Lack of quorum cancels Alexander special meeting, Second special meeting scheduled for Tuesday

CORRECTION: Day at end of article changed from Monday to Tuesday.
Since only three aldermen and the mayor were the only members of the Alexander City Council to attend the special meeting on Friday, September 25, it was canceled due to the lack of a quorum. Everyone waited the required 15-minutes after the meeting’s 6 PM starting time, according to council rules, before canceling the meeting.

Attending the meeting were alderwomen Stephanie Beck and Melissa Ratliff, Alderman Dan Church and Mayor Paul Mitchell. It takes five, which can include the mayor, in order to have a quorum.

The purpose of the meeting was to have a second reading of a proposed ordinance that will amend Ordinance 2008-02, passed June 16, 2008. The amending language adds Autumn Cove and the end of Magnolia Glen, located in Phase-7 of St. Joseph’s Glen, to the city street system without including any of the other streets in the subdivision.

If six aldermen had attended the meeting and all had voted “Yes” that would have met the two-thirds requirement to suspend the third reading of the ordinance. There would have then been a vote to approve the ordinance. By state law a two-thirds vote is needed to suspend the requirement that an ordinance be read three times at three different meetings; in this case six “Yes” votes.

The first reading of the ordinance was done during the council’s regular monthly meeting Monday evening, September 21.Only five aldermen were present.

The 2008 ordinance is keeping the city from including the two streets in a $250,000 street improvement program funded by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD). Cities are being offered access to this program as part of a temporary gasoline tax extension passed by voters in November, 2011. Revenue from the tax is being used to upgrade interstate and state highways along with city and county streets and roads.

Besides Autumn Cove and that end of Magnolia Glen the other streets to be repaved are Brookwood Road from Don Parker to the railroad tracks, all of Cornerstone, Kelli Place, and a portion of 2^nd Street. In the original resolution, provided by AHTD, the distance of Brookwood Road to be repaved was more than originally requested. Because of that needed change the resolution must be approved again. Fortunately, resolutions only need to be read once at a public meeting and become effective immediately.

The streets to be repaved were not on the original list submitted to AHTD, including the two in St. Joseph’s Glen. In 2014 a committee was established to produce a list of streets to be repaved. The list was comprised mostly of streets used by school busses. Committee members knew the list was more than the allotted $250,000. They expected AHTD officials to make the final choice.

However, Mayor Michelle Hobbs, who was appointed mayor in December 2012, lost her election to current Mayor Paul Mitchell during the 2014 General Election. In December, as one of her last official acts as mayor, she submitted the current list to AHTD in place of the original.

The original 2008 ordinance was needed to establish the "Alexander Municipal Property Owner's Multipurpose Improvement District 86." The ordinance was a legal requirement by the state in order to form an improvement district around the proposed Phase-7 of St. Joseph’s Glen prior to construction. The end of Magnolia Glen and all of Autumn Cove are in Phase-7. A separate improvement district was formed prior to the construction of phases one through six.

The ordinance forming the improvement district for Phase-7 was submitted by St. Joseph's Glen developers Michele Baker, Darren Baker and Travis Baker. The original version of the ordinance, written by the developers and their attorney, did state, "[T]he improvement district shall continue to exist for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and operating the improvement(s).” But, it also included language that would require the city, and other appropriate entities, to take over maintenance of all utilities in Phase-7 if the developers decided to “dissolve” the improvement district. According to minutes of the 2008 council meeting council members sent the ordinance to the city attorney for his opinion.

The attorney replaced the “dissolve” clause with, "The City of Alexander shall not have any obligation to assume the responsibilities for the continued existence, maintenance or control over the improvement(s)."

At the September 21 regular meeting Mitchell said he and an AHTD engineer did a walk-through of Phase-7. According to the engineer Mitchell said the two streets were built with, “One inch of asphalt.”

The problem with including Autumn Cove and Magnolia Glen is a clause in the resolution which states, “The City agrees upon completion of the project to assume the maintenance of the right-of-way by City Forces and/or others including utilities and individuals in accordance with the prevailing Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department regulations.”

Knowing the city isn’t responsible for the streets in St. Joseph’s Glen Alderwoman Andrea Bearden has been asking how Alexander can be forced to provide future maintenance to streets it doesn’t own. After passage of the resolution, she E-mailed AHTD officials asking that very question. The bid letting was put on hold, missing the September deadline, until the issue can be resolved. The next deadline for submission of bids is October 1.

The special meeting of the Alexander City Council has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 29. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend. The only items on the agenda will be the ordinance and resolution.