Former city attorney recognized for service

Former City Attorney Henry Kinslow was recognized last week for 40 years of service with the city.

On Feb. 9, Mayor Paul Choate kicked off an El Dorado City Council meeting with the presentation of a plaque, saying, “Now, here comes the fun part.”

Choate then stepped off the dais in the Council Chamber and called Kinslow forward.

Kinslow served as city attorney from 1983 until 2022, opting last year not to seek reelection for the part-time, elected position.

He was succeeded by Robert Rushing, a former firefighter with the El Dorado Fire Department, who earned his law degree while working full-time at the EFD.

In 2017, Rushing retired from the EFD as an assistant chief, having served 23 years with the department.

It was Rushing who noticed that Kinslow had been excluded from a batch of proposed resolutions recognizing outgoing city officials and the retirement of another EFD firefighter — items that were on the council’s agenda for a regular meeting last month.

Former EFD Assistant Chief Bruce Goff received a key to the city during the city council meeting in January to commemorate his 30 years of service with the EFD.

Resolutions were also passed last month to express appreciation and recognition for several former city officials, including:

• Mayor Veronica SmithCreer, who served from 2019 until 2022. She is the city’s first Black and first female mayor.

• Council Member Mike Rice, who represented Ward 1, Position 1 from 2013 until 2022.

• Council Member Avo Vartenian, who represented Ward 1, Position 2 from Feb. 10 until Dec. 31, 2022. Vartenian was appointed to fill the unexpired term of former Council Billy Blann. Blann stepped down last February after having moved out of town.

• Council Member Andre Rucks, who represented Ward

3, Position 2 from 2019 until 2022.

• Council Member-turned-Mayor Choate, who represented Ward 4, Position 1 from 2019 - 2022. Choate bested opponent Smith-Creer during the 2022 General Election.

Noting Goff’s three decades with the EFD on Feb. 9, Choate said, “Now that’s a monumental task but tonight, it gives me great pleasure to present Henry Kinslow, Esquire, … very few people make a career of 40 years.”

“He has seen a world of mayors, council members and audience members over the years,” Choate continued before reading the plaque. “Folks, that’s a milestone.”

The presentation drew applause from the audience.

A 1972 graduate of El Dorado High School, Kinslow received his B.S. from Rhodes University at Memphis in 1976 and his J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1980.

He has a general civil practice with a concentration in oil and gas, as well as banking law.

Kinslow is licensed to practice law in Arkansas and Louisiana.

He served two five-year terms on the Arkansas State Claims Commission, having been appointed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee.

He is married to Dr. Ivory Kinslow, an ophthalmologist who also runs her own practice in El Dorado.