Tempers flare during driveway discussion

EL DORADO — An issue involving a stop-work order issued by Mayor Frank Hash for a project on private property was settled Tuesday during a volatile El Dorado City Council meeting in which council members were called upon to check Hash for what one alderman described as a pattern of bullying and harassment on local citizens.

Tensions and tempers flared throughout the discussion as city officials raised a number of points surrounding the issue, including questions about the mayor’s authority to stop the work; who is responsible for making restitution; the city ordinance that has been cited by Hash in the matter; and city zoning codes pertaining to off-street vehicle parking and loading in residential and commercial zones.

In the end, the council voted 6-2 for the city to reimburse Rex Graham $651 for money he had spent on concrete to put a horseshoe driveway in the front yard of his residence in the 2000 block of East Main.

Aldermen also agreed to allow Graham to finish the project, though some city officials said the authorization was not necessary because the project did not violate any city ordinances or zoning codes.

Additionally, the council planned to meet with the El Dorado Planning and Zoning Commission to clear up language in the zoning code as it relates to parking.

Graham did not attend the meeting. Former Ward Three Alderman Tony Henry, who has been speaking publicly on Graham’s behalf for the past several weeks, said he had informed Graham about the special called meeting and invited him to attend.

“He told me to go ahead and take care of it and continue to deal with it,” Henry said.

Graham has declined requests for comment.

Audience members’ reactions to many of the comments made by city officials, whether voicing approval or incredulousness, were also an integral part of the discussion on Tuesday.

Following the meeting, audience member Larry Combs, former El Dorado mayor and alderman who has been vocal and blunt in his opposition to Hash’s actions regarding the matter, approached Hash, and as the pair shook hands, Combs could be heard saying, “You’re not a damn commander! You’re a public servant.”

The handshake abruptly ended when Hash held up ordinance 1773 and responded, “You crafted this ordinance. You need to take some liability.”

Stop work

The matter has been ongoing since February when Hash sent City Code Enforcement Officer Kirby Craig to Graham’s residence after the mayor noticed concrete forms in Graham’s front yard.

Hash, who lives in Ruddell Acres off East Main, said he often drives by Graham’s house heading to and from work each day.

Hash has said he initially dispatched Craig to inform Graham about city ordinance 1773, which prohibits the parking or storing of vehicles “on the grass in a yard between the residence and the street right of way” on a prescribed list of main arterial and collector streets.

Main is one of the collector streets listed in the ordinance.

Further, the ordinance says that citizens may not “pave or gravel a yard to the extent that such paving or graveling violates” the city’s zoning ordinance states and to ask him to stop the work until the council had time to review the matter.

Hash said he had intended for the council to review the matter before allowing Graham to proceed, but a week later when he saw the concrete crew at Graham’s residence, he sent Craig there again.

Hash has said that he has been asked to enforce the ordinance due to parking violations reported around town, including several along Main Street.

On Tuesday, Hash began the meeting by laying out the history of how ordinance 1773 was adopted by the council in 2008, prompting Alderman Willie McGhee to interject.

“Mayor, we’ve already kinda’ read the ordinance for ourselves. Is there any reason you’re going down each detail?” McGhee asked.

“Yes, sir. Just bear with me,” Hash said before continuing.

Later, McGhee entered a sharp objection to Hash’s timeline, saying that it veered from the purpose of the meeting.

“I think we started the whole meeting off wrong … We were asked to discuss the mayor’s abuse of his authority. That’s what we should have opened the meeting with,” McGhee said. “It doesn’t so much put Mr. Graham in question. It puts the mayor in question, too.”

“It’s not the mayor’s job to personally stop at somebody’s house to bully and harass them, and this ain’t the first time he did it. It’s happened more than once, and if we continue to allow it, it’s on us,” McGhee continued.

“How did I go wrong in enforcing this ordinance?” Hash asked.

“It’s not your job without consulting with the city attorney first,” McGhee reiterated.

Several contentious exchanges ensued between the two, with Hash telling McGhee at one point, “Sir, I have the floor. Will you please be quiet and stop talking!”

“I’m not going to stop talking,” McGhee shot back.

Hash turned toward Alderman Judy Ward, noting that she was a member of the council, along with McGhee, Henry, Combs and Alderman Dianne Hammond, when ordinance 1773 was adopted.

Ward said the council was asked at the time to address the issue of parking in front yards by Murphy Oil and other local industries.

She said the original ordinance proposal did not pass because it restricted such parking on all city streets, so the council returned months later with a revised draft listing certain streets.

McGhee noted that former Alderman Vertis Mason championed the ordinance and said she preferred that residents build driveways rather than park on the grass in their front lawns.

“That’s exactly what this man was trying to do to keep his wife and family safe so they wouldn’t have to back out into traffic, and we harassed and bullied him into stopping,” McGhee said. “It wasn’t a problem until you stopped it, Mayor.”

Alderman Billy Blann called on Michael Rogers, chairman of the planning and zoning commission, to weigh in on the city’s zoning code, and Rogers noted that Ordinance 1773 is not part of the zoning code.

“This did not come from us. It came from the council,” Rogers said.

He also said the commission has been running into several such issues around town, and he agreed that the language in the city ordinance and zoning code needs to be clean up.

Rogers said Graham’s house is in a commercial zone, but the usage in the zone is mainly residential.

Alderman Vance Williamson pointed to the section of the zoning code that deals with parking and unloading, saying that the code does not specify how much concrete or how much paving can be done in a residential development.

Reimbursement

There was some disagreement about whether the city or Hash should reimburse Graham for the cost of the concrete.

Hammond made a motion saying that the city repay the money, noting that Hash was an agent acting on behalf of the city.

McGhee and Alderman Mike Rice said Hash “should come out of pocket,” contending that taxpayers’ money should not be used for the reimbursement.

“We need to reimburse him and make this man whole again. We don’t know what hardships this has caused this man, and we need to do everything we can to help him finish this project,” McGhee said.

Hash asked repeatedly if Graham could finish the circular drive, drawing scoffs from the audience and some council members.

Alderman Kensel Spivey made a motion to that effect, saying that Graham shouldn’t have to wait while the council sorts through the city ordinance and zoning code.

Aldermen Rice and Blann voted no the motions made by Hammond and Spivey.

“I don’t think he’s in violation, so why do we need to make an exception to the ordinance?” Rice said.

“I think we started the whole meeting off wrong... We were asked to discuss the mayor’s abuse of his authority. That’s what we should have opened the meeting with.” — Willie McGhee