The link to a video of the meeting in its entirety is placed below the departmental reports.

President of the Hope Downtown Network John Hollis asked for the permission of the board to undertake one of three potential improvements to downtown. 

Those coming to the organization’s second The Taste of Hope event on the evening of Saturday, October 5th can vote their preference among three projects that include 1) seating, bicycle racks and art in an alley on South Main; 2) in Hollis’ words “We would take some main intersections of downtown and use that to highlight the crosswalks, and then put some art in the center of that” and 3) an eight-feet tall sculpture of the letters of the word Hope. 

Hollis also described the way voting would take place at the event: “We set up a table . We have a voting form.  We would have representations of this on kind of blown up [pictures] on boards for the public to look at.” He added that option two would include the planting of trees downtown, which has been an often-requested item. 

Vice-mayor Kiffinea Talley asked about the possibility of trees being planted interfering with the Christmas display at The Hub. Hollis said the displays could be worked around. He said the planting of the trees would be done by Downtown Network but their maintenance would be for the city to undertake. 

City Director Linda Clark asked how the artwork for option two would be done. Jennifer Block, Executive Director of the Southwest Arkansas Arts Council, told the board the artistic pieces would be done by members of the surrounding community. “We can do anything. What we would like to have, though, are [for] the murals that are in the middle of the crosswalk to have a train, something watermelon and a music sign for our past.” 

Mayor Don Still asked if any directors opposed the three projects. None did. 

The next item was departmental reports. Here, City Manager J.R. Wilson presented numbers gathered by each department measuring various kinds of work being performed in the year 2023 and in the months of 2024 up to July. These reports are provided below this story and above the video of the meeting. Viewers may want to enlarge the print on their browsers to see the numbers more clearly.

Director Trevor Coffee asked Wilson if any particular trends stood out to him. “Crime is decreasing, but it is across the nation, too. I think the number of calls are reflective of that. I just think we're heading in a good direction. During Covid, things went awry, and then even early in the 2000s we had some high crime rates, but now things are kind of moving more back into line to what I would typically expect,” Wilson said. 

Wilson said the first priority of the city police is to stem violence. “We're not going to tolerate violence. We're pretty aggressive against violence, especially felonious violence, and we spend the majority of our resources … making sure that people don't become violent with one another, and if they do, we address it quickly.” The next priorities, he said, are stopping illegal drug sales and then felonious crimes against property. 

Wilson closed the session on departmental reports with praise for their work. “They all do a great job, every one of them and all the staff, just great, great people doing the best they can for the city,” he said. 

The next item concerned the proposed location of the recreation aquatics center that voters have the chance to approve November 5th.  By acclamation the board chose to place it on the west side of the intersection of 16th Street and Spring Hill Road where parking for Kelly Fields is now.  Before the vote, Wilson said that making the choice of location official will help with the marketing of the Hope for the Future project of which the aquatics recreation center is a major part.  He said a location for the new fire department headquarters cannot yet be announced since the city would need to buy land on which to place it. 

In the City Manager’s Report, Wilson deferred to Assistant City Manager Daniel Shelman for an update on the work of a committee to market the Hope for the Future project, which, should voters choose yes on three ballot items on November 5th—a mere nine weeks away, he pointed out--would result in the building of a new fire department headquarters, a new recreation and aquatics center and improvements to the city’s parks. He listed the measures that a marketing committee has chosen to communicate with Hope voters about the projects. 

These include plans for a video produced by SWARK.Today that is expected to be completed soon, mailers, roadside banners, yard signs, table tents, ads, backpack stuffers, presentations at civic club meetings, presentations at Fair Park and Northside Park.  He said the first publication to be distributed will remind voters that last date for registration for this year’s election is October 7th. 

Wilson himself took some time to dispel a potential source of confusion he has heard discussed. Two of the ballot items refer to levying a 7/8 cent tax, one to finance the fire station and the other to fund the building of the aquatic rec center and parks improvements.  These do not add together, he said. Only one 7/8 cent tax would be charged to fund all three projects.  “We want people to know that at no time will you tax yourself over one cent [per dollar],” he stated. 

Although an item was listed on the agenda memo for an update on the state of the effort of the city and county of Hempstead to purchase the real estate being used by Wadley Regional Hospital of Hope from MPT of Hope, its current owner, Wilson said things were still, as of Tuesday night, “in a holding pattern.” 

About the marking of the new surface of 16th Street, Wilson said he had been assured by the contractor that this project is next on that contractor’s list of projects. 

Regarding the improvement of the city’s landfill as required by the Arkansas Department of Environment Quality, Wilson said the city paid DEQ $3,000 to modify the city’s permit but this has not been approved yet. He added that the city is trying to make do at the landfill despite the breaking down of some of its equipment by sharing the use of some movers with the city’s street department. 

At the end of September, City Inspector Carl Conley’s retirement date, Dorsey Askew will lead the city’s Building Services Division. 

Bids on the city’s new hangar at the airport will be opened soon. The FAA’s project there is “well underway.” City officials also have met with Garver Engineering on the airport’s five-year capital improvement plan. 

Wilson also commended Nathaniel Holyfield and his staff of seven at Sanitation for coping with their duties minus one truck without any noticeable drop in the quality of service. 

The meeting adjourned at about 7:45 p.m.