City Council Passes RTD Ordinance

The Stuttgart City Council met Tuesday, October 6, with only Karolyn Jackson absent.

After approval of the previous meeting minutes and paying of the bills, they jumped right into the agenda. The first two street closures were requested by the Chamber of Commerce for the Wings Over the Prairie Festival and the Christmas in the Park celebration. Bethany Hildebrand, CEO of the Chamber was present to answer any questions. The request was to close Main Street from 1st St. to 6th St. from Sat. Nov. 24 at 5 p.m. to Sun. Nov. 29 afternoon. The second request was for Dec. 7 on Main from 3rd to 4th from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. Both street closures were granted. There was another street closure request that was not turned in before the Thursday deadline but Councilman Darrin Haller asked them to go ahead and do that one too, since it was an event for the community and not a personal event and the next council meeting would be after the event. It will be for a Fall Fest held by Bridge Church on October 18, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. from 19th and Main to South Maple. The street closure was approved.

Next on the agenda was the reading of  Ordinance No. 2047 by Michelle Jacobs, City Attorney. After the first reading a motion was made to suspend the rules and read for 2nd reading by title only. Again on the 3rd reading. The ordinance is for the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption, setting forth certain regulations for such sales and other purposes.

Businesses will still have to get a liquor license from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and follow the laws of the State and the rules and regulations. This ordinance allows businesses to serve alcoholic beverages, once they get the proper licensing, at their business without having to get a private club license. Several area businesses wrote letters in support of the ordinance. The ordinance passed unanimously.

Ordinance No 2048 was read next. This is the ordinance that levies millage rates for real property located within the City of Stuttgart. The millage rates have not changed, but this has to be every year. The general fund receives .0022; the police pension fund receives .0005, and the fire pension receives .0005. The ordinance was approved.

The next item was an amendment to the lease schedule for the one-armed bandit that was leased by the City in 2021. The one-armed bandit was involved in an accident June 19, 2026, and had not been repaired prior to when it was scheduled to be returned at the end of the lease agreement.  There was a misunderstanding where several had thought it had already been returned to Arkansas Municipal Equipment, but discovered it had not been. This amendment was caused by the financier, Huntington Bank, to make the lease agreement continue until the truck was repaired and returned to AME. The truck was scheduled to be in the shop on October 7 and as soon as it is repaired, it will be returned to AME. Councilman Henry Newby suggested that contracts are only good for those writing the contract. In the future they need to have in the contract wording that when equipment is down for repair the lessor will have to be billed back for the days it can not be used. The council voted to accept the proposal from the bank.

The John Cain Aquatic Center was next on the list. Mayor Norma Strabala passed out a spread sheet that listed the revenue and expenses for the pool over the summer. She asked the council members to look over the spreadsheet and they would discuss at the next meeting.

Strabala then asked citizens to only put recyclables in the recycle bins. She, personally, had dug out several bags of trash that were in the cardboard recycling bins. When people do this, the recycling center will not take the container at all and it all goes to the landfill. She asked the citizens to please only put recyclables in the proper containers. She went on to apologize for the issues with the new trash pick up. She is constantly working with the new company to get things lined out for citizens.

With no more business, the meeting was adjourned.