PINE BLUFF -- Questions raised last week over a proposed contract between the city of Pine Bluff and a nonprofit organization resulted in tense negotiations among City Council members before the measure was passed by a 5-3 vote Monday night.
At issue was a resolution to allow Mayor Shirley Washington to negotiate a contract with GoForward Pine Bluff to establish and operate an innovation hub, to be known as the Generator, in the downtown area.
A draft contract, drawn up by GoForward Pine Bluff, for a five-year term appeared to be worth at least $2.5 million. But questions raised by a review committee last week drew attention from several council members who then raised objections over what they viewed as a lack of transparency in the process.
On Monday afternoon, several hours before the City Council meeting, four council members and Washington met with GoForward Pine Bluff executives Ryan Whatley and Mildred Franco in a special called meeting of the Planning and Development Committee seeking answers to some of their questions. Council Member Joni Alexander, chair of the committee, said a lot of the problem came down to a lack of trust between residents and city officials.
"The citizens of Pine Bluff are very mistrusting when it comes down to dealing with large amounts of money and they have really been voicing their concerns," Alexander said. "They feel like this has been rushed because they haven't been aware of a lot of the discussion that has been going on for months."
Alexander said much of the problem was a lack of communication between the City Council and residents and, in many cases, even between council members and the city.
Washington acknowledged that information gathered in committee meetings and council meetings last year regarding dealings between GoForward Pine Bluff and the city may not have been adequately communicated after the 2018 election.
"There's been more discussion than what it appears, but from 2018 to 2019 the City Council changed," she said.
Another point of contention was that the city seemed to be the primary funding source for the Generator, based on a draft budget drawn up by GoForward Pine Bluff. Whatley told the committee that he would be seeking funding through multiple grant opportunities, one of which is the i6 Challenge Grant through the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
Franco told the committee that coming deadlines would not be met for the i6 Challenge Grant if the resolution were to fail. She said the grant packet is due to be uploaded by Friday for a presubmission technical review and the grant itself would have to be submitted to the Economic Development Administration by April 4.
"Without funding and support from the city, the federal government and the state will not support us," Franco said.
Alexander said she understood the deadline pressure and the economic opportunity presented to the city by the innovation hub, but she said her main concern was with the lack of communication to the council.
"Moving forward, if something is given to me three days before the deadline, I'm not going to care about that grant deadline anymore because I feel like we should have the information on it so we don't have to be rushed to make a decision," she said. "But I would hate to see us miss out on some funding because it turns out we just aren't communicating effectively."
Also at issue was the proposed five-year length of the contract. Although Council Member Win Trafford said he preferred to stick to the five-year proposal, Council Member Glen Brown Jr., sponsor of the resolution, indicated that his preference was for a three-year, or even a one-year contract. Alexander agreed. Council Member Ivan Whitfield, though not a committee member, attended the meeting, and indicated that he would not agree to any term longer than one year.
In the full council meeting that evening, Whitfield stuck to his objection.
"I'm not against it," he said. "I'm just against the number of years."
When it came to a vote of the council, Trafford, Alexander, Brown, Lloyd Holcomb Jr., and Donald Hatchett voted in favor of the resolution. Whitfield, Steven Mays and Bruce Lockett voted against it.
A final contract, once negotiated, will have to come before the full council for ratification, Alexander said. In the meantime, GoForward Pine Bluff will be able to meet the grant deadlines.
State Desk on 03/05/2019