SILOAM SPRINGS -- The contract for Main Street Siloam Springs was saved by the failure of the city board to override a veto by Mayor Judy Nation during a meeting Dec. 20.
The board Dec. 6 rejected the organization's contract for 2023 in a 3-2 vote with Directors Mindy Hunt, Reid Carroll and Brad Burns voting for the contract, Directors David Allen and Lesa Rissler voting against the contract and Directors Marla Sappington and Carol Smiley not present at this meeting.
The contract failed because there was a lack of four votes needed to approve it.
Nation vetoed the decision Dec. 9.
The board may override a veto by a two-thirds majority or five affirmative votes. Rissler made a motion to override the veto, but the motion died for lack of a second.
Nation was absent for the Dec. 20 meeting. Carroll, who serves as vice mayor, apologized to Main Street Executive Director Stacy Morris.
"In our last meeting, I felt that you were publicly shamed and humiliated, and I sat right here and I did nothing except to leave you alone," Carroll said. "I'm ashamed of my lack of action and the treatment of you and Main Street. Your dignity and self-worth are worth standing up and fighting for."
Morris thanked Carroll and accepted his apology. Carroll then proceeded to the public comment.
Martha Londigan, a small business consultant with Startup Junkie Foundation in Fayetteville who has worked with Main Street Siloam Springs for 10 years, spoke in favor of Main Street Siloam Springs.
Londigan said every town in Northwest Arkansas and major cities have a chamber of commerce and downtown association with it. She then told everyone that in the 1980s and 1990s every downtown in Northwest Arkansas was decrepit and half abandoned.
Smiley said Main Street Siloam Springs started while she was beginning her board career.
"I do believe that downtown is the heartbeat of our community," Smiley said. "Main Street has worked very hard to make what our downtown is today. I appreciate everything that they have done."
Rissler asked City Attorney Jay Williams to explain what the board was voting on. Williams told her the board was voting on whether to override the mayor's veto.
Rissler asked since the contract failed, what was there to veto?
Williams said since Siloam Springs has a city administrator form of government, it has a unique state statute that allows the mayor to veto any decision of the board not related to personnel matters.
Rissler said she is not against Main Street, but her concern is about gambling with the tax dollars of residents on a potential lawsuit. Burns asked if they were voting to support or override the veto. Williams told him the vote would be to override the veto.
Allen said he doesn't support Main Street Siloam Springs because of what he said was a lack of notification to the public about events.
Allen said city law states the mayor has the power to veto any ordinance, resolution or order, excluding personnel, that was adopted by the board and the resolution to approve the Main Street contract wasn't adopted.