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Friday, March 22, 2024

Alexander Council Member Joy Gray accused of "Harassment"

After failing to remove Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck in December, 2023; Alexander Council Member Joy Gray has had three re-dos. All of which have failed. This time though she was called-out for it by fellow Council Member Harold Timmerman.

This latest attempt at a do-over started out as the previous two, with Gray admitting she's fighting a lost cause. But it's not harassment.

"So this is just my monthly reassessing y 'all on whether or not you'd like to remove the head of the planning commission," Gray began. "I know the answer will probably be, it's probably a waste of time, but I'm going to keep doing it every month until either something happens or elections happen."

"So I would move that we remove Michael Huck, the head of the planning commission," Gray said.

"Now, would you call this one, fourth month you brought this up," Timmerman asked? "Now, wouldn't that be an act of harassment against Mr. Huck?"

"No," Gray responded.

"Yes, it would," Timmerman replied.

Gray claimed it's not harassment because, "I'm not asking to remove him from the city, I'm asking to remove him from this position."

After receiving a second on her motion Gray continued on her latest reasoning to have Huck removed.

"I've gotten yet another email this month from someone who works in the city asking me to bring it up again because of his harassment via email of people," Gray began. "He harassed some people literally claiming that there was hacking going on with the city now."

Background:

At the December, 2023 council meeting Gray made a motion to remove Huck from the planning commission based on a complaint concerning comments he made towards another planning commission member after the October, 2023 planning meeting. That complaint was investigated by City Attorney Chris Madison with the aid of Assistant Police Chief Jessica Burnett.

At the January, 2024 council meeting Gray produced a second complaint to add to the failed attempt in December at removal. Gray said this one was in the form of a request from an employee with the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority (LRWRA). According to Gray, "The person that represents them has specifically asked if she can speak with anyone besides Michael Huck, because of his way of conducting himself with her and his just sort of general rudeness."

Alexander has been waiting since April, 2023 for LRWRA to approve the city's new master development plan. The LRWRA provides sewer service to the northern end of Alexander, hence the interest in Alexander's future plans. Next month will be one year since sending the proposed plan to it's first stop for approval, the Little Rock Planning Department.

At the February 20 council meeting Gray tried to use an E-mail sent by Huck to a member of Metroplan using the city E-mail system. It's Metroplan that has been aiding Alexander in writing its new master development plan.

In January Huck asked the mayor and city hall office manager to produce a report on the previous year's building/construction permits. This is an annual request by Metroplan as part of the ongoing updating of the city's master development plan. After not receiving any acknowledgment or response, Huck asked his Metroplan contact to make the request and explain its importance. The files were already started by a previous employee.

It was Gray who was now the insulted one.

"So no, that was not sent by a morose teenage girl," Gray said. "That was sent by a grown man who represents the city. So, that's embarrassing."

Since Gray never explained how she acquired an E-mail sent by Huck, using the city E-mail system, he questioned a city employee familiar with the system.

"This is now considered 'Harassment' and the word 'Hack' was never used," Huck said later.

As stated in the original article published March 5 in The Alexandrian, the city employee said, "No one has (administrative) privilege at city hall."

After the publication of the first article, Alexander Mayor Crystal Herrmann admitted in an E-mail that she has access to everyone's E-mails. In an update article published March 12 she was quoted as writing, "The city email which you conduct the Alexander Planning commission business on belongs to the City of Alexander. As Mayor (chief executive officer), I hold the administrator role on the city's email system. If there is a personnel change and/or a large number of complaints I can and will have the emails forward to my email. Council member Joy Gray received your inappropriate email from my office. The Council is over your position and Joy Gray is the Council member that handles the agenda. As Mayor, if I receive complaints and it falls under Alexander City Councils [sic] respectability it will be sent to Joy Gray by my office staff or myself."

Prior to the council's vote on the motion, the discussion began with Council Member Wayne Smith telling Gray this "sounds personal."

"No, it's not personal Wayne," Gray said.

"It sounds personal to me," Smith replied.

Gray then began the monthly listing of grievances starting with October, 2023.

"But he's done things in meetings where I'm not even there, but he's admitted to doing it and it's in documentation," Gray said. "The person has come and told what he's done. He's done things in these (council) meetings. He's sent emails that are wildly inappropriate, but again we might as well just go ahead and vote because everyone's going to be like oh you're harassing a private citizen and that's rich coming from some people in the council."

Council Member Joe Pollard asked, "Why do you (not) forgive this?"

"This is not, this is not church, this is city council," she replied. "So that's between him or you and whoever you deal with outside of here at church setting."

Voting "No" were Joe Pollard, Mitchell W. Smith, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson. Council member Tony Staton was absent, which counts as a "No" vote. Voting "Yes" on the motion were council members Joy Gray, Angela Griffin and Gina R. Thomas-Littlejohn, resulting in Five "No" and three "Yes."

Planning Commission reappointment process questioned

There was one other agenda item involving the planning commission. That was the reappointment of Planning Commission Member Rodney Chapman.

Chapman was the final appointment that completed the five-member commission. That seat was vacant for five years. He was appointed in mid-term by the city council in August, 2022. Chapman is a former city employee working for the street and parks departments. His term expires April 6, 2024.

In an interesting turn of events, the normal simple reappointment process became a discussion of whether planning commission seats should be considered open when the term is expiring; even if the current planning member is willing to serve another three-year term.

Gray asked, "I don't have any recollection of, do people on the planning commission just decide they stay? Does the planning commission not advertise that position being opened? So do we just automatically rubber stamp people?"

"We automatically put them back in there because they're learning what needs to be done," said Council Member Juanita Wilson. Wilson is also a member of the planning commission.

Huck pointed out it was just last year planning commission members Tonya Prowes and Stephanie Beck were reappointed. Their new terms expire April 6, 2026.

A history of Planning Commission appointments

and re-appointments
The current Alexander Planning Commission is a reincarnated version of a previous commission. The original planning commission was disbanded by the council in 2017 after two members resigned and the council felt there was a lack of interest, by at least two of the remaining members, to cooperate with city hall.

City Council Member Juanita Wilson and former Council Member Michael Huck were appointed by Mayor Paul Mitchell June 19, 2017. They were appointed to terms open from the original planning commission, which expired April 6, 2019. Because a quorum of five is three Huck and Wilson couldn't hold a meeting until they found a third person.

Former Council Member Stephanie Beck was appointed by Mitchell in March, 2018. Beck's first term expired April 6, 2020.

With three out of five members available they were able to hold their first meeting Tuesday, March 20, 2018. The terms of the two remaining vacancies would expire April 6, 2020 and April 6, 2021.

Tonya Prowse was appointed September, 2018. Her first term expired April 6, 2020. That still left the fifth position vacant and a term to expire April 6, 2021.

The council reappointed Wilson and Huck at the April, 2019 council meeting to their first full three-year terms. Those terms would expire April 6, 2022.

Beck and Prowse were reappointed by the council April, 2020. Their new terms would expire April 6, 2023.

In April, 2022 the city council reappointed Huck and Wilson for a second time. Their current terms will expire April 6, 2025.

The vacant planning commission seat's term expired April 6, 2021 beginning a new term to expire April 6, 2024. In August, 2022 former city employee Rodney Chapman was appointed by the council.

As stated above, Beck and Prowse were reappointed for a second time by the council March, 2023. Their current terms will expire April 6, 2026.

The vote

In a roll call vote Council members Joe Pollard, Mitchell W. Smith, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson voted "Yes." Voting "No" were council members Joy Gray and Gina R. Thomas-Littlejohn. Council Member , Angela Griffin abstained. Council Member Tony Staton was absent, which counts as a "No" vote. The total count was four "Yes," Two "No," one abstain and one absent.

With what amounts to a four, four tie the motion to reappoint failed. Mayor Herrmann declined to exercise her option to break the tie by voting "Yes" as permitted under state law. The council took no decision on advertising the opening.

Under state law anyone whose term has expired is still able to keep that position unless they resign or are replaced.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is April 15, 6:00 PM at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Pafford EMS now serves north Alexander

The Alexander City Council approved an ordinance that allows Pafford Medical Services, Inc. to serve both the Saline County and Pulaski County portions of the city. In July, 2021 the Saline County EMS Board selected Pafford Medical Services to provide ambulance and emergency medical services in both the rural areas and its municipalities. The contract went into effect January 1, 2022.

This new ordinance was introduced and had its first public reading at the February 20 council meeting. The second and third readings were held at the March 18 meeting with the required two-thirds vote of the council.

Before the vote, Fire Chief Ryan McCormick relayed an incident that occurred since the February 20 council meeting. According to McCormick a mother and father went to city hall to get medical assistance for their baby. Office Manager Jennifer Hill attempted to get MEMS out of Little Rock but was told it would be a 15-minute wait.

"We had a baby that showed up here having a seizure or not breathing before the call," McCormick said. "We had an ambulance sitting at our fire station that could not respond here. That's unacceptable, to my opinion, because we want to wait and read over and over, and we're dealing with life safety."

At the February 20 meeting Council Member Juanita Wilson had questions about how the franchise agreement would affect Alexander and if there was a financial component. To allow for time to have her questions researched by City Attorney Chris Madison the first reading was held at the February meeting. Wilson's concerns were discussed with her between the February and March meetings.

"There's franchises where we have franchise tax, utility bills, things like that," Madison explained at the February meeting. "And then there's a franchise where we allow someone to be within our city. That's what this is. I'm not aware of the monetary requirement."

Pafford has an ambulance stationed in the Alexander Central Firehouse on South Alexander Road. After the February meeting, McCormick explained how not much will change behind the scenes. Aside from MEMS taking on the mutual aid role instead of being the primary responder in north Alexander, everything else remains essentially the same. McCormick said the Pulaski County area of Alexander is already part of the Saline County 911 system. The only change will be that Pafford will be dispatched to north Alexander first.

Also at the March 18 council meeting:

Property For Sale

The Alexander City Council approved an ordinance giving Mayor Crystal Herrmann the authority to sell the parcel at 14805 Kent Drive. The property was voluntarily turned over to the city in 2018 when its owner no longer wanted to deal with the continual issuance of code violations by the city.

The ordinance specifies, "[T]he revenues generated from selling such property shall be used for the purchase of equipment, a vehicle, and other personal property type items necessary for a Code Enforcement and Animal Control Officer."

Mayor can apply for Community Development Block Grants

The Alexander City Council approved a resolution that gives Mayor Crystal Herrmann the authority to apply for grants through the Arkansas Community and Economic Development Program. Each grant has a maximum amount of $500,000.00.

The resolution does not specify what project will be used in the grant request. The two projects discussed were flood control and the Saline County Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Public Utilities Board's request to acquire a grant through the city to upgrade the sewer lines along Lyndsey Drive. For now the mayor will begin the application process.

Still no applicants for treasurer position

After three months the mayor still has not received any applications for the vacant treasurer's position. Former Treasurer JoAn Churchill submitted her resignation in December effective December 31.

City Attorney Chris Madison gave council members three options.

"One is continue looking to fulfill the vacant position," Madison said. "Two, and I haven't discussed this with Ms. (Sharon) Bankhead, but you can combine the recorder treasurer positions by council. And three is you can actually, by ordinance, have the city treasurer appointed."

This would be an appointed position ending the election process. Since the council won't be filling a vacancy in an elected position they won't be limited to residents of Alexander. And, this being an election year for the positions of recorder and treasurer the ordinance must be passed before election petitions are circulated this summer. Herrmann was given permission to advertise a Request For Qualifications to be submitted by interested individuals.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is April 15, 6:00 PM at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

E-mail mystery solved

A recent article posted on The Alexandrian questioned how Alexander Council Member Joy Gray gained access to an E-mail sent by Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck. As it turns out Mayor Chrystal Herrmann has the keys to the E-mail system.

In a response to the article, sent in an E-mail, Herrmann said,

"Mr. Huck,

The city email which you conduct the Alexander Planning commission business on belongs to the City of Alexander. As Mayor (chief executive officer), I hold the administrator role on the city's email system. If there is a personnel change and/or a large number of complaints I can and will have the emails forward to my email. Council member Joy Gray received your inappropriate email from my office. The Council is over your position and Joy Gray is the Council member that handles the agenda. As Mayor, if I receive complaints and it falls under Alexander City Councils [sic] respectability it will be sent to Joy Gray by my office staff or myself.

Respectfully,

Crystal Herrmann, Mayor"

Mystery solved.