Mayoral authority on toDAy’s CounCIl meeting agenda

City directors also to take up Rec Complex, cybersecurity

The El Dorado City Council and members of the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex board of directors are expected to hash out issues regarding the complex board during a regular council meeting at 5:30 p.m. today.

The meeting will be held in the Council Chamber of City Hall.

Only 25 seats will be available for audience members, including city officials, department heads and other employees, inside the chamber.

The restriction is part of a coronavirus (COVID-19) event plan that was submitted to and approved by the Arkansas Department of Health for indoor gatherings of 10 or more people.

Those who attend the meeting are required to wear face coverings and undergo temperature screenings that will be conducted upon entering City Hall.

Council members are slated to discuss city council representation on various city boards and commissions.

In a related matter, complex board member Chris Nale is on the agenda to address concerns about the status of the board,

which oversees operations at the Rec Complex on Champagnolle Road.

At the core of the matter are questions about the board’s powers and authority, function and membership roster.

Nale broached the topic during a complex board meeting Jan. 8, noting that city Council Member Mike Rice was appointed to the board in 2019 but has not attended regular board meetings in several months.

Just prior to the meeting, Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer sent an email to the council listing which council members served on commissions and boards.

Rice is listed as a member of the complex board and Creer-Smith questioned the status of the board.

In early 2019, the city council approved a proposal from the Union County Quorum Court to assume administrative duties for the complex and to dissolve a 2001 interlocal agreement between the two entities to operate and manage the facility.

The agreement also called for the dissolution of the complex board.

However, the council later appointed Rice to the complex board and agreed to keep the board intact until a two-phase improvement and renovation plan for the complex is completed.

Phase one is under way. The scope of work and funding for phase two have not yet been final- ized.

In a reply to SmithCreer’s email on Jan. 8, Rice said he stopped attending complex board meetings because he thought the board had been disbanded.

During their regular meeting the same day, complex board members cited a need for active members to help oversee and vote on decisions regarding general operations and special projects, such as the two-phase improvement and renovation plan.

Following a lengthy discussion, complex board members agreed to speak to city officials about the matter and Nale said he would reach out to SmithCreer.

In other business today, the council is expected to review city Ordinance 1798, which spells out the mayor’s authority to make purchases, execute contracts and sell or exchange city property of up to $5,000.

The ordinance calls for the council to vote on bills of $2,000 or more and spells out requirements of the city’s bidding process.

Council Member Paul Choate requested that the item be placed on today’s agenda.

City Human Resources Director Pierce Moore is also on the agenda to discuss options to improve cyber-security for the city.

Several ground lease renewals at South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field and recognition of city employees of the month are listed under new business on the agenda for today’s meeting.