In an attempt to provide efficiency and transparency, City Clerk Janice Roberts proposed three ordinances for consideration during the city of Pine Bluff Administration Committee meeting held last week.
Chaired by Council Member Lloyd Holcomb Jr., he and committee members Glen Brown Sr. and Bruce Lockett were joined by Council Members Lanette Frazier and LaTisha Brunson.
The first ordinance was to adopt guidelines for the submission and processing of invoices to the city clerk’s office for each city department to follow. “This is simply for good management and good record keeping,” said Roberts, who said the process is currently in place but that she would like to have it in writing.
According to the policy, it would be distributed to all city departments, and the mayor would ensure that all personnel under her authority comply with the policy guidelines of the ordinance.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Some of the procedures include:
Any contracts, agreements, phone quotes, written quotes, or bid documents submitted with the invoice.
Invoices should be paid using the actual invoice and not the statement number.
When entering more than one invoice for a vendor, enter each invoice separately.
An invoice documentation form needs to be filled out and submitted for each invoice.
Brunson asked if other city departments would have to put their practices in an ordinance as well. According to Roberts, she said it was good to create an ordinance and any policy and procedure should be in a written manner to ensure a clear communication that everyone understands.
Holcomb said he did not support the ordinance and didn’t feel the need to create it if the process Roberts had in place was working.
Frazier compared the past city clerk’s operations and said changes came in as memos, not ordinances.
“What has transpired if this has already been working?” asked Holcomb.
According to Roberts, several departments need to follow the policies and procedures that are in place.
Holcomb suggested the rules be put it in writing but not in an ordinance.
“Why must we make it in the form of a law?” said Frazier. “Just send a memo.”
Lockett said he passed a similar ordinance because people were getting paid more than what the bid sheet stated. “We had to create an ordinance to mandate the invoice matches the contract agreement and department head’s responsibility and not the department head’s,” he said.
Frazier didn’t agree with attaching a contract to every bid while Lockett disagreed.
Lockett moved to approve the ordinance to go to the council with a do pass and it was, second by Brown Sr. Holcomb said he did not support it.
The second item was an ordinance amending the code of ordinance for the city of Pine Bluff. The purpose of the ordinance is to facilitate the orderly scheduling of speakers for public comment before and after meetings.
According to Roberts, the current deadline to sign up for public comments is 5 p.m. which does not secure availability on time.
“We want to amend it from 5 p.m. to 4 p.m. to give the mayor’s office and the clerk’s office enough time to get the speaker listed and moved to the City Council chambers,” said Frazier.
Brown Sr. said he did not have a problem with a 4 p.m. time change. Lockett said he did not have a problem with it as well.
Holcomb asked Roberts if she consulted with the mayor to which she replied “No.”
The ordinance was sent to the council with a do pass.
The last ordinance was to repeal an older ordinance directing that information, such as bills of the city, be provided to the City Council in a report to be included with the council packet distributed before each council meeting.
According to Roberts, currently, the 2015 ordinance is not being enforced. The ordinance states that inclusion of the report has proven redundant as the information contained in the report is public information and is available at any time upon request.
“The information is available for council members,” said Roberts.
Frazier said she liked this suggestion of the ordinance.
All three committee members supported the passage of the ordinance to move forward to the full council.