Mayor Hobbs calls special meeting tonight

City of Alexander Mayor Michelle Hobbs has called a Special Meeting for tonight, June 25, 2013. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in City Hall.

This meeting is to rectify the illegal votes taken at last week's regular council meeting. That meeting was called to order by the mayor without the required quorum of five necessary for an eight-member council, as required under state law. State law also allows the mayor to make the quorum, but there were only three aldermen present; making the council one short of a quorum.

Without a quorum, it would appear all votes taken at the regular meeting were illegal; including the appointment of Faye McKeon to fill a vacancy on the city council. Purportedly, the seat filled was that of Ward-4 Alderman Jack Shoemaker who resigned after moving out of Alexander. Appointing McKeon to that position is also in question since the council hadn't had time to declare the seat vacant, as with past vacancies. The Ward-4 seat held by the late Henry Tackett has been declared vacant.

Alderman Juanita Wilson has requested, in writing, an explanation from City Attorney Carla Miller why last week's meeting was allowed to begin without a quorum. Wilson says she received an E-mail from Miller saying she didn't have time to respond in writing because she was preparing for tonight's meeting. According to Wilson Miller offered to explain it at tonight's meeting. Wilson says she's not attending any meetings until she gets the answer to her question in writing.

Listed on tonight's agenda is Recorder, Resolution for Bank Accounts, Ordinance for Street Abandonment, Ordinance for Variance, Public Comments. There is no mention of filling the vacancy on the council.

One legal sticking point appearing on the agenda is consolidating five bank accounts into the General Fund. Those accounts are Police Department Fund, Fire Department Fund, Fire Department Reserve Fund, Parks and Recreation Fund, and Payroll Tax Fund.

Three of those accounts were started after two sales tax referendums passed. One referendum was for a one-cent sales tax dedicated to the fire department. In a separate referendum a second one-cent tax was passed dedicating that it be divided among police, fire, and parks and recreation.

City officials have always stated because the referendums specified the sales taxes were dedicated to be spent by specific city departments, state law requires they are to be kept in separate bank accounts and not be mixed with General Fund revenue. It has also been said this was the only way to get the referendums passed.

The Fire Department Reserve Fund contains 813 funding, which is shared by fire departments throughout the state. Purportedly, this too has a legal requirement to be kept in a separate account and be spent for specific uses under threat of losing future 813 funding.

The final account is the Payroll Tax Fund. That account was started in 2011 because the IRS demanded a bank account be established to allow the agency to withdraw the city's IRS payments electronically. The bookkeeper at the time also used it to hold state income tax payments, keeping them out of the General Fund. In the past those payments were being spent before they could be sent to either the IRS or the state.

Another item on tonight's agenda is an ordinance abandoning all streets and alleys next to the post office. The streets and alleys are part of the original city plat, but were never built. A developer plans to build a Dollar General Store.

In order to suspend the required three readings and pass the "emergency clause" it takes a two-thirds vote of the council. That would require six "yes" votes.

A second ordinance requests a variance from the developer changing the required 20-foot setback from the rear of the building to the property line to 15-feet. According to the ordinance the variance is needed due to the shape of the property. This ordinance also has an "emergency clause" and should require three readings.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Whether or not there is a quorum tonight anyone attending the meeting should ask the mayor why her meeting without a quorum was legal and a meeting attempted in January by the new aldermen was not legal. What state law allows a meeting without a quorum?

And, for those of you ready to complain about the no-shows remember this; it was Mayor Hobbs in January who promised to veto anything passed by the four aldermen who weren't kissing her ring finger. It was Mayor Hobbs who illegally vetoed an appointment to the council with no state law allowing such a veto. It's Mayor Hobbs who wants to illegally combine bank accounts. It's May Hobbs who wants to tick-off the IRS. It's Mayor Hobbs who wants this city to go back the way it was when Shirley Johnson ran it by spending money we don't have. It's Mayor Hobbs who is violating a 2012 spending freeze. If you want to complain to someone complain to your mayor, not to the aldermen she spits on.