Fayetteville — The Fayetteville Public Facilities Board on a recorded virtual meeting sworn in two newly appointed members, elected officers to fill most board offices and authorized a process to recommend candidates to fill a remaining vacancy, while setting a tentative special meeting in late September to consider a bond refunding and new money issue for Butterfield Trail Village.

The actions on organization came during an agenda item titled “reorganization requirements,” when the board administered the oath of office to Charles Watson and Marjo Burke and then moved to select officers and address a single remaining vacancy on the five-member board.

The reorganization matters matter because the board is the local issuer for tax-exempt conduit bonds under the Arkansas Public Facilities Board Act and ordinances of the Fayetteville Board of Directors. Bond counsel said the board will need to be fully constituted and have officer authorization in place before it can consider a requested refunding of outstanding Butterfield Trail Village bonds and a proposed new-money financing.

At the meeting, Leslie Ferguson (board member) was elected secretary, Marjo Burke (board member and newly sworn member) was elected vice chair and Charles (Charlie) Watson (board member and newly sworn member) was elected treasurer. A motion to adopt a resolution authorizing a board member to prepare written recommendations of up to three candidates to present to the mayor for the board’s fifth seat passed. The board directed that the written recommendation be prepared and transmitted in a manner that complies with Arkansas’s open-meeting and public-records requirements.

Jim Fowler, identified at the meeting as legal counsel to the board, reviewed the board’s statutory framework under the Arkansas Public Facilities Board Act and the city’s 1978 ordinance, noting the act requires five staggered terms and that some boards remain in existence only while bonds remain outstanding. Fowler said this board has one outstanding bond issue — the Butterfield Trail Village bonds — and explained the general mechanics the board will follow if the Butterfield Trail team requests approval. He described the typical sequence as a special board meeting to adopt a bond resolution followed by action by the Fayetteville Board of Directors to approve terms required by the city ordinance.

Fowler and others discussed the legal and tax framework: the board issues “conduit” tax-exempt debt, meaning the local governmental issuer is not financially liable for principal or interest; rather, proceeds are loaned to a borrower and repayments, if made, are passed through to bondholders. Fowler summarized that the Internal Revenue Code treats interest on municipal tax-exempt bonds as excluded from bondholders’ gross income, which generally allows borrowers to obtain lower interest rates. He also noted that multifamily and affordable housing financings are often combined with low-income housing tax credits through the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, but that the Fayetteville ordinance limits the local board’s scope primarily to elderly housing and health-care projects unless the city clarifies the ordinance.

On scheduling, the board agreed to hold a placeholder special meeting the week of Sept. 22 (the group discussed Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 4 p.m.) to consider the Butterfield Trail Village financing, with the board counsel asking that the financing team provide draft documents several days in advance for review. Board members asked that the bond documents and key terms be provided electronically at least several days before any special meeting so members could review them prior to voting.

The board discussed internal roles and workload. Fowler said previous practice for this board had been that it maintained little or no funds and that the treasurer role historically had limited duties; secretary duties were likely to include preparing the board’s minutes or coordinating the recorded meeting record with the city’s recordkeeping. Tara Paxton, who administered the oaths and said the city retains copies of oath forms in her office, offered to archive and, if requested, mail sworn oaths to the members.

The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn after agreeing to the slate of officers, the authorization for a written candidate recommendation to the mayor, and the placeholder date for the Butterfield Trail Village bond presentation. The board also agreed that minutes would be prepared in abbreviated form referencing the recorded meeting, consistent with Arkansas’s Freedom of Information Act and the city’s procedures.

Discussion versus decisions
- Discussion only: the board discussed the broader scope of projects the act and city ordinance allow and whether multifamily rental projects would require a clarifying ordinance change by the Fayetteville Board of Directors. Members asked procedural questions about fees, counsel compensation and how prior boards had operated.
- Direction/assignment: the board authorized (by resolution) a written recommendation process for up to three candidates to fill the fifth member seat and asked bond counsel to request draft bond documents from Butterfield Trail Village’s financing team in time to circulate them several days before any special meeting.
- Formal action: oaths were administered to Charles Watson and Marjo Burke; officers were elected (secretary: Leslie Ferguson; vice chair: Marjo Burke; treasurer: Charles Watson); the resolution authorizing a written recommendation to the mayor passed; the board set a tentative special meeting date to consider the Butterfield Trail Village financing.

What remains to be decided
The board still has one open seat and must transmit recommendations to the mayor or notify the mayor that it has no recommendation; the mayor’s appointment is subject to confirmation by the Fayetteville Board of Directors. The board also must receive the bond team’s documents and hold the special meeting before taking any formal action on the proposed refunding and new-money bonds for Butterfield Trail Village.

Reporting note: actions described above are taken from the board’s recorded meeting. Where vote tallies or specific motion proposers were not explicitly recorded in the public record, this report describes outcomes and procedural authorizations stated during the meeting without inventing additional vote counts or individual proposers beyond what the record shows.