REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS AUGUST 19, 2013

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REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS AUGUST 19, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT: The Board of Directors of the City of Texarkana, Arkansas, convened in regular session at 6:30 PM on August 19, 2013. 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, Chad Dowd, 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. Mayor Smith asked it be duly noted there was a quorum present for tonight s meeting. INVOCATION: The invocation was given by Director Ruth Penney Davis. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Director Ruth Penney Davis led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. COMMENTS FROM THE MAYOR: 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 1

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): 2012 Audit Report: Mayor Smith introduced BKD, LLP Auditor/CPA Andy Richards. Mr. Richards gave a PowerPoint presentation and said the objectives of an audit were: 1) To provide an opinion on whether financial statements were fairly stated, in all material respects; 2) To report on compliance with certain laws and regulations; 3) To express an opinion on compliance in all materials respects with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) CircularA- 133; 4) To issue a report on internal controls over financial reporting and compliance requirements (no opinion); and 5) To issue a report on compliance with certain state laws. He said the Certified Audit Financial Report (CAFR) was the responsibility of City management, not the auditor. BKD s responsibility was to express an opinion on the financial statements based on the audit. During the audit process there was required communication to the board, which included: 1) Auditor s responsibilities; 2) Qualitative Aspects of Significant Accounting Policies and Practices; 3) Audit adjustments (Recorded and Passed); 4) Difficulties Encountered in Performing the Audit; and 5) Other matters such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant (AICPA) Clarity Standards and recently issued Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements on Pensions. Mr. Richards said for the financial audit results, the auditors received full cooperation from City management and employees. There were unmodified or clean audit opinions that included governmental activities, major funds, discretely presented component units and aggregate remaining fund information. The opinions indicated that financial statements were fairly presented in all material respects. In the Single Audit Section, the opinions were: 1) The internal control over financial reporting and on compliance and other matters based on an audit of the financial statements performed in accordance with the 2

Government Auditing Standards found no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies; and 2) The compliance with requirements that could have a direct and material effect on each major program and on internal control over compliance in accordance with OMB Circular A-133, found there were unmodified opinions on each major program. There were no instances of noncompliance reported and there were no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies noted. In the Single Audit Section under Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards, the City expended approximately $1.5 million in federal awards. BKD also performed program audits on major programs, which included the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the Disaster Economic Adjustment Industrial Access and Related Infrastructure Improvements Grant. Mr. Richards said those were the results for the audit of 2012. He said he appreciated the board s time and would be happy to answer any questions. Mayor Smith said he and the board wanted to express their appreciation to BKD for their hard work on the City s audit. For the Love of Texarkana: Mayor Smith introduced DeAnna O Malley. Ms. O Malley gave a PowerPoint presentation and said For the Love of Texarkana was an event that would bring together citizens and practitioners around the big ideas of the City. She attended Neighborhoods, USA (NUSA), which was a national non-profit organization committed to building and strengthening neighborhood organization. It was created in 1975 to share information and experiences toward building stronger communities. NUSA now continued to encourage networking and information sharing to facilitate the development of partnerships between neighborhood organizations, government, and the private sector. She said the organizational mission of NUSA was to build and strengthen neighborhood associations and to promote productive communications and collaborations between those associations and both the public and private sectors. The organization had, for over thirty years, served these broad objectives in part through the conduct of an annual conference. This provided an opportunity for people from all locations, sectors and levels of society to discuss the pressing issues of the times, 3

share experiences, and offer encouragement or assistance. She said today, NUSA maintained a stable membership base of approximately 1,000 members with annual conference attendances that ranged from 600-900 participants. NUSA was governed by a 21 member Board of Directors, elected annually to staggered terms. The board directed the ongoing business and policy of the organization, provided oversight for the implementation of each year s conference, and played a leadership role in promoting both our organization and the work of neighborhood, based activism and self-help initiates. The current board members came from: Arkansas; Texas; Alabama; Washington; Ohio; South Carolina; Tennessee; Missouri; Virginia; California; Minnesota; Indiana; and Wisconsin; among other states. Cities that had hosted NUSA were Kansas City, Missouri; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Hampton, Virginia; Spokane, Washington; Little Rock, Arkansas; Anchorage, Alaska; Indianapolis, Indiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Eugene, Oregon. The 2015 NUSA conference would be held in Houston, Texas, and the 2016 NUSA conference would be held in Memphis, Tennessee. Ms. O Malley said at this year s NUSA, author Peter Kageyama gave a seminar on his book For the Love of Cities. Ms. O Malley said she spoke with Mr. Kageyama about having a seminar in Texarkana. Mr. Kageyama emailed her an outline of the seminar. Part one would be individual sessions with leaders of Texarkana, Arkansas, and Texarkana, Texas. Part Two would be a session with emerging leaders and young professionals. Part Three would be a half day workshop entitled For the Love of Texarkana. The central element of the workshop was to get people to examine and discuss what they loved about their city and how we could increase that emotional engagement. The seminar would get people to think creatively about what they could do to increase the love of Texarkana and hopefully spur some of them to take action. She said most members of their communities had a passive attitude in regard to the city and its government. She said this engagement could be used as a jumpstart towards a more activists citizenry, who took more ownership and responsibility for making Texarkana a great community. Ms. O Malley said the target audience was more of the practitioners and doers in the community. Additionally, she would hope to attract those activist citizens throughout the community and network them 4

together. This would be an ideal event for the young professionals and up and coming adult leaders of the community to participate. They would be the ones that ultimately built what was being discussed. She said most community workshops deal with technical or overly political issues that many people feel unqualified to speak. Because this event would deal with things that people love, hate, and engage with in their respective communities, the subject matter was not intimidating and promoted broader participations. Because of the inclusive approach used to get people to the workshop, there usually was a high representative mix of community members. The outcome of this seminar would be new coalitions forming ideas generated at the workshop and local philanthropic organizations changing their funding programs to accommodate micro financing needs within their communities. Other outcomes could be that new businesses would start up and private funding would emerge to fund projects generated at the event. She said more people would get in the game and become part of the community s solution to being a better city. Ms. O Malley said local partnering organizations for this workshop were Southwest Arkansas Prevention Taskforce; Texarkana Chamber of Commerce; Cities of Texarkana, and Leadership Texarkana. She said anyone who wanted more information could contact her, married0902@hotmail.com or 903-748-0782. She said she would be happy to answer any questions. Mayor Smith asked Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman to meet with Texarkana, Texas City Manager regarding the matter and make a recommendation to the Board of Directors. Mayor Smith commended Ms. O Malley for her presentation, enthusiasm, and efforts. Noise Ordinance: Mayor Smith introduced Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman. Ms. Hyman spoke briefly, stating since Mary McQueen had been before the board, the Texarkana, Arkansas Police Department (TAPD) had stepped up enforcement efforts in her neighborhood and had issued more citations. She said she received an email from Ms. McQueen, which stated there were still more violations in her neighborhood. Ms. Hyman said 5

she also spoke with the District Court Judge Wren Autrey, concerning the addition of stiffer penalties for the noise ordinance. Currently, the ordinance stated the fine could not exceed $1,000 for noise ordinance violations. She said Judge Autrey said he felt the current fines were sufficient and he did not recommend changing the fines. Assistant Mayor Jones said he was reading the noise ordinance and it stated blowing or operating of any steam whistles or diesel horn on any train He said the board had talked about this before and he said he thought there was a requirement trains had to blow their horn before entering an intersection. He said the noise ordinance said to blow the horn only if they saw someone approaching. He said it was item number five that stated should only be done when considered absolutely necessary to prevent an accident or personal injury He said this should be clarified a little bit. Mary McQueen, 708 Pinehurst Street, thanked the board for having her back. She said she was kind of disappointed with the results so far, but hopefully the City could make some progress. She said she made a presentation on noise at the July 1, 2013 Board of Directors meeting. Since that time, she said she was aware the TAPD made extra efforts to enforce the noise ordinance in her neighborhood. She said she was sorry to say the noise level continued unchanged. She gave an example of a night she had recently, stating that on July 20, 2013, a Saturday morning at 1:00 AM; she said she heard stereos for several hours continuously. She said she held off calling the police, because she wanted to see if their patrolling resulted in a reduction of noise. She said it did not and she called the police, because at that time she wanted to go to bed. On another Saturday, August 3, 2013, she said she heard stereos at 1:30 AM and 3:20 AM. Ms. McQueen said there was also some jerk riding around on an illegally modified motorcycle, who revs the engine for prolong periods. She said she knew this was illegal, because you were not supposed to modify motorcycles from factory settings and for it to be that loud, it was modified. She said the puny fines had no effect whatsoever in the changing of behavior. She said part of the problem with lack of decisive action on everybody s part was this was regarded as a nuisance crime. She said it was way beyond a nuisance crime. She said 6

unwanted noise effected physical and mental health. She quoted from the Department of Justice Cops Manual for Loud Car Stereos Noise can cause hearing loss, disturbed sleep, increase risks, make people irritable, and make naturally aggressive people more aggressive. She said it affected property values and caused people to flee neighborhoods. Even the people who did not believe they were bothered by noise had been found to have increased blood pressure when exposed to loud noise. It was also a gateway crime. She said the mentality of noise makers was that they did not care about other people, so it was easy to escalate to other crimes. She said there were many more negative effects of noise too numerous for her to mention here. Ms. McQueen said she shared with the board the information on the program in Elkhart, Indiana, which was one of many good programs across the country. She asked the board if anyone bothered to call Elkhart, Indiana, to get their feedback. She said she also suggested the board contact Ted Reuter, the Director of Noise Free America. She said she knew he wrote an email to Interim City Manager/Finance Director Jessica Hyman. Ms. McQueen said here was a man offering his services at no charge and yet the board gave $162,000 to another man to just to go away. She requested the City amend the ordinance to include penalties that were more likely to get results. She said for the first offense to keep it at $250; second offense would be to impound the vehicle and/or confiscate the equipment at the violator s expense; and the third offense, would be thirty days in jail plus fines. She said these were not unusual penalties. They had already been applied in other cities. She said to give the TAPD the equipment and training needed to effectively enforce the ordinance. If TAPD needed unmarked cars, then give them unmarked cars. At least one officer should be designated Noise Control Officer and receive training at the Rutgers University Noise Technical Assistance Center. She said all of the other officers could read the Department of Justice problem oriented guides for police, number 7. It can be downloaded from their website for free. She said it was a bit dated, but it was still relevant. She said she was starting to think that some people in the city think that she was exaggerating. She said if that was the case, she could arrange for anyone or the judge to stay in a 7

house near her for one week. Ms. McQueen said the current policies and procedures were not working and they would never work. She thanked the board for allowing her to speak. Mayor Smith said he wanted to get information from Police Chief Bob Harrison, concerning impounding vehicles. He said without the judge s support, he did not see the board moving to change the fines or penalties for violating the noise ordinance. He said the board could change the ordinance, but the judge would still do what he wanted to do. Ms. McQueen said she was not proposing a change in the fines. She said she was proposing enhanced penalties in other ways. She said money did not seem to matter to these people. Mayor Smith said he recommended Chief Harrison to evaluate the impounding of vehicles. He also wanted to speak with the City Attorney to make sure any such penalty would be legal. Mayor Smith said he did not advocate Ms. McQueen s recommendations. He did appreciate Ms. McQueen and bringing her concerns before the board. He said he did not see the City enhancing the current fines. Ms. McQueen said this was not about enhancing the fines. This was about enhancing the penalty. Mayor Smith said the board could put stiffer penalties in the ordinance, but it was under the judge s discretion to enforce those penalties. Ms. McQueen said if the board put the penalties in an ordinance, then the judge had to go by it. Mayor Smith said he would have to check with the City Attorney to make sure. It was important for the judge to have judicial discretion. Ms. McQueen said the judge was not the most reverent in this matter. Mayor Smith said the board made the ordinances, and the police enforced the ordinance. Ms. McQueen said the noise was not only from car stereos, but they added to the other noises in the neighborhood, such as trains. She had train tracks to the north and south of her 8

home. She said Tri State Iron and Metal made a lot of racket. She said she would not have peace in her neighborhood even if the City got rid of car stereos, but at least it would be better. Mayor Smith said he would contact Ms. McQueen after hearing Chief Harrison s recommendations. CONSENT AGENDA: Assistant Mayor Jones moved to approve the consent agenda. The motion was seconded by Director Johnson and carried unanimously. The items approved by consent were: MINUTES: The minutes approved were of the regular meeting of August 5, 2013. RESOLUTION NO. 6062: Resolution No. 6062 accepts the 2012 audit report. The audit was reviewed by the Board of Directors and all audit recommendations would be seriously reviewed considering the costs and benefits of implementation. RESOLUTION NO. 6063: Resolution No. 6063 authorizes and directs the Interim City Manager to execute a construction contract with Four-Thirteen Inc., for improvements to Garland Avenue, Magee Drive, and Phillips Lane. By Resolution No. 5964, Garland Avenue from Realtor Street to Arkansas Boulevard, Magee Drive from Cooper Tire Road to Meadows Road, and Phillips Lane from South Stateline Avenue to Line Ferry Road were accepted into the 2012 Street Bond Program and pursuant to advertisement by the Public Works Department, a low bid was submitted by Four-Thirteen, Inc., in the amount of $1,510,364.30 and a contingency in the amount of $0.00 for the repair of said sections of Garland Avenue, Magee Drive and Phillips Lane. The bid amount exceeded the available funding by $106,352.00. A grant anticipated to be utilized in connection with construction of a portion of McDonald Lane, as more particularly described in Resolution No. 6018, was not awarded to the City and, accordingly, the City funds designated for said McDonald Lane construction were not necessary and may be returned to the line item, from which said funds originated and thereafter used to alleviate the bid coverage. 9

With said return of reserved funds the appropriation required for this construction would come from the Capital Improvement and Refunding Limited Tax General Obligation Bonds, Series 2012, as passed by Ordinance No. M-58. REGULAR AGENDA: DIRECTOR WILLAIMS COMMENTS RE: TREE ORDINANCE: Director Williams said he was approached by a citizen regarding a proposed tree ordinance brought up at the last Planning Commission meeting. He said when he brought the tree ordinance issue up; his only concern was if a tree fell in a person's yard who was liable for the damage. He said he did not attend the Planning Commission meeting, because he did not feel it was his responsibility. He said that was why the City had a Planning Commission. The Planning Commission and staff researched and brought their recommendation to the board. He said there was no reason he had to attend the meeting. ORDINANCE NO. M-85: An ordinance was introduced to be entitled, "AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND RESTATE ARTICLES I, II, III, AND IV OF CHAPTER 21, OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS, AND TO AMEND CHAPTER 28, ARTICLE III, SECTION 28-23(b)(2), OF SAID CODE, ALL IN ORDER TO UPDATE AND MODERNIZE THE CITY S BILLBOARD ORDINANCE INCLUDING THE ADDITION OF DEFINITIONS AND REGULATIONS NECESSARY TO REGULATE DIGITAL BILLBOARDS AND OTHER MODERN TRENDS IN THE BILLBOARD INDUSTRY, TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES". Said ordinance revised the regulations governing outdoor advertising structures (billboards) and consisting of Articles I - IV in Chapter 21 of the Code of Ordinances and in Chapter 28, Article III, Section 28-23(b)(2) (Use Regulations) of the Code of Ordinances change "Billboard" in the alphabetical list in the chart under the W-1, M-1, and M-2 columns from an "X" signifying a "use by right" to "CU" 10

signifying that billboards were hereby classified as a "conditional use" in the three industrial zones. Mayor Smith introduced Public Works Director Paul D. Hackleman. Mr. Hackleman reviewed the item briefly, stating the proposed billboard amendments presented tonight established digital billboards as a conditional use in the following zones: C-3 Open Display Commercial, W-1 Warehousing and Wholesaling, M-1 Limited Manufacturing, and M-2 General Manufacturing. Without these amendments, only static billboards were permitted and the trend in the billboard industry was toward digital billboards. Additionally, these amendments resolved the original issue that triggered the re-write of our billboard ordinance in 2011, which was the language dealing with upgrading existing nonconforming billboards. Mr. Hackleman said he would be happy to respond to any questions. Mayor Smith asked if you had a current billboard could the billboard be changed to digital. Mr. Hackleman said yes you could. He said the goal was not to get rid of billboards, but to have them stay. This allowed a billboard company to upgrade from a creosote pole billboard to a digital billboard that was an amenity and looked better. The ability to go from a lower standard to a higher standard was there. Also, you may be able to keep the non-conforming issue of the billboard due to spacing, but everything else would have to be modern. Mayor Smith asked how this might affect Crossroads Business Park with advertising the names of businesses in the park on an off-premise sign. Mr. Hackleman said the City may have to come up with a franchise agreement or it could be added to this ordinance. He said this was not addressed in the ordinance and was not brought to the Planning Commissions attention. Mayor Smith said he did not want to send this back to the Planning Commission. They had done an outstanding job and had been working on this for two years. 11

Mr. Hackleman said his recommendation was for this ordinance to be approved. Mr. Hackleman asked the Mayor how he wanted the Crossroads off-premise sign issue to be attacked, as an ordinance amendment or as a franchise agreement. Director Davis said she was bothered by the fact the City was attacking a business, even though there multiple owners of this type of business. She said she was not for anything that stymied or held back a business. On this particular case, she spoke with a billboard business owner and they said it was a good thing. She said she would vote for it. She did not understand why no additional billboards could be erected on Highway 82 or Highway 71. Mr. Hackleman said the sign companies had an integral part in the writing of this ordinance and their input was valuable. He said the doing away of billboards along Highway 59, Highway 71, and Highway 82 was due to the City being asked to reduce its number of billboards. At the time, the sign companies thought there were enough billboards on those roads and they did not seem to care. Director Williams said it was difficult to see the businesses inside the Crossroads Business Park from the interstate. He said he thought there was something in the agreement which stated the City would do something in regard to signage. He said it was difficult to see La Crosse Hotel from the interstate. Mr. Hackleman said the only thing he could remember was that Director Harris had suggested the City advocate for signage for Crossroads. Director Williams said Copeland s Restaurant was also involved and there should be signage in Crossroads. He said you could not see Copeland s from the interstate. Mr. Hackleman said the City has approached the state to get signs out there and we also can put up our own signs. The state had blue highway exit signs that business bought space on. He said the water park was a destination and he was working with the state for a sign. Director Davis said she did not like the fact that government was in competition with private enterprise. She said she wanted businesses to thrive. She hoped that we would encourage businesses. 12

Mr. Hackleman said there were signs that had applications on them for smart phones. He said on the state s blue exit signs the advertising space was very small. Director Davis said she was also worried about holding the permit to the land. If she was a billboard owner and had signs, she would not want the land owner to hold her hostage. She said if the traffic count was not high enough, she wanted to be able to move her sign where there was a higher traffic count. She would not want the permit to be held by the property owner. She said it made no sense. Mr. Hackleman said it could go both ways. The permit went with the land. Mayor Smith introduced Chad Shipp, of Shipp Outdoor, LLC, with his partners, his sister Gina Shipp and Joel Orr. He said he appreciated the opportunity to speak tonight. He believed the City s ship came in after listening to this conversation. He said he could solve all the City s problems and it would be like Christmas every day in Texarkana, Arkansas. He said to bring in a new digital structure this billboard ordinance needed to pass. Under construction right now was the first full-size digital billboard in Texarkana. He said his company was retooling an old billboard, so they were legal. It was located on Interstate 549 (I-549) and his company named the sign Sooie. Shipp Outdoor would also put another digital sign on Vincent s Liquor Store property off of Interstate 30 (I-30). Mr. Shipp also said his company was putting up a digital sign on I-30 on the Texas-side. He said these were local billboards, but they also targeted travelers as they came into town. He said he and his partners bought out Whatley Sign Company a year ago and their signs were twenty-six percent (26%) occupied and now they were one hundred percent (100%) occupied. He said the only way to achieve that occupancy was due to the demand for outdoor signage. He said he would not have any problem selling the digital billboards. He said these were high-tech messaging centers. He did not want to call them billboards. The ads rotated every eight seconds and they were static images. Mr. Shipp said this company was locally owned and operated and the digital billboards could display local events such as the Arkansas High School and Texas High School football rivalry. Mr. Shipp said this was a new business and as it grew the ability to employ more people would grow too. 13

Director Williams asked if the sign would be big enough to see from the interstate. Mr. Shipp said he thought Director Williams was describing an on-premise sign that was really tall, because they needed to exceed the height of the trees. The digital signs would be 42 feet off the ground. It would be as close to eye level as it could get. The sign would be very visible and you would not miss it. Mayor Smith asked if this ordinance needed to be passed for the digital signs to be erected. Mr. Shipp said it would not happen without the ordinance being approved. Assistant Mayor Jones said this would not interfere with on-site advertising for any business. Director Williams asked if Amigo Juan s Mexican Restaurant wanted to put a sign up that could be seen from the interstate. Mr. Hackleman said this ordinance addressed Amigo Juan s desire to have an on-site sign. They would have to follow the regulations for their sign. The billboards do not eliminate on-premise signs for businesses. Mayor Smith said the digital signs could be used for community service on an as needed basis, such as Amber Alerts. Mr. Shipp said yes, as space was available. Director Williams moved to have the ordinance read in abbreviated form. The motion was seconded by Assistant Mayor Jones. The Clerk called the roll and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Dowd, Harris, Johnson, Jones, Williams, and Smith voted aye. The Mayor declared the motion carried, as there were seven ayes and no nays. The ordinance was read the first time. Director Williams moved the rules be suspended and the ordinance be placed on its second reading. The motion was seconded by Assistant Mayor Jones. The Clerk called the roll and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Dowd, Harris, Johnson, Jones, Williams, and Smith voted aye. The Mayor declared the motion carried, as there were seven ayes and no nays. 14

The ordinance was read the second time and the Mayor declared the ordinance open for discussion. Director Williams then moved the rules be further suspended and the ordinance be placed on its third and final reading. The motion was seconded by Assistant Mayor Jones. The Clerk called the roll and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Dowd, Harris, Johnson, Jones, Williams, and Smith voted aye. The Mayor declared the motion carried, as there were seven ayes and no nays. The ordinance was then read the third and final time and the Mayor declared the ordinance open for discussion. Director Davis, seconded by Director Johnson moved to adopt the ordinance. The Clerk called the roll and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Dowd, Harris, Johnson, Jones, Williams, and Smith voted aye. The Mayor declared the ordinance passed, as there were seven ayes and no nays. EMERGENCY CLAUSE: Director Davis, seconded by Director Williams, moved to approve the emergency clause. The Mayor asked the Clerk to call the roll and the following vote resulted: Directors Davis, Dowd, Harris, Johnson, Jones, Williams, and Smith voted aye. The Mayor declared the motion carried, as there were seven ayes and no nays. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION TIME: Steve C. Wright, 2410 Lavender, said there was a resolution adopted three years ago, signed by former Mayor Horace Shipp and requested by former City Manager Harold Boldt. He said there were about eight or nine people that started something called the Front Street Commission. He said he was an audio engineer and sound system and he had done about 3,500 jobs in the last forty (40) years. He said the history of Front Street was basically that some people got together and realized there was something possible downtown and that they could make something happen, with the fact the City owned lots of parking lots downtown. The area was open and wide. The commission planned some things and set up a five year 15

plan. They made drawing of different situations and donors gave the commission approximately $25,000. This was not City money. Mr. Wright said on City property, the commission put in approximately 2,100 amps of electricity. The commission did a lot of things. He said about eight months ago, for some reason the committee stopped having meetings. It seemed that whoever had been put in charge of Front Street decided that they were going to run this and they were put in place by someone in this room. He said he and the other original members were absolutely baffled. They had a lot of things going on and had even gotten a caboose, which was sitting along Front Street rusting right now. A few things were put in by the railroad, Union Pacific or Mopac. Basically, over the last few weeks, they had noticed that all of their original plans had been thrown out. He said the resolution stated Front Street was a volunteer committee made up of downtown business owners, historians, lifelong Texarkana, Arkansas supporters, and project coordinators. The committee would coordinate community activities in the downtown area so on and so forth. Mr. Wright said the resolution also stated two City-owned parking lots would be utilized. He and a few other members of the committee went to the railroad to see how to make that area work. He said about six days ago a bunch of us received an email, which basically said if you wanted to be on this board, an application needed to be filled out and sent in. He said he had been out of town. The email also said if the application was not received by a said date, then that person would not be on the committee and it was for a one year term. Mr. Wright said the resolution did not mention anything about one year committees or term limits. He said he did not believe a City employee could pull out a resolution and change it on their own. He said the original Front Street Committee had raised over $25,000 to do things. He said the committee went before the board begging for money. Mr. Wright said the bottom line was something happened that should not have happened. The committee was thrown out. Director Harris asked if there was any stipulation in the resolution as to a committee member s residency. 16

Mr. Wright said that had nothing to do with it. He said there were a few members with doctorate degrees, who did not reapply for this committee. He said it appeared that someone was trying to load this thing up so that they could do what they wanted to do. They threw out the board. The board had a five year plan, a structure drawn up, and electricity in place that would handle anything. Mr. Wright said bottom line, the committee had been stopped in their tracks. Director Davis asked when the last meeting the original Front Street Committee attended was. Mr. Wright said February 2013. He said the committee did not know what was going on. He did not know why the committee was thrown out. He said people on the Municipal Auditorium Commission were asking the same questions. He asked what was going on and who was in charge of this. He asked why this was going on. He asked the board if they knew what was going on. He said it was time the board started asking questions. Director Harris asked how many members were on the committee. Mr. Wright said originally it was eight members and at the last meeting there were 17 members. He said downtown building owners wanted to get involved with Front Street. He said two years ago he and George Dodson ran Railfest and they were begging for money. Apparently the committee received $12,000 they did not know about. The next year the committee received $30,000 and the next $126,000. He said Texarkana Gazette Reporter Greg Bischoff wrote an article that the committee received $189,000. He asked where the money was and where would it go. Mr. Wright said the board needed to start asking questions. EXECUTIVE SESSION: The Mayor announced the Board would go into executive session. MEETING RECONVENED: The meeting was reconvened by the Mayor following the executive session. 17

MOTION TO RE-HIRE FORMER CITY MANAGER: Director Williams made a motion to re-hire former City Manager Harold E. Boldt. The motion died for lack of a second. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Board, on motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously carried, the meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM. 18