© 2024 KASU
Your Connection to Music, News, Arts and Views for 65 Years
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Jonesboro City Council to make final decision on code December 15th

The Jonesboro City Council is expected to make a final decision on the future of a controversial property maintenance code. Last week, Jonesboro Alderman John Street proposed sending the issue for the voters to decide as part of the March 1st Primary.  That proposal was shot down by the Council’s Finance Committee by a vote of 3-2.  Street mentioned last week that he would try to walk the proposal on last night’s agenda.  He did not, which means the property maintenance code will be heard for the third and final time by the Jonesboro City Council.  Alderman will decide its future at that time.  Members of the Jonesboro Fire Department, Police Department, and Code Enforcement signed a joint letter calling for support for the measure.  They say such a measure will not only help the city look better, but it will also help keep the city safer.  Jonesboro Police Lt. Todd Nelson and City Attorney Carol Duncan both explained that there is a 7-step measure that would have be taken in order for rights of entry and violation fines to be enforced.  The interior components of the code have opponents concerned about how the code would be enforced in the future, with one opponent saying he was concerned the code would become a “money maker for the city.”  The final vote on the property maintenance code could take place December 15th.

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.