Board members’ residency questioned
With his residency qualification receiving renewed scrutiny, District 5 City Director Rick Ramick said Wednesday that he’ll resign from the Hot Springs Board of Directors if court cases challenging the city’s annexation of Enclave Study Area B prevail.
Ramick’s announcement came as Mayor Ruth Carney’s residency qualification also came into question on social media, with posts made Tuesday and Wednesday on the Recall Ruth Carney Facebook page alleging that the two-term mayor resides outside the corporate limits and not at her city address.
State law conditions city director eligibility on being a registered voter 21 or older who has resided in the city for at least 30 days.
Ramick told The Sentinel-Record in August that he has dual residency at the Villa Point condominium he purchased in 2005 and the Paddock Point address he purchased in July 2015. The latter is in Enclave Study Area B. Ramick was part of the 5-1 majority that adopted the January 2016 ordinance annexing the area that was scheduled to attach to the corporate limits last April.
Litigation filed by Area B property owners has forestalled the ordinance’s enactment. Ramick said Wednesday that he occasionally spends time at Villa Point, which is in District 5, but spends more time at Paddock Point and receives his mail at that location. He said he’s trying to sell his Villa Point condo and will resign if the court rules against the city in the pending lawsuits challenging the Area B annexation.
“If the court rules against us, then
I’ll resign,” Ramick said.
Ramick’s residency qualification came into question again earlier this month when the Concerned Citizens Coalition obtained copies of the petitions for nomination of city directors Suzanne Davidson and Becca Clark through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request.
Ramick signed the two incumbent directors’ nomination petitions and listed his Paddock Point address in the residence section. He signed Clark’s petition Aug. 8 and Davidson’s Aug. 18, the same day he changed the address on his voter registration from Villa Point to Paddock Point. Ramick changed his voter registration again on Sept. 6 and listed Villa Point as his address.
Reports for the petitions show Ramick’s signature on Davidson’s petition was disallowed for having an address outside the city and disallowed from Clark’s petition for listing an address that didn’t correspond to the voting rolls. Director candidates need to collect the signatures of 50 registered voters who reside inside the city to qualify for the ballot.
Ramick said Wednesday that after consulting an attorney he realized the Aug. 8 address change was a mistake, so he changed his registration back to Villa Point to stay consistent with the address his homestead tax credit is applied to. The Villa Point condo is the address Ramick has on file with the city clerk’s office.
Carney couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday but activist attorney Cliff Jackson told The Sentinel-Record the mayor had authorized him to speak on her behalf. Jackson said Carney doesn’t reside at her Nautical Bay address despite photos posted to social media Wednesday showing her vehicle in the carport. Jackson said Carney and her husband have been at the house temporarily while making repairs for their son, who’s the actual resident.
Property records show the couple purchased the residence in August 2015 from the First Church of the Nazarene. The church’s website lists Ken Carney, the mayor’s husband, as its lead pastor.
“Ken and Ruth have been temporarily out at their house in the county to repair mold and septic-tank problems,” said Jackson, who sponsored the successful signature collection in support of the referendum petition on the city’s annexation of Enclave Study Area D. “The title may be in her and Ken’s name, but it’s really their son’s house. He’s making monthly payments to them, and they’re fixing it up for him and his family.”
Jackson said the Carneys live inside the corporate limits at the Blueridge Place residence they purchased in 2006. According to property records, the Carneys’ homestead tax credit is applied to the Blueridge address, which is also listed as the mailing address for property tax bills on the Blueridge and Nautical Bay addresses. The Blueridge address is listed on the mayor’s voter registration and is the address she has on file with the city clerk.
After Ramick changed his voter registration back to Villa Point in September, the addresses all seven city directors list on their voter registrations correspond to what they have on file with the city clerk’s office.
Attorney general opinions on residency requirements for elected municipal office holders include a December 2012 submission concerning Lowell’s elected city attorney’s refusal to update the address on his driver’s license. The Benton County prosecutor solicited the opinion after an investigation initiated by the city found that the city attorney had moved from Lowell.
The attorney general’s office held that the reference to a “nonresident attorney” in the relevant statute shows the continuing nature of the residency requirement and supports previous opinions that have said an elected city attorney must reside within the city for the duration of their term. The opinion also said that determining residency is a function of numerous factors and isn’t solely dependent on an address listed on a driver’s license or other documents.
The 2011 state Supreme Court case State v. Jernigan was cited to show the high court’s contention that a statute requiring elected municipal officials to reside within the city limits didn’t include a “domiciliary requirement.” The Supreme Court upheld a circuit court’s ruling that the prosecuting attorney’s office for northeast Arkansas didn’t meet the burden for proving that the mayor-elect of Lepanto resided outside the city.
The court ruled that if the Legislature had intended to mandate a domiciliary requirement for qualification to hold elected municipal office, it would’ve included it in the relevant statute as it did with the statute pertaining to the necessary qualifications to hold county and township offices.
That statute says legal residence shall be defined as the “domicile of the officer evidenced by the intent to make such residence a fixed and permanent home.” The qualification statute for city directors doesn’t define legal residency.