Although he fell a vote shy of an appointment to the city’s newly organized crime advisory commission in a 4-4 Pine Bluff City Council deadlock Monday night, local criminologist Matthew Pate said he is still open to serving in the post he did not initially seek.
“I have been approached by a couple of members of the commission and asked if I would advise or help in an informal capacity,” said Pate, an adviser to the United Nations and U.S. Justice Department. “I said I was willing to do so, but I felt my position would be uncertain without the support of the council. I didn’t want to be seen as an interloper, especially if my opinions weren’t wanted.
“If at some point leadership would like my input, all they have to do is ask,” he said. “I’m willing.”
Pate is a senior research fellow in a violence research group, and a post-doctoral research fellow in the State University of New York’s University at Albany School of Criminal Justice. He is a former adjunct professor in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Department of Criminal Justice and sociology instructor at Southeast Arkansas College here. Pate, a published author, has spoken at criminology conferences across the country and served as editor-in-chief of “The Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture” in 2009-10.
Alderman Bill Brumett, who sponsored the ordinance calling for Pate’s appointment, said he felt Pate was not shown “due respect” by the council members who voted against his appointment — Charles Boyd, Glen Brown, George Stepps and Thelma Walker — and Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr., who declined to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The legislation also called for the police department to provide within seven days any requested information permitted by law.
“This concerns me,” said Stepps, who added that additional responsibilities could be taxing to administrators and others within the department who are “already busy.”
Brumett said he was hoping to increase the commission’s authority. He said he didn’t want the panel “to just be there and sit” but to “actually help get things done.”
An Alderman Steven Mays-sponsored ordinance seeking the re-establishment of a civil service commission for the police and fire departments was defeated when only Brumett and Alderman Wayne Easterly joined Mays in giving affirmative nods. But the legislation, expedited after originally being scheduled for only a first reading, was then turned down for a second reading. The council unanimously expunged that vote and then moved the measure on to completion.
A Mays-sponsored resolution for the council to include in its 2013 annual budget a $250,000 appropriation for construction of a public swimming pool in Townsend Park was not voted upon. Instead, the proposal was sent to the Parks and Recreation Commission for its consideration. Mays said he had no other purpose for authoring and introducing the measure beyond “trying to do what my constituents wanted.”
Two ordinances and five resolutions were unanimously approved.
The ordinances:
• Maintained the annual sum paid to the city by grantees of permits to operate community antenna televisions in the city.
• Amended the 2012 budget to add a line item to defray council members’ expenses in attending professional development conferences and seminars.
The resolutions:
• Accepted a Federal Aviation Administration grant offer for improvements at Grider Field.
• Appointed Roy T. Payne to fill the term of the late Milton J. Tidwell as commissioner of Sewer Improvement District No. 39. Tidwell died June 20.
• Provided for placement of costs of correcting certain nuisances on tax book as delinquent taxes for collection as such, with one property removed from the by an amendment.
• Recognized the Interested Citizens for Voter Registration King Team Pen or Pencil Youth for winning two contests and a $500 prize for its charity during a recent National Alliance of Faith and Justice summit in New Orleans.