Alexander Special Meeting called for Thursday

A Special Meeting has been scheduled for the City of Alexander council tomorrow evening (Thursday, August 11) at 6 PM in the municipal complex. The public is invited to attend. The meeting was called by Mayor Paul Mitchell.

There are only two items on the agenda. One is “City Council Ordinance” while the other is “5 mil Resolution.” Because this is a special meeting state law limits council members to discuss and take action on only those items on the agenda.

The “5 mil Resolution” is a document that must be renewed annually. It allows Pulaski and Saline counties to collect the city’s 5-mil property tax. This is not a tax increase.

The “City Council Ordinance” is being proposed as a way to solve recent struggles to set rules by which the city council will operate. The ordinance not only establishes standards for conducting council meetings, but includes a set schedule for holding regular monthly meetings.

Having a set of rules for holding meetings has been a sticking point since January. Council members have been divided over two versions of a document called the Organization of City Council (OCC). Normally approved by February, the OCC unfortunately includes the annual schedule of regular monthly meetings.

The main point of the version being pushed by Alderwoman Andrea Bearden included language that allowed aldermen total access to city hall. It passed five to three but was vetoed by Mitchell stating that clause has nothing to do with how the council conducts its meetings.

Not having a predetermined set of regular meeting dates has caused some problems including the question as to whether the May meeting was legal. There have been no meetings since then while city officials and attorneys with the Arkansas Municipal League work out the proposed ordinance.