Alexander fire truck reported sold

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is reporting the City of Alexander's repossessed fire truck has been sold for about $75,000. It was sold on November 14 by financier Paul Anthony Graver after being ordered three times by two judges to return the truck to the city.

Graver's Attorney, Matt Campbell, told the Democrat-Gazette Monday the fire engine was sold and Alexander is entitled to the proceeds, minus the city’s remaining debt on the truck, Graver’s legal fees and the costs for repossessing the truck. He added the remaining proceeds from the sale will be sent to the City as soon as all litigations concerning the truck are withdrawn.

Campbell claimed the sale was legal under the Uniform Commercial Code and Alexander's city attorney Carla Miller was notified more than 30 days prior to the sale.

Miller told the Democrat-Gazette neither she nor any other city official had received notice that Graver planned to sell the truck. She said the city only learned about the sale Monday.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox twice ordered the truck be returned. The first was in an order issued October 25 and the second came on November 4 after a hearing. The hearing was the result of a lawsuit filed by the city claiming Graver had no legal authority to repossess the truck.

Graver then tried to move the case to a Federal Court but that judge also ordered the truck returned until the issue of ownership is resolved.

The dispute is over a 1999 Freightliner fire truck. The truck was repossessed while sitting in a restaurant parking lot. It was then taken to a lot in Memphis, Tennessee.

The City of Alexander entered into a lease-purchase agreement, to purchase the truck, with First Government Lease Company and its owner Paul Anthony Graver in May, 2008. Graver lives in Chicago and his business is located in Northfield, Illinois.

The amount of the lease-purchase was $50,000 for the truck and an additional $24,325 in interest. The agreement is for seven years at $884 per month.

In May, 2008 the city also entered into another lease-purchase agreement with First Government to buy two police cars. The cost of the two vehicles was $44,700 with an annual interest rate of 6.25% to be repaid by a monthly payment of $977 for 60 months (5 years).

These aren't the first lease-purchase agreements between Alexander and First Government Lease Company. Prior to the 2008 agreements, in August, 2007, the city combined six lease-purchase agreements consisting of police and fire vehicles, equipment, "and an addition to the fire station" on South Alexander Road. The "addition" was actually the purchase of property next to the fire station.

Apparently, Graver bundled the three loans and sold them to First State Bank in Oklahoma. Alexander Mayor Michelle Hobbs stopped making the monthly payments in March of this year claiming the lease-purchase agreement was illegal under the Arkansas Constitution, which restricts how cities can take on interest-paying debt.

First State Bank filed a lawsuit suing Alexander and First Government Leasing, claiming the bank was defrauded into thinking it would acquire a mortgage and lease-purchase agreement for improvements to an Alexander fire station that it says were never started.

Graver bought back the lease-purchase agreement for the fire truck from First State Bank October 10, then filed a lawsuit that same day in Illinois court. The fire truck was then repossessed October 11.