WHAT IS GOING ON?
Dear Neighbors,
📅 At this time, only one meeting is published for the week of 3/15/25: The March meeting of the Washington County Quorum Court.
📍 Location: 280 N. College, Washington County Courthouse, Fayetteville, AR 🕕 Date & Time: 3/20/25 at 6:00 PM (if you want to hear the judge’s “State of the County Address,” that starts at 5:30 PM on 3/20/25.
What’s on the Agenda? A lot! Some highlights:
Since this is the regular quorum court meeting, fifteen minutes of public comment time is at the beginning (No. 5) of the agenda, just after the agenda is approved. There will also be twelve minutes of public comment time before we vote on any ordinance or resolution.
Item No. 8 is the revised proposed zoning ordinance which came over from last week’s County Services Committee meeting. You can read the most recent version of the zoning ordinance here. Starting on Page 8 of agenda. The latest zoning map is here. Some important revisions were made to the ordinance. See below for more information because I thought we didn't vote on the map, but yet here it is attached. Please read below for more on this issue when I talk about Tuesday's County Services meeting. Section 5) ZONING WAS REMOVED COMPLETELY.
Item No. 9 amends Ordinance 2023-081 concerning vacation accrual accrual, use and payout, and much more. This Ordinance starts on P. 172 of the agenda. I would love to hear from county employees and get their thoughts on this. This was sprung on us at the last minute at County Services on Tuesday. If it’s good for county employees, if it will make things better for them, then I’m good with it, but I need to hear from you.
Item No. 10 is an ordinance adopting the Arkansas Diamond Deferred Compensation Plan and it sounds like a good thing, but again, I’d love to hear from county employees and what they think about it.
Item 12 is my RESOLUTION DECLARING WASHINGTON COUNTY AS A WELCOMING AND INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY FOR ALL. This resolution barely passed out of committee. I was asked to bring this resolution and I was told by members of immigrant rights organizations and members of the LGBTQ+ communities that this was important to them. That it will make a difference. While resolutions are not binding, these impacted communities tell me, and I believe them, that they will feel safer if the county passes this resolution. They will feel less safe if the resolution does not pass.
CALL TO ACTION: The following JPs voted AGAINST the Welcoming Resolution in committee last week:
Lisa Ecke lecke@washingtoncountyar.gov
Robert Massingill Robert.Massingill@washingtoncountyar.gov
Brad Bruns bradley.bruns@washingtoncountyar.gov
David Wilson dwilson@washingtoncountyar.gov
Kyle Lyons kylelyons@washingtoncountyar.gov
Charles Dean CDean@washingtoncountyar.gov
If you would like to see the quorum court declare Washington County a “Welcoming Community,” as we’ve been requested to do by these organizations and individuals, please contact the above JPs and ask them to vote YES! on the resolution. You can also contact the other JPs and thank them for voting for the resolution and ask that they do so again on Thursday, if you like. Here’s a link to contact information for all JPs and elected officials.
📌MEETINGS TO WATCH FROM LAST WEEK
The Washington County Quorum Court County Services/Finance & Budget Committees met Tuesday 3/11/25. Please watch the video here.
This was a ridiculously long meeting because someone (I assume Judge Deakins but do not know that for a fact) made the decision to cancel the County Services meeting which was supposed to be on 3/3/25 and combine it with the Finance & Budget Committee regularly scheduled for 3/11/25. It made for a too long meeting and lresulted, again, in omitting some public comment time.
Lisa Ecke was elected chair of F&B. Butch Pond will remain as vice-chair. I nominated JP Shawndra Washington as chair and again as vice-chair because she knows more about parliamentary procedure than anyone, but didn’t have the votes.
One person, a member of the public, was removed from the meeting by a sheriff’s deputy for, I think, asking about public comment, but that could have been avoided entirely if the chair had announced that she was going to allow public comment time before we vote! Due to recent events, the public (me, too) were worried that the chair would not allow the public to speak before we vote. It happened in February. We were right to be concerned.
@ 11:35 in the video, is the beginning of the presentation by Carole Moralez of Upskill. The county gave Upskill $2.9 Millon Dollars on 12/16/21, Ordinance No. 2021-119 for workforce development.
@ 37:17 in the video we start discussion of the zoning map and ordinance. Starts off with Judge Deakins speaking. He says, among other things, that the ordinance has become “way too political.”
We did make some important revisions and amendments to the ordinance and starting on Page 8 of this week’s agenda, you can read the ordinance that will likely be voted on Thursday 3/20/25.
The handout from Brian Lester last Tuesday night deleted everything beginning on the old Page 66 through the top of the old Page 89 - then starting up again with 6) FLOOD DAMAGE PREVENTION on the old Page 89.
This ordinance also adopts "The Washington County Zoning Map...by reference..." Here's a screen shot of the zoning map that's attached to the agenda. The map can be found on Page 171 of this week’s agenda. Please see below for more information on that.
During the meeting I specifically asked the county attorney about the map and our exchange starts at 2:13:18:
Me: “Point of order my point of order is and I don't I don't know where the county uh
2:13:24 attorney went but it oh okay so it's my understanding that we're we're about to 2:13:30 we're about to vote on this are we voting on the map too no we have to vote 2:13:35 on the map and the ordinance that this 2:13:41 second what about attorney Lester? What about Arkansas code 14-56416 and the
2:13:49 Osborne V. city of Camden case? you don't think that
Mr. Lester: 2:13:58 that applies if you're not don't the purpose of the map was for the zoning if there 2:14:03 is no if we're not adopting zoning we already have a map and it stays in 2:14:08 effect.” So why is the zoning map attached to the ordinance that will be voted on Thursday night.
What we passed out of committee was the so-called “Standards Package,” effectively separating the technical development standards.
The ordinance that passed out of committee also changed the appeal procedures under the ordinance. You can see the changes on Page 56 of this week’s agenda and Page 48 of the ordinance that’s included in the agenda. Instead of the county judge hearing certain appeals, these appeals will be heard by the quorum court. Thank you, JP Evelyn Rios Stafford for these amendments.
🌟 DETENTION CENTER INFORMATION 3/15/25
As of Tuesday, 3/11/25, there were at least 757 individuals currently detained in the Washington County Detention Center.
An estimated 80-100 additional detainees are not publicly listed due to "restrictive bookings."
“Around” 150 were sleeping on the floor. We had 883 intakes for the 1/15/25 to 2/15/25 time period. 345 of those were released by the sheriff and 62 were released on their own recognizance.
We have 440 individuals in jail pretrial which means they’ve been arrested and/or charged, but have not been found guilty. They are there because they don’t have the money to buy their freedom.
No detainees had tested positive for Covid and none were in quarantine.
77 detainees list their addresses as either "homeless" or "1832 S School Street" (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 (as of 3/15/25)
Two New Bids: Outfitting of Sheriff's Office Vehicles
Department:Sheriff
Category:Bid
RFP Number:BID 2025-06
Start Date:03/28/2025 4:00 PM
Close Date:03/31/2025 9:00 AM
Time Schedule:
BID posted on the County website March 14, 2025.
BID requests for interpretations to be submitted by 2:00PM on Friday, March 21, 2025.
BID due at 4:00 PM, Friday, March, 28, 2025.
BID opened at 9:00 AM, Monday, March 31, 2025.
Automated Library Software & Hosting
Department:Purchasing
RFP Number:Bid 2025-07
Start Date:03/28/2025 4:00 PM
Close Date:03/31/2025 9:30 AM
View all current RFQs and bids [here].
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County Job Openings (as of 3/15/25)
Office Manager- Animal Shelter
Type:Full Time
Salary/Pay Rate:$19.95-$21.98
Posted Date:03/13/2025 4:00 PM
Salary / Pay Rate: $19.95-$21.98
Job Type: Full Time Job Application: Employment Application 2
The Road Department (479-444-1610) and Sheriff's Office (479-444-5700) are consistently hiring.
Below is the link for all posted job openings in Washington County. The road department and sheriff’s offices are almost always hiring. The road department is 479-444-1610. The sheriff’s office is 479-444-5700.
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