2025 Council Meeting: January Special Called + Organizational Meeting
It's 2025. You know what that means! The Russellville City Council met to approve the City Council Rules of Procedure & Standing Rules and choose committee assignments. We also addressed a few items in a special session that will be covered at the end.
Meeting Agenda:
OVERVIEW
Mayor
Fred Teague
2025 City Council Members
Returning Newly Elected
Nathan George, Ward 1, Position 1
Laura Wetzel Ward 1, Position 2
Emily Young, Ward 2, Position 1
Chris Olson, Ward 2, Position 2
Seth Bradley, Ward 3, Position 1
Joe Pearson Ward 3, Position 2
Paul Gray, Ward 4, Position 1
Justin Keller, Ward 4, Position 2
Finance/Property Committee
Justin Keller
Chris Olson
Seth Bradley
Nathan George
Personnel Committee
Paul Gray
Emily Young
Joe Pearson
Laura Wetzel
City Committees and Council Liaisons
Airport - Joe Pearson
Animal Control - Emily Young
AVAFED - Nathan George
Boys and Girls Club - Joe Pearson
Oakland Cemetery - Justin Keller
City Corporation - Chris Olson
Civil Service - Emily Young
Planning & Development - Justin Keller
Fire Department - Paul Gray
Historic District Commission - Paul Gray
Information Technology - Justin Keller
Main Street Russellville/Downtown Master Plan - Laura Wetzel
Police Department - Seth Bradley
Parks + Recreation - Chris Olson
Public Works - Chris Olson
911 Committee - Seth Bradley
ATU/Education - Paul Gray
Friends of Latimore House - Nathan George
Advertising and Promotion
Emily Young
Laura Wetzel
Special Called Meeting
Item 1
Resolution to execute a permanent pole easement with Entergy.
This is an easement for City Corporation to connect to their new solar plant.
Item 2
Resolution to execute a timber agreement with Mountain Timber to cut timber off of city property. Timber, timber, timber.
This is 60.11 acres of city owned land located by Taber Extrusions and the Russellville Municipal Airport. The city wishes to prepare it for potential industrial development.
Item 3 & 4 were moved to the end of the meeting.
Item 5
Ordinance to designate economic development services and projects as professional services.
This changes the annual contract we have with the Alliance for Economic Development to be considered "professional services" from here on out.
Item 6
Ordinance to execute an interlocal agreement with Pope County for operational and personnel expenses of Pope County District Court.
Currently all operational and personnel costs are split 50/50. This puts it in writing and simplifies how payments are handled. (i.e. Instead of employees getting 2 paychecks, 1 from the city and 1 from the county - they'll just get 1 paycheck.)
Item 3
Resolution to approve 2025 Rules of Procedure and Standing rules.
These are the guidelines the council follows during all meetings. ** Discussion on Moment of Silence
Item 4
2025 Committee + Liaisons assignments [see above]
All current council members serve on city committee's and/or are liaisons for city departments.
Prayer + Moment of Silence There was a discussion proposed by Councilman Gray to change the regular order of business item 7.1(b) to include prayer. Currently, the procedure includes a Moment of Silence, as updated in 2024 by a 5-2 vote. After a lengthy discussion by the council, a motion to update the Order of Business to include Prayer in addition to a Moment of Silence, with the person giving the prayer to be chosen at random during the agenda prep meeting in an effort to be transparent in the selection process, passed 6-2.
2025 Meeting Dates - These are all the times the council will be meeting for agenda prep and for the full council meetings. Save these to your calendar so you can get involved!