Bryant Police Chief Mark Kizer has been suspended for five days for securing reimbursement from the city for a steak dinner purchased at an upscale Orlando, Fla., strip club this summer.
Kizer will begin serving the suspension next week, Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs said Thursday.
“I take this very seriously,” the mayor said during a break in a City Council meeting Thursday night. “We need to be above reproach at all times. And our citizens don’t deserve to be drug through the state and national media on negative things such as this.”
Meanwhile, the City Council also voted to spend $20,000 to conduct a forensic audit of city finances and directed city employees to strictly adhere to the city’s travel policies, which include provisions that ban them from using credit cards to pay for meals, until the council has time to review and make changes to them.
The moves reflect the continuing distrust between the mayor and council, who have been at odds over procedures in the city’s finance department, including purchase orders being approved by people who lack the authorization to do so.
The no-bid contract for the forensic audit was awarded to L. Douglass Brown, a former white-collar crime investigator with the Arkansas State Police.
Dabbs and her new finance director, Dennis Edwards, said they welcomed the investigation though it comes just as Edwards is settling into his new duties, the state Legislative Audit Division is about to begin its own regular audit and the finance department is putting together the city’s budget for next year.
“I don’t think anything bad has happened, but the unease will continue” if the forensic audit isn’t done, Edwards said.
Dabbs opened the meeting with general comments addressing the strip-club controversy but didn’t get into specifics.
“We’ve had a lot of great things going on in our city,” Dabbs said. “We have received some very significant awards lately, but unfortunately sometimes, whether it be in your family or in your community or in your city or on your leadership team, poor decisions are made that affect all of us and are a reflection on us as a community.
“I am very disappointed with some of the decisions that have been made that we’ve all had to listen to, to read about it in the newspapers and to see it on TV stations, and I want you all to know, as your mayor, I take this very seriously. It is not something to be scoffed at. Our actions, when they reflect [badly] on the city of Bryant, it is inexcusable.
“After the proper review by [the city Human Resources Department], I have determined there will be time off, unpaid, as a result of this. That’s where it lies. I’m sorry you had to bear the burden of this with us,” she said.
Kizer and Bryant High School resource officer Lee Ledbetter both submitted July 18 receipts labeled O.C. Food & Beverage LLC Steakhouse, but the address and telephone listing was to Rachel’s Adult Entertainment & Steakhouse, also called a gentleman’s club.
The dinner came during a week-long National School Resource Officer conference, attended by Kizer and six members of his staff.
The club billed Kizer for a $39 bone-in rib-eye steak and an $8 loaded baked potato. After tip, his receipt totaled $58.06. Ledbetter’s meal, also a steak and potato, totaled $50.80 after the tip. The bottom of both receipts state “Entertainment fee included on all food sales.” According to time stamps on the receipts, Kizerand Ledbetter paid for their meals about 10 p.m.
Kizer didn’t attend Thursday’s meeting. Reached through an online social network website after the meeting, Kizer said he was unaware of the suspension and couldn’t talk by cellphone because he was at a deer camp.
“I don’t know,” he wrote. “I haven’t talked to her yet. I am at deer camp and have no service.”
Ledbetter also will face discipline, Dabbs said.
“The consequences to him will be less than for the chief because the chief has more authority,” she said. “Probably a letter of reprimand or something along those lines.”
City Council members went into executive session for about 30 minutes at the end of the meeting, presumably to discuss Kizer, but took no vote after reconvening in open session.
“I believe there was an investigation completed, and I’m not aware of everything that was checked into in that investigation,” said council member Brenda Miller, who discovered the expenditures. “I’m sure that our HR department, our city attorney and mayor did a complete job in doing that, and I respect their decision at this time.”
Fellow council member Adrian Henley, called the suspension “appropriate with the circumstances.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/25/2013