Public comment dominated the start of Parks’ final regular meeting of 2019 on Dec. 17 at the Auditorium. Barbara Kellogg and Damon Henke gave opposing views on future bike trails being planned in town.
Kellogg said she was against the construction and spoke of her worry about privacy and Parks “compromising the privacy and safety of Historic District residents. Henke voiced his support of the trails and suggested that Parks go to the Chamber for public meetings so residents could learn where the trails would be built.
Mike Shaw spoke next showing enthusiasm that Parks’ budget was being audited. He also took issue with a lack of bike-limited trails and said there was enough space to not have trails in town.
Linda McBride told the commission that they needed to address citizen concerns referencing trail markers and the suggested moratorium on construction causing major footprint changes. She also said that Parks had not addressed a broken wall at Cave Spring that was brought to their attention at the townhall meeting in November.
Pat Costner was the final member of the public to speak, and handed out copies of city municipal code to commissioners and saying that each project was applicable to code in respect to Planning, Zoning, etc. She mentioned that 900 acres of Leatherwood are zoned Historic District and said she was worried how Parks was handling future construction.
Comments from the chair
Chair Bill Featherstone read a 3 ½ page letter for his comments giving off a list of “thanks” related to Parks, including thanking citizens for not participating in a rumor mill and understanding Parks’ limitations. The letter also referenced the “growing pains” Parks is going through. Featherstone has referenced these at various meetings.
Director’s Comments
Parks Director Justin Huss also read a long letter to the public saying that the budget of Parks had doubled in two years. He addressed misunderstandings leading to the belief of malfeasance on Parks’ part and that stories of a lack of care were unfounded.
He continued saying that Parks needs to be a million dollar agency and is currently a $750,000 agency. He said that Parks is looking at turning Fisherman Trail to hiking only and connecting it to Miner’s Rock to help hikers avoid mountain bikes. He also said new trails in town would not be for competitive mountain bikes.
Plaque in Basin Park
Trella Laughlin gave a presentation to Parks about a plaque for Cheryl K. Maples, the attorney to file the first suit challenging Arkansas’ state ban on same-sex marriage. She said the plaque would cost $6,200 but there would be no cost to Parks. She asked the commission for support to open an account at Equity Bank to begin donation gathering.
Featherstone informed her that for the commission to make a vote they would need to know the size of the plaque. Laughlin said she would get that information and return with it. She also said that Parks would have until fall of 2021 to make their decision.
Other items
- Committee Guidelines were approved.
- Commissioners authorized Cornerstone Bank to allow Windle & Associates access to their bank records.
- Commissioner Christian Super gave an update on the Master Plan Survey saying that it now had a 9% local response rate. Commissioners would wait until January to see evaluate necessity for other avenues of promotion.
- Commissioner Scott Bardin voiced his confidence in Windle & Associates handling the financials of Parks
- Commissioners decided to wait until after their budget workshop on Jan. 7 to discuss professional services for an updated policies and procedures manual.
- Parks Gardner Scott Miskiel reported that greenhouse supplies were ordered and shipped. They would take two days to install.
The agenda format was changed to allow commissioner comments at the end of a meeting.