Alexander Mayor Paul Mitchell calls Special Meeting for tonight

City of Alexander Mayor Paul Mitchell has called a Special Meeting for tonight; Friday, August 21, 2015. Meeting time and place is 6 PM in the courtroom at city hall.

There are two items on the agenda. One is listed as “Pat Marshall” while the other is “State Highway Department Plan.”

A vacancy in the city attorney position was created when former City Attorney Kevin Lemley was hired by the Arkansas Attorney General’s office. The city’s current Prosecuting Attorney Pat Marshall has offered to also serve as the city attorney.

A resolution allowing the state highway commission to proceed with taking bids to repair several streets in Alexander must be approved before the bidding process can begin. This is part of the process to receive the $250,000 bonus Arkansas cities are being given as their share of the special fuel tax passed by voters a few years ago.

Both items were on the agenda for Monday’s August 17 Regular Meeting. One issue failed in a vote and the other was tabled.

The vote for Pat Marshall failed five to three. Now one alderman claims she meant to vote “Yes” instead of “No.”

The resolution for the $250,000 was tabled because the street repair plan includes two streets in St. Joseph’s Glen. Aldermen want Mitchell to verify with the state highway department if the city will now be responsible for those two streets. None of the streets in St. Joseph’s Glen has been turned over to or accepted by the city to be maintained by the street department. 

The streets to be repaired were selected by former Mayor Michelle Hobbs in December, 2014. She lost to Mitchell in the 2014 General Election.