Council members address rumors during meeting

The El Dorado City Council conducted its business Thursday in a nearly empty Council Chamber as city officials continued public health and safety measures in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

City officials themselves practiced social distancing and took other precautions during the meeting.

Council members Willie McGhee and Paul Choate sat in two tables that were set up at the front of the Council Chamber, while other city officials — including Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer, City Clerk Heather McVay and council members Michael Rice, Vance Williamson, Judy Ward, Billy Blann, who wore a face mask, and Dianne Hammond — spread out around the council dais.

City Attorney Henry Kinslow and Fire Chief Chad Mosby sat in the audience.

Council member Andre Rucks was unable to attend the meeting.

The meeting was livestreamed on the City Hall Facebook page, allowing residents the opportunity to view council proceedings online.

Prior to entering City Hall, those who attended the meeting underwent temperature-checks that were conducted outside the building by the El Dorado Fire Department.

For a week, public access has been restricted at City Hall and other city offices, including El Dorado Water Utilities.

Residents have been asked to conduct business with the city by phone and to use the drive-through window and other payment options at the EWU.

City officials initially announced that Thursday’s council meeting would be closed to the public.

However, after consulting with the Arkansas Municipal League attorney Lanny Richmond, SmithCreer notified council

members that limited seating had to be provided for citizens who wished to attend the meeting.

Ten, cushioned folding chairs were set up in the lobby of City Hall. The chairs were spaced out with at least six feet of distance between them and they faced the open doorway of the Council Chamber.

The chairs remained empty during the approximately 13-minute council meeting. Clearing up rumors

The council addressed and clarified rumors that have sprouted up in regard to the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williamson said there has been talk among city employees about possible layoffs.

“I would like for city employees to know that everybody’s job is safe right now. You know, city employees, they’re all important and we want to keep everybody employed. We need everybody to be employed,” Williamson said.

Earlier this week, Williamson, who is also chairman of the city’s Finance Committee, asked city department heads to place a moratorium on spending from the city budget “unless it is absolutely necessary,” citing uncertain times in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.

“This includes all previously approved and allocated funds, as well as funds approved to be spent from the El Dorado Works account,” Williamson wrote in an email, which prompted the El Dorado Works Board to cancel its March 17 meeting.

“While we are making cutbacks and we don’t know what tomorrow or the next few months brings, that (city jobs) is the last place we would look to make cuts,” Williamson said Thursday.

McGhee acknowledged that the COVID-19 outbreak has caused “a lot of anxiety right now from other places.”

“We need our employees just like the hospital needs their employees, so we have to let them know they’re on our minds and I think that’s one way that we can kind of de-stress some of the stress,” he said.

Smith-Creer agreed and addressed another rumor that she said had been posted on Facebook.

“People have said that we initiated a (citywide) curfew and that is not true,” the mayor said. “We do not have an 11 o’clock curfew and there is not a $10,000 fine.”

Williamson pointed to the citywide juvenile curfew that has been in effect since the 1990s but he said the city has not enacted a curfew in relation to the coronavirus.

Blann then confirmed that city services, including garbage collection, household trash collection, recycling, fire and police, etc., are operating as usual.

“Potholes are being filled …” Blann began before Choate interjected.

“Right now, it’s imperative that the people in this community know that fire and police will respond. The water is going to flow, the sewer is going to lead and the solid waste is going to be picked up,” Choate said.

“Those are the main pillars of the services that we have to render. Now, if we have to wait a little while on a pothole or two, so be it,” he continued. “The essentials are going to be tended to and the schedule is going to be such that if we do have people getting sick, that there’s going to be somebody to fall in place …”

The El Dorado Police Department has also modified its administrative operations.

On Friday, the EPD closed the front lobby of police headquarters to the public until further notice and asked residents to use the outdoor phone/intercom system to dispatch officers upfront.

The phone is posted just west of the front entrance of police headquarters.

Officers may also take incident reports by phone for minor offenses, including misdemeanor thefts, property damage or harassment.

Officers may call complainants for additional information and to determine if a physical response to a complaint is necessary.

Contacts for the EPD are:

• 870-881-4800, Front Lobby/Records.

• 870-863-4141, Non-Emergency calls

• 911, Emergency calls. For more information, call Lt. Andrew Russell, public information officer, at 870-881-4805 or send an email to arussell@eldoradopolice.org.

Other business

On Thursday, the city council also agreed to authorize Smith-Creer to pay the city’s monthly statements in April should the council not meet due to public health concerns, per a recommendation by the Arkansas Municipal League.

Smith-Creer told council members they will receive a copy of the bills and have time to review them before any further action is taken.

The council also appointed Kelli Harrison, co-owner of the Olde Towne Store, to a vacant seat on the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission.