Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #33 "What is Going on at Ozark City Hall"

Transcript

Episode #33 "What is Going on at Ozark City Hall" · The Kevin Stone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The content of this podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Mainly the entertainment of the podcast creator. If at any
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: time you find any of this to be offensive, you
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: should immediately rewind the program and start it from the beginning.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The sarcasm provided in this program is so accurate it
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: is illegal in 14 states. You are listening to the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Kevin Stone Podcast, broadcasting to you from an undisclosed location.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Customized listening. Let's begin by cleaning those ears. Who am I?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I'm a nobody. I just happen to have a camera
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and a microphone and an internet connection, which makes me
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: a superstar. I have beef enchiladas in the oven. What? Yes.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And you made them or are they frozen? Well, they
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: won't be frozen in about 35 minutes. Hey, I made
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: it at the house, so it's homemade. I'm Kevin Stone,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and this is the Kevin Stone Podcast. Now, I'm all
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: for a good conspiracy theory. I love them, I like
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: digging around with them, but they're not always true. I
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: watched part of an Ozark City Council meeting recently, or
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: should I say, I watched an older Ozark City Council
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: meeting recently, and I've got a question. What in the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: world is going on at City Hall? Because there were
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: moments when it didn't look like a group of adults
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: discussing how to govern a city. It looked like recess.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: You remember recess. I was here first. No, you weren't. Yes,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I was. I'm telling. Except instead of arguing about who
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: gets the monkey bars, we're talking about ordinances, city infrastructure,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: fire trucks. water systems, and decisions affecting several thousand people.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And before somebody gets mad at me, I'm not saying
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: disagreement is bad. City council members should disagree sometimes. If
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: six people agree on absolutely everything, Ozark has either assembled
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the most harmonious government in American history, or somebody isn't
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: asking enough questions. My concern isn't disagreement. My question is
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: whether personal friction has started getting mixed into the people's business.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And after digging into this, I have enough evidence to
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: tell you that the question is worth asking. What originally
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: caught my attention was the fight over Ozark's downtown entertainment district.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: And this thing wasn't just mildly controversial. It became a
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: major local fight. At the December 9, 2024 city council meeting,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Mayor Roxy Hall addressed the controversy and said the issue was,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and I quote, dividing both families and friendships. Think about
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: that statement for a minute. We're not talking about Washington.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Ozark, Arkansas. When a local policy disagreement
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: reaches the point where the mayor is publicly talking about
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: families and friendships being divided, something has gotten pretty heated.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Mayor Hall wanted the matter postponed for three months and
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: said there'd be no presentations for or against the entertainment
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: district during January. The council split three to three over
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: postponing it. Mayor Hall broke the tie, so the postponement
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: passed 4-3. That doesn't prove anybody hated anybody. It doesn't
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: prove some secret feud was happening behind closed doors. But
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: it absolutely demonstrates how divided city government was over this
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: particular issue. Eventually, the proposal returned. On April 14, 2025,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the Ozark City Council approved a permanent downtown entertainment district, 4-2.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: But the controversy didn't end there. Residents opposed to it
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: organized a group called Residents Organizing Ozark to Stand, or ROOT.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and gathered enough signatures to force the ordinance onto a
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: public ballot. So on November 18, 2025, Ozark voters got
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the final say. And apparently it wasn't even close. 211
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: voted to repeal the ordinance. 94 voted to keep it.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: So the voters killed the entertainment district. That's democracy doing
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: exactly what democracy is supposed to do. City government made
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: a decision. Citizens disagreed strongly enough to petition their government.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: They got it on the ballot. People voted. Decision made.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Whether you supported it or opposed it, that's the system working.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Here's where my curiosity took me somewhere else. The entertainment
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: district is over. The voters settled it. What interested me
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: was the behavior surrounding it. Because I'm looking at Ozark
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: right now in 2026. We've recently been dealing with serious
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: questions about the city's water systems. We've had conservation requests.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: We've heard concerns about infrastructure. We've been asking questions about
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: communication between city government and residences. And we've got a
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: major city election coming up. So I started wondering, was
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: all that friction we saw during the entertainment district fight
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: an isolated incident? Or has Ozark City government been struggling
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: internally for a while? And in comes a really important question.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Has any of that affected the city's ability to govern?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Those are two very different questions. While looking through subsequent
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: council activity, we found another interesting moment. During a special
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: meeting on May 21, 2026, another disagreement arose, this time
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: involving discussions around a fire truck. Councilman Randy Melton eventually
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: made comments about civility and how members should conduct themselves. Again,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: that's not proof of some dysfunctional government. People disagree. Tempers flare.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Anybody who has ever attended a local government meeting knows
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: they aren't always Hallmark movies. But when you combine that
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: with what happened during the entertainment district controversy, I think
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: it's fair to say this. The tension I noticed wasn't
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: limited to one single meeting. What I can't responsibly say
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: is that we've proven there's some continuing personal feud among
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: particular members. We haven't. And I'm not going to manufacture
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: one because it makes a better podcast. Now let's talk
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: about the water, because this is where I really wanted
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to dig in. Because Ozark has been dealing with water
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: system problems, and my original thought was, could these two
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: things be connected? Could fighting within city government have contributed
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to problems involving our infrastructure? After going through what I
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: could find, I can't make that connection. In fact, some
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: of the evidence works against making it. I found that
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: concerns involving Ozark's water infrastructure predate the current water conservation situation.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: More importantly, we found examples where council members voted unanimously
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: on water-related work. And that's important. Because if I'm going
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: to criticize these people when they're fighting, I've also got
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to acknowledge when they're working together. So I'm not going
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to sit behind this microphone and tell you, the water
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: problem happened because City Hall can't get along. I don't
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: have evidence of that. Maybe somebody eventually produces evidence showing
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that political disagreement delayed some particular project. If that happens,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we'll talk about it. Right now, I can't substantiate it.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: But I think there's a legitimate issue. Because government isn't
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: only about how you vote. It's also about how you govern.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Can you disagree with somebody Monday night and work with
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: them on Tuesday morning? Can you vote against somebody's proposal
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: without treating that person as your enemy? Can six council
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: members have completely different ideas about what's best for Ozark
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: and still sit around the same table and conduct the
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: people's business professionally? That's what I care about. Because these
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: people aren't governing some hypothetical city. They're governing mine. I
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: live here. I pay taxes here. When there's a water problem,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: it's my faucet. And when there's an infrastructure problem, it's
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: my street. When there's a city ordinance, I'm one of
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the people expected to follow it. So yes, I think
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: residents have every right to expect their elected officials to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: behave like adults, even when they can't stand each other's ideas.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: And now comes 2026. And this is where the story
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: gets really interesting. Ozark has municipal elections coming on November 3rd, 2026.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: And we already know one significant change is coming. Mayor
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Roxy Hall did not file for re-election. So Ozark is
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: getting a new mayor. Period. And there are multiple candidates
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: seeking this office. That means this election isn't merely about
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: whether somebody keeps their job. Ozark is guaranteed to have
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: a change at the top of city government. Depending on
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: what happens in the council races as well, we could
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: come out of November with a substantially different group of
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: people sitting around that table. And that's why I think
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: all of this history matters. Not because I'm going to
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: tell you who to vote for. I'm not. My job
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: with this podcast isn't to pick Ozark's government. That's your job,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and mine, at the ballot box. What I want to
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: know is how these people intend to govern. Not just
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: what they're promising to build. Not just whether they're for
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: this project or against that one. I want to know,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: how will you handle disagreement? How will you communicate with residents?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: What's your plan for Ozark's aging infrastructure? What have we
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: learned from the water situation? How transparent should city government be?
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: And if somebody sitting across that council table makes you
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: madder than an old wet hen, can you still work
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: with them on Tuesday morning? Because that's the job. You
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: don't have to be friends. You don't have to go
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: fishing together. You don't have to exchange Christmas cards. But
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: you do have to govern together. So where does all
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: this leave us? I started this investigation thinking I might
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: find a direct line. City hall fighting, leading to ineffective government,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: leading to problems like the water situation. But I didn't
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: find that line. What I found instead is more interesting.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Ozark went through an extremely divisive political fight over the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: downtown entertainment district. We've seen additional signs of tension afterwards.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: We've also seen council members cooperate, including on city business
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: involving water. And now Ozark is approaching an election that
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: is guaranteed to give us a new mayor and could
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: alter the composition of the city council. So maybe the
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: question isn't who started the fighting. Maybe the better question is,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: what kind of city government do we want going forwards?
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Because disagreement isn't going to go away. And it shouldn't.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: But disagreement doesn't have to become dysfunction. And whoever sits
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: in those chairs after November isn't being elected to win arguments.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: They're being elected to run Ozark, Arkansas. And I think
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: all of us who live here ought to be paying attention.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Before I get out of here, I've got some breaking news.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: The Kevin Stone Podcast is officially big time. Now granted,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: we currently have approximately three listeners. But those three listeners
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: have an almost unreasonable number of options for listening to me.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: You can find the Kevin Stone Podcast on Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, and Spreaker. So wherever you listen to podcasts,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: look for the Kevin Stone Podcast. Hit follow and maybe
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: tell somebody else about the show because I've done the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: math and I've had Charlie double check it. If each
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of my three listeners brings one friend, we double the audience.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Six listeners, baby. That's the kind of growth explosion Wall
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Street dreams about. We're coming for you, Joe Rogan, very,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: very slowly. I'm Kevin Stone. Thanks for listening to the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Kevin Stone Podcast.