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UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETINGS WEEK OF 12/8/24
🌟 Washington County Quorum Court Finance and Budget Committee meets Tuesday 12/10/24 at 6:00 PM, Washington County Courthouse. This is an in person meeting only. The meeting will be livestreamed here.
Here’s the agenda for F&B meeting. Some things of note about the agenda:
Item 7: Update from Excellerate Foundation on “appropriated ARPA funds.” Here’s the presentation that was provided by county judge Patrick Deakins Saturday morning 12/7/24 at 11:52 am. We received this email and this from the judge explaining more about the matter. Why are huge items like this so often brought to the court at the last minute? These are your taxpayer dollars that we’ll likely either appropriate to Excellerate to “...scale it (their LITC Housing Project) even more…” Or, as the judge says, we can allocate the $1M to the emergency operations center. I and all JPs and the judge need to hear from you before Tuesday evening concerning how you’d like to see this $1M used.
Item 9: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ROAD DEPARTMENT BUDGET FOR 2024 in the amount of $445,103.31 from unappropriated reserves, Road Fund, to cover the increased costs associated with the paving program this year ($395,854.54), including the seal program and a leased rock crusher ($49,248.77).
Accepting $75,000 from a grant (not named), evidently for “Mobile Video Recorders Line Item.”
Transferring $1,000,000 from the Employee Insurance Fund the (sic) Health Insurance line item for 2024 for “...additional funding to finish the year with a positive balance.”
Since this is a committee meeting “of the whole,” the public comment period is at the conclusion of the meeting, just before we adjourn, and after all agenda items have been voted on or settled. However, there will also be twelve minutes of public comment time before we vote on any ordinance or resolution. These public comment periods may be extended upon motion and vote of ⅔ majority. It’s good, if you plan to speak, to go ahead and get in line as soon as the judge calls for public comment.
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COUNTY MEETINGS FROM LAST WEEK
UPDATE ON COUNTY SERVICES MEETING 12/2/24:
To be fully informed, you should watch the entire meeting here. Note: this is the County Services meeting, though the title is not correct as it is listed on YouTube as “Finance and Budget.”
I made a motion to table/postpone indefinitely the proposed zoning ordinance and map. Didn’t have the votes to pass.
There was a lot of discussion at least, but the public wasn’t allowed to participate in that discussion, so it wasn’t nearly what it could have been.
Back in March of this year, when the zoning proposals first came to the court, I asked the judge and county attorney to hold public meetings in the county to get public feedback and educate the community. The judge refused saying he couldn’t spare the county attorney to do that, that he (county attorney) was needed in his office.
At Monday’s meeting, several other JPs made that request and it was shot down by the county attorney, mostly, and to some extent, the planning director.
JP Evelyn Rios-Stafford made a motion to postpone the ordinance until the February 2025 County Services Committee meeting and that passed.
JP Evelyn Rios-Stafford served as chair and did an excellent job. Thank you JP Rios-Stafford!
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INFORMATION ON ANOTHER ZONING CASE:
The case of Conway Lakeside, LLC and Eaglecrest Recovery, LLC v. Washington County Etal; Charles McKinney and Mary McKinney, Intervenors, Washington County 72CV-23-1033, resulted in a bench trial last week before Judge Doug Martin, and while there’s no judgment filed yet (that’s not unusual, usually takes time), I was told that the intervenors were successful. Intervenors Charles and Mary McKinney, had fought to overturn the CUP that was granted to Eaglecrest Recovery earlier this year. We’ll know more after a final order is approved and filed.
While researching that case, I found the following information from WC Judge Patrick Deakins’ deposition that he gave in the matter. On Page 9 of Intervenors Brief in Support of Intervenors’ Second Motion for Summary Judgment,” they state:
“Judge Deakins opined in his deposition that all sober-living facilities are simply exempt from Washington County zoning ordinances. Deakins Deposition, 59:21-25. He also thinks zoning is completely unnecessary in unincorporated Washington County. Id., 22:25-23:6
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🌟 The Washington County Planning Board met Thursday 12/5/4 at 5:00 PM, Quorum Court Room, Washington County Courthouse. You can watch that meeting here.
There’s a brief discussion starting at 16:22 in the video about the proposed zoning changes, but just generally and what we already know.
Unfortunately I missed attending that meeting because I had a 4:30 pm wedding that was delayed for one hour because (a) the bride forgot the marriage license and (b) the groom forgot the rings.
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➽ The December meeting of the Washington County Quorum Court is Thursday 12/19/24. You can watch the meeting here.
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Because this newsletter is so long, I am not including anything on the
2025 budget. I’ll get back with that next week.
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🌟 DETENTION CENTER INFORMATION 12/07/24
As of Monday, 12/2/24, there were 167 people sleeping on the floor at the Washington County Detention Center. Most of the people in the jail, including those sleeping on the floor, are low-level, nonviolent alleged offenders who are waiting for their day in court. Most have bonds that have been set by a judicial officer, but they don’t have the money to buy their freedom, so they sit in jail, sometimes for months, often even longer.
Also as of 12/2/24, there were 35 unfilled positions in the detention center and six in the enforcement division.
There were 132 women in the WCDC.
As of 12/7/24, there are at least 769 people locked away in our Washington County Detention Center. This is from information on the public facing dashboard. There are likely more than this considering that the sheriff’s office does not post so-called “restrictive bookings” online. Those such postings have been estimated to be 80 - 100 at any time.
72 of the detainees list addresses as either “homeless” or “1832 S School Street - the address of Seven Hills Homeless Shelter.
Here’s the link to the Detailed Charge Report:
You can check the “Calls for Service” board here.
Here’s a list in alphabetical order to search for people.
READ AND STUDY THE 2020 CRIMINAL JUSTICE ASSESSMENT STUDY PREPARED BY THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS HERE. READ AND LEARN WHY WE DO NOT NEED TO SPEND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON JAIL EXPANSIONS TO KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE!
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COUNTY BID POSTINGS 12/8/24
🌟 There’s a new bid/RFP posting this week for “Automated Sales Verification Software” for the Assessor’s Office. Here’s the link to current RFQs and bids:
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COUNTY JOB OPENINGS THIS WEEK (12/8/24)
There’s a new job posting for a paralegal for the Prosecuting Attorney:
Type:Full Time
Posted Date:12/06/2024
Applications accepted from: ALL PERSONS INTERESTED - TWO OPEN POSITIONS
Position Title: Paralegal - Prosecuting Attorney Office
Department: Prosecuting Attorney
Salary: $19.95 - $21.98
Pay Grade: 7
Workday & Hours: Full-Time 8:00am-4:30pm
Benefits Eligibility: Eligible
The prosecutor is also looking to hire a Victim Assistance/Volunteer Coordinator:
Type:Full Time
Salary/Pay Rate:$21.91 - $24.14
Posted Date:12/06/2024
Applications accepted from: ALL PERSONS INTERESTED - TWO OPEN POSITIONS
Position Title: Victim Assistance Coordinator /Volunteer Coord. - Prosecuting Attorney Office
Department: Prosecuting Attorney
Salary: $21.91 - $24.14
Pay Grade: 10
Workday & Hours: Full-Time 8:00am-4:30pm
Benefits Eligibility: Eligible
Here’s a link to the other current job postings:
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🌟 WANT TO BECOME INVOLVED?🌟
ATTEND AS MANY MEETINGS OF THE QUORUM COURT AND ITS SUBCOMMITTEES AS YOU CAN. CHECK MY WEBSITE WWW.BETHCOGER.COM FOR DATES AND TIMES.
CONTACT JUDGE DEAKINS AND TELL HIM YOU WANT OUR CRISIS STABILIZATION UNIT TO REOPEN AND ASK HIM TO GET TO WORK ON FINDING ANOTHER VENDOR BECAUSE WE CAN DO HARD THINGS.
Continue to ask Judge Deakins to appoint members to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee and get that group up and running! This is too important. If you haven’t called, please do so, or send email, or go by the courthouse and speak to the judge in person. WHAT’S NEXT? WHY WON’T JUDGE DEAKINS APPOINT MEMBERS AND ACTIVATE THIS COMMITTEE AND LET IT GET TO WORK? ASK HIM.
Contact your JP and set up a time to meet them for coffee or just to get together. Become a regular voice in their ear and urge them to support criminal justice reform and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That’s how I got started advocating to the court back in 2019. CAN YOU TAKE AN HOUR OR TWO AND MEET WITH YOUR JP AND SHARE YOUR CONCERNS OR COMMENTS, OR WHATEVER YOUR THOUGHTS ARE.
Share this Newsletter with your friends and neighbors!
Write letters to the editor. letters@nwadg.com
Do you have a court date in Benton or Washington County? Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition (AJRC) has a program to train volunteers to offer practical, procedural, and emotional support during your court hearing. From a reassuring check-in before your court date, to standing by your side on the day of court. Everyone deserves to be heard, supported, and understood.
To request a Court Support Volunteer, please fill out the Courtside Support Request Form. Questions? Concerns? Reach out to us at arkansasjusticereform@gmail.org.
To become a volunteer, contact AJRC at 479-345-1150 or the above email. They provide training that will help make you become a great Court Support Volunteer.
Here’s how you can contact your county officials. We need to hear from you!!
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