During a special meeting of the Alexander City Council two resolutions were approved paving the way for the city to apply for infrastructure and a variety of other grants. The first resolution establishes the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District (CAPDD) as grants administrator for the city. The second is, "A Resolution adopting the policies necessary to apply for block grant funds."
The first resolution was simple and straight forward. It authorizes CAPDD to act as Alexander's administrator when applying for Federal block grants.
"[T]hey are certified to apply for grants for ... municipalities," City Attorney Chris Madison said. "And actually, this does let them be our administrative agency through the grant. And I've done this with other cities ... this is what they do."
After a motion was made and seconded to approve the resolution, and without the required public reading of the resolution, there was a voice vote with council members Joy Gray, Angela Griffin, Joe Pollard, and Gina R Littlejohn voting "Yes." Mayor Crystal Herrmann, serving as the fifth member of the quorum, voted "Yes." Absent, and counted as "No" votes, were council members Mitchell W. Smith, Tony Staton, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson.
One of the hoops a government entity must jump through is to meet certain criteria. In Alexander's case it's the high percentage of Hispanics.
"And these are documents that are required as part of the application process for the Community Block grant, okay," Madison said. "Because (a) Community Block Grant is done through a Federal agency, they put these requirements or restrictions on there."
"Well, the city of Alexander from the 2020 census has a 38-percent Hispanic population, which triggers certain rules and requirements under the Community Block Grant rules, as well as presidential executive orders related to language, the English language proficiency," Madison explained. "And because we have this high population of Hispanics, we have to develop and basically say we're going to implement a language plan so that we're able to effectively communicate with our non-English speakers."
According to the policies resolution, two requirements must be addressed to apply for block grant funds. One is to adopt a, "Language Assistance Plan (LAP) for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) residents." The second is to have police department policies in place that prohibit, "[T]he use of excessive force in the apprehension or detention of criminal violators, including those who may be engaged in non-violent civil rights demonstrations."
The LAP includes translating city forms and other documents used by the public into Spanish. In personal contact situations, Madison notes the police department already has a Hispanic officer. Plus, there's always dial a friend.
"We have a Hispanic officer that we utilize for translation services," Madison said. "I've also done some initial research on using what's called on demand translation or interpretation services, where basically you call a number and get a translator on."
When it comes to having the required police department policies, Alexander is a step ahead. Attached to the second resolution is not only the LAP, but three documents that address the required policies. The three policies are "Response to Resistance" implemented September 15, 2020; "Crowd Control" implemented September 15, 2020; and "Internal Affairs/Citizen Complaints" implemented September 15, 2020.
Again, after a motion was made and seconded to approve the resolution, and without the required public reading, there was a voice vote resulting in five "Yes" and four "No." As explained above, four council members were absent resulting in the "No" votes. Herrmann, serving as the fifth member of the quorum, voted "Yes" resulting in the total of nine votes.
This was a meeting that almost wasn't. The special meeting was called because of an approaching deadline to submit the resolutions. At the 6:00 PM starting time there were only three council members present; Gray, Griffin and Littlejohn. Under council policies there is a 15-minute waiting period to form a quorum. Herrmann, wanting a quorum, drove to Pollard's home, which is walking distance from city hall, and convinced him to attend a council meeting he planned on skipping.
Next Meeting
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