FAYETTEVILLE — The newest additions to the Fayetteville City Council likely slept well last night.
If a full day’s orientation Wednesday wasn’t enough to take it out of them, they’ll be wise to catch up on as much sleep as possible in the coming weeks.
There will be long nights ahead.
“If you’re not a reader, you need to be,” Mayor Lioneld Jordan told incoming aldermen Rhonda Adams, Mark Kinion and Justin Tennant after the trio was presented with a several-hundred-page orientation binder to thumb through.
“When I was an alderman, I worked a 40-hour work week and spent about 30 hours working from home,” Jordan said.
After his initial comments, staff members briefed the aldermen-elect on a variety of topics, including a brief description of each city department and division, procedures for placing an item on the council’s agenda, what’s included in the city budget and how to fully comply with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Essentially, in six hours, Adams, Kinion and Tennant received an entire rundown of how Fayetteville government functions — from the Advertising and Promotion Commission to the Yvonne Richardson Community Center.
Perhaps the most insightful part of the day, however, came from talking with four of the existing City Council members the new alderman will be working with after being sworn in this January.
Ward 4 alderwoman Sarah Lewis was traveling Wednesday and did not attend the orientation.
“I’m sure you all have input overload right now,” Ward 1 alderwoman Adella Gray told the newcomers. “But it all comes together. You’re just going to need to ask lots of questions.”
Ward 3 Alderman Bobby Ferrell reminded Adams, Kinion and Tennant whom they work for.
“All the power that we have is derived from the people,” he said. “We should never forget that.”
Ferrell said that once Adams, Kinion and Tennant take office, things will change. Fayetteville residents they don’t even know will approach them while at a grocery store or on the steps of city hall.
“If something’s divisive, you don’t need to solicit feedback,” he said. “You’re going to hear about it.”
For Ward 2 Alderman Matthew Petty, one of the biggest challenges has been what he referred to as the “80-20 rule,” meaning he’ll only hear feedback from 20 percent of the people he represents.
“I think the hardest part of the job is trying to figure out where the rest of that 80 percent lies,” Petty said.
In some circumstances, he said, an alderman has to make an unpopular decision.
Quoting automobile tycoon Henry Ford, Petty added, “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”
“Sometimes you have to go out on a limb.”
Finally, the council’s longest-tenured member, Brenda Thiel, said that, even when aldermen don’t agree, being civil toward one another is an important aspect of the job.
“I’ve never carried a grudge too long,” she said. “Over the years there have been some pretty hot topics, but all-in-all you just feel like everyone’s doing the best we can to serve everybody.”
Adams, who won her Ward 4 seat with 62 percent of the vote in November, will replace outgoing Alderwoman Shirley Lucas, who did not seek re-election.
Kinion will replace Kyle Cook, who also chose not to run for another term in Ward 2.
Tennant, a global services and support manager with Hewlett-Packard, ran unopposed in Ward 3.