Pine Bluff City Attorney Althea Haden-Scott has told members of the Pine Bluff City Council their only responsibility in dealing with Garland Trice is to decide if the $123,496.97 clean-up lien placed on Trice’s property represents the amount it cost the city to clean up the nuisance.
Trice owned the building at 620 S. Main St. that partially collapsed July 25, 2014, partially blocking Main Street on the west side between 6th and 8th Avenues. The street remained blocked and closed until April 11, 2017 when the building was razed after Fire and Emergency Services Chief Shauwn Howell declared it a safety hazard.
In a note to council members Friday, Hadden-Scott said the council is not charged with relitigating issues that have already been decided by the courts, including Pine Bluff District Court, Jefferson County Circuit Court and the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
She went on to say that if Trice wants to contest the amount of the lieu placed on him, the proper place to do that is to file an appeal in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
“A court of competent jurisdiction is Equip to analyze evidence and the credibility of witnesses, which is not a function of the city council,” Hadden-Scott said in the note.
At the last meeting of the City Council, Trice and his attorney were given to two weeks to try and work out a settlement with Hadden-Scott on what Trice’s attorney said were “due process issues,”
