All City of Alexander officials have filed for the November election, all have opposition

There will be no automatic re-election for any of the City of Alexander’s elected officials. The city recorder, city treasurer and all eight of the council members have filed for the November General Election ballot and at least one person has filed against all ten of the incumbents.

The terms for city recorder and city treasurer are four years. The term for aldermen is two years. The mayor is also a four-year term, but that election isn’t due until 2018.

City Recorder Sharon Bankhead has filed for re-election. She will be opposed by former Alderwoman Regina Watson.

City Treasurer Kenneth Miller is actually running in his first election for this position. He is opposed by Julia Ann Wilson.

Miller was appointed about two years ago to fill a vacancy on the Ward-1 Position-2 seat. He was already on the ballot for that position but lost to current Alderwoman Stephanie Beck, who was also on the ballot. He was then appointed to fill the vacancy for city treasurer.

In Ward-1 Alderman Louis Hobbs is seeking re-election to his Position-1 seat. He is being opposed by Joe Pollard.

In Ward-1 Position-2 Alderman Farren Wadley is being opposed by Elizabeth Bland. Wadley was on the council previously, but gave up his seat when he ran for mayor in 2014. He was appointed to fill a vacancy created when Alderman Jeffrey Watson moved out of Ward-1.

In Ward-2 Position-1 Alderwoman Stephanie Beck is running for re-election. She is being challenged by Joy Gray.

Beck was elected in 2014 when she defeated Kenneth Miller. Miller had been appointed shortly before the November election to fill a vacancy in that position created by a resignation.

Alderman Andy Mullins is running for re-election to keep his Ward-1 Position-2 seat. He was elected in 2014 when he defeated Alderwoman Juanita Wilson. Wilson was elected to that position in 2012. She is opposing Mullins in an attempt to regain that seat.

There is a three-way race for the Ward-3 Position-1 seat currently held by Alderwoman Andrea Bearden. This is the first time Bearden will have any opposition in her re-election bid. She is being opposed by former Alderman Samuel D. Gregory and new-comer Harold Timmerman.

In Ward-3 Position-2 Alderman Dan Church is being opposed by Corliss Jerry Ball. Church was elected in 2014. In that same election Ball was one of four candidates for mayor. He and Wadley lost in the first round. Current Mayor Paul Mitchell defeated incumbent Mayor Michelle Hobbs in a run-off.

In Ward-4 Position-1 Alderwoman Melissa Ratliff is seeking re-election. She is being opposed by Tammy Pille. Ratliff was elected in 2014 in her first attempt at politics.

Alderman Lonny Chapman is seeking re-election to his Ward-4 Position-1 seat. He is being challenged by former Alderman Jeffery Watson. Watson was elected to the Ward-1 Position-2 seat in 2014, but had to resign when he moved to Ward-4.

Alexander’s new building permit fee ordinance was absent from Monday meeting

It will be another month before members of the Alexander city council will have a chance to discuss a proposed ordinance concerning new fees for building permits. Copies of the ordinance never made it into council members’ meeting packets. Mayor Paul Mitchell suspects when he gave it to office staff it was after the packets had been prepared.

The new fee structure has been in the works for several months. Fees from other cities had been studied and language in the previous ordinance has been brought up-to-date.

The only other item on the agenda was a report from the planning commission. Chairman Robert McKeon was not present and commission member Alderwoman Andrea Bearden had nothing to report.

In other business for the August 15 meeting;

Bearden asked Mitchell about the progress of street repairs. Mitchell said ditches are getting cleaned and repairs are being made.

The city uses the Saline County Highway Department to do the larger projects such as cleaning ditches and replacing culverts. However, the crews are only made available on Fridays and the weather has been a factor.

Mayor Mitchell received verbal consent from council members to explore purchasing an electronic sign to replace the blue and white wooden sign in front of the municipal complex. Mitchell said the wooden sign needs to be replaced and an electronic sign would allow the city to post messages such as meeting dates and burn bans.

The next meeting of the Alexander city council will be Monday, September 19. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Business permit ordinance only action item on City of Alexander agenda

The only item on the Alexander city council agenda, expected to result in any action, is in the category of “Unfinished Business.” Council members will be discussing, and may vote on, an ordinance establishing new rates for building permits. At a previous meeting there was a brief discussion on updating the city’s building permit fees.

The only non-action item listed is a report from the planning commission.

The next meeting of the Alexander city council will be this Monday, August 15. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander council codifies meeting schedule, rules; sets tax rate

In a special meeting, that lasted about 20 minutes, the Alexander city council was able to pass one ordinance establishing a schedule for regular monthly meetings and a minimum set of rules determining how the meetings will be conducted, and a second ordinance setting the personal property tax rate for the next collection cycle. The special meeting was held Thursday evening August 11.

The ordinance concerning city meetings sets the fourth Monday in January and February, and the third Monday in the remaining ten months as the days the Alexander city council will hold its regular monthly meetings. The difference in January and February is due to National Holidays observed on the third Monday in those two months. The ordinance also sets the time and place for the meetings as 6 PM in the City of Alexander Municipal Complex.

Much of the remainder of the ordinance repeats state law to determine the mayor’s duties during meetings and the method of scheduling special meetings.

The ordinance states, “Special meetings of the City Council may be called by the Mayor,” … “or upon request of three (3) members of the Council.”

The ordinance also requires any notice of a special meeting include the time of the meeting and purpose. The notice must also be sent no less than two hours before the starting time of the meeting to any news media outlet requesting they be notified of special meetings.

During all council meetings the ordinance states, “The Mayor shall preside at the meetings … and in case his vote is needed to pass any by-law, ordinance, resolution or order or motion, the Mayor may vote.”

There are times when the mayor can not vote. As required under Arkansas law the ordinance says, “[T]he Mayor may not vote to enact an emergency clause or to amend or repeal a measure approved by a vote of the people.”

Besides quoting state law the ordinance does have some frills of its own. It includes the format of the meeting agenda and requiring meetings be conducted according to the Procedural Rules for Municipal Officials booklet published by the Arkansas Municipal League.

The ordinance was proposed as a way to solve recent struggles to set rules by which the city council will operate. Having a set of rules for holding meetings has been a sticking point since January. Council members have been divided over two versions of a document called the Organization of City Council (OCC). Normally approved by February, the OCC unfortunately includes the annual schedule of regular monthly meetings.

The OCC version being pushed by Alderwoman Andrea Bearden included language that allowed aldermen total access to city hall. It passed five to three but was vetoed by Mitchell stating that clause has nothing to do with how the council conducts its meetings.

Not having a predetermined set of regular meeting dates has caused some problems including the question as to whether the May meeting was legal. This was the first meeting since May allowing city officials and attorneys with the Arkansas Municipal League to work out the proposed ordinance.

Council members also conducted a bit of annual housekeeping. An ordinance establishing a personal property tax rate of 5-mils was passed. Setting the tax rate of 5-mils is done annually and is a legal requirement in order for Pulaski and Saline counties to collect the city’s personal property tax. This is not a tax increase.

To allow both ordinances to go into effect immediately, council members had to suspend the required three readings at three different public meetings and pass an emergency clause for each. Both actions required a two-thirds vote of the council, which is six “Yes” votes. Seven members were present and all voted “Yes.”

Alderman Farron Wadley was unable to attend due to business reasons. Council members present were Louis Hobbs, Stephanie Beck, Andy Mullins, Andrea Bearden, Dan Church, Melissa Ratliff, and Lonny Chapman.

The next regular meeting of the Alexander city council will be Monday, August 15, 2016. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the Alexander Municipal Complex on Hwy. 111. The public is invited to attend.

Alexander Special Meeting called for Thursday

A Special Meeting has been scheduled for the City of Alexander council tomorrow evening (Thursday, August 11) at 6 PM in the municipal complex. The public is invited to attend. The meeting was called by Mayor Paul Mitchell.

There are only two items on the agenda. One is “City Council Ordinance” while the other is “5 mil Resolution.” Because this is a special meeting state law limits council members to discuss and take action on only those items on the agenda.

The “5 mil Resolution” is a document that must be renewed annually. It allows Pulaski and Saline counties to collect the city’s 5-mil property tax. This is not a tax increase.

The “City Council Ordinance” is being proposed as a way to solve recent struggles to set rules by which the city council will operate. The ordinance not only establishes standards for conducting council meetings, but includes a set schedule for holding regular monthly meetings.

Having a set of rules for holding meetings has been a sticking point since January. Council members have been divided over two versions of a document called the Organization of City Council (OCC). Normally approved by February, the OCC unfortunately includes the annual schedule of regular monthly meetings.

The main point of the version being pushed by Alderwoman Andrea Bearden included language that allowed aldermen total access to city hall. It passed five to three but was vetoed by Mitchell stating that clause has nothing to do with how the council conducts its meetings.

Not having a predetermined set of regular meeting dates has caused some problems including the question as to whether the May meeting was legal. There have been no meetings since then while city officials and attorneys with the Arkansas Municipal League work out the proposed ordinance.