Jonesboro committee forwards council rules changes, appointments and committee reorganization to full council

The Nominating and Rules Committee of the Jonesboro City Council at a special-called meeting forwarded an ordinance to amend council rules (Ordinance 25008), a resolution to create a Jonesboro Multimodal Connectivity Committee, and an amended appointments resolution (Resolution 25015) to the full council for consideration. The committee also approved dissolving the public services committee and reassigning its duties to other committees.

The ordinance to amend the Jonesboro Code of Ordinances, chapter 2, article 3, contained mostly housekeeping changes, including revised language about electronic devices during meetings, a new electronic balloting procedure with limited circumstances for abstention, and a reconfiguration of the internal nominating-and-rules committee membership. The committee voted to “walk on” the ordinance to the full council agenda that same evening.

Committee members described the amendments to the electronic-voting language as clarifying when a council member may abstain — limited to members who have not participated in the discussion and when a member states a valid reason for abstention — and to provide an exception if electronic balloting is unavailable. The changes to the committee membership specify alternating seat assignments across wards so the nominating-and-rules committee will include representatives from all parts of the city on an alternating schedule.

The mayor’s office presented a resolution to create a Jonesboro Multimodal Connectivity Committee; the nominating-and-rules panel voted to forward that resolution to the full council. The committee did not adopt final membership or detailed duties at the meeting; staff indicated the item could be placed on the full-council agenda for further action.

On Resolution 25015, which would make appointments and reappointments to boards and commissions as recommended by Mayor Kopenhaver, the committee voted to amend the resolution to remove several appointments pending further review. The motion removed the appointment of Brian Emerson to the A and P board (as listed in the resolution) and removed the appointment of Jason Chandler to the airport commission; committee members said Brandon Winter wishes to complete his current term and the airport board would address replacements through its process. Committee members also requested the AMP item regarding John Williams be deferred until AMP has a chance to discuss filling the unexpired term. The amended appointments resolution was forwarded to full council, and committee members moved to walk the amended resolution onto the full-council agenda that evening.

Under a separate communication (Communication 25005), the committee voted to dissolve the public services committee. The recommended reassignment places the airport committee work with the finance committee (noting an appointed airport board already oversees operations), and transfers parks-and-cemeteries and transportation matters to the public works committee. Committee members said the change is intended to reduce duplication and to allow the full council to hear director reports when appropriate.

The committee approved routine minutes from January 2025 (Minutes 25002) and used voice votes for the motions described; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript. Where votes were voice votes, the meeting record shows motions carried but does not record numeric tallies. Several items were explicitly scheduled to be placed on the full-council agenda that evening.

The meeting included a brief public comment period during which a resident reminded the mayor of a prior commitment to appear at a local political group's meeting before filling a library-board position; the committee did not act on that comment during the special meeting and adjourned after completing its agenda.