By Ray King
By a vote of 5 to 2, the Pine Bluff City Council on Monday approved a resolution calling for the city to pay Jefferson County nearly $1million dollars to cover the costs of housing prisoners at the county jail.
The resolution brings to a close a long-running dispute between the city and county over bed space at the jail.
Council member Bruce Lockett, who was one of the council members who supported paying the bill, explained the legislation to Deltaplex News.
Other council members who voted yes were Glen Brown Jr., Lloyd Holcomb Jr., Lanette Frazier and Yvonne Denton. Council members Steven Mays and William Fells voted no and Council Member LaTisha Brunson was absent.
According to the resolution, the money will be taken from the Emergency Reserve Fund, which currently has a balance of $8 million.
Taking the money from the reserve fund without exploring other options was Fells’ reason for voting no, and he suggested either negotiating with the county to pay the debt in installments, an idea that Mayor Vivian Flowers said no to. Fells went on to say “I don’t want to reduce what we owe the county because it’s been set by the court. I wanted the City to ask the county if we could repay our unpaid fees in installments or allocate the funds in the 2026 City Budget or 2026 Carryover so we didn’t have to break into our emergency fund. I even said that I would support paying the full $990,000+ with the 2026 budget or carryover funds. However, if they said no and wanted the fees to be paid immediately, then I wouldn’t object to using the emergency fund. I just think we should be careful with spending emergency funds and only use them when we have no other option. Also, I stated during the meeting that we should resume monthly payments now. We shouldn’t go any more months without paying the jail fees from this point forward”
Flowers called for paying the debt in full, particularly since the money is available and said it would be made up with increased revenue that the hotel at the Saracen Casino and Resort is expected to generate when the hotel opens.
In other business, the council approved a resolution adding $500,000 to the 2025 budget that the city received from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and the USDA Forest Service for the City of Pine Bluff;s Municipal Tree Project.
According to the project description, Pine Bluff proposes to plant 1,500 new trees on public land and public spaces in underserved communities in the city and perform 5,000 hours of professional tree pruning and hazard reduction. The project will also educate students on urban forestry with planting at public parks and city properties.
Resolutions appointing Leslie Woods and Colonel Nathaniel Todd to the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Port Authority Board were approved without dissent.
