TEXARKANA -- Voters will decide in June whether Texarkana's anti-discrimination policy stays or goes.
The city's Board of Directors voted unanimously Monday to take $22,630 from the city's fund balance to pay for a special election scheduled for June 28.
Mark Vaughan, a Texarkana resident who had spoken in favor of the ordinance at the March 21 meeting, told the board Monday that the city could find a better use for the money than to try to reverse an ordinance that was passed in hopes of drawing more economic development to Texarkana.
Vaughan said the money could be used for improving streets, removing burned buildings that pose a threat to public safety or hiring additional city employees.
"I would like to see more police officers on the streets," Vaughan said. "[Public] works needs more employees, but there is no money. Parks and recreation could use a clerical worker, but there is no money.
"Instead we will be having a special election to ensure that terms 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' are still unprotected, [and] that they can still be discriminated against."
Proponents of the anti-discrimination ordinance say it is key to the economic growth of Texarkana, which is trying to attract new industries and create development. Opponents contend the ordinance would allow members of the opposite sex to use bathrooms other than those designated for their gender. The text of the ordinance does not specifically mention bathrooms.
The board passed the ordinance unanimously January, but that hasn't curtailed objections. On March 18, members of a group known as Repeal 130 turned in 2,620 signatures to City Secretary Heather Soyars in an effort to require the city to hold a special election on the ordinance.
Soyars verified Monday that she had validated that 2,109 signatures belonged to registered voters in Texarkana by March 24. The group needed only 1,100 verified signatures to require a special election.
"They got 1,000 more signatures than they needed," Soyars said. "We were busy. It was a blur. There was a lot to go through."
Eureka Springs and Fayetteville were the first cities in Arkansas to pass broad anti-discrimination laws that apply to private businesses. Those ordinances, enacted last year, protect people from discrimination because of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" -- among other things -- in areas of employment, housing and public accommodations.
Little Rock, Hot Springs and Pulaski County passed anti-bias ordinances last year, but those measures apply only to government employees and companies doing business with the cities or county.
Gary Nutter, a lawyer from Texarkana, commended the Texarkana board Monday for passing the ordinance and indicated that he thought it was progress for the city.
"These fears, as many of you already know, have not materialized," Nutter said. "In 17 states this has already been adopted with similar legislation. We have our differences, sure, and sometimes they are religious, sometimes race, and sometimes gender but, after all, we are all people."
Mayor Ruth Penney-Bell said the board is following the law and allowing citizens to speak their minds on the issue when it comes up for a vote on June 28.
"Whenever we do things some citizens disagree with, this is the way we handle it," Penney-Bell said.
State Desk on 04/06/2016