DECATUR -- Decatur City Council had a full agenda at its regular meeting in the conference room at city hall Nov. 9, including a new plan for recording meetings and approval of a regional bike and pedestrian trail plan.
Decatur's mayor, Bob Tharp, and city recorder, Kim Wilkins, devised a new plan to keep records of city council meetings as a result of the mislabeling of an item in the minutes of the August city council meeting.
The minutes stated that the council met in executive session to discuss pay raises for the mayor and recorder-treasurer when, in fact, the council never broke from its meeting and no executive session was ever called.
"I'm determined that mistakes like that one are not repeated," Tharp said. "Tonight, we are implementing a new system where the taped sessions of the city council will be placed on a CD and kept forever."
Normally, Wilkins takes information she needs off a digital recorder and, once she has what she needs, erases the recording to clear space for the next council meeting. By keeping a copy of the recording, any question that arises about council procedures can be reviewed.
The council also approved a revision to correct the Aug. 10 minutes.
The council turned its attention to a resolution endorsing the Northwest Arkansas Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.
The city held a public hearing Oct. 29 to allow Decatur residents to hear from Elizabeth Bowen, with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. Bowen showed preliminary drawings on the Decatur project. Since there were no comments from citizens, the project was sent to the city council for review and approval.
The plans involve putting a bike and walking trail in the Decatur area that would eventually connect with the Greenway project in Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale.
One possible path in the plans calls for a trail along the Arkansas Highway 59 corridor between Decatur and Gentry. The path would run between the highway and the Kansas City Southern right of way. Another trail would run along the shoreline of Crystal Lake, beginning at the park, to Compton Ridge Park. The other path in Decatur would connect the Veterans Park proposed walking trail along Arkansas Highway 102 through the downtown area and up to Johnson Park.
Bowen presented these plans to the city council for its input. The council then voted on a resolution that would endorse the Northwest Arkansas Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan and the city's master plan. The resolution passed.
The city will now need to find funding for these projects once a final regional master plan is approved.
In other council action, the council passed a resolution to adopt a mutual-aid police-protection agreement with the city of Gravette; passed a resolution increasing the fire chief's pay from $200 to $500 per month, with the chief paying his own taxes; and deferred a resolution to change the public use of the community room to a committee of three council members for review.
General News on 11/25/2015