Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Dec. 3, 2024 – Jonesboro Mayor Harold Copenhaver addressed the Northeast Arkansas Tea Party (NEATP) during their meeting Monday night at the Golden Corral in Jonesboro.
Mayor Copenhaver accepted the invitation to speak to the NEATP since he couldn’t attend their October meeting with the other mayoral candidates.
He was joined by his wife Kathleen Copenhaver, Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott, Jonesboro Fire Department Division Chief and Fire Marshal Dr. Jason Wills, and Senior Strategy Manager at The Solutions Group Lee Kelley.
During the meeting, Copenhaver spoke about several topics, from infrastructure improvements to balancing the city’s budget.
“I want to talk about the positive changes,” he said, noting how his time in the Arkansas State Legislature provided him the opportunity to work on the largest budget in the state, which helped him to implement a balanced budget. “We did not have a balanced budget. This means that we were usually running a deficit budget in the City of Jonesboro. With the balanced budget, we were able to incorporate that, and we’ve done so for the last three years.”
He also noted that the budget doesn’t allow him to spend money frivolously and they had had zero findings in legislative audits for the past three years in a row thanks to his staff.
Copenhaver also spoke about the city’s infrastructure and how roads impact it. He said a previous infrastructure study helped him prioritize which streets needed upgrading.
“It keeps our businesses open; it keeps our traffic flow open; it helps you,” he said. “I also asked the City Council for my first budget to increase our road overlays to $1 million. They approved it. Now you’re starting to see upgrades. Beginning the next year, I asked for $2 million. That study had said we needed to be right around $3.5 million. So, this past year, I asked the City Council for an additional $1.5 million about five months ago, they approved it and with that, we obtained our $3.5 million of road overlays. This is something that we need to continue.”
Next, he spoke on the need for a drug rehab facility and the new humanitarian budget.
“It’s important that we do a drug rehab facility in Jonesboro. We’re working with private institutions and currently a large hospital and looking into a rehab facility, and I fully expect that will come to fruition in the next two or three years,” he said. “Plus, we provided a humanitarian budget of $500,000. It’s the first time the city’s ever done that. This humanitarian fund, it was going to allow more opportunity for our nonprofits in the city.”
He also spoke about transparency, efficiency and integrity in city government.
“I’ll be honest with you, everybody in this room’s got a different definition of transparency,” he said. “But I learned when I was in the legislature, we weren’t transparent in city government when it came to voting in City Hall. Yay, nay and that’s all you knew. You didn’t know really where they stood. You didn’t know who voted. So, we implemented a voting system. Now every City Councilman is accountable, and you can see how they voted and which way they voted.”
Finally, Copenhaver addressed his opponent’s campaign finance reporting and “fear tactics.”
“I want you to know that I have fully complied with my campaign finance reporting requirements because it’s Arkansas law. I will say my opponent cannot say the same. After running the most expensive campaign in Jonesboro’s history, my opponent’s campaign finance report fails to disclose the information that’s required,” he said. “It’s amazing what a half million dollars will do when it comes to fear tactics in the community.”
Copenhaver answered a few questions from the group before having to head to yet another event.
One attendee asked Copenhaver to pledge that he would not pass a new tax without voter consent, referencing the “hamburger tax.”
Copenhaver responded that would speak with the NEATP if the need arose for an emergency tax before he brought the issue before the City Council.
Another attendee asked how Copenhaver was planning to improve Ward 6.
The mayor responded that the City had just gotten 18 acres approved for City Park in Ward 6, and the City had split up road improvements among the wards.
“This is how city government works folks, I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s taken me three years to do it [approve the City Park acreage],” Copenhaver said. “It’s taken three years to go through the process and sign the paperwork. We gotta get congregations together and we gotta get funding.”
Elliott, Wills, and Kelley remained to answer further questions on the mayor’s behalf.
Watch the full video here.
Watch the previous meeting with the other mayoral candidates here.