A long and feisty meeting expected in Alexander Monday night

The next regular meeting of the Alexander city council is shaping up to be another long one due to the amount of business and the expectation of heads butting over state law versus how the mayor wants to run the city. The meeting will be held Monday night June 16, at 6 PM in city hall.

Council members will be doing the work of two meetings in one because Mayor Michelle Hobbs kept the council from voting or conducting business at a special meeting held two weeks ago in place of the regular May meeting. She claimed because only five of the eight members showed up the council only had a quorum but couldn't vote because there wasn't a majority.

According to state law a majority of the entire council is required to pass any bylaw, ordinance, resolution or order (ACA § 14-55-203). A majority is more than half of the entire council. In this case a majority of eight is five. A quorum is needed to take a vote, which is a majority of the whole number of the council. Again five.

The legal issue expected to cause the most ruckus will be over three resumes from lawyers, which include their legal fees. State law prohibits competitive bidding for professional services.

The position became available when city attorney Carla Miller resigned in April.

In a publication provided by the Arkansas Municipal League (AML) it spells out the process a municipality must use to obtain professional services. It says, "Competitive bids are not allowed when cities seek certain professional services. Professional services are defined as contracts for legal, financial advisory, architectural, engineering services, construction management, and land surveying (ACA § 19-11-802)."

The AML says cities needing professional services should first, "Advertise for RFP (Request for Proposal) or RFQ (Request for Qualifications)."

After the deadline for submissions the council should evaluate the RFPs/RFQs, "Considering the qualifications and reputation of each professional firm." This process may include an oral presentation, if the council desires, prior to making a selection.

In the final step the city selects the best three and then negotiates a price. The AML says the, "City shall select three qualified firms and then select the most qualified (ACA § 19-11-804). Once a qualified professional firm has been selected, then the city may negotiate a contract. If a mutually-agreeable contract cannot be negotiated with the first, most qualified firm, then the city may attempt to negotiate an agreement with the second and then the third firms on the list (ACA § 19-11-805)."

Items left-over from the two previous meetings, expected to be discussed, include bids to repair the driveway at the South Alexander fire house and bids to repair various streets in Alexander. Mayor Hobbs originally submitted one bid each to the council but she was told to get three bids for each project.

Two ordinances proposed in April are still on the table. One ordinance proposes to form a committee to amend the City's employee manual. The second ordinance would put the council in charge of city employees who are not department heads.