City stuck in stalemate on appointment

■ City board will try again to choose method to fill empty seat.

Siloam Springs’ Board of Directors tackled two meetings’ worth of agenda on Tuesday night to make up for a cancellation on Aug. 8 from lack of quorum. In their first meeting of the month, the board was still shorthanded, with Director Brad Burns absent and an empty seat left from Lucas Roebuck’s departure.

Those empty seats caused problems toward the end of the meeting, when neither side in a debate was able to muster the four votes necessary to make a decision on filling Roebuck’s vacated seat.

City Administrator Phillip Patterson said that there were two options to fill the empty seat. The first option is directors could vote to put the seat up for election in a special vote in November or December. Prior to 2015 a special election would have been the only option.

The special election would cost between $6,000 and $8,000. That figure could go as high as $10,000 if the election resulted in a runoff.

The other option for board members is an appointment. Patterson suggested two potential methods of appointment. Either the mayor could appoint a subcommittee to choose a candidate, who would then need to be confirmed by the board, or board members could choose to nominate candidates themselves. Patterson recommended that the board take the former option over the latter if the appointment route was chosen.

Wayne Mays, Chamber of Commerce CEO, said that the timing of an election is a problem because it would mean that the seat would remain vacant for the rest of the year. Mays endorsed a committee appointment in the interest of expediency, commenting that it worked well the last time it was employed when Jerry Cavness was appointed to fill Scott Jones’ unexpired term.

Former Mayor David Allen also spoke during the public comments section of the debate. Allen said that every previous long-term vacancy has been resolved by an election and that any appointment would not be well received by the public.

Director Bob Coleman said that he supported an appointment because so many elections in the city go uncontested, whereas the pool of appointees seemed to be stronger. Coleman said he was unopposed in his own election last year.

Director Carol Smiley said she understands the sentiment for an election, but said she thought the wait until January is too long for the seat to be unoccupied. Smiley said she was concerned that there would be consequences from having the body shorthanded for so long.

Opposing Coleman and Smiley were Directors Frank Johnson, Steve Beers and Amy Smith.

“We have a lot of time that the person would have to serve, and the people should have more of a say,” Johnson said.

After some debate, Coleman motioned to give authorization to the mayor to appoint a committee to present appointment candidates. Smiley seconded the motion, but the motion died under “no” votes from Smith, Johnson and Beers.

Similarly, when Smith motioned for an election minutes later, the motion failed to get the required four votes when Coleman and Smiley voted against it.

Beers motioned to table the item unless someone was willing to change their vote. When there were no volunteers, the item was tabled to the next meeting.

Board members also approved a resolution to endorse the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would force online retailers to remit taxes to states that they have no physical presence in, but still do business.

Allen criticized the resolution, saying it would increase the taxes people have to pay.

Smith asked whether the current lack of law may establish an unfair advantage against local brick and mortar businesses that have to pay the tax. Mayor John Mark Turner replied that the bill’s proponents would argue that it does. The passage of the act could help small cities, Turner said.

Mays, in response to a question from Smith, said that he sympathizes with Allen. Mays said the Chamber of Commerce members have been talking about the act for years, and that there are valid points on both sides. Mays said that the “Overwhelming preponderance” of business owners were in favor of the bill requiring remittance of taxes.

The resolution, which expresses the city’s support of the act, passed unanimously.

The board also:

• Placed an ordinance on its first reading that would give the City Administrator the authority to hire, fire and discipline employees.

• Approved a resolution to reimburse the Walton Family Foundation for repairs to the Lake Frances Dam.

• Heard a presentation on the city’s 2016 audit. The city earned an unqualified report, which means that the auditor found that the city’s finances were handled fairly.

• Approved the purchase of three police vehicles.

• Approved a purchase to refit and remark several police vehicles.

• Approved a budget amendment for the purpose of purchasing a UTV and a truck for the Parks and Recreation Department.

• Approved purchases of a service truck and a camera truck for the water and wastewater division.

• Authorized a grant agreement to purchase a perimeter fence and Runway End Indicator Lights for the Siloam Springs Municipal Airport.