A&P funding dominates Texarkana, Ark. board meeting; commission commits to hear previously denied applicants

TEXARKANA, Ark. – Although Advertising and Promotion Commission funding was not on Monday night’s Texarkana, Arkansas Board of Directors agenda, it consumed the first hour of the meeting after Assistant Mayor Ulysses Brewer opened with a prepared statement acknowledging the funding process is broken and called for bylaw changes.

Multiple citizens, including representatives of The Scholars and a local Comic Con organizer, told the board they had been shut out of A&P funding earlier this year after being told no money was available for 2026. By the end of citizen communication, two A&P commissioners had committed to convening a special meeting to hear applicants who were previously turned away.

The meeting was chaired by Brewer in the absence of Mayor Allen Brown. Ward 3 Director Steven Hollibush was also absent.

Brewer, who also chairs the A&P Commission, used much of his opening remarks to outline what he described as two specific failures in the commission’s bylaws: no written rules governing who controls the agenda or what is required to add or remove items, and no rule requiring published notice when applicants are funded outside the normal October cycle.

“The miscommunication has moved forward to say I personally denied Juneteenth Scholars from getting funding and I personally allowed the water park to get funding instead of Juneteenth Scholars,” Brewer said. “That is not what happened.”

Brewer said two applicants requested early funding this year, a bass tournament earlier in the spring and Big Dam Water Park more recently. He said published notice should have gone out to all potential applicants after the first early request was granted, and that failure created the appearance of favoritism.

“When a process is broken and it shows that it’s an operational liability instead of an operational asset, when systems are stressed, people suffer,” Brewer said. “I’m choosing people over politics any day.”

He proposed two options to be discussed at the A&P Commission’s July meeting. The first would keep funding decisions in October but require published notice whenever an early funding request is considered. The second, which he described as his preferred option, would shift the funding cycle to March, with reimbursements due by October, so applicants planning summer events would no longer be operating a year behind. The transition would require an offset year of no new funding in 2027.

City Manager Tyler Richards clarified later in the meeting that staff does not control what goes on the A&P agenda. Under current practice, any request from a potential applicant is forwarded to all five commissioners, and items are added or removed only if the chair plus at least two other commissioners agree.

Roberts pushes back hard

Ward 1 Director Terry Roberts used his comments to challenge the recent decision to direct $181,000 to Big Dam Water Park while local organizations with longer track records had been turned away. He passed around copies of a deed filed Friday transferring ownership of the water park property to a Canton, Texas company. City Attorney Josh Potter noted that the deed lists $10 as consideration, which Potter described as common practice on the vast majority of deed transfers, and not reflective of any actual sale price.

Roberts said his bigger concern was how city tax dollars are being spent. “When you have organizations that have been involved with this city for decades, and they have a proven track record and they get denied,” he said. “And we ship money out here to something I don’t know nothing about. I think that that is wrong.”

Roberts said the board has the authority to abolish the A&P tax with four votes, or refer the question to voters. “It is not being spent properly, it has not been spent properly, and to put it mildly it is a slush fund for certain pet projects,” he said.

The A&P money approved for the water park earlier in the month remains in the general fund pending submission of reimbursement requests, according to staff.

Out-of-city events and the Clint Black booking

Ward 2 Director Laney Harris pressed the A&P Commission on whether previously denied applicants would be made whole, and questioned whether recent funding decisions complied with the bylaws on geographic eligibility.

Harris said the bass tournament the commission funded earlier this year was held at Millwood Lake, outside city limits. He also raised concerns about the $45,000 the commission approved at its May meeting for a Clint Black concert at Festival Plaza on September 12, citing an absence of any public listing of the Texarkana date on the artist’s tour schedule.

Harris also reminded the board of a legislative audit triggered roughly three mayors ago over alleged misuse of funds tied to the water park and convention center. “If you forget what happened in the past, you may be doing the same thing or headed towards the same thing again,” he said.

Citizens speak

The board extended its 50-minute citizen communication limit after multiple speakers signed up.

Rhonda Dolberry, co-founder and vice president of The Scholars, told the board the youth mentoring organization has operated in Texarkana since 2014 and applied for A&P funding under the published guidelines. “We did our part. We turned it in. We were told that there would be no funding for 2026,” Dolberry said. “Lo and behold, nobody contacted us, as well as I know there were other people who had applied as well.”

“Do what you say you were gonna do,” she added. “Otherwise, don’t move the playing field. How can we do anything? Is that what y’all want them to teach the students? Is that what y’all want them to see, what’s going on here in Texarkana?”

Jesse Darby Tillis II, a local organizer of Hypecon, told the board the issue is not the bylaws but how they are applied. “You’re picking and choosing these certain events,” he said. He pointed to past A&P decisions denying Juneteenth funding because part of the event sat on the Texas state line, and questioned why downtown event organizer Tamekia Grady, who holds a contract with the city for Festival Plaza events, has not received A&P funding.

“This small city, this local government will always choose big corporations than local people,” Tillis said.

Ward 5 Director Danny Jewell, who described himself as new to the commission, said he understood from earlier in the year that no funds would be available in 2026 because the budget had been earmarked for a bond project. When the board declined to fund that bond, money returned to the general fund and applicants who pressed the issue were heard, while others who had been told no never reapplied.

“There needs to be a process where we can go back and find some of these people that are left out in the woods,” Jewell said. Responding directly to Tillis, he added, “If the applicants will apply, we will convene a special meeting at some point. We will handle those requests. I can’t guarantee everybody’s gonna be approved, but if y’all will apply, we will convene.”

Brewer added that the precedent has already been set with the bass tournament and water park approvals, and encouraged previously denied groups to reapply.

Data center concerns

A separate set of citizen comments centered on proposed data center development in the region. Natalie Romanik raised concerns about water draw from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer and asked the board whether impact studies, water extraction permits, and groundwater conservation district reviews had been completed. Carol Lindy cited cases in Georgia, Tennessee, Lake Tahoe, and Utah where she said data centers had strained local water and power supplies.

Paige Burkhalter told the board she has gathered 2,526 signatures on a petition opposing a proposed 3,000-acre data center in Miller County and presented copies of the petition and supporting materials to the city clerk.

What did pass

The board unanimously approved the consent agenda, which included a series of major airport items tied to the long-planned Runway 4-22 extension project:

• A reimbursable agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to cover relocation of federally owned navigational aids, including the Runway 22 localizer, glide slope, and a new PAPI to replace the Runway 4 VASI, in an amount not to exceed $895,754.13.
• An agreement with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. to administer construction of the Runway 4-22 extension, not to exceed $709,743.52, to be paid from an FAA grant.
• An agreement with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. to administer construction of the Runway 4-22 overlay and Taxiway Delta extension, not to exceed $625,000, to be paid from a State of Arkansas grant.
• An agreement with KSA, a Pape-Dawson Company, to conduct a market study and appraisal of aeronautical land and Fixed Base Operator leasehold properties, not to exceed $29,495.
• A contract with Hart Contractors of Hooks, Texas for cleaning three alum and lime sludge ponds at the Millwood Water Treatment Plant in Ashdown, not to exceed $412,300, with the Arkansas portion not to exceed $161,497.91.

On the regular agenda, the board unanimously approved a $15,786,713 construction contract with Tatum Excavating Company, Inc. of Hooks, Texas for the Runway 4-22 extension, overlay, and Taxiway Delta extension. Interim Airport Director Russell Henderson told the board construction is tentatively set to begin July 6, after the Wings and Blues Festival and Run the Runway 5K scheduled for June 27. Substantial completion is targeted for April or May 2027.

The project is being funded through a combination of federal grants, a $16,797,215 State of Arkansas grant, $250,000 from the Arkansas Division of Aeronautics, $1,458,137 in matching funds from Texarkana, Arkansas, and $1,795,907 in matching funds from Texarkana, Texas. The runway extension is intended to allow wide-body aircraft to operate from Texarkana Regional Airport, which the airport authority has cited as a key economic development goal.

In closing commentary, Roberts told Brewer that displaying campaign material during his presentation, including a website tied to Brewer’s run for Miller County Judge, was inappropriate for a board meeting. Brewer acknowledged the point and apologized.

The board also briefly discussed the Franklin Street Bridge, which has remained closed. Richards said ArDOT engineering consultants are recommending the bridge be torn down and completely reconstructed, with a project letting potentially not occurring until December 2027. Richards said he has asked ArDOT to allow the city to demolish the existing structure and install a temporary crossing, and ArDOT has agreed in principle but will not reimburse those costs.

The next regular meeting of the Texarkana, Arkansas Board of Directors is scheduled for Monday, June 1, 2026.