State of the City 2022

ANIMAL SERVICES

In 2022, the shelter held 29 adoption events that helped save lives, educate the public, and prevent the euthanasia of adoptable and treatable shelter animals.

100% of adoptable pets were placed with new families. The department is entering its 122nd straight month without the need to euthanize adoptable pets. That is over ten years and counting. These numbers are partly the result of two programs that started 10 years ago: the Barn Cat Program and the Trap-Neuter-Return Program.

The Barn Cat Program is a free program to help place feral or non-socialized cats with families that have an outside barn or shop. The cats are sterilized, vaccinated, and ear tipped prior to leaving the shelter.

The Trap-Neuter-Return Program is also a free program to help Sherwood residents spay or neuter community cats. People feed the cats and see them as a benefit to help control snakes and the mouse/rat population. These cats are free roaming with no apparent owner. This program prevents the over population of feral cats in the community and overcrowding at the animal shelter. Twenty-four cats were saved, and hundreds of unwanted births were prevented because of this program.

Through the generous donations of the department’s caring supporters, the Frannie Fund is now in its 16th year. In 2022, the fund provided financial assistance for 14 dogs and 3 cats to receive treatment for heartworms, sickness, and injuries. Supporters of this lifesaving program donated $1390.00, and the fund paid out $2621.21 for the above listed medical treatments.

The Spay/Neuter Assistance Discount Voucher Program provided 28 low-income pet owners with low or no cost spay/neuter services for their pets at a cost of $1101.00.

The Department responded to 1018 requests for service during business hours and 221 after-hours emergency calls.

CITY CLERK'S OFFICE

The City of Sherwood’s City Clerk/Treasurer’s office experienced some major changes in 2022. The Sherwood City Council split the duties for the City Clerk and the City Treasurer and with it, created the position of Finance Director. William Beasley was hired in August of 2022 to become the Finance Director and on January 1, 2023, assumed the responsibilities of City Treasurer. Charlotte Watson was elected as the City Clerk and took office on January 1, 2023. The city ended the year in good financial standing. Sales tax revenues were strong iand met budget expectations. The city has $6,587,666.19 in ARPA/SLFRA funds.

COURTS

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Purpose of Position

The office of Economic Development is responsible for planning, designing, and implementing economic development strategies, as well as acting as a key liaison between public and private sectors of the community, resulting in the attraction and retention of business that will provide a positive economic impact via sales of goods and services, the creation of products, and employment opportunities.

Advantages

The city of Sherwood is a bedroom community with a high median income. We have a stellar police force making us one of the safest communities in Arkansas. Sherwood has seen compounded growth of 1% annually and we are projected to continue at this pace for the next 10 years. Our 2030 estimated population projection is 36,000 residents. Sherwood has the foundation required to move into the next phases of enhancing the city’s quality of place and overall quality of life for the people that live here.

Challenges

The city of Sherwood is a bedroom community with a high volume of our residents leaving the city every day to work elsewhere. The drain of daytime population hinders the city’s ability to attract restaurants and retailers tthat rely on daytime sales for operations. As of December 31, 2022, our leakage of disposable income is 58%.

The current Wet/Dry issues are keeping a grocery store from locating in the northern portion of our city 107/Brockington. The importance of the city looking in this area for a grocery store is fivefold.

1. It will provide for all current and future residents of our city.

2. It will serve as the anchor for clustering other lite retail and restaurants.

3. A fully developed area around a large grocery store could provide 5 to 7 million in additional tax revenue to the city.

4. It will eliminate some of our leakage as it will import customers from outside of the city to spend their money in Sherwood.

5. It will push growth and renaissance into Gravel Ridge

2022 Successes

Broke Ground on Holiday Inn estimated opening of Spring 2023

Mercado El Valle opened for business

Recruited a call center to the city beginning operations early 2023

Papa Johns opened

Darkside Coffee broke ground opening by March 2023

Recruited Auto Parts Store groundbreaking Spring 2023

Got 2 pieces of legislation drafted for Wet/Dry for 2023 session

2023 Targets

Wet/Dry issue resolution

Grocery Store Commitment/Groundbreaking

7 Brew/Starbucks

1 Fast Casual

1 Sit-Down Restaurant

Education of Economic Developer

Community Development Institute Year 1 Graduate

University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute graduate

International Economic Development Ethics

Conferences Attended

ICSC Red River: Marketed city to developers in the restaurant and retail space. Led to auto parts store.

IEDC Annual Conference: Peer to peer conference to learn techniques that are working in other cities.

OUEDI Conference: Completed 2 training courses need for certification and networked with

peers on best practices.

ENGINEERING, PERMITS AND PLANNING

Engineering was fully involved in the 2018 Street Bonds Projects. All projects identified to

be funded from the first bond issue of $22.1 million were engineered, bid, and placed under construction contracts. Construction of the East Maryland Widening Project is 80% complete. East Maryland Extension Project to Brockington is complete. Redstone Construction on Hemphill Road is 40% complete. The round-a-bout at Hemphill Rd. and E Maryland Ave. has been canceled and the intersection will be re-engineered to a “T” intersection. Country Club Street and Drainage Improvements Project is approaching 80% completion. A contract is in place for Jacksonville Cato Road Improvements Phase 1 and CAW crews have started relocating the water line. First Electric Co-op has plans under review.

Engineering and GIS supported the Public Works Department in finalizing a public-private partnership with local developers to extend wastewater collection infrastructure from the Runyan Acres Waste Water Treatment Plant to city land on Jacksonville-Cato Road and across the property to serve new housing construction. The Engineering Assistant and Engineering Inspector spent time assuring that preconstruction agreements with neighboring property owners were being met.

A preliminary study for evaluating the creation of a Stormwater Utility began in late 2021.

GIS supported all city departments, the city council, and the mayor with mapping services.

GIS supported the Wastewater Department by mapping sewer lines and service connections within new and existing neighborhoods.

GIS supported PAGIS by mapping Stormwater in new subdivisions and uploading data onto PAGIS’ FTP site.

GIS supported PAGIS by providing residential plot plans and commercial site plans to PAGIS for their online mapping service.

The in-house engineering project to improve the Sherwood Soccer Fields was started in January 2022 and completed in the summer of 2022.

Engineering was fully involved in the 2018 Street Bonds Projects. All projects identified to

A preliminary study for evaluating the creation of a Stormwater Utility began in late 2021.

GIS supported all city departments, the city council, and the mayor with mapping services.

GIS supported the Wastewater Department by mapping sewer lines and service connections within new and existing neighborhoods.

GIS supported PAGIS by mapping Stormwater in new subdivisions and uploading data onto PAGIS’ FTP site.

GIS supported PAGIS by providing residential plot plans and commercial site plans to PAGIS for their online mapping service.

The in-house engineering project to improve the Sherwood Soccer Fields was started in January 2022 and completed in the summer of 2022.

Permit Summary Report

Commercial Building and Remodeling: 47 permits; $18,357,741.00 value.
Fences: 197 permits; $962,225.00 value.
Home Remodels: 517 permits; $12,823,374.00 value.
New Houses: 104 permits; $29,041,386.00 value.
Storage Buildings: 42 permits; $493,702.00 value.
Swimming Pools: 26; $1,214,300.00 value.

Total Permits = 933

Total Permit Fees = $160,233.94

Total Construction Value = $63.165,728

Planning Commission Summary
3 Replats

9 Preliminary Plats

7 Final Plats

8 Site Plans

8 Rezonings

2 Conditional Uses

1 Zoning Code Amendment

1 Sign Variance

2 Special Exceptions

5 Land Use Plan Amendments

1 Variance

Code Enforcement Summary

Total number of Inspections: 1,653

Total number of Re-inspections: 1,947

Citations issued: 89

17 Current Cases
217 Court Reports
9 Trials - all found guilty
38 Failure to appear warrants still outstanding

Lawsuit filed in Federal Court by Randy Scott on 23 Hamilton Park

13 counts in Circuit Court - high grass, open storage, inoperable autos X 10, and blight/nuisance; Lawsuit dismissed with prejudice 1/4/23

Structures declared unsafe: 20

Demolished by owner: 8 structures (1 – 6 unit / 7 Single Family)
Demolished by city: 2
Repaired by owner: 12
Owner in court: 2
Rehab in progress: 11
Demo in progress: 1

Contractor cut/clean: 52

Cost to city: $ 4,566.21
Reimbursed to city: $ 1,979.08

ode Enforcement/Signs

For the year 2022, approximately 732 signs were confiscated

Signs in ROW: 436
Signs on Poles: 86
Off Premises: 82
Other (Trash/Expires): 61
Special Temp Signs: 67

Emergency Management Summary

Monthly Emergency Operation Center Training continued with key Emergency Operations Center Members/Staff. The EOC MEMBERS also to participate in a nationwide annual earthquake exercise. The Members also attended an AWR 148 Crisis Management for School-Based Incidents training course for public officials.
The EM/ECS attended multiple FEMA webinars regarding floodplain topics and CRS programs. The EM/ECS was an invited speaker at both the 2022 AFMA Spring Conference and 2022 AFMA Fall Conference where he received the 2022 Floodplain Manager Award for Outstanding Floodplain Services.
The EM/ECS secured and coordinated the following HMGP grant through ADEM: 114 Whitewood Acquisition and Drainage Project.
The EM/ECS worked with FEMA and ADEM to recover funding for COVID expenses incurred by multiple departments within the city which is still ongoing.
The EM/ECS responded to multiple flooding and storm events during the year. Most all the flooding calls occurred within the known floodplain areas but some did occur in other areas during flash flooding. A few of the events were more localized to the Sherwood area and did not reach threshold countywide limits for any State level of assistance.

Wastewater Summary

Sherwood treated a total of 382.6 million gallons of water in 2022
- North Plant treated 160.2 million gallons of water
- South Plant treated 222.4 million gallons of water
2,532 locates were processed from Arkansas One Call in 2022
Twenty (20) customer complaints worked in 2022
- Eleven (11) were service line issues.
- Nine (9) resulted from blockage in the main.
43,473 linear feet of sewer main were hydro-cleaned in 2022
- North Plant Collection System – 5,683 linear feet of sewer main hydro-cleaned.
- South Plant Collection System – 17,670 linear feet of sewer main hydro-cleaned.
- Satellite Collection System – 20,120 linear feet of sewer main hydro-cleaned.
There were six (6) point repairs made in 2022
Rehabilitation of 5,059.06 linear feet of sewer main in the Satellite Collection System in 2022. 4,256 linear feet of sewer main pipe burst
- 802.74 linear feet of sewer main replaced

HUMAN RESOURCES

The Human Resources office manages employment-related matters for over 300 full and part time employees. In 2022, we on-boarded 104 new full-time and part-time employees. We processed 108 separations, with 55 of those being part-time and seasonal. The city has a turnover rate of 17%, which is below the national average of 18% in government. Additionally, we processed 637 applications in 2022.

The City of Sherwood was able to give a 7% COLA increase to employees in late 2021/early 2022, which is an increase over previous years. We were also able to align our pay rates to be more inline with other comparable cities.

The Mayor and City Council approved a 1% matching increase in our 457(b) for our employees. We held a half dozen or so educational sessions with Bank OZK and successfully enrolled almost all our non-uniformed employees into the Plan.

We were once again able to conduct a successful “drive-thru” flu clinic, where more than 100 employees were vaccinated.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The City of Sherwood IT department had another great year. We worked throughout the year to get our Police vehicles outfitted with laptops and mobile connectivity. The officers can utilize cloud powered solutions for improved security and efficiency for citizens and fellow workers. The IT Department successfully rolled out another 30+ new computers this year, improving performance for city employees. New and improved firewalls can be found protecting our key Parks and Rec locations providing security and increased functionality. Our department migrated the Document Management solution to a new platform improving our cost efficiency as well as workflow. Last, but not least, the IT department has effectively began implementing a limited implementation of Office 365. This has provided improved internal communication as well as external collaboration. We have some big changes coming for 2023, and we are excited to bring an improved infrastructure to increase the city’s performance as well as security posture.

PARKS AND RECREATION

Sherwood Parks and Recreation reports another good year. Adults, young adults, and children of all ages have taken advantage of what Sherwood has to offer. Some of the activities offered are sports of all kinds, youth programs, large events, small events, and personal fitness.

The Sherwood Sports Complex hosted a number of softball and baseball tournaments, hosted youth baseball, softball, and soccer leagues, opened two additional lighted soccer fields that include restrooms and concession stand. Softball field 9 infield was renovated and upgraded to the best infield material available for recreational fields.

Henson Tennis Center hosted Sylvan Hills High School tennis team and 5A Central Conference Tournament for the second year. Henson also hosted a few small events in low usage times that included a community Halloween trick or treat for people and pets, pictures with Santa Mini Sessions for typical children and pictures with Sensory Santa Sessions for children with sensory issues. These events were met with very appreciative visitors, some of which have never been able to get pictures with Santa because of the loud environment that comes with crowds.

Sherwood Forest continues to be a center of activity for the community. Over 180 events were hosted there this year that included staff meetings, fitness classes, retirements, civic organization meetings, company training, church functions, banquets, weddings, and holiday parties. A few highlighted included the annual Sherwood Chamber Banquet, Sherwood Home Show, Pet Fair, teacher luncheon and Fourth of July Family Celebration.

The Greens at North Hills saw an increase in annual memberships, golf rounds stayed steady, and there was another successful Junior Golf season. In fact, a 9-year-old, Berklee Turner calls The Greens her home course. She qualified to compete at the Augusta National-Drive, Chip and Putt event. She finished second in her division! New players are discovering The Greens and taking advantage of the amenities. The recently renovated banquet hall is the gem of Sherwood and overlooks the golf course. It hosts many civic meetings, party rentals, weddings, and corporate meetings.

Harmon Recreation Center experienced another good year. Room rentals are up by approximately 40% and memberships have increased as well as day use passes. A new Chair Yoga class was met with enthusiastic participants that asked for more! Two Pickle ball courts were added to the gym. The entire lower tile floor was replaced with an epoxy/flake floor that will no doubt be in service for the life of the building. The Center partners with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to host the Tackle Loaner program. Anyone can stop by the Harmon Center and check out a fishing pole and bait to fish at the pond at City Hall for free!

The Duran Youth Center introduced new weekly programming that included, (Mo & We) open basketball, (Tu &Th) Table Tennis, (Fr & Sa) billiards tournaments. The DYC hosted a Fall Bash in November, participated in the annual Sherwood Christmas Parade, hosted a Christmas party, planned a Bingo with Santa evening but was cancelled due to winter weather. The local Girl Scout troop uses the DYC for meetings, there have been 10 room rentals, membership is growing, and the future is bright for one of Sherwood’s original facilities.

Sherwood Day Camp/Summer Camp experienced another fun year. Counselors continue to amaze by creating weekly activities for participants. Field trips such as swimming, bowling, laser tag, movies, and Duran Youth Center have provided entertainment and activity for the participants. The day camp staff also programs Youth Basketball at the Harmon Center. There are 30 teams from second to ninth grade that have volunteer coaches and managers! The only limiting factor to this program is having one gym.

Sherwood Pools and Splash Pad were open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Many pool party rentals were booked. Overall, the season went well.

Many events were held throughout the year that included the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, Fourth of July Family Celebration, Sherwood Fest, City Hallow, Enchanted Forest Trail of Christmas Lights, and Christmas Parade

The Sherwood Disc Golf Course at Sherwood Forest opened in June. It has been a great success! Nearly every day people have played the course. It is an 18-hole course designed by two local volunteers, Preston Cowan and Robbie Shaw. These two spent numerous hours working on the layout of this course. The Sherwood Parks maintenance staff installed the baskets, concrete tee pad and cleared the fairways as needed.

Thanks to the Sherwood Advertising and Promotions Commission and Sherwood Parks, two new lighted Soccer fields opened in the fall of the year at the Sherwood Sports Complex. This brings the total to four multi-purpose fields that are used for all ages of soccer players. The facility includes a shaded courtyard, restrooms and concession stand.

The Sherwood Heritage Museum opened this year at 508 Sherwood Avenue, the location of the former Sherwood Library. The building was renovated inside and out and hosts a full array of Sherwood history. The History Committee has spent too many hours to count cataloging items for this beautiful facility. Please drop in to relive a piece of history.

Overall, a great year providing recreational opportunities to the local community! Looking forward to 2023!

POLICE DEPARTMENT

The year 2022 was a great year that seemed like it flew by. It was a very busy year and the end of an era for the city of Sherwood with the retirements of Mayor Virginia Young and City Clerk Angela Nicholson, which will certainly impact the entire city. Working with Angela and Mayor Young all these years was an honor. Both will certainly leave an impact on the city that will not soon be forgotten. With that, we bring in a new era under Mayor Mary Jo Heye-Townsell and City Clerk Charlotte Watson. We look forward to the new year and what it will bring for the City of Sherwood.

In 2022 we began the year with 72 police officers, 9 dispatchers, and 10 clerks. Over the year, we hired 14 police officers, 6 dispatchers, and 2 clerks and lost 9 police officers, 5 dispatchers, and 2 clerks. This leaves us to begin the year 2023 with 77 police officers (down 6 positions), 11 dispatchers (down 5 positions), and 9 clerical positions (down 2 positions).

We finished the year with 11,676 traffic stops, resulting in 4,561 citations being issued. There were also 1,195 arrests made for various felony and misdemeanor offenses. We received 51,982 non-emergency phone calls in 2022 and 14,300 emergency calls via the 911 system. These calls resulted in 40,543 calls for service that our officers answered and, as a result, generated 5,330 written incident reports. We also worked 130 traffic accidents in the year 2022.

I would like to thank all the members of the Sherwood Police Department for their dedication to duty and hard work in the year 2022 and the other departments in the city that help us daily. I also thank the Sherwood City Council and City Hall for supporting the Sherwood Police Department in 2022. With such support and hard work, I can only look forward to a great beginning to the new year, 2023.

PUBLIC INFORMATION

The position of Public Information & Media Relations Officer was created during the December 2019 City Council meeting was filled on an interim basis in April and permanently in June 2020. This new role has helped the City’s many departments inform the public about meetings, events and general information through media interviews, website, and app updates, press releases, video productions, social media posts, ads, print materials, roadside banners and more.

We are currently working with Civic Plus to improve the City’s website. The Public Information Office will continue to work on providing much-needed information to our citizens in a transparent and more accessible and engaging way in the year ahead. This will be accomplished with continued teamwork with department directors, website improvements and more content on our social media platforms, as well as researching future ways to connect with our citizens.

PUBLIC WORKS

The following is a summary of the work performed by the Public Works Department for 2022.

Sherwood acquired 154 new residential sanitation customers in 2022 to make a total of 12,191 customers. We delivered 120 additional garbage cans to residents and 25 additional recycle cans.
There were 1,071 loads of yard debris hauled to American Composting for a total of 25,861 cubic yards. 154 loads were leaves for a total of 2,850 cubic yards. There were 1,064 loads of garbage hauled to Two Pines Landfill for a total of 8,975.79 tons and 713 loads of junk for a total of 2,400.15 tons.
The leaf vacs started November 1^st and have covered the city 4 times and will end on Jan 31st of 2023.
Shady Grove drainage project was bid out and is completed. This project consisted of replacing 433’ of dilapidated CMP pipe with RCP pipe, the replacement of 3 curb inlets, 2 junction boxes, and one area inlet.
Purchased 2 new automated garbage trucks, 1 new knuckle boom truck for Sanitation and a pickup truck for Street and Drainage.
Installed 150’ of 18” drainage pipe and 2 manhole junction boxes from Trammel Estates dr. to 6332 Skylark ct.
Purchased a new Bobcat T66 compact track loader with four attachments, a broom, a 24” miller, a bucket, and a flail mower for street and drainage.
Contracted Redstone to complete the dirt work, install water lines, sewer lines, and fencing for the Public Works facility on Jacksonville Cato rd. Water lines and fencing still remaining on the contract.
A total of 7.49 miles of streets were overlaid using 12,862.59 tons of asphalt and 57,493.30 square yards were milled. The total cost of the overlay project was $1,367,043.23. The following streets were overlaid, Woodruff Creek Dr, Alpine Cv, Rocky Point Ct, Ridgetop Dr, Shadyside Dr, S Fern Cv, N Fern Cv, Rocky Branch Cv, Gragson Ave, W Woodruff Rd, Parkdale Rd, Robinglen Dr, Cardinal Ln, Crooked Creek Ct, Petit Jean River Rd, Red River Dr (partial), Illinois Bayou Dr, Meadow Springs Ct, Grosvenor Dr, Chepstow Ln, Chepstow Ct, Abercorn Pl, Knights Bridge Rd, Campden Hill Rd, Karla Cir, Shadow Oaks Dr, Wadley Rd, Holly Ridge Cv, Mayfair Cv, Chiliwood Dr, Apple Valley Dr, Johnson Dr (Hwy 107 to 1^st Library Entrance), Quick Silver Ln, Briarpatch Ln, Jacksonville Cutoff (Bayou Meto Bridge to City Limit)

SENIOR CENTER

Total miles driven: 4,207
Total people transported: 2,642 (1,318 of these are non-ambulatory)
Total deposit for gas: $4,691.00
Total spent for gas: $4,786.56
Meals on Wheels: $25,000.00 was donated by the Center for 91 Sherwood Seniors: 13,912 home delivered meals @ $7.54 per meal= $104,896.00
2,706 telephone calls to check on 91 Sherwood Seniors/clients $1.85 per call = $5,006.10
Baptist Wellness: 244 (1st & 3rd Wed.)
Bingo: Average of 70 + seniors
Fish Fry/Sweet Auction: 319 tickets sold @$10.00
Acoustic Music: Average of 11
Friday Night Music: Average of 16 players & listeners
Monthly Luncheon: Average of 90 + attending
Qtr. AARP Driving started back in April: 143 attending
Bean Bag Baseball practice/game: 18 attending
Medicare Part D, given by Care Link: 3 attending
Scrapbook/Crop: Average of 5 attending
Line Dance: 11+
Art Class: 5+ attending
Bunco/Games: 15 + attending