Sebastian County meeting place changed

FORT SMITH — The ongoing covid-19 pandemic prompted Sebastian County to move the site of its next Quorum Court meeting again.

County Judge David Hudson wrote in a memo April 17 included with the April meeting material the county recommends the meeting be held at the Greenwood High School Safe Shelter, 400 E. Gary St. Previously, Hudson said an emergency had been declared to change the date of the meeting from April 21 to 6:30 p.m. May 19 at the Ben Geren Park Safe Shelter.

Hudson said Thursday he was contacted by County Emergency Management Director Kendall Beam, who suggested it might be better to not hold the meeting at the Ben Geren Safe Shelter due to the covid-19 testing there.

“And we want to continue to support that as long as that’s prudent and effective for the community,” Hudson said. “So we don’t want to bring folks into that area because of that, and we felt it would be more appropriate to go ahead and relocate it.”

Hudson said the April meeting was scheduled to be in Greenwood anyway. Fort Smith and Greenwood both serve as the seats of Sebastian County, with April, August, October and December Quorum Court meetings at the Greenwood Courthouse and the remainder at the Fort Smith Courthouse.

However, Hudson said the meeting location may change as the county further evaluates means of having the meeting electronically. House Bill 1082, which guides conducting county public meetings through electronic means, was passed by the Arkansas General Assembly during the 2020 fiscal session. The county will review the options the bill makes possible and communicate with the Quorum Court before the May 19 meeting with recommended administrative procedures.

“There’s going to be some followup on getting that meeting set up, particularly in regard to if we’re going to do it electronically, we’ll probably have … a test meeting, let’s say,” Hudson said. “We would notify the media that we’re doing that, and we would probably just make sure everybody can get online and do a roll call … everything’s working right and they can hear one another, and also clarify how we’re going to handle public comments and accessibility to the media. So we’re trying to work through all those details.”

The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee approved a proposal April 9 to change the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to allow cities and counties to hold open public meetings through electronic means if the governor declares a disaster emergency. According to this amendment, which was voted to be added to House Bill 1082, electronic means would include by telephone, videoconference or video broadcast.

Sebastian County’s 127,827 residents make it the state’s fourth most populous county, behind Pulaski, Benton and Washington counties. Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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