[{"EventItemId":85124,"EventItemGuid":"C24FCCBA-CFE6-4CB0-8807-EBA8BDCC39C9","EventItemLastModifiedUtc":"2026-02-10T21:16:31.74","EventItemRowVersion":"AAAAAADaLM8=","EventItemEventId":3890,"EventItemAgendaSequence":1,"EventItemMinutesSequence":1,"EventItemAgendaNumber":"1.","EventItemVideo":226385,"EventItemVideoIndex":null,"EventItemVersion":null,"EventItemAgendaNote":null,"EventItemMinutesNote":null,"EventItemActionId":null,"EventItemActionName":null,"EventItemActionText":null,"EventItemPassedFlag":null,"EventItemPassedFlagName":null,"EventItemRollCallFlag":0,"EventItemFlagExtra":0,"EventItemTitle":"CALL TO ORDER","EventItemTally":null,"EventItemAccelaRecordId":null,"EventItemConsent":0,"EventItemMoverId":null,"EventItemMover":null,"EventItemSeconderId":null,"EventItemSeconder":null,"EventItemMatterId":null,"EventItemMatterGuid":null,"EventItemMatterFile":null,"EventItemMatterName":null,"EventItemMatterType":null,"EventItemMatterStatus":null,"EventItemMatterAttachments":[]},{"EventItemId":85125,"EventItemGuid":"3FE14805-B863-4B3E-9920-B8A18A835F6E","EventItemLastModifiedUtc":"2026-02-10T21:17:46.12","EventItemRowVersion":"AAAAAADaLOM=","EventItemEventId":3890,"EventItemAgendaSequence":2,"EventItemMinutesSequence":2,"EventItemAgendaNumber":"2.","EventItemVideo":226386,"EventItemVideoIndex":null,"EventItemVersion":null,"EventItemAgendaNote":null,"EventItemMinutesNote":"Chairman Chris Gibson said, I'm showing 11 o'clock, so I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. First item of business is roll call. Madam Clark, can you please call the Public Services roll? City Clerk said, I do not see her in attendance. Chairman Chris Gibson said, Ann said she would be here, so she may be running just a little bit late.\r\n\r\nPublic Services Committee – In attendance – Chairman Chris Gibson, Councilmember Brian Emison, Councilmember Janice Porter, Councilmember LJ Bryant, Councilmember Joe Hafner – Councilmember Ann Williams arrived at 11:07 – Dr. Anthony Coleman was absent\r\n\r\nCouncilmember Kevin Miller was present in audience.\r\n\r\nJonesboro Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee – In attendance – Jack Sample, Marilyn Copeland, Jay Clevenger, Tina Cook, John McPike, Len Frey, Trey McKee, Jim Stearns, Tom Fielder, David Daniel","EventItemActionId":null,"EventItemActionName":null,"EventItemActionText":null,"EventItemPassedFlag":null,"EventItemPassedFlagName":null,"EventItemRollCallFlag":1,"EventItemFlagExtra":0,"EventItemTitle":"ROLL CALL (ELECTRONIC ATTENDANCE) CONFIRMED BY CITY CLERK APRIL LEGGETT","EventItemTally":null,"EventItemAccelaRecordId":null,"EventItemConsent":0,"EventItemMoverId":null,"EventItemMover":null,"EventItemSeconderId":null,"EventItemSeconder":null,"EventItemMatterId":null,"EventItemMatterGuid":null,"EventItemMatterFile":null,"EventItemMatterName":null,"EventItemMatterType":null,"EventItemMatterStatus":null,"EventItemMatterAttachments":[]},{"EventItemId":85130,"EventItemGuid":"6EBDFA3D-6F5F-4EF0-8A2D-E962FAB0CBDF","EventItemLastModifiedUtc":"2026-02-04T15:14:04.787","EventItemRowVersion":"AAAAAADaF+U=","EventItemEventId":3890,"EventItemAgendaSequence":3,"EventItemMinutesSequence":3,"EventItemAgendaNumber":"3.","EventItemVideo":226387,"EventItemVideoIndex":null,"EventItemVersion":null,"EventItemAgendaNote":null,"EventItemMinutesNote":null,"EventItemActionId":null,"EventItemActionName":null,"EventItemActionText":null,"EventItemPassedFlag":null,"EventItemPassedFlagName":null,"EventItemRollCallFlag":0,"EventItemFlagExtra":0,"EventItemTitle":"OTHER BUSINESS","EventItemTally":null,"EventItemAccelaRecordId":null,"EventItemConsent":0,"EventItemMoverId":null,"EventItemMover":null,"EventItemSeconderId":null,"EventItemSeconder":null,"EventItemMatterId":null,"EventItemMatterGuid":null,"EventItemMatterFile":null,"EventItemMatterName":null,"EventItemMatterType":null,"EventItemMatterStatus":null,"EventItemMatterAttachments":[]},{"EventItemId":85131,"EventItemGuid":"2F7BC98B-3366-4F55-A5DF-DF006D5C2524","EventItemLastModifiedUtc":"2026-02-10T21:19:51.773","EventItemRowVersion":"AAAAAADaLPM=","EventItemEventId":3890,"EventItemAgendaSequence":4,"EventItemMinutesSequence":4,"EventItemAgendaNumber":null,"EventItemVideo":226388,"EventItemVideoIndex":null,"EventItemVersion":"1","EventItemAgendaNote":null,"EventItemMinutesNote":"Chairman Chris Gibson said, and if you don't mind, just for transparency and clarification, if I could get the commission to introduce yourselves. Jack, we will start with you, if you don't mind. Jack Sample, Marilyn Copeland, Jay Clevenger, Tina Cook, John McPike, Len Fry, Trey McKee, Jim Stearns, Tom Fielder, David Daniel.\r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, ok. Thank you all for being here. Just a few house keeping items just real quick. When you speak, for recording purposes, if you will restate your name when you make a comment. I want to keep this pretty organized, but I also want to be able to take good notes, and this environment is probably not the most conducive for April to do so, and I apologize for that. I think the purpose of this meeting is, you know, fairly simple. I think that we just need to align shared priorities between this group of individuals to make sure that we have the infrastructure and the programming in place to propel our parks system forward, as well as the integrity of the city moving forward. I don't want to get into any past conversations about what has transpired. I just want to focus on how we're going to react moving forward. And this is the brain trust that's going to propel us into that into the future. So, thank you all for coming. I will let Coach D give any introductory remarks from your group that you would like to give, and then we'll get started. \r\n\r\nI'm David Daniel. I'm chairman of the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, and basically, that's in our position, is to advise. We generally meet quarterly, and the meeting is, for the most part, been directed by the agendas provided to us from the Parks and Rec director. And Mr. Jim Stearns, of course, was in charge in the last meeting, and did a great job. Generally, we're there to listen to what plans are. Oftentimes we offer suggestions. Whether it be as little as, hey, we need some coaching training in the basketball area or we need some parent training in, okay, soccer parents, you know, and things like that. We oftentimes, if we're asked to serve on 10 year park plan, I think, John McPike has served on that. Jay Clevinger is now with helping with the new Rotary Park, redoing that. He was one of the original planners to help plan that operation. So, basically, we're a cheerleading operation. I don't think that we really have a lot of teeth. I don't think that we've had a lot of authority to really do anything, and I think, as most of us in the room, me certainly included, there's some things that... like City Stars. I thought it was city. And I think we all kind of got a little egg on our face on that. And, I will say this. I know that I've been involved in the planning of the Ridge Athletic Center, as far as the facility itself. Other than that, pretty much nothing else. We are entering a time when we need to be swinging for each other and not against each other, for sure. That complex itself cannot fail. It has to move forward. And I think that you have to take the people with the A&P Board, everybody needs to be playing on the same team. I mean, absolutely, on the same team. We might not always agree with each other. But when we come out, swinging, we're swinging for each other and not against each other. And we got a little against swinging right now. It seems to me. And listen, we can talk about things that have happened in the past. Hopefully, that is of no fault of anybody in here, with the exception of, maybe we just let things go on without questioning as much as we should have, as deep as we should have. So, I don't know, I invite any one of the advisory board to... speak up in a... Did I lay it out there? I guess, is there any questions from anybody? Chairman Chris Gibson said, well, with that being said, you mentioned Mr. Stearns’ presentation at y'all's last meeting. David Daniel said, yes. Chairman Chris Gibson said, and there was one thing that he said in regards to, you know, making our parks system affordable and accessible to all children in Jonesboro. And I think that is one of the most important aspects of this conversation today, but we've also got to find a parallel path for sports tourism in Jonesboro, to your point on the right. Baseball, softball. We're leaving a lot of dollars on the table, potentially, from sports tourism that we've got to find a path for. David Daniel said, yeah. So, I'm speaking just because maybe I'm the oldest athletic guy in here, okay? So right now, we kind of have a mixture, it looks to me like, in our Parks and Rec Department, okay. We have some that's been run by City Stars, which now, we understand, is really a vendor. Okay? Baseball is kind of run by a vendor, soccer was run by Rec, okay, City Stars. But we also have Club Soccer, which is our local, most local brand, I guess, is Revolution. And I know less, probably, about soccer than I do some of the others, but… So, in sports tourism, okay, the group that's been hired, and I've met with them one time, sports facilities to help run the Ridge, a third party vendor. They're interested in making money for themselves. And then by doing that, they're going to make money for the city. Tom, you correct me. Okay. So, if you're… they're going to have connections. They're going to have connections to big, big time possibilities for athletics. Okay, to bring in teams, AAU, JO, and it could be car shows, dog shows, any number of things that could happen. Now, there has to be a marriage. There has to be a marriage between the city and this group. Okay, I'm just going to use the Icebreaker volleyball tournament that we just recently had. Correct, Jim? Parks Department Director Jim Stearns said, yes. David Daniel said, approximately 100 teams, a little less, maybe, used… Director Jim Stearns said, 86 teams. David Daniel said, 86 teams used all of these facilities around town, and if the Icebreaker goes to the Ridge next year, okay? We move that off of the school campus, which helps on facility usage for the school districts, reduces a little liability for the school districts if it could happen. If that goes to the Ridge, well the Ridge, the sports group out there, they're going to want to make money. So, there's going to have to be some… you're going to have to set some parameters of what it's going to cost the Icebreakers to be out there. So that's why you have to be married up. You just have to. I know this, too, like, I went to Memphis a couple weeks ago, like, well, Martin Luther King Day we were off, and met with the Germantown Legends soccer leader. Which is a big club, and we… he was great, and I think he's even maybe presented here before. He's assistant at University of Memphis soccer coach and he's got a good idea. Well, for the A&P to make money, there has to be heads in beds, and people eating restaurants. Okay? Well, for that to happen, you have to have teams from afar. You need to get to St. Louis’s, the Nashville’s, the Tulsa’s, the whatever, to come in to Jonesboro. And in order to do that, Jonesboro needs, in soccer, they need to have a club where people from St. Louis know when they come in here, they're going to get great competition. They're not going to spend the money if they can't get the competition. Whereas you have... this past weekend, we had basketball in town. Right? Director Jim Stearns said yes, sir. David Daniel said, okay, and was that a city deal? Director Jim Stearns said, some city teams, but it was another organization that put on the tournament. David Daniel said, okay, so we had a vender outside... outside vender. And it's local teams, that vendor is, I'm assuming, because I don't know, making the money for that tournament and then he pays the city a fee. Director Jim Stearns said, that's correct. David Daniel said, okay, okay. Does the city get anything else out of that? Director Jim Stearns said, concession sales. David Daniel said, concession sales, is that it? Director Jim Stearns said, yes, that's correct. David Daniel said, okay, he paid for everything else. Our officials… Director Jim Stearns said, his tournament, gate troopers… David Daniel said, everything. Okay. All right, well good. But anyway, if you get the local, if you get the local teams, the rec teams, they're going to be here, but they're not spending the night. So, in order to, baseball may have the... something going right now, but we compete with, what's the… Snowden? Is it Snowden down there in Mississippi? *A female* said, yeah. David Daniel said, but the reason they get them is they have the connection, they're outside vendor has a connection to what is the three, there's perfect game, three different baseball… *A female* said, perfect pitch. David Daniel said, perfect pitch, perfect game, and isn't there one more? I wish Randy was here. But he can pull those teams, and he pulls the best teams, and the travel teams, the ones that's going to spend the night, they want the best competition where they can be seen. So, you know, we need to take care of our youth first. And I've said this all along since the very first that we started the Ridge. There's 3 ways to look at the Ridge. It's a money making facility. Now, if that happens, people in this area are going to balk a little bit because they're used to getting facilities for free. Okay? That's one thing. The second thing is the Ridge can operate pretty much at a level pace where you’re just making enough to maintain and operate, your maintenance operation costs are good. Now, this is David Daniel, okay, speaking here so. The third thing is that we hope this sports facility makes enough money that we can reduce the cost to our kids and our citizens that pay the tax money, that maybe we have to subsidize. Okay? But there's a possibility that the facility could actually lose money. Okay? And there's three ways of looking at it. Now, high in the sky, this sports facilities group comes in here, and it goes crazy, and the projections are good, and it's great for everybody. And that's what we really need. That's what we need to happen. Now, I think, with what's happened, as far as accountability and stuff, there's been a move in the right direction, by Jim, what he gave us and got started as standard operating procedure as far as the finance in the recreational side. It's moving forward. And, I don't know... Have any other questions that I might can help you with? Guys that are responsible for the football and the, yeah Aarons here, the basketball, Steven, soccer. Pretty much summed it… I mean… *A male* said, yeah, I think he did a pretty good job. David Daniel said, Okay. \r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, I'm going to ask for two more statements, and then I'm going to turn it over to the group for commentary and questions and brainstorming. Mr. Stearns, you asked for a moment on the floor to kind of go over what you talked with your staff about. I'll let you go first, and then I want Tom to talk about the A&P stance as well as the Public Facilities Board stance. \r\n\r\nParks Department Director Jim Stearns said, thank you. Jim Stearns, director of Parks and Rec. I've got a lot of information. I don't think we need to get to all of it. Our first meeting with Parks Advisory Board was kind of a filling in some details and look at what we plan on the future. And we discussed a lot of different things that night, I mean that afternoon. And going forward, what I left with that meeting was, is that we really need to be more prepared in our parks to direct our energies towards reaching these goals, so they can support us and advocates for working towards the Master Parks Plan. So, you know, there's a lot of stuff that we could talk about as far as Parks. But really, what we've talked about as a staff is creating a unified vision for what we're looking for for Parks. And we come up with a lot of different ideas. And really, it boils down to us, as I'm going to say, we want sports to be accessible for any kid that wants to play. That's priority number one. I mean, that's really going to be our focus, to make every effort that we can to create programs that kids want to play in and grow those programs. Make it as affordable as possible. In addition to that, and I'm going to be real quick just to give you guys a summary, we're fully in the mode to support all the sports tourism we can. We assisted with 189 events last year, outside of what we do in Parks and Rec and youth sports. \r\n\r\nIn community centers, we have 50 different events. We have the Icebreaker, we have the Wee Care tournament, we have four high school tennis tournaments, we have eight basketball tournaments, we have one three day pickleball tournament, we have the NEA Tennis Organization that puts on a handful of tournaments, and then we help with the Juneteenth parade community fair and fireworks. And that was just in the community centers. \r\n\r\nSouthside Softball Complex had 70 events last year. 70 events. Hosted the Freedom Fest of 4th of July. We had 16 softball tournaments averaging 34 teams each. We had seven cricket matches, so our local cricket organization is the regional champ and they brought people in from all over the Mid-South to play cricket at Southside. We had five Mircale League events, we had two car shows. We had 38 senior citizen league morning games. Just got some clarification on it this morning. This senior citizen morning league draws teams from Ash Flat, Blythville, Osceola, all over the Mid-South that come and play the senior league. There's some retired Arkansas State University professors to kind of organize that, and they're coming every week to play in Jonesboro. \r\n\r\nJoe Mack Campbell had 41 events last year. We had nine baseball tournaments, we had a kickball tournament, we had three 3v3 soccer tournaments, we had a Fourth of July Fest, we had soccer camp, Christmas in the Park, City Stars spring and fall soccer, A Dare Car show motorcycle rodeo, first touch tournament, football skills and drills, Hispanic spring, summer, fall league, adult J.A.S.A. adult spring fall soccer and soccer tournament. We have junior high soccer with 34 teams. We had national guard training, bringing people in for national guard training, we have NFL flag football. We had soccer tryouts and Revolution tryouts. We had rugby, state league spring soccer, state league fall soccer, and I can go on. We had… Baptist hosted a tournament here with 4 teams. \r\n\r\nWe had 22 different events at Craighead Forest Park. We had a two-day Renaissance Fair that brought people in, I think as far as Idaho with some of the vendors, and we had people from all over the Mid-South that came and stayed. We had the NICA two day mountain bike race out there. We had a promoter that started a Sunset Session Concert series at the band show every weekend. It brings people from the Mid-South. We had 2 disc golf tournaments. I think we have a national disc golf tournament, coming back to Jonesboro this year. The Gearhead Endurance Challenge run, that'll bring people from all over the Mid-South, six different 5K races. Car show and concert for tornado victims, A State brass in the forest, and bike ride against trafficking.\r\n\r\nShooting Sports had 25 different events. 13 ATA trap tournaments with competitors from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, as well as Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Alabama. I mean, it's a lot, in addition to us, really, our focus is youth sports. So we're partners with the city. We love Jonesboro, and we want to make Jonesboro grow, and anytime we get an opportunity to showcase our parks and our parks team, we want to do it. We have a great facility. We have as nice a facilities as you'll see anywhere. Now, would we like them to be a little better, and upgrade, and make some improvements, certainly. And as the need arises, we certainly want to do that. And so, with all those sports events that we put on, we often forget, as well, that our parks team helps maintain all of downtown. \r\n\r\nWe had 16 events outside of parks that we helped with downtown. And I'm sure I’ve missed some, but the Mardi Gras parade, Spring Fling, Oasis Art Festival, Downtown Sigma Mile, Meet Me on Main, the Skirmish Gravel Ride, Paint the Town Red, Northside reunion, BBQ Fest, NEA Pride Fest, Out of the Darkness Walk, Fall Fest, Trunk or Treat, Christmas Parade, Joy Fest, Winter Wonderland. Those are all the things in addition to Parks and Rec that we work with. And so, we're in. When it talks about sports tourism and Jonesboro tourism, man, anything we can do to help, we're on the same page. However, our focus is still mainly going to be youth sports. Youth and adult sporting opportunities are where we are. The Master Park plan includes a lot of things that we need to work to really make Jonesboro's Parks and Rec system better. And we're only scratching the edge. We need more parks. We need more opportunities. We need everybody accessible. We need to continue to be diligent in continued connectivity to get people where they can bike to the parks or they can walk to the parks, where they have access regardless of their situation. We need to look at things that we can do in parks just to be more consistent on how we do our business at parks. There's a lot that we do, and I'll just tell you where we are now with this. It's expensive for us to help with all these events. It takes a lot out of my budget. An average 2 day softball tournament cost me $2,200. Average 2 day basketball, baseball tournament costs me about $2,200. The mountain bike race cost us $6,000 to put that on. And we didn't put that on. We just provided a facility, and we upgraded our facility to meet their needs. But it's expensive for us to help with all that, that takes away from some of the other stuff that we would like to be doing in parks. It's got to be realized that we're aware of that, and we're tracking those things better, just so that we can be better stewards of parks and do better by the citizens of Jonesboro. \r\n\r\nAnd so, my staff has worked really hard. I'm just to leave it with this too. So, we will have our schedule in place by March 1st. That’s our goal this year. Something we've not done before, but we'll have our 2026 athletic schedule in place by March 1st. At that point, the facility calendar will be open for any additional events that someone wants to bring to the city of Jonesboro. We're not going to sacrifice youth sports for other events, but we want to work in conjunction. That's why part of this was so adamant about getting this schedule in place by March 1st. And so that once that's in place, any other organization, because we have many vendors, other organizations that put on events in our city, and we want to be great partners, and we are. They're our customer. They need a place to play, practice or have a tournament, we're going to have that facility as top notch and ready for them to go. And so, that's the direction we're headed in parks, is to get our stuff set early, so that anybody else that wants to have an event has options and dates to put those events on. And so we want to encourage all of that. And certainly, the more we can consolidate our efforts and forces, and like you said, swinging together instead of swinging opposed, is a win for the city. I mean, we're all in this together. The future of youth sports is strong. The opportunities for kids to participate, expanding services and things that we have at Parks and Rec, are all missions that we want to start working closer toward with our advisory board, certainly, and with the community. \r\n\r\nDr. Charles Coleman said, I guess the question I have is the same question I asked before. These schedules be on the Jonesboro web page, right? Director Jim Stearns said, yes sir. Dr. Charles Coleman said, okay. But are they gonna be also vending out to KAIT, KJNB, and all of these other radio stations and tv stations? Director Jim Stearns said, yes. Dr. Charles Coleman said, yes, the reason why I asked that, because everybody doesn't look at that web page. Everybody doesn't watch, look at the Jonesboro Sun. So, could there be other flyers, or these type things put out in the community, especially the low income areas, where people can be able to attend some of these events? Director Jim Stearns said, yes, sir, certainly. So, this year, our staff got divided up and went to all the Open Houses of the area schools with flyers of all the upcoming events. We're trying to reach that community. We're trying to reach all of our community. We're currently, we do not have a marketing social media person. That's a position that we'll be filling in the next month or so. That's, we, I feel like personally, and my staff will probably agree this, that's going to be one of the most important positions that we can bring into parks. I think that position makes or breaks us. We've got to start exploring different avenues to meet all the kids that want to play and all the adults that want the space for activities. We've got to do a better job than just using the Jonesboroar.gov website as well as the parks. Dr. Charles Coleman said, will that person that you look at, will that person be a bilingual person? Because of the amount Hispanic individuals. Director Jim Stearns said, that's a great question and I certainly, we, can look at that as we start interviewing. I hope to find the absolute best qualified person for that position. If that needs to be a job description, or if that needs to be a recommendation circle. \r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, Tom, you want to go ahead and give your statement, and then we'll open the floor. Tom Fielder said, sure. I'm Tom Fielder. I'm part of the A&P Commission. Jerry Morgan, our chairman, was not able to be here today, so he asked me to sit in. First, just a couple of things from me, not from the commission itself. A lot of unfortunate things have occurred here recently, but I can't help but wonder if it's not given us an opportunity to do a reset. And done correctly, you know, with this committee, I think you guys could really help the A&P spend their money wisely. I don't know if you guys are aware, I wasn't familiar with y'all. You may not be aware how much money we have just for the parks. It's committed straight for the parks. There's 1% of every head that's in a bed that goes, it's got to go to our parks. The park. It's a lot of money. And we've always relied on really one person, I guess, to make those recommendations. And I can see where, hey, this committee, and working with us, and even the Facilities Board. Maybe we can spend that money a little more productively. So that's just my comment. \r\n\r\nI have a email that was sent to us by Matt Modelski. He's the chairman of the Public Facilities Board. And then Jerry Morgan, he said in here that he agrees fully with Matt's email comments. So, I'm just going to read it so that you guys are kind of aware of some of the thinking as we go forward and maybe make some maybe there's some changes that are made. And keep in mind, I think Jim's department does a great job. They do a lot. I don't know how many staff you have, but I'm sure you don't have enough. So, I…  and that's why we're here. I mean, A&P is here to help. And that's the bottom line, but I don't think you, as a just one guy, can keep up with everything that's happening. And that's what this whole committee can do for us. So, I'm just going to read Matt's email and then I'll hand it back to Chris. He says, I appreciate what you're doing with an initial working session to discuss the restructuring of the Parks and Rec Board. This newly constructed board should be able to create a positive pathway for youth sports and sports tourism. As I mentioned to you, I may not be able to attend Tuesday’s meeting. Accordingly, I wanted to provide you with my initial thoughts of the board's structure and purpose. \r\n\r\nThe structure, I understand the board would answer to the Public Works Committee of the Council. We asked that that board have two to three members or designees from the A&P Commission, and two to three members or designees from the Public Facilities Board. I understand the remainder of the board would be composed of City Council members or their designees. I believe this structure will provide the board the opportunity to have broad community outreach while leveraging the three entities that have been most involved in the Ridge Athletic Facility project. \r\n\r\nThe purpose, I would hope the City Council empowers the City Parks and Rec Board to ensure youth sports programs. Provide high quality recreational opportunities for all children, that it is inclusive regardless of income, maintain uniform safety training and conduct standards, allow sports specific operating models, support elite pathways and sports tourism without displacing recreation, and operate with transparency, accountability, and public trust, and lastly, work with the Parks Department to ensure programming and facility availability. \r\n\r\nI would trust the board would create standards for each activity, not necessarily dictate how the programs are delivered. As we know, each sport may organize differently, but every program using public facilities should have standards to adhere to. Some initial standards might include the following, any program, not tournament or event, using city facilities must have access and inclusion, provide a recreational pathway or partner with one, offer sliding scale fees or accept scholarships, publish enrollment criteria, prohibit exclusion based on income. \r\n\r\nThe safety and quality should be annual background checks for all adults, minimum coach training requirements, written child protection policy, emergency and injury protocols. There should be transparency and accountability, published fees and refund policies, periodic scheduled reports, and recommendations to City Council, ensure that selected program providers are meeting required standards, and that there's a formal grievance and appeal process. \r\n\r\nFrom the sports tourism side, create standards used to identify capable vendors who will provide tournaments and events, establish defined tournament and showcase windows by sport and season, that generate hotel steady individuals spending, coordinate programming to create a symbiotic relationship between events and recreational programs, help create tracking data for event impact to continually grow, and improve events to maximize opportunity, and consider the efficacy of facility stewardship funds versus economic impact created by events. \r\n\r\nHe says, please note any structure involving the PFB, or the Public Facilities Board, or the A&P Commission, would need to be approved by legal counsel prior to enactment. Thank you again for your time and dedication to these issues. Look forward to working with you all. Matt Modelski. With that, I'll just turn it back over to Chris. Those were some of our thoughts. And I hope we can see a lot of coming together because it's extremely important for the future of the city youth sports. \r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, thanks, Tom. I'm going to go ahead and open the forum for the commissions first, and then I'll get the public’s questions afterwards. So give us just a few minutes. Nick Wysocki said, I have meetings to go to in a few minutes. Chairman Chris Gibson said, okay. Nick Wysocki said, I apologize. I'm not walking out on you guys. Chairman Chris Gibson said, thank you. Nick Wysocki said, I would make one comment though, to Jim Stearns hiring a media professional to put the media out there. He's part of the city, and the city does have a media professional. Why is he hiring a new position that the city already has? Chairman Chris Gibson said, okay, thank you for your comment. Okay, I'll go ahead and open the floor. Yes ma'am. \r\n\r\nMarilyn Copeland said, I’m Marilyn Copeland. I just would like to say a little background on City Stars, and probably other than Charles maybe Tina. In 1999, the four school districts in our area, in Jonesboro, where I worked at that time, took the lead. We wrote the grant for City Stars. And the grant was written with the four school districts in the city limits, and it was, we wrote a partnership at that time with Jason Wilkie. And the idea was kind of going back to one thing that Tom just said. It was a sliding scale scholarship program to make sure there were no children that could not participate in any kind of sport that could be offered. At that time, there were no City Stars. And it started with basketball. And so, our money paid for jerseys, it was a sliding scale. The parks did not have to go look for who met the sliding scale because of the partnership with the schools, with parent permission, they could then say, yes, that person would qualify for a scholarship, or that person could play for a minimal amount. So, I'm just saying, the original idea behind City Stars was just making sure that we're allowing every type of young man, young lady, whatever, to participate in sports, that wants to, and that we're not limiting them based on availability of funds. So I just wanted, you know, that was a long time ago, things have changed. But I think it's important we look at where we started. I just wanted to mention that. Chairman Chris Gibson said, thank you. \r\n\r\nDr. Charles Coleman said, I’m Dr. Charles Coleman on this commission. I guess the question after I listened to Jerry Morgan’s comments, I want to make sure that I'm hearing correctly what you proposed a few minutes ago. You proposed that some people from A&P be on this commission, also somebody from facilities be on this commission. Chairman Chris Gibson said, Public Facilities, yes, sir. Dr. Charles Coleman said, okay. And the other group was witch one? Tom Fielder said, City Council. Dr. Charles Coleman said, City Council. So that's what you proposing, right? Tom Fielder said, and that was Matt Modelski from the Public Facilities Board, that sent that email to Jerry, I believe, and Chris. Chairman Chris Gibson said, and Dr. Coleman, if you'll recall, it's been a few weeks ago at Council, this also came up. It was suggested that me, as chair of Public Services, be on this commission. Dr. Charles Coleman said, right. Chairman Chris Gibson said, as well as an A&P representative, or two, and a Public Facilities Board representative or two. Dr. Charles Coleman said, as long as that’s clear. Chairman Chris Gibson said, Carol has reviewed… She has reviewed the ordinance, or was it an ordinance or resolution that was passed? City Attorney Carol Duncan said, I believe it was an ordinance that created that commission originally back in the day and set the number of people that are on it. So, we may need to amend that if we're adding positions to the board, or commission, or if it's going to be created as something new we would need to do some more legislation to create that committee and how it would work and who would be on it. I did express, as you know, Chris, in an email, some concern about the coming of the A&P Commission and the Parks Facilities Board with the way financing has been done for the new Ridge. There was a lot of care taken to make sure we were separate entities to make that financing work the way it needed to work. And I strongly recommend it. And I think that's probably why Matt at the end, said, with the approval of legal counsel, at the bottom. I strongly recommended that those two entities who both have private legal counsel that are experts in bonds and financing. I think it's still Michelle Allgood and Ralph Waddell. And I recommended strongly that they reach out to them. They may not have had time to get that opinion back from them, to make sure that it's not going to pose a problem for them to sit as voting members, you know, for someone from those commissions to sit as voting members of this one. Trey McKee said, they could still sit on that committee though couldn’t they? City Attorney Carol Duncan said, they could sit ex officio and maybe not have a… that’s what their legal counsel needs to tell us. And if their legal counsel gives it that thumbs up, I think everybody thinks it's a good idea. I don't know. I'll let y'all speak for yourselves, but I just wanted legal counsel to say it's okay. Dr. Charles Coleman said, the ordinance itself has to be changed? City Attorney Carol Duncan said, if you're adding members, if you're changing the makeup, I do think it would be cleaner to go back and… and also, your numbers may change, and it limited it to seven, I believe, is what I read. It was amended. *Several men* said, seven to 12. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, seven to 12, is that what it said? I didn't bring it with me, but I’m not sure… Jay Clevenger said, yes, I’ve got it right here. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, I knew that they had amended it. It started at, like, five. And then it got amended later, two more. \r\n\r\nJay Clevenger said, so everybody is confused. He’s calling this a commission. This is not a commission. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, right. Jay Clevenger said, it’s a committee. What the ordinance did in 1995 was eliminate the commission and create the Planning Advisory Committee. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, right. Jay Clevenger said, the reason was is a commission has to approve payments for certain things. They were meeting to have to buy a lawnmower blade. Honestly, that's what happened. And then, when Mayor Brodell brought this idea from a commission to a committee, the seven people that were on that commission at that time were grandfathered in, I guess you could say, as a part of the committee, and then five new members were added to that. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, so what I'm saying is, if you want to go over the number that is there now, we would need to make some amendments to that. And if you want to designate certain positions, like one has to come from A&P, one has to come from Facilities Board, one has to come from, you know, soccer, you know, basketball, however you want to designate it, we would need to amend that legislation just to make it clean and to make sure we know who's appointed and for what term. Dr. Charles Coleman said, that's why I asked that question, Chris, because basically one of our habits that we need to make sure, we change to doing something, so the public can really understand what we're doing, is to make sure we make, like I said, clean audit, clean resolution or ordinance, that type of thing. And I think that needs to be brought up. \r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, okay, thank you. I do know that those two entities have reached out to their legal teams. They're just waiting for some feedback now. But I would like this group's thoughts and input on what we think that might look like going forward. You don't have to give it to me today by any means. But, would we do it as terms expire or how you would like to see that structured moving forward? Jay Clevenger said, I think it would be beneficial if the email Tom just read from, would be shared with this… Chairman Chris Gibson said, I'll circulate that. Absolutely. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember Joe Hafner said, hey, Chris, just to clarify. Matt mentioned it would report to the Public Works... Chairman Chris Gibson said, and it would be Public Services. That's correct. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember LJ Bryant said, chairman, do you feel like there's a sense of urgency, like when we need to have this completed? Chairman Chris Gibson said, I don't think we need to drag our feet by any means, but we've got one swing to make this thing all right. And I think we need to take our time and be very methodical on how we go about it, but I would like it to be very timely as well. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, because we meet again, Public Services meets again in February. Chairman Chris Gibson said, that's correct. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, this is February. We meet again this month. Chairman Chris Gibson said, that's correct. \r\n\r\nJay Clevenger said, I'll go ahead and say this. That, in my opinion, government tends to either take too long to make a change, or it’s a knee jerk reaction. And I don't think that we want to do either. Two weeks is not enough time. It may be an emergency. Jim's got his… going to have his schedule out. Is there anything that we can do from providing opportunities for vendors to have heads in the beds as we talk about? I think that that is up to Jim's schedule. Chairman Chris Gibson said, well, and I think it will be, to an extent, up to this group to start vetting some of those vendors to see who is the best fit for Jonesboro as well. \r\n\r\nJohn McPike said, so, just so I’m clear. So that proposed committee would replace the Parks and Rec Advisory Board. Chairman Chris Gibson said, I'm not saying replace. I think that we incorporate that group into this board. Dr. Charles Coleman said, well, that's what I heard from the letter that being incorporated, but even if there's an incorporation back to the something, that still needs to go back to the Council to redo an ordinance or dismiss one and do another one to get this totally clear. \r\n\r\nMarilyn Copland said, well, I think one group that was not mentioned, that I would like to see up for discussion is schools. Because I think it's very important that they'll be at the table since it's their children, and of course, our parents' children, but they're with every day, that they need some impact as well, on that group. Dr. Charles Coleman said, so who’s that? Chairman Chris Gibson and Marilyn Copeland both said, the schools. Dr. Charles Coleman said, well, that's how it started. Marilyn Copeland said, yeah, I know. That's why I think it's still important that it's done. \r\n\r\nDirector Jim Stearns said, so what is the goal? I mean, what's the end goal of expanding the advisory committee? Chairman Chris Gibson said, you know, as far as an end goal, as I said when we did introductions, I think the end goal is to align these two groups to where we're looking at not only our local residents, but we're looking parallel path for sports tourism. And I think we've got to turn over every rock we can to strengthen both. Director Jim Stearns said, I don't disagree. I just, because I know what the role of Parks and Rec is. I mean, I know what I think I know what our role is, and I see being a good partner with that, but, I mean, our, I mean, I'll be honest with you, the Icebreaker, I want that to be somebody else's tournament in January. I'd love the Icebreaker to be the grand opening event of the Ridge where I'm not into the tournament business. Because, one, it takes my staff away from their jobs for the weeks prior to, with that... Dr. Charles Coleman said, excuse me for cutting you off, but, let me say this toward the goal. I think it's kind of like the elephant in the room, at this point. You know, we went through a legislative audit that was clean. Okay? And I did ask this question, was City Stars also involved in the legislative audit. Well, I don't think it was. But I think, if we're going to have sports, clean, total direction, and then we did it with finance, because that's really part of the problem. Well, if we do it with finance, then that needs to be a total part that cleans the whole house. Or if the City Stars or another group involved in the city, it needs to be an involvement, not a separate entity. That making sense to you? Because right now, I think the elephant in the room is where the finances is going, and how the finances is going to be taken care of. Maybe a lot of people don't want to speak to that but I don't have no problems speaking to it. You know, either get it done right or don't do it. And so, when legislators come in, and when the auditors come in to look at our books the finances need to be… there shouldn’t be any question. Because right now, that's the elephant in the room, they're questioning about the finances, how the finances was taken care of. Just that simple. I don't like up and down crap. I, you know, just call it what it is, and let's move on. David Daniel said, balance the sheet every day, every event. That cleans it up. You know, balance sheet every day, every event, cleans it up. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember LJ Bryant said, Jim, your back to cleanup, so I know you're trying to put policies and procedures into place to clean up, so, as Dr. Coleman said, we don't have a 2.0, if you will. You know, we went through a deal recently at the city, we had to pass an ordinance to allow a city employee to work on cars. I guess we have a city ordinance that, you know, doesn't allow city employees to do business with the city. But clearly, at least in the City Stars example, there were city employees working for a vendor. So on an ongoing basis, what will our policies be around, how city employees, particularly your employees, can or can't work for any vendors, whether that be the third party at the RAC or any other vendors that do business with the city? Director Jim Stearns said, that's a great question. And I don't really know the answer to that at this time. I really don't. You know, I can't speak for the Ridge or the RAC, but we don't want to be in the tournament business. And I don’t mean that as bad as it sounds, but, I mean, other than outside of maybe our end of the year City Stars basketball end of the year tournament, or City Stars volleyball, that is our league. We don't want to be... We don't need to be in the fundraising business that City Stars was in previously. So, I'm going to call ours youth sports, it's called City Stars. The Icebreaker was a fundraiser for City Stars, and I would envision those type of events to be done by the Ridge and expand on that 80, 90 teams, 80 teams, where they draw competition from farther away than what we did. I don't envision that being our role in Parks and Rec. Certainly, we would assist with that if ask, but our role is really to be youth sports, not fundraising for travel sports. It's not the role that I envision for Parks and Rec. And I don't think it's a role we all envision for Parks or Rec. The Wee Care tournament that is this weekend, they have pulled themselves away from their regular duties for the last two weeks to get ready for that tournament. And that's outside of really what we need to be directing our energies toward. When the basketball tournament this weekend, that was an outside entity to put it on. We provided facilities for that and concessions. That was the extent of our relationship. So, I envision us continuing to be a good partner with organizations, but not be in the tournament business, so to speak. Dr. Charles Coleman said, yeah, I think if you want to bring things to the head, so we won’t be here all day, you know, you got a proposal from Jay, Chris, and also Jerry, and I think the basic thing is to... some kind of motion needs to be brought up or we're going to look at this for another two weeks or whatever, back to the time level, make sure it's legal, the relationship we're going into, so we don't all get in trouble over not this money, but doing a concession direction. I'm not talking about concession money, but I’m talking about ethics of what we need to be doing to show the public that we're doing the right thing for this community and for the people in this community. I think that's the issue. You know, we need a motion to either say that we're going to look at this, combine this, or look at this, and put a date on it. So it don't go, you know, kicking the can down the road, you know, two or three months. Does that make sense Chris? Chairman Chris Gibson said, it does. \r\n\r\nMarilyn Copeland said, I’ve got a question. Tom Fielder said, I just wanted to be real clear. I would not have come in here if I was part of proposing replacement. Everything that I've read and heard, it's about having that seat at the table. As the A&P Commission, we get limited information sometimes about how we're spending this money. We're talking several $100,000. So that's all that's all we're looking at is, hey, how can we get a seat at the table, we can all work together. And that's the same with, I can't speak for PFB, but it sounds like they may have a little money as things go down the road that we want to be able to put in place. So no replacement. I couldn't have shown up here and done that. John McPike said, well, you listed as... Tom Fielder said, understood. Understood. It was with this committee is how I read it. \r\n\r\nMarilyn Copeland said, Tom I have a question for you with what you just said. You said that Parks and Recs get money based on heads in the bed. So if we give up tournaments, does that take away money from A&P? Tom Fielder said, no, no, no. Marilyn Copeland said, if we're just focusing locally. Tom Fielder said, it's the hotel, so when people stay in hotels, there's a 4% tax that goes to the A&P Commission. 1% of that comes to, just for parks. And we have done several things. I mean, the fields, the soccer fields, the turf. I think were just completing that. And go back years and it was even before the 1% was committed… You have to have 1,000 acres. Is that right? 1,000 acres of parks before you can enact that 1% that will go towards your parks. Marilyn Copeland said, okay, thank you for clarifying that. Director Jim Stearns said, and so I'll answer up. But that's the first thing that really made sense to me. Not only that, as much of everything, but for them to want to be part of the decision on how we spend park's money, I understand that 100%. That makes expanding the committee and adding that A&P person on there, a no brainer, in my opinion. Not to do a knee jerk reaction or anything like that. But that makes sense. But like I said, it just seems like we're so muddy, because we are concerned about financing, and I'll assure you, that my team would account for nearly every penny that is spent, in Parks and Rec with events that we control. Outside vendors, I have no control over how they do their money outside of concessions. And so I can't speak for how they do any of their business, nor do I want to be in their business. But if it's an event that we put on, I can assure you, we have a process in place right now that I'm confident that would pass an audit at this moment in time. Now, is it perfect? No. Is it evolving? Yes. Will it continue to change throughout the season as we move from court sports to field sports? It will. But that's the challenge that we're ready to take, because we want to be accountable and transparent for the money, because it is the elephant in the room. And we don't ever want that question to ever arise again in the history of Parks and Rec. And so we've addressed that head on and feel confident that we have a position in place. And so for that part, I feel good about that. But the outside organizations, I don't want to speak for them. I can't make them do tickets. I can't make them be cashless. I can't make them I can't tell them how to run their business. I can control what me and my staff do every single time somebody walks through a door, whether it's the pools, whether it's concession, whether it's an outside event that we're the ones putting that on. Dr. Charles Coleman said, but Jim, I understand that, and I'm looking forward to what you do, as a council person. Director Jim Stearns said, yes, sir. Dr. Charles Coleman said, but again, you know, I always go back to statement that there’s an elephant in the room. Either we’re going add committee members or we're not going to add committee members. Chairman Chris Gibson said, well, and that's not a decision to be made today. That's a decision to be made at the next Public Services meeting, because we're not voting today. Today is a special called meeting. Dr. Charles Coleman said, Chris, that's not what I'm asking. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying there's still an elephant in the room that could be looked at down the road, but whatever's going to happen, it needs to happen and move on. Chairman Chris Gibson said, agreed. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember LJ Bryant said, and Dr. Coleman, along those lines, I would make a move, make a motion that this committee work towards establishing the sports commission. Director Jim Stearns said, outside of the Parks Advisory? Councilmember LJ Bryant said, outside of the Parks Advisory. \r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, Mr. McKee, you have a question? Trey McKee said, so what happened to the City Stars money? Well, who's going to control that into the years? I mean, City take over that? Who's going to be the head of that? This is a big program. There's a lot of money. You going to have to hire somebody else and run it, I guess. Something's going to have to happen. Chairman Chris Gibson said, currently, that's going through finance. Brian, do you want to speak to that just briefly? Chief Administrative Officer Brian Richardson said, yeah, the City actually brought on Mike Burroughs, who was a past legislative auditor, and worked with the city on our legislative audits for the past dozen or so years, maybe a little bit more. And so he's currently working with Finance staff on, and Jim, with the collections procedures and checks and balances and balance sheets, and making sure that all cash is accounted for and the online sales and ticketing systems are accounted for. And our Finance Director, Steve Purtee, is actually here, as well, that could provide a little bit more detail, but it’s so… Right now, again, all the funding that goes through Parks is following a statement of process, or system of process that Jim is working close to Finance on. Similar to what we've done for softball. The city’s run softball for a really long time and that is part of our legislative audit process and those have been part of clean legislative audit. So, I've got full confidence at the system the Finance Department just put it in place to cover those. We'll be able to cover the former City Stars processes, but kind of like what was said whenever the discussion was first started about City Stars, actions being taken under the guise of the city, this is kind of putting together as you go, because it's a really large program. Trey McKee said, that's what I meant. Brian Richardson said, and so as staff needs become available, and we may have to come back to Council and ask for more money for more staffing positions, but right now, they are, they seem to be getting by, but we're not the busy part of the summer, so. That's why the statement was made that we're going to have to evaluate as we go and if the money coming in justifies adding additional staff to help make sure that's properly accounted for, then I would expect that request to be coming at some point. Trey McKee said, well, the question, also, that said what was, or, uh, answered his, was City Stars a vendor. They was a vendor. So, who's going to take that vendor position over? That's my question. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, can I speak a little bit to that, Chris? My understanding from the board, I hate to say the board, because I think we found out there was a little bit of a different board than what we understood originally. But some of the members of the board that were outside of the city, is that they voted to disband or dissolve City Stars 501c3 and allow, and turn everything money, anything they had, back over to the City of Jonesboro. So my understanding is that entity is going to cease to exist. Trey McKee said, ok but someone's got to take over that position. Well, in a different way, but that handling all those committees and tournaments and all that stuff. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, that's what Jim is calling youth sports. The Parks Department has taken over the youth sports part of that. And as he was saying, he's trying to get out of the tournament business and having other people maybe handle the tournaments. But to the question of having some control over our vendors, I'm happy to do some research on that and see what other cities do in Arkansas that have these types of commissions. Do they put certain requirements on a 501c3 or a nonprofit that wants to come in and hold a tournament in their town? Do they require them to provide some kind of information on, like, in the past, I don't know that that's ever been, ever been the case. If, you know, we haven't really delved into whether that 501c3, I don't want to say we don't care, but we're not running that tournament or we're not running that, theoretically, we're not running that event. We're not running that 5K. If they say they're raising money for the Heart Association and they’re a 501c3, and they want to have a 5K at our park, we don't look into whether they're really giving money to the Heart Association, right? That's not been something… We just let them rent our park to do their 5K. So if that's something that you think as a city we should look into, then I need to do some research on that and on how legally we would do that and whether we could limit the renting of our parks to, you know, what we consider a legitimate with the Secretary of State, 501c3, you know. I would… I can look into that if that's the direction that we want to go, Dr. Coleman. If that's what you were talking about. Dr. Charles Coleman said, I think it's part of it. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, right. Dr. Charles Colman said, I think it needs. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, I mean, that's what I thought you were saying. Can we check the credibility of our vendors that are wanting to come in and use our parks facilities for fundraising events. And that's a bigger job. Also, but I think it may...Dr. Charles Coleman said, it may be a bigger job but I think it needs to be looked at. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, and I think that something might need to be, a policy needs to be created for Council to look at on that, if that's something we want to do. And I'm happy to look into that and see.. Dr. Charles Coleman said, well, that’s basically what I was saying because whatever happens we need to walk, I’ll use my statement, we need to walk out of this with a clean issue. So, when it comes back for ordinance or whatever, we don't have to look back. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, I mean, I can remember a time in the past where we had someone saying, hey, there was a 5K at one of the parks that said it was raising money for this, but I don't think they ever gave the money to that. Well, I mean, that may be fraudulent, but it wasn't something that we ever had any requirements to look into, is whether it's a legitimate 501c3 that's asking to rent. You know, they're just paying to rent it just like if you wanted to rent it for a birthday party. Councilmember Joe Hafner said, who would actually look into that? City Attorney Carol Duncan said, exactly. And that's what I'm saying. That's a big job. Councilmember Joe Hafner said, I think that is kind of overstepping our boundaries. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, it could be. Chairman Chris Gibson said, I agree. Councilmember Brian Emison said, it's a lot of due diligence. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, but, I mean, that's essentially what... Councilmember Joe Hafner said, talking driving people away. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, correct. And so, if that's, if y'all want me to, at least look at if any cities have policies in any way on that, I'm happy to look at it and research it and do that, if that's what you're asking. I just want to clarify. Councilmember Joe Hafner said, I think we need to worry about keeping our house clean, and not... City Attorney Carol Duncan said, all the 501c3… ***several people talking at once*** Trey McKee said, looking under the policies that they have... That'll probably... They said anybody's policy for a vendor to come into the city of Jonesboro. I mean, I work for the city of Jonesboro, I have to have insurance, I have all this kind of stuff for that. There's no reason they don't have insurance too. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, one of the things Jim and I had talked about is we want to have a better system of making sure that there's a contract. That there's an agreement that they signed and agreed to, that this is, these are the terms of what you're going to do, and this is, and we've been looking at what we have and what we need in that respect. But again, it's a lot. And so it's taken us a minute to kind of plow through. Some of them are sneaking up on us and it's like, oh yeah, we might need a contract for them. And some of them, we still have time, but we're trying to work through, as each event starts to come forward, how we want that to look, with contracts with outside entities as well. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember LJ Bryant said, Carol, how would you compare the similarity, like the instance where we waived and let the guy work on the cars, even though they took a job. How would you compare that to a city employee running any sort of vendor? City Attorney Carol Duncan said, well, I think the vendor is different to me than nonprofit. I know Jim was using the term interchangeably, but the rule with doing business with the city is a state law that says if you're going to profit from doing business with the city, if your construction company or your lawn mowing service or your mechanic service is going to profit when doing business with us, you have to say that I own this company that's asking for this contract and it has to go in front of Council and Council has to approve. And it's public, everybody knows, hey, I work for this company that wants to do business with the city and Council says yes or no. You can still do business with the city while working for the city. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, and I'm thinking of… City Attorney Carol Duncan said, employees getting a job there. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, a job with a nonprofit, whatever, and it could be a soccer club, it could be a City Stars 2.0, it can be whatever. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, I just want to say, a lot of the nonprofit jobs are not jobs in that they get paid and across city employees, you're going to find that many of them have... Councilmember LJ Bryant said, I’m only thinking of money because of the situation that has been going on. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, right, right. And so maybe we look at that. And I don't know. I think the general rule is if you're employed, I'm trying to use an example, if you're employed at Animal Control as a kennel master. But you want to work part time for the Parks Department or whatever nonprofit at their tournament, refereeing games because that's what you do on the side. There's no rule because it's not the same job you do for this city. Like, I think that it depends. And my understanding, Jim may have more insight on this, is that for the most part, the people that were being paid, you know, to do whatever at a tournament, that wasn't their day job at the City of Jonesboro. Is that for the most part? There could have been a little overlap for the most part. That's what you're trying to keep separate, is that, and that has more with HR and overtime and more so than ethics. But yes, I think we could look at a policy on if you are paid by the City of Jonesboro as an employee and you want to be paid to work somewhere else, that that needs to be disclosed. I mean, we could look at that. I don't know that there's a state law on it specifically, like there is for if you're 100% profiting as the owner of a company that's contracting with us or a partner in the company, but we can look at that. Chief Operating Officer Tony Thomas said, can I add, Carol, that our policy already requires employees to disclose... City Attorney Carol Duncan said, to disclose it. Yes, it just doesn't come to Council. Chief Operating Officer Tony Thomas said, correct. City Clerk April Leggett said, or their spouse. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, or their spouse. Immediate family members. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, and we fill that out as Council. We fill that out… City Attorney Carol Duncan said, yeah, we all have to do that. And department directors have to do that, I don't know that every… every employee doesn't have to do something like that, but they are suppose to disclose… Chief Operating Officer Tony Thomas said, they don’t fill out a formal… that formal paperwork that we do every year, but if an employee is hired for any job outside of their city position, they're required to disclose that to their supervisor. City Clerk April Leggett said, and legislative audit also requires any documentation if you've had an employee or their spouse or whomever. They want that documentation. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, because typically any outside employment has to be approved by your director. So, if you see police and fire, who sometimes have, you know, security jobs, other jobs that they do outside of law enforcement or being a fireman, those jobs are approved by their supervisors. Trey McKee said, so you’re saying, Jim could approve one of his park guys to help with something to get paid, but the firemen are, actually, Police Department guys, you know, they're at the movie theater or whatever, on their own time. City Attorney Carol Duncan said, those are all approved jobs by the chief or his administration. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember Dr. Charles Coleman said, Chris, where do we go from here? Chairman Chris Gibson said, well, I'm going hear the rest of the comments from the committee… Jay Clevenger said, I've got one question that Carol had triggered in my head, that the City Stars Board has abandoned. Obviously, there were some funds that were... that they held... is the youth program that Jim's been talking about, picking up, taking the ball, running, soccer, basketball. Is that funded? And how is it funded? Is that funding through city funds right now, or have we absorbed any funds that City Stars may have had? City Attorney Carol Duncan said, we did absorb those funds. I believe those funds were turned over to us. The ones that they still had. Director Jim Stearns said, their original charter, and I can't speak verbatim for it, but when they dissolved, they turned over their funds and operations to the city. I can get you a copy of that if you would like to have it. So, what we're currently done is we're working closely with Finance on how we absorb that money and continue to run youth sports at the level that's expected. And so, we haven't finalized that whole thing yet, and of course, Mike Burroughs, our consultant, is going to give us some advice on how that implements to go. We looked at a couple of different options and we just don't have a final answer to that yet. But eventually, youth sports would be a city run program funded, budget approved by the council as we go forward. Trey McKee said, most of us thought it was already. Director Jim Stearns said, correct. \r\n\r\nDirector Jim Stearns said, I just had one other thing about the sports commission, and so I'm trying to figure out what the goal of an additional commission would be. And in my opinion, with the advisory board, with some additional members, and a guide that's already mapped out, that meets all the criteria for sports commission. I don't need why we need to form another ruling body or directed body. If we have a plan in place, and we have an advisory board that, obviously, we've identified, needs some additional members, makes a great point that they'd like to know how we spend their money and how we decide that. I think that's great, but I don't, my personal opinion is, I don't see where we need an additional ruling body committee to direct how we run our business. Councilmember Joe Hafner said, that would be the sports commission, wouldn't it? The additional members. Chairman Chris Gibson said, yes. Councilmember Joe Hafner said, it wouldn’t be two separate bodies. They would become sports commission that you’re referring to. Director Jim Stearns said, so this would no longer be the Parks and Rec Advisory Board or Advisory Committee. It would now be parks… Councilmember Joe Hafner said, whatever we named it. Marilyn Copeland said, well, I thought Mr. Bryant, I thought you were... Councilmember LJ Bryant said, yeah, I had a motion for us to do it separate, chairman. I didn't get a second, but I did a motion. Chairman Chris Gibson said, well, we can't vote on anything at this meeting anyway. This is a special called meeting, so that'll be conversation for Public Services in our next... Director Jim Stearns said, it sounded like we were going to do two different bodies. Chairman Chris Gibson said, just keeping open dialogue for future meetings. \r\n\r\nJay Clevenger said, so, the question would be, if it was changed to a sports commission with the folks that's been on the Planning Advisory Committee with a few additions, would there be a separate committee to advise… the original ordinance that says advise City Council on long range planning, so on and so forth, for the Parks and Recreation Department? Would that commission take that charge as well? Chairman Chris Gibson said, yes. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember LJ Bryant said, you know, Jim, to your point, I can see value in both. I'm not married to either. I mean, I get what you're saying. You kind of want to get out of the tournament business because you’ve got enough to do, and, like, 100% agree. I could see the advantage of the Sports Tourism Commission focusing on that, and the Parks and Rec Committee still has an important purpose too. I mean, how do we build a new parking lot at Craighead Forest, and how do we think about this, and think about that? How do we add more parks? I do think there's so much there, because to your point, there's so much in that master plan for us to accomplish in 10 years. I could still see there being some advantages to the Parks and Rec Committee saying how do we make this 10 year plan happen? And the Sports Tourism Commission still saying, how do we get heads in beds? I still think there could be some advantage to each having its own focus. Chairman Chris Gibson said, valid point. Director Jim Stearns said, I can't speak for the Ridge administration, but won't they have a place… wouldn’t that be their focus? Chairman Chris Gibson said, for the Ridge specifically, yes. Director Jim Stearns said, so that really would be, I mean, okay. \r\n\r\nJack Sample said, Parks and Rec Advisory Committee. So, are you saying that the sports tourism would focus more on your heads in beds and tournaments, and keep your Advisory Committee that will solely focus on our city parks and our rec league sports? Councilmember LJ Bryant said, well, that was my thought process, because I've worn Jim out because I got to Craighead Forest a ton, so sometimes I send him a message, like, hey, such and such bathroom needs this. So, I mean, not necessarily always down to that granular level, but I still think there's a really important role for the Parks Committee to wonder and see all of the things that there are, and to envision how we accomplish the 10 year plan. I just think that's a really big task, and I think the sports tourism is a really big task, and I just think there could be some advantage to divide and conquer. Jack Sample said, that's not your sports and tourism, that tournament money that's coming in, does that not help funding your parks? Councilmember LJ Bryant said, sure, I just think that from a focus perspective, there's still advantages. I think the two different committees looking at two different things. Marilyn Copeland said, that sports commission be a duplicate of something that's already going to happen on the Ridge. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, well, I mean, the Ridge being one of the facilities, right? I mean, we still have a lot of other facilities. Trey McKee said, yeah but the Ridge will operate separate. So, we're not going to have any really input. We can't call them and say, y'all going to do this next month. Then they’ll say ah, we don’t listen to y’all. They might take advice but they’re not going to listen to us. Jack Sample said, we can have that on the softball side, the volleyball side, well the volleyball will be part of the Ridge. You have softball and baseball. I mean, I know football, what they're doing is... Councilmember LJ Bryant said, well, and ultimately, I'm sure sports facilities will want to bid on potentially running all of this. We go down that road at some point, so there'll probably be some synergies down the line if we go down that road. Trey McKee said, so who's going to direct that? Councilmember LJ Bryant said, who would direct which ones? Trey McKee said, figure out what role would take. Chairman Chris Gibson said, I think that will be Public Services ultimately. And a lot of why I wanted to have this meeting today to get input on directions. \r\n\r\nJay Clevenger said, so don't we already have an Advertising Promotion Tourism Board? I mean, why can't Craig Rickert work with Jim on bringing in targets. Why do we have to reinvent a wheel or create something else? I mean, on availability and stuff like that, certainly, or, you know, Joe Mack, there's not people playing, you know, on, we're not having rec leagues on this weekend, recruit a tournament. I mean, do we have to... Councilmember LJ Bryant said, I mean, Tom could weigh in on that, but Craig’s a staff of one, right? And I imagine Craig's got his hands full. Tom Fielder said, so Craig is paid by the A&P Commission not by the city. We are a separate, we are separate from the city. Now, we rely on a very good working relationship with the city. And I think that's the only way that everything will maximize is us to continue to work. I don't know the answer today on can Craig… I'm sure there's some working with. I'm sure there's some calling that can happen if Craig hears about something, but as far as him actually working for the parks, I mean, that would be hard because he is doing other... Jay Clevenger said, no, I'm not saying working for the parks. I'm saying working on tourism, more specifically, you know, sports tourism. And I didn't catch what you said, LJ. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, yeah, I was just saying, he's a staff of one, and I think he's got his hands full. Jay Clevenger said, the Ridge is eventually going to be built, then what. Councilmember LJ Bryant said, well, I mean, I know, I mean, you would know more about what Craig does on a daily basis, but I know, like, if this Squamish Gravel Race or whatever comes to town, he's raising money, getting sponsors, and so on, and so forth. So I'm just imagining Craig's got a lot to do. Tom Fielder said, yeah, and I can't speak to everything that Craig does, but, and then when you throw the Ridge in, we have hired a company that will, so Craig won't, he'll work with them. He'll have an office there, but he's not running that facility either. But he is working on Jonesboro tourism. And some of that may include tournaments that Jim. Chairman Chris Gibson said, and there are several models across the state, and I will task Public Services with taking a look at some of those models moving forward. So we will make the right decision. \r\n\r\nCouncilmember Joe Hafner said, well, I think one of the goals of this is just a more collaborative approach on, you know, rec leagues, tournaments, who gets what, who gets the weekend, who doesn't, having a transparent open discussion about it, you know, by whatever committee or advisory board, you want to have rather than one person saying, nope, y'all can't have it that weekend. I think it’s just about having more collaboration and transparency, communication, all those keywords amongst a group of people instead of just, you know, one person going, no, can't help that weekend. Director Jim Stearns said, and no, 100% agree. And that's part of the reason why I challenged both guys to get their schedules in place by March 1st is so that we know what dates are available for whoever, whatever customer wants to come and host an event in our facilities. So that's why it was so important for us to really, so that one person couldn't say that, and now these are all the dates that are that are free in all these facilities. Tell us what day you want to have it. Councilmember Joe Hafner said, but one point of clarification I want on that, Jim, is, obviously, when you say the calendar’s going to be set in March for 2026, and then people can come, there's already some outside tournaments and stuff that, let me rephrase that, are there already outside tournaments that, you know, baseball or soccer or basketball groups are having already on the calendar? Because if you're trying to set it and have a tournament in 2026, but you can't really schedule it until March of 2026… Director Jim Stearns said, so, softball was booked most likely pretty solid by November of last year. So softball calendar was kind of set. Baseball very similar from, I wish, Randy was here to but he's not. Baseball was pretty set. So, what we're trying to do is, we're trying to set our city youth leagues of what dates available. And the staff, what I challenge them with, and I just use Stephen specifically, is he knows what soccer tournaments go on in Germantown, Conway, et cetera. So we're going to plan our league when those tournaments are at their places, so that's not a date that we're competing to have a tournament with. So he's going to open up dates, so the challenge for him was, what's the best day that I could break my season up to allow someone that wanted to have a tournament in Jonesboro to be most successful. And so, it wasn't just, like, let's fill our calendar. It was to really put some thought processes behind it, so that we could make it, that whoever we partnered with, let's provide facilities when I say partnered, when they want to have a tournament at our place, that gave them the greatest opportunity successful. I mean, it's the same thing we talk about in the 5K world. If Paragould’s got a 5K and Jonesboro want’s a 5K and now Tyronza's going have a 5K, we're competing for the same amount of runners for 3.5. It doesn't work. And so, that was the example I used to them is why I used it here. I wanted them to look at what they knew was happening in the Mid-South, that is our competition, and to create opportunities for our partners to be most successful. Because for us, it's the same thing. We want beds and heads. We want people to come to Jonesboro. I can't very well dictate that this is the weekend you can have it, if that's the same weekend that Germantown has one of their tournaments. It's not fair to any organization to give up that weekend, so the challenge was for him to find the weekends around our season that work best. So we're not just dictating what weekends. We're also looking at all those outside factors, because we want to... I mean, the more successful they are, the more successful we are, and the better looks when our parks are full. But most of those starters, like I said, softball, basketball, this volleyball tournaments are always the same weekends. All of those big events, we added those to the calendar on the weekends they always were. And then we try to figure our leagues to make it more advantageous to outside organizations having their lands, to be more successful. \r\n\r\nChairman Chris Gibson said, to wrap up, I've got two community individuals that wanted to just give a brief statement, and then we're going to entertain a motion to adjourn. Matt, do you want to... Matt Daniel said, yes, I'm Matt Daniel. I'm a civilian. While the phrase expert gets tossed around a lot, I don't consider myself an expert, but I do have a lot of experience, specifically in the athletic world. I've been all over the country in all different kinds of sports. I'm in support of the three entities that represent the people. A&P and the Public Facility Board, as it checks and balances. And I think to Jim’s point, and what his question was, is why have that, because we already got something in place. I don't know if you change the name of commission committee, whatever you change or change up the people or whatever, but I think it provides a layer of protection, both for the administration, for the Parks Department, and for the community. I think it levels that out. The second thing that I would recommend, I think that we're going through a storm right now, but with that storm, I think that we understand and collectively, I'm so glad we're part of a solution-based conversation, because I think this rising tide is the salt. The second thing with that, on top of that topic is, I think that you have to, if you're going to go with a vendor model, which I think is something that we ought to examine. I think that this group can decide if that's the best fit for everything. Currently, like we said earlier, Jonesboro Baseball Boosters is a vendor. They run themselves, they write their check to the City of Jonesboro. They don't write to check the City Stars. Those things happen. There will be some sports where vendors may offer to run the rec league. That would take a load or leverage, employee help, social media help, and all that for our Parks Department currently. Which we are clearly understaffed and Jim’s got a task. Aaron said, and what about my job? Matt Daniel said, what's that? Aaron said, what about my job? Matt Daniel said, so, I'm getting to that. Thanks, Aaron. I appreciate that. Where the meat is, there will be sports, for example, in the sport of basketball, which is one of your jobs, Aaron. If I was a basketball guy, which just so happens that I am, I wouldn't want to run a rec league, okay? Because I can bring in tournaments here without having a base program. So that is not something that I as a vendor would want to run. Therefore, we need a rec league program that will be supported by the city, which is Aaron’s job. So, the city would be supported by filling stop gaps, or become facility managers, and support those things where they can report their outside income, and maybe they support the tournaments, and they can make more money. So, although it's a little bit challenging in what those things can look like, it actually can be advantageous to people just like Aaron. So I think that when you do that, though, you have to establish tier one priority vendors. Because, for example, if Joe and I want to put on an event on the same weekend, how are you going to determine whose event needs to be hosted when? Well, you do that by setting qualifications, well, here's what we were looking for in a perfect world. In a perfect world, we want somebody to provide whatever these things are this group decides. This is what we're looking for. And if we get those things met, then we’ve established as a city, as a committee, that Joe is the priority tier one vendor. He gets priority in the sport of basketball. And we understand that he's just going to run four tournaments a year, and he gets primary dates because based on the relationships that he has to bring in sports tourism to this city, that's what we're going to go with. He doesn't want to run a city youth program. That's where Aaron comes in. Is that answer your question Aaron? Aaron said, well, I guess, sort of, but the way he phrased it, of having a vendor, it would be, like, the vendor would run my part, and I wouldn't have a job anymore. That’s how I took that. Matt Daniel said, no, so for example, this weekend, the basketball tournament that we couldn't service, because we had to get ready for, that used to be our tournament, correct? It used to be our tournament.  The basketball tournament this weekend used to be the City's tournament. We couldn't service it. We farmed it out. And then we paid gym managers that are city employees to do that. All I'm saying is, let's do that above board checks and balances for everybody. It protects Aaron, protects Jim, protects the mayor, protects the city. That's it. It's pretty plain and simple. Now, in concept, there are details and details of where it gets really muddy. That's where the clarity of accountability can help clear the mud of things we've already been through. That's where that makes sense. Now, based on that experience, this, I've already had my role with Revolution and executive board and all that kind of thing. This committee doesn't fit me, but I've also learned a lot about city government in the last year, because I taught myself, and I've learned, because this stuff is so important to me. I don't have any kids involved other than one daughter still involved in youth sports in the City of Jonesboro. She has one more year of elementary basketball. This is not about me or my family. This is about every. So, I'm happy to be a sounding board or answering questions today or moving forward, to be part of a solution that balances this thing out just to help educate whatever that means in a partial role to support people just like Aaron, people just like Jim that’s trying to get it right, but also the youth of our city. Thank you. \r\n\r\nPatti Lack said, yeah, so... I think this is just a suggestion to have members of the school board on the commission because they're the ones with the kids. But I think we also need to have some active parents. Because we're talking about, you know, the kids, but we've got the parents who are involved. And so, on that seat of the board, or coming to the table with the seat, is that there needs to be some parents, active parents in any of the sports, because they're the ones out there with the kids, and we've got to listen to them. You know, all of us can come up with all these ideas, but they're the ones out there that have, you know, see it, do it, and play it with the kids. So I think the parents, and I think the schools, they have to have some seat at the board to have some say what goes on. Chairman Chris Gibson said, thank you, Patti. One more comment, and then we're going to call adjournment. \r\n\r\nMatt Moskey said, I'm Matt Moskey, superintendent at Craighead. I really don't have a whole lot to do with youth sports, but to go off of, like, what LJ said, you know, a Sports Tourism Commission or what have you, right, for the sports tourism side, we have a Master Parks Plan that got put in place by City Council, that the City of Jonesboro, you know, spent quite a bit of money on. Nothing in there speaks about sports tourism. Nothing in there speaks about travel teams or what have you. You know, we're Parks and Recreation not Parks and Sports Tourism. We provide low cost, no cost, sports opportunities for the low income community, high income community, what have you in the City of Jonesboro. That’s what all these guys' jobs are, including mine. You know, I provided a facility for the community of Jonesboro. I love having events and outside people come in, but that's ultimately not my job. My job is to provide for the community of Jonesboro. Mark's job, community of Jonesboro for football. Steve’s job, community of Jonesboro for soccer, so on and so forth. So, the Sports Tourism Commission, great idea. I'm all for that. You know, but that doesn't impact what we do at the Parks and Rec in my personal opinion. That's where I stand. \r\n","EventItemActionId":410,"EventItemActionName":"Filed","EventItemActionText":"Filed","EventItemPassedFlag":null,"EventItemPassedFlagName":null,"EventItemRollCallFlag":0,"EventItemFlagExtra":0,"EventItemTitle":"Discussion of how the Public Services Council Committee and the Jonesboro Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee can work together to align a parallel path for recreational sports and sports tourism","EventItemTally":null,"EventItemAccelaRecordId":null,"EventItemConsent":0,"EventItemMoverId":null,"EventItemMover":null,"EventItemSeconderId":null,"EventItemSeconder":null,"EventItemMatterId":25865,"EventItemMatterGuid":"108D4C55-1D19-4C51-A98C-E5A353E7A68B","EventItemMatterFile":"COM-26:007","EventItemMatterName":"Discussion of how the Public Services Council Committee and the Jonesboro Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee can work together to align a parallel path for recreational sports and sports tourism","EventItemMatterType":"Other Communications","EventItemMatterStatus":"Filed","EventItemMatterAttachments":[]},{"EventItemId":85133,"EventItemGuid":"42CDB500-BD5D-4447-A246-B4D61FA300F4","EventItemLastModifiedUtc":"2026-02-10T20:28:09.057","EventItemRowVersion":"AAAAAADaLKU=","EventItemEventId":3890,"EventItemAgendaSequence":5,"EventItemMinutesSequence":5,"EventItemAgendaNumber":"4.","EventItemVideo":226389,"EventItemVideoIndex":null,"EventItemVersion":null,"EventItemAgendaNote":null,"EventItemMinutesNote":null,"EventItemActionId":377,"EventItemActionName":"Adjourned","EventItemActionText":"A motion was made by LJ Bryant, seconded by Brian Emison, that this matter be Adjourned . 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