City Board debuts consent agenda

The city board will begin using a consent agenda during the city board meeting on Tuesday.

City Administrator Phillip Patterson said he received the idea from comments made by Director Carol Smiley during the city board meeting on June 2. He discussed the idea of a consent agenda during the following meeting and sought the board’s opinion. The directors had positive comments and approved the amendment to their policies and procedures during the meeting on July 7.

A consent agenda is a method of saving time during board meetings by placing certain items on a consent portion of an agenda and have one motion to approve all items, according to Patterson.

“Typically items are routine procedures that are not likely to be controversial,” Patterson said.

Items which would be placed

on consent agendas would be approving minutes of previous meetings; committee appointments; appointments requiring board approvals; contracts and approvals; and resolutions which are routine and not controversial, Patterson said. If there is an item the board would like to discuss, only one member is needed to remove the item from the consent agenda, Patterson said.

Ordinances will not be allowed on the consent agenda because they require a reading, Patterson said. This will not replace the regular agenda, but will condense it down, Patterson said.

“We don’t always have big agendas like this but in that scenario it would shorten it pretty dramatically,” Patterson said.

Bentonville, Fayetteville and Rogers presently use consent agendas during their meetings, Patterson said.

The items to be discussed during this meeting will be:

Consent Agenda Items

• Workshop minutes from July 7.

• Regular meeting minutes from July 7.

• Mutual aid agreement with the Grand River Dam Authority concerning electrical emergencies.

• An amendment with the chamber of commerce to extend the deadline by two months for the Marketspace Agreement with the chamber.

• Resolution 37-20 setting a hearing date for the annexation of city enclaves to Aug. 18.

• Resolution 38-20 regarding the final plat development permit on the 2200 block of North Hico Street.

Regularly Scheduled Items

• Placing Ordinance 2018 concerning the rezoning of the 700 to 1000 block of Arkansas Highway 16 South from R-2 (Roadway Commercial) to P-D (Planned Development) on its second reading.

• Placing Ordinance 2019 regarding the annexation of 53.63 acres of the 23000 block of Lawlis Road on its second reading.

Staff Reports

• Introducing Ordinance 20-20; Ordinance 20-21; Ordinance 20-22; Ordinance 20-23; Ordinance 20-24 concerning the annexation of enclave A-E.

• Administrator’s Report.

Directors Reports Executive Session

• Discuss the employment of city administrator.