A scheduled Jefferson County Quorum Court committee meeting failed to proceed on Tuesday, due to the absence of a majority of justices and ongoing disagreements regarding meeting protocols and a proposed “hardship funding” initiative for employees.
“It appears that we have received word from several of the justices, stating that they would not be here today simply because this agenda did not come out of the county clerk’s office,” said Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson. “I received an email from one of the justices … we would have to have a majority to handle the business, which would be at least four justices, and we only have three.”
The absence was due to several factors. Justice Jimmy Fisher had an emergency, while Justice Roy Agee and Justice Brenda Bishop Gaddy’s sister called in for her, saying that she was ill. Robinson noted Justice Cedric Jackson was the only other justice who had contacted him.
The absence of a quorum forced the postponement of a planned presentation by University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Athletic Director Chris Robinson and several associates.
“We will postpone that until Monday,” Judge Robinson announced, urging the presenters to return.
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Adding to the complications, Judge Robinson revealed an email from the county clerk’s office regarding a potential “hardship funding” for employees.
“My question is, have y’all been involved in any meeting discussing a hardship?” he asked, indicating confusion and a lack of prior knowledge about the initiative.
Justice Patricia Royal Johnson expressed concern about being associated with the funding proposal without prior knowledge or involvement. “I don’t want my name on that,” she said. “It didn’t come through a committee anyway.”
Judge Robinson mentioned an investigation into the “legality” of the hardship funding. “I’m checking into the legality of that. We have checked with the auditors. They’ve never heard of a hardship pay,” he said.
Referring to the period when employees were not paid beginning in January, the judge also noted that while some banks waived fees and organizations provided food for employees, the details of the hardship funding, including whether employees received retroactive pay, were unclear.
APRIL 25 MINUTES
“I don’t know who sponsored that legislation,” Robinson said.
“I’m looking at the legalities of just giving out the money.”
Concerns about meeting minutes further complicated the matter. “I do not have the minutes,” Robinson stated, in reference to details of special meetings and committee meetings held by the majority of the justices on April 25.
According to those minutes obtained by The Commercial, the meeting was chaired by Justice Reginald Johnson, with Agee, Conley Byrd, Fisher, Ted Harden and Johnson absent.
Present were Reginald Adams, Alfred Carroll, Melanie Dumas, Gaddy, Jackson, Johnson, Richard Victorino and Margarette Williams.
Carroll reported that other justices had responded to the meeting request but cited schedule conflicts and declined to vote on holding the meeting.
During the public comment period, Garland Trice questioned the nature of the meeting, to which Johnson clarified it was a special Quorum Court meeting as indicated on the agenda.
In old business, Carroll noted that a procedural ordinance had been passed with a two-thirds vote to overturn a veto and is now in effect.
He expressed hope that the ordinance could be reviewed with the county judge and other justices in the future.
New business focused on two agenda items. Johnson announced that one item would be a discussion and the other a first reading.
Requiring a super sponsorship to discuss these items, all justices in attendance raised their hands in agreement.
Carroll initiated a motion to amend the assessor’s budget to reflect the Dec. 31, 2024, ending budget.
This motion was seconded by Victorino and passed with an 8-0 vote.
A second motion by Carroll sought to amend the budget ordinance numbers to reflect the original 2024 Budget Appropriation numbers for the County Judge’s Department, Buildings and Grounds Department and the Road Department.
This motion also passed with an 8-0 vote.
The most contentious motion came from Carroll, who proposed removing all funding from and deleting the County Attorney expenditure line from the 2025 budget entirely, with any expenditures from this year to be credited to other professional services for accounting purposes only.
This motion, seconded by Dumas, led to extensive discussion among the Justices and a reading of Arkansas Code Section 14-14-902 regarding legal counsel.
Former Justice of Peace Lloyd Franklin II spoke, indicating that the initiative came from Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter, who had previously advised the Quorum Court to defund the county attorney line.
This motion passed with a 5-3 vote.
Following these amendments, the 2025 Appropriation Ordinance to approve the Jefferson County budget for fiscal 2025 was read for its first reading, including all three motions.
The court also discussed the ordinance establishing hardship pay for county employees, with discussion focusing on funding sources, guidelines, cutoff amounts and the drafting of the ordinance.
No formal action was taken.