In a public meeting work session Tuesday evening that started at 6:00 p.m. all the members of the Hope City Board took in presentations from professionals hired to help make plans for a new fire department headquarters and significant upgrades to the city’s parks and recreation offerings a reality. The plans depend on whether Hope’s voters approve ballot measures for sales taxes this coming November. 

The work session can be seen in its entirety in a video posted to the City of Hope’s Facebook page. The video proceeds uninterrupted to the ensuing City Board meeting proper. 

First to speak was Taylor Marshall, from the Little Rock law firm of Friday, Eldridge and Clark provided advice on the wording of the ballot measures, emphasizing that not only should the tax rate be provided but the maximum amounts proposed to be collected be specified. He also suggested the board be careful of statements that the tax would sunset in ten years if there was the possibility of the board changing its mind on this and continuing the tax after that. 

Jason Holsclaw from Stephens Inc then spoke. He presented a set of projections for funds raised if Hope’s voters were to approve a one cent sales tax. In ten years, Holsclaw said the estimate would be that $17.545 million could be raised. “Keep in mind that we don't know what the direction of your sales tax collections is going to look like in the future. It could go up. It could go down,” Holsclaw said. About $3.1 million of that total could be used to build the new fire station, leaving about $14.1 million for other projects, Holsclaw added. 

Stephens would also be involved in helping the city finance the costs of the planned projects with long-term bond issues so that the city would have access to funds to start the projects by March 2025 just before the sales tax, if approved in November of 2024, would begin to be collected. Holsclaw provided the board with a packet of information based on Stephens’ analysis that includes the assumptions made, projections based on the collection of fractions of the tax and projections if the tax is collected for shorter or longer time periods. 

Next, Dan Beranek, President of McClelland Consulting Engineers of Little Rock presented options for reducing the costs of the projects that have been discussed over the past several months, the new fire department building, an aquatic center and upgrades to soccer and other facilities and Fair and Northside Parks. 

Working with Hope City Engineer Jeremy Stone and with CDI Contractors of Little Rock, Beranek said, he came to a list of items that could be removed from current plans or reduced in scale. These included eliminating pickle-ball courts, which could be created on the basketball courts, reduced pool sizes, grading and doing drainage work on soccer fields instead of using turf, not using brick for every side of the fire station and reducing the use of glass. 

Meeting attendee Amy Knoll said the loss of the indoor basketball courts would deprive the many swimmers who may come to town for meets of room to wait between events. She also asked why the plans included an indoor and an outdoor pool. Mayor Don Still replied that the reason for the outdoor pool was the need to replace the Fair Park pool now. 

The option was discussed to put off installing the outdoor pool, which is projected to cost $2.7 million and instead place another splash pad outdoors until a pool can be afforded. At the soccer complex, a pre-fab building option was mentioned for the new bathroom.  With the adjustments, the McClelland Engineering estimate for costs for the park-related improvements, including the aquatic center, was $17,004,600, including an eight percent design fee for McClelland Engineering’s services. “We’re still a little high,” Beranek said. “So there still may be some things that we need to look at trimming out of that.” 

After Mayor Still asked for comments on the soccer field plans, City Engineer Stone recounted his use of a pre-fab building as a concession stand and bathrooms in Palestine-Wheatley, Texas for $185,000. “They love the little building,” he said.  Parks Superintendent Summer Chambers said that with already existing bathrooms at the Soccer Field, the building could be scaled down even more from what the McClelland Engineering plan has. Further elimination of concrete walkways, which the city could put in on its own, was also discussed. 

New lighting in the baseball field was also taken out of consideration as well as the outdoor pool. Rolling walls were requested by the board as a cost-cutting measure in the aquatic center. 

Stone was asked by Director Mark Ross about operating costs. He responded that with the aquatic center in Forrest City, Arkansas, operating costs were about $500,000. Director Trevor Coffee asked about what funds were raised from selling memberships, but Stone said he would get that number later. 

Mayor Still asked Stone about the number on the cost of the fire station. Stone responded it was at $3 million but reducing features like glass doors could get its cost to $2.5 million. 

By now, the time was 7:00 p.m. and without a break Mayor Still called the board meeting to order.