 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk RPZD-2021-004: (South of 2936 S. Black Oak Rd./Riverside Village): An ordinance to approve a Residential Planned Zoning District entitled R-PZD 2021-004 for approximately 101.77 acres located south of 2936 South Black Oak Road to allow the development of 2.2 acres for commercial and multi -family residential uses and 97.8 acres for single-family to four -family residential uses and parkland/open space. Council Member Bunch moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Hertzberg seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director stated he was available for questions. Jesse Fulcher, Applicant for Rausch Coleman stated he was available for questions. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 8 of 29 Ordinance 6511 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Adopt the 2022 Annual Budget and Work Program: A resolution to adopt the 2022 Annual Budget and Work Program. Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer gave a brief description of the resolution. He stated this budget is the operating budget for 2022 and does not include bond carry over money. He stated this operating budget is $190.7 million at this point in time. He stated it's up $19 million compared to last year. He stated $7 million is in personnel and personnel associated costs. He stated we did not have a salary increase in 2020, so we had two increases in 2021. He stated we had a retention program for Police because we want to be competitive with the rest of the region and country. He stated it also includes 24.3 new positions that we had been considering for quite a while. He stated we're also increasing some of the capital programs we are anticipating for the year. He stated we're able to put forward an extra $1 million for sidewalks. He stated we're also looking at increasing the street overlay program to $2 million based on a study two years ago. He stated it also gets our trail program up to $1.5 million. He spoke about competitive wages and a salary survey. He stated we've put roughly $1 million into the salary contingency in the General Fund. He stated we discussed the YRCC at the Agenda Session, where we talked about funding to it and what we are trying to do to expand YRCC. Council Member Turk: I'd like to make an amendment to the budget. Three weeks ago, City Council passed the Climate Resiliency Master Plan. There were two components. The first one was $100,000 to complete a master plan, if needed. The second component was to develop a Capital Improvement Fund for the green space acquisition or conservation easement acquisition fund. That is not currently in the proposed 2022 Budget. I'd like to make an amendment to add the $100,000 that was contained within the resolution that was passed to the 2022 Budget. Mayor Jordan: You want to amend the budget to add a $100,000 a year for land acquisition? Is that correct? Council Member Turk: Correct. Council Member Kinion: This is not that much when you look at the budget as a whole, but we already are running a deficit in the budget. I am taking pause to consider it. I know a budget is not set in stone, and if we have the opportunity in the future to purchase some land that's appropriate, then we can always come back and revisit the budget. If we allocate the $100,000 in the budget, then it just puts us a little bit more in a deficit. If I could find a place to take some of the $100,000 from another place, that I think is excessive, then I would be more comfortable with it. Council Member Turk: This is why I wanted to find out where we were with the 2021 Budget. So, we're $6 million ahead for 2021. For $100,000, you cannot really do much with $100,000, but that could go to conservation easement funding. This is setting up a savings account, so when these opportunities present themselves and when we have sensitive lands we need to acquire, at least there's an area we can go to take funds from. Citizens and other nonprofits could have a place to 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 9 of 29 donate funds. Right now, we don't have a place where citizens or organizations can donate funds for land conservation or easements. This is trying to look into the future and plan. Council Member Kinion: I agree with your points. If the opportunity comes along, we always have the opportunity to come back to City Council with some specifics and numbers. What do you get with a $100,000? You have a place marker in a budget. I don't understand why this place marker has a place for other people to contribute. I think that would need to come through a 501(c)(3). Paul Becker: The issue right now is we don't have a place identified. The City Council has one or two choices. If you amend the budget, that's your prerogative at this point in time. Everything in the 2022 Budget is an estimate. Once we get into 2022, we'll see what the actual revenues are at that point. If we see that the revenue report supports an additional $100,000, we can make a motion to amend the budget at that time. We will also be revisiting the Capital Improvement Plan in 2022 and could look at it then. Council Member Kinion: I absolutely support the concept behind this amendment. I am always going to be ready to move forward, after we see what we have at the end of the year. With the budget we have in front of us right now, I feel confident it's a good budget. Even if it's just $100,000, it is more of a deficit and it doesn't mean that much to the preservation as a whole. I would like to see us have a plan and a vision, although I know Council Member Turk has a vision because of her wisdom in that area. Our budget is a guideline. We will have the opportunity to bring this up again when we look at the Capital Improvements. Regretfully, I am not able to support this change. Council Member Bunch: Council Member Turk, you alluded to this operating as a savings account and would rollover to the next year. Do you have any ideas in place about how this would operate? How application would be made to this? How we would determine what is a qualifying property to purchase with this money? I don't think you get much right now in our current economy for a $100,000. Maybe if it rolled over for five years. I don't quite understand how this is going to work, to be applied for properties to purchase. Council Member Turk: I'm open to discussion and ideas. Once the Climate Resiliency Master Plan that you all agreed to fund and is within the existing budget right now, there will be high priority properties identified. They'll be updated. There's already a lot of information about that, but there's no real implementation. Implementation means we need to have some funding. Before I was a City Council Member, I advocated for the city to purchase certain properties, which I was told there was no funding available. I don't want us to have an opportunity and then there's no funding available to purchase some of those high value properties or put conservation easements on there, which is a much better strategy to partner with other organizations, rather than doing an outright purchase. I'm hoping we develop this savings account for conservation easement. When a property becomes available, I don't want to tell citizens we don't have any money in the budget or we're operating at a deficit. Instead, we say we've got a little bit of money over here that can be used for that, and maybe we can partner with other organizations or state agencies in order to obtain that conservation easement on a property. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 10 of 29 Council Member Bunch: You are asking us to vote to come up with this $100,000 without actually having a plan for it. We'll adapt that later on as we get more information on the survey that's being done. Is that correct? Council Member Turk: That's correct and, in the decision making process too. Council Member Hertzberg: Would this be a part of every budget or would we have to approve this every year? What would we do with excess funds if it wouldn't be able to roll over? Can we pull them out if we need something else or do you have a plan for that? Council Member Turk: In talking with Paul, putting it in a CIP would allow it to roll over every year, so it wouldn't go away. Every year, I believe the city because of the resolution that you all passed a few weeks ago, that money would be deposited in there. We could take it out if we have a deficit or reason not to put it in there because the budget gets approved by the City Council every year. I don't think that locks the city or Council in perpetuity. It could always be taken out, but the intent would be that it would be there every year in the budget. Council Member Hertzberg: I love the idea that you have. This would be a good project, but I'm leaning more towards what Council Member Kinion is concerned about. Mayor Jordan: It's not like we've never bought any land around here. We bought Kessler Mountain, which was about 400 acres. What did we pay for that? City Attorney Kit Williams: About $3 million. Mayor Jordan: We also bought Centennial Park, which is 228 acres. City Attorney Kit Williams: It was slightly less than that, but a lot of this was because the Walton Family Foundation loaned us the money for Centennial and paid half of it. They also helped us on Kessler. Mayor Jordan: That's right. What we've done when the reserve got healthy enough, and these opportunities came along, then we felt like we were investing in preserving property in the city. We preserved around 1,200 acres in the last seven years in this city. I want the public to know that. Council Member Scroggin: I've got some issues with this. Either it's going to go around us and then City Council doesn't get to vote on it or someone else is going to get to decide what to do with the money. I've got some concerns about denoting $100,000 without any metrics of what it's going to be. When I see citizens asking for the city to buy land, it's not really for conservation. It's to prevent houses around them, which is totally against the 2040 Plan. I haven't seen a lot of people say, there's a sensitive area. It seems like the only sensitive areas are around houses. We have had no problem buying land and if there's opportunities there. I trust the Council to act on those. Council Member Kinion: Council Member Turk, I appreciate you bringing this out to the forefront, and may we not forget it. It is your insight and knowledge in this area that has brought it forward, and I do appreciate that a great deal. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page i I of 29 Council Member Turk moved to amend the 2022 Budget to add $100,000 for land acquisitions. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion failed 2- 4. Council Members Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion and Scroggin voting no. Council Member Harvey was absent. Council Member Jones: What did we decide to do, concerning YRCC? Paul Becker: Currently, the additional money we're talking about is not in the budget. If you want to discuss that, it would require an amendment by the Council. We have funded the YRCC, roughly $250,000 this year. We currently have in the budget .6 FTE to expand the program and we have $1 million in Capital Funds to expand the facility. We are looking to expand some of the operations at the YRCC in the future, however, not at this point in time. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. We are very well aware of some potential programming additions that we want to work with the Friends of YRCC to make sure we establish, especially in anticipation of the expanded facility. We are not going to try to explain it any further. Allison Jumper, Parks & Recreation Director gave a presentation of where we stand. We look forward to working with the YRCC. Paul Becker: I want to make one thing very clear from the staff and administration viewpoint, we want to thank the partnership that we do have with the Friends of the YRCC. They've been great partners. We've worked well together and value their input. Council Member Jones: I don't remember exactly how we needed to proceed. I do remember the presentation last week and I'm very grateful for it. I didn't know if we needed to do anything else. Mayor Jordan: Council Member Jones, about anything the YRCC has asked of me over the years, I've tried my very best to do for them. I know you talked about extra money for some other services and I know Susan has been working on that with Quinn. We're open to meeting that need and I've never really denied the YRCC in the things they have needed in the past. City Attorney Kit Williams: Council Member Jones, to get this before the Council, you would need to make a motion to amend the budget to add the amount that you were talking about. Council Member Jones: I thought I did that the last time, and so I didn't know if we needed to go back and do it again. Susan Norton: I recall we had the discussion last time. I don't recall that you made a motion or got a second. Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer: I would have to go back and take a look at the Roll Call, review the video and the Minutes for that. I know that Council Member Jones did bring up and say he wanted to look into, or he said, I want to amend in order to have an additional $45,000. However, Chief of Staff Susan Norton came up and started talking about the different things that happen between YRCC and the communication. At that point, there was no second and there was no Roll Call done on that. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 12 of 29 City Attorney Kit Williams: To make it much cleaner, Council Member Jones, it'd be good for you to go ahead and move again your amendment that you want to have to the budget that is before the Council. Council Member Jones: Let's say tonight, if the motion isn't made, we can visit this again in the future. Correct? Mayor Jordan: Yes. City Attorney Kit Williams: This is the Council's budget, and so the Council often is asked throughout the year to amend the budget. You can do that any time throughout the year at any City Council meeting. You can make a motion to amend the budget and with a second, that would be heard and considered by the City Council. Mayor Jordan: From what I understand from my Chief of Staff, she's been in discussion about the plan. Susan Norton: That's right, Mayor. What I said the last time and what I want to make sure everyone understands, is the anticipated additional staffing for programming, we believe, will come sometime this year when we have been in negotiation and through the survey process, we have with the community about the expansion of the YRCC. In working with the Friends of the YRCC, we want to identify the priorities for that additional staffing. We stand ready to continue to work on that and bring something back as soon as we have a fully agreed upon plan. Mayor Jordan: It's not like it's going to go away. Council Member Jones: Okay, I was just wanting to make sure. Mayor Jordan: After Susan works through the plan, we will be bringing something back. We are not going to forget. Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer: For clarification purposes, if Council Member Jones did bring that back, would it be a walk-on item that would go through your office, if you wanted to amend the budget at a later date? City Attorney Kit Williams: That is one possibility. It also can be that any Council Member can get with staff or Paul and say, I want to bring an amendment to the budget back. It can go through a normal process. It doesn't have to be walked -on. It is just like any other resolution they want to present. They can bring it back at basically almost any meeting that we are going to have next year. Paul Becker: What we are talking about as we look at that, staff working with the YRCC, I would assume it would come through the administration and then we'll go forward from there, unless the administration chooses not to support it. We've always been supportive of YRCC. It would be the normal channels. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviiie-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 13 of 29 Sarah Moore, Co -Founder of Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition requested to know if there's any ability within the current budget or what is the conversation in regard to paying off the $4 million bond debt early. She stated many times, this kind of bond debt, given the current rates are very low interest. She stated if we leave it in the budget the way it exists today, if that money will be absolutely gone and we'll make a payment on January I st or at some close point into 2022 or if there's the ability to put that to a side account to have greater conversations within the community about the Yvonne Richardson Center and crisis response teams. She requested to know if there's a mechanism about putting the $4 million to the side in some way if we're going to move forward with this budget, so that we have the ability in the future to talk about staffing needs or program needs as we go into 2022. Paul Becker: Unfortunately, I did not make one thing clear to the Council. $4 million worth of debt service that we're going to reduce the bonds earlier, that's in the dedicated sales tax passed by referendum by the citizens of Fayetteville. We can't do anything else with that but call bonds. So, that's not available to defer or use for anything else. Council Member Hertzberg moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Scroggin seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. Resolution 306-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk New Business: Water and Sewer Operations Division Employees Retention Pay Plan: A resolution to approve a retention pay plan for Water and Sewer Operations Division employees who serve in a public health and safety capacity. Tim Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief description of the resolution. He spoke about the challenges that the Utilities Department is having with recruitment and retention. He spoke about having a safety and emergency situation because the division will not be able to keep up with the current pace indefinitely. He spoke about the amount overtime that current employees are working. He stated employees are not getting the chance to recharge. He stated the private sector is pulling experienced employees away from the city by offering more incentives and pay. He stated the current pay we start our employees out at, is not lucrative enough for anybody to even apply for the positions. He spoke about the market changing so rapidly right now. He stated we are about to reach a point where customers won't have safe drinking water and sewer service consistently. He spoke about the positions being affected to address the emergency and safety situation. He spoke meeting with all current employees and the 2022 Pay Plan. He stated we do have the funds available in our payroll because we have been shorthanded for so long. He stated the Water & Sewer Committee voted 3 to 0 to forward it Council with a recommendation for approval. Mayor Jordan: It went to the Water & Sewer Committee and you met with all of your employees before going forward with this? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 14 of 29 Tim Nyander: It went to the Water & Sewer Committee on November 9, 2021 and they did a 3 to 0 vote to forward it to Council with their recommendation for approval. Yes, I met with employees. Council Member Hertzberg: I've gotten several emails from employees who were concerned about the fact that the raises would not be for the entire staff. Can you speak to that and is there any way you could even out the increase, so that everyone could get a raise? Tim Nyander: This wasn't a paper performance, type of raise for all of our employees. That is what we do the pay studies for. We are in unprecedented times, and this is an unprecedented move that we have asked for. We are trying to retain those employees that are doing the repair maintenance on our water system. We have to reduce our water loss and keep our customers in service. All of our employees do great work, but we're looking at stopping an emergency situation and a safety issue. We have to concentrate on those employees. Council Member Scroggin: On the pay study, would this go away as soon as the pay study is done, or would it go away when we make new recommendations? Tim Nyander: The way this proposal is written is that it will not go away. It will stay after the pay study is performed. Council Member Scroggin: We would have the opportunity to change it at any Council meeting, but we would probably then adjust at that point? Tim Nyander: Yes, sir. Mayor Jordan: I would think that you could. Council Member Turk: Is there a way to expedite the pay study? At what point do you think that pay study will be completed on its current timeline? Missy Cole, Human Resources Director: It is wrapping up as we speak. It will be done preliminarily, in December. Council Member Turk: Once it's completed, you could have it back to the Council in mid - January? Do you have an approximate timeline? Missy Cole: We typically follow the city and we do not implement our pay plan. We don't do it at the beginning of the year. It's done at the end of the first quarter, based on how the budget is set up. Council Member Turk: That could be altered. Is there an opportunity to make a change to that? Say your pay plan was completed and could request something to us by mid -January. Is that a possibility? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 15 of 29 Paul Becker: Normally, what happens is we see the pay study. It's a draft and it comes to senior staff. Senior staff decides how to implement it, because it involves the entire city, not just one department. By the time we get this, see what the costs are and what the recommendation is, it's late February or early March before we're prepared to come forward with it. That's probably about the earliest we could do it. When we see the pay plan, we've got to evaluate how it affects everybody and see affordability. The first draft we're getting to see is in late December or early January. Council Member Turk: We are in these crazy times we always talk about that are unprecedented. Do you think there is a way to expedite that process or do you absolutely have to have that time? Paul Becker: I think the earliest we'd be able to process it is by the end of February. Mayor Jordan: When I came into office in 2009, everything had tanked. We had set a budget up that Fall before that January rolled around, so we couldn't look at what the end of the sales tax year was until about February, which showed us December. Correct? Paul Becker: That is correct. Mayor Jordan: Everything had tanked, so some of the workers that had gotten raises in January, and then the rest of them we weren't able to give them raises for almost over a year. I said I would never do that again. We would wait until the end of the year, where we can look at December and then plan how we were going to do the raises. That way we have a snapshot of the whole year, instead of doing raises in January and February. I know it's been good this year, but that's not true every year. Paul Becker: There are a lot of tasks by every department in the city going on in December and January. We're closing out the year, opening up new budgets, putting through new Purchase Orders and cutting W2's. We don't have the staff to accelerate a great deal. What the Mayor said is absolutely true. It takes a while to fairly evaluate that. One thing I don't know if it was made clear by Missy or Tim, is based on conversations they did have with our rates study people, it appears that the comparable positions looked at, would merit that kind of salary increase. Missy Cole: When looking at the entry level, Maintenance Worker III, we did this survey at the end of 2019. Bentonville's starting pay was $14.56 and our starting pay was $14.96. Today, Bentonville has changed and their starting pay for that position has moved up to $17.79 as the minimum. Bentonville is not the only one, but I'm just giving you them as an example. We are seeing some really quick market adjustments from our counterparts in Northwest Arkansas based on the reasons Tim Nyander expressed to you. This year alone in the Maintenance Worker III and IV positions, we have had 18 openings and we've had a total of 38 applicants for those positions from January through today. It's not that we don't have turnover in other divisions, but if you look at other job titles within the city, for example, the Meter Reader position, they have had six openings this year, but they've had 168 applicants. When we talk about how dire this might be from an applicant standpoint and the health and safety, that really hits home. We don't have a lot of people to look at to fill those positions. We're hoping to use this $3 an hour as not only something to reward those employees that are currently in the trenches, but also for any new people that fill 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 16 of 29 those vacancies. Our internal staff has the ability to apply for those jobs and receive the benefit of the $3 incentive. We're hoping to use this as a recruitment tool to get the positions filled. Mayor Jordan: The Council used to decide the pay plans in the Fall and then in January we couldn't pay everybody what we promised. We decided to wait until February to take a snapshot of the whole year. Is that correct, Paul? Paul Becker: Absolutely. We were having difficulty funding salary increases. This year is one of the first years we are talking about incorporating salary increases into the budget. We felt we needed to see where the budget was going, where we ended up in the year and where the new income was coming. If you get a salary survey and then we can't afford it, then that's unfair to the employees. When we looked at this, this was not done at a short period. We looked at this very carefully. We believe the safety hazard issue and that's why we decided to bring it forward at this point. This is very unusual. We have to concern ourselves with all the potential flooding if we can't control the leakage. We've also got to look at the fire side of it to make sure we have sufficient pressure so the Fire Department can fight a fire. Mayor Jordan, City Council and I value each and every employee in this city. Sometimes we have a safety issue and we have to do something extraordinary to meet that need. We feel this is the best alternative at this point. Council Member Bunch: I received some phone calls and emails from people that work for the city in the Water & Sewer Department, primarily. Tim, I do think you explained this, but there's a certain number of people that don't feel it was explained very well, or they're unsure about what's going on and not happy with it. Anytime we look at something like this, we're looking at somebody being unhappy because you can't make everyone happy all the time. Sometimes you can't make anybody happy. I do feel that some of the questions I've been asked, and some of the concerns that have been raised are valid and maybe would require a little bit better explanation with staff and a little more engagement with the people. This is presented as a safety hazard for our city. If tanks get drained, then people don't have water and also run the risk of not having good fire service. That's a really serious concern. Is this something we need to vote on tonight or table and allow some of the employees I've been hearing from to get a little more consideration? Tim Nyander: I did receive all the questions that you had received. In my professional opinion we cannot wait. We can't wait to table this. We've got some experienced employees that are looking to see what the City Council and management is going to do. We can't afford to lose any more experience. What happens when you don't have experience, you might still get the job done, but you're going to get the water shut off slower whenever there's a leak. The inexperienced employees are not going to be able to turn to anybody to know where the valves are. We have a mapping system, but a mapping system is not near as fast as somebody that's experienced. We've been discussing this for a while, before we brought it to the Council. It is an emergency situation and if it wasn't, I wouldn't have brought it to them at all. This is something we've never seen before. I will take the time, regardless of what the vote is to answer all those questions and get that information back to you. Council Member Bunch spoke about the email she received. She stated she doesn't want to run the risk of having any shortage and having safety concerns. She stated she doesn't believe she wants to table the item now. She requested to know if the salary survey is going to bring everybody 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 17 of 29 up to the range where they should be. She spoke about employees capping out on their salary and how long it takes you to get there. Tim Nyander: When we talked about this and knew the plan that we are going to put in place didn't include all the employees and was concentrating on keeping water in the pipes, we knew it wasn't going to make everybody happy. I've always tried to bring employees up to market value. You have to go with what the economy is doing, and you've got to go with what the Administration is doing as well. We will continue to look at this. Council Member Turk: I also had several phone calls. Is part of the rate study that you all are currently conducting, does it look at the STEP increases and how long it takes you to top out? Missy Cole: When you talk about a STEP, that's what we do with Police and Fire. This year is actually our merit, which would include all of Tim's people, Transportation, all of the office people and everybody. That's a range and in 2019 we made it a focus to increase the spread from the minimum to the max of our range. We don't have anybody that's topped out because we made a concerted effort to make sure we were broadening our range spread to address that impact. I think in the past there had been an issue with that, but since I've been here in 2019 that has not happened in our market studies. Council Member Turk: Whatever the next level is, have you looked at the time that it takes to get to that next level and consider adjusting that? Missy Cole: That's more of a STEP Plan and that has everything to do with how Police and Fire are compensated. Everyone else has their job descriptions graded and they're placed in a grade and then that grade is what ties into the merit pay plan. The grade is what we are surveying. Every grade in the city gets multiple chances of getting surveyed. We take about 96 positions, benchmark those positions across all fields, all departments, and we look at our competitive cities that we are supposed to do in our compensation plan. Then we come up with proposed ranges and tie the budget and the range together and we make sure that nobody is ever below the proposed new range. They're brought up at least to minimum. Then we have a budget number that we top on to that as part of the pay plan that we then whatever it's budgeted for next year, that then ties into that. So, the pay plan is tied to the survey directly and then there's the budget compensation number, which is tied directly to the budget. The two work together to come up with what the person's new pay rate will be when we implement the pay plan. Council Member Turk: Let's say I've been with the city for five years and I read meters. How do I end up getting a raise other than just an increase from the pay study? Does my supervisor evaluate me and then I get bumped up within that huge range? Missy Cole: Yes, that is what happens. Right now, we're doing all the performance reviews. The performance review number gets plugged into the budgetary side of it, and then the pay grade will be another piece of that formula that gets put together. That all comes together to create a new pay range. With STEP, your job is graded. For example, if you are a J412, you're not going to change job grades within that same job unless you move into a different job that has a different experience level, and then it would be graded accordingly. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 18 of 29 Council Member Turk: If I've been with the city five years as a meter reader and I am doing a superb job, theoretically, if I got evaluated for my performance, I could go all the way to the maximum of that range? Missy Cole: No. There's a budgeted pool for that supervisor. The supervisor has to spend their dollars on all of their employees. They're not going to single out one person and put them at the top of the range at the expense of everybody else that works for them. Council Member Scroggin: I was on Water & Sewer and definitely voted for this because we need it. I knew this was going to probably present other issues and we're starting to see that with emails. I believe staff has a trust issue with the city with the emails coming forward, and we took a hit with the health insurance plans just recently. I plan on voting for this, because if we think people are going to be mad in general about streets and sidewalks, if their water doesn't come on that's going to be a different kind of mad. The issues that have been brought up both with the health plan and with this, really need to get taken care of. People need to trust what's happening here and many aren't. We need to get this pay study done as soon as possible. Other departments are going to come asking for more money, and I don't blame them. I'm 37 and inflation has never been an issue in my life. It is now a new issue and we're going to have to re -gear and hopefully it's a short term inflation issue. Council Member Bunch: When we get the pay study and start going through this, every time we talk about salaries, there's always something that comes up that I don't really fully understand. I would love to have some more meetings on this because it's incredibly important. All it takes is a few people to be dissatisfied to really tip the apple cart for our city. We've got really good people that work here. We want to hang on to them and listen to their concerns. At a meeting, I'd like to go over what we have as a pay plan now and what we might be having with the pay study. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. I appreciate your comment, Council Member Bunch. It is a complicated topic and since we do the merit pool every other year, then we have opportunities for education throughout. A workshop is a really good idea for you all to have time to ask a lot of questions. Council Member Bunch: In my job, I get paid when I sell something. I don't have a STEP plan. That would help a lot of us, especially since we have several new Council Members. Mayor Jordan: We would be happy to set up all the sessions you would like to discuss the budget and finances. Council Member Hertzberg: As one of the new Council Members, I would appreciate that as well. Thank you. Council Member Bunch: Some of the people that I have talked too, are the very people that work in the ditches and do that type of work. They're also the people that are not maybe the most knowledgeable about how to approach the city or Council Members. We need to maybe reach out to them a little bit. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 19 of 29 Council Member Turk: For all those people that have sent emails or called, I want you to know we appreciate your service. We appreciate everything you do for our citizens in this city. If you don't get a pay raise right now, it's not because we don't value you, it's because we are in an emergency situation in crisis. I will do everything I can to see if we can't get the pay study implemented as soon as it's possible. Council Member Jones stated he echoed the sentiment of Council Member Turk and Council Member Bunch. He spoke about his appreciation of the employees who reached out. He stated we are looking forward to including them in a pay raise. Mayor Jordan: We are going out for a market study right now. Council Member Hertzberg moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. Resolution 307-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Rename Street to Stephen Carr Memorial Boulevard: A resolution to rename that portion of Porter Road between Deane Street and Mount Comfort Road to Stephen Carr Memorial Boulevard and to approve a budget adjustment. Council Member Hertzberg gave a brief description of the resolution. She thanked Chief Reynolds, Lieutenant Shepherd, Kit Williams and Chris Brown for their help on the item. She thanked Mayor Jordan for co -sponsoring it with her. She stated this community was served courageously by Stephen Carr. She stated he represented Fayetteville every day, protecting citizens and serving others. She stated two years ago today, Officer Carr was targeted for wearing the badge that represents everything good and noble in our community. She stated the sacrifice made by Officer Carr and his loved ones shall never be forgotten. She stated what makes this memorial unique, is the opportunity to put Stephen Carr's name in a prominent place on our interstate highway. She stated it will inspire those to learn about the life of Officer Carr, his character and his ultimate sacrifice. She stated there cannot be a better stretch of pavement to name in honor of Officer Carr. She stated it is on this stretch of roadway that our new public safety headquarters is being built, in such a way to protect fellow officers from the same type of criminal attack, which took Officer Carr in the line of duty. Council Member Bunch: Thank you Council Member Hertzberg for bringing this forward. Mike Reynolds, Chief of Police: On behalf of the men and women of the Fayetteville Police Department, thank you Council Member Hertzberg for sponsoring this and Mayor Jordan for co- sponsoring. Two years ago, I made a vow that we would never forget Stephen Carr. I can't think of a more fitting way or a more fitting day to honor his memory. The Carr Family and Stephen's dad are present with us tonight in Council Chambers. Your unwavering support of this resolution Council, would be heartfelt by me, my Officers and the Carr Family. Thank you to everyone in our community for all the support they have given us. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 20 of 29 Mayor Jordan: Thank you to Council Member Hertzberg for her work to bring this resolution forward. It is very meaningful to me, and it is an honor to be a co-sponsor. Officer Carr was a great officer who served the Police Department and the City of Fayetteville with great honor. Knowing him personally, I found him to be very kind, honest, thoughtful and dedicated. I believe in naming a street by our new Police Headquarters after Officer Carr is the way to honor him for many years to come. We will never forget him or his sacrifice to this city. Council Member Bunch moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. Resolution 308-21 as recorded in the of of the City Clerk Nabholz Construction Corporation Change Order No.8 - 2019 Cultural Arts Corridor Bond Project: A resolution to approve Change Order No. 8 to the contract with Nabholz Construction Corporation in the amount of $10,373,888.00 for the guaranteed maximum price related to the Cultural Arts Corridor Replacement Parking Deck Project, and to approve a budget adjustment - 2019 Cultural Arts Corridor Bond Project. Wade Abernathy, Bond Projects and Construction Manager gave a brief description of the resolution. He stated at the November 21 st Council meeting, Council approved the early grading package. He stated that item along with tonight's change order establishes the guaranteed maximum price for the construction. He stated the scope of this change order includes the balance of the work to complete the entire deck project. He stated at last Tuesday's Agenda Session, the funding sources for this change order is from the Phase 1 Bond Funds, General Funds and Street Improvement Funds. He stated the total construction costs is $11,629,000. He stated combined with the soft costs will put the total project cost at $13.2 million. The City Council received one public comment regarding this resolution. Council Member Scroggin stated he knows this hurts that this cost more. He believes five years from now, when the Arts Corridor and Parking Deck is finished, this will bring more business Downtown and will help the restaurants down there. He stated he is not happy how long it took, but it took as long as it took. He looks forward to the project being completed and hopefully businesses will boom Downtown again. Council Member Kinion spoke about the change in the economy and the change in social activity. He stated this was voted on and it's not that we can't make changes, but in this case, even though he is reticent to move forward, he didn't hear options of how we should move forward. He stated this has a perception of being an extravagant expense, but the reality is it was passed by the people. He stated there's some responsibility for the people that supported it to move forward the best we can. Wade Abernathy: We did an extensive value engineering process on this. We actually cut over $1.3 million out of where we are today. We did make some efforts to lighten the blow. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 21 of 29 Council Member Kinion: $1.3 million is a nice savings. Council Member Turk: We have a choice here. I voted against the parking lot being located where it is. I still have some serious concerns about the very complicated deal that's been negotiated for a very long period of time. I'm not surprised costs are going up and I do think it's extravagant. I've not been happy with this entire process related to the parking lot. I will not be supporting this resolution. Council Member Kinion: I'm glad we moved forward and Council Member Turk, I agree. Council Member Kinion moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Hertzberg seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution failed 3-3. Council Members Hertzberg, Scroggin and Bunch voting yes. Council Members Jones, Kinion and Turk voting no. Council Member Harvey was absent. This resolution failed. VAC-2021-028 (3428 E. Jasper LN./McMillen): An ordinance to approve VAC 21-028 for property located at 3428 East Jasper Lane to vacate portions of a general utility easement and drainage easement. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated all the relevant utilities and services and the city's Floodplain Administrator reviewed the request, with no issues. He stated staff is recommending approval. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 22 of 29 Ordinance 6512 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Appeal RZN-2021-058 (2390 S. Dead Horse Mountain Rd./Rouse & Rouse): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 21-058 located at 2390 South Dead Horse Mountain Road for approximately 51.33 acres from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre subject to a Bill of Assurance to RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He spoke briefly about the zoning history. He stated staff does not find adding more single use zoned property with additional density in this area to be appropriate. He stated staff recommends denial of the request and the Planning Commission agreed voting 7 to 0. He stated we have received some public comment, which has all been in opposition. City Attorney Kit Williams: The ordinance as written and read is correct. The issue is that the applicant wants to remove the Bill of Assurance that is currently part of the zoning. Tom Hennelly, Crafton Tull stated he was representing Rausch Development. He stated this is probably one of the most confusing pieces of property he has ever represented in the 25 years that he been doing this. He spoke about the history of the item. He spoke about the history of the Bill of Assurance. He stated we had two separate clients, who had two separate companies, do two separate title searches on this property and neither of them turned up a Bill of Assurance associated with it. He stated the city's GIS site was only recently updated with the asterisk behind the RSF-4 to show that there was a Bill of Assurance associated with this property. He stated we think the most we could get would be about 3.2 units per acre, with some creative design changes. He stated we are requesting the 2.5 units Bill of Assurance be removed from the property and allow this developer to develop the property. He spoke about presenting a Bill of Assurance that limits the density. Council Member Hertzberg: Would an adjustment of the Bill of Assurance be possible, and would that change staff s opinion on your decision? City Attorney Kit Williams: It is possible. We have a form for it, that is written and has to be signed and notarized by the owner. If the owner wants to offer a substitute Bill of Assurance, so that the current Bill of Assurance would be changed to 3.2 instead of 2.5, they could do that, but nothing orally is binding. Jonathan Curth: I do not think staff would support this. In 2016 when the PZD expired, it was staffs recommendation that this revert to a Residential Agricultural designation. There are several big distinctions between this property and the one being considered on Black Oak. One is proximity to services, employment centers and the Downtown. As the crow flies, there is an appearance of similar proximity in this instance. There are several extenuating circumstances that some on the Council may not recall. There's not access to much connectivity on Dead Horse Mountain Road. There have been several flooding incidents over the years where the Dead Horse 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 23 of 29 Mountain bridge was flooded, and people have to divert significantly to get to the city. This portion of Fayetteville has access to no services and no employment. Whereas theoretically the previous one, considered on Black Oak, it realistically could tie into the part that's immediately located there. There is employment immediately adjacent to the subdivision. Council Member Bunch: Would you please address a little bit more in detail the situation with the sewer connections on this particular property on Dead Horse Mountain Road. Jonathan Curth: There is a series of lift stations that serves the Stonebridge Meadows Subdivision to the northeast. To get their sewer to the main trunk lines that run along the West Fork of the White River, will require lift stations to get the sewage over the golf course. In order for this property for their sanitary sewer to get to the same direction, it would have to be moved to the northeast to the lift stations before being moved back to the southwest to be able to use gravity to get to the lift station. For the northern portion of this property to get there, an easement would have to be acquired between this property and the lift station to move the northern portion of the site's sanitary sewer back to that main. It'd be an 8" gravity main to move it back before the lift station would move it again back south to the force main. Council Member Turk: Do I understand that they would have to get an easement or there was an easement with the golf course in 2006 to go across the golf course? Does that still enforce, or would they have to get a new easement? Is all of this possible right now with the existing agreement with the landowners on the golf course? Jonathan Curth: My understanding of what occurred when the easement was dedicated previously, is that the legal description for it was not correct. It does not run along the route necessary for the 8" gravity main to get to the lift station. If that is the case, then the property owner, the applicant will need to petition the golf course or purchase that easement from them, which is not something the city would typically get involved in. Except it's a question here as to whether the property has adequate infrastructure. Council Member Scroggin: They are going to need to do that, whether they remove the Bill of Assurance or not. Correct? Jonathan Curth: That is correct. To develop the northern portion of the property that gravity flows to the northeast, yes. Robert Rhoads, Hall Estill stated he represents the neighbors. He stated there were two easements He stated one easement is a legitimate easement and it is big enough for part of the sewer to go through. He stated there was a second easement that was signed up and according to the previous owner of this property and Mr. Meadows, he believed that easement was only to straighten out the boundaries. He stated it wasn't to make that easement any bigger. He stated the second easement not only has typos on it, which makes it invalid, it also is not what Mr. Meadows thought he was signing. He stated no matter what, the golf course will protest the use of that. He stated seven months ago you all voted this down and at that time you were voting down a PZD. He stated now it's a simple rezoning request but take out the Bill of Assurance that limits it at 2.5. He stated the city benefited from the Bill of Assurance. He stated that was why the city passed the rezoning back 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 24 of 29 then because they liked that Bill of Assurance and people that bought land, subsequent to the 2016 Bill of Assurance being implemented, they liked it as well. He stated if you recall in the prior record, whether it was before this Council or before the Planning Commission, four neighbors spoke and indicated they purchased their property with that less density in mind. He stated if you remove the Bill of Assurance, it will double the amount of homes. He briefly read the staff s memo report. He stated this is a good bit different than what Council approved earlier tonight on Black Oak Road. He stated as far as the Bill of Assurance that potentially may be proposed, this is the first he has heard of it. He stated this developer has made a habit of not communicating with the neighbors. He stated the 2.5 in his client's opinion is developable and by denying this, you're not going to financially ruin him because it's still developable. City Attorney Kit Williams: This is an appeal from the Planning Commission that voted to deny it. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-0. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting yes. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. City Attorney Kit Williams: This would grant the appeal, overturn the Planning Commission's decision and remove the Bill of Assurance from the land, if you vote yes. Mayor Jordan: And a vote, no? City Attorney Kit Williams: Then the land stays as is. It takes five votes to pass an ordinance. If you pass this ordinance, then you would be overturning the Planning Commission's decision to deny this removal of the Bill of Assurance. Therefore, the land would stand as RSF-4 with no Bill of Assurance to limit the density. If the ordinance does not pass, then the Planning Commission's decision will be basically affirmed by the City Council and the Bill of Assurance will remain attached to the zoning for this property. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance failed 0-6. Council Members Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin, Bunch and Turk voting no. Council Member Harvey was absent. The ordinance failed. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 25 of 29 Appeal RZN 2021-073 (2434 N. Deane Solomon Rd./Lewis Bros. Leasing): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 21-073 located at 2434 North Deane Solomon Road for approximately 5.06 acres from RMF-24, Residential Multi Family, 24 units per acre to C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated staff recommends against the request. He stated the Planning Commission did discuss it at length, which isn't necessarily reflected in their vote, although they did deny it by 8-1. He stated we received some public comment for the request. He stated one was from the owner of the Underwood property to the west and expressed support for this proposal. He stated another resident was opposed. He stated since the appeal, staff has received a significant amount of additional public comment from residents of The Pines at Springwoods subdivision. Suzanne Clark, Attorney Representing the Applicant spoke briefly about her client's request. She stated we are talking about roughly 24 acres of property and about 80% of that is already zoned C- 2. She stated less than 20% of the overall lot is currently zoned RMF-24. She stated the vast majority of the property that the Lewis Brothers own is, C-2 and that section on the corner of Deane Solomon is what they're looking to rezone. She spoke about the history of attempting to rezone this item. She stated future use plans are very inconsistent with the existing uses. She asked Council to consider the economic impact for the city and consider how the applicant is supposed to be able to develop the property when 80% of it is already C-2. Matt Lewis, Applicant spoke about his vision of developing the property. He stated the goal is to at least match the landscaping and tree canopy that is currently in front of Process Dynamics and continue that down Deane Solomon. He stated another large piece in the rezoned section is the detention pond. He stated this pond will have to increase in size, a good bit to meet the needs of any runoff. He stated between the current building, cell tower and pond size, we're only talking about another 40% of the land that's left for development. He stated we've taken a lot of time to plan this project out, not only how it would work for our business, but how it would affect the neighbors, other businesses and the city. He stated after speaking to residents and business owners in the area, we've listened and addressed concerns about runoff issues, the buffers for residents and the important curb appeal. He stated it is important to our family that we grow in conjunction with the city's goals and plans. He spoke about an idea of rezoning some of his current land off of College, from C-2 to UT. He spoke about his family's long-term relationship with Fayetteville. Council Member Hertzberg: On page 22 of the packet, it looks like the property directly across from the C-2 on the right, it looks like there's a house across from that zoning. Is that a residence? Jonathan Curth: If it's the one on the north side, it was built as a residential home, but it has also been used for some nonresidential purposes. I recall some business licenses being there. I think there was an organization that connected disabled veterans with service dogs as being one of the recent occupants. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 26 of 29 Council Member Hertzberg: In looking at compatibility, if there is residential housing across the street from C-2, I don't know that the argument that residential across from the property we would be zoning C-2 would be a good argument. Mayor Jordan: What do the Ward 4 representatives think? Council Member Hertzberg: I would be fine to hold this for now, but I would be in favor of this. It does seem like they've done their due diligence and they've got some good ideas for compromise. I spoke with the applicant before the meeting, and they have some plans for landscaping and possible lighting. I am leaning more towards in favor of this. Council Member Kinion: I would agree with that also. We've accommodated the other automobile developments out there. In this situation, it's more of a practical and common sense approach that I would look at it. There's 20 acres already zoned and only five acres needs to be rezoned, which they're connected. If you drive down this area, it is an auto park area. At one time, it was a tractor area years ago. It's not residential. I know in the future plan it looks like it would be nice if it was residential, but from a practical point of view, it's absolutely compatible and fine to offer this to this piece of property. I would be happy to move forward. Council Member Scroggin: This is a rezone, correct? City Attorney Kit Williams: Yes, this is a request for a rezoning. Council Member Scroggin: A lot of the things we're talking about, they're not going to get codified. All the plans aren't part of what we're actually voting for today. City Attorney Kit Williams: That is correct. You are only voting for the zoning, which allows certain uses and that's what is presented to the Council. Mayor Jordan: You can go through the Large Scale Development later. Council Member Turk: Can we request that we have something in writing that matches what has been described tonight? Can the applicant offer that to us? City Attorney Kit Williams: The applicant can offer a Bill of Assurance that would go along with what he described, but we cannot ask for that. Council Member Turk: Subaru is also right there on Deane Solomon and it's just a little bit further south. If we are going to not have C-2 and not going to have an auto park, we probably should have done that a lot sooner. It's a consistency issue with me. The applicant is a long standing family and they've done quite a bit for Fayetteville. I would like to hold it and see if there is some kind of Bill of Assurance the applicant would like to offer. That would give us a couple of weeks to see where things go and have more information. Council Member Bunch stated she would also feel more comfortable with it, if they had some of these things being talked about, codified. She stated she has no real reason to believe that when 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 27 of 29 the Lewis family says they're going to do these things, that they're not going to do them, but would like to have it in a better format. She spoke about car lots being on the Interstate and fitting in there. Council Member Scroggin stated he is perfectly fine with the car lot here; it makes sense because we've already got C-2. He stated it seems like the only issues are the residential area on the west side. He stated with some small changes he thinks everybody would be ready to move forward and the residents would be happy. There was a brief discussion about leaving it on a First Reading. Suzanne Clark: We'd be happy to try to put something together that gives some level of assurance to what Matt had discussed. Do you want that to include the discussion regarding the property that is on College Avenue or is it just the issue of the landscaping and lighting you want for us to address? City Attorney Kit Williams: I would prefer that we stick to this property. There are some things you can do that will make it very attractive for this City Council. This ordinance was left on the First Reading. RZN 2021-074 (340 N. Double Springs Rd./Double Springs Road Rezone): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 21-074 located at 340 North Double Springs Road for approximately 9.92 acres from R-A, Residential Agricultural, RSF-1, Residential Single Family, I unit per acre and RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre to RSF-8, Residential Single Family, 8 units per acre. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated staff finds the request to rezone the property to RSF-8 to be compatible. He stated staff ultimately, when considering all the varying factors, does support the request and recommended it to be forwarded to Council. He stated the Planning Commission discussed it for a while, before moving to deny the requests by a vote of 4 to 5 and with a motion to forward it being made immediately thereafter forwarding 5 to 4 to the Council, recommending approval. Staff has received quite a bit of public comment on the request and uniformly in opposition. Corey Reynolds, Applicant stated the main focus is to try to get the lots from a 70 foot wide requirement to a 50 foot wide requirement. He stated with the current zoning he could get approximately 27 houses on it. He stated if the rezoning was granted, he would be able to get 38 homes. He stated the development would be largely consistent with everything that's around there. He stated he is trying to improve the value of the neighborhood and the homes around it. He stated it is a desirable area for housing. He spoke about traffic and drainage issues. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-5323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 28 of 29 Council Member Bunch requested for Jonathan to show where the stub outs are on the existing streets. Mayor Jordan: That is in Ward 4. Council Member Hertzberg, have you got an opinion on this? Council Member Hertzberg: I am in support of this. We need housing. Council Member Turk stated it's right on the edge of town and way out there. She stated she has some reservations about increasing density. She stated we've also received some comments opposing this. Council Member Hertzberg: I don't mean to disregard any public comment, but looking at the compatibility, directly next to the property is RMF-6 and I don't think RSF-8 is that much different. Council Member Bunch requested to know what the zoning is to the east of this. Jonathan Curth: As you head further to the east, it segues into the city's property. It's part of the Woolsey Wet Prairie that's all zoned Residential Agriculturally, which includes the city solar farm that serves the west side Wastewater Treatment Facility. Beyond that it segues back into largely single family homes between Broyles and Rupple, all the way north to Wedington. It is RSF-4 all the way to 54`" Avenue. Council Member Bunch: What is it zoned to the northeast? Is it zoned RSF-4? Jonathan Curth: Correct. Council Member Hertzberg moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Bunch seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 6-1. Council Member Hertzberg, Jones, Kinion, Scroggin and Bunch voting yes. Mayor Jordan voting yes. Council Member Turk voting no. Council Member Harvey was absent. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Turk requested to hold it for two weeks to give the public more time to be aware of the rezoning. Council Member Hertzberg: I think that's a great idea. This ordinance was left on the Second Reading. Announcements: None City Council Agenda Session Presentations: 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 7, 2021 Page 29 of 29 Update on Yvonne Richardson Community Center Facility, Staffing and Budget. Sales Tax Report by Paul Becker Energy Report by Peter Nierengarten. City Council Tour: Riverside Village Annexation Date: December 3, 2021 Time: 3:00-4:00 PM Address: Unaddressed; Approx.'/4 mile south of 2936 S. Black Oak Road Parking is available off- street through the northern gate in the property. Request: Annex the property into the Fayetteville city limits and zone it R-PZD, Residential Planned Zoning District. ������,EtK � ►Tl��. �ii FAYE 1-I EVILLE 9SPc, .�; �Q`fA( - • N JTO N 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov