NPC clears path for capital project
National Park College could take its first official step toward the construction of a new capital project, expected to cost at least $12-14 million, as soon as Tuesday.
Trustees approved a resolution during Wednesday’s regular meeting in the Gerald Fisher Campus Center board room to engage Hill and Cox Construction as the college’s construction manager contingent upon approval of the Arkansas Legislative Council in September. All of the college’s agreements with Hill and Cox, Lewis Architects Engineers and Stephens, as bond underwriter, are contingent upon state approval of the final project.
The board of trustees called a special meeting for noon Tuesday to further discuss the project and potentially approve moving forward with construction. The goal would be to complete the building in time for the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year.
The board’s building and campus development committee met Wednesday prior to the full meeting. Committee Chairman Jim Hale said construction projects have always been exciting events for the college.
“For those of us who have been here a long time, every time we have entered into a major capital building like this, we have seen a significant spike in our enrollment,” Hale said.
Preliminary designs for a new learning commons complex plans for about 48,000 square feet, which is almost as large as the Frederick M. Dierks Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. The Dierks Center was completed in 2009 at a cost of $8 million.
Arkansas city, LGBT groups say document hunt not too broad
LITTLE ROCK — State officials are trying to dramatically expand legislative and executive privilege by seeking to block subpoenas issued in the legal fight over local anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, attorneys for a northwest Arkansas city and gay rights supporters said in court filings this week.
The city of Fayetteville and the American Civil Liberties Union asked Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin to deny the state’s bid to cancel the subpoenas issued over a state law preventing cities from enacting anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The state Supreme Court earlier this year ruled a Fayetteville ordinance violated a state law prohibiting cities from enacting protections not covered by state law. Arkansas’ civil rights law doesn’t cover sexual orientation or gender identity.
Justices sent the case back to Martin’s court and said they couldn’t rule on the state law’s constitutionality since it wasn’t addressed in the lower court
The ACLU of Arkansas, which represents LGBT residents who have intervened in the case, has subpoenaed the state and the two lawmakers behind the 2015 state law for documents and testimony. Fayetteville is seeking depositions from the Republican lawmakers, state Rep. Bob Ballinger and Sen. Bart Hester. The attorney general’s office has called the subpoenas too broad, saying they would “eviscerate” privacy rights granted to legislators and other officials.
“This dramatic overreaction and obstruction of the civil discovery process seeks to deny intervenors (and the court) crucial evidence in this case to support what the public record already suggests: that Act 137 was enacted in order to license statewide discrimination against the LGBT community,” the ACLU said in its filing Thursday.
Fayetteville’s attorneys said the state’s expanded definition of legislative privilege would make elected officials “virtually untouchable.”
“Our elected representative lawmakers could never be questioned by our citizens about meetings and political speeches given anywhere to partisan political interest groups, nor inquire about questionable actions in securing government contracts or attempts to develop future election support,” the city said in a filing Wednesday.
Fayetteville is one of several cities that approved local protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in response to the 2015 law. In their unanimous ruling in February, justices rejected the argument from Fayetteville and other cities that LGBT protections are covered elsewhere in state law.
The state last month asked Martin to block enforcement of Fayetteville’s ordinance. Fayetteville last week asked Martin to deny the state’s request.
Arkansas governor proceeds with Human Services proposal
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s administration is moving forward with a proposed state Department of Human Services technology contract despite a majority of senators voting twice against reviewing the proposal.
House members voted 21-2 to review the proposed contract, but senators voted 9-6 and 10-6 against the review.
Some lawmakers have criticized the department’s proposed three-year, $75.3 million contract with Deloitte Consulting because it’s more expensive than the three-year, $54.4 million proposal submitted by current contract holder Northrop Grumman, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
“Now that the Legislature has had its opportunity for review of the pending DHS contract with Deloitte for IT services, I will instruct the procurement director to approve the contract in accordance with his legal authority, which is the next and final step in the procurement process,” Hutchinson said.
Department spokesman Amy Webb said Northrop Grumman has contracted with the department for more than
20 years.
Advocates of the Deloitte Consulting contract said it would cost $5 million less annually than the current contract with Northrop Grumman. They added that Deloitte was awarded the contract based on its technical expertise.
“The Deloitte contract was considered by the legislative committee multiple times, discussed in depth and received numerous votes,” Hutchinson said.
State officials said Deloitte won the bid after scoring higher in a technical evaluation by a committee of state employees. The technical evaluation made up 80 percent of the overall score, while the cost made up
20 percent.
Under the proposal with Deloitte, the company would provide support for about 200 software applications used by the Human Services Department.
Prison system probing delay in reporting inmate’s assault
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas prison officials are investigating why the assault on an inmate who later died from his injuries wasn’t reported to state police for nearly a week, and the state police say there was a non-lethal assault on an inmate at another prison that also wasn’t immediately reported.
State Police say the July 28 assault of 25-year-old John Demoret at the Tucker Unit wasn’t reported to them until Aug. 3. Demoret died on Aug. 10 from his injuries. A Correction Department spokesman says officials are investigating what factors led to the delay in reporting Demoret’s assault.
State Police have said another incident where an inmate was beaten on July 13 wasn’t reported until this week, though the prison system says it was reported on July 19.
Man sentenced for threatening Arkansas mayors
TEXARKANA — An Arkansas man who mailed letters in 2015 threatening to kill several of the state’s mayors if they didn’t meet his demands has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
The Texarkana Gazette reports that 56-year-old Maverick Dean Bryan was sentenced Wednesday in Texarkana, Arkansas. He received credit for the 16 months he’s already been in jail. He’ll be on probation for three years after his release.
Bryan admitted last year to sending letters to the mayors of seven cities. He wrote he’d kill them if they didn’t put prayer and the Ten Commandments back in school and eliminate Common Core curriculum.
The letter also demanded mayors neglect votes of anyone homosexual, Muslim, socialist, communist or atheist.
He pleaded guilty in January to seven counts of mailing threatening communications.