In a letter addressed to the Association of Arkansas Counties from Justice of the Peace Lloyd Franklin Jr., Jefferson County Quorum Court members expressed "no confidence" in Jefferson County Attorney Terry Wynne.
Poll documents provided by County Clerk Shawndra Taggart showed that eight justices of the peace voted that they had no confidence in Wynne while three voted they did as Taggart took each vote over the phone. Two JPs did not answer their phone, according to Franklin.
Those who voted "no confidence" were Reginald Adams, Alfred Carroll, Melanie Dumas, Brenda Gaddy, Cedric Jackson, Reginald Johnson, Margaret Williams and Franklin. Ted Harden, Danny Holcomb and Patricia Royal voted in opposition to the motion of "no confidence," and Dr. Conley Byrd and Roy Agee were unavailable to vote.
Johnson gave several reasons for voting no confidence. He said that Wynne's opinions are inconsistent with Robert's Rules of Order and the Arkansas Constitution, and he doesn't advise the justices with accurate information on how to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.
The Quorum Court has yet to establish and adopt procedures for 2023, a practice commonly taken at the beginning of each year.
"To get an opinion from the attorney, you have to email the judge so that he can OK the county attorney to advise the JPs," said Johnson. "The attorney also co-signs prohibited actions like not funding the sheriff's office claims, which caused us to be yet in another lawsuit."
Carroll said Wynne has often been absent from committee or Quorum Court meetings, and when he is there he refuses to answer basic legal questions.
"When he does answer questions posed by Quorum Court members, he says, 'in his opinion,' failing to cite law or legal precedent," Carroll said. "He regularly claims not to understand the question put to him or wants legal questions put in writing and sent to his office. However, he answers questions from the county judge as asked."
Attempts to reach Wynne were unsuccessful.
Carroll believes Wynne's actions and inactions are a disservice to all concerned. He accuses County Judge Gerald Robinson of using the county attorney to uphold his alleged misuse of power, lack of understanding of parliamentary procedures, disregard for Arkansas law and constitutional statutes, and other questionable practices that warrant a "vote of no confidence."
"Their pact to misinterpret, misrepresent the law and misinform the public acts as a barrier preventing timely legislation," said Carroll.
Franklin states the letter is being submitted "in great hesitation, and only after much contemplation on how to address the willful and intentional malfeasance by Attorney Wynne, which has caused harm by preventing the legislative body from legislating."
He continued: "We hesitate because we consider ourselves a legislative body, elected by the electors of our respective districts to conduct county business and review ordinances and resolutions for passage pursuant to Amendment 55 and Arkansas Code Annotated A.C.A. § 14-14-901. Moreover, the legislative power of county government is vested in the Quorum Court of each county of the state, subject to the limitations imposed by the Arkansas Constitution and by state law."
Franklin accused Wynne of testing their willpower and confidence in his skill over several months to adequately provide legal counsel with professionalism, integrity and respect, giving examples to support his claim.
"County Judge Robinson has tied the hands of the legislative process by ignoring any and all requests to place items on the agenda for committee and Quorum Court meetings, as well as stacking all committees with the same four members of his favor and will to give him controlling vote power of the committees," said Franklin, adding the committees are packed with those likely to vote in favor of a particular proposal or outcome.
He also said the county judge's chairpersons of these committees have implemented a new rule not adopted by the Quorum Court, stating that non-committee members cannot speak during committee meetings in an attempt to silence justices.
"Attorney Wynne continues to stand behind his stated opinion during a Quorum Court meeting that the Quorum Court cannot amend, substitute or change items on the agenda and has yet to provide the statutory law to support his opinion," said Franklin. "The refusal of County Judge Robinson to acknowledge any motions on the floor, total disregard for Robert's Rules of Order, attempts to bulldoze his repeatedly failed legislation though the Quorum Court, coupled with the Attorney Wynne's silence during said acts are the very definition of malfeasance. These actions by County Judge Robinson and Attorney Wynne have left the super majority of the Quorum Court unable to appropriate funding to acquire legal representation."
Attempts by the JPs to have Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter represent them have been unsuccessful, according to Franklin.
"He has been made aware of the issues plaguing the Quorum Court," Franklin said. "Several justices have reached out to the Prosecuting Attorney Hunter several times through email, phone and in person requesting him to attend meetings. Prosecuting Attorney Hunter has yet to fulfill his constitutional obligation."
Hunter also could not be reached, but Robinson stated he was aware of the email and contended that it has a lot of untrue accusations.
"This all boils down to Justice Franklin wanting to, in my opinion, take away the authority of the county judge that's given to the judge by the state of Arkansas' constitution," said Robinson. "That is something that he does not have the authority to do and no local government has the authority to take away constitutional powers given to the county judge whether they like the county judge or not. There can only be one county judge."
Robinson also believes the vote was done out of order and said even though the county clerk is the secretary for the Quorum Court, according to the procedural manual, it is the county judge's office that works for the JPs.
"Why did they try to circumvent the process?" asked Robinson. "She takes the minutes and the notes and she is responsible for the records of the vote for the Quorum Court meetings."
Robinson said the policy and procedural manual says specifically the availability of the judge's office is for the Quorum Court to provide the information they need but instead they are going around his office and trying to water down his authority.
Concerning Wynne, Robinson said he is the county attorney through an open contractual agreement that does not dissolve unless Wynne resigns or the judge fires him for dissatisfaction with service.
The letter from Franklin asks that the Association of Arkansas Counties provide relief, i.e., formal conversation with Hunter, designated parliamentarian and referral of replacement or temporary legal counsel for the Quorum Court in order to mitigate the inherent risk or impact of legal liability that would waive their indemnity or coverage by continuing actions which they believe to be illegal and places the AAC risk management fund in jeopardy.
Robinson hopes the personal feeling that the Quorum Court members have toward him can be put aside, stating they are hindering the operation of county business.
"It is against the law for a Quorum Court to prevent the county judge from doing his job," Robinson said, stressing they will be going into April with no policy and procedures voted into place. "We must get county business handled, and I will do whatever needs to be done to make that happen."