19 NOV 21CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING - CITY HALL - #1 MUNICIPAL DRIVE
The City Council of the City of Jacksonville, Arkansas met in regular session on November 21, 2019 at the regular meeting place of the City Council. Council Member Ray delivered the
invocation and Mayor Johnson led a standing audience in the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the flag.
ROLL CALL: City Council Members: Elliott, Bolden, Sipes, Sansing, Ray, Mashburn, Traylor, Twitty, Smith, and Collins answered ROLL CALL. Mayor Johnson also answered ROLL CALL declaring
a quorum. PRESENT TEN (10) ABSENT (0).
Others present for the meeting were: City Attorney Stephanie Friedman, IT Director Scott Roethlisberger, Public Works Director Jim Oakley, CDBG Director Theresa Watson, Interim Police
Chief McCollough, Fire Chief Alan Laughy, Human Resource Director Charlette Nelson, Finance Director Cheryl Erkel, Parks and Recreation Director Kevin House, Parks & Recreation Marketing
& Public Relations Manager Marlo Jackson, Addie and Don Gibson, Director of Downtown Planning and Development Bob Price, Dejuana Sipes, Beverly Elliott, Jerry Sanders, Brett Hibbs,
Patrick Thomas, Johnny Simpson, Officer John Alberson, Brian Wright, Keith Weber, Amanda Erickson, Brian Blevins, Rachel Richter, interested citizens, and members of the press.
PRESENTATION OF MINUTES:
Mayor Johnson presented the minutes of the regular City Council meeting of November 7, 2019 for approval and/or correction at the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting.
APPROVAL AND/OR CORRECTION OF MINUTES:
Council Member Bolden moved, seconded by Council Member Ray that the minutes of the regularly scheduled City Council meeting of 17 October 2019 and the Special City Council meeting of
28 October 2019 be APPROVED. MOTION CARRIED.
CONSENT AGENDA: REGULAR MONTHLY REPORT/FIRE DEPARTMENT
Council Member Elliott moved, seconded by Council Member Bolden to approve the regular monthly report for October 2019 from the Jacksonville Fire Department, reflecting a fire loss of
$4,600.00 and a savings total of $345,000.00.
REGULAR MONTHLY REPORT/POLICE DEPARTMENT
Council Member Elliott moved, seconded by Council Member Bolden to approve the Regular Monthly Report for October 2019 regarding annual crime statistical comparisons.
REGULAR MONTH REPORT/ANIMAL CONTROL
Council Member Elliott moved, seconded by Council Member Bolden to approve the regular monthly report for October 2019.
ADOPTION FEES/FINES $ 2,265.00
CONTRIBUTIONS 0.00
TOTALS $ 2,265.00
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
ROLL CALL: Councilmen: Elliott, Bolden, Sipes, Sansing, Ray, Mashburn, Traylor, Twitty, Smith, and Collins voted AYE. MOTION CARRIED.
WATER DEPARTMENT:
WASTEWATER DEPARTMENTS:
FIRE DEPARTMENT:
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
STREET DEPARTMENT:
SANITATION DEPARTMENT:
PARKS & RECREATION:
PLANNING COMMISSION:
COMMITTEE(S): a. Request by Council Member Barbara Mashburn to form a Used Car Lot Committee
Council Member Mashburn related that the Used Car lot ordinance is at City Attorney Friedman’s office waiting for approval by the Committee members. She added that City Attorney Friedman
sent it to the members and it will be evaluated and presented to City Council.
b. Ordinance 1584 (#06-2018) Out of State property owners maintaining a local registered agent
Council Member Collins asked the Committee members to review Jacksonville Municipal Code § 8.08.050. He stated that Council Member Traylor mentioned that we may be straying a little
far from the purpose and this may actually cover what we need. He stated that after review, provide feedback to City Attorney Friedman and then we will work out a possible meeting.
c. Committee to research Step-Pay proposal for all City employees
Council Member Mashburn related that the first meeting is scheduled for December 2nd @ 10:15 a.m. for the Directors.
GENERAL: a. ORDINANCE 1623 (#30-2019)
AN ORDINANCE CREATING AND CERTIFYING TAX LIENS AGAINST REAL PROPERTIES AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS WITHIN THE CITY FOR BALANCES DUE FROM SERVICES RENDERED BY AND/OR ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF
JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS; AND, FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Council Member Traylor moved, seconded by Council Member Bolden to place Ordinance 1623 on FIRST READING. ROLL CALL: Council Member Elliott, Bolden, Sipes, Sansing, Ray, Mashburn, Traylor,
Twitty, Smith, and Collins voted AYE. MOTION CARRIED. Whereupon City Attorney Friedman read the heading of Ordinance 1623.
Council Member Sansing moved, seconded by Council Member Bolden to approve Ordinance 1623 on FIRST READING and SUSPEND THE RULES to place Ordinance 1623 on SECOND READING.
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
Mayor Johnson explained that Ordinance 1623 is the annual lien ordinance regarding properties that had maintenance performed by the City but did not pay the invoice.
In response to a question from Council Member Mashburn, Mayor Johnson stated that the City did not have to hold a public hearing regarding Ordinance 1623.
ROLL CALL: Council Member Elliott, Bolden, Sipes, Sansing, Ray, Mashburn, Traylor, Twitty, Smith, and Collins voted AYE. MOTION CARRIED.
Council Member Ray moved, seconded by Council Member Twitty to further SUSPEND THE RULES and place Ordinance 1623 on THIRD AND FINAL READING. ROLL CALL: Council Member Elliott, Bolden,
Sipes, Sansing, Ray, Mashburn, Traylor, Twitty, Smith, and Collins voted AYE. MOTION CARRIED.
Council Member Ray moved, seconded by Council Member Bolden to APPROVE AND ADOPT Ordinance 1623. ROLL CALL: Council Member Elliott, Bolden, Sipes, Sansing, Ray, Mashburn, Traylor, Twitty,
Smith, and Collins voted AYE. MOTION CARRIED.
ORDINANCE 1623 (#30-2019) APPROVED AND ADOPTED THIS 21st DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2019.
B. Proposed 2020 Budget
Finance Director Cheryl Erkel informed the City Council that she and Mayor Johnson had budget meetings with all the Directors this past week, explaining that a lot of cutting was done
from the preliminary budget that was passed out at the last City Council meeting. She stated that she has provided a synopsis of some of the items that is included in this budget on
a Notes Page that was also provided at each station. She stated that the budget being proposed is balanced for the General and Street Funds; which are the two funds that have to be
balanced. She added that the Enterprise Funds do not have to be balanced, they do not zero out. She noted that there will be a budget meeting Tuesday night for any questions by the
City Council members.
Mayor Johnson stated that Finance Director Cheryl Erkel would be at a table in the front with her computer so she can answer questions. He related that this being his first City budget,
he did not realize how in depth the budget is. He said that it goes down to each line item. He asked the City Council to be prepared with their questions for Tuesday, November 26th
Budget meeting at 6:00 p.m.
c. Verbal report regarding FOIA request
Council Member Collins related that the verbal report he is requesting is from Council Member Smith. He stated that City Attorney Friedman seems to be tied up all the time answering
FOIAs, so there may be something in them that he would like to work on too.
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
Council Member Smith stated that she does not have a verbal report prepared and will not have one on this matter.
Brian Blevins began addressing Council Member Smith from his seat in the audience, Mayor Johnson and Council Member Bolden called for there to be no outburst from the audience.
Mayor Johnson stated that he believes Council Member Collins was wondering what did Council Member Smith find out that might be of interest to us.
Council Member Smith reiterated her earlier statement.
Council Member Collins stated that it looks like there is a whole lot of time being spent by City Attorney Friedman on things that he would normally come to City Hall and ask the Directors
himself. He said that he gets off work at 4:00 and can usually get all the answers he wants between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m.
Council Member Smith stated she is within her rights to FOIA information.
Council Member Collins concurred, saying that he just wanted to know what she found out.
Council Member Sansing questioned Council Member Smith regarding item number 12, asking if she was directed by somebody to seek these FOIs on these people.
Council Member Smith responded that she was not.
Council Member Sansing asked what about some of the FOIs for regular law-abiding citizens in Jacksonville, has anybody directed you to check into that.
Council Member Smith responded no.
Council Member Sansing commented, “you just decided that you wanted to FOI law-abiding citizens in Jacksonville”.
Council Member Smith stated “yes sir, I did”.
Council Member Sipes stated that he believes it is time for the City Council to go to work for the citizens, rather than costing them money, adding let’s cut this foolishness out. He
related that he has been on the City Council for 11 months and all he has had is controversy from Council Member Sansing and Council Member Collins. He added that he believes it is
time the City Council act like adults, and worked together, saying “I think it is time to cut this out”.
Council Member Sansing stated that as far as working together and wasting money, continuous FOIs, simply for what I consider harassment purposes, is wasting the people’s money.
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
Mayor Johnson concurred, saying that working together would be a great idea. He stated that if anyone has a question, they should ask and he would be happy to provide an answer.
Mayor Johnson recognized Amber Jimerson who related that they purchased property in Jacksonville about 8 months ago, explaining that she had called the Pulaski Treasurer’s Office twice
to make sure there was no owed property taxes. She explained that she was told no, but in October on the 15th, she called again and there was a $1,422.91 bill. She stated that she
tried to get an itemized bill but was not able to get one from either the County or the City. She related that the only thing she was able to obtain was an invoice for a mowing of $225.92
dated June of 2019. She related that she went to the Treasurer’s office, City Code Enforcement, Pulaski County Court House, Jacksonville Court House; adding that she has talked to
Mylissa Gibbs, Michelle Lewis, Tiffany in the Code Enforcement Office and also City Attorney Friedman and no one can provide her with an itemized list of those charges.
City Attorney Friedman stated “like the Ordinance we passed tonight, we just have a list of Code liens, there may be several of the liens on the property that don’t involve the City
of Jacksonville”.
Mrs. Jimerson stated that the County Treasurer’s office told her that the $1,131.50 is from the City of Jacksonville from 2017. She then responded to City Attorney Friedman that they
told her they did not have a list. She continued saying that she contacted the Jacksonville Code Enforcement, they do not have it either.
Council Member Traylor confirmed with Mrs. Jimerson that the liens are from 2017. She responded that one of them was for $225.92 and then it says $258.82 on the ordinance exhibit.
Mayor Johnson stated that he would look into it and get some information back to her.
Mayor Johnson then recognized Brian Blevins.
Mr. Brian Blevins stated that he was going to read from a partially prepared statement that he has already submitted as a complaint to the City of Jacksonville.
City Clerk Davitt reminded Mr. Blevins that if he reads from a prepared statement, he will need to provide a copy for the records.
Mr. Blevins stated “it is on my phone and I don’t believe I have to relinquish that”. He then added that he has already submitted a copy, but agreed to email a copy.
He addressed Council Member Sipes saying “you say that since you have been here that you have been enthralled in controversy, but like your name is part
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
of that controversy, so I think it is a little iffy to be like Oh, we need to
work together now”.
“My name is Brian Blevins, I have been a citizen of the City for over 20 years and I thought that I had seen everything and leading up to this meeting, I saw the agenda notes for tonight.
That Les Collins was asking for a bunch of questions to FOIA information that Alderman Smith had requested. I was absolutely astonished to see that there were like City officials,
there were Police officers, there were City employees, there were law-abiding citizens all in these inquiries about something that … granted she is allowed to do it, but it just seems
like it was absolutely unnecessary to investigate law-abiding citizens when you yourself are the only person to admittedly blatantly broken the law, you Tara Smith, are the only person
to have blatantly admittedly broken the law.”
“Things in the City have been just blown into turmoil, I’ve seen it, this whole thing, there is corruption seems to be like, Tara Smith is throwing this person, this person, I mean she
named every single employee at City Hall almost. She moved onto Council Members, she went after Sansing and Bolden, the Mayor, I mean she went after Mayor’s wife, she went after the
ex-police chief. I don’t understand that at all, then she moved onto Police Officers and now she is going into citizens. Like, there’s a pretty big deal. When you look at a whole
line of Council Members and you think there’s somebody corrupt, when you can’t find one, it’s you. You know what I am saying? You are the corrupted one. When Jeff Herweg got ousted,
she definitely did that and bravo for her, she went after it. But you know, in her filings, she filed things that were not correct, she said she wasn’t going to run for Alderman again,
we all know that was a lie. She said she didn’t do it for political gain, that was also a lie because she predominately displayed how she ousted the convicted liar Jeff Herweg from
the Police Department. She was involved with an officer that ran tags, allegedly I guess he was not allowed to run the tags, when she herself, had an officer run tags for her. She
told the Chief of Police that she didn’t do that, but I mean you can go online there is an audio recording of that officer absolutely telling dispatch that she was running the tags
for the Alderman. God, let’s see, there are so many lies. In a secret meeting, she claimed that there was no secret meeting, she went on and on, there’s no secret meeting, no secret
meeting, but then when one of the Captains came forward and said there was a secret meeting, she changed her mind and said Oh yeah, I lied but I had to because the Mayor wasn’t doing
his job, I had to lie, because that’s the only thing I know how to do. Let’s see, she showed her paranoia. She’s absolutely unfit to make any kind of decisions for this City or anybody
in the City. She is supposed to remain rational, she is supposed to be unbiased.”
Mayor Johnson interjected, we have a five-minute limit and your almost there.
Brian continued, “here’s the point, like she doesn’t need to be here. For someone who values… for someone who pushes on all the values, she didn’t even join the pay-scale committee,
which was the whole reason why she had the
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
secret meeting. God, for someone who thinks that they are so valuable, to me you are absolutely worthless. Thank you”.
Needy Families Fund Raiser
Council Member Mashburn announced that there would be a free breakfast for donations to help needy families at Christmas that will be held at J’ville Grill located at 215 South Redmond
Road November 23rd.
Mayor Johnson announced that next year is the 150th anniversary of the City of Jacksonville, also it will be a 150 years of railroad, they will be a part of City Fest this year celebrating
our birthday along with the birthday of the railroad.
He then announced that the Municipal League Winter Conference is February 12th through the 14th, if any Council Member wants to attend contact Michelle.
He noted that there will be a special meeting to discuss the budget.
Council Member Bolden stated that he wants to address the negativity of the environment regarding the speeches and things of that nature. He offered that one thing he has learned in
40 plus years of serving the community, including the United State Military, negativity will always be around as long as you feed it. “You can never go forward in a combat move, if
you do not let go of the negativity. With everything that has been said, I want everyone’s mind to stay on a positive, realize that everyone has their own perception, we cannot question
a person’s perception. Perception institutes them to research or ask whatever they want, and they have the right. I want Jacksonville to stay positive, I want us to stay motivated,
I want everyone to realize we are going to overcome, we are going to move forward. Emotions are not good when your growing, because you do not want to go forward, you want to hold
on. I want to go before every one of the Members here, and personally for everything that has been said negative, I want to apologize for those who have not come to apologize to you.
But, I do want you to realize, like Council Member Sipes said, we need to move on, we need to climb the ladder. You cannot climb the ladder still holding onto the past. And, if you
have any questions about what is going on in the City, feel free to go to the people and ask them”. He added that like Council Member Collins said, he does it all the time. “But,
again it is your perception, whatever you decide what you want to do. Please stay positive, when I say “stay motivated”, that is not a cliché to me, with my background and what I did
in the Military, things I had to do to survive, you would understand why I say “stay motivated”, because no matter what is going on, you have to keep a positive attitude to survive.
I believe Jacksonville is going forward, no matter what is up against us”.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
6:00 P.M. – 6:25 P.M.
ADJOURNMENT: Without objection, Mayor Johnson adjourned the meeting at approximately 6:25 p.m. MOTION CARRIED.
Respectfully,
________________________ _________________________
Susan L. Davitt MAYOR BOB JOHNSON
City Clerk-Treasurer