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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