MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE OZARK CITY COUNCIL 

March 11, 2024 

Ozark City Council Meeting Room 

The Regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Hall and upon a roll call, a quorum was declared to exist for the meeting. Present were Council Members Loren Maier, Summer Miner, Angela Harris, Randy Melton, Charlie Meeker, and Argest Hyler. Also present were Mayor Hall, City Attorney Kevin Barham, and City Clerk Susan Stevens. Scout Troop# 42 was present to give the Invocation and lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Hall commended the Troop for helping to keep Ozark clean. They recently bagged three 33- gallon bags of trash in 3 hours. They were each presented with day passes to the Community Center. 

A motion was made by Argest Hyler to approve the January minutes and seconded by Randy Melton. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the Minutes were approved. A motion was made by Randy Melton to approve the Financial Reports and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the Financial Reports were approved. 

The Water Department reports routine maintenance at the Water Treatment Plant to chemical feeds and PAC compressor, and repairs including sewer line investigation and repairs on North 2nd and 3rd Streets and water line repairs on N. 7th and 26th Streets. They marked 60 utility line locates, prepped the West Tank area for fence repairs, did planning for the Eclipse event and lead service line inventory. The rehab of Helberg Valve Vault was discussed with engineers and possible line replacement on East side of system. They worked on getting quotes on repairs needed at the Wastewater Treatment Plant including a clarifier gearbox and sludge removal from Digester. 

The Police Department reports 71 reports made, 23 arrests, 5 accident reports, 14 warrants served, 26 subpoenas served, 3 ordinance tickets, 56 ordinance warnings, 0 juvenile tickets, 69 traffic tickets, and 481 traffic warnings. The Ozark Fire Department used our training facilities. National Drug Take Back has been set for April 27th, 2024. Old or unused prescription medications can be taken to the Ozark Police Department lobby and placed into the take-back box. DEA). The medications will be turned into and disposed of by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency 

The Fire Department reports 62 calls for the month of February and that they have ordered the Dodge truck to replace the 2015 Tahoe. 

The Community Center lists activities for Spring Break March 18- 22. The include an ATU Family Day on Monday with all admissions paid. On Tuesday a $2 Day Pass is available. Next is Wacky Wednesday with a Bounce House included with a Day Pass. The CC will provide a soda to visitors on Thirsty Thursday. The week ends with Find a Friend Friday— BOGO Free! The Underwater Easter Egg Hunt is scheduled for Saturday, March 201h at 9 a.m. Webbb City Baptist Church will be here helping and donating prizes. There will be Easter Basket donations from Farm Bureau. In preparation for the Eclipse on April 8th,they are scheduling plenty of staff and ordering extra supplies and chemicals ahead of time. 

The Fire and Police Committee met on February 26th, 2024. The Fire Department discussed getting the replacement truck ordered, the bookstore cleaned up, and continuing work on houses that are in bad shape. We are still waiting for an engineer for the Kimbrough building, and we still need to hire a second employee. The Police Department is still waiting on equipment to rig the two new police vehicles, and there are several businesses that haven’t purchased their business licenses yet. They are also fully staffed with two officers at the Academy. 

The Cemetery Committee met on February 22, 2024. A new pavilion was discussed at the February meeting of the Cemetery board. Ozark Street Department head Michael Brasseaux said that the building would be 40 feet long by 32 feet wide and would be of all metal by Ozark Shed Depot with a four-inch concrete pad and a gabled front and back. Eventually, there will be 12- foot all weather, rubber coated benches added, though it has not been decided exactly how many. The benches run from a minimum of $800.00 for an eight-foot bench and they will be added gradually at later dates. The pavilion will also be wheelchair accessible. We will be replacing the existing fencing on the east and west sides of the cemetery with black fencing that matches the front fence along Highway 64. Michael stated that there is a “dead” snag on the Woolsey property that he wants taken out before the fence is built and the city would remove it if Mr. Woolsey was willing. Construction on the pavilion will start as soon as the bridge on North 29th Street is finished and should only take one to two days. 

The Planning Commission met on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Present were Raegan Haberer (Chair), Tom Forrester, Baylee Hall Henry, and Mike Bogue. Member Marsha Hillard was not present. Rezoning of 309 N. 2nd Street from Residential ( R- 1) to Commercial ( C- 3) for Darrell Randolph was discussed. He is planning to start a business selling firearms from a single room in his residence. It was brought up that Mr. Randolph might be changing his business from firearms seller to locksmith at the same requested rezoning site, and that certain small business standards would need to be met. Mr. Randolph was not present at the meeting to clarify his intentions. A motion was made by Baylee Hall Henry to table the rezoning until the next meeting, seconded by Tom Forrester. Mr. Randolph will need to be present at this meeting to present his case. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024. 

Randy Melton presented the notes for the Policy & Personnel meeting, Employee evaluations are about to get started and there was discussion of raising one Community Center employee’ s wages from $11.50 to $13.50 per hour. The money is already in the budget.

2. Old Business

a- Spring Clean-Up is April 15- 20. There are flyers online and it has been announced in the Spectator and KDYN. You must have your Ozark water bill for your free load at the Transfer Station. Citizens are asked to please not set their items out too early.

b- The 29th Street Bridge is completed. 

c- Food Pantry Update; All of the bids that were received were all over budget. The rebidding process will begin the end of March and go through the first of June. We are hoping to start work in July. 

3. New Business 

a- Ordinance 2024-5 Changes the next City Council Meeting from April 8 to April 15. This is a temporary change for one month only due to the Eclipse event happening on April 8`h. Randy Melton made a motion for the Ordinance to be read, seconded by Charlie Meeker. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the Ordinance. A motion was then made by Angela Harris to dispense with the 2nd and 3` dreading and proceed by title only. This was seconded by Summer Miner. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and Mr. Barham read the title two times. A motion to approve was made by Argest Hyler and seconded by Randy Melton. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and Ordinance 2024- 5 was approved. A motion was then made to enact the Emergency Clause and seconded by Loren Maier. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the motion was approved. 

b- AR Parks & Recreation Grant 2024 

We requested $125, 000. 00 and were awarded $80,000. 00( so with matching funds, we have 160,000) The Handicapped Accessible restrooms must be completed first. Depending on costs we may be able to get 1- 2 pieces of playground equipment. 

c- 2023 Audit for City of Ozark 

We had only one reportable finding. A check was mailed to an out-of-state business for payment of an invoice. The check was stolen from their mailbox and cashed by forgery. The business, our bank, and the auditor were all notified at the time. Steps have been taken with the business to prevent another occurrence. A motion to approve the audit was made by Randy Melton and seconded by Argest Hyler. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the motion was approved. 

d- Employee Retirement Plan 

Information was presented by Council Member Randy Melton. There have been two meetings with T.F. White and Edward Jones. He has also met with Department Heads and anyone interested. There have been five Council Members at each meeting. The 457b plan by EMPOWER by Edward Jones was selected. It will be administered by Holly McCormick. It is an employee contribution plan, tax deferred with the city matching up to 5%. If an employee currently has a simple IRA plan, they can keep it or transfer to the new plan, but only one will be funded. City Attorney Kevin Barham is to get the paperwork started. 

4. There was no Public Input. 

5. Announcements 

*Run for the Fallen is this Friday, March 15th. The run starts at the Community Center. Starting with a program at 7:45 and promptly at 8:00 the Run will begin. Traveling through town on Hwy 64. Businesses and Citizens are asked to show support with a good send- off from Ozark. Let’ s remember our fallen men and women. 

*The Underwater Easter Egg Hunt is scheduled for Saturday, March 30`h at the Community Center Pool 9: 00 am for ages 3 and under/ 10: 00am for ages 4 to 6 years/ 11:00 am to 12:00 pm for ages 7 to 10 years/ 12: 00 pm (noon) for ages 11 to 12 years. A special thanks to Webb City Baptist Church for being a sponsor for this event and to Farm Bureau for their donations. 

*In just four weeks on Monday, April 8th we will be viewing the Great American Eclipse of 2024! We have free solar glasses at City Hall, Bank OZK and the Ozark Chamber of Commerce. Sponsored by Ozark A&P. Follow Main Street Ozark Facebook page for details and events. 

*Jordans: I have talked to Matt Modelevsky with Jordans. They are starting another store in a couple of weeks and are not sure where they are going from there, but Ozark is on their short list for sure. They are excited about being part of our community. I am keeping in touch with them every few weeks. I do not know what changed, just keeping everyone informed. 

*2024 Business Licenses: A friendly reminder that we have 16 businesses that haven’t paid for their 2024 business licenses. On a positive note, we have 8 new businesses which have opened in our city. They are River Street Furniture & Treasures, Lisa Little Counseling, Professional Cabling Solutions, River Valley Day Care, The Shed Depot, The Ozarks & Company, Casey’ s, and Desert Fox Tactical. We appreciate you for investing in Ozark and thanks to all our businesses here. 

*The Ozark City Offices will be closed Friday, March 291h for observance of Good Friday. Trash Pick-up: I would like to thank Judge Capp, Victoria Riddle, Scout Ingram, and Shae Johnson for their efforts in organizing the trash pick-up through District Court. Everyone is doing a great job and it is making the difference. I heard on KDYN this morning that a ticket was given for littering and those have up to a$ 1000.00 fine! 

*Our Fourth of July celebration will be held on Wednesday, July 3rd at Westside Park. The Chamber of Commerce will still be having their annual Cardboard Boat Race at Eastside Park. There is a Ozark Pride & Beautification meeting scheduled. At the Street & Water Department meeting on Thursday, March 21, 2024 they will be discussing the possible sale of the Transfer Station.

A motion was made by Angela Harris to adjourn the March 11, 2024 Ozark City Council Meeting and seconded by Argest Hyler. Upon a roll call vote, all Council Members voted aye and the meeting was adjourned. 

Minutes for the Ozark City Council meeting held Monday, March 11, 2024 were approved and passed this 15th day ofApril, 2024. 

Mayor Roxie Hall 

City Clerk Susan Stevens