Alexander mayor forgets how to veto a vote

City of Alexander Mayor Michelle Hobbs tried to claim she vetoed a vote taken by the city council in May accepting then City Attorney Carla Miller's resignation "effective immediately." At the May 19 meeting Hobbs did say she was vetoing the vote during the meeting but at the council's regular June 16 meeting Alderman Andrea Bearden asked her to produce the document required to veto a council's vote. She couldn't.

Originally Miller submitted her resignation in April, "to become effective no later than July 1, 2014." On May 27 Miller sent a revised resignation letter by e-mail to Mayor Hobbs and city aldermen making it "effective immediately" which changed the date of her resignation from July 1 to May 27. During that week she wrapped up some legal matters and has since billed the city. Apparently Miller was under the impression the council's vote had been vetoed.

During a testy back-and-forth between Hobbs and Bearden, at the June 16 meeting, Bearden told Hobbs since the Mayor did not follow state law to enforce the veto that means "there is no veto" and Miller shouldn't be paid for any work done after the council's May 19 vote accepting her resignation.

Under Arkansas law a mayor has five days to veto an "ordinance, resolution, or order" passed by a city council. The veto must be in writing stating the reason for the veto. It must also be signed and dated by the recorder, in a city of the second-class, or city clerk. The council is then given the opportunity to override the veto by a two-thirds vote at the next regular meeting.

Hobbs eventually ended the discussion saying she would check with the Arkansas Municipal League (AML). One of the AML attorneys, David Schoen, sat silent in the audience during the veto discussion.

This is not Hobbs's first veto. In February, 2013 she enacted two vetoes involving council appointments to fill a vacancy on the council and the recorder's position. In January, 2014 she vetoed two votes by the council, one a spending freeze and another that redistributed sales tax revenue. Both of the January vetoes were overturned.

At a special meeting held Tuesday evening, June 24 Kevin M. Lemley was appointed as the new city attorney for the City of Alexander. The appointment was approved in a five to three vote of the council.

Alexander aldermen select city attorney at special meeting

Kevin M. Lemley has been appointed as the new city attorney for the City of Alexander. The appointment was approved in a five to three vote of the council at a special meeting held Tuesday evening, June 24.

Attending the meeting and voting for the appointment were aldermen Andrea Bearden, Farren Wadley, Juanita Wilson, Faye McKeon, and Lonny Chapman. Because aldermen Ceola Bailey, Sam Gregory and Brad Scott were absent they are counted as "no" votes.

Also absent were Mayor Michelle Hobbs and Recorder Sharon Bankhead. The council voted to appoint Alderman Wadley to serve as acting mayor during the meeting and also voted to appoint Alderman Bearden as acting recorder.

Four attorneys submitted proposals to the city stating their qualifications, three included fee schedules. Two of the attorneys attended the regular council meeting held June 16; Lemley and Kimberly Eden. Both attorneys were interviewed during that meeting.

Eden did not provide a fee proposal. She did offer to work for "whatever is left in the budget."

Both attorneys were asked to submit a fee proposal and e-mail it to the mayor. The mayor was to forward the proposals to council members.

During the discussion phase of the meeting Alderman Faye McKeon reminded the council they voted against a motion to appoint Kimberley Eden at the June 16 meeting.

"Why are we giving her a second chance to give us a proposal," she said.

In his proposal Lemley said, "For the remainder of 2014, my fee is a flat fee of $6,500 from the beginning date of service through December 31, 2014." ... "Beginning January 1, 2015, my fee is a monthly rate of $2,450 for all City business other than litigation."

Former city attorney Carla Miller billed the City $4,973.30 just for services rendered between March 26 and April 25.

Under both cost proposals Lemley states, "This amount includes service for all City business other than litigation" but does "include monitoring litigation being handled by other attorneys."

If Lemley represents the city in a lawsuit in 2014 or 2015 he will charge $140 per hour as lead attorney or $70 per hour if he serves in a secondary role. Another option is "a flat fee that may be mutually determined according to the type of litigation."

Eden did not submit a written fee proposal.

Lemley has been practicing law since 2005. He's defended class-action law suits in both state and federal courts when he was an associate with the Allen Law Firm, P.C.; was a staff attorney for the Arkansas Public Service Commission; and advised government agencies regarding compliance with various state and federal regulations when he was a counsel with Mitchell Williams. He now has his own practice, Kevin M. Lemley, P.A. in Little Rock. He also recently settled a lawsuit in which the opposing attorney was Arkansas Municipal League attorney John Wilkerson.

Before receiving her law degree in December, 2011 Eden worked for the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission and the Law Offices of Gary Green (Personal Injury and General Practice). From 2012 to 2013 she was with Hosto & Buchan, P.L.L.C. practicing debt collection law. Currently Eden is an attorney with the Hoskyn Law Firm practicing family Law, probate, estate planning, and general practice.

The appointment came as the result of former city attorney Carla Miller resigning. She submitted her resignation after the April council meeting and it was "to become effective no later than July 1, 2014." The council voted at its May 19 meeting to accept her resignation "effective immediately."

At the May 19 meeting Hobbs said she would veto the vote to accept her resignation but at the council's regular June 16 meeting Alderman Andrea Bearden asked her to produce the signed document required to veto a council's vote. She couldn't.

On May 27 Miller sent a revised resignation letter by e-mail to Mayor Hobbs and city aldermen making her resignation "effective immediately" which changed the date of her resignation from July 1 to May 27. During that week she wrapped up some legal matters and has since billed the city. She apparently was under the impression the veto was in effect.

During the June 16 meeting Bearden told the mayor if there's no veto the city doesn't owe Miller for any work done after May 19. Hobbs ended the discussion saying she would check with the Arkansas Municipal League (AML) about the veto. One of the AML attorneys, David Schoen, sat silent in the audience during discussion of the veto.

The special meeting was called by aldermen Bearden, Wadley and Wilson. In the meeting announcement the aldermen stated they wanted to comply with the mayor's sense of urgency to appoint a new city attorney and to have a new attorney in place for the next regular meeting, July 21.

Alexander aldermen call special meeting to appoint city attorney tonight

A special meeting has been scheduled for 6 PM at city hall Tuesday, June 24 by City of Alexander aldermen Andrea Bearden, Farren Wadley and Juanita Wilson. The purpose of the meeting is to appoint a new city attorney. The public is invited to attend.

Four attorneys submitted proposals to the city stating their qualifications, three included fee schedules. Two of the attorneys attended the regular council meeting held June 16; Kimberly Eden and Kevin M. Lemley. Both attorneys were interviewed during the regular meeting.

Lemley has been practicing law since 2005. He's defended class-action law suits in both state and federal courts when he was an associate with the Allen Law Firm, P.C.; was a staff attorney for the Arkansas Public Service Commission; and advised government agencies regarding compliance with various state and federal regulations when he was a counsel with Mitchell Williams. He now has his own practice, Kevin M. Lemley, P.A.. He also recently won a lawsuit against Arkansas Municipal league attorney John Wilkerson.

Before receiving her law degree in December, 2011 Eden worked for the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission and the Law Offices of Gary Green (Personal Injury and General Practice). From 2012 to 2013 she was with Hosto & Buchan, P.L.L.C. practicing debt collection law. Currently Eden is an attorney with the Hoskyn Law Firm practicing family Law, probate, estate planning, and general practice.

Both attorneys were asked to submit a fee proposal and e-mail it to the mayor. The mayor was to forward the proposals to council members.

Former city attorney Carla Miller submitted her resignation in April "to become effective no later than July 1, 2014." At its regular monthly meeting, held May 19, the council voted six to two to accept Miller's resignation "effective immediately."

According to the meeting announcement the goal is to have a new attorney in place for the next regular meeting July 21. By state law no other city business can be conducted tonight except that which is posted as reason for the special meeting.

Alexander council interviews attorneys

Street repairs to begin

Despite Mayor Michelle Hobbs insisting the council needed to select an attorney Monday night, a failed vote put the decision off until the next meeting. After a long discussion the council voted two to six against a motion selecting one of the attorneys who had submitted proposals.

Four attorneys submitted proposals stating their qualifications, three included fee schedules. Two of the attorneys attended the meeting; Kimberly Eden and Kevin M. Lemley.

The discussion centered around cost versus experience.

Lemley has been practicing law since 2005. He's defended class-action law suits in both state and federal courts when he was an associate with the Allen Law Firm, P.C.; was a staff attorney for the Arkansas Public Service Commission; and advised government agencies regarding compliance with various state and federal regulations when he was a counsel with Mitchell Williams. He now has his own practice, Kevin M. Lemley, P.A.. He also recently won a lawsuit against Arkansas Municipal league attorney John Wilkerson.

Before receiving her law degree in December, 2011 Eden worked for the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission and the Law Offices of Gary Green (Personal Injury and General Practice). From 2012 to 2013 she was with Hosto & Buchan, P.L.L.C. practicing debt collection law. Currently Eden is an attorney with the Hoskyn Law Firm practicing family Law, probate, estate planning, and general practice.

In his proposal Lemley says his standard rate is $200 per hour but for the City of Alexander he will charge $150. While this is $15 higher than the previous city attorney Lemley only charges for actual legal work, not for time spent on the phone or responding to e-mails.

"As a matter of firm policy, we do not bill for routine correspondences requesting advice or transmitting advice," he states in his proposal. "We only bill time when actual legal work is performed."

Eden did not provide a rate proposal. She said during the meeting she understands the city budget is short and is willing to work for, "whatever is left in the budget."

Alderman Andrea Bearden posed two questions to the attorneys concerning loyalty and keeping the city legal. She asked them if hired who would they be working for. Both said the city. When asked to be more specific Lemley said the citizens of Alexander. She also asked if the mayor or council is misquoting a law would they, "stand up and correct it?" Both said yes.

Mayor Hobbs kept insisting the council select an attorney because, "the Municipal League says we need a city attorney."

David Schoen, an attorney with the Arkansas Municipal League, was at the meeting and told the mayor and council members they do need an attorney but, "you need to negotiate a rate of pay."

Even though some council members wanted to settle the legal fee issue before selecting an attorney, Alderman Sam Gregory made a motion to hire Kimberly Eden as the city attorney. Ceola Bailey seconded the motion. Gregory and Bailey voted yes. Voting no were Farren Wadley, Juanita Wilson, Andrea Bearden, Faye McKeon, and Lonny Chapman. Brad Scott was absent so he was counted as a "no" vote.

Both attorneys were asked to submit a fee proposal and e-mail it to the mayor. The mayor will then forward them to council members.

Street bid approved

The council approved the low bid for drainage and street repairs at nine locations along Alexander city streets. The low bid of $41,696.82 was submitted by Gleason Tucker Construction of Ward. The other two bids were from D&S Construction in Jacksonville for $45,202.00 and K&S Masinary Construction of Sherwood for $47,650.00.

The nine areas to be repaired are AC Wallace at 2nd Street, Earl D. Miller, Robert Earl, Corner Stone Road in front of S&K Plumbing, Brookwood Road at Lindsey Drive, Brookwood Road at Don Parker, West Azalea Drive, Spruce Drive, and South Alexander Road at the firehouse. The drainage repairs include removing tree stumps and cleaning out ditches, repairing damaged culverts, rebuilding ditch banks, repairing sections of streets, replacing culvert pipes, and removing debris from drains.

The next regular monthly meeting of the Alexander City Council will be on Monday, July 21, 2014, 6 PM at City Hall. The public is invited to attend.

A long and feisty meeting expected in Alexander Monday night

The next regular meeting of the Alexander city council is shaping up to be another long one due to the amount of business and the expectation of heads butting over state law versus how the mayor wants to run the city. The meeting will be held Monday night June 16, at 6 PM in city hall.

Council members will be doing the work of two meetings in one because Mayor Michelle Hobbs kept the council from voting or conducting business at a special meeting held two weeks ago in place of the regular May meeting. She claimed because only five of the eight members showed up the council only had a quorum but couldn't vote because there wasn't a majority.

According to state law a majority of the entire council is required to pass any bylaw, ordinance, resolution or order (ACA § 14-55-203). A majority is more than half of the entire council. In this case a majority of eight is five. A quorum is needed to take a vote, which is a majority of the whole number of the council. Again five.

The legal issue expected to cause the most ruckus will be over three resumes from lawyers, which include their legal fees. State law prohibits competitive bidding for professional services.

The position became available when city attorney Carla Miller resigned in April.

In a publication provided by the Arkansas Municipal League (AML) it spells out the process a municipality must use to obtain professional services. It says, "Competitive bids are not allowed when cities seek certain professional services. Professional services are defined as contracts for legal, financial advisory, architectural, engineering services, construction management, and land surveying (ACA § 19-11-802)."

The AML says cities needing professional services should first, "Advertise for RFP (Request for Proposal) or RFQ (Request for Qualifications)."

After the deadline for submissions the council should evaluate the RFPs/RFQs, "Considering the qualifications and reputation of each professional firm." This process may include an oral presentation, if the council desires, prior to making a selection.

In the final step the city selects the best three and then negotiates a price. The AML says the, "City shall select three qualified firms and then select the most qualified (ACA § 19-11-804). Once a qualified professional firm has been selected, then the city may negotiate a contract. If a mutually-agreeable contract cannot be negotiated with the first, most qualified firm, then the city may attempt to negotiate an agreement with the second and then the third firms on the list (ACA § 19-11-805)."

Items left-over from the two previous meetings, expected to be discussed, include bids to repair the driveway at the South Alexander fire house and bids to repair various streets in Alexander. Mayor Hobbs originally submitted one bid each to the council but she was told to get three bids for each project.

Two ordinances proposed in April are still on the table. One ordinance proposes to form a committee to amend the City's employee manual. The second ordinance would put the council in charge of city employees who are not department heads.

Alexander Mayor keeps council from voting with wild claim

City of Alexander Mayor Michelle Hobbs allowed a special meeting to continue but kept council members present from voting by claiming only a "quorum" was present. She told the aldermen business could be discussed but a "majority" was needed for any votes to take place.

Of the eight-member city council five were present; aldermen Juanita Wilson, Andrea Bearden, Sam Gregory, Lonnie Chapman, and Faye McKeon. Absent were aldermen Farren Wadley, Ceola Bailey, Brad Scott, and Recorder Sharon Bankhead. Bearden voluntarily filled-in for Bankhead.

According to information provided in an on-line pamphlet by the Arkansas Municipal League, "[A] majority of the entire council is required to pass any bylaw, ordinance, resolution or order (ACA § 14-55-203). A majority is whatever number it takes to have more than half." In this case a majority of eight is five.

That same pamphlet says a quorum is needed to take a vote, which "[C]onsists of a majority of the whole number of the council." Again five.

The special meeting held Monday, June 2 was scheduled during the regular May meeting because the agenda was not complete and the minutes from two previous meetings were given to the aldermen that night. Since items that should have been on the agenda were left off and the aldermen hadn't proofread the minutes they decided to reschedule the meeting for June 2. The only other business conducted that night was the acceptance of City Attorney Carla Miller's resignation, "Effective immediately."

The mayor made no objections when a motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. All aldermen voted aye.

Items discussed

In response to Alderman Sam Gregory's question about the streets Mayor Hobbs said she now has three bids and they will be in the meeting packets for the June 16 regular meeting. At the April meeting Hobbs provided only one bid and was told by the council to advertise in order to get more bids as required under state law.

Later the mayor reported the city has been approved for a $250,000 street repair grant from the state highway department. She said they will evaluate the condition of the streets and decide which ones will be renovated doing, "The worst first." The project is scheduled for 2015. When asked Hobbs assured Alderman Andrea Bearden this funding was only for city approved streets, referring to an issue the city is having as to who is responsible for St. Joseph's Glen's streets.

Shortly before the resignation of City Attorney Carla Miller she presented an ordinance to the council that will accept all of St. Joseph's Glen's streets into the city. Alderman Faye McKeon said, "it needs to be looked at" and it, "was going to get this city in trouble."

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, June 16 at city hall. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander special meeting June 2

The Alexander city council will hold a special meeting on Monday, June 2. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

At its May 19 meeting the council voted, five to three, to postpone the meeting until Monday, June 2. Alderman Andrea Bearden said there was no need to have the meeting since there's nothing to discuss.

Bearden noted the minutes from the two previous regular meetings, which were given to the council at the start of the May 19 meeting leaving aldermen no time to proofread them, as one of a series of reasons to postpone the meeting. Also, several items were missing from the agenda including two ordinances presented at the April meeting to allow aldermen one month to review them, the ordinance and resolution E-mailed to aldermen by then City Attorney Carla Miller after the April meeting, and the Mayor failed to advertise for construction bids to repair the driveway in front of the fire house on South Alexander Road and to have several streets repaired.