Committee of Whole Awaits Possible Veto, Attorney General's Opinion

— All 15 Washington County justices of the peace will review tax-dollar and other financial issues at a committee level, unless there's a veto or the attorney general says it's illegal.

County Judge Marilyn Edwards has until Thursday to decide if she's going to veto an emergency ordinance adopted last week. The ordinance requires her to accept a single Finance and Budget Committee of the Whole, an effort she has opposed since last month.

"I thought about it, but I haven't made up mind yet," Edwards said Friday. "There's never been one in Washington County that I know of. Right now, I'm trying to sort through everything."

The Quorum Court needed a three-fifths vote, or 10 nods, to adopt the emergency ordinance Thursday. Justices of the peace approved the ordinance 10-4 with one absent. The Quorum Court needs nine votes, or a two-thirds majority, to override a veto.

The proposal came from Justice of the Peace Eva Madison, who made a similar motion approved in January. The motion, like the ordinance, also created four other committees. However, the motion did not require the judge to act, Madison said.

Edwards last month instead created a different finance committee composed of five members.

Madison said the most important work done by the Quorum Court last year was through the Budget Committee of the Whole, which met irregularly, and also the monthly Finance Committee, consisting of six voting members but with attendance from all.

"My intent is to try to make our committee structure more efficient," Madison said. "I think those of us that served on the Budget Committee of the Whole will agree that it was a good process."

The Budget Committee of the Whole balanced the 2013 budget without using reserves, a feat not done in many years. They did so by cutting traditionally unspent cash from budgets.

"It worked so good to have all of us together," Justice of the Peace Rex Bailey said at the meeting. "It's the first time that I know we've had a unanimous vote. We were able to take all the carryover money and put it away in our reserves and stuff, and I believe this (ordinance) will work the same."

The effort was made through a line-by-line item review of all county department spending requests, led by Justice of the Peace Candy Clark, who was appointed by Edwards in 2011.

"I was very satisfied with the way the budget went last year," Edwards said. "I was a little concerned because I felt like they wanted to do a line item on everyone. When I really got to looking at everything, there was very little line item done on anyone except for people in my office and people that work for the county judge. That's OK though because I have the largest group of people."

Clark also led the Finance Committee, which reviews the current 'financial issues. That committee also included Madison, Baliey and Justices of the Peace Tom Lundstrum, Barbara Fitzpatrick and Mary Ann Spears.

Clark said the idea for a Finance Committee of the Whole came from last November's meeting. She was under the impression all members supported the idea. All members should have a vote on financial issues at the committee level, she said.

"Input versus a vote, totally a different thing. When you vote on something there is some assurance you're going to honor that vote when we move forward," Clark said.

The finance committee Edwards attempted to create last month consisted of Spears and Fitzpatrick and Justices of the Peace Ann Harbison, Rick Cochran and Butch Pond. Harbison said Madison's proposal overstepped the county judge's authority.

"The county judge in fact appoints the committee and determines the standing committees," Harbison said. "The Quorum Court, I think, can add additional committees."

Last week, Cochran, Fitzpatrick, Harbison and Pond voted against Madison's proposal. Spears was absent.

"My reading and interpretation of Arkansas statute does permit the judge to appoint the committee as opposed for us to override this and form a Committee of the Whole," Cochran said.

George Butler, county attorney, has said a committee with all 15 members that meets on a regular basis undermines the constitutional prerogative of the county judge to preside over the Quorum Court.

State Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, and the Association of Arkansas Counties last month said the law was too vague regarding the legality of a committee of the whole that meets on a regular basis. Lindsey, a member of the Senate's City, County and Local Affair's Committee, requested an opinion from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Jan. 16 at the request of the county.

"The attorney general, I don't know if I trust his judgment given the last six months,' Bailey said.

Harbison said last week she wanted to wait for McDaniel's opinion before the Quorum Court created a committee of the whole. The attorney general is the state's interpreter of the law, she said.

An attorney general's opinion could take months to complete.

Madison said past attorneys general on this issue have deferred giving a concrete opinion. Instead they have said legislative change or court rulings are needed to settle the issue, she said.

"I'm very fearful in us delaying the important budget and finance work of this county while we wait on an opinion that might not give us an answer," Madison said.

Edwards, after Madison's proposal was adopted Thursday, thanked all Quorum Court members for the thought they've put into the issue, but also gave a quick warning.

"I have the right to appoint a committee and I have the right to remove the committee," Edwards said. "If I get an opinion back and this opinion tells me this committee is not legal, I will un-appoint this committee and I will appoint a smaller committee."

Upcoming Events