The Pine Bluff City Council will consider a proposed resolution Monday that would instruct the Police Department to forward all incident reports involving establishments that sell alcohol to the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Alcohol permits have been a topic of discussion since the Nov. 13 shooting death of Walter Ashley Jr., 39, outside the Three Gables nightclub at 3003 W. Pullen St. At the time of the incident, the nightclub was on probation with the ABC Board for previous violent incidents that violated the ABC Board’s “good neighbor” policy.
Later that week, the ABC Board obtained a court order to temporarily prohibit the Three Gables from selling alcohol.
“We’ve learned that there have been many more incidents than we have been made aware of,” Board Director Michael Langley said in an Nov. 18 article about the decision.
On Tuesday, club owner Stacey Knott appeared before the board to request the permit be restored, arguing that the incident was not something the club could have prevented. The board is expected to make a decision Dec. 14.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Alderman Irene Holcomb is sponsoring the proposed resolution that will come before the Pine Bluff City Council at 5:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers at the civic complex.
Holcomb said conversations she has had with ABC officials and the public since the Three Gables incident drew her attention to the issue, but her proposal is not intended to target the Three Gables or even nightclubs specifically. Rather, her goal is to ensure the ABC Board is made aware of all incidents so that they can decide if and when to step in with sanctions when necessary.
“I think the incidents that happen should be forwarded to them … for them to decide if it’s an infraction of their policies or not — and not just for clubs, but wherever alcoholic beverages are served,” Holcomb said.
In other business, the council will consider:
• A proposed resolution that would make Vickie Conaway director of the Human Resources Department rather than interim director, the position she has held for many years. The proposal has been discussed in the past by the council in executive session, after which Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. declined to comment, but some of the aldermen reported that Redus said he intends to move Conaway to the position after she gets additional qualifications required by the job description.
• A proposed $8,000 budget adjustment to pay for an awards and appreciation banquet for the Police Department. The funding would come from unused Police Department overtime.
• A proposed resolution that would authorize the Transit Department to hold a “Try Transit Week” during Dec. 18-24 when rides would be free, with the goal of familiarizing more residents with the system.
• A two-part proposed budget adjustment for the city attorney’s office. The proposal would take $34,800 from unused overtime to help pay for the city’s Legal Defense Fund bill from the Arkansas Municipal League. The city budgeted $137,000, but the bill came in at $171,791. Also, the proposal would take $5,000 from undesignated funds to add to the department’s dues and subscriptions budget.
• A proposed resolution that would direct all non-uniformed city employees who interact with the public in the field to wear or display a badge or other identification.
• A proposed $20,549 budget adjustment to reimburse the Street Department for materials used in the site development and construction of the Barraque Street Plaza. The funds would come from the five-eighths-cent sales tax enacted by the city in 2011.
• A proposed $9,817 budget adjustment to cover a bill from the Arkansas Municipal League Drug Testing Program. The funds would come from unused Fire Department overtime.
• A proposed resolution that would authorize the sale of property at 5421 W. Short Fourth Ave. to Linda Cole on an installation payment plan not to exceed $27,450, with financing coming through the city’s Homebuyer Assistance Program for low- to moderate-income families. Economic and Community Development Department Director Donald Sampson said there have been no changes to the sale from the previous agreement reported in The Commercial. Sampson said the resolution was requested by alderman because a previous resolution authorizing the sale was several years old. Details on the sale were initially reported in The Commercial after questions arose at a council meeting as to why the home had been occupied rent-free by the Cole family for many years.
• A proposed ordinance, up for its second reading, that would require all personnel records be transferred to and maintained by the Human Resources Department. Currently, some records are kept by safety officers in the police and fire departments. The proposal would require that all records be transferred by Jan. 1, 2012.
• A proposed $1,250 budget adjustment to purchase a new computer for the Parks Department community center director. The funding would come from undesignated funds.
• A proposed resolution that would authorize the city to contract with Southwest Employee Assistance Programs of Little Rock to perform addiction treatment and stress prevention training for employees and anyone who lives in their household and training for management-level employees on productivity and other services for an annual cost of $7,885.
• Three proposed ordinances, up for their third and final reading, that would update zoning code regulations related to in-home businesses, storage buildings, recreational vehicles and more.
• A proposed resolution to put the cost of correcting nuisances at a list of 24 properties on the tax books as delinquent taxes.