Members added to Russellville casino panel

Five people — including a Pope County Quorum Court member who voted against endorsing Cherokee Nation Businesses for a casino license there — were named to a seven-member Russellville City Council committee established to evaluate applications for a Pope County license, Russellville Mayor Richard Harris said Wednesday.

The Community Gaming Evaluation Committee will hold its first meeting today at City Hall.

“It’s a public meeting,” Harris said. “Open and transparent, as per the resolution.”

Last week, the City Council voted to appoint council member Eric Westcott to the committee.

Committee members appointed Wednesday by Harris include: Russellville School District Superintendent Mark Gotcher; Arkansas Tech University Chief of Staff Mary Gunter; Pope County Justice of the Peace Bill Sparks; businessman Bart Langley; and banker Nathan George.

The remaining open position on the committee will be selected from the Arkansas Valley Alliance for Economic Development.

The resolution — approved last week — calls for one representative each from the City Council, the Pope County Quorum Court, a school district selected by the City Council, an institution of higher education in the city and the Arkansas Valley Alliance for Economic Development as well as two people selected by the mayor.

County Judge Ben Cross said he wouldn’t appoint anybody to the committee and no justice of the peace had volunteered.

Neither Cross nor Sparks returned a message for comment Wednesday.

The city’s committee was established after two casino operators — Warner Gaming of Nevada and Choctaw Nation Division of Commerce of Oklahoma — encouraged Harris in two letters to get the City Council to do its own “open and transparent” vetting process and choose the best option for such a business.

On Aug. 13, Pope County’s Quorum Court endorsed the Cherokee Nation Businesses for a casino license there. The surprise endorsement was approved 8-4 with one abstaining.

Sparks — as well as Jamie Jackson, Joseph Pearson and Tim Whittenburg — voted against the measure.

Harris said the two men he chose for the at-large committee assignments — Langley and George — were chosen for their business acumen and community involvement.

“Bart [Langley] is a businessman in our community with experience in vetting businesses and is willing to serve the citizens in an unbiased manner,” Harris said.

Langley is president of Cooling and Applied Technology in Russellville.

George, a Russellville businessman, resigned from the City Council in 2018 after he moved from Ward 4 into Ward 2.

Cross has said neither he nor the Quorum Court will endorse another candidate for the Pope County casino license. And, according to Amendment 100 — passed by voters in November, it changed the state constitution to allow four casinos in the state — a casino located within city limits must have both the endorsement of the mayor and an endorsement from the county judge or the Quorum Court.

Harris said the request for proposals to gather the casino applications has been drafted.

“We’ll have our kickoff meeting to select a chairperson and review and finalize the RFP,” Harris said.

The deadline for a final report from the committee to the City Council is no later than Nov. 5.