Shortly after Tuesday night’s Blytheville City Council meeting, Councilman Matt Perrin penned an email to Blytheville Mayor James Sanders expressing his concern over the stalemate regarding reappointments of Andrew Carrington and chairperson Marcia McClain to the Blytheville Historic District Commission.
The council was deadlocked 3-3 and Mayor Sanders chose not to cast the tiebreaking vote.
In the email to Mayor Sanders, Councilman Perrin wrote: “I'm deeply concerned with what occurred at the end of this evening's meeting and am troubled by the failure to reappoint sitting members to the Historic District Commission.
“1. By law, the mayor appoints commission members and the council approves by vote. Requiring all appointees to stand before the council is a change from precedent and strips the mayor from his privilege of appointment. I'm happy to change precedent when precedent is bad. But if we are making this change, I believe we should recall all appointments from this evening's agenda (and all appointments made during the year 2019) until all those concerned are able to stand before the council and state their case for participation on commissions.
“2. If we are going to change precedent, I would not start with the Historic District Commission. This is a federally mandated commission that allows Blytheville to continue to qualify as a Certified Local Government (CLG) through the National Parks Service. The CLG allows Blytheville to access grants such as the one used in part to help restore our historic Greyhound Bus Station. That you would risk jeopardizing our status as a CLG at the whim of one council member is alarming to me. You had the opportunity to break the tie vote and failed to do so.
“3. It was brought to my attention that Councilman Mayberry currently has business with the Historic District Commission due to one or more of his properties being out of compliance. It is therefore a blatant conflict of interest for him to participate in a vote to decide members of said commission. I believe we need to re-vote on these appointments in September and that, unless the councilman has resolved his business with the Historic District Commission, Councilman Mayberry must abstain from voting.
“Please advise as to how we proceed.”
Mayor Sanders responded, “I'm sorry for your concern, but I never suggested we change the appointment procedures. Just like you, I was sitting there when Councilman Jones motioned to table the vote of reappointment . I questioned him about his request and after the discussion between the members of the governing body, the matter to table the re-appointments came to a vote. I expressed my right not to vote on the issue and therefore the matter was allowed to go forward.
“During that vote, I again exercised my right to not vote. That was my choice. I see no reason to re-vote. The process is over. However, Councilman Jones wants to address the candidates at his meeting. Not mine. This was his request. Not mine. I have already reported the vote to the Commission's secretary.
“Furthermore,in regards to Councilman Mayberry, I recall being at a meeting of the Historic District where you attended several weeks ago and there was some discussion about his property. If there was a concern, why did you not bring it up at the meeting?
“As you have stated I also believe it would set a bad precedent to continue meeting on this matter. Therefore, this matter should be closed ,and we thank those members for their prior service.”
Councilman Perrin then replied, “Thank you, Mayor Sanders.
“I will speak with Councilman Jones as to why he has become so suddenly interested in the Historic District Commission. However, this has raised a great idea. Moving forward, I expect all appointees and re-appointees to report to the Public Works committee in order for the council to make an educated decision regarding your commission appointments. This way we can know who we're voting for prior to receiving the council packet. Please notify future appointees accordingly.
“That is correct; you and I were both at the Historic District Commission meeting during which Councilman Mayberry's property was discussed. I do wish I'd thought to speak up last night. I was, unfortunately, just so thrown off by the departure from standard protocol. I am concerned that you also didn't speak up. If you also were at that commission meeting and if you knew that the councilman had business with the commission, then why did you, the presiding officer of the City Council meeting, not say anything during last night's meeting?
“Section 3B of Ordinance 1840, establishing our rules of order states clearly, "No member of the City Council with a direct or indirect financial or personal interest in any item before the City Council shall participate in the discussion of or voting on such matter". I'll give the Arkansas Municipal League a call in the morning to get their opinion on last night's meeting and will keep everyone updated. Until we've heard from them, I do not consider this matter closed.
“As I mentioned to Councilman Mayberry earlier today, my top priority is and will continue to be the betterment of the City of Blytheville. If we have that in common, then we all should have no problem moving forward.”