City of Farmington takes seat on Regional Mobility Authority
Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008
FARMINGTON - Following a little confusion in logistics, the City Council on Monday night voted to participate in the Northwest Arkansas Regional Mobility Authority, effective immediately.
The ordinance passed unanimously. It means Mayor Ernie Penn or his representative will have a seat on the board of the newly formed authority, which will focus on implementing regional transportation priorities.
Benton and Washington counties earlier this year voted to form the Regional Mobility Authority, the first of its kind in the state.
All cities of the first class within the two counties may join the authority and have a voting member on the board. Second-class cities may also join but will not be voting members.
The authority will have the ability to issue bonds funded by sales taxes or tolls, but any of these proposals to fund the projects would need approval from the county quorum courts as well as a majority of voters.
The authority will work on projects that have been identified by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
Among those projects in the commission's long-range plan is a proposed western beltway running as a northsouth alternate to Interstate 540, said Mike Malone, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Council.
"The explosive growth in our area has caused all of this additional traffic, and our highways have not kept up with the needs," he said.
Alderman Janie Steele moved to pass the ordinance with an emergency clause for it to take effect immediately. The motion passed unanimously. Prior to the vote, Alderman Keith Lipford asked Mayor Ernie Penn if there were to be two votes - one to pass the ordinance, the other to pass an emergency clause for it to take effect immediately. Penn told him yes, there would be two votes.
Then Penn called the question on passage of the ordinance, and it passed unanimously after City Attorney Steve Tennant read it.
The mayor then brought up the emergency clause. No motion was made, but Lipford said he did not think it necessary to pass immediately.
"I guess I don't understand the urgency," he said, adding that he had not had a chance to research it.
"I'd rather take my time," he said. "I'd like a chance to learn more about it before I slap an emergency clause on it."
Jeff Hawkins, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said the first meeting of the authority probably would be in August.
If Farmington is not on board by then - waiting for approval on subsequent readings - the city would still receive notice of the authority meeting, Malone said.
Tennant said a separate vote - and two-thirds majority - was needed for the emergency clause to pass. A discussion then ensued about whether the ordinance already had been passed to take effect immediately.
Eventually, the question was called on whether to pass the emergency clause. It passed with the required two-thirds majority. Lipford and Alderman Pam Delaney voted no.
Prior to the vote, Alderman Roy Hummel questioned how the authority would work with state highway plans and other counties not part of the authority.
The authority is meant to supplement, not substitute, state and federal funding for regional highway needs, Hawkins said.
There are other areas looking at creating authorities, he said, with discussions occurring in central Arkansas as well as the Fort Smith area.
In other business, the City Council passed an ordinance on first reading to simultaneously detach territory from the city of Fayetteville and annex that land into Farmington.
The request for the land swap comes from Rausch Coleman Homes of Farmington.
The properties are of equal size and adjacent to one another. Both cities are to conduct public hearings on the swap, which is a form of annexation.
There is a 10. 5-acre tract lying in the city limits of Farmington north of Alberta Street and next to Rausch's Coves at Walnut Crossing project. Just to the south of Alberta Street is about an eight-acre tract in the city limits of Fayetteville. The request to exchange jurisdictions is for cohesive residential design and reduced confusion for city service providers and first responders in dealing with jog in jurisdictions along Alberta Street and among adjacent lots within the development.
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