10-16-011.55
MINUTES
Board of Directors Room
City Hall - 500 W. Markham
Little Rock, Arkansas
October 16, 2001
6:00 P.M.
The Board of Directors of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas met in regular session
with Mayor Dailey presiding. Director Graves gave the invocation. The roll was called by
City Clerk Nancy Wood, with the following Directors present: Directors Hinton, Pugh,
Stewart, Graves, Kumpuris, Adcock, Keck, Wyrick, Lichty, and Vice Mayor Cazort.
With a quorum present, Vice Mayor Cazort declared the Board of Directors in
session and the proceedings of the meeting are recorded as follows.
Modifications to the Agenda were listed as follows:
Mayor Dailey introduced Boy Scouts from Troop 227.
Modification No. 1
PRESENTATION:
Boo at the Zoo — Mike Blakely
M -1. RESOLUTION NO. 11,138 - Authorizing the City manager to enter into a
contract with Counseling Associates, Inc., for evaluation of prevention, intervention and
treatment programs at Step Up Support Center, BCD -Black Community Developers and
Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse prevention in substantially the form attached hereto,
in an amount not to exceed $49,890; and for other purposes.
Modification No. 2
PRESENTATION:
Neighborhood Resource Center -Coat Drive — Director Hinton & Katherine Donald
M -2 RESOLUTION NO. 11,139 - To amend Little Rock, Arkansas Resolution No.
10,929 (November 8, 2000) to amend the term of a contract between the City and the
Little Rock Career Development Center ( LRCDC" for services to youth pursuant to
the Workforce Investment Act; to provide for the receipt of additional federal funds by
LRCDC under certain conditions; to add the Little Rock Workforce Investment Board as
a party; and for other purposes.
Director Keck made the motion to add the modifications to the Consent Agenda.
Director Adcock seconded the motion. By unanimous voice vote of Board Members
present, the modifications were added.
Director Lichty asked Mr. Carney if money was available in the form of a grant to
provide funding for item M -1. and asked where the money for Item M -1. was coming
from. Mr. Carney answered that in both cases the second one referred to was Future
Little Rock PIT money, it is budgeted and provided for and the other is the Welfare to
Work Program grant money. Director Adcock said she didn't believe it was Welfare to
Work money, that it was Workforce Investment. Mr. Carney said yes, it was Workforce
Investment.
PRESENTATIONS: The presentations presented at the meeting were as follows:
People to People Diplomacy — Ethel Ambrose, representing the Sister Cities
Commission, giving a report on their recent trip to Taiwan. Domestic Violence
Awareness Month — Presented by Dr. Ruth Wood, Chairperson, giving an overview
of the program, and statistics involving domestic violence. Boo at the Zoo — Mike
Blakely — Mr. Mike Blakely, Director of the Little Rock Zoo, announced the annual Boo
at the Zoo for Halloween, sponsored by Dillards, Inc. this year. Neighborhood
Resource Center Coat Drive — Director Hinton, introduced Ms. Katherine Donaldson
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who gave a report on the Community Fest that was held the previous Saturday. She said
the coat drive was part of the Fest, and they wanted to extend it to October 26, and
solicited support in getting the coat drive donations.
The consent agenda consisted of Items 1 —11.
1. MOTION - To approve minutes from Board of Directors Meeting: August 7, 2001,
August 21, 2001 and Reconvened Meeting: August 28, 2001.
2. RESOLUTION NO. 11,140 - To set the Date of Public Hearing for November 6,
2001 for right -of -way abandonment for runway extension at the Little Rock Airport
between Harrington Street and Corning Street, in Harrington's Industrial Addition.
3. RESOLUTION NO. 11,141 - To authorize a Waterline Easement Lease
Agreement with Shollmier Family Trust, LLC, and for other purposes.
4. RESOLUTION NO. 11,142 - Awarding a contract to Joyner, Burke, and Ford
Construction for the construction of Drainage Improvements: Lorie, Depriest,
Yorkwood, Chicot and Geyer Springs.
5. RESOLUTION NO. 11,143 - Amending Resolution No. 11,118 (September 4, 2001)
concerning the construction of the Rebsamen Bike and Pedestrian Trail; and for other
purposes.
6. RESOLUTION NO. 11,144 - Declaring the intent of the City of Little Rock,
Arkansas to make certain expenditures toward Capital Improvements for the City and to
reimburse itself for such expenditures from the proceeds of bonds of the City, and
prescribing other maters thereto.
7. RESOLUTION NO. 11,145 - Awarding a contract to Building and Utility
Contractors for the construction of the Katillus Road Bridge Contract.
8. RESOLUTION NO. 11,146 - To authorize the City Manager to enter into a contract
with LaSher Oil Company, Inc. for the purchase of automobile fuel in the annual, in the
estimated amount of $1,026,300.
9. RESOLUTION NO. 11,147 - Authorizing the City Manager to extend the term of a
contract with the Little Rock Career Development Center for services to adult
unemployed/underemployed workers in an amount not exceed $328,300 payable from
Workforce Investment Act City of Little Rock Subgrants Numbers 05 -P00 -Adult 80 and
05 -PO1- Adult -80; to add the Little Rock Workforce Investment Board as a party; and for
other purposes.
10. RESOLUTION NO. 11,148 - Authorizing the City Manager to extend the term of a
contract with the Little Rock Career Development Center for services to adult
dislocated workers in an amount not to exceed $478,403 payable from Workforce
Investment Act City of Little Rock Subgrants Numbers 05- P00- DLW -80 and 05 -P01-
DLW-80; to add the Little Rock Workforce Investment Board as a party; and for other
purposes.
11. RESOLUTION NO. 11,149 - Authorizing the City Manager to enter into a contract
to provide Domestic Violence Outreach Services to Little Rock residents.
M -1. RESOLUTION NO. 11,138 - Authorizing the City manager to enter into a
contract with Counseling Associates, Inc., for evaluation of prevention, intervention and
treatment programs at Step Up Support Center, BCD -Black Community Developers and
Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse prevention in substantially the form attached hereto,
in an amount not to exceed $49,890; and for other purposes.
M -2 RESOLUTION NO. 11,139 - To amend Little Rock, Arkansas Resolution No.
10,929 (November 8, 2000) to amend the term of a contract between the City and the
Little Rock Career Development Center (LRCDC" for services to youth pursuant to
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the Workforce Investment Act; to provide for the receipt of additional federal funds by
LRCDC under certain conditions; to add the Little Rock Workforce Investment Board as
a party; and for other purposes.
This concluded the Consent Agenda. A motion was made by Director Adcock to adopt
the Consent Agenda, Vice Mayor CaZort seconded the motion. Director Lichty asked
Mr. Carney, knowing of the somber report on the budget which was given the previous
week, asked if any of these expenditures discretionary at this point, or are most of them
mandated by some kind of a grant requirement. Mr. Carney answered that all the
expenditures are in the broadest sense discretionary, he said the city could not do these
expenditures, the majority of them relate to specific commitments, for example drainage
projects, which were funded by a voter, approved bond issue, or some other obligation.
He said they are giving careful scrutiny, to each of these before they come to the agenda.
He said staff believed these really did represent commitments and obligations that the
City needed to do to further city business, and meet obligations that are mandated, but
will with this comment in mind continue to look at these before they ever come to the
Board. Director Lichty asked specifically about Item M -1, dealing with Counseling
Associates funding of almost $50,000, for an evaluation of the PIT. He asked if this was
something that was done in the past. Ms. Dorothy Nayles, Director of community
Programs, stated yes. Director Lichty asked if staff felt this was essential to determine
whether the monies are being spent appropriately on the PIT programs. Mr. Carney
stated he felt the monitoring; evaluation component is essential to guide staff, as should
these things be done in the future, should they be modified in any way, and in many of
the city programs that evaluation piece has not been there. Director Lichty stated he
agreed that evaluation is essential, his question centers on whether or nor spending
$50,000 for someone outside the city staff to make that evaluation is appropriate. Mr.
Carney stated he believed, perhaps even more so now, in this budget crunch time to have
an objective outside evaluation of these types of programs. It gives basic information in
terms of value for future decision - making and program decision making in the future.
Director Stewart stated she realized this was for one year, and asked if this would be an
on going process and would it reflect in the budget. Mr. Carney stated he thought it was
to soon to call that based on budget issues for next year what programs the city will have,
what need for evaluation will have to be developed as the budget for 2002 is prepared.
Mr. Carney stated he was not sure it would be in its present form, be an ongoing budget
item for every year. Director Kumpuris stated that going back in the history of PIT, the
biggest problem was how to access when money was given to an organization, if the City
was really getting it's money's worth out of it, and one of the things committed to as a
Board was that the Board would continue to have outside evaluation, not our own
evaluation, and it seems as if when it gets to the point where every dollar spent is
carefully scrutinized, any sort of assessment that would lead the city down a better track
where money is spent in a wiser manner, is something the city needs to do. Director
Lichty said perhaps there is a need to make an assessment within staff as to whether there
are programs city staff can evaluate, as opposed to creating programs that then spend
money has to be spent for the evaluations. Director Adcock stated the amount of the
evaluation of these programs was $49,000, and asked Mr. Carney what the total amount
of the programs evaluated. Ms. Nayles stated these are treatment programs, and the city
is spending approximately a million dollars on them right now. Mr. Carney stated this is
the package of treatment programs, and the evaluation is for that package. Director
Adcock stated that some of the programs are only a few thousand dollars, and didn't want
to create the impression that the city was spending $50,000 to evaluate $50,000, that this
is a big part of the program, and that evaluation is need to determine if the city is getting
what is being paid for. Director Hinton stated these programs are also tracked by
auditing from the city and there are several avenues for tracking and tracing programs.
Mayor Dailey asked how New Futures and their assessment of all these programs link to
this kind of evaluation. Mr. Carney answered the treatment program package is not
related to the New Futures contract. Mr. Carney also added to Director Hinton's
comment, that one important point is that this is the program evaluation that is being
looked at tonight; in addition to that, there is a financial evaluation. This program
expenditures are part of the city's annual comprehensive audit. Audits are done
internally in terms of the finances of it, so there are two areas looked at, but only one area
is being looked at tonight for consideration. By unanimous voice vote of the Board
members present, the consent agenda was adopted.
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Director Keck announced that National League of Cities has awarded the City of Little
Rock an innovations award, one of five awards this year specifically for our
prevention/intervention and treatment programs.
The Grouped Items: 12 —19 were the next consideration. Mayor Dailey stated he was
going to skip ahead to Items 21 and 22. No cards were presented to speak in favor or in
opposition to either of these items. Mayor Dailey opened the public hearings, and asked
the board if there were any objections to grouping those two items. There was no
objection. Mayor Dailey closed the public hearings.
12. ORDINANCE NO. 18,578 - Z -7004 — Reclassifying property located at 10901
Kanis Road from C -2 (Shopping Center District) to C -3 (General Commercial) Planning
Commission: 10 yes, 0 no, 1 absent. Staff recommends approval.
13. ORDINANCE NO. 18,579 - Amending Chapter 30 of the Code of Ordinances of the
City of Little Rock, Arkansas, providing for a deferral of Boundary Street Improvements
for Pinnacle Valley Subdivision Phase IV located at Pinnacle Valley Road.
14. ORDINANCE NO. 18,580 - Granting a franchise to The University of Arkansas
for Medical Sciences for air rights for a pedestrian sky bridge above west 5th Street
between Elm and Cedar Streets connecting the existing parking deck at the north corner
of 5th and Elm Street at the north corner of 5th and Elm to the Jackson T. Stephens Spine
and Neurosciences Institute Building under construction at the corner of Elm and 5th
Street; for the purpose of construction, erection, maintenance, operation, use and repair of
an enclosed sky bridge over west 5th Street; and for other purposes.
15. ORDINANCE NO. 18,581 - Fixing and imposing the aggregate amount of fees and
charges to be paid the City of Little Rock, Arkansas by Entergy and the method of
payment thereof beginning in 2002; amending Section 9 of Ordinance No. 11,683, and
for other purposes.
16. ORDINANCE NO. 18,582 - Levying additional franchise fees to be paid by
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for the year 2002; and providing for the
payment thereof.
17. ORDINANCE NO. 18,583 - Fixing and imposing the amount of fees and charges to
be paid to the City of Little Rock, Arkansas by all companies that provide interstate or
intrastate long distance telecommunication service, and all business incidental to or
connected with the conducting of such telephone business in the City of Little Rock,
Arkansas; amending Section 3 of Ordinance No. 15, 706; and for other purposes.
18. ORDINANCE NO. 18,584 - Amending in part Ordinance No. 11,366 to provide for
levying a franchise fee to be paid by Reliant Energy (Formerly known as Arkansas
Louisiana Gas Company) for the year 2002; providing for the payment thereof.
19. ORDINANCE NO. 18,577 - To establish the rate of taxation of property for the City
of Little Rock for the 2002 for various funds of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas; to
declare an emergency; and for other purposes.
20. ORDINANCE NO. 18,585 - Condemning certain structures in the City of Little
Rock, for structural, fire and health hazards; providing summary abatement procedures;
directing the City Attorney to take such action as is necessary to raze and remove said
structures; declaring an emergency.
21. PUBLIC HEARING & ORDINANCE NO. 18,586 - To abandon street right of
way for 1750 feet of East 2nd Street between Collins and Geyer Street and 520 feet of
Byrd Street between East 3rd and Arkansas River and 400 feet of Industrial Street
between 2nd and Arkansas River and 320 feet of English Avenue from East 2„d to
Arkansas River Bank in Russell's Addition. (Planning Commission: 9 yes, 0 no, 2
absent.)
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22. PUBLIC HEARING & ORDINANCE NO. 18,587 - Vacating a public utility
easement in Lots 78 and 79 of Kensington Place Addition to the City of Little Rock,
Arkansas.
The ordinances were read the first time; rules were suspended to provide for the second
and third readings of the ordinances by unanimous voice vote of the Board members
present. Director Adcock asked Mr. Carpenter about two properties in Southwest Little
Rock that had been deemed unsafe. There is a cost involved of $41,000 to have the
properties torn down, and asked Mr. Carpenter, City Attorney, under the Long Arm
Statute, why something could not be done to make the owner pay for this. The owner has
had five or six opportunities to sell these properties for rehab and he refuses to, and asked
if there was not something that could be done to make him pay the $41,000 to tear theses
two structures down. She said they have watched these structures for eight years start
falling completely down. Mr. Tom Carpenter, stated there are two issues there that are
being mixed. In terms of tearing down a structure because it is a nuisance and then
assessing the property owner the cost . There clearly already is Long Arm Jurisdiction if
it's an out of state landlord, assuming that it is, what would happen is the Board would
declare these to be a nuisance, the City would begin the condemnation actions, they
would serve the person civilly and they would get a judgment. Whether the judgment
could actually be collected, once it was received, and the problems associated with that
being out of state are a different issue, but that was something that could be done. He
sated he did not know the two properties specifically, and did not know why they have or
have not been declared a nuisance and could not comment on that. Assuming that they
are in the condition stated, codes could look at it and then staff could move forward. Mr.
Carpenter said that is different from bringing a criminal action in environmental court, for
some of the underlying actions become a nuisance and the owner lives out of state.
Director Adcock requested that Mr. Carpenter start this as a trial to see if this can be
done. The neighborhood constantly brings this issue to her and Director Wyrick, that
Code Enforcement has been out several times and two buildings have been torn down but
there are the two that remain and if this is what it takes, she would like to start the
procedure. Mr. Carpenter stated that was fine, but what has established as the process, is
that Codes would notify the owners as we know them for these two particular locations,
and give them the option to do it or they won't, the Board would pass an ordinance and
move forward, but to tear it down, the City would have to have the $41,000 and it is
going to be one of those things, we do it now, put a lien on it and collect it on the back
side, not that the city gets the $41,000 on the front end unless the person does it. He
stated he didn't know the two properties. Mayor Dailey asked the City Attorney and the
City Manager to come back with a recommendation on the feasibility based upon what
Mr. Carpenter had just said, and the specifics of how this may be moved forward.
Director Wyrick said for the record and for the people in Southwest Little Rock that call
her continually about these two apartments, these are the ones at 9508 Chicot, and 9512
Chicot Road, and the amount to take care of them is $40, 600, and said she would give
that report to Mr. Carpenter. Mr. Jimmy Pritchett, Director of Community Housing,
stated, regarding the information they provided to Director Wyrick, the $40,000 figure
that was discussed, that was to abate the asbestos in these properties prior to demolition.
He said they did not know at this time what the cost of demolition would be on the
properties, the owner lives out of state and had to obtain a search warrant to go out and
force entry into the properties to inspect them. He stated they are taking bids at the
present time to re -board and secure them until such time they can be demolished. He said
his staff was meeting next week with some folks from ADQ to determine if there are
options to this $40,000 abatement estimate, as there are different ways to deal with
asbestos and demolition but this is a costly property to address. The total number of
structures abated this year, the total dollar cost doesn't exceed this but about $20,000 is
what this one particular property is going to cost. Mr. Carney stated the process could be
addressed, but reminded the board in terms of dollars, if there are dollars the city ends up
as an opportunity for the city to do the demolition, and could not recommend the dollars
be expended to do it. Mr. Pritchett stated that they had gone through the initial process of
the unsafe declaration, and believed the thirty days would be up soon, and once the
asbestos option is worked through could proceed with a condemnation ordinance on these
properties. Director Wyrick asked Mr. Pritchett if other agencies could be worked with
to help out with this. Mr. Pritchett said an offer was made several months ago by another
agency that they would like to assist as a public service type project. It was a military
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group he had some contact with, and thought once the issues of the insurance liability are
addressed, that type of thing that may be a very feasible option, particularly on this
property because there is no real proximity to other residential properties that could be
damaged during the demolition process and was certainly something that could be looked
into, as it could save the city a considerable amount of money. By unanimous voice vote
of the Board members present, the ordinances and emergency clauses were adopted.
23. REPORT: City Manager's Activity Report. Mr. Carney, City Manager stated that
with this unusual month of five Tuesdays, next week there would be an agenda meeting
at 4:00 PM followed by the next budget workshop, and the night of Oct. 30 would be
open, unless needed for budget or other purposes, and because of the holiday schedules,
no more Friday afternoon monthly field trips would be planned for October, November or
December.
Mayor Dailey announced that on Sunday evening at the Riverfront Amphitheatre, up and
down both sides of the river there would be a salute to Arkansas men and women in
uniform. He stated this was an idea that Governor Huckabee and Jennings Osborne had
put together and the City of Little Rock and the City of North Little Rock have joined in
helping to make this happen and doing it in a very cooperative way. The event would be
from approximately 6 PM until 7:30 PM in the amphitheatre. He said there would be
various entertainment groups, and then at approximately 7:30 the largest fireworks
display held in the State of Arkansas will begin. The Jennings Osborne family would put
on the fireworks display.
Director Stewart asked Mr. Carney to try and set up meetings with Reliant Energy to try
and work some kind of terms out for payment as some of the low income citizens
incurred enormous gas bills last year during the ice storms, and had their gas shut off as a
result of not being able to pay the bills. She stated with winter coming some of these
people could possibly die from exposure to the cold if something wasn't done. Mayor
Dailey stated this was something the City Manager was working on, and that he and Mr.
Carney were talking about setting up a meeting with the utilities to do some specific
discussion on this and would report back on that. Director Hinton stated there was a
group of citizens who are not connected with the city who are trying to schedule meetings
with the utility companies and would start next week with discussions to see what options
might be taken.
CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS was the last item on the agenda. Mayor Dailey stated
that there were several firefighters who had filled out Citizen Communications Cards,
and that he had met earlier today with the Union leadership and asked them to be
respectful of the Boards position in this as with anything that has to do with personnel
and or anything that could relate to negotiations, etc. as this is a policy board. The first
speaker was Mr. Ken Ziegenbein, Editor of the newsletter of the local Arkansas
Railroad Club, Little Rock Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, 1023 Claycut
Circle, North Little Rock, Arkansas, spoke on preserving the recently discovered
Choctaw Freight Depot. He stated it was a little late in the game, but wanted to say their
membership supports trying to save it, if there was anyway possible. He said he was
disappointed the City didn't know it was there before the demolition crew was sent to
look at it. Mr. Greg Ferguson, 204 Beechwood, stated it was apparent to him in regard
to the Choctaw Freight Depot, that there is an orchestrated effort to thwart the efforts to
preserve this historic depot that was so important to the city one hundred years ago. He
said there appeared to be a failure of leadership in standing up to preserve our heritage.
He said he had come before the board before to provide information and begin a dialogue
and had been rebuffed. He said he has asked for an audience from the Clinton Library
Foundation, and had met with a deafening silence. He said he had asked Mr. Clinton to
take a look at the Choctaw Freight Depot, and he passed it by on his visit here, he said he
had spoken with the architects for the Clinton Library both locally and in New York, and
there was some interest from them in sitting down and working through the challenges in
preserving this. He said he had researched the federal law under the National Historic
Preservation Act, and discovered that Federal law Section 106, Subsection 800.3
mandates the integration of a 106 review process into the Clinton Library Planning
Process at it's earliest stage. He concurred the earliest stage has been passed, however,
he was asking the board to amend the demolition permit, to provide for the removal of
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the steel structure incasing the Choctaw Freight Depot, asked the city to permit access to
the Choctaw by his group, Friends of the Choctaw Railway Terminal, to take tours
through the structure, to take measurements, pictures, and document the historic
structure, and to ask Friends of the Choctaw Terminal to be recognized as a consulting
party, and a mandatory 106 review. Mr. Ferguson asked the board to take some action on
his request if possible. Director Cazort stated the Federal Law that Mr. Ferguson cited
did not have the correct Federal citation to it and didn't know what it was he was
referring to, and asked Mr. Carpenter if he knew. Mr. Carpenter said he believed he was
referring to Section 106, The Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which deals with
federally funded programs, which this is not. This program is going to be funded by
private contributions and even the aspect that deals with the National Archives and
Records Administration, doesn't become a federally funded program until after sufficient
funds has been raised. Mr. Carpenter stated he was not sure the act applied in the way
Mr. Ferguson suggested. Mr. Ed Jaros, President of Little Rock Firefighters Local 34,
to ease the concerns that mayor Dailey outlined earlier stated that this was not about
contract negotiations. He stated that the negotiations are going on, the City is bargaining
in good faith, as are the firefighters, and had positive things to say about the contract
negotiations as of right now. He said their issues tonight stem from problems that have
been going on for much longer in the department. He said he was here tonight to ask for
assistance in resolving issues with problems Local 34 has experienced with fire
department management. While he understood that the Board did not usually involve
itself in personnel issues, 355 members and he, feel that the state of morale on the fire
department and the lack of resolution are concerns that warrant the Boards intervention.
The members of the department are frustrated. Morale is at an all time low, for as long as
any of the members could remember. Vice President, Butch Wright, has been on the job
for over thirty -three years. Most people understand that firefighters do not enter this
profession to become rich because it is impossible to do so. They become firefighters
because of willingness to serve the citizens in their times of need. He recently had
members come to him and tell him they are seeking employment elsewhere, because of
the conditions currently in the department. He said he welcomed their new chief two
years ago with open arms, and stated he was one of the first to call and congratulate him
when he was hired. Unfortunately now after the firefighters extended their hand in
friendship and cooperation, they felt as if they have been slapped with that same hand.
Mr. Jaros stated their promotional system is currently in a state of disarray; they have
only just had the first Engineers promotional test in over two years today, even though
Little Rock Civil Service Rules and Regulations require that it be given yearly. The test
for Captain was give on October 4th, which was also well over the year requirement, and
the test date for Battalion Chief has not even been set. He said it was interesting that
promotional procedure guideline for Assistant Fire Chief, which was recently changed,
was changed on the exact same day as the Engineers testing procedure and there has
already been a test for Assistant Chief and promotions into those positions. He said they
feel this shows exactly where administrations priorities lie. There are currently multiple
openings for Engineer that have been open since February that are costing employees
salary increases, seniority and future promotional opportunities. The delay of this action
continues to show firefighters where these priorities lie. He state he would like to ask
each Board member tonight a question, which he has yet to receive an answer for, and
that is, what good does it do to have a rule in place, that states tests be given yearly, if it
is not adhered to by the City. If one of the rank and file members violates one of the
Civil Services Rules and Regulations, he felt sure disciplinary action would come swiftly.
He said there is no recourse other than a lawsuit, and this is not what they want to pursue.
The last four promotions made in the rank of engineer were under controversial
circumstances, and the last three are the settlements to ward off a lawsuit over the first.
Men and women of the fire department have all lost faith in the Chiefs ability to lead
their department to a better future. The union, the very voice of the employees, has all
— but been disregarded and shut out of contact with his office. While they understand that
some of the issues are being raised, and need dollars to address, many issues that could be
addressed just by good relations between management and labor. Unfortunately it takes
individuals on both sides that are committed to truly resolving these issues for this to
happen. Mr. Jaros stated they had a meeting with the City Manager this morning, and did
make progress at that meeting. He stated they hated to be at the meeting airing their dirty
laundry, but felt the time had come to take a step to try and resolve these issues. He
stated that Mr. Carney had proposed in two weeks to have a plan of action in writing, for
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the unions review to begin resolving these issues and for that, they applaud his efforts.
He said they only hope it is not to little to late. He said the union was willing to extend
their hand to the City Manager and were willing to work with them on these issues and
try and find good quick resolutions to most of them. Although it is a step in the right
direction, their members because of the degradation of fire department management, they
take the position of "Show Us ". Mayor Dailey said the work of the public safety officials
in the City of Little Rock. Mayor Dailey stated he was hopeful there would be benefits
from the meetings with Mr. Carney and hoped there would be something to work through
the issues. Director Keck asked as talk's progress, he would like the Board to be kept
informed and make sure this receives the attention the Board can provide as a Board. Mr.
Carney added that he felt today's meeting was productive, and a good first step and they
had great confidence in the employee groups, the fire department, and the other
departments, and thought there was very clear and defined and very respectful role that
Local 34 has, other groups have, recognized bargaining groups and others and is mindful
and respectful of and there was no question, these issues would be worked on, and
assured Director Keck the Board would be informed of progress.
Director Keck made a motion to adjourn; Director Adcock seconded the motion, and by
unanimous voice vote of Board members present, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45
P.M.
ATTEST:
C Y CLE
APPROVED:
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