Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — June 27, 2025 — A Craighead County Justice of the Peace and a Jonesboro City Councilmember will be hosting a town hall next week to discuss how city and county governments can work together to solve various issues.
It will be hosted by Garrett Barnes, Craighead County Justice of the Peace for District 2, and Jonesboro City Councilwoman Ann Williams, Ward 3, Position 1. The town hall is not limited to those who live in District 2 or Ward 3, but rather, is open to all. No RSVP is required.
“Anybody that is concerned about or engaged in local government, whether it’s the city or the county or just issues that they know that exist that they feel something better could be done, or they feel that nothing at all is being done about something, come on out and share that,” Barnes said.
Overall, Barnes said, the goal of the town hall is to discuss how Craighead County and Jonesboro governments can work together through Arkansas’s Interlocal Cooperation Act. Signed into law in 1987, it allows local governments to cooperate with other localities “on a basis of mutual advantage” that best benefits the communities.
“Via the Interlocal Cooperation Act of the state of Arkansas, we’re really able to tackle these issues or problems that the citizens or businesses, or just individual neighborhoods are facing, and what taxpayers want to see done to possibly address them,” he said. “We can take a collaborative approach for virtually any of those.”
He added that while and Williams have a few topics they want to touch upon, discussion and any issues or topics presented will come from the public in attendance. Barnes said he’d like to touch on mosquito control efforts, while Williams may speak on transit.
For any issues or concerns presented at the meeting, Barnes said he and Williams would work to connect with the person who brought up the concerns and then speak with department heads within the city and/or county governments.
Barnes said he and Williams discussed the idea about a month ago, when he asked her to be part of his upcoming quarterly town hall. Barnes has hosted quarterly town halls since taking office in 2023. He added that this is the first time he’s hosted one with a Jonesboro City Councilmember, but he’d be open to doing more in the future.
“What’s most exciting to me at a Justice of the Peace is what all we can identify and work on together between the city and the county,” Barnes said. “We just need to really look at every opportunity that we can to not neglect those services to the unincorporated areas, but certainly not ignore cities either.”
KLEK 102.5 FM general manager LaGanzie Kale told JRN that KLEK would livestream the event.
The town hall will be held on July 2 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the back room of Native Brew Works, located at 515 S. Gee St. For more information, click here.