Jonesboro finance committee forwards sponsorships, grant applications and vehicle purchase waiver to full council

The Jonesboro Finance Committee on June 24 voted to forward a package of resolutions to the full City Council, including several sponsorship contracts for athletic fields, two applications to the Arkansas Community Assistance Grant Program for park projects, the FY 2025–26 Community Development Block Grant annual action plan, acceptance of planned Federal Transit Administration capital funds for JET, and a waiver of competitive bidding to buy 11 city vehicles.

The measures matter because they authorize contracts, grant applications or procurement steps that could commit city resources or require local matching funds and will now go to the full council for final action.

The committee approved forwarding two municipal-lane replacement resolutions for properties at 715 N. Patrick Street (owners: Aretha and Clarence Fox) and at 2612 Crawford (owners: Randy and Ali Crawford). The committee then considered a series of sponsorship agreements for parks and athletic facilities. It voted to forward to full council a contract with Arkansas State University to sponsor two baseball fields at Joe Mac Campbell Park for $25,000 over five years and, after an amendment, a sponsorship for one soccer field (the committee amended the text to reflect one soccer field rather than two) for $12,500 over five years. The committee also forwarded proposals to contract with Denver’s Refrigeration for sponsorship of one softball field at Southside Sports Complex ($7,500 over five years) and with Coach Joey’s Fast Pitch Academy for sponsorship of another field at the same complex ($7,500 over five years).

On grants, the committee voted to forward two resolutions authorizing the city’s Grama and Community Development Department to apply to the FY 2025 Arkansas Community Assistance Grant Program. One application would request a maximum grant of $1,500,000 (with a 20% local match of $300,000) to construct a 6,000-square-foot administration building at the Jonesboro Shooting Sports Complex to support hosting regional tournaments. The second application would request up to $1,500,000 (with a 20% local match) to construct a trail network and a fishing pond at a newly purchased property in northeast Jonesboro behind Journey Church and Cornerstone United Methodist Church.

Regarding the northeast park, committee members asked about local funds already allocated to the project. A staff member said, “So, yeah, currently we have dollars 2,100,000 that has been allocated to it. Now, some of that's been spent for property acquisition,” and later a different staff member said the amount remaining from property acquisition could be “about 2.4, 2.5 million.” Those two statements were provided by staff during the meeting; the committee did not adopt a single reconciled figure on the record.

The committee also forwarded the FY 2025–26 CDBG annual action plan for full council consideration. Committee discussion and the text presented show a federal allocation amount of $728,792 for the annual action plan, and the agenda listed proposed line-item allocations including administration ($145,748.40) and public services ($94,318.80) and named organizations and program amounts such as Jonesboro Church Health Center, Hispanic Community Services, Family Crisis Center, Jonesboro City Stars Booster Club and others as recipients (amounts listed on the agenda packet were read into the record).

On transit funding, the committee forwarded a resolution expressing the city’s willingness to accept Federal Transit Administration funds under 49 U.S.C. §5339 for Jonesboro Economical Transportation (JET). The city was allocated $120,446 in 53.39/§5339 funding for FY2025; the resolution states the funds require formal acceptance by the governing body and typically allow up to a 20% local match and must follow local procurement rules once accepted.

Finally, the committee forwarded a resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize the purchase of 11 vehicles in the 2025 budget year. The agenda lists the FY2025 budgeted amount for those vehicle types at $388,387 and a quoted purchase cost of $377,045; the resolution cites ACA section 14-58-303 as the authority under which the committee found bidding “not practical” because availability varied by dealer.

Committee motions to forward each resolution were made on the record and seconded; the committee chair asked that members “please record your vote” on each item but the transcript of the meeting does not include a roll-call tally in the committee record presented here. All forwarded items will be considered and voted on by the full City Council at a subsequent meeting.

Questions or clarifications asked by committee members during the meeting included a request for more detail on CDBG subrecipients’ planned uses (staff indicated additional details had been provided in printed material), and whether multiple grant applications might compete with one another (a staff member said there was no stated limit preventing applying for more than one project).