Through four meetings, the Lake Maumelle Watershed Task Force’s progress is promising, the group’s facilitator told the Pulaski County Quorum Court on Tuesday night.
Tom Riley, volunteer facilitator of the task force and director of the Public Policy Center at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, said the group has a lot of work to do and no more than seven meetings left to accomplish it on its current schedule.
So far, Riley said, he’s been impressed.
“I had strong reservations about doing this with this large of a group,” he said. But since the group’s last meeting, Riley said he’s been “pleased.”
“As a facilitator, I feel pretty good about what we’re doing,” he said.
The task force, established this year by the Pulaski County Quorum Court, consists of 31 residents, officials and others who are reviewing a zoning policy on the watershed during a year-long pause on most development there.
Riley said the task force members spent the first few meetings getting grounded and getting everyone familiar with one another.
At the group’s last meeting, however, it discussed activities prohibited by the zoning code, which was the group’s first discussion of the specifics of the policy.
“I think they will recommend some changes to the ordinance,” he said.
Justice of the Peace Karilyn Brown asked if the group was considering its looming end-of-March deadline and if it had outlined a plan to make sure it would be ready in time.
“I want them to own the process,” Riley said. “The pushing for that has got to come from them.”
The group meets every three weeks for two hours, although it can always decide to meet more often.
The task force operates on consensus decision-making and averages about 27 members per meeting.
Riley said he thinks that everyone’s voice is being heard, including the voices of people who are not members of the task force.
He said the task force is comprised of about one third landowners and two thirds nonlandowners, and the group’s primary concern outlined during meetings has been for water quality, followed closely by property rights.
Justice of the Peace Kathy Lewison said she was pleased with the discussion at the meeting she attended in September.
Other Quorum Court members said they were intentionally not attending meetings to make the task force feel more independent. Riley said he thought attendance from Quorum Court members would be appreciated by the task-force members, who would like to be heard.
Also at its full meeting, the Quorum Court approved recognizing $3,575 in donations to the Youth Services Department, the reappointment of Art Kinnaman to the Central Arkansas Transit Authority board of directors and the appropriation of $35,000 in general funds to the Department of Emergency Management to replace an inoperative vehicle.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/23/2013