The Pine Bluff City Council approved a roughly $49 million budget Monday to pay for municipal services, salaries, equipment and building projects in 2015.
Alderman Steven Mays, Alderman Charles Boyd, Alderman George Stepps, Alderman Bill Brumett, Alderman Wayne Easterly and Alderman Lloyd Holcomb Jr. voted for the spending package. Alderman Glen Brown Sr. and Alderwoman Thelma Walker opposed it.
“This council worked hard to form this budget,” Brumett said.
Before the vote on the substance of the budget, there was a procedural vote to suspend the rules of order related to the reading of the ordinance. Holcomb, Brumett, Boyd, Easterly and Stepps supported this measure, while Mays, Walker and Brown opposed it. Mayor Debe Hollingsworth voted in favor of the motion.
City Attorney Althea Hadden-Scott said that the law permits the mayor to cast a vote on a motion to suspend the rules of order. Walker objected to this law and asked many questions to Hadden-Scott. Hadden-Scott read the subsequent law in question.
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Alderman Glen Brown Sr. objected to an allocation of $10,000 for Mayor Debe Hollingsworth to travel for the purpose of attracting restaurants and businesses to Pine Bluff. This allocation of money stayed in the budget.
“I apologize to this group because I should have raised this earlier,” Brown said. “Restaurant companies have agents who decide where to open new restaurants.”
Brown said he heard from constituents complaining that such a use of money would be wasteful.
Walker said she objected to passing the budget without additional review.
Walker mentioned a Freedom of Information Act Request she had filed to Mayor Debe Hollingsworth and Finance Department Director Steve Miller seeking clarity on $175,000 on an image campaign in the budget. Miller responded on the day he received the request on behalf of himself and Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth told Walker that she would also personally respond in the morning.
Mays discussed his opposition to Pine Bluff and White Hall sharing a 71602 ZIP code in relation to boundary lines and the proper allocation of sales tax moneys. Hollingsworth acknowledged his concerns yet asked that he address the specific motion pertaining to the budget.
“The 71602 ZIP code is a silent annexation,” Mays said. “It is like people sharing Social Security numbers. I propose Pine Bluff and White Hall have separate ZIP codes.”
Stepps told Mays that “none of us have the power to prevent the passage of the budget.”
The city council approved giving $500 bonuses to full-time municipal employees and $250 to part-time employees by a 6-0 vote. Brown voted “present” and Easterly had stepped away from his seat.
The aldermen passed a resolution commending Alderman Wayne Easterly “for his years of service to the community.” Easterly lost re-election to Glen Brown Jr. in November.
The aldermen approved by an 8-0 vote a resolution to congratulate the Pine Bluff High School Zebras football team for winning the 6A state championship.
Hollingsworth recommended Henry Dave Sadler, Douglas Seuell, Henry Rayfus, Frank Washington and Roger Darrell Ellis be appointed to the Code Enforcement Board of Adjustment. The Code Enforcement Adjustment Board of Appeals is an entity that is laid out in city law but did not previously have members.
The aldermen approved this motion. Brown asked that appointees be invited to the city council meeting so he can meet them and match names with faces.
In other business, the aldermen approved a resolution executing a contract with Cline Construction Group to improve the animal shelter and appropriate money toward the project. Cline submitted a low bid of $1,220,152.
The aldermen held the first reading on a proposed ordinance that would provide for street lights to be installed in Pine Bluff. The ordinance does not mention any names but says that too many Pine Bluff neighborhoods are literally in the dark.
The aldermen held the second reading on a proposed ordinance that would change the title of the deputy chief of the Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Department to the assistant chief.
The aldermen held the second reading of a proposed ordinance that would permit submission of bids via electronic media and related purposes.
In the 2015 budget, Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth proposed $29,590,448 in general fund expenses. She asked for the Pine Bluff Police Department to receive $10,915,551; the Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Department $6,967,563; budget transfers of $3,226,429; sanitation department $2,676,298; personnel general $738,349; the city attorney $608,076; the inspection department $315,160; finance and administration $307,072; human resources $279,907; the city collector $204,216; information technology $186,490; and the city clerk $180,389.
Hollingsworth proposed $4,359,722 for the street department, $1,315,914 for the transit department, $1,208,401 for community development and $437,353 for grants.