Calloway to be sworn in as Ward 3 alderman

The El Dorado City Council will swear in a new member at 5:30 p.m. today in the Council Chamber of City Hall.

On Sept. 6, Bishop George Calloway Jr. as appointed by the council to serve as alderman of Ward 3, Position 2, and fill the unexpired term of former Council Member Kensel Spivey, who resigned in June.

The late Tony Henry — who previously served in the Ward 3, Position 2 seat and had been re-elected to the position during the preferential primary election in May — was subsequently appointed by the council to complete Spivey’s term, which ends Dec. 31.

Henry passed away unexpectedly on Sept. 1. Upon a recommendation by Council Member Willie McGhee, who represents Ward 3, Position 1, the city council selected Calloway to fill the remainder of the term.

Calloway is a member of the El Dorado Works Board.

In 2009, he ran for the Ward 3, Position 2 seat in a special election that was held when Council Member Jimmy Reed passed away.

One of Calloway’s challengers was Henry, who won the special election.

Earlier this week, the Union County Democratic Party selected Andre Rucks as its nominee for Ward 3, Position 2, seat in the General Election in November.

Rucks will be the only candidate on the ballot for the position.

Henry defeated Rucks for the seat in the May primaries.

Other Democratic nominees were Calloway and Elizabeth Eggleston, a former El Dorado mayoral candidate who serves as executive director of the El Dorado Historic District Commission.

In other business, the council is expected to review city ordinance 1773, which restricts parking on certain streets in El Dorado.

During a council meeting on Sept. 6, Mayor Frank Hash asked council members to clear up gray areas in the ordinance, which prohibit 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.

The ordinance also says that residents may not “pave or gravel a yard to the extent that such paving or graveling violates the city’s zoning ordinance.”

Questions about the ordinance arose in early 2017 when Hash stopped a project in which an East Main resident was building a curved driveway in his front yard.

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

The move sparked contentious debates among city officials, residents and members of the El Dorado

Planning and Zoning Commission.

Commissioners pointed out the ordinance was a 2008 initiative of the city council and was not part of the city’s zoning code.

At the time, Hash said the council would have to revisit the matter at some point to address “ambiguities” and strengthen enforcement.

“If it says you can’t park on the sidewalk or on the grass, there’s no gray area,” Council Member Billy Blann said.

“Hypothetically, what if people decide to pave their yard to accommodate a truck?” Hash asked.

McGhee said the council held a “healthy discussion” about the matter when the ordinance was adopted in 2008.

“Maybe we need to have another healthy discussion,” McGhee said.

Council Member Dianne Hammond recommended that City Attorney Henry Kinslow look into the matter.

“He can see what we need to do to make it where we have some teeth in it, so there won’t be a gray area,” Hammond said.

The council will also consider a request for an ordinance to close a portion of South Jackson Avenue. The request focuses on the 400 block near Block.