In 30 seconds
- The minutes weren't in the packet, so approval was pushed to the December 16 meeting.
- Council adopted Resolution 12, letting the police department join the state's mini-STEP overtime traffic-enforcement grant program at no cost to the city; a trial mobilization pushed seat-belt use from 45% to 70% at one location.
- Council voted to formally support and promote the January 19, 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. parade; organizer Phyllis Hammonds asked for $3,000 from the A&P commission, not the city, mostly for signage.
- Mayor Whitfield presented a 2026 budget with 45 fewer budgeted payroll positions and payroll/benefits about $1,097,000 lower than 2025.
- Treasurer Derrick Turner projected roughly $8,837,873 in usable general-fund revenue for 2026.
Recap
Minutes postponed, roll call
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey said she sent the minutes but they weren't in the packet; the council pushed minutes approval to December 16 . Roll call at the start of the meeting: Maxine Miller and Adrian Messina present, Joe St. Columbia present, and Don Etherly, Kyle Miller and Monica Davis absent . The chair then noted his own vote made a quorum .
Water and sewer advisory board
Councilman Joe St. Columbia renewed a proposal for a water and sewer advisory board made up of one attorney, one banker and three business people, an idea that predates the Helena/West Helena consolidation . He also suggested a similar oversight body for the landfill, the city's other major revenue source . Councilwoman Maxine Miller said any board must stay answerable to the council . Mayor Whitfield summarized the consensus as an advisory board, not an autonomous commission, that reports to the council . No vote was taken; discussion continues December 16.
Six council-led committees proposed
Mayor Whitfield said he and the chief of staff want more council-led committees to reach into functions of departments the city has dissolved over time . He read a drafted list of six: community events, public safety, beautification, youth council, outdoor recreation and economic development, drawn from the chamber's strategic plan . No vote was taken on this item.
Police mini-STEP grant: Resolution 12
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders asked the council to approve a resolution letting the department join the state's mini-STEP overtime traffic-enforcement grant program; the state reimburses officer overtime, so it costs the city nothing . He said a seat-belt-use check went from 45% to 70% in the same location during a trial mobilization . He said the mini-STEP program is a step toward the full STEP program, which can bring the department free equipment such as cars and radios . One member said he would not vote until he saw the resolution in writing, though the chief had read it aloud and emailed it earlier . City Attorney Andre Valley noted a resolution carries the same legal weight as a motion . The council adopted Resolution 12 by roll-call vote .
MLK Jr. parade: city support and $3,000 request
Phyllis Hammonds, founder of the Westside Community Hub, asked the council to revive the Martin Luther King Jr. parade on January 19, 2026, after a year without one . She said she requested $3,000 from the A&P commission, not the city, mostly for signage, advertising and food . A motion that the city formally support, participate in and promote the parade passed by roll-call vote .
2026 budget and revenue projections
Mayor Whitfield presented the 2026 budget: 45 fewer budgeted payroll positions and payroll and benefits projected about $1,097,000 lower than 2025; moving dispatch to the county frees roughly $85,000, redirected to police contract labor, and $108,500 is added for sanitation trucks . City Attorney Andre Valley said the mayor was required to submit a budget by December 1 and the council must adopt one by February 1, 2026, with interim spending authority needed between those dates . Treasurer Derrick Turner said the two-cent sales tax passes through the landfill fund before transferring to the general fund and put total 2026 general-fund revenue near $8,837,873 . Mayor Whitfield said the city had overspent in some areas in his first eight weeks in office and that an audit flagged discrepancies in how personal and vacation days were tracked . Valley recommended a year-end cleanup budget so approved spending is formally re-appropriated .
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
Meeting Agenda
This is the 2-page agenda for the December 2, 2025 city council meeting . Old business is a treasurer's financial update. New business has six items: a Magnolia Cemetery cleanup request, a proposed Water & Sewer Advisory Board, six new council-led committees, a police department STEP traffic-enforcement grant, a 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Parade on January 19, and a 2026 budget review .
| New council-led committees proposed | 6 | |
| MLK Jr. Parade date | January 19, 2026 |
Meeting Packet
This is the 16-page packet backing the agenda. Pages 2-4 describe the six proposed council-led committees (community events, public safety, beautification, youth council, outdoor recreation, economic development), their roles, and monthly volunteer time commitments . Pages 5-13 are the Arkansas State Police Highway Safety Subgrant Agreement funding the police department's Mini Selective Traffic Enforcement Project (M-STEP) with $18,500 in federal funds for the period October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026 , signed by Police Chief Quanderius Sanders and Mayor Joseph Whitfield on October 7, 2025 and approved by the Arkansas State Police director on October 15, 2025 . Pages 14-16 are the event permit application for the 25th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade on January 19, 2026, submitted by Phyllis Hammonds on behalf of the West Side Community Hub and the Nancy Elizabeth Proffitt Federated Club , listing an expected attendance of 200 and a route from Sebastian Street to Cherry Street , with sign-offs from the police chief, public works street director, and fire chief .
| STEP grant federal funds | $18,500 | |
| STEP grant project period | 10/01/2025 to 09/30/2026 | |
| STEP agreement signed (chief and mayor) | 10/07/2025 | |
| STEP agreement state-approved | 10/15/2025 | |
| MLK Jr. Parade date | January 19, 2026 | |
| MLK Jr. Parade route | Sebastian Street to Cherry Street | |
| MLK Jr. Parade expected attendance | 200 | |
| MLK Jr. Parade permit signed | 11/19/2025 |
Transcript
Auto-generated from the meeting video's captions and lightly cleaned for readability — wording is kept as spoken, not corrected, except that caption-garbled names of city officials are normalized against the roster. Speaker names follow the attribution work in our governance record; a ° marks a name our reviewers have not yet verified. Every timestamp plays the city's video from that moment. Watch the full meeting ↗
4:00
Unidentified Start off with the Lord's Prayer.
4:02
All present Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory, and glory forever. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
4:46
Unidentified You.
4:48
Roll call Roll call (attendance) — present: Maxine Miller, Joe St. Columbia. Not recorded present: Dr. Kyle Miller, Adrian Messina, Don Etherly, Monica Davis (captions incomplete; attendance unverified).
5:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Thanks.
5:18
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So, considering me as a necessary vote, we have a corner.
5:23
Unidentified Somebody.
5:28
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° All right. So we will go ahead and use the drone.
5:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield If you will we'll jump into before our new order of business. The first couple pages of your packets would be or do we have the minutes in in this packet? Our minutes approval.
5:49
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey Uh if you didn't put them in, I sent them but they may not be here. We can do them on the next one.
5:54
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay. So our minutes will be approved in the December 16th meeting.
6:02
Unidentified Approval of the minutes December
6:04
Unidentified correct
6:05
Unidentified 16th.
6:11
Mayor Joseph Whitfield So into our old business we'll jump into a financial update from the treasurer before we move into any new business for today. Yeah. No. No. Okay. Now, was everybody here to get the one pager that uh included all the list of claims? Did everybody receive that? The list of claims from our previous meeting is is what you had.
6:34
Unidentified You got it.
6:35
Unidentified You got it. Yeah.
6:36
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Okay. Well, Mr. Turner did take the pled the time to put together that list of who who we're paying, which claims are ours, and the process we're making on those or progress we're making on those.
6:49
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° All right. So, we will starting with our new business. The first piece of business was going to be the Magnolia Cemetery, but uh Miss Maxine has informed me that that gentleman from Memphis will be here on the 16th, but we'll try to get him on the schedule for the 16th. He's not going to be here today. So, this was going to be about the upkeep of the cemetery and help having the city trim back certain areas. So we won't be joining that or having that conversation today but on the 16th which allows us to move on to the second or the new first piece which is our water and sewer advisory board and I'm going to yield the floor to Mr. M uh Mr. St. Columbia. This was a continuation of the conversation around potential planning. Uh, I'd like to see us move forward uh with that u uh planning committee. Uh, has everybody had an opportunity to look over the uh document that I passed out?
7:54
Unidentified I believe Miss Maxine, did you get a chance to see that or
7:57
Unidentified an ordinance to form it?
7:59
Unidentified Yes. So, that's what I was going to ask Miss Maxine, did you get a chance to see that? So,
8:03
Unidentified and if I understood it correctly, you the ordinance was for a commission, but it sounded like based on the conversation you
8:12
Councilman Joe St. Columbia Well, you can call it whatever you'd like. You know, an advisory board or a commission. The wording needs to be changed if you, you know, choose to do so, but we need to have a an organization, I think, uh, to help with our water commission. I think it needs to be uh at least we need to appoint one attorney to the board uh and a banker and then three business people. That that's the important. Helena had that years ago. Miss Miller, I think when your father was was mayor, we had a commission, but but it all broke down about time we formed the two cities together and we eliminated it. But, uh, I I don't think it'd hurt us to have it. There are pros and cons on it, but like there are anything, but I'd like to see the the city move forward in that direction. Uh, so we'll we'll uh discuss it again in more detail on the 16th if that's okay with you, Mr. Mayor.
9:20
Mayor Joseph Whitfield It would be okay. And just two points before we move on. We this this is kind of jumping into the next point of business but I won't so I won't say too much about it but there is in this packet a com a list of committees that was mentioned during the last meeting. I believe you may have been absent for that Mr. uh St. Columbia but we'll talk about that in just a second. So, the chief of staff and I, we're wanting to implement more committees that are city council le for the reason being that certain departments we've dissolved over time and we want to make sure that we have as far reach as possible into how the city's functioning and how everything's um how everything is moving. And the second point is I notic that you said I know that you said attorney, banker, and three business people and maybe this language will be included in the new proposal. The idea behind the the committees that we're going to propose in just a moment is to make sure that they're also reflective of the community because I'm sure there are some folks in the community that maybe worked for the water department, have worked in the water department elsewhere, have some engineering experience. So, I definitely am not opposed to a committee or championing a committee for the water advisory board if that's what we call it. And I think that those would be everyday stakeholders which are residents as well as maybe engineers or previous previous um water managers here I think could be a good addition as well.
10:46
Councilman Joe St. Columbia The two two largest income u uh facilities that we have is a water company and of course the landfill. And there's a lot of money involved in both of them. And probably wouldn't hurt to look at the possibility of a commission for the for the landfill as well. So, uh, food for thought.
11:13
Unidentified Oh, miss. City attorney was saying sanitation. Sanitation
11:18
Unidentified saying sanitation.
11:19
Unidentified Thank Thank better point clarity.
11:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. Is there any any more discussion on the thoughts around an water and sewer advisory board? Any more thoughts on that?
11:33
Councilwoman Maxine Miller The only concern I have is I know that you know when my father was mayor there was a commission. The only concern honestly that I do have is I don't I would hope that they would not be autonomous to the point where they don't answer to us
11:53
Councilwoman Maxine Miller or that they operate completely and separately from us. Um, and I know that our city attorney may be able to address that a little bit more, but I do I would the idea of having some some uh advisory people is a good idea, but I would just hope that the language would not make them where they don't have any responsibility to us.
12:20
Unidentified Right. I agree with that.
12:22
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah. And I think you you missed that conversation because the initial proposal was a sample ordinance to establish a water commission. And I believe and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. St. Columbia. I believe by the end of that conversation, Mr. St. Columbia was open to converting that from a commission to a committee and or an advisory board of folks. So that way those controls are not necessarily relinquished from from this governing body. I I'm a firm believer that all thing all roads lead to Rome and we should be the ones they have to come to. Absolutely.
13:00
Unidentified Yeah. We don't need to turn it over to anybody.
13:02
Unidentified I agree.
13:03
Unidentified Yeah. But we don't need to run it. I don't know anything about the water business.
13:09
Mayor Joseph Whitfield I understand. Thank you, Miss Miller, um for that cl point of clarity as well. Any other conversation or discussion? If there is none, we will move forward through the agenda into uh our third point. So, next up, we have a revisit. This is a revisit for our city council committee proposals. For the folks at home, I'm going to read the initial committees that were that were drafted. This is an approach to con have the city comm city council adopt committee groups that are designed to champion city goals and expedite progress around the city. We as in uh myself and the chief of staff believe that all hands on deck means all hands on deck and we want to see that there's a greater involvement from all of us around the table in terms of how are we pushing forward the agendas the agenda for the city and so the drafted six committees are community events public safety beautifification youth council outdoor recreation economic development and I don't necessarily remember if everyone was around the table during the first prop first proposal. But these are all strategic areas that a have backing from the public and I think that's first and foremost very important. These are the things that our neighbors, our friends, I think some of us ourselves want to see happen established with some urgency here in the community. Secondly, some of these open us up to tourism and more economic development. Some of these will open us up to generating the future leaders. And so if you go to page two in your package, the very next page, these are I know what we talked about was having a write up of sample language around what do these committees look like? Who's a part of them? What are their goals? How often do they meet? What does that look like? So if you take a look on page two, and it does go over to page three, this is a proposal for how each committee would work. And some of this is um some of this is duplicative in the sense that each committee its goal is to strengthen that particular sector of the city. We want uh we want community events. We don't have a ton of events outside the Bluesfest. There have been that that really bring the whole city together and there are smaller events that happen throughout the year and we want to make sure that the city has a presence in making that happen um consistently. Public safety committee. This was through the chamber strategic plan. This was a top five priority for people around the city. They want to feel safe at home. So, and I could go through each and every one, but I'll give you all some time to engage with this. And I'll open up the floor to discussion. This is not necessarily the final proposal. But is this of interest, which I hope it is, for us to lead these committees and and take on some of the challenges that the city's wanting us to to work on. Looks good. Looks very good. If we look at the time commitments, the additional time commitments, chief of staff and I were uh mindful about the fact that everyone around the table wears a hat already, probably two, maybe three hats. And so a lot of things went into consider consideration. We thought about what does a successful committee look like? not just who's on it, but what does it look like in terms of the commitment in terms of is it um it being realistic for something that can be repeated monthly for um tangible outcomes? So, do do the does the time commitment if we're looking at that does that seem like that is a logical rational ask for city council le committees? And the floor is also open to other questions or concerns. This is a living document still, but the concept is that we can have six sixle committees out of this body. Okay, that would be six different committees there.
17:54
Unidentified You got all the bases covered?
17:59
Unidentified Do you know when the last time we had committees?
18:05
Unidentified Has the city had committees in the past?
18:07
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I mean, when was the last time? Um, to my knowledge, I wouldn't I know some of these committees came up because I know we used to have, for example, an outdoor recreation committee. We don't have a parks and recreation department anymore. So, I know at one point in time we had a department. So, I'm not necessarily sure of the city's history with committees, but I do know the initial thought was we dissolved some departments over time and how can we in the meantime as we fix our budget, as we make sure that we um correct our finances, how can we still be impactful in those spaces? So,
18:46
Councilman Joe St. Columbia° we did have a beautifification committee many years ago. was a group of ladies that were kind of like a garden club. They took care of the medians and
18:54
Unidentified yeah,
18:55
Unidentified flower beds and that they did on their own.
18:58
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° One of what's been we've done, excuse me, we've done only one so far. We've done one town hall that was um the most that was the initial one, inaugural one that was hosted at um the comm in the community room at the community college. And what was clear in that town hall was that citizens outside of this room want to be involved with our city functions. And we want to make sure that we are listening, setting the tone, which again, this is where this come from. This wasn't just arbitrarily thrown on the wall and then put on a sheet of paper. This was done through anecdotal conversations and experiences as well as data collection and aggregation. So u essentially kind of like what Miss uh Ram is saying, we want these bodies to be reflective of the community and the interest. So if and I'll just give a couple more minutes just to are there any concerns about the possibly h having committees that are city council? Are there any concerns about these if if there seem to be no questions? Are there any concerns? Well, when I look at [clears throat] skills that I would think someone would have to have, I think I could see myself, you know, maybe doing or the beautifification or the outdoor recreation. I mean, those are two areas that I feel more comfortable with.
20:29
Mayor Joseph Whitfield And that's the that's the goal. That's that's the goal. Absolutely. We would want every council member to yield themselves in their time to one that to a committee that they either have some experience with or some passion for especially and I think the passion piece is probably critical too because we have professionals that I believe can help lend their services to each of these committees in the community. So again, you wouldn't be necessarily running this committee by yourself. This would be a joint uh force with other residents that live here in the city.
21:04
Unidentified This will allow the public to get involved with whichever committee they like and that would be I think excellent.
21:13
Unidentified Absolutely.
21:14
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders You you you've got it laid out good. I like this proposal. So, what what will happen here unless there's what's going to happen is the chief of staff and I will continue to flush out some of this language and we will make sure that upon a proposal that it speaks to exactly what we feel the city needs. Make sure that it speaks to the interest and the um the demand for what what the city has. And we'll bring and we'll bring a final version of this back to propose it. But this is the progress that I wanted to show after the last proposal. So is there if there is no additional comment on the committees, we will revisit this in a future meeting. All right. So moving on to our next agenda item, bulletpoint number four. We're going to have Chief of Police come up, Chief Sanders. Um on pages Starting on pages on page five, he's bringing forth a request to have the police department participate in what is considered to be or called the step program. That is correct. Uh the step program got my few notes right here. It is so what we're in is called the many program. So, there's a fullstep program that we're looking to get into next year, but initially you have to get enrolled in what's called the miniep. The miniep is uh we work mobilizations. We have I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with the click or the ticket to drive sober, get pulled over, but it's focused on high visibility, getting officers out there, and the safety department, they pay the city a reimbursement of overtime for the officers out there. So, not only do they want us to be out there, it cost the city nothing for us to be out there. Uh, we've currently conducted the seat belt mobilization two weeks ago. A month ago, we did the distracted driving mobilization. And just a few few numbers from those to show how productive that they are. Lieutenant Smith, we did a pre-ervey for the seat belts uh in an area. In that area, it was only a 45% usage of seat belt. We ran the mobilization, we were close to 70% in seat belts in that exact same location on the exact same day at the exact same time. So, there's an increase and it shows how effective that the mobilizations can be. However, I'm standing before you guys today because you have to have certain certifications to run the mobilizations. uh our grant coordinator with the minist encouraged us to ex expend all funds before the mobilizations are up. There are 10. They'll end July of next year. Everyone in my department does not have the certifications to run the mobilization. I've been hiring a lot. They've going to the academy. They'll get the certifications in the future, but right now we don't have it. He encouraged myself to get out there and run the mobilizations with my officers and he encouraged even Lieutenant Smith to get out there. Uh so what I'm here now, I got with the city attorney. I even spoke with the city clerk about a resolution that allows us as salary employees to get out there and work the overtime that will be reimbursed to the city. So it'll cost you all nothing.
24:58
Unidentified That will reimburse us.
24:59
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Yes, sir. the expenses that we would incur.
25:02
Unidentified Yes, sir.
25:03
Unidentified Okay. So, the bottom line would be it wouldn't cost us anything.
25:07
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Nothing. It gives us more officers on the streets.
25:10
Unidentified Okay.
25:11
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Uh and it wouldn't cost the city nothing. That's the bottom line. It's also my biggest goal here is to expend all the funds so we can move into what's called the full step program next year. in the full step. It it doesn't only give the city the reimbursement, but it you get to get equipment. I've saw department get cars, radios, things. I'm looking to save the city money here. Things that I can do on my own. The proactive things that I can do, the things that I can get on my own without without having to come and ask you guys for it. So, that's what I'm doing here.
25:48
Unidentified You need a resolution. Is that
25:50
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° So, I have the resolution.
25:51
Unidentified Oh, you have?
25:52
Unidentified Yeah.
25:53
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° I emailed it to you all. I'm sorry. I I was supposed to mail it to you, but I emailed it to you and I can read it now.
26:00
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Go ahead.
26:01
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Okay. It is a resolution authorizing the Helen West Police Department to participate in the Arkansas Department of Public Safety uh minist grant campaigns and acceptance and reimbursement for overtime uh enforcement activities. Whereas Arkansas Department of Public Safety, ARDPS through the Arkansas State Police Highway Safety Office administer administer many selective traffic enforcement program grant which supports statewide traffic safety mobilizations including click of a ticket, drive sofa or get pulled over, distracted driving and speed enforcement campaigns. And whereas the purpose of the ministep program is outlined in uh the 2026 highway safety subrant agreement is to conduct highly visible selective traffic enforcement during national, regional, and state mobilization, including enforcement of Arkansas seat belt laws on Arkansas code entit 377077 and related state uh safety statutes. And whereas participation in this mobilization enhances the public safety, reduces traffic crashes, increases our officer visibility in the community without an additional cost to the city's general fund. And whereas the Ministep program allows Arkansas the ARDPS to reimburse the city for eligible overtime enforcement hours worked by officers as well as applicable friends benefits in accordance with the reimbursement terms contained in the subranting agreement. And whereas the city of Hela Police Department seeks authorization for Chief Quandarius Sanders and Lieutenant Wesley Smith to participate in ministep campaigns on behalf of the city and to execute all documents and reports necessary to obtain reimbursement and whereas the city council finds that participating in statewide traffic safety initiatives is in the best interest of the citizens of Helen West Elma. Now therefore be resolved by the city council of the city of West Arkansas. Uh section one authorized to participate that the Helen West Police Department is hereby authorized to participate in Arkansas Department of Safety Ministep uh selective traffic enforcement program grant campaigns including but not limited to one click of a ticket. Two, drive sofa sober or be pulled over. Three, distracted driving enforcement. Four, speed enforcement mobilization. Five, all national, regional and state selective enforcement mobilization listed in the minist uh work statement. Section two, designation of authorized representatives. City council hereby authorizes the following individual participating in supervise and conduct enforcement activities. Administer their program as Chief Cornerius Sanders and Lieutenant Wesley Smith. Both officials are authorized to complete, sign, submit all required reports, forms, compliance, documents, and reimbursements on behalf of the city of Helen West Helena uh police department. Three, acceptance and reimbursement. City of Helen was held is authorized uh to one accept reimbursement from the Arkansas Department of Public Safety for overtime hour, fringe benefits and other eligible costs incurred under the minist grant and two adhere to all reimbursement procedures, documentation requirements and federal state regulation govern the program as outlined uh by the 2026 highway safety subrant agreement for complying with state and federal law. All the hel police department shall comply with all enforcement reporting and seat belt uh requirements all federal and state laws regulations and grant condition to minimum state pro ministep program. Three all performance documentation and audit standards as required by Arkansas DPS and the Arkansas state police highway safety and this ordinance. This resolution shall be effective upon it passing approval adopting and approved on this the blank day of blank 2025. Joseph C. Whitfield, mayor, city of Helma, a testic clerk, city clerk in the other I left off Mayor Whitfield. I apologize, Mayor Whitfield. He should be authorized as well.
29:57
Unidentified Well, I'll make a motion we pass that resolution.
30:00
Councilman Joe St. Columbia I'm not going to support I'm not going to vote on it until I see it in writing. So, I mean, I I'm gonna have to have a written word. Just
30:09
Unidentified read it all to you.
30:10
Unidentified I know
30:11
Unidentified you have it in the email. You sent it to us an email?
30:16
Unidentified Yes. Since this meeting been going on, you have it an email.
30:18
Unidentified Okay.
30:19
Unidentified Yes, sir.
30:20
Unidentified You want to read my phone?
30:22
Unidentified No, it's okay. But I'm I'm not I'm I agree that we need to do it and I'm supportive of it, but I I I like to see it in writing before I vote on it personally.
30:37
Unidentified Okay. The one request I would say is in parag section two at Mayor Joseph C. Whitfield that's authorized person as well.
30:48
Unidentified Any any additional discussion of comments about the resolution?
30:55
City Attorney Andre Valley For the record, a resolution carries the same weight as a motion. They're identical. One is written and one is verbal.
31:04
Unidentified I mean, I'll second it. Madam clerk, will you call call in second it for um second Mr.
31:15
Unidentified Mr. Messina?
31:16
Mayor Joseph Whitfield It's resolution number
31:18
Unidentified 12
31:19
Unidentified 12.
31:20
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Maxine Miller: yes.
31:33
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Yes. Motion passes.
31:39
Unidentified Thank you.
31:48
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Moving on to next order of new business. We have a request to reestablish the Martin Luther King Jr. parade on January 19th of this coming year. And I believe we have two representatives in the audience or one that wants to Miss Hamus. Yep. you can come on up.
32:10
Phyllis Hammonds (founder Westside Community Hub)° Good evening to the honorable mayor and to all of you council members. I am Phyllis Hammonds. I am um a member and a founder of the Westside Community Hub uh which is located in West Helen at the former Eliza Miller High School. And we are an all volunteer organization that include a diverse group of um members and we have a partnership with Delta Circle. Uh we provide a variety of activities and the most important one is documenting and preserving the African-American history and culture of the Delta. Uh we have a museum. I I call it a history place because it's not a conventional uh museum and which is supported by the hub. Uh we're in the process of developing various uh exhibits and and uh we've have held a lot of wonderful events there. Um we also work with the preservation of African-American cemeteries. And I do want to make a comment that uh Mr. Connor is doing a fantastic job with Magnolia Cemetery. Uh I met with him on several occasions. I am one of the founders of the Martin Luther King parade which occurred in 1999 along with um uh Walnut Street Works at that particular time when Dr. Robert Miller was the mayor of Helena and Weaver was the mayor of West Helena. and the Nancy Elizabeth Profit Federated Club was also the founders. Uh Naomi Cotms, the late Naomi Cotums represented Walnut Street Works at that time. Uh we have a couple of uh individuals that are part of our board which include Lisa Lisa Avas who passed out the handouts and Edward Joshua. uh if you would raise your hand and our president is uh Reverend William Gant. What I do what I want to say at this particular time is that uh and I won't uh belab this um January 19th is the Martin Luther King day. Uh I checked the uh the weather. The weather is supposed to be 54 degrees and 20some at night. So, the weather is okay. Uh, what I would like to do is um not I but um I'm just coordinated as I told the chief of staff. Uh I'm just coordinated because we didn't have one last year and I think it's something that we need to keep up. Uh and um I want the young folks, as my mother would say, the young folks to take it over. So I want to be able to provide a framework for the parade because I think that over the years it has been watered down. Um the com we need to make a commitment to remember the great works of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and the work and those uh sanitation workers uh that uh participated and strive real hard in order to uh get what was fair to them and uh um the mayor I understand from your mother that your grandparents marched with Martin Luther King. So I wanted to share that. Am I correct?
35:52
Mayor Joseph Whitfield You're correct.
35:53
Phyllis Hammonds Okay. My mother thought she marched. She had dementia and she thought she marched with Martin Luther King. It was really funny. It's not funny, but it was funny when she said, "I march with him." I said, "Oh, no, mama. You believed in him." She was one of the first persons that started the Martin Luther King celebration at at the historical centennial church. I I wrote up some things that I was just brainstorming that need to occur and I wanted to establish a diverse committee of people from all walks of life. Uh in that first um Martin Luther King parade we had we had everybody was represented. It was just simply fabulous. I took photographs of it and I'm glad I did. Uh the picture that you see on the cover includes uh is a picture of that I took in 2019 in the courtyard uh of the gentleman um they were um I think sanitation workers and they had the familiar signage done. I am a man and we would like to keep up that tradition by them being uh really first in line. That's who we're we are concerned about representing the sanitation workers and the first responders, of course, everybody else, but uh I think it's important that they uh take the lead in in that with the mayor. Um I'm proposing that uh we have a line up at about 10:00 and the parade start at 11:00. I have written a submitted an application to the AP commission. Um uh I hope That's I was just going to remind them that's in your packets pages 14, 15, and 16.
37:40
Phyllis Hammonds Oh, okay. And uh if we don't get the money, I think we can still do it. I'm like this. Uh this is important enough for us to um make sure that we celebrate it with with or without money. But the thing that I was mostly concerned about was the fact that historically we provided food to those participants and the attendees. And historically, the fire department uh would we would have just hot dogs and and chips and cookies and something to drink. And everybody would usually be so happy and full of life and and I think that uh my version of how that would happen if we could keep up that practice of doing that. Of course, we'll have different committees. I am not going to commit my entire life to I committed my entire life this past summer to the Eliza Miller anniversary which was fabulous. And I want to say to you uh mayor that some people had not been back home in years and they had such a grand time that they called me almost every week thanking thanking me for coordinating that effort. Thanking the Westside Community Hub for coordinating that effort. Um I think that the impact that the um this this march or this parade would do is it it would build it would um give citizen a sense of pride because I remember recalling um in previous years how everybody was upbeat, feeling good. We wanted to keep this up and then the thing that I really want to stress is that we talk about uh Dr. King's beloved community that um pro promotes unity, respect for all citizens and how to deal with conflict and violence. And I'm also proposing that we have a youth activity uh that Saturday prior to uh the the uh parade uh for uh the younger younger children as well as for the teenagers on what who who was Dr. Martin Luther King as well as what do we mean by beloved community. Um I I guess basically that's it. I I wanted to have also to recognize those civil right leaders uh local civil rights leaders. There were many of them who fought hard for equity in our community. And uh I want them I'm saying hi. I I would like to see them uh be recognized. Some of you might know them like Dr. Miller and the Miller family really uh did a fabulous job. Dr. Miller, I don't know, I'm sure you know this, but uh during the 60s when people had to make bail, Dr. Miller paid their bail. And a lot of people don't realize that. And um then we have other individuals, a lot of women um the Westside League of Voters uh and we want to recognize them as well. So um that's about it. And if you want to know the definition of a beloved community, uh it says society grounded in justice, peace, and love where all humans are respected and valued. I have invited your brother uh honorable mayor historically. He always uh recited uh the um Martin Luther King I have a dream speech. I talked to him uh couple of weeks ago. I think he's doing it this weekend. And I want to say I'm proud because we helped him win some contest. Um he couldn't go to our state uh meeting. um it was back when he was about 10 or 11 years old because your grandmother had passed. But he historically has always been a part of that parade and he told me he would he would do it. So if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.
42:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° So I have one question. Sure. I'm h first of all I'm happy that you are championing this effort with the group that you are working with. Um, you did say money. I didn't see a specific ask. Was there a specific ask that you all had?
42:19
Phyllis Hammonds (founder Westside Community Hub) I had asked for $3,000. I believe in signage and most of the money goes to the, you know, signage is cost money and advertisement and food. Uh, cuz because I here I go. I have a dream that all participants in attendance will eat and um that's it. We're not paying anybody to do anything. I was told previously that um they m money was given to the winners of the parade, but I think we we're not going to do money. [laughter] We're going to do like plaques or not even plaques. Plaques cost a lot of money, but maybe some sort of a award, some something. Uh we we will do. That's what I'm hoping for. I don't think that uh we could afford to buy to provide monies and it we're supposed to be all volunteering on this day anyway. Now, that's my thinking, but I hope that that the committee that we will formulate will have something to say about it. Uh and if you know of anybody that wants to participate, uh let me know. uh led them. Everene for was also um founder of this parade uh back in 1999. And so um we we need to set something up where people can um you know who want to u volunteer to work or to participate in the parade. I'm looking for a gigantic wonderful event. That's what I hope will happen. Any more questions? Mr. Mayor,
44:05
Councilman Joe St. Columbia I'd like to uh make a motion that is go on record that the city of Helma uh supports the celebration of unity of the Helma West Helena Martin Luther King parade and the event has laid out and uh that uh the city participate and promote this event.
44:27
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Does that and does that include the 3,000 as well? Does that include the three?
44:33
Unidentified Well, we've got the money.
44:35
Unidentified The 3,000 is to the AMP. It's not to the city.
44:37
Unidentified Yes, to the AMP.
44:39
Unidentified So, that's my motion.
44:40
Mayor Joseph Whitfield That's Yeah. Okay. Is there Is there a second?
44:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. Madame Clerk, will you call the role?
44:48
Phyllis Hammonds° All right. So, I can get the planning.
44:50
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Well, we got we got we got to call the road, Miss We have to call the road first.
44:56
Roll call Roll-call vote — Adrian Messina: yes; Monica Davis: yes; Maxine Miller: yes.
45:07
Mayor Joseph Whitfield yes.
45:09
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Motion passes.
45:11
Phyllis Hammonds° Thank you. And if you anybody here want to become a part of the committee, you can tell me tonight so we can start get to work on this. Thank you.
45:21
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. All right, we're moving right along. our uh next and final order of business, and I know that this will likely not be resolved today, but this is probably one of the most important conversations we need to have before next year, and that's our new budget. So, if you look, you uh Mr. Attorney provided everyone a copy of the budget. And this is a chance to review areas that are going to allow specifically what I've talked about with um the treasurer, what I've talked about with the chief of staff. We want to be aggressive with our payments towards claims and improve city functions. That's what we want to do. We want to be fiscally responsible with the taxpayer dollars. We want people to feel comfortable and that we're being transparent with our attempts to do that. So, just a couple of things to note while you are looking through your ver your copy of the the but the proposed budget. So with the move that Mayor Pro Tim Don Etherly made to uh give the county control over our dispatch that frees up some funds obviously in the general funds and so $85,000 that would have gone to them would be in contract labor for the police department um that would they would receive directly from the contract from the county. Um 25,000 has been added in capital outlays to the administration, the police department and district court fund for new servers. $108,500 has been added to capital outlays for the sanitation trucks and the sanitation department. There has been an estimated $93,000 and employee employee contributions to health insurance coverage and that goes a long way towards saving us some money over time. again would like to credit Mayor Prom Don Nethly for having made that decision to have um city employees contribute as well. Um budgeted payroll positions in 2026 have been reduced by 45 employees. This is not this was not a raising of um employee or this was not a raising of departments in the way that you would think. We had several positions that weren't filled and we did not have those positions filled over the course of this year. We believe that we can continue to do without for the time being as well. There were some departments particularly as you look through there sanitation and street we believe we had some wiggle room in terms of making sure that some of those some of the personnel some of the funds are used better to make sure that we are allowing for more wiggle room for the city. The payroll and benefits are projected to be, if we are on track with this, they're projected to be 1,97,000 less than what we had this year in 2025. And that word projected means that we have to again be good stewards. We have to um emphasize the word no sometimes. And if it's not necessary, barring emergencies, barring things that happen um that come up, we have to be a little bit more fiscally responsible until we can um until we can have a better financial strength. And so those are just and there's a few other items as well, but those are some of the main key points that I just wanted to hit on for you all. And I will open up the floor for questions and comments.
48:57
City Attorney Andre Valley If I may, mayor. Yeah. Uh just for from a legal standpoint, the mayor has fulfilled his obligation. He was supposed to submit a budget to you by December the 1st of this year. That's what statuto requires. Uh the city council has adopted budget on or before February 1st of 2026. However, you have to extend the budget or give the mayor some operating authority between January 1st and February 1st. Um so
49:21
Unidentified extend the budget we have.
49:23
City Attorney Andre Valley° Yes, sir. If to keep from the physical
49:26
Unidentified that is an option. Yes sir.
49:27
Unidentified Yes.
49:28
Councilman Joe St. Columbia° Uh I have one question is is this a correct income gross income 50 5,849,000. Is that correct?
49:45
Unidentified Or are you looking on the third page? I believe first page.
49:48
Unidentified First page. You look at the first page of the general form. That's that's the uh
49:54
Unidentified what did I well gross income
49:58
Unidentified that's 5 million
50:04
Unidentified that he's on page one on the the general fund
50:07
Treasurer Derrick Turner° 5,800,000 that's that's operating income. So that that Yeah. But that that would be
50:14
Unidentified sales tax,
50:17
Unidentified franchise fees. Yeah.
50:19
Unidentified Property tax. uh turn back
50:22
Unidentified money we can count on.
50:23
Treasurer Derrick Turner Yeah, but that's that's part of it. And then you have um city sales tax, the two cent sales tax. So I can't put it up there and with the operating income for the general fund because it goes to the landfield first. And so that comes in as as a transfer into the general fund because I can't count as income twice. And so I think that is about $3 million. Close to $3 million. So you should have around $8 million to
51:00
Unidentified 8 million.
51:01
Unidentified Yeah. Eight between eight $9 million operate with
51:05
Unidentified for26.
51:06
Unidentified And that's general fund. That's separate apart from water. That's correct.
51:09
Unidentified Yeah. That's general fund,
51:10
Unidentified right?
51:11
Unidentified Yeah. That's general fun.
51:12
Unidentified Yeah. But
51:13
Unidentified sure.
51:14
Unidentified Yes.
51:30
Unidentified I think I had um 8 million.
51:35
Unidentified I just got this tonight. I want to be sure I got my mind in the right numbers, you know.
51:41
Treasurer Derrick Turner Yeah, I got about 8,800 8,837,873 uh projected for 2026 that we can use
51:58
Unidentified 8,837. Yes, sir.
52:02
Unidentified Gross.
52:03
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yes. And I I just want to reiterate that how how we plan to make sure that we stick as closely to this as possible by is by being good stewards. In the last 8 weeks, I've seen we've had some overspending in some areas that I don't think we needed to overspend. We've abu we've had some internal processes that needed to kind of be overhauled in terms of how we're taking personal days, how are we taking vacation days. one that's what that was something that was flagged in our audit and there have been discrepancies with that. We will tighten those procedures up. Vehicle ordinance uh to make sure that our vehicles are staying parked on when they're not in use. There are a lot of things that go into allowing us to make sure we can stay close to this and that is what we want to do. We want to make I think we owe that to the city to be to treat people's money right. We want to be good stewards of this financing coming up the next year.
53:03
Unidentified Okay.
53:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Any any further and we want to give you obviously some time to look at this. Please look at the salaries. Please look at the departments. Please make sure that you're taking some time to look at the Mr. One thing that I I um appreciate that the treasurer did is that he gave you the 2026 projections um right next to the column with the 2025 actual. So you can see what were we paying this year, what's projected next year, and and you can see where those savings would come from. So uh please feel free to dive through that and and and tear it up however you see fit.
53:39
City Attorney Andre Valley Also is is recommended that each year before the end of the year that you look at uh doing a cleanup budget and the treasury's been working on that my understanding so that we can clean up any to make sure that some things that you dinged in the auditor are simply because you didn't come back and appropriate even though you approved it you didn't come back and do a cleanup budget and that's that's a simple thing to correct.
54:02
Councilman Joe St. Columbia° Well, we need to do that by the end of this year, don't we?
54:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yes, sir. Any additional discussion, questions, concerns about the budget review right now before we um move from the table. Any additional comments. If if there are none, then we have reached the end of our agenda list tonight and we will take a motion to so move. Is there a second? Second. Meeting adjourned. Thank you, sir.
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗) and its posted meeting packet (Drive folder ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.