By Ray King
The Pine Bluff City Council on Monday tabled resolutions appointing one member to the Urban Renewal Board and reappointing five members to the Pine Bluff Planning Commission because an existing city ordinance was not followed.
After the meeting, Assistant City Attorney Joe Childers explained the ordinance to Deltaplex News.
Council Member Ivan Whitfield raised the issue of the ordinance in questioning the appointment and reappointments, prompting the decision to table the legislation.
The Urban Renewal Board had submitted the name of Lynn Long Guynn to serve on its board and with the resolution being tabled, she will continue to serve until the appointment is officially made.
Mayor Shirley Washington was seeking to reappoint Gordon Reese, Terrence Mitchner, Stephen W. Huselton, Floyd Leland Stice and David Wilbert to the Planning Commission Board. She said a list from Regional Planning and a list prepared by the city did not match up in terms of expiration dates, but it appeared that most of the members terms had expired.
They will also continue to serve while the city goes through the process of advertising the positions.
Also Monday, a proposed ordinance dealing with abandoned, wrecked and inoperable vehicles, trailers and boats that had been scheduled to be read a third time was pulled by its sponsor and sent back to committee.
Council Member Bruce Lockett, who sponsored the legislation, said work still needed to be done on the ordinance, which among other things, set deadlines for the removal of wrecked or inoperable vehicles from both public and private property.
A resolution amending the 2021 budget and increasing the salary of the Administrative Clerk in the City Clerk’s Office from $26,624 to $27,850 was also approved.
City Clerk Janice Roberts said in a memorandum explaining the change that the starting salary was changed in January to the higher figure which is $876 more than the salary listed on the budget. No new money was involved in the change.
