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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-11-10 Minutes(:10 MINUTES OF A CITY COUNCIL MEETING A special meeting of the Fayetteville City Council wast held Tuesday, November 10, 1992, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Room of the City Administration Building, 113 West Mountain; Fayetteville, Arkansas. PRESENT: Mayor Fred Hanna; Aldermen Stephen Williams, Kit Williams, Conrad Odom, Woody Bassett, Fred Vorsanger, Len Edens, Joan Chapman, and Heather Faddoul; City Attorney Jerry Rose.; City Treasurer Glyndon Bunton; City Clerk Sherry Thomas; Administrative Services Director Ben Mayes; Public Works Director Kevin Crosson; Planning Management Director Alett Little; members of press, staff, and audience. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hanna called .the meeting to order with eight Aldermen present. OATH OF OFFICE Circuit/Chancery Judge Charles N. Williams administered the oath of office to Mayor Fred Hanna, City Attorney Jerry Rose, City Clerk Sherry Thomas, City'Treasurer Glyndon Bunton, and to the eight newly elected aldermen.. CHANGE IN FORM OF CITY GOVERNMENT Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance amending Section 10.17 of the Fayetteville Code of Ordinances -for those ordinances being amended to accommodate the Aldermanic form of government, to allow passage of ordinance amendments without being 'required to repeal the existing ordinance. In order to accomplish a ,smooth -transition, various changes are necessary in the Code<to provide authority whereby the City may function efficiently..under:theznew form of government until the new Council has an opportunity, to evaluate other ordinance changes. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the first time. Vorsanger, seconded by Bassett, made a motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. City Attorney Rose read the:ordinance forthe second time. Vorsanger, seconded by Bassett, made a motion to further suspend the rules and place the ordinance. on its third and.final reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by a vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. The ordinance was read for the third time. . City Attorney Rose stated Section 10.17 of the Code of Ordinances has to be amended to reflect Mayor and Council rather than City Manager and Board of Directors. v November 10, 1992 Upon roll call, the ordinance passed by a vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. ORDINANCE 3649 APPEARS ON PAGE 029y AMENDMENT TO THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF ORDINANCE BOOK X x V/ Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance amending the FayettevilleiCode of Ordinances; all rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of all Boards, Committees, and Commissions, to insert Mayor in the place of all references to City Manager; and inserting Council in the place of all references to Board of Directors. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the first time. Vorsanger, seconded by Bassett, made a motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the second time. Vorsanger, seconded by Miller, made a motion to further suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its third and final reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by a vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. The ordinance was read for the third time. Upon roll call, the ordinance passed by a vote of 7-0-1. ORDINANCE 3650 APPEARS ON PAGE )96 OF ORDINANCE BOOK )(,)(V I CODE OF ORDINANCES Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance amending section 30.01 of the Fayetteville City Code of Ordinances to provide for the Aldermanic form of government. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the first time. Vorsanger, seconded by Bassett, made a motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the second time. Vorsanger, seconded by Bassett, made a motion to further suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its third and final reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by a vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. The ordinance was read for the third time. Upon roll call, the ordinance passed by a vote of 7-0-1. ORDINANCE 3651 APPEARS ON PAGE 0297 OF ORDINANCE BOOK XX VI ELECTION OF VICE MAYOR Mayor Hanna introduced the consideration of electing a Vice Mayor from among the Aldermen. V V J November 10, 1992 Mayor Hanna stated he has learned that this may not be proper and contrary to the constitution of the State of Arkansas. He stated at this time, there will be no discussion on electing a vice mayor. After further research, this item could be brought back to the Council at a later date. DATES AND TIME. OF COUNCIL MEETINGS Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance amending Section 32.02 of the Fayetteville Code of Ordinances and setting the regular time and dates of the council meetings. Mayor. Hanna stated he had discussed the possibility of having a Monday evening meeting before the regular Tuesday Council meetings. He now feels a decision on this should be postponed. Mayor Hanna stated he felt the starting time for the- regular Council meetings should be earlier than 7:30 p.m. Alderman Bassett stated he would like to keep the meetings as they are currently scheduled on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. He felt it would be better to start earlier and suggested 7:00 p.m. He•felt an earlier time would be more convenient for the citizens and the:press to meet their early morning deadlines. Alderman Williams -stated he would prefer the meeting start even earlier. He felt most people should be able to get home, get a bite to eat, and be able to start the meetings at 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. Ye { Alderman Chapman agreed1twith the suggested a starting time•of 6:30•p.m. between the 6:00-�.and 7:00 times being t- Pms earlier starting time and which would be a compromise discussed. Alderman Miller agreedwith the 6:30 starting time. City Attorney Rose read thes ordinance for the first time. Vorsanger,, secondedby Miller, made a motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance ondits second reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by vote, of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the second time. Vorsanger, seconded by Miller,*made a•motion to further suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its third and final reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed by a vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. The ordinance was read for the third time. Upon roll call,; the ordinance passed by a vote of 7-0-1. F ORDINANCE 3652 APPEARS ON PAGE boa OF ORDINANCE BOOR OW Mayor Hanna stated the first regular meeting of the Council would be on Tuesday, November 17, 1992. November 10, 1992 COMPENSATION Mayor Hanna introduced for consideration and discussion an ordinance setting the compensation for the Mayor, City Council, and City Treasurer for the remainder of 1992. Mayor Hanna stated this would set salaries from this point forward and would be setting a precedent for a number of years to follow. He felt the salaries should be high enough to entice highly qualified individuals to seek the various offices. Alderman Vorsanger stated no one expected to be paid during 1992. The budget for 1992 has already been adopted, and he suggested that salaries begin effective January 1, 1993 for the mayor, council, and treasurer. Alderman Williams stated Fayetteville now has a full time mayor, and it would be unfair to ask him to serve without any pay. He stated this question was asked to all of the candidates during their campaigns. He has always felt aldermen should receive between $250 and $300 per month, which is approximately what the county justices of the peace earn. He feels the mayor should be paid what the city manager was making. Alderman Vorsanger stated the city attorney and city clerk salaries that were approved in the 1992 budget will continue through the end of the year. The only people being considered at this time are the newly elected officials where the position was not previously being compensated. He campaigned on the platform that aldermen should not be paid, and he still feels this way. Mayor Hanna stated he had talked with Ben Mayes, and there are funds available in the 1992 budget to start paying the aldermen, treasurer, and the mayor at this time. Alderman Bassett stated he felt the Council should not get too bogged down in this issue. He suggested opening the topic up for discussion from the floor and deciding on the issue at the next regularly scheduled council meeting. Alderman Faddoul stated she agreed with waiting until the beginning of the fiscal year to begin compensation. Alderman Edens stated he agreed with compensating the mayor, but he does not feel there should be pay for the aldermen. The voters voted against pay for the Board of Directors at the May 1992 election, and he feels pay for the aldermen would be contrary to what the public desires. In addition, he does not feel comfortable allocating himself money. He is in favor of aldermen being paid, but he feels this Council should set the salary figure, but payment for aldermen should not go into effect until January 1995 when a new council would be elected. He was unhappy when Congress voted z*9U V • November 10, 1992 themselves a pay raise, and he feels this would be basically what this council would be doing. Alderman Chapman stated she4id not want to have a barrier that kept people with modest means from being drawn to public service. She feels there should be modest compensation for aldermen, but deciding on the exact amount is the hard part. Alderman Miller stated he gave up a good job to run for this office, and he is currently without any income. Only the independently wealthy people can run for office with the present system. If an alderman spends 20-40 hours per week on city business, he feels citizens would not begrudge $300 per month. Steve Cummings addressed the Council and stated in America people get paid for what they do, and he feels the aldermen should be paid. Glyndon Bunton, newly elected City Treasurer, stated the mayor and aldermen will be working extremely hard between now and January 1 learning about the city and their respective duties. Colleen Pancake addressed the Council and stated she feels that any one doing a jobifor the city should be paid. She suggested a sliding scale based on an approximate hours of service per week. Robert Reus addressed the Council -and stated that it was up to the Council what figure, if any, was set. He stated that once the salary is set, it could not be'reduced until the end of the elected term. rt Patty Besom addressed the Council and stated she appreciates Alderman Edens viewpoint,'butias a voter, she feels the mayor and aldermen should,be paid. +She feels $250 per month could be too low. However, she does feel that. Scott Linebaugh's salary was too high. John King addressedtthe•Council,and stated in the past, the City has had both a citymanager and a mayor. Now, we have one person responsible for,the duties'of both'jobs. He feels the mayor should be fairly compensated for performing both of these functions. He feels the pay range should.'be:.:$70,000 or more. He feels some of .the figures mentioned for alderman are too low. He suggested a figure of somewhere,around'$800 td $900 per month for the aldermen. : Alderman Bassett' asked what would Mr. King think the aldermen should tell the •5,031 voters'that voted in May not to pay the directors. _ Mr. King statedhe was unaware of that vote. However, he...still feels the aldermen should be paid. November 10, 1992 Alderman Bassett stated the vote in May was 4,085 for paying the directors and 5,031 against any payment. Mr. King stated he recognized most of the people on the Council have very little need for money; however, he is looking toward councils of the future when asking for pay for aldermen. Mayor Hanna stated the ballot question regarding payment for the directors stated that in the event the city manager form of government was retained, would you want payment for the directors. He felt this issue was quite different since we now have a different form of government. Alderman Bassett agreed, but feels the voters meant no pay, and he feels that it might not be right for the aldermen to vote themselves pay. Alderman Williams stated the voters rejected the city manager form of government. A no vote on payment of the directors was also a no vote for the city manager form of government. Ms. Pancake reminded the Council that "you get what you pay for." If you want good aldermen in the future, you will have to pay for them. Alderman Bassett stated over the years, we have had a lot of good Board of Director members in this City who have not received a dime for all of their hard work. Cy Young asked if state law says that the aldermen will. pay themselves. City Attorney Rose stated the statute could be read that way. Alderman Vorsanger, seconded by Miller, made a motion to table this issue. Upon roll call, the motion passed by a vote of 7-0-1, with Edens abstaining. Mayor Hanna asked the Personnel Director to draw up comparison figures for mayor and aldermen that would help the Council in determining this question at the next meeting. Alderman Vorsanger stated he talked with the mayor of Rogers, and they pay their council members $100 per meeting for two meetings per month. Springdale pays $150 per month. MEETINGS FOR 1992 Mayor Hanna introduced consideration of meetings to be held for the remainder of 1992. vvl November 10, 1992 9 1) Agenda Sessions 2) Council Tours 3) Other meetings He stated the Agenda Sessions have been held at 8:30 a.m, on the Wednesdays before the Tuesday night Board meetings. The tours have been held at 4:00 p.m. on Monday before the Tuesday evening meeting. He stated he felt these times should be continued for the present time because it would be hard, with any time, to fit the schedules of all of the aldermen. Mayor Hanna stated Staff was proposing an additional meeting for all of the aldermen --a tour of all City facilities. This would take 2-3 hours. He asked the aldermen to consider this and let him know their feelings about a tour of this type and their available times. OTHER BUSINESS REGIONAL AIRPORT Alderman Williams stated he,..would like to invite the city's representatives='to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority to come before the Council and report on the status of the regional' airport. Mayor Hanna stated he felt this would be a good idea. :FOUR COUNTY SOLID WASTE DISTRICT tiw v Alderman Vorsanger stated_.the.Council will have to be deciding on whether to remain a member of_the Four County Solid Waste District. He suggested inviting'Drew Holt to a future Council meeting and report on the_district. • ALDERMAN LEN EDENS Alderman Edens explained that he wanted to let everyone know he was not opposed totFayetteville ,city government. He has abstained during every vote this'evening because he won the election by only 4 votes. Thereare still several overseas ballots to be counted on November 13. The election results will then be final. He has been sworn into office, but rather than cause a problem if he were to end up losing the election, he preferred to abstain from the voting on tonight's business. ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS Alderman Miller stated while `reading through the Code of November 10, 1992 Ordinances, he saw several that would need to be changed to conform with the new form of government. City Attorney Rose stated this change was already in progress. Several months ago, various sections of the code were sent to department and division heads for their reviewal and to make the necessary changes. Over the next few months, there will be more of these, and a final amended code will be available in the near future. ADVERTISING & PROMOTION COMMISSION Alderman Vorsanger stated the Advertising & Promotion Commission is comprised of two members of the Council. This appointment will need to be made by Mayor Hanna in the near future. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 6:22 p.m.