BITS & PIECES: An illegal meeting

Editor’s note: This post was updated to correct the length of time directors met in executive session. We apologize for the error.

The Arkadelphia City Board of Directors held an illegal executive session Tuesday. In everyday terms, this means they took a public meeting into private chambers without letting anyone know their reasoning. 

From the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act handbook: After approval of a motion to retire into executive session, the chairman may announce: “This body has voted to retire into executive session to consider the [employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, discipline or resignation] of an employee. We will reconvene in public session following this executive session to present and vote on any action arrived at in private.”

Only the meeting agenda made mention of an executive session for the purpose of discussing candidates for the vacant Ward 4 position. The mayor, noting that no candidates were present at the meeting, simply announced the board would meet in executive session, without giving a reason. That was the boo-boo. It seems innocent on the surface, but there’s rules that must be followed in order to be transparent and maintain public trust.

We don’t fault the city board for what we presume was a simple goof. They rarely meet in executive session (the school board does so regularly and, more often than not, doesn’t do it correctly). After all, city directors aren’t paid a dime for this voluntary service to the city.

In their real jobs, one director is an attorney; one’s a shrink; one is brand new to the board; one is the school district’s athletic director and over the Arkadelphia Promise Scholarship (in his defense, he wasn’t present when the session was called, but arrived during that portion of the meeting); one is in the business of death; and one looks at teeth all day. Heck, we’re no experts when it comes to the finer details of municipal government or presiding over a meeting, either — our expertise lies solely within documenting the happenings of this fine community and reporting them to you, Kind Reader.

A negligent FOIA violation is a misdemeanor, but we’d like to believe our city directors weren’t acting maliciously when they met for 14 minutes behind closed doors, likely discussing potential candidates for the next Ward 4 position, which was left vacant when Reo Cummings left HSU and Arkadelphia for greener pastures. Nobody interested in the seat showed up. Nothing was said publicly about whether there had been any interest. No action was taken after the board reconvened in public.

Newspapers in bigger cities would give their city board/council or school board a good public spanking for breaking FOIA law, but we’re of a breed of small-town journalists who strive to serve our community with heart, and we like to think that those who volunteer their time to serve on government bodies also have the public’s best interest at heart (then again, we’ve been fooled before).

This time, we forgive the city board for what we feel was just a goof on their part, and trust they’ll know better next time.

Hey, M: What’s this about a strip club?

We’re not opposed to banning students’ use of cell phones in the classroom, but by all appearances Arkansas lawmakers have a double standard when it comes to dictating who has the privilege of phone access during “school hours.” Start taking note of news photos depicting members of the Arkansas General Assembly in action, and you’ll begin to notice a pattern — someone in a suit and tie is giving attention to his cell phone rather than the conversation at hand. Here’s a small sampling of our state legislators at work (photo credits go to Arkansas Advocate):

We’ve attended state legislative committee meetings in past sessions, and, peering occasionally from our notebook, observed a handful of senators or representatives looking at their phone instead of engaging in the conversation at the table. Put your phones down, kids.

Ozzy the Chocolate Chihuahua sez: Me saw the dawg ketcher trying to arrest a big ol German Shepherd de udder day on Hendason Stweet, but that dawg wudden havin nun of it — He just kept wunning!

Door-to-door salesmen are the worst. Given the chance, the companies they solicit for will rob you blind. Solar panel companies, door and window companies (the latest in our neighborhood), even tree service companies. We applaud Attorney General Tim Griffin for going after one such company that his office says were price gouging in the aftermath of Arkansas storms. One tip to get rid of most door-to-door salesmen is to ask them to show you a city-issued permit to sell.

To the driver of the new Volkswagen Bus: We’ve seen you in town on three occasions, and we’d love to take a tour and possibly write an article about your decision.

Joel Phelps is editor of arkadelphian.com. Opinions expressed in Bits & Pieces are his own. Contact him at editor@arkadelphian.com.