Alexander Fire/Rescue Calls for 2022 down from 2021

The number of fire or rescue calls made by the Alexander Fire/Rescue Department is down slightly in 2022 compared to 2021. This ends a growing increase of call over the past several years.

In 2019 there were 602 fire/rescue calls. The amount increased in 2020 to 754, and in 2021 the total was 844. For 2022 the total number of calls was 827.

The written report, provided to council members at their January 23 meeting, breaks down the fire calls fall into 20 categories. In 2022 there were 5 Vehicle Fires, 1 Electrical Fire, 4 Kitchen Fires, 1 Chimney Fire, 69 Structure Fires, 17 Wildland Fires, 28 Illegal Burns, 1 Other Fires 298 Medical, 46 Motor Vehicle Accidents, zero Overdoses, Zero Water Rescues, Zero Search and Rescue, 56 Public Assist, 10 Standby, 243 Canceled, 36 False Alarms, 6 Hazmats, 3 Natural Disaster, 3 Power Lines down, and zero Missed Calls.

Under the category of Mutual or Automatic Aid Given there were a total of 427 calls in 2022 to various area departments. They are Arch Street 91, Bauxite 3, Bryant 1, Collegville 6, Crystal 22, East End 12, Little Rock 7, Northeast 166, Sardis 33, Salem 2, Shannon Hills 66, West Pulaski 3, Other 2.

Mayor Herrmann wanted changes to Organization of City Council 2023, Stalls appointment of new council member

At the first council meeting of 2023, City of Alexander Mayor Crystal Herrmann, with the help of Council Member Angela Griffin, attempted to postpone the council’s legal responsibility to approve the Organization of City Council 2023. Failing that, Herrmann was able to stall the appointment of a new council member claiming the “Timing” of declaring the Ward-1: Position-2 seat as vacant was, “Handled incorrectly.”

Herrmann asked that passage of the Organization of City Council 2023 be “Tabled” until the next meeting because, “Kinks need to be worked out.”

Council Member Juanita Wilson instantly jumped in and said, “There are no kinks to work out.”

“Just looking at some of the responsibilities of city council compared to 2022, it looks like there's some blurred wise or over-crossing of some responsibilities of city council that used to be held by the mayor,” Griffin said.

Council members were provided copies of the 2022 and the proposed 2023 versions of the Organization of City Council.

Griffin’s main focus was the changing of who sets the agenda. When she was comparing the 2022 rules to the proposed 2023 version she noted control of setting the meeting agenda was changed from the mayor to, “one council member who will be responsible for preparing the agenda,” quoting the 2023 version. Griffin wanted to know why it needed to be changed.

“Changed because it needed to be changed,” Wilson said. “We have new people that do not know what the laws are. So this way we are covered with you.”

Wilson also explained that under State law the council is required to approve the Organization of City Council, “During the first meeting of every year.”

According to the Arkansas Municipal League’s (AML) pamphlet Municipal Law in Arkansas FAQ 2021 it states, “In January of every new year, the council is to organize itself for the following year (A.C.A. § 14-43-501). The council should determine how the meetings will be run, dates, times and places of meetings, how the agenda is to be set, who will set the agenda and any other procedural matters which will make the remaining meetings run more smoothly.”

“And it looks like some of the changes are that there are more responsibility on council that has been taken away from the mayor,” Griffin said. “Right, okay. We can vote on it.”

The Mayor took a voice vote. Council members Joy Gray, Joe Pollard, Tony Staton, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson voted “Aye.” Angela Griffin and Gina Littlejohn voted “Nay.”

Mayor Herrmann caught everyone off-guard who has witnessed and participated in the process of filling a vacant seat on the city council when she said it had to be “Tabled” because of a legal issue. Although the process is seldom needed, this isn’t the first time this council has had to fill a vacancy.

“I was notified by the election commission that it was done incorrectly and that I had to contact Municipal League, which I have,” Herrmann claimed. “And I'm waiting on the email and writing on how to move forward.”

Council Member Tony Staton asked, “What clarification?”

“They just notified me that it was handled incorrectly and it had to go through the court,” Herrmann responded. “I'm waiting on writing on if we can move forward without having to go to the court. So we will have to table that one.”

“Well, I would like to see where you got that from because the council elects their own picks when someone quits,” Wilson said. “Then the council picks out the next person.”

“Yes, ma'am. It's just the timing of picking the next person,” Herrmann said.

“But the timing is like you have 30 days and here we are,” Wilson responded.

“30 days from what?” Herrmann asked.

“The lady resigned last month that moved out of the city,” Wilson explained.

“That was the part that was dealt with incorrectly,” Herrmann continued.

The January 23 meeting was 34 days after the city council accepted the resignation of former Council Member Elizabeth Bland during the December 19 meeting. Bland moved outside of Alexander making her ineligible to serve on the council. The resignation was sent in the form of an E-mail.

On this matter the AML’s Municipal Law in Arkansas FAQ 2021 pamphlet states, “Regarding cities of the second class, A.C.A. § 14-44-104 provides that ‘at the first regular meeting after the occurrence of the vacancy, the city council shall proceed to elect, by majority vote of the council, a council member to serve for the unexpired term.’” The City of Alexander is a Class-2 city.

The council eventually voted to table the appointment until a future meeting.

During the Public Comment portion of the meeting Arkansas Municipal League attorney John Wilkerson introduced himself to the recently elected council members and mayor. He cited the many legal issues he dealt with for Alexander over the past 15 plus years.

Addressing the issue of the appointment to fill a vacancy on the council he asked, “Did you all accept the resignation?” After being told “Yes” he added, “Then I don’t know what the problem is.”

Herrmann and all the council members were elected in the November 8, 2022 General Election and sworn into office January 1, 2023. Council members Joy Gray, Joe Pollard, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson were the only incumbents to survive the election. Wilson was the only one with an opponent, April Cotton. New council members Angela Griffin and Gina Littlejohn defeated incumbents Jeffery Watson and Lonny Chapman respectively. The third new council member Tony Staton was unopposed and replaced Council Member Dan Church who did not seek re-election. This is Herrmann’s first council meeting after defeating incumbent Mayor Paul Mitchell in a December run-off election.

Also at the January 23 council meeting:

No answer on Fire Chief Administrative Leave

Earlier this month Fire Chief Mark Ridgeway was placed on paid administrative leave by Mayor Herrmann. He is allegedly under investigation by the Attorney General’s office. Assistant Fire Chief Brad Noblett was appointed by the Mayor to fill the vacancy.

The agenda item was listed as, “Update from Mayor on the status of the Fire Chief.”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss the criminal investigation,” Herrmann said. “I was advised I cannot discuss it.”

Council Member Joy Gray asked, “Is this something we can do in Executive Session with the city council?”

“I’m afraid even if we did that, Joy, I’m afraid I still couldn’t talk about that,” Herrmann said.

City Jail Fine increased to $20

Council members approved an ordinance that amends Ordinance Number 2004-11-01 increasing the, “City Jail Fine to be paid by each defendant upon conviction, plea of guilty, plea of nolo contendere, or bond forfeiture for all misdemeanors, traffic violations, or other first or second-class fines;” from $5.00 to $20.00.

Resolution to pave city streets approved

Council members approved a resolution giving the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) the authority to submit bids for the overlay of 16 city streets as part of the Arkansas State Aid Street Program. The streets on this year’s grant request are Main Street; A.C. Wallace, to include widening from E. 1st Street to 4th Street; Kent Circle; Valley Cove; Spruce Drive; Holley Drive; Mountain Cove; Iris Cove; Violet Cove; Tulip Cove; Dahlia Cove; Daisy Cove; Cactus Cove; Sunflower Cove; Shirley Drive, between Alton Drive and Regency Drive; and Ashlee Cove.

If the low bid is over the allotted $300,000.00 the city will have to make up the difference. ArDOT’s estimate for this project is $324,000.

The grant is part of the State Aid City Streets Program. Cities and counties are allowed access to this program as part of a gasoline tax approved by voters. Revenue from the tax is being used to upgrade interstate and state highways along with city and county streets and roads. Cities and counties are allowed to submit a grant proposal every three years.

Live-in guards plan approved

Council members approved a plan to allow some city employees, who currently live outside Alexander, to occupy five houses located in the southeast corner of the former Alexander Human Development Center on Highway 111. The plan was first proposed at the December 19 council meeting.

Under the proposal employees from either the street department or police department would live rent-free in the homes in exchange for the employees, on their own time, maintaining the grounds surrounding the homes and patrol the entire property protecting it from vandalism. Pathfinder’s Inc. used the homes to house adults with special needs. Their lease expired in August.

Soon after Pathfinders moved out the vandalism began. Damage to the Alexander Community Center #2 and the homes resulted in over $9,000.00 of repairs and cleaning. The vandalism has stopped after two street department employees were allowed to move-in with their families late last year as a quick stop-gap measure.

At the January 23 council meeting Police Chief Robert Burnett provided council members with a sample of the rental form and other documents to be used. Council members agreed that a $500.00 security deposit should be “Required” and the city attorney should review the rental agreement.

Next Meeting

Due to a holiday falling on the third Monday in February, the next meeting of the Alexander City Council is the following Monday, February 27 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander’s Legislative Audit Report for 2021 released, Report on former Bookkeeper included

Normally, the release of the annual Legislative Audit for the City of Alexander is not a must-read. However, considering events which occurred during the recent election cycle; the release of this report is greatly anticipated.

The incident that resulted in the following report began during the City’s Fall Festival on October 1, 2022. During the event the police department’s K-9 dog Leo was being walked through the city park’s parking lot when he hit on a vehicle belonging to Alexander’s bookkeeper Melissa Ratliff, who now goes by her maiden name Anthony.

Then Mayor Paul Mitchell decided he would deal with it the following week. Ratliff didn’t show-up for work as she should have on Monday, October 3. She also didn’t contact anyone at city hall that she wouldn’t be coming in that day. She did work the rest of the week. Unbeknownst to her Mitchell had scheduled a drug test for Ratliff and another female employee to be taken Monday, October 10.

When Ratliff arrived at city hall on Monday she was told to wait in her car because she and the other employee would be taking a drug test that morning. Before the other employee could finish what she was doing inside city hall Ratliff drove off and never returned. She was subsequently fired on Tuesday, October 11.

The City Treasurer, JoAn Churchill, stepped-in and began going through the books to determine the condition of the city’s finances. Also, payday would be coming and she needed to be sure all of the accounts could make payroll.

Once word leaked out that Ratliff was gone, being an election year, speculations ran wild and so did Freedom of Information requests for Ratliff’s time sheets and payroll statements. Photos of the documents were shared on the social media site Nextdoor by then candidate, now mayor of Alexander, Crystal Herrmann. Anyone with a calculator was asking how someone can work more hours than there are in a day, week or month.

Once Churchill realized there were problems with Ratliff’s time and pay the state auditor, who was still working on the 2021 audit, was notified and asked to add this to the audit. The following statements are taken from the Audit Report for 2021.

Before the Audit Report itemizes the offenses the report begins with the statement, “During our evaluation, noncompliance with state law and accepted accounting practices was noted in the offices of the Mayor and District Court Clerk.”

Under the category of Mayor the report states, “During the period January 1, 2021 through August 25, 2022, the Bookkeeper received salary overpayments totaling $20,088 and undocumented mileage reimbursements totaling $641.

“In addition, review of payroll records for the Bookkeeper, who was responsible for preparing disbursements and maintaining payroll records, revealed the following:

    "•    Wages received in 2021 ($74,913) exceeded

            budget ($40,040) by $34,873.

    "•    The Bookkeeper reported working an excessive

            number of hours on her timesheets:

            "o    1,602 overtime hours, including as much

                     as 18 hours in a single day and as much

                     as 181 hours during a two-week pay period.

            "o    945 weekend hours, including as much as

                    16 hours in a single weekend day and as

                    much as 30 hours during a two-day weekend.

    "•    The Bookkeeper reported working hours while

            out of the office:

            "o    115 hours on eight weekdays while,
                    according to time clock cards, the
                    Bookkeeper was on sick leave.

            "o    29 hours for attending a three-day conference
                    for which, according to conference officials, the
                    Bookkeeper was not registered and there was no
                    evidence she attended.

            "o    Hours reportedly worked while the Bookkeeper

                    was traveling on three vacations, according to

                    social media posts.

    "•    “Time In” and “Time Out” reflected on timesheets
            did not always agree with stamped time clock cards.

    "•    Timesheets were not always signed by the Bookkeeper

            or approved by her supervisor.

    "•    As of August 20, 2022, the Bookkeeper had negative

            sick (-3) and vacation (-26) leave balances. In addition,

            51 sick leave hours and 160 vacation leave hours used

            during the review period were not deducted from her

            leave balances.

    The Bookkeeper was terminated on October 11, 2022.”

It should be noted the list of city officials has Ratliff listed as the “Recorder” instead of the “Bookkeeper.” Also, that same list does accurately reflect that Ratliff was appointed May 17, 2021 to serve as interim Court Clerk after the death of the previous clerk. She was then replaced by Janet Guess who was appointed September 1, 2021 as the new Court Clerk.

The Court Clerk did receive one noncompliance report which states, “Balances remaining in the bank were not identified with receipts issued for cases not yet adjudicated and payments made on all unpaid individual time accounts, as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 16-10-209.”

The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office is investigating the charges laid out in the Audit Report. It’s been reported subpoenas have been issued ordering the submission of documents.

Full agenda for Alexander council’s first meeting in 2023

For its first meeting in 2023 the Alexander City Council has a full to-do list on the agenda. The agenda for the January 23 meeting has items listed under both “Old” and “New” business.

One item under Old Business is a proposal to allow some city employees, who currently live outside Alexander, to live in houses formerly used by Pathfinders, Inc. on the old Human Development Center property. The idea is to have them living there rent free in exchange for protecting the buildings from vandalism and maintain the grounds surrounding the houses.

There are four items listed under New Business; Organization of City Council 2023, Appointment of Alderman for Ward 1, Amend ordinance for city jail fees, and Update from mayor on the status of the Fire Chief.

Every January the city council establishes its operating rules for the current year. At the December meeting the council declared the Ward-1 Position-2 seat vacant after former council member Elizabeth Bland sent an E-mail resigning from the council, since she no longer lives in the city. In 2022 the city council accepted the new contract with Saline County, which increased the costs of housing prisoners at the county jail. Now the ordinance accepting the contract must be amended. Finally, council members want to know why Fire Chief Mark Ridgeway was placed on administrative leave within mere days after Mayor Crystal Herrmann was sworn-in on January 1.

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, January 23, 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander Planning Commission sets date for second public meeting on Master Development Plan

The Alexander Planning Commission has set Saturday, March 11 as the date for a second public input meeting on the proposed Master Development Plan. The purpose of the meeting is to receive input from residents, business and property owners on a draft version of the plan.

The meeting will be held from Noon to 2:00 PM at the Alexander Community Center #2 building located on the former Alexander Human Development Center property, in South Alexander, along Highway 111.

This meeting will be of a similar style to the first meeting held in the city park on June 11. At that meeting the public was allowed to arrive and leave at their convenience between the allotted times. While that meeting was designed to invoke comments and opinions on various topics concerning the future growth of Alexander, this meeting is asking for opinions on the first draft of the plan, which was written based on that first public meeting.

A copy of the first draft of the plan entitled, “On Track for a Better Tomorrow” may be downloaded from the city’s website at www.cityofalexander.com. Click on the button on the home page labeled “COA Comprehensive Plan.” The PDF file will open. A download icon will be in the upper right-hand corner of the page allowing you to save it to your computer. Paper copies will be available at the meeting but being able to read it before the meeting will allow you the opportunity to formulate any questions or suggestions you may have concerning the plan. Paper copies will also be available at the Alexander Municipal Complex (city hall).

The master development plan will be used by current and future city leaders to act as a guide concerning residential and commercial growth in the City of Alexander. The current master development plan was approve in 1982.

After comments and suggestions from the March meeting are integrated into a proposed second draft version of the Master Development Plan, a formal public hearing will be held allowing the public one final opportunity to provide any additional comments. Depending on the amount of changes needed to be made to the first draft, the public hearing may be scheduled for the planning commission’s April 11 meeting. The public meeting will be announced and publicized as a legal notice in a local newspaper.

If comments from the public hearing require additional changes, then any vote on the Master Development Plan will have to wait until those changes are made. Even if no changes are needed, according to the contract between the City of Alexander and the Little Rock Water Reclamation Commission (LRWRC) the Master Development Plan needs approval “in writing” from the Little Rock Planning and Development Department.

The contract for sewer services to be provided to the Pulaski County portion of Alexander and some parts of Saline County that border Pulaski County, requires Alexander to develop a comprehensive master development plan. That plan must have final approval by Little Rock before it can be adopted by the Alexander City Council.

Also at the January 10 regular planning meeting:

Billboard ordinance approved for council vote

Planning commission members approved recommending that the city council adopt a proposed ordinance controlling the placement of billboards within the city. The ordinance is now under review by the city attorney before it is presented to the city council.

Alexander currently does not have such an ordinance. In the past billboard companies have asked one be provided to determine the process and regulations required to erect a billboard in Alexander.

The Big Show postponed

Planning commission members were expecting to hear from the developer of the property across from Meadow’s Edge along Highway 111. The developer was called out of town and had to cancel. A special meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 14, 6:30 PM in the court room at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Alexander Planning Commission will be held on Tuesday, April 11, 6:30 PM in the court room at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

New subdivision on Alexander Planning agenda

A proposed new subdivision will be the main topic of discussion at the Alexander Planning Commission’s meeting Tuesday evening. Developers want to build the subdivision across from the entrance to Meadow’s Edge along Highway 111. That area is the remaining acreage of the former cattle farm that was operated both there and on the land occupied by Meadow’s Edge.

The regular meeting of the Alexander Planning Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, January 10, 6:30 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex (City Hall). The public is invited to attend.

Alexander Council Members take oath

In Arkansas, the first day of the new year following a General Election is the day local elected officials have the first opportunity to take their oath of office. On Sunday, January 1, 2023 five of the seven City of Alexander council members assembled at the Alexander Community Center #2 to be sworn-in.

The ceremony was officiated by Saline County District-12 Justice of the Peace J. R. Walters, seen in the foreground of the photo. Left to right are: Joe Pollard (Ward-1), Harold Timmerman (Ward-3), Tony Staton (Ward-3), Juanita Wilson (Ward-4), and Joy Gray (Ward-2).

Of the five, Wilson was the only one with a challenger, April Cotton, in the November election. This is Staton’s first time to be seated on the council. The other four were incumbents during the election.

Besides Staton there will be two more new council members starting this next two-year term. Gina Thomas Littlejohn (Ward-2) and Angela Griffin (Ward-4) defeated incumbents Lonny Chapman and Jeffery Watson, respectively. They along with Alexander’s new Mayor, Crystal Herrmann, took their oaths at the Saline County Courthouse Sunday morning.

There is still a vacancy on the council for the Ward-1 Position-2 seat. The seat was declared vacant at the December council meeting due to the council member having moved to Little Rock. Anyone living in Ward-1 wanting to join the council should contact either city hall or a council member.