By Ray King
For the second straight month, the Pine Bluff City Council has said no to Mayor Vivian Flowers.
In January, Flowers’ effort to fire Inspection and Zoning Director Mitzi Ruth was reversed by the council in a near unanimous vote.
On Monday, by a vote of 6-2, the Council adopted a resolution supporting the Urban Renewal Agency, an agency Flowers wants to do away with.
The resolution was sponsored by Council Member Lloyd Holcomb Jr., with Council Members Glen Brown, Bruce Lockett, Lanette Frazier, LaTisha Brunson and William Fells also voting yes.
Council Members Steven Mays and Yvonne Denton voted no.
Not only did Lockett express his support for Urban Renewal, He told Flowers he thought the city would not be financially able to do all the things Urban Renewal does. He also explained his position to Deltaplex News.
Holomb’s resolution listed, among other things, Urban Renewal getting federal for the downtown area, other federal grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Forestry Service; worked with other city departments to remove over 200 condemned properties; and developed partnerships that resulted in over $4 million in private funds and real estate.
Flowers called support for the resolution a “mistake,” going on to tell the council the resolution did not include language to inform the council of on-going projects, or their status. She particularly mentioned the Go Kart Track, which, according to a document given to council members Monday, has a construction balance of $965,613.85 as of Jan. 16.
That included $80,000 for Mini Golf, $55.700 for sections of the track, as well as other work that is on-going.
An ordinance sponsored by Flowers to abolish Urban Renewal was read for the first time and placed on the calendar. It will require two more readings before it can be voted on.
