[0:00] a city council meeting here we've got a few members

[0:04] connecting over the telephone and we have one council member who's on

[0:09] his way should be here in a few minutes

[0:13] but again bear with us this is a this is a different

[0:17] um type setting but we're used to it we've

[0:20] been doing this for quite a while but um if you would uh please stand

[0:27] i'm going to leave the invocation and then we'll

[0:30] recite the pledge of allegiance lord god we just thank you for today

[0:36] thank you for the many blessings that you've given us

[0:39] god thank you for the responsibility you've chosen us for to lead this city

[0:43] we just thank you for just guiding us and granting us the

[0:47] wisdom to make good decisions for the citizens of this community

[0:50] and we're very thankful for that opportunity we pray for those who are

[0:55] sick those who are going through difficult times lord help us to be there

[0:59] for them and to help us to honor you in

[1:01] everything we do in jesus name

[1:07] [Music]

[1:11] and amen the republic for which it stands one nation

[1:15] under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all

[1:20] thank you

[1:36] will the clerk please call the roll council member dodson

[1:40] council member nealand

[1:45] council member petty council member sparkman

[1:52] council member swain councilmember wood

[2:01] thank you the next item on the agenda is the

[2:05] consent agenda this includes minutes from the last meeting on august 24th

[2:11] a resolution accepting a highest bidder in fact fixed assets

[2:15] our regular financial statements that we have at every meeting the department of

[2:20] reports and a strict closing request from top do i hear a motion to approve

[2:27] the consent agenda

[2:32] we have a motion

[2:35] we have a motion in a second all in favor of the motion

[2:42] can you pose declare the motion carried thank you

[2:49] the next item on the agenda is a resolution to authorize

[2:52] the city to enter into an agreement with hawkins ware engineers for a downtown

[2:56] drainage project i'll ask the clerk to please read the

[2:59] resolution being enacted by the city council for

[3:03] the city of van buren arkansas a resolution to be entitled

[3:06] a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract for engineering

[3:10] services for the city of bangor and arkansas and

[3:12] for other purposes whereas the city of baker and arkansas has 2012

[3:16] sales tax initiative funds available for the chad calling park access road

[3:20] project and whereas in order to commence the

[3:23] project the city is in native professional engineering services

[3:26] for the development of plans and designs cost estimates and supervision for safe

[3:30] project now therefore be resolved by the city

[3:33] council of the city of van buren arkansas

[3:35] that section one the mayor is authorized to enter into a contract

[3:38] exhibit a with hawkins square engineers incorporated to provide engineering

[3:42] services for the development of plans and specifications

[3:45] for the chad crawley clark access rogue project and shall not exceed 5

[3:49] 700 including reimbursable expenses

[3:56] thank you for that mr saller you're here to represent

[4:00] hawkins where before i start talking about things i probably don't understand

[4:04] very well or can't articulate as good as you would you'd like to just give us

[4:07] kind of a heads up or just a summary of what this project's

[4:11] about sure and and this one is the chat valley

[4:14] park first is that the one where

[4:17] the ones you read i think it's chad cauley parks mom

[4:21] uh chad colley park access road project okay

[4:26] yeah sorry about that sure uh that project uh

[4:30] we've been assisting the city uh with that joint project between the city and

[4:34] county to construct the access road and park uh

[4:38] parking lot improvements there for the chad colley park

[4:41] that consists of both surveying design elements and producing plans that will

[4:46] ultimately be used in their construction efforts we're

[4:49] limiting our scope in that project to just what's

[4:52] essentially needed by the city and the county to construct these improvements

[4:56] [Music] so it has a lot of elements that we

[4:59] wouldn't normally have in a publicly bidded project that's going out

[5:03] to area contractors because they're intending to do this with their own

[5:06] forces so i'll be willing to answer any questions

[5:11] y'all may have about that specific project

[5:12] that covers our services in basic terms i appreciate that this is a this is a

[5:18] project that's been really on a lot of our minds for a while

[5:22] now we've been delayed because of various issues that we've had

[5:27] not because of construction or anything from

[5:30] the engineers but just from either mother nature flooding or the

[5:35] pandemic as money has become more available

[5:39] through this this year it was time to proceed with this project and we're

[5:45] excited about it this is a trails project that's

[5:48] got a lot of partnerships it's got donations from the community from

[5:55] various groups and we've worked when mayor freeman was here

[6:01] that was when the original plan that the city council approved that

[6:05] the city's portion of that has always been the

[6:09] entrance and the access and that's what we're working on

[6:14] here and another another great benefit to this just like the

[6:19] other project we're going to talk about later is the drainage

[6:22] we've said that a few times before that we've got some drainage issues

[6:26] in the in the city and anytime that we can address that drainage and improve

[6:31] that we're going to try to do that and

[6:34] there's a lot of drainage issues in this area as well behind the houses

[6:39] and so many of the residents that i've spoken to they're really excited about

[6:41] that not only just the trails but but also

[6:44] the drainage improvements that'll be going on so we're excited to

[6:48] get this going and i appreciate hawkinswear and their

[6:52] guidance in this

[6:56] any other questions comments we have a motion to approve uh council

[7:04] member swain in a second by council member dotson uh

[7:10] will the clerk please call the roll council member swain

[7:16] council member wood

[7:19] council member neyland

[7:23] councilmember dodson aye okay the eyes have it therefore declare

[7:33] the resolution number

[7:36] 9-2-20-20 9-2-20-20 has passed

[7:46] on to our other project with hawkinswear this is the next item on the agenda's

[7:51] resolution to authorize entering into an agreement with hawkinswear for

[7:55] other drainage improvements these are going to be downtown

[7:59] i'll ask the clerk to please read the resolution

[8:02] being enacted by the city council for the city of bangor and arkansas a

[8:06] resolution to be entitled resolution authorizing the mayor to

[8:09] enter into a contract for engineering services for the city of van buren

[8:12] arkansas and for other purposes for as the city of bayview and arkansas

[8:16] has received federal aid transportation alternatives program grant funds for a

[8:20] downtown streetscape project and whereas the downtown streetscape and

[8:24] drainage improvements project requires a drainage evaluation and report to

[8:28] address necessary stormwater drainage improvements affecting the

[8:32] downtown and whereas for storm drainage lines in the system need

[8:36] to be cleaned and inspected to clean the evaluation of the downtown storm

[8:40] drainage system not therefore be it resolved by

[8:42] the city council of the city of banvier and arkansas

[8:45] that section one the mayor is authorized to enter a contract

[8:48] exhibit a with hawkins where engineers incorporated to provide engineering

[8:52] services for the development of plans and specifications for the downtown

[8:55] drainage cleaning and cctv inspection project payment

[8:59] shall not exceed 27 000 plus any applicable reimbursable

[9:03] expenses very good this is again mr saller is

[9:08] here to discuss this project and this is a project that we first

[9:14] discussed this quite a while back with a grant that we received

[9:17] from the arkansas department of transportation

[9:21] for downtown streetscape improvements there was at the time there was a

[9:28] plan for drainage improvements at the same time

[9:31] and then as we've looked really more into it

[9:35] that project continues to get bigger and there's a lot of drainage issues

[9:41] that we're going to try to address here i'm really excited about this but kyle

[9:45] would you uh sure thank you mayor yeah

[9:50] as the mayor mentioned this is an extension of the initial main street

[9:53] escape project drainage evaluation what we

[9:57] discovered in trying to address the drainage needs

[10:01] for that project the existing drainage that runs along

[10:04] washington street and ultimately goes under simmons food

[10:07] before it goes to the river that line was undersized in

[10:11] part of our survey effort we have found an existing drainage system that

[10:16] takes off from that same line and conveys water to another location

[10:20] in town ditch it appears that the line has been in there for some time we

[10:25] don't know the condition of it and this project is to go in and not

[10:30] only clean the line because right now you can't access the line

[10:33] because a lot of the debris that's in the line

[10:36] and not only clean it but go in and do a cctv inspection to determine if the

[10:40] condition of this pipe will ultimately benefit the main

[10:44] street project so that we can tie in our

[10:46] drainage on the downstream in and ultimately get that out to the river

[10:49] and hopefully minimize some flooding that's been happening in those areas in

[10:53] the past so this covers an area between

[10:56] washington street and sycamore along 2nd street corridor so this is if

[11:00] you can envision paralleling the railroad tracks and the levee system in

[11:05] downtown um and has a combination of pipe sizes

[11:10] we've really only got three entry points where we've been able to to get in and

[11:13] take a look at it but we're talking about some pretty

[11:15] large diameter lines that were designed years ago to essentially be the artery

[11:21] for drainage down in the downtown area so we feel like these are vital

[11:24] to the city on being able to address drainage needs long term down there and

[11:29] hopefully like i mentioned earlier will help

[11:31] alleviate some flooding that you'll see in the past

[11:34] our services will take it through field survey

[11:37] final design advertising and bidding and construction management

[11:41] so that's what's included in our proposed fee

[11:45] very good thank you kyle any other questions

[11:48] comments for anyone

[11:52] i also appreciate wally all his work in the planning department

[11:56] [Music] we also got another piece to this in the

[12:00] future that we're applying for a grant to address

[12:03] more drainage issues in the downtown area so

[12:07] we're going to address this with the streetscape and

[12:10] and some drainage with this grant but there's as we know there's more

[12:15] drainage issues to address and we're excited about that opportunity

[12:19] for the future so we'll be back probably again soon to

[12:23] to get your blessing on that if that's it then we need a motion to

[12:29] approve we have a motion from council member

[12:33] dotson

[12:36] we have a second by council member wood will the clerk please call rob

[12:42] councilmember swain

[12:46] council member wood

[12:49] councilmember nealon councilmember dodson

[12:58] that's for the eyes habit and therefore declare the resolution number

[13:04] 9-3-20-20. 9-3-2020 has passed

[13:10] thank you very much

[13:14] the next item is our commission appointments there's one

[13:19] appointment and one reappointment the reappointment is for ms this is

[13:26] mindy london she's on the advertising and promotion commission

[13:30] she's done a really good job with her tenure so far and

[13:34] she'd be willing to serve again and so we're going to consider her

[13:38] reappointment the other appointment is actually for

[13:42] the van buren municipal utilities commission

[13:45] mr dufresne is here to maybe give some comments but

[13:50] we'll be considering the appointment of tracy barba

[13:54] who coincidentally is the first female appointed to this commission in the

[13:58] history of our city we're really excited about

[14:02] adding her to the commission a lot of important things going on

[14:05] and she has a lot of expertise in this area and

[14:09] we're excited about it i guess the sad thing about this

[14:12] is we will be losing jw floyd who has been on this commission for 30 years

[14:18] nearly every day yeah so so we're sad to see him go

[14:22] but we appreciate his service and everything

[14:25] that he's done for this community but we're excited about the future and

[14:29] excited for miss miss burba um mr dufresne do you have

[14:34] anything else you want to do uh no just that the the commission

[14:38] permission is met with miss burma and we're i think she will be

[14:41] a good addition uh we've got a got a good strong

[14:45] commission and we've got a lot of good a lot of

[14:48] good moving parts right now getting a lot of stuff down

[14:54] so we'll need a motion to approve the reappointment

[14:57] and the appointment for mindy london and tracy burba

[15:04] we have a motion to approve

[15:09] and a second all in favor of the motion in the impose i declare the motion

[15:16] carrying

[15:19] that's essentially the end of our normal business

[15:22] i did want to mention as we've been navigating this pandemic

[15:28] of course the finances has been a big question and it's caused the city

[15:33] to delay many projects and just try to see

[15:37] what sort of finances and revenue that will be having

[15:40] to come in the good news is even though we've had

[15:44] delays in projects the good news is that we're

[15:47] at this point in the year compared to last year were

[15:52] 11 above where we were last year in our sales tax from the city and our

[15:57] county sales tax so we're really excited about that this

[16:01] past month um the county was up 14.8

[16:05] compared to 2019 and the city was up 8.2 so we're excited about that we're

[16:11] excited even though in these difficult times that

[16:15] in some ways we're saving money for the future but also we still have money to

[16:20] employ our great employees and haven't had to let anyone go for that

[16:24] so we're excited and thankful for sure any questions about that anyone

[16:32] and i also did want to just remind everyone

[16:36] that as i'm still talking through a mask that we're still in phase two

[16:43] of the pandemic and we are still needing to be vigilant to wear masks to

[16:48] physically distance to wash our hands and be as

[16:52] hygienic as possible in this time and i just want to encourage everyone to

[16:56] continue that don't let up even though some things are

[17:00] opening up more it's still a serious issue and we wanted

[17:05] to do what we can to help each other and keep each other healthy

[17:10] so thank you for that the last thing before we hear a motion to

[17:15] adjourn i want to recognize miss jennifer froud

[17:20] who is uh in the back there with the mask on

[17:23] um this will be her last council meeting and

[17:27] she has been with the city for uh it's about 10 and a half years almost 11

[17:33] years and um i know just we we actually started

[17:37] nearly the same time when i worked started working for the city in june um

[17:42] that you were in march and i can tell you she's just provided

[17:47] such a great service to this community i've talked to mayor freeman

[17:50] uh who she worked predominantly predominantly for

[17:54] um and he just had the glowing remarks possible to say about jennifer

[18:01] i'm going to present her with something in a second but i just want to say that

[18:06] in 10 and a half years

[18:09] you've done so much and i've kind of pulled different people

[18:13] on the staff and throughout the community and

[18:16] most people are like what jennifer's leaving how are you going to survive

[18:21] talking to candace earlier she's very concerned about that

[18:25] as well she should but i can tell you just in a year and a half or so that

[18:30] we've been working together i absolutely could not have done it

[18:34] without without jennifer she does so much that many of us don't

[18:38] know about but she's she's really served this

[18:41] community and that's why i want to present her

[18:45] with the key to the city and so jennifer come up here and i'll

[18:48] read this [Music]

[18:54] she didn't have to

[19:09] so it says this key to the city of america and arkansas is hereby presented

[19:12] to jennifer froud uh in in appreciation for 10 years of

[19:17] outstanding service to the city um hereby presented this 28th day of

[19:21] september 2020. so thank you jennifer for everything

[19:25] you've done

[19:35] appreciate that and unless there's anything from the public

[19:41] or any other comments from council members we're going to need

[19:46] a motion to adjourn so councilmember penny with the motions

[19:53] and council member dobson with the first dance secretary

[19:57] so all in favor of the motion can you vote go to the motion carrier

[20:16] [Music] this morning

City of Van Buren, Arkansas City Council Meeting Monday, September 28, 2020

Transcript