The Conway City Council tabled a motion to approve a cleanup lien for a property at 413 Garland Street after presentations from both the Public Works Department and a property representative.
The lien would have required the property owners at 413 Garland Street to reimburse the city for work done Jan. 9.
The work in question had been concrete blocks, weighing an estimated 7,000 lbs, which were cleared from the property’s driveway by city workers.
The Code Enforcement Department had been notified of the blocks via a submitted complaint by a neighbor.
Public Works and Code Enforcement Director Spencer Clawson initially spoke during the ordinance’s discussion, confirming to the council that the seven-day notice was given, along with multiple attempts to contact the property owners before the cleanup.
“We provided a lot of notices,” Clawson said. “Provided [notices] in many different ways — emails, text messages, phone calls, certified mail and regular mail.”
Clawson also provided three receipts for certified mail sent Jan. 16 and Feb. 13.
“The property owner received that notice of violation and he was notified in writing,” Clawson said. “This case was actually open in June. He was given eight months to clean up this mess.”
Clawson had initially misspoke about the date of the cleanup, saying Jan. 19 instead of Jan. 9. He later clarified his mistake during the discussion after it was brought up by the property representative.
Delta Rei, a real estate investing company and property owner, had representative AJ Regester refute Clawson’s statements.
Regester used a slideshow to illustrate his points, which was initially objected to by Clawson, as Regester did not provide the city with the slideshow beforehand.
Mayor Bart Castelberry allowed the presentation to be shown, though kept Regester on a five-minute time limit to present his findings.
“All of the information I’m providing was given to me via FOIA request,” Regester said when prompted by City Attorney Charles Finkenbinder.
Regester’s slideshow contained dates of past conversations with Conway code enforcement officer Charles Gann, who okayed the blocks remaining in the driveway.
“The goalpost continually moved here,” Regester said. “I would speak to Officer Gann, he would indicate that everything looked good and then he would call me back and say ‘Well, there’s something else’.”
The case surrounding the concrete blocks was initially closed on Dec. 10, Regester said.
When officer Michael Davis took over handling the property shortly after, he reopened the case, Regester said.
“They changed officers at some point who were on the case,” Regester said. “It seemed Officer Davis was aware that the concrete could stay because he actually closed the case on Dec. 10.”
Regester then said that officer Davis went to the property with Clawson and once again cited the concrete blocks as a violation just an hour and forty minutes after the case had been closed.
After Regester’s presentation, Clawson would be called back to the podium, where he was unable to give a proper timeline between the date the warning notice was sent and the day of clean-up, ultimately leading the council unable to verify whether or not the proper procedures had been conducted.
Alderman Andy Hawkins motioned to table the ordinance until the council’s next meeting on March 11.
“It might not be a bad idea given the fact you do have several members that are absent,” city attorney Charles Finkenbinder said, referring to aldermen Drew Spurgers, Theodore Jones and David Grimes not being present at the meeting.
“I would say we need to do that because I think we need to get our hands on copies of all of the receipts and all of everything so we make the proper timeline,” Hawkins said.
Castleberry approved of the decision, citing the need for an “established timeline” on the mail sent between the code enforcement office and the property owners.
The council approved the motion unanimously.
Robbie Alberson, the city of Conway’s grant administrator, presented Conway Corp partnership with Metroplan to replace Conway street lights with LED bulbs.
“We are wanting to apply for this funding opportunity,” Alberson said. “It does require matching funds and hopefully we can replace some streetlights with some current technologies.”
The motion was approved by the council.
The council also approved a land ordinance to annex 67.52 acres of land on Nutters Chapel Road.
The city council approved two reimbursement funds for the Conway police, along with removing a 2006 Nissan Acura from the department’s inventory.
The city also recognized and congratulated the Conway High School volleyball team for winning the 6a state championship over Bentonville in November 2024.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for March 11.
