SPRINGDALE -- Obtaining property needed for city projects can be a complex and challenging exercise, City Attorney Ernest Cate told the City Council on Wednesday.

"If you have to go to court, you're always the bad guy," Cate said.

Cate had been asked for information about the city property acquisition policies at recent council and committee meetings. At Wednesday's Council Committee meeting, he presented information on property acquisitions related to the city's 2018 bond issue. The city's 2023 bond issue hasn't seen enough property acquisition cases to provide good data, Cate said.

According to the information Cate provided, the city's 2028 bond issue projects affected 285 separate tracts of property. He said only 41 of those instances of the taking of property went to court with the

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