WASHINGTON COUNTY QUORUM COURT
COUNTY SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETS
MONDAY, 6/3/24, 6:00 PM, WASHINGTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
LIKELY ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT MEETINGS OF THE YEAR
INCLUDES DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE VOTE ON NEW
ZONING ORDINANCE & MAP AND PUBLIC TOWN HALL, RESOLUTION
AND ORDINANCE ON NWA COMMUNITY CORRECTION CENTER
IF YOU ONLY ATTEND ONE MEETING THIS YEAR, PLEASE MAKE IT THIS ONE
THERE WILL BE A TOTAL OF 66 MINUTES PUBLIC COMMENT TIME AT THIS MEETING - LET'S USE EVERY ONE OF THOSE MINUTES
🔔 County Services Agenda for 6/3/24 at 6:00 PM, Washington County Courthouse.
Note the agenda includes a thirty (30) minute period during which community members may come to the court and speak to us and provide information on why they want the NWA Community Correction Center to remain in operation as it is now on College Avenue, and why it's such an important asset to our county.
There will also be 12 minutes public comment time before the vote on the resolution and 12 minutes before the vote on the ordinance and an additional 12 minutes just before the meeting adjourns.
Washington County has a Lease Agreement (starts on page three) dated 6/11/2007 with the Arkansas Department of Community Correction (DOC) that allows the DOC to rent what is commonly referred to as the “Old Washington County Jail,” for the nominal annual rental of $1.00. It’s located at 114 N. College Avenue, Fayetteville. Washington County Patrick Deakins gave notice on 3/29/24 that he was going to cancel the lease agreement and evict the DOC unless the parties could negotiate new rental terms agreeable to both Lessor and Lessee. That hasn’t happened.
I will introduce a resolution in support of the CCC and an ordinance to fund a study as to the feasibility and costs associated with canceling the lease agreement with the Department of Corrections and turning the facility into a satellite jail which means Washington County taxpayers will be taking on the costs associated therewith.
Here’s a deeper dive into the whole thing, starting in 2007.
Here’s how the judge calculated the proposed rental that he's asking DOC to pay:
“Verified Per Diem Cost to the County - State Reimbursed Rate) Number State Board Days Consumed in the County Facility = Lease amount for the facility
If we used 2023 as an examp0le, the math would work out as:
($94.66** - $40) $56,268 = $3,076,734.24
** Washington County’s per diem cost as verified by the 2020 Association of Arkansas Counties’ Local Government Inmate Cost Report.”
’s the contact information for your local elected officials:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M90HMXWclgwjzC67qzl31FFOOqrD4GsbcWBRDKnfLso/edit?usp=sharing
COUNTY UPDATE
🌟COUNTY ZONING PROPOSAL (ORDINANCE, RULES & REGULATIONS AND MAP ON COUNTY SERVICES MEETING AGENDA 6/3/24)
The County Services agenda above also includes “THE FREEDOM AND PROPERTY PRESERVATION ZONING ACT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY” Ordinance. This ordinance will shape the environmental footprint of our community for decades to come. It’s essential that we have public participation and include the public in this huge decision making process about zoning. What we’re doing now will impact land use regulation, sprawl, water management, green spaces, flood risk management, noise and air pollution, and the everyday lives of Washington County citizens for decades to come.
PLEASE SEND ME ALL YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ABOUT THE NEW ZONING ORDINANCE AND ZONING MAP.
ZONING MAP FOR WASHINGTON COUNTY: The white parcels would be zoned commercial - these mainly follow along state highways and the interstate. The blue parcens would be zoned industrial - these include existing dirt mines and quarries…To see the proposed zoning on the interactive map, select “Layer List” from the top menu and click the box for “County Zoning Map 2024.”
To get a copy of the proposed planning ordinances, please check the Planning Department Ordinances and Regulations page, as shown in the image below.
Here are the links to the zoning districts webmap draft and the planning ordinances draft (PDF also attached).
My email is: ejcoger@gmail.com. My number is 479-306-9994. Please call and/or text.
🌟 WASHINGTON COUNTY ZBA & PLANNING BOARD MEETS THURSDAY, 6/6/24, 5:00 PM, WASHINGTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE (QUORUM COURT ROOM)
Here's the agenda for this meeting. This includes a couple of variance hearings and Conditional Use Permits, including for two wedding venues. One to be located at 1558 Eldridge Rd., Fayetteville, Applicant Terry Schlinker; and one to be at 11482 Abilene Rd., Winslow, Arkansas, Applicant Carolyn Ramm.
DETENTION CENTER INFORMATION 5/30/24
As of 5/30/24, there are 763 people sitting in our Washington County Detention Center. Many of those are pretrial - meaning they’ve been arrested and/or charged, but have not been found guilty. 91 of those people are homeless. There are 232 Failure to Appear charges; 43 Parole Violation charges; 251 “hold for other department”; and 64 “courtesy/contract hold.”
These numbers are for the period 4/16/24 to 5/15/24:
Average daily population of Federal Prisoners 83
Average Daily population of Pretrial People 514
Average Daily population of Arkansas
Department of Corrections People 118
COUNTY JOB OPENINGS THIS WEEK (5/26/24)
🌟 Here’s the link to the current Washington County Job Openings as posted on the HR website: https://www.washingtoncountyar.gov/government/departments-f-z/human-resources/job-postings
There you’ll be able to complete an online application, see salary ranges and more.