After protracted discussions about procedure and two executive sessions in the same meeting, members of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission on Thursday seemed to put to rest a quarrel over the status of the panel's chairman by voting to reelect the current slate of officers.
The dispute was touched off by Chair Jill Floyd, who earlier this year made known her intent to resign in order to allow the commission to consider its officers following the appointment of Dr. Harold Betton to the seven-member panel.
In February, when making appointments for 2023, commissioners tapped Floyd to serve another year as chairman. Stacy Hurst was named vice chairman/treasurer, replacing Mark Camp, and Bill Walker was named secretary, replacing Hurst.
On March 14, the Little Rock Board of Directors confirmed Betton to the seat formerly held by Camp.
On March 16, Floyd wrote in an email to other commissioners, "With the appointment of our 7th commissioner, I feel it only right that we revisit officer selection. Therefore, I am [providing] my intent to resign as chair. So that we do not have a vacancy, this resignation will become effective after a new chair has been elected. In the event a new chair is not elected, this resignation is automatically rescinded."
At a meeting later that day, commissioners went into executive session at the request of commissioner John Rutledge Jr. When they returned, Floyd reported no action was taken.
The issue reignited during an April 13 meeting when commissioner Patrick Schueck asked Floyd if she intended to resign to allow them to elect officers. After some debate, commissioners voted 4-3 to adjourn in spite of a motion by Hurst to enter executive session to consider the resignation and appointment of a public officer.
An executive session had not been on the agenda for that meeting.
A memo that was later written up by the airport's attorneys at the firm Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus and dated May 3 said that while the motion to adjourn was a "privileged motion" and properly adjourned the meeting, "it did not extinguish the pending motion to go into executive session. Because that motion was properly made and pending, it must be the first item taken up at the next Commission meeting."
The attorneys opined that an executive session did not need to be on the agenda for the motion to be taken up.
Records show Hurst emailed the airport's Executive Director Bryan Malinowski on Monday to ask that an item be added to the May meeting agenda related to Floyd's March 16 email in order for the commission to "address the resignation and resulting election of a public officer."
Additionally, records show Schueck on Wednesday circulated a spreadsheet via email to the other commissioners and Malinowski that he said showed the past 20 years of officers on the panel.
"Please review prior to our meeting. The spreadsheet shows how secretary moves to vice chair and vice chair moves to chair," Schueck wrote. "The spreadsheet also shows instances where a commissioner is chair for a second time prior to a new commissioner holding the chair position."
On Thursday, commissioners entered executive session immediately after the meeting was called to order.
When they returned, Hurst made a motion to suspend the rules in order to hold the election of an officer pursuant to Floyd's March email.
Commissioners then engaged in a lengthy discussion with the airport's attorneys about procedure. It became clear that commissioners had taken no action nor conducted a vote behind closed doors, though Hurst said she made a motion and it received a second during executive session, although she acknowledged it was "not a firm vote."
Floyd suggested Hurst's motion under discussion could be dismissed as a result.
They moved on to other items and eventually arrived at the item Hurst had asked to be placed on the agenda. The subject invited a new discussion with the airport's attorneys regarding whether dialogue during an executive session can be disclosed afterward.
Hurst once again moved that the board suspend the rules to consider the resignation and appointment of a public officer.
Walker made a substitute motion to suspend the rules to consider the whole slate of officer appointments, not just the chair, which ultimately failed for lack of a unanimous vote.
Hurst's earlier motion was approved unanimously; commissioners then voted to enter executive session. When they returned, they voted 4-3 to reelect the current slate of officers based on the action taken during executive session.
Floyd, Betton, Walker and Tiffany Mays O'Guinn voted yes. Hurst, Rutledge and Schueck voted no.