SWARK Today

The meeting is available to watch in its entirety below the photos for this story.

City Manager J.R. Wilson opened the discussion about the parking policy now that a bicycle lane has been marked on Sixth Street by noting that a sewage line leak at the Sixth Street project does still need addressing but that the bicycle path markings have been made there and on 16th Street. Three options exist for what the policy regarding parking on those streets may be.

“Either the board can say, ‘Hey, we're not going to do anything about bike lanes and with respect to parking in a bike lane or instructing a bike lane,’ or you may take a middle-of-the-road approach and say, ‘Hey, we're not going to prohibit it, but we're going to restrict it to certain times or days,’ or you may say ‘No, we want to prohibit such action.’” Wilson said.

He noted there is already an ordinance prohibiting the placement of rubbish, trash, straw or leaves, on city streets. Research by Hope Police Chief Kim Tomlin about state law found there is nothing in state law against a city ordinance prohibiting parking on bicycle lanes. If the board chooses to prohibit parking on bicycle lanes, whether altogether or in certain hours, Wilson said calls about breaches of the law would not be regarded as emergencies.

“If you do decide to take some kind of action, it would definitely be a low priority enforcement action. We have X amount of police on the streets at a time. They answer about roughly 25 to 30 calls a day, meaning those are emergency calls. Much of those take most of their time … It could be enforced as they have time to enforce, or we get a complaint,” Wilson said.

Mayor Still said he believed prohibiting parking on bicycle lanes was his preference. “If we don’t, somebody will be parking there every day,” he said, adding that the board members should get feedback from the public.

Vice Mayor Kiffinea Talley agreed with Still on the need for feedback from those living on Sixth and 16th Streets. “On Sixth Street, especially, there's limited driveways and there's multiple vehicles …They're even parking on their grass, so if they have visitors where are they going to go, other than to park on the street closest to the house?” she said.

Chief Tomlin said that about 3:00 p.m. on weekdays on Sixth Street a line of cars forms to pick up children from Hope Academy of Public Service, but that the school district’s plans to move students from there next school year makes this a temporary situation.

Director Trevor Coffee said, “I would hope that we wouldn't encourage people to ride their bikes down the street that we would allow people to block, because then I would think that this turns into something where we're going to have to be reactive when somebody swings into traffic and is struck by a moving vehicle, and then we have to do something.” He added that he favored being proactive by keeping the bicycle lanes open.

“I would feel really bad if we put bike lanes down and had to have people swerve and avoid vehicles until someone gets hit, and then we decide we aren't going to allow parking in the bike lanes,” Coffee said.

“Or if someone opens up a car door,” Director Reginald Easter said, referring to a case on a recent episode of Judge Judy.

Talley raised the concern about asking residents on the streets who have already given up part of their yards to now bear the burden of expanding their driveways for their own vehicles or for visitors. “Then what? I don't know. I'm just up in the air with it. I don't know,” she said.

Wilson observed that there were certainly different perspectives to consider. He said some cities have taken the approach of prohibiting parking in bicycle lanes during a span of hours. His own experience of living in a large city was that the policy only allowed parking where it was legal and residents parked where they could. He also said there were side streets off Sixth and 16th Streets where visitors could park, though this meant additional walking.

He said only a couple residences had cars parked on Sixth Street but he had not seen any regularly parking on 16th.

“Really, we're talking about really two or three houses on Sixth Street. And if we go and explain ourselves or talk to them like you said, maybe get their opinions, maybe we can work something out that helps you all with those competing interests,” Wilson said.

City Attorney Randal Wright stated that police would need to enforce keeping drivers from drifting into the bicycle lane when there are bicyclers present. Wilson called that a good point and said he had seen in city management magazines that some cities had placed traffic managing surface features down to keep vehicles out.

At the beginning of the meeting, after the invocation, pledge of allegiance and approval of previous meeting minutes, Bonnie Raff of the John Cain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented a proclamation of National Family Literacy Day, established for November 1st. Raff read a statement before the proclamation was read.

“Arkansas is 32nd out of 50 [in a ranking of rates of illiteracy], and the higher the number, the better off you are. Students not reading proficient right now is at 68 percent, but … the attention span has decreased in the last 20 years. And I don't know who did the study and how they were able to do it, but they say an adult's attention span is 8.25 seconds, and a goldfish is nine seconds. So they are considering that we have lost our focus.” She said she was glad that efforts were finally being made to increase the time children are away from computers and other electronic devices.

Raff volunteers three times a week, helping students at Clinton Primary School increase their reading abilities.

The proclamation was read aloud by Wright.

In other business:

· The board voted to approve spending set aside in the 2024 budget of $6,000 to be used to purchase a scissor-lift rather than an airport towing vehicle as originally budgeted. The lift will be used for a variety of purposes including cleaning, repair and installation of items high off the ground. Airport Manager Darrell Allen said tenants at the airport usually either move their planes by hand or by using an ATV.

· Assistant City Manager Daniel Shelman reported to the board that the city will be using the services of JTS, an employee benefits management company, to provide city employees with a greater choice of services. There is no cost to the city for this partnership. At a benefits fair scheduled for November 13-15th, employees will see options provided by JTS.

· The board passed a required yearly resolution to state that the city follows accounting procedures from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the American Institute of Public Accounting and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

In the city manager’s report, Wilson said he would be travelling to Boston for the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Boston October 18-22nd. He also reminded all that early voting begins Monday, October 21st.

All physical work has been completed with funds from a grant to increase airport safety, Wilson said. A fencing job financed by the Arkansas Aeronautics Division is complete and reimbursements for city spending should be received soon.

After a discussion, the board members agreed on their yearly field trip to start out on November 5th at 8:00 a.m., visiting the East Water Treatment Plant, the newly named Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center (now owned by Pafford, the city and Hempstead County) and the Hope Municipal Airport.

Before adjournment, Wilson said each board member had received financial reports and could call or speak to him or the city finance office about their particulars.