MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE OZARK CITY COUNCIL
April 15, 2024
Ozark City Council Meeting Room
The Regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Hall and upon a roll call, a quorum
was declared to exist for the meeting. Present were Council Members Loren Maier, Summer
Miner, Angela Harris, Randy Melton, Charlie Meeker, and Argest Hyler. Also present were
Mayor Hall, City Attorney Kevin Barham, City Clerk Susan Stevens, and City Treasurer/Deputy
City Clerk Marla Ward. Kevin Barham gave the Invocation and Summer Miner led the Pledge of
Allegiance.
A motion was made by Randy Melton to approve the March minutes and seconded by
Argest Hyler. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the Minutes were
approved. A motion was then made by Charlie Meeker to approve the Financial Reports and
seconded by Summer Miner. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the
Financial Reports were approved.
The Water Department reports usual maintenance and repairs at Water and Wastewater
Treatment Plance and throughout the distribution and collection system. Received and processed
64 utility line locates ( most related to fiber install). Received recommendation from engineering
firm for improvements to Helberg Valve Vault and engineering proposal for same. The crew
attended a” Stop the Bleed” workshop through the Fire Department. Meetings were held in
preparation for the Eclipse. Sludge was removed from clarifiers at the wastewater treatment
plant. Water/ sewer repairs were done on Helberg Lane, Home, and Vernon Streets.
The Police Department reports 30 arrests, 82 reports, 14 accidents, 1 motorist assist, 3
ICAC Cyber Crimes, 19 warrants served, 22 subpoenas served, 4 juvenile tickets, 20 City
Ordinance warnings, 2 Ordinance tickets, 84 traffic tickets, and 457 traffic warnings. The OPD
training facility hosted the Siloam Springs SWAT unit, the Logan County Sheriff’ s Office, the
Crawford County SWAT unit, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. The Ozark PD conducted
SRT training and hosted a CPR class for the Franklin County Sheriff Dispatch.
The Community Center reports that the majority of the staff will be out on April 13′ h as it
is Prom Night so there will not be any rentals that day. Several field trips are already booked for
April and several in May. They will be updating the Putt-Putt this month as well as sending out
sponsorship letters to renew. All weekends in April and the majority of weekends in May are
booked. They are working on a plan for an End of School Bash. More details to come in May.
In March, the Street Department finished up on the 29′ h Street Bridge project by putting
the guard rails back up. They cleaned up around our parks with mowing and weed eating. They
also started the dirt work for the pavilion at the Cemetery.
The Ozark Fire Department reports 59 calls for the month of March.
Notes from the Parks & Recreation Commission meeting held Tuesday, March 19, 2024.
- Westside Park, ball fields, and rest rooms are in good shape.
- The Splash Pad is currently closed for the winter
- Eastside Park is looking good and the restrooms are open.
- Overlook( Reed Mountain Park)— there was discussion about closing the park from 04- 05-24
until 04-08- 24 for the Eclipse. Everyone was in favor of closing for this time period. - The restrooms are maintaining good water pressure as oftoday.
- The Pocket Park still has some work left to be completed on flower bed removal.
- Greg Franks spoke to the Commission about the Miracle League. This would be located at the
old Eastside baseball field. The Commission agreed to send it to the City Council for approval.
Planning Commission/ Raegan Haberer
Thomas & Lindsey Trotter are requesting a rezone at 817 N. 13th Street& Heiberg ( formerly
1301 Heiberg) in order to construct 6 to 8 tiny homes of approximately 600 square feet. They
will be geared to college students and small families. They will be meeting with civil engineers
to determine the number of houses allowed. City Attorney Kevin Barham advised that they need
to meet with their engineer and get a plat on the property and a layout ofthe planned houses.
Then they need to bring this information to the next Planning Commission scheduled for May 2nd
where details can be worked out to present to the May City Council Meeting.
Old Business
a. Spring Clean-up begins today! Curbside pick-up will be on regularly scheduled trash day
or as soon as possible depending on volume.
b. The first round of bids for the Food Pantry were all over budget. The project will be re-
advertised on April 2 1″& 281h and new bids will be opened in May.
c. Our engineer, Mr. King, will be here Wednesday, April 17th to examine the Kimbrough
Building.
New Business
a. Ordinance 2024- 6 re Sale of the Transfer Station
A motion to read the Ordinance was made by Randy Melton and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon
a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Ordinance. A motion
was then made by Angela Harris to dispense with the 2″ d& 3rd readings and proceed by title
only. This was seconded by Randy Melton. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted aye
and Mr. Barham read the title twice. Discussion: Argest Hyler presented a hand-out of Ordinance
1999- 14. Kevin Barham pointed out that this is a bond ordinance stating that the city will run the
station until the bond is paid off in 2009 ( 10- year bond 1999- 2009). It can be modified as a covenant”(an agreement) is made between a city and a company. R. Melton stated he had consulted with the Municipal League and they had confirmed our ability to sell. K. Barham state that the City has the power to sell as long as the bond has been paid off. L. Maier asked if we should be selling as the station is an asset and we are making money from it. R. Melton pointed
out that there has been three advertised meetings where no one showed up except the CARDS
representative with plans. L. Maier then stated that 3- 5 people had contacted him opposing the
sale. R. Melton then asked why they did not attend any meetings? C. Meeker said he missed the
meetings but listened to the audio. He believes that it is an good investment for the City. He
asked if we got any independent appraisals ( No). His suggestion was that we need to keep the
property and put money into fixing it up. L. Maier stated that the property was worth more than
the offer. A. Hyler stated that we have spent a great deal of money on the property. Would we be
able to use it for another purpose? Where is the money ( the negotiated price) going to go? R.
Melton state that this Ordinance is just to allow the Mayor to negotiate a sale. S. Miner also
stated that multiple people have reached out to her opposing the sale.
A motion to approve the Ordinance was made by Randy Melton and seconded by Angela Harris.
The roll call was as follows:
Loren Maier No
Summer Miner No
Angela Harris Yes
Randy Melton Yes
Charlie Meeker No
Argest Hyler No
Ordinance 2024- 6 did not pass by a vote of 4 to 2.
b. Street Closure on 5t’ & Nichols
Required paperwork has not been processed to address this issue.
c. Community Center Improvements
The improvements include repaving the southern end ofthe parking lot and adding electrical
outlets to accommodate food trucks. C. Meeker agreed to the paving issue and would like to see
more plans regarding the electrical. L. Maier suggested looking at how other cities have done
theirs ie different configurations and possibly picnic tables or gazebo. Fire Chief Nick Trotter
stated that seating could possibly change the Health Department designation as they would be
providing dining space.” K. Barham stated that applied only ifthe individual food truck was
providing the seating. Michael Brasseaux asked how big a seating area we would be discussing
and would we need to get separate bids? Angela Harris asked if the fenced in area at south end of
the pool being utilized and Brook Rosson stated that yes, it is. A motion to move forward with
the improvements was made by Loren Maier and seconded by Randy Melton. Upon a roll call
vote, all Council members voted aye and the project was approved.
d. Miracle League
Community Center Director Brook Rosson provided a hand-out about the Miracle League. The
mission of the Miracle League is to ” provide opportunities for children with disabilities to play
Miracle League baseball, regardless of their abilities.” The Eastside ball field would be the
designated field, partnering with OAYO. The Booneville Center has expressed interest in
bringing participants to Ozark as there is only one other location in the River Valley. The project
would also transfer over to possibly provide ADA approved playground equipment. This will be
a project not just for children, but special needs adults as well. There is a yearly $ 550. 00 City
membership fee. A motion was made by Argest Hyler to move ahead with the membership fee
and project. This was seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council members voted
aye and the motion was approved.
There was no Public Input.
Announcements
The 2024 Eclipse was very successful for our city. A sign-in book at the Square logged in over
350 people present for the Eclipse event” Shadow on the Square” hosted by Main Street Ozark,
the A& P, the Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Ozark. There were 16 states and several
countries represented.
Jordan’ s is finalizing plans and permits and should be breaking ground within 30 days.
Keep Ozark Beautiful Day in partnership with Keep Arkansas Beautiful had a wonderful
response. For the Yd year, Ozark Pride& Beautification sponsored the clean-up day. There were
22 local sponsors for the day and a total of 2, 200 gallons of trash was collected by 35 people in
24 hours.
Employees of the Quarter:
Police Department Shea Reed
Water Department David Williams
Community Center Zach Young
Street Department Kenneth Rosson
Fire Department Josh Rosson
A shout-out to the Water Department. There was a major water leak Saturday night that took 4-
5 hours to handle and repair.
There will be a Special City Council Meeting at 6pm on Tuesday, April 23rd following the
Policy and Personnel Committee meeting. It will be to discuss the sewer issue on Kelly Street
and Lance Carpenter’ s request for a temporary entertainment district at the Fairgrounds during
Carpenter Fest on May 181h
A motion to adjourn the April 15, 2024 City Council meeting was made by Argest Hyler
and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the
meeting was adjourned.
Minutes for the Ozark City Council meeting held Monday, April 15, 2024 were approved and passed this 13th day of May, 2024.
