The Blytheville City Council held their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening where the reappointment of two members of the Historic District Commission — chairperson Marcia McClain and Andrew Carrington — failed to pass through the council.
A 3-3 split vote between councilmembers came about when Councilman R.L. Jones proposed to table the resolutions in order for the council to meet with McClain and Carrington before passing their reappointment.
Jones proposed his concerns before the actual reading of the two resolutions.
“We want to meet with them as a committee because we have some questions concerning the Historic District and downtown Main Street,” said Jones.
Councilwoman Barbara McAdoo-Brothers said, “We can still appoint them and then have someone from the state enlighten us as a council on what is to be done. I personally would like to know what the guidelines are but I think we should still go ahead and reappoint these people so that they can go ahead and do their work,”
The motion to table the two resolutions failed. Councilman Jones, Councilman John Mayberry, and Councilman John Musgraves all approved while Brothers, Councilwoman Vera James, and Councilman Matt Perrin each voted against. Mayor James Sanders refused to vote on tabling the resolutions to break the tie.
When voting to reappoint the Historic District members, Councilman Jones, Musgraves, and Mayberry all voted against the reappointment. Mayor Sanders refused again to vote to break the tie, thus the resolution to reappoint McClain and Carrington failed.
Later in an email, Perrin expressed his concerns about Mayor Sanders’ choice to not break the tie in order to reappoint McClain and Carrington. He also explained that Mayberry should not have been able to vote due to a conflict of interest.
An ordinance waiving the bid process for fire department equipment was passed with Councilman Perrin giving an opposing vote.
“This doesn’t feel like an emergency; this is not an exceptional purchase. I searched online, there are plenty of vendors who offer similar prices for these things, so I am not sure how we are justifying waiving the competitive bid process,” said Perrin. “We are waiving the bid process because there are no local suppliers so we are going with EVS. EVS is based out of Memphis; that’s not a local supplier so if we are going to get it shipped from Memphis you might as well get it shipped from anywhere and make sure we get the cheapest price.”
Councilwoman Barbara McAdoo-Brothers mentioned that EVS was a supplier that the fire department usually purchases from.
Mayor Sanders explained that the equipment that the fire department had been using came from EVS Mid-South and that this company understands and knows their equipment.
“That was the understanding that I received from the fire chief but again it does not say an emergency exists here, ultimately it is up to the council,” said Mayor Sanders.
“My concern is that we are waiving the competitive bid process, we can maybe get the equipment for a better price and put it out to bid,” Perrin said.
Brothers added, “It goes back to the service that you get with the company. This company has dealt with the city for many years and has done a very good job and they are 60 miles away, whereas I don’t know if there is anything closer but the company is one that we have a good working relationship with.”
Mayor Sanders explained that he would like to answer Perrin’s concerns fully but since the fire chief was not in attendance, he could not give any further information.
Also Tuesday night, 13 resolutions were also adopted:
— A resolution adopting rules and a fee schedule governing rental of Walker Park pool;
— A resolution authorizing the condemnation of certain structures;
— A resolution authorizing a lease purchase of equipment for Public Works;
— A resolution requiring the city to maintain job descriptions;
— A resolution requiring the city to maintain an organizational chart;
— A resolution providing for the sale of weapons seized by Blytheville Police Department;
— A resolution amending the 2019 budget;
— A resolution appointing Zachary King to the Nuisance Abatement Board;
— A resolution appointing Jeremy Dever to the Blytheville Baseball Facilities Board;
— Three resolutions appointing Tad Snow, Kyle Wendell, and Johnny Higgins to the Blytheville Golf Course Facilities Board;
— And a resolution to re-appoint Cecil Brown to the Blytheville Golf Course Facilities Board.