Alexander meeting punctuated with discussions of seating, legal ordinances and how the council should function

The October Alexander Council meeting was paused twice during the meeting to hear comments from two council members about meeting protocol and legal requirements concerning the posting of ordinances. Before the meeting ended the city recorder added her two-cents when it comes to how the council should function.

Where does the lawyer sit?

Before department heads could give their monthly reports at the October 21 council meeting, Council Member Harold Timmermann wanted to know why the city attorney is sitting with the mayor during city meetings. Timmermann claimed a city attorney shouldn’t be sitting with the council and Mayor Crystal Herrmann can’t answer a question without input from City Attorney Chris Madison.

“We have a city attorney sitting at our council meeting to be invited by the city council,” Timmermann said. “The city council meeting includes the eight council members of (and) the mayor and the recorder. And that is it at the table.”

Council members, the mayor, city recorder, and city attorney are seated at tables in the city courtroom. The mayor, city attorney and city recorder are seated at tables facing the audience. Council members are seated at tables, which form a V-shape.

“The thing is, he is not part of the city council,” Timmermann said. “He is not part of the city council meeting.”

Timmermann expects Madison to sit with the public and wait for a member of the council to ask him a question, or wait to speak about a legal issue on the agenda. Madison is the first city attorney who has attended every meeting for at least the past 18 years.

“I sit at the council table, at the council, at every other city I've ever worked with,” Madison said. “I've had other council meetings and other towns.”

The discussion ended with Timmermann leaving the council meeting. From that point forward any vote taken by the council his absence was counted as a “No” vote.

Are ordinances adopted since January 1, 2023 legal?

Before starting “Old Business” Council Member Juanita Wilson expressed her doubts that ordinances adopted since Mayor Chrystal Herrmann was sworn-in to office January 1, 2023 are legal. Wilson says she hasn’t seen any ordinances posted at any of the designated locations she visits regularly in Alexander.

Wilson is basing the requirement to advertise adopted ordinances on Arkansas Code 14-55-206 (2023).

Section-1 Part-A of the code begins with the requirement that, “All bylaws or ordinances of a general or permanent nature and all those imposing any fine, penalty, or forfeiture shall be published in some newspaper published in the municipality.”

Since Alexander does not have a local newspaper the city is provided an option in Part-B, which states, “In municipalities in which no newspaper is published, written or printed notice posted in five (5) of the most public places designated by the governing body in an ordinance or minutes of the governing body shall be deemed a sufficient publication of any law or ordinance.”

Originally, the five locations were City Hall, the Post Office, Hess Gas Station, the Mobil Station at the I-30 interchange, and Elmo’s Grocery on West Azalea. With the closing of Hess that location has been replaced with the Saline County Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer office.

“There have been no publications in the five posted places in this city since January 2023,” Wilson said. “So you have failed to do your duty to have that done until that makes everything we have voted on illegal.”

“They do get posted. They do get posted. I've heard this one. Wow,” Herrmann shot back. “We'll start taking pictures of the newspaper in front of it from this point forward.”

“I cannot control the post if they get ripped down or removed,” Herrmann said later.

“And then they're posted on our Facebook and stuff, too,” the mayor added.

A lack of information and decorum

City Recorder Sharon Bankhead took time, during the Public Comment section of the meeting, to lay down some hard truths about how the council is functioning as a judicial entity. Bankhead says there’s a lack of communication between city hall, the council, the residents, and even not telling her when there are issues that need to be addressed at the next meeting.

“The city council is a legislative policy making a body of the city,” Bankhead began. ... “The council impacts ordinances, resolutions, and other orders necessary to execute the city of [sic] affairs.”

Bankhead said, as part of her regular job, she is in contact with the Arkansas Municipal League (AML). The AML serves as a link between Arkansas municipalities and the state. The organization also translates state law for cities to aid in keeping their actions within the law.

“We talk about our meetings, and they have told me, personally, our meetings are [a] laughing stock,” Bankhead said.

Bankhead provided one example of the hypocrisy demonstrated by some council members.

“We were trying to fire Mr. Huck (Planning Commission Chairman) because of something he has said, but it happens in meetings all the time,” Bankhead noted. “We put each other down, make a sign, remarks about somebody's statement.”

Bankhead pointed out that each council member will hear different comments from their constituents based on where they live in Alexander.

“Council members represent each community,” Bankhead said. “Y'all represent different people. So, people are not telling you the same thing in that community that they're telling someone else in another community. So, that person has to bring it to the council.”

Earlier in the meeting, during the discussion about the posting of adopted ordinances, Bankhead asked for clarification as to where the city is posting notices and announcements.

“Because I have heard older members (Residents), because I know them, say, they don't know about our meetings,” Bankhead continued. “They want to come to our meetings. But they don't know they're not posted where they used to be, which I tell them some of the businesses are no longer in a [sic] business.

“So, you know, but the one thing everybody uses is the post office,” she continued. “And there's not been one there. You (Referring to Mayor Herrmann) said you posted there, maybe we do need to take a picture and see who's removing it. Because that's a federal building, and if we find out who's doing it, they're in trouble.”

Going back to Council Member Harold Timmerman’s comments at the beginning of the meeting Bankhead said, “We've never had an attorney. I have been on this council for 14 years. And I don't care what you say, we've never had an attorney to sit beside the mayor and tell her how to vote.”

Bankhead told Herrmann she should be keeping council members informed about ordinances and resolutions that are in the pipeline so they can communicate to their constituents what’s ahead for upcoming meetings.

“The council is supposed to know what the city is doing,” she said. “That's your job, to inform your council members, I'm doing this ordinance, I'm doing this resolution, or whatever.”

Bankhead said she doesn’t have a problem with Madison sitting next to the mayor. She does have a problem with him deciding how Bankhead does her job.

“But he's taking my job,” she said. “Now he has the problems with the ordinances numbers, because the way it was done, I thought it was going to lead (to problems).”

Before Madison convinced council members to change the numbering system of adopted ordinances and resolutions, each number would begin with either an O or an R representing Ordinance or Resolution. Following the letter designation would be the date of the meeting by year, month and day; followed by a number if more than one was adopted during the same meeting. Also, ordinances and resolutions were never numbered until adopted.

Under the Madison system each ordinance or resolution is numbered by the year followed by a consecutive number based on the order of adoption; 1, 2, 3, etc.. They have also been pre-numbered, which caused a problem in September when a newly presented ordinance had to be adopted in one meeting. The number of an ordinance, still in the process of being approved, had to be used for the ordinance passed in September; hence the need to renumber subsequent ordinances.

“So, the way we were doing it should have stayed,” Bankhead said. “And, that should have been discussed with me before we did it anyway.”

“I didn't get to know about it until I got to the meeting, that we would change (the numbering method),” Bankhead continued. “That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about that's happening with the meetings. We need to respect each other's roles.”

Casting aspersions on Herrmann’s meeting skills Bankhead began, “And the mayor, the public (attending the meetings), I respect each one of them because they are members (of the community), but most of them are your friends or whatever. You should be gaveling them when they make noise in this meeting.”

“My rebuttal to that,” Mayor Crystal Herrmann began. “The city attorney does not sit here and tell me how to vote this thing, kid.”

“If it wasn't for the discord, all of some of these council members, our city would be so much healthier,” Herrmann continued. “We'd have so much more city business done without some nonsense. And it does take an attorney plus the Municipal League because y'all don't even want to respect the man that it's all hired as our city attorney and his degree.”

“Y'all voted this” (for the attorney), Herrmann said. “[T]he mayor does not have the right to hire the city attorney. I want the public to know the council has to vote and approve our city attorney.”

“I did not know Mr. Madison before taking office,” she continued. “And you and you want to talk about disrespect of the citizens.”

“Ms. Bankhead, you have said their news sometimes, she claimed. “And, been disrespectful to council members and our citizens.”

Herrmann ended the discussion with a plea to voters.

“Please, God, please go vote,” Herrmann began. “No, please pay attention to some of the big haters. Okay, because it's been going on here. Please. Amen. Amen. Amen.”