After three residents spoke against an ordinance that would make a crime of failing to return an overdue library book, it was narrowly approved Tuesday.
Directors Dennis Brown, Brad Burns and Scott Jones voted against the ordinance. The ordinance came before the Board of Directors again after it was tabled at the April 15 meeting.
The Board of Directors approved:
• A $334,368 contract with Benton County for ambulance service for 2014
• Amending 2014 budget for administration to remove the director of operations position and add a staff accountant and change the title for the accountant to accounting manager.
• An $80,497 bid from Crossland Construction to install new slab for the transfer station and a wall to prevent trash from blowing out there.
• Repealing an ordinance that restricts people younger than 16 from playing pinball
• First reading to rezone 2590 Cheri Whitlock Drive from agriculture (A-1) to roadway commercial (C-2)
Resident Grace Davis asked the board to not pass it. She said the board should revisit it and create ways to make the library a welcoming and positive place.
Resident Don Cundiff said approving the ordinance would be "tantamount to war on the poor and the minorities." He also explained how the board opens its meetings with a prayer, and from his understanding of Jesus' teachings, he wouldn't approve of the ordinance.
Resident Ken Kloet said that state law already has penalties on what the ordinance covers. He said he believed this would be redundant.
In the April meeting, City Attorney Jay C. Williams said conviction under the ordinance would be a violation, not a misdemeanor. It would be treated like a traffic offense. Williams also said that the only way a juvenile could be charged under state law is in county juvenile court. The city does not have juvenile county jurisdiction.
Offenses in the state law range from a misdemeanor to a felony based on the value of the library item that's not returned.
Maximum penalty for violation of the approved ordinance is $350.
In other business, directors unanimously denied an appeal to the lot split for the 21100 block of Arkansas Highway 16.
Except for city directors and staff, no residents spoke on the appeal Tuesday.
Charles Odegaard, a neighbor to the property that was split, appealed the Planning Commission's vote for the lot split.
At the commission meeting in April, Odegaard and other neighbors were concerned about a 70,000-square-foot warehouse that has been proposed there. Some of the concerns about the warehouse included truck traffic noise, highway safety, affect views from homes and impact property values.
But the property is in the county, and the commission couldn't consider the property's use.
Director Judy Nation said she understood that even if the board granted the appeal, the building permit for the warehouse would not be affected.
"This is not something we have authority on," Mayor John Turner said.
Turner said if the appeal is approved the land description would change. The lot split would have been rescinded.
Director Scott Jones asked about neighbor complaints. Senior planner Ben Rhoads said the city received multiple calls and complaints about it.
General News on 06/08/2014