MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE OZARK
CITY COUNCIL
July 11, 2023
Ozark City Council Meeting Room

The Regular Meeting of The Ozark City Council was called to order by Mayor Hall. Kevin Barham led the Invocation, followed by the pledge led by Boy Scout Troop 42, who attended the meeting to earn one of the merit badges. Mayor Hall announced that Susan Stevens was on medical leave so Angela Harris would be taking minutes and calling roll. All council members were in attendance.

David Mahon brought to our attention that minutes were not received until the day of meeting and that a page was missing from them. Mahon said there were some things in the minutes that he disagreed with; however he didn’t feel it was a ” big enough point” to stop the meeting. L. Maier made a motion to approve meeting minutes. A. Hyler seconded that motion. A. Harris, R. Melton, C. Meeker, A. Hyler and L. Meyer approved the minutes. D. Mahon opposed.

June 22nd a special meeting was held regarding rezoning from Al to C2. D. Mahon made the motion to approve minutes from the special meeting. C. Meeker seconded the motion. All members approved the minutes.

R. Melton made the motion to approve financials. A. Hyler seconded that motion. All members approved.

On the department head reports, D. Mahon inquired about the building inspector. He requested that a monthly update be received on the progress of the building inspector.

Fire and Police met June 26, 2023. C. Meeker reported the new radios are in and being programmed and possibly are in hand. Both new police vehicles are in. One is a truck, and one is an SUV. The fire department is still waiting on a pump for their tanker.

Planning and zoning had a special meeting and discussed rezoning 7. 5 acres from R1 to R3 at 602 N 2nd Street that is due to be sold. D. Mahon announced that he has a financial interest in that property. It will be sold contingent on rezoning for residential single-family housing. They also voted to close 4th street but ordinance is not yet in hand so they will discuss it next month with council. K. Barham read the legal description (see attached) of the plans and pointed out several typos that needed to be corrected. D. Mahon said they would be corrected. D. Mahon made the motion to amend the spelling errors and the parcel land description as noted by Kevin. L. Maier seconded that motion. All members approved. A. Hyler made a motion to dispense second and third reading. L. Maier seconded that motion. All members approved.

C. Meeker made the motion to approve, with the stipulation that errors were corrected. L. Maier seconded that motion. All members approved. D. Mahon abstained from this vote.

Mayor Hall began the discussion of old business. The first item was the discussion of the Juneteenth observation for the city. The municipal league left it up to each municipality. Mayor Hall opened the floor to discuss. A. Hyler made the motion that we do not observe Juneteenth at this time. D. Mahon seconded that motion. All Members approved.

Mayor Hall spoke with ARDOT about the timeline for resurfacing highway 64. She reported that due to some unforeseen circumstances the estimated date would be mid to late August 2023. Most of the work will be done overnight so traffic will not be affected.

Mayor Hall reported the update on the 2023 business licenses. Since the last report on May 8, 2023, there have been 7 new businesses coming into town:
-Heathens
-Lucky Puppy Ordinance Training
-Haute Spot
-The Flower Mill
-Chico’ s Service Center
-Mr. Taco Food Truck
-Right Price Re- Sale

Around 4:15 pm another food truck came in so once that paperwork is complete there will be another one.

Devin Bramlett gave an update on IT and ASI. It is hopeful that in August, the city council meetings will be available on Facebook Live. Devin reported that some of the equipment has arrived, and some is back ordered. Most of the cameras have been installed in both the police department and the community center. They are still waiting on a few cameras to come in for that and hopefully within three weeks or so all the computer equipment will be in. The next three days they will be in the city council room redoing all the cameras and microphones so they will have the ability to live stream. Mahon asked about which cameras were currently active on the new system. It is estimated that everything will be done in roughly three weeks.

Under new business, regarding the Ozark food pantry. Mayor Hall met with the architect and Mr. Moncrief. It will be located behind the American Legion building on the East end of town. The contract has been signed and the architect will be at the August or September meeting to discuss plans.

The Touch A Truck event will be held July 31st at the OAYO parking lot from 6-8 pm. Drummond Trucking, Ken’ s Towing and Cards sponsored it to be a free family event including hotdogs, chips, water, and popsicles.

The trash contract term ends in December. The committee discussed rebidding renewal. D. Mahon spoke with Jason from CARDS and he said they would do curbside pickup for Fall and Spring. With our new phone system, trash calls can automatically be rerouted to CARDS. Kevin Barham reviewed the contract and to terminate and to do so, you must provide them with more than 90 days’ notice. K. Barham stated he would contact CARDs and request the addendum so it can be addressed and authorized at the August meeting.

Addendum should reflect the following changes:
– No rate increases for upcoming year
-Auto contract renew for 5 years
-Curbside pickup for the next 5 years with no additional cost

There was a long discussion amongst members about trash service.

Mayor Hall announced employees of the quarter:
– Community Center- Kinley Simpson
– Water Dept- Roy Sampley
– Police-Shae Reed
– Street Dept- J. D. Mckeen
– Fire Dept-Brayden English

Each receives a $50 gift card from Workman’ s Travel Center.

The first public input speaker was Steve Whitaker. D. Mahon made the motion to give Steve 7 minutes to speak. L. Maier seconded the motion. All members voted to suspend the three-minute rule. Steve addressed the theft reports that were made several years ago regarding the misuse of a city credit card. He suggested that as a result of the negligence from this issue, Mayor Hall be removed from office. Kevin Barham addressed all of Steve’s comments. He said all documentation was turned over to the prosecuting attorney who disqualified himself. Little Rock appointed a special prosecutor who declined to prosecute back in 2020.

Joseph Yoakem brought forth the issue of the animal ordinance pertaining to 1 acre per hoofed animal. He would like to consider changing the ordinance to accommodate the animals at his property at 702 W Gibson.

Mayor Hall announced back to school week at the community center August 7-11.

Argest Hyler recommends that everyone try to keep meetings due to cancellations not being reported to all members.

Motion to adjourn made by D. Mahon. Seconded by L. Maier. All members agreed.

Minutes for the Ozark city council meeting held Monday, July 11th, 2023 were approved and passed this 14th day of August 2023

Roxie Hall, Mayor
Susan Stevens, City Clerk