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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-10-02Minutes: September 10, 2002 Reconvened Meeting from September 3, 2002 MINUTES Board of Directors Room City Hall — 500 W. Markham Little Rock, Arkansas September 10, 2002 4:00 PM The Board of Directors of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas met in reconvened session with Mayor Dailey presiding. The roll was called by City Clerk, Nancy Wood, with the following Directors present: Hinton, Pugh, Stewart, Graves, Lichty, Kumpuris, Keck, -- Adcock, Vice Mayor Cazort, Wyrick. Director Wyrick was absent at roll called but enrolled at 6:10 P.M. Reconvened from September 3, 2002 1. INTERVIEWS & RESOLUTION NO. 11,374 - To make appointments to the Little Rock Planning Commission. Interviews were conducted with Planning Commission Candidates. Vice Mayor Cazort made the motion to go into executive session for the purpose of nominating a candidate to the Planning Commission. Director Adcock seconded the motion, and by unanimous voice vote of the Board members present, the meeting was recessed. The meeting was reconvened, and Mayor Dailey called the meeting to order. Mr. Bruce Moore, Interim City Manager, announced the candidate nomination for the Planning Commission position was Mr. Jerry Meyer. Director Adcock made the motion to make the appointment of Mr. Meyer, with Vice Mayor Cazort, seconding the motion. By unanimous voice vote of the Board members present, the appointment was approved. 2. ORDINANCE — To call a special election in the City of Little Rock on the question of whether to levy a t/4 percent municipal gross receipts and compensating use tax within the City of Little Rock, pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated 26 -75 -201 to be used for public safety related purposes to prescribes other matters that pertain to the levee and to the election; to declare an emergency and for other purposes. Mr. Bruce Moore, Interim City Manager, overviewed staff s position and recommendation on the Public Safety Initiative saying the percentages included Fire, Police, Prevention Intervention and treatment areas. He stated that currently the Board has approved, via resolution, moving forward with a quarter cent public safety tax initiative. City Management, after careful review and continuing dialog with the Police Department, Fire Department, Chiefs, and Director of Community Programs, recommend the Board move forward with a 60/30/10 plan; 60 percent for the Fire Department, 30 percent for the Police Department, and 10 percent for the Prevention, Intervention and Treatment Programs. This would generate approximately six million in year one, for Fire, three million for Police and one million for PIT efforts. Mr. Tom Carpenter, City Attorney, outlined the proposed ordinance. Ms. Janet Berry, President of Southwest Little Rock United for Progress, 8013 Mabelvale Cutoff, stated the issue of the quarter cent tax was discussed at their last meeting, the group recommended the Board refer to the vote of the people the following split; forty five percent for police, forty five percent for fire, and ten percent for PIT. She stated that the group felt there is an equal dependency on the fire and police services, and felt this split would be more fair. Mr. Terrell Vaughn, 11016 King Arthur Drive, stated that he felt the 30/60 split was unfair to the police department, that the police department is-short on officers, and crime is up, and wanted to see the money evenly split between the police and fire departments. Mr. Don Darnell, 7007 E. Wakefield Drive, stated that he was in support of an even split between the police and fire departments. Director Keck stated that he felt the public safety needs had comprehensively been looked at and stated the needs of the fire department are very great at this point and time. He stated that in the past ten years, the budget of the police department has nearly doubled, while the budget of the fire department has increased at a rate of almost 50 %. The funding opportunities available for the police department aren't just from the citizens Minutes: September 10, 2002 Reconvened Meeting from September 3, 2002 of Little Rock and sales tax and that grant opportunities have been successfully secured for the police department. He stated that unfortunately during that same ten -year period, increases that are in place for the fire department are primarily related to labor costs. There have not been additional expenditures on equipment or necessary renovations or upkeep of fire stations that are so necessary at this point and time. He stated that the 60% would be able to add some additional personnel, upgrade communications equipment, and self - contained breathing apparatus, provide for a training facility, and an additional new fire station, additional apparatus, beyond what the city can do right now. He said for so long, the needs of the fire department have not been met, and the city needs to place the fire department at the forefront with better - allocated resources for them. Director Adcock stated that no matter what the Board decides on, the citizens will decide the vote, and if there is to be support, the Board needs to get something out there that the voters feel they can support. She stated that in all the meetings she had been to, and all the votes taken, there was a feeling that the split should be 45% each for the fire and police departments. Director Adcock mentioned that Judge Villines had mentioned a regional fire facility, and this was something to be considered, and asked the other Board members to consider an even split between these two departments. Vice Mayor Cazort, stated he felt that the needs of the fire department were greater at this time. He stated he was not belittling the needs of the police department, but to meet the current needs of the fire department, the split would have to be 60% to that department, or the needs could not be met. Director Pugh stated her constituents want the 45% split between the two departments, due to the progressive crime rates. Mayor Dailey stated this was not an emotional issue, that it is based entirely on need, and asked Mr. Moore to explain why the staff recommendation was based on the 30/60 split. Mr. Bruce Moore, Interim City Manager, stated that in evaluating the recommendations from both chiefs of the two departments, and from Vision Little Rock, in looking at the past ten years of Future Little Rock, was convinced that they are at this point, critical needs in the fire department that must be addressed. He stated the police and PIT programs also have tremendous needs, however in looking at the available resources, it would be his recommendation to move forward with the 60/30/10 plan. Director Lichty asked Mr. Moore to explain the rationales of the PIT component given the needs of the two other departments needs being so severe. Director Kumpuris stated he felt there were two reasons. If you are talking about crime in the neighborhoods, or what makes this city better, he thought that the $3 million dollars put in to PIT over the last ten years, has made as big of difference as anything else has. It has gotten kids off the streets, give them some place to go, and helps with rehabilitation of different sorts. He stated that any time a program is structured and this component is left out, when there is a continuing and expanding need; it is an essential part, and felt the city would be short sighted not to continue with that 10 %. Mr. Moore stated he concurred with Director Kumpuris, that without a doubt, the prevention and intervention treatment effort have had a significant and intrical impact of the overall crime rate decrease, and encouraged the Board to continue with the 10% for PIT programs. Mayor Dailey asked for the first reading of the ordinance. The ordinance was read the first time. Mayor Dailey turned the meeting over to Vice Mayor Cazort. Director Adcock stated the title did not contain the percentage of split, and thought it was misleading. Vice Mayor Cazort stated the title is not what will be on the ballot. He said the title that will be on the ballot is the one in Section 2. Mr. Carpenter stated that what is before the Board is a' /4 cent sales tax for public safety. It says for ten years the split will be a 60/30/10 percent. After ten years, there is some leeway in the ordinance for change if the Board wants the change. Ms. Janelle Romandia spoke against the split as it is now. She said this pits the fire department against the police department, and it should be an even split. Mr. Robert Hooks, 2611 S. Jackson, asked for the split to be even. Director Hinton asked for a financial breakdown for salary requests, maintenance and equipment expenses for each department over the past few years, and the number of employees on the DROP program for each department. Director Graves asked for a -- projection for the growth in the number of employees each department would have. Director Adcock asked Mr. Moore to provide the name of the grant writer for the City to Officer Vaughn. Mr. Bob Biles, Finance Director, overviewed the July financial statement for the City of Little Rock. 2 Minutes: September 10, 2002 Reconvened Meeting from September 3, 2002 There was a motion by Director Stewart to adjourn. Director Keck seconded the motion. There was a roll call vote on adjournment. The vote was recoded as follows; Directors: Hinton, no, Pugh, yes, Cazort, yes, Keck, yes, Stewart, no, Graves, yes, Adcock, no. Wyrick, no. The vote was 4 yes, 4 no. Vice Mayor Cazort asked if anyone else wanted to address the tax issue. Director Adcock asked Mr. Carpenter for an opinion as to whether the Board could go back into executive session to appoint another Planning Commission member to a vacancy that would be coming open in November, using the current list of candidates. Mr. Carpenter stated that the Board had done it in the past. Director Adcock made a motion to go into executive session to nominate a candidate for the Planning Commission, which would be open in November of 2002. Director Hinton seconded the motion. A vote was taken by show of hands. Director Adcock and Director Hinton indicated they were voting yes. Directors: Keck, Graves, Stewart, Pugh, Wyrick_ and Vice Mayor Cazort voted no. The motion failed. Director Wyrick asked to have the appointment added to next week's agenda. Vice Mayor Cazort asked Ms. Wood the City Clerk to add it to the next week's regular meeting agenda. Director Keck made a motion to adjourn; Director Graves seconded the motion, and by unanimous voice vote the meeting was adjourned at 7:25 P.M. ADJOURN ATTEST: ancy ood City Clerk APPROVED: yor Jim Dailey 3