ROGERS -- The City Council approved a rezoning item and tabled two others at its meeting, but the news concerned the ACLU of Arkansas filing a federal lawsuit against the Rogers Police Department and the city's solicitation ordinance.
The lawsuit is also aimed at Fort Smith's solicitation ordinance.
Jennifer Waymack, senior staff attorney for Rogers, told the council the state's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit Tuesday on behalf of Glenn Dilbeck, a Fort Smith resident. Rogers Police Chief Hayes Minor and Fort Smith Police Chief Nathaniel Clark are the defendants named in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Fayetteville.
Waymack said they didn't receive any warning before the lawsuit was filed and she would rather the ACLU had discussed the issue with her before the lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit is an attack on the city's solicitation ordinance and the ACLU claims since the ordinance requires a permit it "quells" a person's free speech rights, Waymack said.
She told the council she planned to keep them informed of the case.
The lawsuit claims a section of the Rogers' municipal code is facially invalid under the First Amendment because it's content-based prior restraint on protected free speech.
The lawsuit is seeking to have the ordinances in Rogers and Fort Smith to be declared unconstitutional and the lawsuit wants the court order the two cities not enforce the ordinances.
According to court documents, the lawsuit is seeking costs for the plaintiff and attorney fees.
Rogers Mayor Greg Hines wasn't happy with the filing of the lawsuit and with the city not receiving any notice concerning the issue. Hines said he considered it a slap in the face that Arkansas ACLU "grandstanded" and filed the lawsuit without even a call to his office.
Hines said filing the lawsuit was "typical ACLU action" and the organization isn't interested in solving problems.
"I think it is one of the things in our society that troubles me," Hines said.
Representatives with ACLU of Arkansas couldn't be reached for comment.
Hines said he was a member of the City Council in 2007 when a lawsuit was filed and later settled. Hines said he then presented options to the council and one was accepted which led to the settlement of the lawsuit and the passing of the current solicitation ordinance.
Hines said he believes the city will eventually be dismissed from the lawsuit.
The council approved a rezoning of a mix of A-1 and C-3 to C-2 for 55.43 acres south of Cedar Brook Subdivision between South 45th Street and Interstate 49. The council tabled two other rezoning proposals.
NW News on 06/28/2017