Committee forwards ordinance to add Section 50-40 creating park rangers to full council

The City of Jonesboro Public Safety Committee read Ordinance 25 0 28, an amendment to the municipal code to add Section 50-40 establishing park rangers, and voted to forward the ordinance to the full City Council after a roll-call vote.

Chair read the ordinance that describes park rangers' duties: maintaining a presence in city parks, preserving and protecting park property, ensuring proper use of equipment and resources, providing customer service and education about park history, and performing other duties assigned by supervisors. The ordinance also says park rangers are to enforce park rules and may write citations and warnings where necessary, and places park rangers under the authority of the code enforcement division with enforcement authority comparable to code enforcement or animal control officers.

Committee members asked how widely park rangers would patrol. A parks staff member (Robert) said the city has close to 30 parks and the plan is to allow rangers to visit multiple park locations and cover parks seven days a week after completing training in roughly two weeks. The committee held a roll-call vote to move the ordinance to the full council; the roll call recorded affirmative votes from Miss Porter, Mister Gibson, Mister McClain, Mister Miller, Mister Brey and the chair. The motion carried and the ordinance will be placed on a future council agenda for consideration.

Next steps: the full City Council will consider Ordinance 25 0 28. Staff indicated training and deployment plans are in progress; the ordinance as read establishes the role and enforcement authority but additional implementation details (staffing levels, salaries, and patrol schedules) were not specified in committee.