Board will continue budget talks Tuesday

A workshop is scheduled before regular meeting.

Siloam Springs’ budget preview workshops will resume on Tuesday before the regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting. As in past weeks, the budget meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the board meeting following at 6:30.

The meeting’s agenda contains a budget amendment, one rezoning application, three ordinances and four resolutions.

The budget amendment is related to a sidewalk that has been planned for Lake Francis Drive to Chacon Memorial Park. The sidewalk was scheduled to be constructed this year, but the city has been forced to delay the project due to a sewer line in the way.

Instead, city staff has proposed that the project be switched with a 2017 project that can be completed now, and the Lake Francis project will be moved to 2017, when the sewer line can be relocated.

The rezoning application is to rezone a vacant lot on U.S. Highway 412 from industrial to roadway commercial. According to the city staff report, the lot will be used for a future self-storage shed sales center.

Next on the agenda are a pair of ordinances related to staff pay.

According to the staff report, Siloam Springs board members are paid $220 per meeting, which has not increased since 2004. The mayor is paid $10,000 per year, which has not changed since 1997. The ordinance would increase pay for board members to $264 per meeting, which is still below the area average of $324 per meeting. The mayor’s pay would increase to $12,000.

The pay of Planning and Zoning Commission members will get attention in the next item. The staff report said that Siloam Springs is one of very few Northwest Arkansas municipalities that does not pay members of the planning board. It is proposed that each member be paid $100 per regularly scheduled planning meeting, which will encourage attendance and recognize the work put in by commissioners.

The resolutions on the agenda include an extension of the City Administrator’s authority to offer economic incentives for new and expanding industries. The resolution has been renewed every two years since 2010, and no changes were listed in the staff report.

The agenda is rounded out by a pair of significant development permits, one for a shopping center on U.S. Highway 412, and the other a childcare center at 2011 and 2075 North Mt. Olive Street. The final plat development permit and a corresponding parking ordinance for Dogwood Meadows will also be considered.