Alexander street repair plan moves forward with minimum votes needed

The Alexander City Council was able to approve amending an ordinance that was keeping the city from accepting $250,000 in state Street Aid funding. Six of the eight aldermen were needed to achieve the required two-thirds vote and six attended the special meeting held Tuesday evening, September 29. A new version of the resolution accepting the street repair plan was also passed to correct an error in the original resolution.

Absent from the meeting were Andrea Bearden and Jeff Watson. Present were Stephanie Beck, Lonny Chapman,, Dan Church, Louis Hobbs, Andy Mullins, and Melissa Ratliff. Mayor Paul Mitchell was also in attendance. All six aldermen voted “Yes” on each motion.

The purpose of the meeting was to suspend the required second and third readings 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.

The first reading of the ordinance was done during the council’s regular monthly meeting Monday, September 21. Only five aldermen were present at that meeting. 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 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 monthly 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 AHTD resolution which states, “The City agrees upon completion of the project to assume the maintenance of the right-of-way by City Forces.”

Knowing the city isn’t responsible for the streets in St. Joseph’s Glen Alderwoman Andrea Bearden wanted to know how Alexander can be forced to provide future maintenance to streets it doesn’t own. 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.

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 had to be amended and approved again. Fortunately, resolutions only need to be read once at a public meeting and become effective immediately.

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council will be held Monday, October 19. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

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.

Alexander Street ordinance three readings override fails, Special meeting scheduled for Friday

In a five to three vote, the Alexander City Council failed to suspend the requirement that an ordinance be read three times before a vote to amend an existing ordinance can be taken. The 2008 ordinance is keeping the city from repairing two streets in the St. Joseph’s Glen subdivision. By 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.

Since three of the aldermen were absent, which counted as three “No” votes, a second meeting has been scheduled by Mayor Paul Mitchell for Friday, September 25 with the expectation that more aldermen will be present. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

The proposed ordinance amends Ordinance 2008-02, passed June 16, 2008. The amending language adds Autumn Cove and the end of Magnolia Glen, located in Phase-7, to the city street system without including any of the other streets in St. Joseph’s Glen.

The original 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.

Ordinance 2008-02 says the improvement district is being established, "[F]or the purpose of constructing and installing facilities for water works, recreation, drainage, gas pipelines, underground trenches and excavations necessary for the installation of electric and telephone distribution systems, sanitary sewers, streets, including curbs and gutters, sidewalks together with facilities related to any of the foregoing within said district."

After the completion of St. Joseph's Glen the ordinance states, "[T]he improvement district shall continue to exist for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and operating the improvement(s), replacing equipment, paying salaries to employments (sic) and performing any other functions or services authorized by law."

Finally, the ordinance stipulates, "The City of Alexander shall not have any obligation to assume the responsibilities for the continued existence, maintenance or control over the improvement(s)."

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, included language that would require the city to take over maintenance of all utilities in Phase-7 if the developers decided to end their legal responsibilities to St. Joseph’s Glen and its residents. Council members at the time sent the ordinance back to have it rewritten to match the ordinance that formed the improvement district for phases one through six. Phase-7 is the only part of St. Joseph’s Glen that has streets that need to be repaired.

During the discussion of the proposed ordinance that will amend Ordinance 2008-02, Mayor Paul 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.”

In a special meeting on August 21 a resolution agreeing to accept the use of up to $250,000 in state aid to repair six city streets was approved. The vote was four to four. City Recorder Sharron Bankhead, who conducted the meeting due to the absence of Mayor Mitchell, cast the deciding “Yes” vote.

The resolution was provided by AHTD and 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. An amended resolution was also on the September 21 agenda but was not discussed since a two-thirds vote could not be attained.

The funding for this project is being provided by the State Aid City Streets program. 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 Magnolia Glen the other streets to be repaved are most of Brookwood Road, all of Cornerstone, Kelli Place, and a portion of 2^nd Street. According to the state’s bid specifications Autumn Cove will be repaved from its cul-de-sac to the intersection of Magnolia Glen. The repaving will also include the intersection and Magnolia Glen from the intersection east to the cul-de-sac.

Absent from the September 21 meeting were Andrea Bearden, Louis Hobbs and Jeff Watson. Being absent is counted as a “No” vote. Present at the meeting and voting “Yes” were Stephanie Beck, Andy Mullins, Dan Church, Melissa Ratliff, and Lonny Chapman.

Mitchell read the ordinance, which counted as its first public reading. He requested the motion and vote to suspend the second and third readings admitting it was only a “Formality.”

None of the streets being put out to bid were on the original list of streets submitted to AHTD, including the two in St. Joseph’s Glen. In 2014 a committee was established to produce a list of streets, which would be presented to AHTD officials. 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 to make the final choice.

The list was submitted prior to the November 2014 election. Mayor Michelle Hobbs, who was appointed mayor in December 2012, lost her election to current Mayor Paul Mitchell. In December she submitted the current list to AHTD.

This is not the first time city officials have had to deal with the legal issue of getting Magnolia Glen and Autumn Cove repaired. A resolution proposed during the March 17, 2014 regular meeting requesting a federal grant to repair the two streets failed by a vote of five to three. Hobbs was mayor at the time.

The issue of the city not having legal control of any of the streets in St. Joseph’s Glen was discussed during a public hearing prior to the March 17 meeting. Amanda Adair, who represented the state at the hearing, was asked if the city can apply for the federal grant for streets not maintained by the city. Adair said, "No." Alderwoman Andrea Bearden and Alderman Lonny Chapman are the only current members of the city council who were also on the council in 2014.

In other business;

In another five to three vote, a motion to appoint Pat Marshall as city attorney failed. Currently Marshall is Alexander’s prosecuting attorney and would have continued in that capacity if the motion had passed. Former City Attorney Kevin Lemley has been hired by the Arkansas Attorney General’s office and can no-longer serve as city attorney. Marshall has been the city’s prosecuting attorney for several years.

Alderman Andy Mullins asked Marshall why she was “Fired” in 2009 by former Mayor Shirley Johnson. Marshall said she wasn’t fired and explained that the court system changed in 2009. There was a pilot program which experimented with having all cases tried in Bryant and using the Saline County Prosecutor’s Office to prosecute the cases instead of each city needing its own attorney. The program eventually ended and Marshall was rehired as Alexander’s prosecuting attorney.

Mullins and Aldermen Lonny Chapman voted against her appointment. With the other three aldermen absent, that made the five “No” votes. Voting “Yes” were Stephanie Beck, Dan Church and Melissa Ratliff.

After the third reading of an ordinance entitled “City of Alexander Solid Waste Assurances Ordinance,” it passed by a vote of five to three. The ordinance requires contractors, who are doing construction or renovation work within the city, to submit a waste disposal plan.

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council will be held Monday, October 19. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

City of Alexander monthly council meeting Monday

SEE CORRECTION BELOW

The regular monthly meeting of the Alexander City Council will be held this Monday, September 21. The meeting will be at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.

The council will have the third reading of an ordinance entitled “City of Alexander Solid Waste Assurances Ordinance.” The ordinance protects the city from contractors who do not dispose of construction waste properly. After the third reading, council members are expected to vote on the approval of the ordinance.

The first item under “New Business” on the agenda is the appointing of a city attorney. Alexander’s prosecuting attorney, Pat Marshall, is expected to be appointed city attorney. If appointed she will continue as prosecuting attorney. Former City Attorney Kevin Lemley has been hired by the Arkansas Attorney General’s office and can no-longer serve as city attorney. This item has already been tabled twice at two council meetings.

Two other items under “New Business” include an “Amended Ordinance for Street Repair, Resurfacing” and a “Resolution for State Aid City Street Program Project.” The “Resolution for State Aid” is expected to be an amended version of a resolution passed at a special meeting August 21. It’s unknown if the “Ordinance for Street Repair” has any connection to the resolution.

The resolution accepts a plan to use up to $250,000 of state funding to repair six city streets. Two of those streets are in St. Joseph’s Glen subdivision and are not maintained by the city. The $250,000 is a bonus Arkansas cities are being given as their share of the temporary fuel tax passed by voters a few years ago.

The resolution was provided by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) and 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.” The amended version is expected to deal with the city maintaining two streets, which are connected to other streets not maintained by the city.

Bidding for the project was put on hold when Alderwoman Andrea Bearden sent an E-mail to AHTD questioning how the city can be forced to maintain streets it doesn’t own. She also asked how a resolution can supersede an ordinance which stipulates the developers will maintain the streets.

CORRECTION: The new last paragraph of this article corrects the previous version which stated Alderwoman Andrea Bearden had threatened to sue AHTD for being required to maintain the two streets in St. Joseph’s Glen after they are repaired. While Bearden had E-mailed AHTD officials the threat of a lawsuit was apparently only rumor. We apologize for the error.