The Hope City Board met in the City Hall Boardroom on Tuesday (4-16). The meeting started with a prayer and the pledge of allegiance. The minutes from the previous meeting were reviewed and approved.

For “Hope for the Future”, there was an engineer’s presentation of the new fire department and parks/recreation capital improvements master plan. City Manager JR Wilson stated this is a wish list which could be used for the next 30-40 years. Parts of the plan could be taken to ballot.  Jeremy Stone presented the plan for the new fire department. The upgrade would cost $2.5 million. The new station plan includes 4 bays.  Money has been budgeted for a piece of land that would be a minimum of 2 acres.  When asked how long it would take to build, Stone estimated eight to nine months with the generator taking the longest time. He said it would take fifty-six weeks to acquire.  Stone stated electronics orders are backed up.  This is a permanent generator. A temporary generator could be used in the meantime.

Dan Beranek from McClellan Engineering spoke about how well maintained the parks are. He stated 70% of the people surveyed thought improvements to the parks were needed and that sales tax was a good way to pay for it. Beranek went over the proposed costs and improvements to each of the parks and the cost and design for a recreation center. Northside Park’s improvements would cost $1.5 million and would include a splash pad, improving the basketball court and renovation of the pool house.  Possible improvements to Kelly and Kiwanis fields, adding additional parking, secondary access along with lights at Kiwanis would cost $2 million. Improvements to Fair Park were estimated at $4.5 million.

The proposed recreation center would be 43,000 square feet and cost $21 million. There would be a pool for swimming, a therapy pool, party rooms, locker rooms, showers, 2 basketball courts, a walking trail, an indoor track, a small outdoor pool, and 119 parking spots. This price doesn’t include the purchase of land. The land required for the proposed center would be 4 acres.

With each of these projects there has been some trimming of the cost. The soccer field went from turf to being grass. Turf would have cost $1.5 or 2 million dollars.

The directors asked about improvements to the Northside bathrooms and the cost of improving the drainage. For the recreation center, Director Mark Ross asked about handicapped lifts for the pools.

Hope Schools Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Crossley spoke on the possible amending of the animal control ordinance. He said the Hope School District was updating the agri building and having a place for livestock was a next step.   Dr. Crossley noted in the middle school there are kids who really care about animal husbandry. The animals would be housed up to a year giving the students a chance to grow the animals. He said he was really excited about the program.  Dr. Crossley talked to about the issue of privacy saying a fence would be put up that would block the view of the animals. The direct neighbors were concerned about the potential for horses and cows but didn’t have an issue with smaller animals being present. The maximum number of animals will be 15.  The amendment required a motion to suspend the rules, a motion to adopt the ordinance and a motion to adopt an emergency clause.  All of these motions were passed to amend the animal control ordinance.

An ordinance on franchise and video service fees went through a similar process and passed as did the repealing of ordinance # 1741.

There were two rezoning requests. The first was by Brandy Armstrong to change the zoning from C4 to C2 in order to allow for both an insurance company and car dealership. The motion passed allowing the building to be moved further back on the same property. The property is on W Division Street. The motion passed.  The other request was from Michael Horton to change the zoning on his property from R2 to R5 in order to allow him to build on the property. The motion passed.

The city financial report was looked at by the Board and a few questions were asked.

For the city manager’s report Wilson talked about Amber Murr’s last day being May 1st. She has served the City for 17 years and will join the ARTEX council of governments. Wilson proposed having an assistant City Manager position.

April 27th is City Wide Clean Up Day. Hope has béen registered with the Keep Arkansas Beautiful program.

6th Street was discussed.

Mayor Still talked about the Board doing a roundtable at the next meeting. It will be a working meeting at 6pm and will be open to the public.  The regular Board meeting would convent at 7pm.

For Citizens Request, Carolyn Logan and her husband spoke on a drainage issue they have at their home. A year ago they had someone come out and look at it. They stated they couldn’t even use their own driveway. They stated after a rain,  dead animals washed into the culvert and expressed a concern about a child being affected. City Manager Wilson asked for their number and stated he would go and look at the issue.

The meeting adjourned.