CITY OF TEXARKANA, AR REQUEST FOR BOARD ACTION

Transcription

1 CITY OF TEXARKANA, AR REQUEST FOR BOARD ACTION AGENDA TITLE: Approval of Minutes of the regular meeting of August 5, AGENDA DATE: 08/19/2013 ITEM#: 7A DEPARTMENT: City Clerk DATE SUBMITTED: 08/06/2013 PREPARED BY: Patti Scott Grey SUBJECT: August 5, 2013regular meeting minutes EXHIBITS: Minutes APPROVAL: EXPENSE REQUIRED: $0.00 AMOUNT BUDGETED: $0.00 APPROPRIATION REQUIRED: $0.00 SUMMARY: The minutes of the August 5, 2013regular meeting are provided for your approval. BOARD ACTION: The City Clerk recommends board approval. REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS AUGUST 5, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT: The Board of Directors of the City of Texarkana, Arkansas, convened in regular session at 6:30 PM on August 5, 2013.

2 ROLL CALL: Mayor Smith asked the Clerk to call the roll and the following Board Members were present: Mayor N. Wayne Smith, Assistant Mayor James Mike Jones, and Directors Ruth Penney Davis, Laney J. Harris, Sue Johnson and Londell Williams. Also present were Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman, City Attorney George Matteson, and City Clerk Patti Scott Grey. Director Dowd was absent. Mayor Smith asked it be duly noted there was a quorum present for tonight s meeting. INVOCATION: The invocation was given by Director Sue Johnson. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Director Sue Johnson led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. COMMENTS FROM THE MAYOR: Announcements: Wendy s Restaurant would be opening in Texarkana, Arkansas. The new Wendy s location was the old vacant truck stop located on 49 th Street and Stateline Avenue, almost directly across from the Burger King Restaurant on the Texas-side. Mayor Smith thanked Mike Cox and Mark Townsend the investors of Wendy s. He anticipated other businesses would be drawn to that location. Wendy s anticipated to open in December of this year. Wadley Senior Clinic celebrated the ribbon cutting and opening last week and began receiving patients on August 1, Arkansas Convention Center would have a grand opening later this month. Holiday Springs Water Park was up and running and doing great. The water park was meeting the investor s expectations. Amigo Juan s Mexican Café would also have a grand opening this month. Hampton Inn was almost ready to be open and would have a soft opening this month. There would not be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at this time.

3 Arkansas Viaduct was progressing. A few buildings have been removed on Broad Street to accommodate the new viaduct. Viaduct construction would begin January 1, University of Arkansas Texarkana would expand their campus this year. A new building would be built this year and the parking lot would be expanded. Board Meeting Procedure: Mayor Smith briefly reviewed the board meeting procedures and pointed out the Agenda Item Cards, Citizens Communication Cards, and agendas along the rail for tonight s board meeting. The Mayor asked any audience member interested in speaking at tonight s board meeting to complete one of the cards and turn the card into the City Clerk. He said this would help run an organized meeting and allowed the Clerk to have the necessary information for the meeting minutes. He stated any citizen may comment on any item on the agenda and express their desires, but would be limited to five minutes. Welcome: Mayor Smith welcomed the public and City staff to tonight s board meeting. PRESENTATION (S): City Employee Service Awards: Mayor Smith presented awards to Jeff Roach and Oris Kemp. They each received a City of Texarkana, Arkansas Employee Service Award and Texarkana, Arkansas City pin. The awards recognized Mr. Roach for fifteen (15) years of service with the Public Works Department, and Mr. Kemp for ten (10) years of service with Texarkana Water Utilities (TWU). They accepted the honor and thanked Mayor Smith, the Board of Directors, and the Interim City Manager. Mayor Smith commented Owen Gennings, Gary Smith, Doretta Rose, and James Shuman, Jr. were unable to attend tonight s meeting and he would make sure they received their awards and pins. Mr. Gennings would have been recognized for twenty-five (25) years of service with Texarkana Water Utilities (TWU); Mr. Smith would have been recognized for ten (10)

4 years of service with Texarkana Water Utilities; and Ms. Rose and Mr. Shuman would have been recognized for five (5) years of service with Central Records and Communications (CRC) and Texarkana Water Utilities (TWU) respectively. Mayor Smith thanked all the City employees for their service to the City and its citizens. Riverbend Water Resources District (RWRD): As Mayor Smith introduced RWRD Executive Director Scott L. Albert, Director Williams asked if he could be recognized. Director Williams made a motion to table Mr. Albert s lengthy, forty-five (45) minute presentation. He asked the Texarkana, Arkansas Board of Directors to have a workshop to hear what Mr. Albert had to say, prior to a presentation being given at a board meeting, in light of previous issues with Riverbend Water Resources District. Director Harris seconded the motion. Director Harris said he thought the board limited presentations to a certain amount of time. Mayor Smith said the board limited presentations to fifteen (15) minutes and the board could extend the time. Director Harris said he had an issue with the presentation being forty-five (45) minutes. Mayor Smith said he did not know how long the presentation was going to be, but wanted to provide RWRD Executive Director Scott Albert with enough time. Mayor Smith said the purpose of this presentation was to meet the new Director of Riverbend and to let him speak about RWRD s plans for the future. Mayor Smith asked the Clerk to call the roll regarding a motion to table the presentation and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Harris, and Williams voted aye. Directors Johnson, Jones, and Smith voted nay. The Mayor declared the motion failed, as there were three ayes and three nays. Director Harris said since the motion failed, Mr. Albert with Riverbend should be able to start his presentation.

5 City Attorney George Matteson said the question for the court would be if the motion failed or if the motion was a tie. He said he did not have the answer at this time, but would research the question. Director Williams said the board could do what it wanted. He said the City had problems in the past with RWRD, regarding the Texarkana Water Utilities. He said the water from Millwood Lake was better than what the Texarkana citizens were drinking today. He said the person leading the charge for RWRD when this all started, could not even pay his bills. The Texas-side worked out a deal where the total amount was paid by a certain amount each month. Director Williams said the City did not have an astute attorney to defend it. He said there were things the citizens and he did not understand. He wanted to be able to ask questions in a workshop. Mayor Smith asked if a workshop was alright with Mr. Albert, even though, technically, Mr. Albert had the right to make his presentation. RWRD Executive Director Scott L. Albert said whatever was convenient for the board. He said he was willing to speak at a workshop anywhere and anytime. Mr. Albert said he was new to the area. He commented he had been here for only three 3 months. Director Williams asked Mr. Albert if he was familiar with Riverbend and its practices. Mr. Albert said he was familiar with litigation going back to He said his presentation was to focus forward. He said he wanted to share with the board his proposal to move forward. Director Williams asked Mr. Albert if anything he planned to present affected Texarkana, Arkansas. Mr. Albert said he would be naïve to say no. He said anything RWRD did with the Texas-side, would affect Texarkana, Arkansas. Director Williams said that was why our citizens needed to know what was happening. Mayor Smith said he would leave it up to Mr. Albert to go on with his presentation or wait to have a workshop.

6 Mr. Albert said he had no problem with doing a workshop. Mayor Smith said Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman would get with Mr. Albert, decide on a date, and notify the Board Members. Donation and Collection Bins: Mayor Smith said he asked several of the local organizations to attend tonight s meeting to discuss the donation bins. Several bins have been brought in by the United Way and have been harming the other local organizations and the collection of clothes that took care, primarily of Texarkana residents. He said this was just an open discussion and nothing would be done without the coordination of the Texas-side. He felt it was appropriate for the board members to hear from everyone affected by the bins. He said United Way went into a contract with a private company and from the items collected; United Way was given a percentage. The clothes leave town and go to the private company s facility where the sellable items were sold and the other items were sold as rags. Some of the other non-profit organizations believe the bins are harming them and they were not receiving the amount of donations they were used to seeing. He said he did not know if the City could or should be involved or if things could be worked out without the City s involvement. He said whatever the City did; it needed to coincide with what the Texas-side was doing. He said he attended the Texas-side s donation bin meeting and it concluded with their City Manager and City Attorney getting together to discuss what could be done. Mayor Smith said that would probably be his recommendation also. Mayor Smith asked United Way Representative Dennis Huffman to get the discussion started. United Way Representative Dennis Huffman said the Mayor did a good job of highlighting the problem. Mr. Huffman said today the United Way board met and voted unanimously to terminate the contract with Merchandise Pickup Services, Inc. Part of the problem was there were unintended consequences that may have had some impact on member agencies, as well as non-member agencies. The consideration that came was that someone was going to do this in the community.

7 United Way felt if they did it, then they could cash funds derived from the bins to benefit its agencies. The problem was the agencies informed United Way the money raised from United Way bins, was nowhere near the offset the agencies were experiencing. United Way was under contract with Merchandise Pickup Services, Inc., and had a sixty (60) day provision in the contract. Even though United Way voted to terminate the contract, it was still under contract for sixty (60) days and during that sixty (60) days, United Way would not receive any compensation. At the same time, given the circumstances, and given the impact to our agencies, United Way thought it was in the best interest of our community to help the agencies by terminating the contract. He said it did not mean someone else would not do the same thing. He said he encouraged the agencies to go before both Cities board to see if there was a way or if there was an ordinance stating what was collected in the community, stayed in the community. Mayor Smith said he was glad to hear the contract was terminated and the issue still needed to be discussed before it happened again. Right now, any organization could make a contract with Merchandise Pickup Services, Inc. He said the board needed to hear from everybody, the agencies, Texarkana, Arkansas and Texarkana, Texas citizens and staff, to decide what could be done and at the same time not infringe upon them. Mr. Huffman said there were trends with for-profits agencies to join with notfor-profits/ non-profits agencies. United Way loaned their name and was compensated for it. This will be seen more and more. He said the United Way supported all the entities. It needs to be determined if there is a way, in which donated goods stay in the community. Mr. Huffman said he would be glad to answer any questions. Big Brothers Big Sisters Donation Center Manager Rosa Kidd said the donation center was located at 2108 New Boston Road, Texarkana, Texas. She was the

8 manager for this location and several others throughout the State of Arkansas. Her facility was actually under the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arkansas, but it represented agencies in Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and Central Arkansas. Texarkana, Arkansas, is in Central Arkansas territory and it was the agency that monitored the growth in this area. Big Brothers Big Sisters has been in Texarkana since October 2012 and raised a net income of $15,000 that would go toward the agency s endeavors here. The plan was to start with a limited service program, because to start a full service program for our kids cost a minimum of $75,000. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters was a grass roots company. They did not have millions in the bank. They would not come into an area and start working with the kids only to walk out on them. The kids they dealt with were at-risk children and the children did not need another disappointment in their life. She said the donation center was started first to start collections. Big Brothers Big Sisters employed Texarkana people who collected items people normally put into the City s waste system. She said according to the National Average, there were sixty-eight (68) pounds of collected materials per person, that is per man, woman, or child, ended up in the landfill. Big Brothers Big Sisters collects about 300,000 pounds of clothes. The furniture and miscellaneous items added up to about twenty (20), fifty-foot (55) trailers being kept out of the landfill. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters was not a household name and it was new. This was a way to start their programs. When the economy went south, it was very beneficial to Big Brothers Big Sisters. It allowed them to grow and as they grew it would allow them to service kids, right here in this community. She said those programs were coming, but were not here today. They did not have the funds yet, but they were at a point where they could sustain a limited program. Big Brothers Big Sisters bins offer the community a convenient way to place items into Big Brothers Big Sisters recycling program, as opposed to the landfills. Big Brothers Big Sisters did

9 good things for the community. It was just like the bins that collected aluminum and plastic. The only difference was Big Brothers Big Sisters collects textiles. It took years for those things to breakdown in a landfill. Basically, in this area alone, there was about six (6) million pounds available for non-profits every year. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters was not even scratching the surface. There was no way they had that much of an impact. She said for us as non-profits to support programs and help the environment, they needed to be innovative. The people needed something that was convenient. They did not want to donate between the open hours of business. People wanted to donate on their own time. Big Brothers Big Sisters was offering the people that opportunity. In the process, we were allowing our child mentoring services to grow in this area. The services were coming, but not without the funds to support, not without education to the board and public and not without a volunteer base. Out of the kids that Big Brothers Big Sisters serviced, eighty-five percent (85%) improved in their educational expectations. They graduate high school and go on to college. They also had ninety-four percent (94%) of kids maintain or improve in at-risk behavior. Ms. Kidd said she was born and reared in Hope, Arkansas, and had been in this area her entire life. She said she knew the need for mentors. She said she reared her two children and watched many other kids go through life without anybody. The only relief they had was with these role models and volunteers. The kids would not be placed in further risk. Big Brothers Big Sisters did extensive background checks that cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 per child to mentor. It was because Big Brothers Big Sisters stayed involved. Mayor Smith asked if Big Brothers Big Sisters donation bins were located on their property or were the bins located throughout the community.

10 Ms. Kidd said there was one bin at the Family Dollar in Texarkana, Arkansas. There were a total of five donation bins in this area. Two bins were at their site. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters were in control of their bins. Mayor Smith asked if the items from the donation bins went to a store. He asked if it was for distribution. Ms. Kidd said the warehouse was more like a distribution center until the Big Brothers Big Sisters partner came to town. Mayor Smith said he read in the paper Big Brothers Big Sisters was not located in Texarkana. He found it unique they were listed on the agenda. Ms. Kidd said Big Brothers Big Sisters did have a distribution center. She also said her Big Brothers Big Sisters Chief Executive Officer was at tonight s meeting. Mayor Smith asked if Big Brothers Big Sisters was strictly resale and also asked if that was how they acquired their funds. Ms. Kidd said Big Brothers Big Sisters was a long term needs, not for profit agency. Mayor Smith said the donation bins were for their fundraising. Ms. Kidd said yes. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters serviced their bins. If those bins became an eyesore, they were on top of it. Big Brothers Big Sisters had a long standing relationship with their partners throughout the state. Assistant Mayor Jones asked if Big Brothers Big Sisters had a store in Texarkana to sell merchandise. Ms. Kidd said not at this point. Assistant Mayor Jones asked if Big Brothers Big Sisters planned on putting a store in Texarkana. Ms. Kidd said Big Brothers Big Sisters partner was planning on putting a store in Texarkana.

11 Mayor Smith asked if the money Big Brothers Big Sisters received from donations was designated to the Texarkana area. Ms. Kidd said the part collected in this area, from the Texarkana region, was earmarked for their growth endeavors here. She thanked the board for their time and said she would be happy to answer any questions. Domestic Violence Prevention, Inc. Executive Director Connie Sloan said while the Big Brothers Big Sisters was a commendable organization, at the present time, they were offering no services of any kind to the community. Nor was there any indication there would be any services from their agency to Texarkana in the near future. Big Brothers Big Sisters was taking a large amount of merchandise, that if it stayed in this community would be partially given to citizens who needed clothing and would be available to purchase for those who needed the low rate at the Domestic Violence Stores. Also, the sale of those items would support their agency and pay the bills at the shelter. She said one critical issue was vouchers for those in need; Domestic Violence gave away almost $12,000 worth of clothing a year. The Salvation Army gave away much, much more, because that agency worked on a much bigger scale than Domestic Violence. She said she thought the donations should stay in the community to benefit the community in its entirety. Ms. Sloan said she had seen the impact the bins have had on the donations for the Domestic Violence resale stores. She said she knew it was the same for the Salvation Army and possibly Goodwill Industries. Mayor Smith said since these United Way bins had been in the community, Domestic Violence donations have dropped. Ms. Sloan said yes, substantially. When the resale shops did not have the merchandise, it also did not have the sales or the ability to give away clothing. Mayor Smith said donations were received on site at the Domestic Violence location.

12 Ms. Sloan said yes, sir. Mayor Smith said their resale shop was in Oaklawn Village, Texarkana, Texas. Ms. Sloan said yes, sir. The resale shop was located at 66 Oaklawn Village next to Harbor Freight. She said she was in the process of developing their own bins to be located on their property to be available those hours the shop was not open. Mayor Smith asked Ms. Sloan if Domestic Violence had bins throughout town. Ms. Sloan said no, sir. Goodwill Industries of Arkansas Vice President of Donated Goods Leisa Wamsley thanked the board for allowing her to speak tonight and she also thanked United Way Representative Dennis Huffman for terminating the contract with Merchandise Pickup Services, Inc. She said Goodwill Industries of Arkansas had been in Texarkana for twenty-five (25) years. Julia Kaiser, the store manager, had been there for ten years. In 2013, Goodwill Industries of Arkansas served over 8,370 people, who received 36,000 services. Goodwill also helped put 1,280 people back to work. Twenty of those people work at the Goodwill store here in Texarkana. People like Kenneth and Dan; one was autistic and one legally blind. She said Goodwill depended on donations and that was how their mission was supported. Ms. Wamsley said ninety-four percent (94%) of donations that came into Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, go back into programs. At the wage center, fifty (50) to seventy (75) people a month received career readiness, computer training, and assessments. Goodwill was helping people from Texarkana, as well as, the State of Arkansas. She spoke with the store manager Julia and there had been a thirty percent (30%) decrease in donations and now Goodwill was trucking in donations from Little Rock, Arkansas. With the cost of gas, and shipping, the donations were no longer free. Ms. Wamsley had been around Goodwill for fifteen (15) years. She commented she came from Richmond, Virginia, relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, and she specifically asked to work for Goodwill in Little

13 Rock, Arkansas. She said she loved the community of Arkansas, because nonprofits here were so deeply rooted in what they do. She said we need the board s help. She was asking the board to come up with an ordinance to do away with collection bins. She said God Bless, Big Brothers Big Sisters, because they did good work, but there partner was a for-profit organization that was in every community Goodwill was located. They made a very small percentage compared to their for-profit partner, who put money in their own pocket and were not serving the people. She said it happened all the time. She said she had been in communities where donation boxes were just dropped wherever and without the permission of the property owner. She said it was in the best interest of the City, citizens, and local non-profits to be really concerned about this. With this in mind, she said she was asking the City to take a proactive position and explore ordinances for solutions to the collection boxes. She strongly believed it would behoove the City to identify current ordinances, which could be used to address this issue. She said Goodwill was committed to this and was here to help the City. She said Goodwill donations turned into jobs and was what they were really here for, for people in Texarkana, and people in Texarkana, Arkansas. Director Davis asked if people had to pay for the clothing at Goodwill. Ms. Wamsley said yes. You got the clothing for a decent price and Goodwill in turn took that money to help people get jobs. Director Davis said she wanted Mrs. Wamsley to know that a lady, who worked for the county, came up to her and told her she would not believe what she had bought that had been Director Davis. It was a blazer and the woman who bought it said she would never had known who previously owned it, except the blazer had a cleaner s tag with Director Davis name on it. Director Davis knew people had a vested interest in Goodwill. She said she liked all these agencies. She hoped Big Brothers Big Sisters was going to come to town. She said she had worked

14 with United Way in the past. She said all the agencies were good, but the one she gave to personally was Goodwill. Mayor Smith said Goodwill s collection point was their store. It was also the store used to distribute the clothes. Ms. Wamsley said yes. We sell the clothes at the store and that was also where their Wage classroom was located, which included online training. Mayor Smith said to donate clothes he had to go to the Goodwill store. Ms. Wamsley said yes. Pop the trunk and they would do the rest. The Salvation Army Lt. Lacy Parrish said who would have thought all these discarded clothes would bring such discussion in regard to these boxes. She said it was definitely an eye opener for the board to see how non-profits take donations and how non-profits were able to use the donations, not for only people who needed the donations with a direct service, but receiving donations through vouchers, or if their home burned or flooded. She said the Salvation Army also sold what they could and what they could not sell would go into a bale that weighed about 1,000 pounds apiece and then the bales were put on a truck for bidding. A vendor would buy the truck. The Salvation Army and send a check for the truck and the money would go back into programming. The Salvation Army did social services through housing programs and food baskets. The Center of Hope, which was the Salvation Army s family shelter, was the only shelter outside of Domestic Violence that operated for families to stay together as a unit. It was absolutely the Salvation Army s niche in this community, because we want to keep the family intact as much as possible. The Salvation Army had one collection box located on their property and it was monitored and emptied. She said going back ten (10) or fifteen (150 years ago, the donation boxes were here and they were wooden. The reason cities across the nation tightened their ordinances, was because the wooden donation bins were a danger. She said the

15 Salvation Army knew the risk. If something happened with their donation bin on their property, they were liable. She asked who was responsible when the boxes were all over the city. Lt. Parrish said the Salvation Army needed the donation boxes for dropping off donations after hours; otherwise, the city would get onto them for having the donations left at the store and becoming an eyesore. Director Davis said the Salvation Army picked up many items, not just clothing. Lt. Parrish said that was correct. She thanked the board and said she would be happy to answer any questions. Additional Comments: Lisa McDermott, 1517 Linden Avenue, said she received a card in the mail the other day marked To Resident, but the card said this agency needed used clothes and household items. Donations would support child mentoring programs. Ms. McDermott called Little Rock, Arkansas and this particular agency was not in operation in Texarkana and would not have mentoring programs here. She was concerned about thousands and thousands of dollars leaving the community. She asked the board to adopt an ordinance outlawing the donation boxes or limit the number of donation boxes and requiring a permit. She said just as the town was making progress with the help of the City Beautiful Commission, the boxes were popping up everywhere and the City needed to take steps to control the donation boxes. She said what bothered her about the United Way, which had fabulous volunteers, was that they went toe-to-toe with local non-profits that served the indigent population. The Salvation Army, The Friendship Center, Domestic Violence Prevention, The Samaritan Charities, and Randy Sam s Shelter depended upon donations. She said the decision of United Way to use donation bins, did not reflect badly on the volunteers of United Way, but it did reflect badly on the management of United Way by teaming up with a for-profit company. Ms. McDermott also applauded the work of Big Brothers Big Sisters, but they were

16 not mentoring locally. Big Brothers Big Sisters was a national organization chartered in Ms. McDermott did not like blackmail. If we did not allow these collection bins, there would be no mentorship here. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters has not formed a local board or had local volunteers. They put the boxes out in October 2012 and they have not introduced themselves to the community, until now when the two cities called them over for a meeting regarding the donation bins. She said that was not neighborly and not the way things were done here. She said it was contrary to what the card she received in the mail said. Ms. McDermott said the Salvation Army was run by missionaries, doing the work of God by caring for the poor. The other non-profits were not in high income jobs either. She said besides the critical services, she believed more bins would come into the community and needed to be permitted. She said the box size was one yard, commercial dumpsters were two yards, and the box was tall. If it was on a non-profits property, let them formulate a drop off system. She wanted the drop off bins identified. She said with permits, how many bins could a non-profit have and where could the bins be placed, especially when it related to right-of-ways. She also wanted to work with the Texas-side on this for a matter of consistency. Samaritan Charities J. B. Stone was a volunteer at the Samaritan Charities Thrift Store on New Boston Road on the Texas-side. He said these bins were hurting the donations of the Samaritan Charities and the ministry of providing good, inexpensive merchandise to the community. The Samaritan Charities also gave items away as well. He said he was against these bins being placed around town, especially if donations were going out of town to Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Stone said we needed to look closely at shutting these bins down, because they took donations much needed from this area from thrift stores and the Salvation Army as well. He said he was basically against these bins. He said if it took

17 ordinances from both sides of the state line to control these bins, then he was for it. Mayor Smith asked Mr. Stone if donations were collected at his store. Mr. Stone said donations were brought to their store. The donations were sorted, priced, and sold at their store. Big Brothers Big Sisters CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arkansas Renee Burks said after hearing all of the comments, she wanted to respond quickly and address a few issues. She said it had been very hard in this economy for a non-profit. Without the partnership Big Brothers Big Sisters had, their doors would have been closed back in They had enough money now to ensure their doors were staying open and to help fund their services. Ms. Burks apologized for not being neighborly. That was not the intent. She did not like to feel Big Brothers Big Sisters had been un-neighborly in any form or fashion. She said the intent was to open a nurturing program in this area. The goals had not changed, unless after hearing everything tonight, mentoring was not needed here. Ms. Burks said she did not feel that was the case for either city. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters was not trying to blackmail anybody with the five bins placed in the community. She said she did not have any problems with city ordinances. She said Big Brothers Big Sisters did everything they could to make everything nice and clean. She said they worked with their corporate partners, who would call and say the bins needed attention and it would be taken care of right away. Big Brothers Big Sisters believed in good customer service. They believed in treating customers the way they wanted to be treated. She hoped the agency could move forward in this and she hoped everyone would not think so poorly of Big Brothers Big Sisters. This organization was over 100 years old and had a proven model of mentoring and it was also a respected model that had been tried to be replicated many times. Ms. Burks said she was very proud of the model

18 and what they do for children throughout the state. She hoped Big Brothers Big Sisters could do that here in this community. Director Harris said competition could make a good company a bad company. He did not know if the other organizations were trying to do away with competition or what. He would like to see what the attorney came up with as to what the city could actually do. Ms. Burks said it was hard, because people who were not mentoring were going after grants that dealt with mentoring and were making a side mentoring program. She said the non-profits were all in competition; competing for individual donations, corporate donations, and competing for volunteers. One of their biggest struggles was male mentors. Getting male volunteers was a problem across the board for any organization. Mayor Smith asked Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman to contact Texarkana, Texas City Manager John Whitson to discuss options and then work with our City Attorney George M. Matteson to come to a solution. CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Smith announced item 7F., approving the sale of city owned commercial property located at 413 Ferguson Street for a construction office and storage, would be removed from the consent agenda for further discussion at the request of Director Harris. Director Johnson, seconded by Assistant Mayor Jones moved to have the item removed and to approve the revised consent agenda. The motion carried unanimously. The items approved by consent were: MINUTES: The minutes approved were of the regular meeting of July 15, 2013, the called meeting of July 24, 2013, and the called meeting of July 29, RESOLUTION NO. 6056:

19 Resolution No approves the request to hold the Four States Fair Parade Festival on Front Street on Saturday, September 14, 2013 from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. RESOLUTION NO. 6057: Resolution No.6057 grants permission to the Four States Fair Association to hold its 69 th Annual Four States Fair Parade on Saturday, September 14, 2013, 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM. RESOLUTION NO. 6058: Resolution No grants permission for the Front Street Committee to host Fall Fest on Front Street on October 19, RESOLUTION NO. 6059: Resolution No reschedules the Monday, December 2, 2013 board meeting to Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 6:30 PM, due to the Annual Christmas Parade. REGULAR AGENDA: RESOLUTION NO REMOVED ITEM: Resolution No was read in its entirety. Said resolution approves the sale of city owned commercial property located at 413 Ferguson Street for a construction office and storage. Public Works Director Paul D. Hackleman said the building was located on the corner of Ferguson and Division Streets. It had been vacant for a very long time. The City had a contract with Legacy Group to sell the property and the contract had since expired. He said during the time to find a buyer of the property, different organizations submitted proposals; one was The Bread of Life Ministries and the other was Lighthouse Ministries. Mr. Hackleman thought there was a representative from one of the ministries here tonight. There was a split on one ministry s board, feeling they could not bring the building back to code. Both groups were contacted prior to this meeting and both groups were invited to attend this meeting. He said the Code Division went through the structure and created a list of what had to be done to bring everything up to code. The City stored old records, computers and files at that location. If the building was sold or donated, those items would need to be removed.

20 Director Johnson asked if it was their intent to being the building into code or demolish it and build something else. Mr. Hackleman said the company that wanted to purchase the building was the Terry Blair Construction Company. Mr. Blair planned to bring the building up to code and he wanted to store his construction equipment in the old fire bay. It would be an appropriate use for what Mr. Blair wanted to do. Director Davis asked what the sale price was. Mr. Hackleman said the offer was $5,000 to purchase the building. Mayor Smith said if the City did not sale this property, it was almost to the point of condemnation and the City would have to tear it down. Mr. Hackleman said that had been the concern. Director Harris asked if anyone from Lighthouse Ministries was present at the meeting. He said his problem with this was the sale of the building. He would have preferred the building be leased for a dollar a year for maybe five or ten years, to give the ministry the opportunity to see what they could do to the building and try to sell the building. He said he knew the building was worth more than $5,000. If you were going to sell it that cheap, he was sure there would many people wanting to buy it. He preferred to table this item and see what the Bread of Life Ministry could do. He said he knew they were doing stuff for the poor in the neighborhood, such as serving food. He would like to see if there was some way they could get this building. He said the building was probably worth $15,000 to $20,000. DIRECTOR HARRIS MOTION TO TABLE: Director Harris made a motion to table the item to see if the City could get with Lighthouse Ministries and see if they were willing to do this. Mayor Smith said he spoke with Lighthouse Ministries and he knew Mr. Hackleman had spoken with them as well. Director Harris said Mr. Kelly of Legacy Group was in it to make money. He said he had an issue with the sale of this property when Public Works first had it up for sale, because it did

21 not come to the board. He said the board should have had the first say as to whether the building would be put up for sale. Mayor Smith said the board approved it. Mike Kelly, 5810 Summerwood Lane, said he was the managing partner for Texarkana Legacy Group (Legacy). Mayor Smith said Legacy had a contract with the City for this building for six months. Legacy continued to show the building after the contract expired. Mr. Kelly said the original listing agreement started in November It was agreed upon that the City would have the Legacy would list the property for six months and that agreement expired in May He said Legacy also indicated to the City it would continue to market the property and try to find a buyer. The property was shown a number of times and he and Mr. Blair were at the property on more than one occasion. Mr. Kelly said Mr. Blair seemed to have the most interest in the building and he indicated he would bring the building back to code, so he would have a place to operate his business and storage for his equipment. Director Davis asked the Mayor if the building had been vacant for a number of years. She said it had been quite a few years and she had a bunch of people ask her about the property. A few were charitable organizations. She told them that the building had to be brought up to code and that stopped it. She said that facility would cost a bunch of money to be brought up to code. Mayor Smith said there were not a lot of people knocking on Mr. Kelly s door to purchase the property. Mr. Kelly said for those that had not been in the building; structurally, it had a lot of problems, internally and externally. It needed a new roof immediately, before it caved in upon itself. Mayor Smith said he mentioned Lighthouse Ministries and he knew they had several discussions about the property. They were provided an opportunity to speak and knew the board was going to consider the sale of the property tonight. He said he did not know why they did not

22 present a proposal to the board. He said even if the City leased the property for a dollar a year, whoever leased the property would have to bring it up to code, which would cost a significant amount of money. He said he knew of three organizations, who were interested in the property and when it got down to that point of bringing it up to code, they were no longer interested. He spoke against the motion to table, because he saw no productivity in tabling the item. There was someone who was ready, willing, had the money; and had a plan. The board should proceed with the resolution. If this property was not sold the City would incur costs to bring the building up to Code that could be better used on other services. Director Harris said he was reading Life House Ministry's letter from Charles Jordon to Paul Hackleman that included five different phases if they were to get the building. He said he was seeing a proposal. Mr. Hackleman said when he was asked to find an owner for the building. The board was willing to give the building away. The groups were interested. The letters Director Harris was referencing was from Then the inspection was done. Once the interested parties realized the volume of money needed for repairs, the question from the interested parties was if the City would fix the building before giving it to an organization. He said he did not believe the City would fix the building. That would be the Board of Directors decision. The intent was to see who would take it, regardless of whether the City sold it or gave it away. Although the groups had previously written letters with their plans included, they did not follow through. Every year the City Manager or the Mayor would ask what was the status of this building. That was how he ended up with Texarkana Legacy Group, trying to find a buyer. Every time a charity group came in and wanted to do these great things, such as feed the homeless or pass out food, Mr. Hackleman would also end up with two or three citizens begging him not to let that happen to the building. They did not want that in their neighborhood. He said the City did recall these two groups, because they were the most interested. There had been no opposition from the neighborhood of Mr. Blair purchasing the property. This would have the least impact on the neighborhood and would bring a building back into use.

23 The motion to table this item died for lack of a second. RESOLUTION NO REMOVED ITEM VOTE: Director Johnson, seconded by Assistant Mayor Jones, moved to adopt the resolution. The Clerk called the roll and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Johnson, Jones, Williams, and Smith voted aye. Director Harris voted nay. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted, as there were five ayes and one nay. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION TIME: Clyde Hensley, 5545 Carpenter Road, said he had been at this residence since On May 29 th of this year, his house burnt and he lost everything. He thanked God for the Texarkana, Arkansas Fire Department. Without them, the fire could have become bigger and faster than what it was. He thanked the good Lord for them. He said he was under the impression he was attending the meeting tonight to find out if he could replace his four bedroom double-wide home. He said he had been going through this since the first of June, 2013, and he had done everything he could. He said he had spoken to Director Davis and she knew about his problems. She worked with him and his wife. He said he was under the impression that everything would be resolved tonight, so he put his home back in there. Now, he found out, nothing would be done about it tonight. He said was getting tired of the run around and he wanted to know why he could not get this done. He said he was at that location prior to annexation. He said he did not have any basic city services, except Police and Fire. There was no sewer and the right-of-way was only cut once every six months. He said the road was so bad that when it rained it flowed onto his property and washed it out. Those were issues he was not really worried about at this time. He said he was worried about himself and being basically homeless. He said his wife had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), with emphysema and bronchitis. There were a few times he thought he would have to carry her to the hospital. He said he was really getting aggravated, because all he wanted to do was replace his home and get his life back to normal. He said he found a home and Director Davis had seen the pictures of it. He said it was better built and probably cost more than any

24 home out there. He was told he could build a modular home on a concrete slab. Mr. Hensley said he worked for URS Corporation, which was a contractor with Red River Army Depot and everyone knew what was going on at Red River right now. He said he was trying to live within his means. This is what he could afford. That was why he found this new home to basically replace what he had. He said he was there before the City and thought he would be grandfathered. He said Public Works told him when his house burnt, there was no grandfather clause and there was no provision made in the ordinance to replace his home. He knew he was in the R-1 zone, which was assigned when the property was annexed into the City. He did not know why the City annexed them. He did not get anything out of it. Mr. Hensley said the City could not afford to care for what it had. He said he was not asking for anything. All he wanted was to replace his house. He wanted a simple answer why the Board of Directors of the City of Texarkana, Arkansas could not say, yes, you could replace it. Since he was told at one time, it was up to the board. Now, he was being told he had to go to another board. He said he had been without a home and he was getting tired of it. He did not want problems with anybody; he just wanted to replace his house. Mr. Hensley asked someone to explain why he could not do that. Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman said her understanding was that the City Ordinances did not allow for a double-wide or a mobile home to be put back on the property, because of the zoning regulations. She knew Director Ruth Penney Davis, Public Works Director Paul Hackleman and Chief Building Official Nina Walker had been involved in this discussion of how the City could alter the ordinance or what the City could do to allow Mr. Hensley to replace his burnt home with another mobile home. She said at this point, the next step in the process was to take this item to the Planning Commission for a City Code revision. Mr. Hensley said he was told he was going to get a variance to be able to put his home back on the property. That was the last word he got. He asked Director Davis if he was correct. Mr. Hensley said he had no faith in Mr. Hackleman, because he did not call him when he

25 said he would. He said Mr. Hackleman took off on vacation and when he came back, he did not bother to call Mr. Hensley. Mr. Hensley said he talked to every neighbor he had on his road and one neighbor was an attorney. Mr. Hensley said that attorney asked the same thing. Why was he not allowed to put a mobile home back there? Ms. Hyman asked Mr. Hackleman if there was a grandfather clause on this ordinance. Mr. Hackleman said no. Ms. Hyman said our option at this point was to take it to the Planning and Zoning Commission. She asked if there were any other options. Mayor Smith said he thought there was another option. Mr. Hensley said he was under the impression that he would be on tonight s agenda. Director Davis said we bounced options around. Mr. Hackleman said in trying to resolve the issue for Mr. Hensley, we threw out a lot of alternatives to try to open a door rather than close a door. In doing that there were a lot of discussions of what we could or could not do. He said he did talk to the City Attorney George Matteson. Mr. Hackleman said in the end, he could not find a door to open under the current Texarkana, Arkansas Code of Ordinances which would allow a mobile home to be built in a R-1 Zone. The ordinance was purposely written, so when the mobile home ceased to function, it would have to fall in line with current zoning. For R-1 Residential, it would be a stick built home or modular home. There was no legal way for staff to issue a permit to replace a mobile home. Mr. Hackleman said he spoke with Mr. Hensley on July 19, 2013 and informed him that this would go before the Planning Commission to revisit redoing the ordinances. We would need one of the Directors to propose changing the ordinance. He asked Director Davis if she would kindly propose changing the ordinance. At that point, it was out of the Public Director s hands. The matter would go to the Planning Commission and they would recommend something to the Board of Directors. In doing all that, the best way to change the ordinance was to then let the issue go to the Board of Adjustment as a variance request. That way it would be reviewed on a case by case basis. During this time, different

26 people spoke with Mr. Hensley and he was under the impression that maybe the decision could be made by the Board of Directors. Mr. Hackleman said in his conversations with Mr. Hensley, Mr. Hackleman did not see that as an option. This would have to go through an ordinance change. There was not a way to issue a permit, based on the way the ordinances were written. Director Davis asked Mr. Hackleman if he told her there was a possibility this issue could be brought before the board. Mr. Hackleman said the City Staff has tried to figure out a way to do that. Director Davis said Mr. Hackleman said he thought this could be handled by the Board. Now, we have to go back for a variance. She said she also heard it may have to go back through the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mr. Hackleman said staff thought the Board could make the decision. He said when he spoke to Director Davis that option was just something we talked about, but we could not do it. Director Davis said she asked Mr. Hackleman to call Mr. Hensley. Mr. Hackleman said yes. He said he called him on July 19, 2013 and informed him of the Planning Commission meeting for an ordinance review. The Planning Commission would make their recommendation to the Board of Directors. Director Davis said her son was a firefighter and he was at Mr. Hensley s home fire. Her son told her how bad it was and that the Hensley s were there. She said the Hensley s did not set the fire or try to knock their house down, so they could get a new one. Director Davis said the Board needed to have some common sense somewhere. She said previous Boards did not want mobile homes. She said she was wondering how fair that was. She asked if the home was hit by lighting, a flood or tornado, was there not something that could be done. She asked if the home goes, the family was just out on the street. She asked why there were no contingencies for such catastrophic happenings.