A daily barrage of letters, emails, phone calls and meetings keeps members of the Pope County Quorum Court informed on all sides of the debate on whether the county should allow a casino.
But no member of the Quorum Court has taken the step of introducing a proposal to set a special election that would allow voters to tell the county judge to back or reject a casino proposal. And if such an election were to be called, the earliest date would likely be March 3, 2020.
"The biggest thing we're doing is trying to find out what the majority of Pope County wants to do when it comes to this subject," said Pope County Justice of the Peace Ray Black. "And we're not any closer to that answer than when we started."
Black said he thought the matter was settled when the majority of Pope County residents who went to the polls in November voted against state constitutional Amendment 100.
The amendment, which was approved statewide, allows for new casinos in Pope and Jefferson counties and for the expansion to full-fledged casinos at the racetracks in Hot Springs and West Memphis.
The amendment also requires endorsements of casino applicants by local officials in Pope and Jefferson counties.
In November, Pope County voters also approved an ordinance regarding that endorsement: Before county officials can support a casino applicant, they must receive permission from voters in a special election. The election would be called by the Quorum Court.
"A month ago, the only people we were hearing from were people opposing the casino. It really looked like a one-sided issue," Black said. "Now we're receiving multiple, multiple emails and letters from people wanting the casino here in Pope County."
The tide seemed to change when five casino operators began courting residents with promises of multimillion-dollar resorts with sky-skimming hotels, convention centers, water parks and high-end restaurants, Black said.
"When we had the vote in November, I truly believed we were going to have a gas station with slot machines in it," Black said. "I think everybody thought that. We never dreamed there was going to be a five-star resort in Pope County."
Justice of the Peace Ernie Enchelmayer said a consistent theme in the dozens of emails he receives each day is that the voters simply didn't know what they were turning down at the time.
"Then we get these architectural renderings from all these casino people wanting to move to Pope County," Enchelmayer said. "That's not what really we had in mind back then. It's a different animal now."
The casino applications from five contenders for Pope County -- Gulfside Casino Partnership of Gulfport, Miss.; Warner Gaming of Las Vegas; Choctaw Nation of Durant, Okla.; Cherokee Nation Businesses of Catoosa, Okla.; and Kehl Management of Dubuque, Iowa -- were rejected last month by the state Racing Commission because none contained letters of support from current local officials.
In December, just before leaving office, two officials in Pope County issued letters of support for Gulfside.
The Racing Commission later ruled that endorsement letters must come from sitting officials at the time of the application submission. Also, Act 371, approved by the Legislature this year, requires that the letters of support come from current officeholders.
Gulfside appealed the denial to the commission, which meets Thursday. Gulfside contends its application meets the dictates of Amendment 100 because it contains endorsements from local officials, albeit previous ones.
The constitutional amendment says only that an endorsement is required; it does not differentiate between current or previous officials or give a specific time frame for producing the endorsement.
CASINO LOBBYING
All five casino interests have set up their proverbial shops in Pope County. They've been holding open houses at area hotels, doling out branded swag, attending every public meeting possible, taking advantage of speaking opportunities, responding to any questions from the public and staying in almost daily contact with the county judge and Quorum Court members.
"There has been a great deal of presence in the community when it comes to resort representatives. I think that all of them have made great efforts to show Pope County they are serious about building a relationship with them, some more than others obviously," said Kelly Jett, the leader of the grass-roots pro-casino group Pope County Majority.
"However, we must take into account that our county judge and Quorum Court members have access to information contained in the proposal that we do not. And with that being said, we must trust that they will choose the best fit for Pope County, and I still believe that will happen," Jett said.
Jett, a native of Russellville who now lives in Yell County, started the pro-casino group less than a month ago, and its Facebook page has grown to nearly 6,000 members.
Groups and individuals from all sides of the issue have turned out at special and regular Quorum Court meetings in the past month.
Jett's group's slogan is "Write the Letter," and it says that another election is not necessary because Amendment 100 gives Ben Cross, county judge of Pope County, the authority to issue endorsement letters.
The anti-casino group Citizens for a Better Pope County, which lobbied hard against Amendment 100, also agrees that another election is not needed, saying Pope County voters already voiced their opinions in the November vote.
Still, other community members are telling Pope County officials to call an election to decide the matter.
Justice of the Peace Tim Whittenburg, like other officials, said he's getting "a ton of emails every day" from all sides of the issue.
"To be honest, I don't know what is going to happen from this point. I'm new at this," Whittenburg said. "I think probably the only fair way to decide is to put it back out to a vote."
POSSIBLE ELECTION
Pope County Ordinance No. 2018-0-42 -- approved in November with nearly 70% of the vote -- allows voters to give the county judge the go-ahead to write an endorsement letter to the state Racing Commission in support of a casino license application.
"The voters are not going to be asked again if they want a casino or which casino they want to come to the county; only a yes or no on the endorsement letter," Cross said.
To get the issue to the polls, a Quorum Court member would have to first introduce the measure to be placed on the group's agenda, Cross said. From that point, seven or more of the 13 justices of the peace would have to approve the proposed ballot issue before it's handed off to the Pope County Election Commission.
A county judge lacks the authority to call for an election, said Christy Smith, spokesman for the Association of Arkansas Counties.
Cross said all the Quorum Court is trying to do is "act on the spirit of the ordinance."
"The majority of the court has expressed their interest to move forward with an election," Cross said, "so I don't think it's going to be an issue."
There's also the question of when an election would be held.
A special election would cost the county about $25,000, said Freddie Harris, chairman of the Pope County Election Commission.
"You're going to have to have the machines programmed and set up for all 55 precincts," Harris said.
Harris said that even though special elections have historically had low voter turnout, a special election on the casino issue would be a larger-scale affair.
"You can't compare apples to apples," Harris said. "Most special elections are not heated, but when the casino issue comes up, it will be a heated election. We would gear up for a high turnout. Everything would be utilized for that election."
Cross said that if the Quorum Court agrees to follow the local ordinance and hold an election, it will likely go on the March presidential primary ballot.
"The only options are the primaries or the general election in November [2020]," Cross said. "That's up to them [the Quorum Court]. They'll come to a consensus."
Harris said the question could be put to voters in September during a special election to decide on an Atkins sales-tax proposal.
"They'd have to get it to us in the next 30 days," she said.
Cross said September would be too soon.
"Absolutely not," Cross said. "For one thing, you'd have to pass the ordinance and then have three readings. That could take three months unless you suspended the rules to do it in one night. We need to sit and wait to see what the county needs. We still have a full county to operate outside of the casino issue."
If the issue goes to the polls and the voters give Cross the go-ahead to issue the endorsement, then the process of choosing from among the five applicants will be a collaborative one with the Quorum Court, Cross said.
"It would be my intent, if it gets to that point, that we would have an open vetting process," Cross said. "I already vet them on a weekly basis. I know who has what to offer. In the interest of transparency to the public, I think it would be better to have open process."
SundayMonday on 07/15/2019