Council hears questions regarding petition to void narrowing of street
Citizens demand to know who authorized motion to reconsider since no public meeting held
— Mayor Terri Glenn and Springtown council members were quizzed by residents Paul Lemke and Linda Taylor before and during the town council meeting on Jan. 9 regarding who or how an appeal was filed in regard to Judge John Scott’s decision to dismiss the town’s motion for a declaratory judgment regarding council action narrowing a block-long section of closed street between Bredehoeft Road and Flint Creek in 2014.
Both Taylor and Lemke argued that they knew of no town council meeting between the December 11 meeting and the Jan. 9 regular meeting and wondered who authorized an appeal of the Dec. 18 order of Judge Scott dismissing the case. Lemke asked for city documents pertaining to the case.
Mayor Glenn said the town’s attorney, George Rhodes, made the recommendation and she authorized him to proceed with a motion to request a reconsideration of the town’s motion for a declaratory judgment. She said it was not an appeal but a request to reconsider his decision based on arguments in regard to case law based on a Van Hovenburg v. Holeman decision.
She told Lemke and Taylor that, since they were parties in the case, they should request documents from their own attorneys rather than the town, to which Lemke responded that he was also a citizen of Springtown and had rights to see town documents.
A petition filed by the town of Springtown in October 2017 requesting a declaratory judgment to void a 2014 town council ordinance which narrowed an “unplatted” 60-foot-wide street to 20 feet was denied, with the judge signing the court order on Dec. 18, 2018, but a reconsideration of that action was requested by the town, according to court documents.
According to the town’s petition filed on Oct. 13, 2017, the proposed 2014 ordinance which narrowed a closed street between Bredehoeft Road and Flint Creek, was adopted with less than a 2/3 majority of the council voting in favor of suspending the rules and reading by title only and then passing the ordinance on three readings with a single vote. The motion to suspend the rules and read by title only, as well as the vote to pass the ordinance on three readings with a single vote, according to the petition filed in Benton County Circuit Court, was with three council members in favor and two abstaining, or 3/5 of the council and not with the required 2/3 of the council.
The petition also alleges that then-mayor Paul Lemke, who introduced the ordinance, and Elnora Kay Taylor, who voted to combine the three readings into a single reading, benefited from the passing of the ordinance and should not have participated in the introduction or adoption of the ordinance. It also alleges that Linda Taylor, daughter of Elnora Kay Taylor, seconded a motion to read the proposed ordinance by title only and should not have participated in the council actions since her mother stood to benefit from the passage of the ordinance.
The petition alleges that the 3-year-old ordinance should be declared void and the 20-feet on each side of the former Bredehoeft Road be restored to the city because the passing of the ordinance was not done according to Arkansas Code.
A hearing on the matter was held Nov. 11. In his ruling signed on Dec. 18, Judge John Scott said the previous council had lawfully passed the ordinance, and he denied the town’s motion to void the 2014 council action. The town filed a petition to reconsider the denial on Dec. 19.
At issue is the width of a former street between Bredehoeft Road and Flint Creek, near the Don Earley Memorial Bridge on Aubrey Long Road. The unused street was narrowed in 2014, giving to adjacent landowners Michael Evans, Kay Taylor and Paul Lemke the land vacated by the town.
The reopening of this spur of Bredehoeft Road and associated changes remain controversial and relate to a years-old dispute over the location of the Aubrey Long Bridge. When the bridge was planned in the years prior to 2012, Karee and Preston Barrett objected to its location near a natural spring on their property. After the bridge was completed, the Barretts blamed associated county road work on Aubrey Long Road for causing sinkholes on their property.
In the years after Preston Barrett was elected mayor and Karee Barett elected to the town council, the council makeup changed and, in the last two-plus years under Mayor Terri Glenn, embarked on a plan to take back portions of a closed street previously narrowed by Springtown and reroute traffic from the bridge away from the Barrett property, though Paul Lemke, mayor in 2014, argues that opening up the closed street as a continuation of Bredehoeft Road would run the roadway past another spring contributing to Flint Creek and into a city park along the creek.
When the Bredehoeft Road project was brought up on the agenda, Glenn said there were no updates on the project. The December meeting minutes stated that it was reported that the Bredehoeft Project will proceed as planned to maintain Bredehoeft Road from the bridge directly to Bredehoeft to provide an alternate to Aubrey Long. This will reduce traffic on Aubrey Long and better preserve the Big Spring. The approved December 11 minutes also state the judge ruled against the town and “the town must decide to appeal, ask for a reconsideration or abide with the ruling.”
A Dec. 17 email from Mayor Glenn to Attorney Rhoads instructed Rhoads to proceed with the request to file a motion to reconsider.
In other business, Mayor Glenn administered the oath of office to council members Chuck Bostwick, Karee Barrett and David Clark.
Lemke addressed the council in the open public hearing, complaining that the town had spent approximately $10,000 to open a one-block section of street that ends in the city park with no easements to connect it to Aubrey Long Road at the bridge. He also complained of other council actions which benefited the Barretts and their family and David Clark by abandoning streets and alleys along Flint Creek. Karee Barrett denied receiving any property from the city.
Glenn said the Readings Road project “is no more, thanks to Mr. Lemke’s involvement.” She said the matter would likely be revisited in the future.
According to town minutes from the Dec. 11 meeting, Doyle Swicegood of Swicegood Excavating had agreed to do roadwork on Readings and Candleglow Roads. County parcel maps show the existing Candleglow Road crosses parcels privately owned by Barbara Goodman and possibly land owned by McCollum Revocable Trust and Lemke.