The Little Rock Board of Directors mistakenly approved a targeted community development resolution Tuesday night because of a procedural glitch that led city directors to believe they were not voting to give final approval of the measure.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. had asked the clerk to read the resolution for the first time, mistakenly using the first-reading process normally used for ordinances, as opposed to resolutions like the targeted-development measure before the board. Resolutions only receive a single reading.
“You just passed it,” City Attorney Tom Carpenter told city directors after the board members delivered a voice vote and the mayor confirmed that the ayes had it.
Moments later, City Director Kathy Webb said she was under the impression there were still comment cards on the resolution waiting to be read, and Scott acknowledged the procedural error.
Even as city directors gave approval of the resolution without discussion because of Scott’s verbal slip, an attempt to reverse their actions failed shortly thereafter when the board deadlocked.
An expungement motion proposed by at-large City Director Dean Kumpuris to undo the decision failed in a 5-5 vote by city directors.
Several board members — namely Kumpuris, at-large City Director Joan Adcock and Vice Mayor Lance Hines — expressed consternation with aspects of the parliamentary process that led the board to approve the resolution.
Citing substandard living conditions which had effectively created two cities in one, the resolution calls for targeted development in Wards 1, 2, 6 and 7, which roughly comprise the southern half of the city below Interstate 630 as well as the city’s easternmost section along the Arkansas River.
The city’s many efforts over the years to address these conditions have been ineffective, the resolution states.
The resolution specifically calls for the city to provide $5 million annually for five years, based on the availability of funding, to spur improved living conditions in these wards, with an option to renew the funding regime at the end of that five-year period.
“The funding will be used as leverage to attract multiple funding sources including Federal and State Government, the private business sector and private foundations, to stimulate investment in these specific areas and create programming that will stabilize families,” the resolution states.
The measure was sponsored by city directors Erma Hendrix of Ward 1, Ken Richardson of Ward 2, Doris Wright of Ward 6 and at-large City Director Antwan Phillips.
Near the end of the meeting, board members delved into a post hoc discussion of the resolution after it had been approved.
In response to a question from Hendrix related to whether funding comes with a resolution, as it does with an ordinance, the city manager suggested the measure says to put funding into targeted neighborhoods as new and existing funding becomes available.
“With resolutions, the board is setting a policy, basically, and giving direction on how … you all feel like we should be moving forward, so I take resolutions just as strongly as I do ordinances,” City Manager Bruce Moore said.
A version of the targeted community development resolution failed to muster enough support when it came before the board for a vote in the fall.
“This resolution is a framework,” Wright told board members during the meeting Tuesday. “It’s a process to start. And it gives us an opportunity to acknowledge that there are some areas that have not developed and are not developing.”
She described a situation where constituents feel like they have been left out of the process, or feel their tax dollars are being used for ventures they do not take part in.
Wright said that “this did not need to be a contentious matter,” and expressed surprise at some of the no votes from other board members.