09-12-95� 9 5
Board of Directors Room
City Hall - 500 W. Markham
Little Rock, Arkansas
September 12, 1995 - 4:10 P.M.
The Board of Directors of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas,
reconvened from the September 5, 1995 regular meeting with Mayor
Jim Dailey presiding. City Clerk Robbie Hancock called the roll
with the following Directors present: Directors Sharp, Mason,
Kumpuris, Adcock, Wilson, Hinton, Hodges, Keck, Joyce, and Wyrick
- total 10; Absent - None.
With a quorum being present, Mayor Dailey declared the Board
of Directors in session and the proceedings of the meeting are
recorded as follows.
Director Henry Hodges again stated that he would not be
participating in any discussion or vote regarding Airport
Commissioner Perlesta "Les" Hollingsworth. (See Minutes of
August 15, 1995, and September 5, 1995. Director Hodges and Mr.
Hollingsworth, in their capacities as attorneys, represent
opposing litigants in a pending case and in that role Director
Hodges had brought various issues about Mr. Hollingsworth's
conduct to the attention of the Court.)
Mayor Dailey then stated that he had expressed his concerns
to Mr. Hollingsworth about what was happening regarding the
activities of the Airport Commission and told him that he had
three (3) recommendations: (1) that Mr. Hollingsworth step down
from the Airport Commission and not force the Board of Directors
to deal with removing a Commissioner; (2) he would vote to remove
Mr. Hollingsworth from the Commission; and (3) he would support
the idea to abolish the Airport Commission. Mayor Dailey stated
he had also been told by City Attorney Tom Carpenter that the
Board of Directors cannot legally abolish the Airport Commission
at this meeting. Mayor Dailey said he had asked City Attorney
Tom Carpenter to draft a Resolution stating that at the
appropriate time the Board would consider abolishing the Airport
Commission and /or restructuring it. He concluded by saying that
since all of these issues have been before the Board in a public
way, he would support discussing the issue in public rather than
going into executive session. Following Mayor Dailey's
statement, Director Keck moved to go into executive session. The
motion was seconded by Director Adcock. Director Sharp was
adamantly opposed to the executive session. Director Mason asked
City Attorney Tom Carpenter to comment on the procedure and the
number of votes required to abolish the Airport Commission and
whether that number applies to abolishment of all Boards and
Commissions. Mr. Carpenter responded that if the statute that
enables a city to create a commission does not set a number for
the abolition of the commission, then it takes a simple majority
of the governing body to abolish the commission. The Airport
Commission statue does not have any restrictions on the
abolition, therefore it would take six votes to abolish the
commission. That is the general rule. However, the issue is
complicated because Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution
makes provisions for initiatives and referendums. An initiative
is an ordinance proposed by the people, voted upon and approved
by the people and then put into effect by the City. In 1950 this
city had a vote on whether to create an airport commission,
affirmatively voted to do so, and Little Rock Ordinance No. 8,511
was adopted by vote of the people. That suggests it takes a two -
thirds vote of this Board which is eight (8) votes to remove the
commission. That Ordinance was amended in part. Then in 1961
the Board repealed Ordinance No. 8,511 along with virtually all
of its ordinances as a part of a process of recodification. That
Ordinance was then repealed and readopted as a part of Little
1
lime
Minutes
September 12, 1995
Rock Ordinance No. 15,599 which was adopted on July 18, 1988 as a
part of the Revised Codification. So the legal question is are
you repealing the initiated ordinance or are you repealing your
codification or recodification of the initiated ordinance. If
you are repealing the initiated ordinance, it takes eight (8)
votes; if your are repealing your recodification of the initiated
ordinance, it takes six (6) votes. There is no case in Arkansas
that answers this question. He concluded by saying his best
guess was that the Courts would come down in favor of the eight
(8) votes for the initiative. There is a more problematic issue
before the Board. That is in the Ordinance that enabled the
first half of the Airport Refunding Bond issue to occur, the
Board approved a Master Indenture Agreement, a provision of
which placed in the Airport Commission various responsibilities
that included a sentence that said while the bonds are
outstanding, this Board would not abolish the Airport Commission.
He then explained the provision for amending the Master
Indenture, which would have to be approved by First Commercial
Bank, the trustee. He concluded by saying the safest guess he
could give was that it would take eight (8) votes. At the
request of Director Adcock, City Attorney Tom Carpenter explained
the provisions of the proposed Resolution requested by Mayor
Dailey. After further discussion, the motion to recess to
executive session was adopted by the following roll call vote:
Ayes - Directors Mason, Kumpuris, Wilson, Hinton, Keck, Joyce and
Wyrick - total 7; Noes - Directors Sharp, Adcock, and Mayor
Dailey - total 3; Abstentions - Director Hodges - total 1. There
was a subsequent motion by Director Sharp, seconded by Director
Joyce, that whatever the results are in the Executive Session
pertaining to Mr. Hollingsworth, the Board will come back and
have a roll call vote for the record. The motion was adopted by
a vote of 10 ayes with one abstention (Director Hodges).
Therefore, at 4:40 o'clock P.M. the Board of Directors recessed
to Executive.session to discuss Mr. Hollingsworth and the Airport
commission.
When the Board of Directors reconvened at 5:30 o'clock P.M.,
Mayor Dailey presided and all Directors were present.
Director Sharp moved for the expulsion of Mr. Perlesta "Les"
Hollingsworth from the Little Rock National Airport Commission,
and the motion was seconded by Director Adcock. A roll call vote
was taken as follows: Ayes - Directors Sharp, Kumpuris, Adcock,
Keck, Joyce, Wyrick and Mayor Dailey - total 7; Noes - Directors
Mason, Wilson, and Hinton - total 3; Abstentions - Director
Hodges - total 1. Whereupon, Mayor Dailey announced that the
motion had FAILED to receive the required nine votes.
There was a subsequent motion by Director Keck, seconded by
Director Sharp, to send a strong letter of censor and reprimand
to Airport Commissioner Les Hollingsworth and that the complete,
final and full report of the City Attorney be sent to the
Arkansas Ethics Commission for its investigation. The motion was
adopted by the following roll call vote: Ayes - Directors Sharp,
Kumpuris, Adcock, Hinton, Keck, Joyce, Wyrick and Mayor Dailey -
total 8; Noes - None; Abstentions - Directors Mason, Wilson,
Hodges - total 3.
During further discussion, Director Sharp recommended that
at the next meeting after the sale of the bonds on September 20,
the Board deal with the Resolution on the abolition of the
Airport Commission. Director Mason asked that Airport Manager
Deborah Ledwell have some participation in any discussions
regarding the Airport. Mayor Dailey requested that City Attorney
Tom Carpenter have his Resolution of intent regarding the Airport
Commission ready for Board discussion on Tuesday, September 19.
2
Minutes
September 12, 1995
Consideration was then given
entitled:
to Resolution No. 9,493,
A RESOLUTION TO AUTHORIZE HANDICAP RAMPS IN ACCORDANCE WITH
THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, BY ORDINANCE NO. 16,894 (MAY
16, 1995); AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES;
and the Resolution was read in full. (See page 9 of Minutes of
September 5, 1995.) There was a motion by Director Keck,
seconded by Director Adcock, to adopt the Resolution, and the
Resolution was adopted by a unanimous voice vote of the Board of
Directors.
The next presentation was Resolution No. 9,494, described
as:
A RESOLUTION TO APPOINT CARL F. SCHEIBNER AND RALPH L. WHITE
TO THE TWO NEW POSITIONS ON THE LITTLE ROCK WATERWORKS
COMMISSION; SETTING THE INITIAL TERMS OF THESE NEW MEMBERS; AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES;
and there was a full reading of the Resolution. Director Mason
moved for the adoption of the Resolution. The motion was
seconded by Director Keck and the Resolution was adopted by the
following roll call vote: Ayes - Directors Sharp, Mason,
Kumpuris, Hodges, Keck, Joyce, Wyrick and Mayor Dailey - total 8;
Noes - Directors Adcock, Wilson, and Hinton - total 3.
The last item on the Agenda was a proposed Resolution making
appointments and reappointments to various Boards and
commissions. There was some Board discussion to defer the
appointments until September 19, 1995 due to the time. Director
Adcock felt that all appointments should be made since the Board
made appointments to the Water Commission (see Resolution No.
9,493 above) . Following the discussion, there was- a motion by
Director Adcock, seconded by Director Hinton, to go into
Executive Session to make all appointments. The motion FAILED by
the following roll call vote: Ayes - Directors' Sharp, Adcock,
Hinton, Hodges, and Wyrick - total 5; Noes - Directors Mason,
Kumpuris, Wilson, Keck, Joyce and Mayor Dailey - total 6.
Therefore, the Resolution making appointments to various Boards
and commissions was deferred until September 19, 1995.
There being
reconvened meeting
Board of Directors
September 19, 1995,
ATTEST:
no further business to be presented, the
was adjourned at 5:50 o'clock P.M. with the
to meet again in regular session on Tuesday,
at 6:00 o'clock P.M.
�- uCA,
City Clerk Robbie Hancock
3
APPROVE
M
(
yor Jim Dail y
1 97