(OPINION)
In an apparent
panic, the regular monthly meeting of the Alexander city council was
canceled after Alderwoman Andrea Bearden E-mailed the Arkansas
Municipal League Monday (June 20) morning about the regular meeting
held in May. According to sources one of her concerns is that the May
meeting was illegal because the council didn’t schedule it during
the April meeting. Bearden along with Aldermen Louis Hobbs and Andy
Mullins were absent from the May meeting.
Actions taken at the
May meeting included votes to:
-
Establish May 16, 2016 a regular scheduled meeting;
-
Set the third Monday of the month during 2016 as the council’s regular meeting night;
-
Passed an ordinance allowing a cash register to be used for financial transactions at city hall;
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Passed a resolution establishing dollar amounts for the cash register and petty cash, and
-
Increased the city’s prosecuting attorney’s monthly salary from $500 to $700 per month.
Meeting notices were
posted throughout the city announcing both the May and June meetings
as is customary before every regular and special meeting. Since the
May meeting wasn’t scheduled in April the council took the
precautionary action of voting at the start of the May meeting to
have the meeting.
This is the second
time this has happened in 2016. In January a similar situation
occurred when the council didn’t schedule the January meeting
during the previous December meeting. Before starting the January 25
meeting a vote was taken setting the date and time of the January
meeting. Since the third Monday of January is the Martin Luther King,
Jr. Holiday the meeting is always held on the fourth Monday.
The meeting schedule
is normally not a problem because it’s included in the
“Organization of City Council” (OCC) document. However, this year
getting one passed has been complicated by Bearden’s insistence
that aldermen have the same type of access to city hall and its
equipment as city employees and the mayor.
An OCC was narrowly
passed at the March 21 meeting. Mayor Paul Mitchell vetoed it on
Wednesday.
In his veto he
cited, “Changes made (in the OCC) will do nothing but cause
disruptions in the City Hall front offices which is contrary to the
public interest. Some of the actions taken by the City Council have
nothing to do with organizing the City Council for their meetings.”
A veto override was
not attempted since the original vote passed by only five to three,
which is one vote less than the two-thirds needed to override a veto.
Voting “Yes”
were Louis Hobbs, Lonny Chapman, Andy Mullins, Farren Wadley, and
Bearden. Voting “No” were Stephanie Beck, Melissa Ratliff and Dan
Church.
During the February
meeting a second OCC without the city hall access language was
offered. It failed five to three with Hobbs, Chapman, Mullins, and
Bearden voting “No” and Beck, Ratliff and Church voting “Yes.”
Wadley abstained on both versions causing each to fail.
Based on information
provided by sources explaining the reason for the cancellation of the
meeting, there seems to be some confusion as to whether the lack of
an ordinance is keeping the city council from meeting. Based on
Arkansas Code the only place an ordinance is mentioned in connection
with meetings involves special meetings. Arkansas Code (2014), “Title
14 - Local Government, Subtitle 3 - Municipal Government, Chapter 43
- Government Of Cities Of The First Class, Subchapter 5 - Powers and
Duties Generally, § 14-43-502 - Powers of council generally; 2-(B)
The mayor or any three (3) aldermen of any city or town, regardless
of size or classification, may call special meetings in the manner as
may be provided by ordinance.”
There are two
problems with this section of the code. While it does state,
“regardless of size or classification,” the 43 of 14-43-502 is
the designation for, “Cities Of The First Class” as stated in the
code’s title. The City of Alexander is a City of the Second Class.
The second problem is it states, “[M]ay be provided by ordinance,”
not “Shall.” In legalese “May” usually indicates optional,
not mandatory.
As for the
Organization of City Council, Arkansas code appears to only require
it for Cities of the First Class. In code, “14-43-501 -
Organization of governing body,” it states, “(a) (1) The members
of a governing body elected for each city or town shall annually in
January assemble and organize the governing body.”
As in 14-43-502 this
section is found in the Arkansas Code for Cities of the First Class
even though it refers to them as, “[C]ity or town.” “Town” is
the classification used for municipalities smaller than Cities of the
Second Class. There is no mention of needing it in the form of an
ordinance. Also, in the section set aside for Cities of the Second
Class there is no mention of a requirement to, “Organize the
governing body.”
Municipal League
Attorney Mark Hayes and Mayor Mitchell are working out the details of
how to either schedule a regular meeting without an Organization of
City Council the city may or may not need, or how to schedule a
special meeting without an ordinance the city may or may not need. If
and when this is sorted out the announcement for the next meeting
will be posted in the city at City Hall, the Post Office, Hess, the
Saline Water and Sewer Office, and Elmo’s. A notice will also be
found here and on our other social media sites.