City official: Rule change is designed to target him

Mayor says new agenda procedure will ensure efficiency during meetings

Revised rules for setting agendas have led one member of the Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors to accuse the rest of unfairly singling him out.

On Monday the board adopted a procedure that allows city staff to vet potential agenda items and the city manager to decide whether they will be included in a board meeting.

Mayor Ruth Penney-Bell said the change is meant to ensure efficiency, but Ward 2 Director Laney Harris asserted it targeted him and said the board was biased against his proposals.

“We’re trying to get this so that we’re not taking up valuable time with something that has no chance of even passing. … Our staff does not get paid to attend these meetings. They’re here just as they do everything else, above and beyond.

“They come here and do what they’re supposed to do. And so we want to make this as businesslike as possible,” PenneyBell said.

The new process sets strict criteria for what the board can consider and vote on.

To put an item on the agenda, a board member must submit it to the city manager by 5 p.m. on the second Wednesday before the meeting.

Submitted items will be distributed to the city attorney and city government department heads for comment. The city manager then will categorize each item as either “staff recommends approval” or “staff does not recommend approval.”

Any item not recommended will not be included on the agenda. Instead, the city manager will schedule a workshop on the item within 30 days. If after the workshop at least two board members endorse the item, it will be considered at the next meeting.

Harris complained that the new rules put too much power in the hands of unelected officials and it should be easier for board members to propose new ideas. The failure of his proposals— and therefore the perception that they are wastes of time—has less to do with their merits than with other board members’ bias against him, he said.

“If the six of y’all—I’m going to go ahead and say it like it is—if y’all get past y’all’s sometimes bias and prejudice and just voted up or down, I think that’s what you should do. Look at what’s being put on the agenda, not look at the person who’s putting the item on the agenda. I think that’s what’s being done lately,” Harris said.

Penney-Bell countered that City Manager Kenny Haskin should be entrusted with the city’s everyday operations including managing staff and setting policy priorities.

“I’m not going in every day to every department and telling them what they need to do. I’m allowing this man (Haskin) to do that. That’s his job. We hired him to do it. And I’m not out for a power play, people. That’s not what I’m here for. I’m just trying to make this meeting run smoothly,” she said.

Ward 1 Director Linda Teeters said she found Harris’ accusations personally offensive.

“There’s not going to be 100 percent agreement on all issues, and I understand that,” she said. “But we all follow the exact same procedures. No one on this board, in my opinion, is being targeted. We have point blank been called out as ‘the six of you,’ as being biased and prejudiced, and I will go on record as saying that I take offense at that.

“I may not agree with everything that Director Harris says. There have been issues I’ve agreed with him on; there have been issues that I’ve disagreed with him on. But I’ve been in public education for 28 years, and I do not appreciate being called biased or prejudiced.”

The new agenda rules take effect in 30 days.

On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter