Southside gets OK for incorporation

Batesville annexation still on ballot

BATESVILLE -- Robert Griffin, county judge of Independence county, granted the Southside community's request to become the state's 501st city after a lengthy and often contentious hearing that included scoffing, boos and fist-shaking Friday morning.

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A map showing the location of Southside and Batesville.

Southside, about a mile south of the Independence County seat of Batesville, filed paperwork to become its own city after Batesville officials said in August that they wanted to annex the area of 1,343 people and placed the annexation issue on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Despite Griffin's ruling Friday, the election results will still be tallied. Independence County Clerk Tracey Mitchell said early voting has been brisk so far.

Southside residents said they opposed the additional taxation that Batesville would place upon them if the city annexed the community.

Although Southside now has the legal status of a city, legal objections to Griffin's decision can be filed for the next 30 days.

"I anticipate this will go to [circuit] court either way I rule," Griffin said during the hearing before making his decision.

"Absolutely," replied Mark Hayes, an Arkansas Municipal League attorney who represented Batesville on Friday.

In a case that has more twists than the curvy U.S. 167 that winds up Ramsey Mountain and connects Batesville with Southside, Griffin's decision Friday is just the first step in a process both sides project will be lengthy.

Hayes said after the hearing that he anticipates filing a lawsuit appealing Griffin's decision.

Brandon Gay, an organizer of Keep Southside Free From Annexation, said he, too, envisions more litigation if things don't go his group's way, including challenging the way Batesville aldermen placed the annexation issue on the ballot.

"We've seen 19 legal violations made by the city in this," Gay said. "We've only used one of them so far."

On Aug. 25, Batesville alderman called for the election, voting 5-2 in favor with one alderman abstaining. The measure needed at least a two-thirds vote for passage, and Mayor Rick Elumbaugh cast the deciding vote in favor of the election.

Gay said he may challenge the legality of the mayor voting to call for an election but wants to wait to see the annexation election's results to figure out how to proceed.

If the annexation is turned down, which he thinks will happen, Gay said he won't pursue a complaint about Elumbaugh's vote. If it passes, Gay said, he will then challenge they way the election was called.

Even Friday's hearing was briefly in question.

Hayes filed an injunction Thursday in Independence County Circuit Court in an attempt to seek Griffin's recusal as the arbiter for Friday's hearing. Hayes said Griffin has indicated that if Southside incorporated, the new city could contract with the county for police and garbage-collection services.

"Judge Griffin has been intricately involved to the point that he has assisted with planning, monetary impacts and proposed inter-local agreements that would benefit his tenure as county judge, as well as Independence County," Hayes wrote in his injunction request.

Independence County Circuit Judge Tim Weaver denied Hayes' request early Friday morning, and the hearing proceeded.

Hayes asked Griffin again to step aside during the hearing, saying that for Griffin to render a ruling on the case would have the appearance of impropriety.

He refused to step down.

"I don't see how serving in my executive role as county judge that I've taken any sides," Griffin told Hayes.

About 100 people, mostly from the Southside community, attended Friday's hearing and packed into the benches in the second-floor courtroom. Others stood in the back or milled about in the hallway outside the courtroom.

As Hayes spoke, the audience often grumbled and scoffed at his comments.

Hayes questioned the way Gay's organization collected the signatures needed to request the incorporation, saying a petition sheet that explained the reasoning for the incorporation was not attached to a list of signatures, and those signing it may not have known what they were signing.

"All you know at this point is that a group of people put their names and addresses down," Hayes said. "That's an incurable flaw. The petition has problems at its base level."

Several in the crowd muttered, "That's not true."

One elderly woman raised her fist and shook it at Hayes.

Later, when Elumbaugh spoke on behalf of the city and referred to creating a "partnership" between Batesville and Southside, several people booed the mayor.

Gay testified during the hearing and referred to Elumbaugh's desire for a "partnership."

"We want to govern ourselves," he said when asked why he sought incorporation for Southside. "We'll work with our own neighbors much better than with people we don't want to work with. I would never enter into a partnership with someone who wants to take over me."

John Casey, who helped Gay organize Keep Southside Free From Annexation, said he felt incorporating the area was the only way to keep Batesville away.

"The city handled this behind locked doors and with underhanded methods," Casey said of the City Council calling for the annexation election. "The best way to stop that is to favor incorporation."

Hayes rebutted that argument, pointing out what he felt was an absurdity.

"So, your position is to become a city to avoid becoming a city," he said. "As soon as Southside becomes a city, it's a city. That means legislation will have to pass, taxes will be collected -- the same thing if Batesville annexes you."

Southside was first considered a community in 1953, when the Southside School District formed. Residents there tried to incorporate in 2004, calling for their own election, but it failed by about 100 votes.

The area has since grown and is home to the Batesville Municipal Airport, two large car dealerships -- including one owned by NASCAR driver Mark Martin -- and several businesses.

Elumbaugh said Batesville was "landlocked" to the north and needed the Southside area if it is to grow.

"We are absolutely against them incorporating," Elumbaugh said after Friday's hearing. "There does not need to be two separate cities. It's bad for business. Everybody could work together, and we'd be able to recruit a lot more in this area."

Metro on 10/25/2014

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