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West Memphis council approves land donation, equipment lease, ordinance and funds replacement narcotics truck
Summary
At its meeting the West Memphis City Council approved a resolution donating part of a city lot to the Arkansas State Highway Commission, authorized an equipment lease-purchase agreement, adopted an ordinance allowing council members to purchase services from a local vendor, and approved using narcotics-seizure funds to replace a wrecked police narcotics truck.
The West Memphis City Council approved several items on its consent and regular dockets, including a land donation to the Arkansas State Highway Commission, an equipment lease-purchase with a finance vendor, a procurement-related ordinance for services from a local vendor and authorization to use narcotics-seizure funds to replace a damaged police vehicle.
The council passed R1, a resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to donate part of lot 12 of the Taylor Himmonway property to the Arkansas State Highway Commission; the measure was assigned resolution number 2320. Mayor McClendon called for the motion and the resolution was approved after explanation by staff.
The council also approved R2, a resolution authorizing and approving execution of an equipment lease-purchase agreement with Cadence Equipment Finance (a division of Cadence Bank). The council conducted a roll-call vote; the clerk recorded affirmative responses from Councilor Bruce, Councilor Cat, Councilor Kroom, Councilor Harris, Councilor Holt, Councilor Hutchson, Councilor Muhamd, Councilor Monday and Councilor Murray. The clerk reported nine of 10 present voted in favor and the resolution passed as number 2321.
On ordinance business the council advanced and approved Ordinance 01, authorizing members of the city council to purchase services from Josh Stokes, DBA Fish Daddies, retroactive to Nov. 1, 2024. The ordinance was read for the second and third times in the same meeting after suspension of the rules and was recorded as ordinance number 2701.
Council also added to the agenda and approved a request to replace the police department's narcotics truck after an insurance payment of $21,000 following the vehicle's wreck. City officials told the council the replacement would cost roughly $40,000–$42,000 and proposed taking approximately $22,000 from the narcotics seizure fund to cover the difference; a motion to add the item and to approve the purchase carried.
Several personal charitable contributions were announced during the meeting after the council added 'charity days' to the agenda: Councilwoman Hutcherson offered $500 to the 'cabinets of West Memphis' toward the Prime Promise program and $250 to Bragg Elementary, and other council members confirmed personal donations to local Promise programs.
Next steps: The resolutions and ordinance will be processed with the numbers announced at the meeting (R1 → 2320; R2 → 2321; Ordinance → 2701). The narcotics truck replacement will proceed after the finance transfer described at the meeting.
