Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series.
A Jefferson County Quorum Court meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to vote on a tax rate for 2023 for collection in 2024.
If this legislation is not passed, according to County Judge Gerald Robinson, all government operations will be shut down for 2024 except emergency services.
“We won’t be able to levy taxes, collect taxes, pay our employees, or bills,” said Robinson. “It hinders us from functioning as a government.”
An attempt to get the legislation passed during last Monday’s scheduled Quorum Court meeting was unsuccessful due to the lack of justices of the peace in attendance.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Justices of the peace argue they passed the tax ordinance by a majority vote of the Quorum Court in a November meeting. Robinson vetoed the ordinance, and justices of the peace overturned that Monday.
Approximately 75% of the collected taxes go to the school districts. Jefferson County receives 10% and the Road Department receives approximately 8%.
“We won’t be able to operate, and the schools will be heavily affected,” said Robinson.
Robinson said he has received phone calls from superintendents and mayors that attorneys are ready to file a lawsuit if the legislation is not passed by Dec. 31. According to the documentation he provided, several municipalities such as Altheimer, Redfield, Sherrill, Wabbaseka, Humphrey and White Hall will be affected.
Pine Bluff, Watson Chapel, White Hall, and DeWitt school districts may not be able to operate. (Students in Humphrey, which is on the Jefferson-Arkansas county border, attend school in the DeWitt district.)
“Statutory law says we have to pass a budget before Dec. 31 before every year,” said Robinson. “If not done, you risk the government being shut down. With no appropriations, I can’t authorize any payments and they can’t make payments and employees don’t get paid.”
County Attorney Terry Wynne said he had advised the justices of the peace before last week’s meeting the consequences if the taxes are not levied by Dec. 31.
“If this is not approved at all, the county will have no authority to send out tax bills and collect taxes,” said Wynne, adding the budget for 2024 also needs to be passed.
At the advice of their attorney, Kimberly Dale, the majority of the justices of the peace said they have been advised not to participate in the meetings called by Robinson because it will “hurt the case.”
“I cannot believe that an outside attorney from another county who is a county attorney and sits at Craighead county meetings every month is advising them not to perform their constitutional duties,” said Robinson. “This is going to shut down the county and there won’t be any money collected to operate.”
In July, Robinson filed a lawsuit against his Quorum Court in the 11th District West Circuit Court, Division 2.
The lawsuit states that since January the Quorum Court has been operating in violation of Arkansas state law because it has not established rules of procedure for the conduct of that business.
All 13 justices of the peace have been named in the lawsuit: Margarette Williams, Melanie Dumas, Roy Agee, Cedric Jackson, Dr. Conley Byrd, Danny Holcomb, Alfred Carroll, Ted Harden, Reginald Johnson, Reginald Adams, Brenda Gaddy, Patricia Johnson and Lloyd Franklin Jr.
Dale is representing eight of the justices of the peace; Williams, Dumas, Jackson, Carroll, Reginald Johnson, Adams, Gaddy and Franklin.
“I didn’t understand them not participating because it may jeopardize the litigation,” Wynne said, adding nine justices of the peace are needed to approve the levy so the county will have money. “This can’t be brought up in a special meeting and I am disappointed to see they were not there for such an important meeting.”
The eight justices of the peace, however, have been holding meetings, which according to state statute, is legal to do. What is illegal, according to Robinson, is in those meetings, they are not meeting statutory requirements.
Robinson gives examples of several Arkansas Freedom of Information Act violations he feels they made, in an attempt to validate his reasoning for vetoing beginning with the special meeting in June. That was when they passed their policies and procedural ordinance.
That meeting was held after Robinson adjourned a meeting. According to his lawsuit, the special meeting was held without proper notice and Robinson was present. Robinson cited Section 14-14-904 of the Arkansas Code, which states only in the absence of the county judge can the Quorum Court hold a meeting at which a justice of the peace presides.
Robinson used his power to veto appropriation ordinances passed by the majority of the justices of the peace during their special-called meetings on Nov. 20 and 21, which included the levying of taxes.
Robinson stated in a Nov. 28 letter the agendas for both meetings included an appropriation ordinance to transfer funds, a vote to approve the tax rates for 2023 to be collected in 2024, an appropriation for Christmas bonuses and other appropriation ordinances. Only eight justices of the peace attended the meetings.
“The main reason for this veto is the failure of the Quorum Court to follow Arkansas law regarding notice of special meetings,” said Robinson in his letter. “In the absence of procedural rules, the county judge or a majority of the elected justices may call a special meeting of the Quorum Court upon written notification of all members not less than two calendar days prior to the calendar day fixed for the time of the meeting.”
According to Robinson, that did not happen. “The special meetings were not valid and any business conducted at them is null and void,” he said. “Because the meetings were improper, the ordinances were not validly passed.” Robinson also explained that because only eight justices of the peace were in attendance, they fell short of the two-thirds mark.
Robinson discovered what he considered another Freedom of Information Act violation in that Quorum Court members signed off on a service claim to pay Dale more than $6,500 for her services. Documentation obtained by The Pine Bluff Commercial shows claims for services by Dale.
For the specified date of Aug 3, it says “conference with quorum court.”
For Aug. 14 it reads “review of notes from elected officials regarding procedural ordinance” and “conference with clients.” For Sept. 25, it reads “meeting with all justices.”
Robinson said that documentation alone provided proof of violations, specifically: “Meeting with an attorney as a governing body in a closed meeting to discuss a pending lawsuit. OPs. Atty Gen. 96-372, 95-360, 87-420; Laman v. McCord, 245 Ark. 401, 432 S.W.2d 753 (1968).”
He also said the justices of the peace violated by signing and sending in a claim for payment.
“It was submitted and signed by Justice Franklin and the other seven justices that I am in litigation with,” said Robinson. “We caught that and we denied that claim because a Quorum Court member does not have that permission to submit claims for payment. They are not a constitutional officer and that should not have been done and Justice Franklin knows that.”
As Robinson reviewed the claim, what also stuck out to him were the procedural ordinance services notated on dates that fell after he filed the lawsuit.
“The lawsuit was amended September 1 but on September 25 they discussed submitting a proper ordinance and it’s documented, so it tells me they knew the entire time that they did not pass a procedural ordinance,” said Robinson.
Robinson said if a procedural ordinance was passed by the majority, that majority would not have to meet to discuss and talk about a procedural ordinance.
“Meeting with the attorney, that says to me you’re being deceptive to the public that you knew that you did not pass the procedural ordinance and now we have documentation saying you were meeting with your attorney to discuss a procedural ordinance that you supposedly had in place,” said Robinson.
Budget and Finance Chairman Ted Harden, a senior justice of the peace of more than 25 years, said he was disappointed that because of the actions of several justices of the peace, the county “is screwed.”
“The way we got here is we have two or three and their followers trying to overthrow the county judge and take care of county business on their own,” he said. “Lloyd Franklin is the leader of the pack and he’s never been elected to anything.”
Harden said the Quorum Court has turned into a fiasco when justices of the peace not attending meetings that the judge calls and instead hold their own are “trying to recreate everything that we have been doing since I have been on the Quorum Court.”
“This has been going on all year and is a terrible misrepresentation of county business and taking care of county business,” he said. “It’s a vendetta that they have against the county judge and trying to do anything they can to discredit him and block him and any business that we try to take care of.”
Harden said there are about five senior justices of the peace, and they have never had anything like this happen under any other county judge.
Other justices of the peace like Agee and Holcomb have expressed that until the judge handling the lawsuit makes a ruling on who’s right and who’s wrong, Quorum Court meetings will be held in the same manner as always under the direction of the county judge.
“The bottom line is if we don’t get the tax revenue funded this week before the end of the year, then we won’t be able to get any funds next year,” said Harden who has not been able to conduct a budget and finance meeting due to the lack of a quorum. “We are trying to negotiate just to take care of this one item. We got to take care of county business, vendors are past due that we can’t pay, and we can’t even operate.”
Robinson said many line items are in the negative, and delinquent bills are stacking up with prominent operations being affected like service for the veterans.
“I have to reach over in other line items just to try to pay vendors but that won’t last long,” said Robinson. “Those people need their money and those JPs are playing with the lives of the employees. The people of Jefferson County have elected them to come in here and perform their legislative duties.”
Robinson said he is embarrassed by the state of the county, as other county judges have reached out to support him.
“My attorneys have tried to work it out in mediation so we can come to the table and talk, but it has not been successful,” said Robinson. “We need to come together and work these differences out as soon as possible. Without levying the taxes we won’t have to worry about a budget because we won’t have money to operate.”
Part 3 on Tuesday: The opposing justices of the peace, frustrated residents, vendors and employees caught in the middle speak.