02-22-00664
Board of Directors Room
City Hall — 500 W. Markham
Little Rock, Arkansas
February 22, 2000 — 4:00 P.M.
The Board of Directors of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas, reconvened from the
February 15, 2000, regular meeting with Mayor Jim Dailey presiding. City Clerk Robbie
Hancock called the roll with the following Directors present: Directors Pugh, Hinton,
Lichty, Cazort, Keck, Stewart, Kelly, and Adcock - total 8; Absent — Directors Wyrick
and Kumpuris — total 2.
With a quorum present, Mayor Dailey declared the Board of Directors in session
and the proceedings of the meeting are recorded as follows.
The first item on the Agenda was Ordinance No. 18,226 entitled:
AN ORDINANCE TO RECLASSIFY PROPERTY LOCATED IN THE
CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS; TO ACCEPT THE SITE DESIGN AS
CONSISTENT WITH THE HIGHWAY 10 OVERLAY DISTRICT; TO AMEND
CHAPTER 36 OF THE LITTLE ROCK, ARK. CODE OF ORDINANCES; TO
DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES;
(Z -6819 - To rezone 9.2 acres at the northwest corner of Cantrell Road and Ranch
Drive from "C-2 " Sh opping Center District to "O -3" General Office District.)
(Director Kumpuris enrolled at 4:10 o'clock P.M. during discussion.)
City Manager Cy Carney explained this a very important zoning matter. The zoning
matter involves 9.2 acres located at Cantrell Road and Ranch Drive to provide
accommodations for a major information technology type use. This case is coming
directly to the Board of Directors because of the timing involved, and has not been
reviewed by the Planning Commission. This is a down- zoning of the property from
commercial to office and his recommendation was that the Board pass the Ordinance
with the emergency clause. Mr. Paul Harvell, Executive Director of the Greater Little
Rock Chamber of Commerce, explained this is a high tech industry and is a Fortune 50
company. Little Rock is in competition with two other states. He displayed pictures of
the proposed building. The development will be announced at noon on Wednesday,
February 23, 2000, at the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and company
officials will be present. Ms. Kim Pruitt, Director of Economic Development of the
Chamber of Commerce, said this has been a partnership effort between the Chamber of
Commerce, City of Little Rock, State of Arkansas, and other entities. She introduced
Michael Webster, Senior Development Officer with the Beck Group of Dallas, general
contractor for the project, and Bob Kurkendall, Development Manager. Mr. Webster said
the Beck Group is under a confidentiality agreement; therefore, the name of the company
was not on the drawings he displayed. The company will try to have the facility up and
running by November, 2000. It will be a two story facility totaling approximately
100,000 square feet, and will house 650 to 700 people. In response to Director Lichty's
questions regarding the open space as stated in Section 2 of the Ordinance, City Attorney
Tom Carpenter suggested changing it to specify 50 feet of open space in lieu of the 40
foot landscaped area required along Highway 10 (Cantrell Road). Director Lichty moved
to amend Section 2 as stated by Mr. Carpener. The motion was seconded by Director
Adcock and unanimously adopted. The Ordinance, as amended, was then read the first
time. The rules were suspended to provide for the second and third readings of the
Ordinance by unanimous vote of the Board Members present, being ten in number and
two - thirds or more of the members of the Board of Directors. It was noted that the
Ordinance, as read, did not include the Emergency Clause; therefore, Director Keck
moved to amend the Ordinance to add the Emergency Clause. The motion was
seconded by Director Kelly and unanimously adopted. A roll call vote was taken on
passage of the Ordinance, as amended, with the vote recorded as follows: Ayes —
Directors Pugh, Hinton, Lichty, Cazort, Keck, Stewart, Kumpuris, Kelly, and Adcock -
total 10; Noes — None; Absent — Director Wyrick — total 1.
The Emergency Clause contained in Section 4 of the foregoing Ordinance was
then read and adopted by the following roll call vote: Ayes — Directors Pugh, Hinton,
Lichty, Cazort, Keck, Stewart, Kumpuris, Kelly, and Mayor Dailey — total 10; Noes —
None; Absent — Director Wyrick - total 1. Whereupon, the Ordinance, as amended,
together with the Emergency Clause was declared PASSED.
Minutes
February 22, 2000
66
Consideration was then given to Resolution No. 10,776, described as:
A RESOLUTION TO AWARD A WRECKER FRANCHISE FOR THE
ROTATION TO BE USED IN THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS,
FROM MARCH 1, 2000 TO FEBRUARY 28, 2001; AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES.
(With Metro Towing & Recovery, Inc.; Routh Wrecker Service, Inc.; and Trek Towing.
LLC.)
(Director Wyrick enrolled at 4:30 o'clock P.M. during discussion.)
City Manager Cy Carney explained that for some time the City has entered into
contractural arrangements with professional towing companies in town for rotation
wrecker services. Asher Wrecker Service and Routh Wrecker Service have successfully
participated. Four companies responded to the competitive bidding process. Three of the
four companies were responsive to the bid specifications. Asher Wrecker Service failed
to meet one critical element of the bid specifications. Therefore, he recommended the
rotation contracts be awarded to Metro Towing, Routh Wrecker, and Trek Towing. City
Attorney Tom Carpenter then explained the critical issue that disqualified Asher
Wrecker. The term for the contract would be from March 1, 2000, to February 28, 2001.
The entities involved were required to provide evidence they had certain insurance in
place during that period of time. Unfortunately, Asher's evidence of insurance extended
only until December 31, 2000. Therefore, Asher was disqualified. Mr. Jeff Jenkins,
owner of Asher Wrecker Service, said his bond is a continuing bond that has been on file
with the City since February, 1998, and it never expires unless he fails to make payment.
Mr. Jenkins said the Request for Proposals (RFQ) did not come out with a copy of the
contract, as was done in 1998. There was a contract given out at the pre -bid meeting and
a second copy of the contract given out October 6, 1999. Both contracts had an
expiration date of December 31, and also an insurance requirement issue. He went to
Fleet Services to get a copy of the new contract to go with the RFQ, but was told there
would be no further contracts, that was the one that would be adhered to. When he went
to the City Attorney's Office to renew or extend his current contract for the current two
months, he brought up the issue with Deputy City Attorney Anthony Black who thought
that would be fine. Mr. Jenkins said in his bid package he also furnished combined single
limit insurance, which was in the only contract available for review. That is why he did
not put a letter in his bid package to extend his bond because his is a continuing bond that
never expires and is already on file with the City. He said the RFQ does not match the
contract that was supplied to the bidders, because the contract calls for combined single
insurance and the RFQ does not. Mr. Carpenter said the first RFQ did contain a contract,
but those bids were thrown out and the issue was bid again. The second RFQ did not
contain a model contract. The comment with Mr. Black dealt with the extension of the
existing contract and not with the bid of this particular contract. As to the continuing
bond, he may have a bond on file with the City but all we can go by as to effective dates
is the date on the bond with the bid documents, which clearly states December 31, 2000.
Mr. David Bragg, Director of Fleet Services, said the only contract that has ever been
handed out was a sample contract at a pre -bid conference in November when we
anticipated having this wrapped up in December, and it did have a December 31, 2000
expiration date. That was a part of the pre -bid process to give the bidders an idea of what
it looked like and to solicit input from the bidders on possible improvement to the
language. Director Adcock and Director Pugh wanted to know what was different about
the second bid, why was it not the same as the first. Mr. Carney said the second
specifications were more detailed as to performance. Mr. Bragg responded to a number
of questions by Director Adcock. Mr. Jenkins said the first year he bid the contract was
awarded in February and expired in December; therefore, he urged the Board to amend
this contract to expire December 31, 2000, due to the fact the contract was floating
around with that expiration date. Mr. Carpenter stated the Resolution could not be
amended to add another group; that is not an option before the Board because the Board
is required by state law to grant bids to responsive and responsible bidders and this bid
was not responsive. Director Adcock asked Mr. Carpenter if it is the desire of this Board
to include all four bidders, how can we do that? Mr. Carpenter's response was to reject
all bids, order that towing service be rebid, and extend the current contracts in place.
Following the lengthy discussion, Director Keck moved to adopt the Resolution.
Director Cazort seconded the motion. Director Stewart moved to send this back and
rebid. Director Adcock seconded the motion. Mayor Dailey said that for as long as he
could remember the wrecker service process has been one of the most excruciating issues
the Board of Directors has had to deal with. He said at this point there is nothing
legitimate to convince him this needs to be overthrown. Director Kumpuris brought up
the issue of dividing the city into zones in order to comply with the 25 minute response
time. Mr. Carney said that would be considered in the future. Attorney Patty Lueken,
representing Asher Wrecker Service, arrived and addressed the Board. She explained
what had happened due to a miscommunication regarding the contract date and the fact
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Minutes
February 22, 2000
that Mr. Jenkins relied upon information from a city employee. She felt the towing
service should be rebid. She pointed out that during the January ten inch snow, the only
one that continued to serve the Little Rock fire trucks was Mr. Jenkins and Asher
Wrecker Service. She asked the Board to reconsider and allow Asher Wrecker Service to
bid the contract. Following the reading of the Resolution, Director Keck moved for its
adoption. The motion was seconded by Director Cazort, and the Resolution was
adopted by the following roll call vote: Ayes — Directors Pugh, Lichty, Cazort, Keck,
Wyrick, Kumpuris, Kelly, and Mayor Dailey — total 8; Noes — Directors Hinton, Stewart,
and Adcock — total 3.
Mayor Dailey noted that the Board had instructed him last week to meet with the
concerned parties on the Candlewood Drive street closure issue. He did meet with both
parties along with City Attorney Tom Carpenter and Deputy City Attorney Steve Giles
on Thursday. He felt it was a very good meeting and that an agreement had been reached
subject to written documentation that would come back to the Board. Unfortunately, that
agreement is not the same as it seemed to be that day. Therefore, the issue is not before
the Board at this time.
There being no further business to be presented, the reconvened meeting was
adjourned at 5:30 o'clock P.M, with the Board of Directors to meet again in regular
session on Tuesday, March 7, 2000, at 6:00 o'clock P.M.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Robbie Hancock
rJiayorm Dailey
(Note: A press conference was held at noon on Wednesday, February 23, 2000,
with the announcement that Southwestern Bell Wireless plans to build a $26 million
call center on 9.2 acres at the northwest corner of Cantrell Road and Ranch Drive.
See Ordinance No. 18,226.)