Greenwood City Council Meeting Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 7:08 p.m. by Mayor Doug Kinslow. The roll was called by City Clerk/Treasurer Sharla Derry and council members present at roll call were AC Brown, Ralph Meeker, Tim Terry, Roger Rainwater, and Daniel McDaniel; a quorum was declared and Council member Rod Powell arrived shortly after roll call at 7:11 p.m.; City Attorney Travis Plummer was present, Prayer was offered by Bro. Ronnie Deal of First Baptist Church and Pledge of Allegiance was led by Parks Commission Chair Joel Goldstein.
Approval of Minutes:
Motion was made by Mr. McDaniel, seconded by Mr. Meeker to approve the May 1, 2023 regular City Council Meeting minutes as presented; motion passed unanimously.
Recognitions and Acknowledgements
Mayor Kinslow honored the Lady Bulldogs Basketball Team with a proclamation for their state championship win.
Committee Reports:
Boys & Girls Club -Report Submitted; Director Kenny Sunde directed council to tablets to view a video of a drone flyover of the club grounds showing the amount of cars parked there for an event. Mr.
Tim Terry inquired about an alternate exit to the grounds, and Mr. Sunde stated that a right-of-way would need to be obtained and said it’s a no-go so far; there was discussion that the Boys & Girls’ Club property
itself is annexed into the City; Mr. Sunde requested that help with funding for a lighting project be considered by council and there was agreement that this would be added to the agenda.
SRCA – Report Submitted
Parks Commission – Report Submitted
Water/Wastewater Commission- None
Citizen Forum:
Mireya Chavez updated council on La Fiesta’s pursuit of an alcohol sales
permit; Mr. Powell advised that he has added the alcohol ordinance to the agenda, and seeing no emergency it would go through three readings. Ms. Chavez said that she is willing to wait on that, loves
Greenwood, and wants to see it bettered and questioned why take money to somewhere else when it could be kept local. There was further discussion about various aspects of the alcohol ordinance and the fees.
Financial Report -Report Submitted
Agenda Additions
Mayor – Maintenance of City Rights-of-Way
Council – Lighting of SCBGC Ball Fields
Rod Powell – Proposed Amendment to Private Club License
there were no noted objections to these items being placed on the agenda.
OLD/UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Animal Control – Repealing and Replacing Ord 22-01 Animal Control Ordinance- 3rd Reading – Mayor Kinslow stated that he has discussed changes to be made to alleviate certain overwhelming aspects of Mrs. Gwin’s dual duties. Mrs. Smith confirmed that there are no changes to this since the past reading and motion was made by Mr. McDaniel, seconded by Mr. Brown to put this on third reading by title only; motion passed unanimously and the title was read by the City Clerk.
Animal Control – Ordinance Repealing and Replacing Ordinance#502 Prohibiting Unnecessary Noise – 3rd Reading – There was discussion about Section 12 and who issues citations; Mrs. Smith elaborated on Section 12 and stated that the verbiage is modeled after the City of Fort Smith’s ordinance and the City Attorney stated that the Mayor could designate a code enforcement officer and Mrs. Smith stated that in order to issue a citation, a driver’s license has to be utilized in order to do that.
Mr. Plummer also confirmed that a citation would be the most effective way to get them into a court as it is a notice of a court date, whereas a summons is only a notice that someone has a pending lawsuit against
them, usually in the civil sense; after discussion of several other aspects of the ordinance, motion was made by Mr. Brown, seconded by Mr. Meeker; motion passed unanimously and the title was read by the
City Clerk.
Mayor- Ordinance Prohibiting Heavy Haul and Semi-Truck Traffic on Highway 10 Spur/Center Street – 3rd Reading – Mayor Kinslow stated that the intent of this is to preserve the maintenance of the road now that the City owns it and specified that Ms. Derry has filled in the blanks
where necessary compared to the blank spaces from previous readings; Police Chief Dawson stated that the Judge has also reviewed the ordinance and approves; motion was made by Mr. Brown, seconded by
Mr. McDaniel to put this on third reading by title only; motion passed unanimously and the title was read by the City Clerk.
City Attorney – Ordinance Updating City Attorney Duties 1st Reading- Mr. Plummer referenced an email that he had sent to the City Council members that contained an agreement that he had with the City of Hartford, in conclusion, the City Council asked for all current ordinances to be combined into one, referencing the salary matrix resolution so that the ordinance wouldn’t have to be changed because of that, and bring back for a first reading at the next meeting.
There was discussion regarding the Finance Department requesting documentation for proof of payment for direct cost reimbursements; Mr. Plummer stated that, while auditors have never questioned his bills
from other cities, he did not see where this was required by law. Motion was made by Mr. Brown, seconded by Mr. Meeker to pay the city attorney invoice as presented in the packet; motion passed unanimously.
Planning- Ordinance Repealing and Replacing Zoning Ordinance #22-13 to Change Zoning for Storage Units – 3rd Reading – Mr. Bell presented this and motion was made by Mr. McDaniel, seconded by Mr. Terry to put the ordinance on its third reading by title only; Mr. Brown
questioned the inclusion of mentioned tables that were missing at the end of the ordinance and it was decided that these needed to be listed as “Exhibits” to the ordinance; there was additional discussion to
make “Planning/Building Department” consistent throughout and there was also change requested for Article V, Section 1(f) on page 13 and 25 to add “and city council in addition to the planning commission where those appear as related to conditional use; Mr. Brown mentioned an error that appears as “unifies” when it should be”unified”; these changes as specified were acknowledged by Mr. Bell; Mr. Terry expressed concern that, when rezoning of property occurs, the final decision should lie with the City council since any possible lawsuit would be against that body. Mr. Brown requested that the tables include headers on every page for ease of reference. Mr. McDaniel’s earlier motion was amended to table the ordinance with changes discussed, seconded by Mr. Rainwater; motion passed unanimously; Mr. Bell acknowledged inthe affirmative that changes would be applied as discussed and brought back to the July meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Planning – Ordinance Annexing City Lake Property- 1st Reading- Mr. Bell presented this and said it has been ongoing since 2013 and the Judge has signed off on it. He requested for the second and third readings to be passed in time for the Cuthbert Bridge dedication so that it can be part of the City; Ms. Derry asked Mr. Bell for clarification that the Parks Commission voted for these annexed areas to be part of the parks system, to which he agreed and said that it has been zoned Open Space and is Greenwood City property; there was a discussion about which ward the area would be designated. Motion was made by Mr. Powell, seconded by Mr. McDaniel to put this on first reading by title only;
there was discussion as to the ward issue and Mr. Powell amended his earlier motion to fill in the blank space in Section 2 of the ordinance with the number “2”; motion passed unanimously and the title was
read by the City Clerk. Motion was made by Mr. Powell, seconded by Mr. McDaniel to waive the second and third readings of the ordinance and to include number two in the blank; motion passed unanimously.
Motion was made by Mr. Powell, seconded by Mr. McDaniel to adopt the ordinance; motion passed unanimously.
Parks -Ordinance Authorizing Related Party Transaction for Parks Project- Emergency
Passage – Mr. Goldstein stated that, as he understands it, this is needed due to a parks employee’s son having a laser cutting tool and an item is needed for the 4″ of July celebration and the Parks Director
needs the services rendered; motion was made by Mr. Terry, seconded by Mr. Powell to put this ordinance on first reading by title only; motion passed unanimously and the title was read by the City Clerk. Motion was made by Mr. Brown, seconded by Mr. Powell to waive the second and third readings of the ordinance; motion passed unanimously. Motion was made by Mr. Terry, seconded by Mr. McDaniel to adopt the ordinance; motion passed unanimously. Motion was made by Mr. Brown,
seconded by Mr. Rainwater to invoke the emergency clause; motion passed by majority with Mr. McDaniel voting no and all others voting yes.
Parks- Resolution Authorizing Outdoor Recreation Matching Grant Application for inclusive Park – Ms. Derry advised council that Mr. Craig could be reached by cellphone if needed for any questions related to this; Parks Commission Chair Mr. Goldstein was on hand to answer questions.
Ms. Derry stated that she believes this inclusive park project has been reported to become a destination for the tri-county area and is estimated to cost $375,000 to construct and is included in the 2024 budget; she directed the Council’s attention to the next-to-last paragraph and said that it is important to note; she also said that the wording in the resolution has been crafted by WAPDD as needed for the grant requirements. Mayor Kinslow stated that this is a matching grant, up to $250,000; motion was made by Mr. Powell, seconded by Mr. Meeker to approve this as presented; motion passed unanimously.
Finance – Resolution to Amend Budget for New Senior Center Property Real Estate Taxes
Ms. Derry stated that, since the City owned the property only part of the year, and the 2022 taxes were due in 2023, partial year ownership by the City still requires full year payment. Mr. Plummer stated that should have been taken care of at closing and Ms. Derry said that she would need to go look at the closing paperwork to determine how it was handled. Mr. Terry inquired about the other portion of taxes due listed
in the resolution and she asked Chief Bryan to explain the portion due for the lake property and he explained that those amounts were for the rural fire dues. Ms. Derry stated that if income is earned off of
city properties such as the rentals the City operates with the fire property on Highway 71, and not governmental purposes, then the City will have to continue to pay real estate taxes on those properties;
there was discussion and questions about the future SRCA building and why tax is not charged on the Senator Ed Wilkinson Building – to which Ms. Derry said that the County Assessor Zach Johnson would
need to explain. There was discussion as to the payment being made on this and Ms. Derry stated that she thought the payment has already been made on this and the resolution is needed to amend the budget
thereby; she also said she was not sure if the payment has been sent or not yet. Mr. Plummer read a law excerpt as follows: “public property which may be reserved for use by any person or organization with or
without a fee for such use, and is being used exclusively for public purposes, regardless if the event for which the property is reserved is open for attendance or participation by the general public” he stated
that is an exemption. In conclusion, motion was made by Mr. McDaniel, seconded by Mr. Rainwater to table this resolution until what is talked about is known; motion passed unanimously and the item was tabled.
Wastewater – Resolution to Waive Competitive Bidding on Generator Purchases – Mr. Moore presented this and stated the need for the resolution; motion was made by Mr. Powell, seconded by
Mr. Meeker to waive competitive bidding on the purchase of these generators; motion passed unanimously.
Mayor – Maintenance of City Rights-of-Way – Mayor Kinslow stated that based on a discussion this morning in the department head meeting, he felt that a discussion would be beneficial to find out council’s feeling on the subject of what areas in the right-of-way are to be the property owner’s responsibility to maintain, or if the City should be doing this because of safety issues. There was general agreement that whatever the state mowed, the City should now be mowing; Mr. Turner stated that within the current ordinance, that would be in violation, especially in subdivisions with back-to-back fences and the easement and right-of-way he did not know; there was a lengthy discussion regarding fences and a request was made to bring a fence regulation back before council. Mayor Kinslow suggested that the current ordinance may need to be amended and his concern is for the mowing of the commercial corridor.
in conclusion, the Mayor stated that, with the City Council’s blessing, the Street Department will mow what needs to be mowed this season; there was no noted objection to this.
Daniel McDaniel -Lighting of SCBGC Ball Fields – Mr. McDaniel said that he was not sure anything could be determined, or that funding is available until Mr. Marsh was present to provide financial/information, but he wanted to get the discussion started. Ms. Derry stated that Mr. Marsh has requested that the quarterly budget work session be rescheduled from July 12 to July 13 and there was no noted objection to this. Club Director Kenny Sunde was on hand to provide detail on the various phases of the lighting project and Mr. Brown requested that the proposal be broken down into the four sections for the next meeting so that this could be considered at the budget review meeting, and this was
acknowledged in the affirmative by Mr. Sunde. In conclusion, it was decided that this be considered at the next council meeting in July.
Rod Powell – Proposed Amendments to Private Club License – Mr. Powell stated that he has visited with Mr. Plummer and has worked with Mr. Hunter Miles to determine 400 foot distances in town and amend Item L of ordinance #18-04 by that. He said that regarding Item K with the fees he would like consideration of restricting that revenue to trails, which could include sidewalks. He said the other item involves the Municipal League, or legalities and allowing entertainment districting of a square, over a portion of highway 10 Spur, or the Curve. He also said that he is trying to find out if a food court is eligible for a private club license. After discussion, he said when he gets defined answers, after visiting
with the city attorney and formation of amendments to the ordinance, he will bring them forward. There was additional discussion, including the distance requirements being too restrictive. There was additional
commentary and discussion with Ms. Chavez of La Fiesta who was present to answer questions about their plans to obtain a private club license. Mr. Bob Purvis encouraged the La Fiesta Ordinance to be read
concurrent with the amendment o the alcohol ordinance so that both could be adopted on a more favorable timetable.
Department reports and questionsfromCouncil
None
Council Forum
Mr. Purvis stated that all are officially invited to a ribbon cutting for East Village to take place on June 23, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.
Mayor Kinslow gave an update on the sidewalk project; there was discussion about the landscaping around the flagpoles by City Hall.
Adiournment
Motion was made by Mr. Terry, seconded by Mr. Rainwater to adjourn and the meeting was adjourned at 10:42 p.m.