Officials want money used only for vaccination clinics

BENTONVILLE — Benton County’s justices of the peace went back to the starting line in an effort to provide more than $100,000 for the Northwest Arkansas Council for its efforts against covid-19.

Justices of the peace met Tuesday night in a special meeting called by County Judge Barry Moehring. The only item on the agenda was the issue of an ordinance providing $113,000 to the council for public information and vaccination clinics.

The money will come from federal money the county will receive from the American Rescue Plan, which provides $350 billion for eligible state, local, territorial and tribal governments nationwide, according to the county. The county will receive a combined $54 million — $27 million over the next two years.

The ordinance failed at last month’s Quorum Court meeting by a 9-4 vote. Ten votes were required for the ordinance’s approval.

The ordinance was on Tuesday’s agenda for a second reading. It needed 10 votes to pass and required eight to nine votes in order to go to a third reading. The item would have failed if it received less than eight votes.

However, justices of the peace did not vote on that ordinance after some of them voiced concerns about $1 million going to the marketing campaign while $200,000 is planned for the clinics. The county’s portion is $113,000.

Benton and Washington counties, along with Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale, were asked to be part of the campaign, Moehring previously said.

Bentonville and Washington County have not decided yet on funding the initiative.

On Tuesday, Fayetteville’s City Council approved using $93,969 in rescue plan money to help pay for the campaign.

The Rogers City Council last month approved a resolution to partner with the council to help it continue the vaccination and public information campaign. The resolution appropriates up to $69,908 of city money from the rescue plan, according to Mayor Greg Hines. The Springdale City Council pledged $87,176 from its rescue plan money to support the council’s efforts.

JP Ken Farmer and other justices of the peace voiced concern about the $1 million for the advertising campaign. Farmer said he could not support the advertising campaign, but supports the clinics.

A few other justices of the peace voiced similar concerns. JP Susan Anglin wanted to know whether the county’s money could go only toward the clinics.

Ryan Cork, the council’s executive director for health care transformation, said he could use the $113,000 for vaccination clinics.

“We could use that money to go to the vaccine clinics,” he said. “I can work with the (quorum) court on that.”

Anglin said she would have supported the whole package, but it didn’t look like it would receive the support from the court.

JP Joel Edward proposed tabling the ordinance and coming up with an ordinance giving the money to the council for vaccine clinics. He noted that the court had previously provided money for vaccine clinics.

The justices of the peace discussed the matter and then came up with an ordinance requiring that the $113,000 to the council could only go toward vaccine clinics and not any marketing efforts.

The amended ordinance passed by a 9-3 vote.

JPs Joseph Bollinger, Kurt Moore, Joel Jones, Tom Allen, Richard Taylor, Ron Homeyer, Anglin, Edward and Farmer voted in favor of the ordinance. Justices of the pace Brian Armas, Richard McKeehan and Carrie Perrien Smith voted against it. JPs Dustin Todd and Leigh Nogy participated in the meeting by telephone but could not vote since they were not personally there.

The amended ordinance will be on the agenda for next Thursday’s Quorum Court meeting.

Moehring said at Tuesday’s meeting he received letters from some local medical officials supporting providing the money to the council.

Several residents addressed the justices of the peace at the meeting and voiced their objections to giving the council any money.

Armas said he wasn’t anti-vaccine, but he was against the ordinance because he was against using the money for that purpose. Armas said it is already clear where people can go to get the vaccine.

Allen said the ordinance is one of the most divisive issues that the court has faced. He said the issue should not be a political issue, but one concerning health and safety.

“We need to come together and try to respect each other’s decision,” Allen said.

Allen said he wished that there were forums presenting the pros and cons about receiving the vaccine. He said it is important to be transparent about the possible side effects of the vaccine and any deaths attributed to the vaccination. He also wanted the council to include possible treatments for covid-19 to be discussed in any campaign.

Allen said he did not believe a campaign solely about vaccines will change anyone’s mind.

Bollinger said he was vaccinated and supports vaccination clinics but did not support giving the money to the council.

Bollinger said he was firmly against the original ordinance but supported the amended one because he had voted in the past for the county to provide money for vaccination clinics.

“We need to come together and try to respect each other’s decision.”

— Tom Allen, justice of the peace