Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan will appoint residents to an advisory committee that will make recommendations to him on how to implement the city's newest anti-discrimination ordinance.
The decision to form the committee came after a letter from Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce President Steve Clark, which expressed the business community's concerns on how to implement the ordinance, Jordan said Friday. Opponents, who have begun circulating petitions to repeal the law, have questioned the timing and formation of the advisory group.
Last week, Fayetteville became the first Arkansas city to adopt an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender expression and sexual orientation. With the move, the city joined nearly 200 other cities and counties nationwide with similar ordinances -- including Minneapolis, the first city to implement such a law in 1975.
Jordan said he hopes to have the advisory board, which likely will be made up of 15 to 20 people, in place by Tuesday afternoon. The board will meet once Thursday in City Hall room 326 at 6 p.m., and the mayor will take the recommendations and put together an implementation plan the week of Sept. 15, he said.
The ordinance will become effective Sept. 20.
In Thursday's letter, Clark said the business community was "troubled by the lack of a specific standards or definitions for legal terms" in the ordinance, including "socioeconomic status," "physical characteristics" and "good faith."
Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams said Friday that he was working on adding certain definitions to the ordinance.
"Since these rules and enforcement provisions must provide fundamental fairness and due process to all affected by or involved in the process of being judged according to this ordinance, the business community asks that you appoint an advisory board immediately to assist you and your team in preparation of these rules and enforcement provisions," Clark wrote in the letter.
The chamber president recommended that Jordan appoint a 10-member board, including representatives from the gay and transgender community, business community, real estate businesses, faith community, and attorneys who are regularly engaged in civil-rights practice.
Jordan plans to expand the advisory group to about 15 to 20 representatives, he said, adding that such advisory groups are not uncommon. Thursday's meeting will be public, but the group will not hear from the public, Jordan said.
"For the most part, we're just about done with it as far as getting all the input we could get," he said. "This is not a city committee. It's not a civil-rights commission. It is a civil-rights advisory group. It has no power, no jurisdiction."
The meeting also will include presentations on how a few cities of similar size have implemented an anti-discrimination ordinance.
Jerry Cox, executive director of the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, said he wondered why the city was in "such a rush" to implement the ordinance "when everyone knows there's an effort to repeal it."
"That just demonstrates the mayor's resolve to do this," Cox said.
Opponents have until Sept. 20 to gather enough signatures -- 15 percent of the city's registered voters, or 4,095 -- to get a measure placed on the municipal ballot. From there, the city clerk would have to certify that the group has enough signatures.
Once on the ballot, voters in a special election would decide whether to repeal the ordinance. The special election could take place either Dec. 9 or Jan. 13, Williams said.
Fayetteville residents voted on a similar measure in a 1998 referendum and struck down the "Human Dignity" resolution, which would have added familial status and sexual orientation to the city's anti-discrimination policy for municipal employees.
This time, the City Council passed the ordinance Aug. 20 after a marathon meeting, replete with some 10 hours of public comment.
The municipal law sought to fill a gap in protections based on sexual orientation that isn't covered in state and federal laws. State and federal laws prohibit the hiring, the firing and the eviction of people based on age, gender, national origin, race, religion or disability.
Arkansas is one of more than 25 states that don't extend the protections to sexual orientation.
Fayetteville's ordinance also will include protection from discrimination against ethnicity, gender expression, familial status, marital status, socioeconomic background and veteran status.
The law applies to the city, all its employees and contractors who do business with the city. It excludes federal, state or county offices, along with public educational institutions within the city.
The law also won't apply to religious or denominational institutions, nor will it require unisex bathrooms or locker rooms.
The ordinance also allows the mayor to appoint a civil-rights administrator, who will receive, investigate and resolve complaints of discrimination.
Violating a city ordinance carries up to a $500 fine, though city codes say repeated offenses could cost $250 a day. A matter could be resolved by a district court if conciliatory efforts through the administrator fail.
The Human Rights Campaign helped to craft the ordinance, which city officials pared down, Williams has said. The group is pumping some $8.5 million over the next three years in Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi.
At times, the group will provide technical help and best practices, if requested, said Cathryn Oakley, legislative counsel for the group. Many times, governments pass these ordinances "with minimal or no opposition at all," she said.
In Fayetteville, opponents have heard calls for its appeal.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee urged area pastors to fight the ordinance during a pastors' conference in Rogers last week, Cox said. Attempts to reach Huckabee were unsuccessful.
"I see a groundswell of activity happening in the Fayetteville area," Cox said, adding that nearly 300 people gathered Sunday to determine how to move forward on repealing the ordinance. "I think their goal is just to blanket Fayetteville."
Cox, who also led a training session on circulating petitions, added that he was concerned about the mayor's authority to "expand the ordinance" through the advisory group, which he said could be filled with supporters of the ordinance.
"The mayor's thing was kind of a new wrinkle in this whole thing that most of us were not expecting," Cox said. "This changes none of our concerns. It solves none of our problems."
Metro on 08/30/2014