PINE BLUFF — Since she became mayor, Debe Hollingsworth and the Pine Bluff City Council have faced one public dispute: the interim police chief’s residency.
This past week, the dispute boiled over into a divisive, lively debate over whether to follow a 2000 ordinance requiring department heads to live within Pine Bluff city limits.
In the end, the City Council deadlocked 4-4, leaving the fate of interim police Chief Jeff Hubanks - plus three other department heads - uncertain.
Hollingsworth fired former Chief Brenda Davis-Jones hours after being sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1 and hired Hubanks, a former Pine Bluff police officer, as interim chief.
Initially, the decision seemed typical of a new administration: a new mayor, a new chief. But this one doesn’t live in town.
Hubanks lives 19 miles from downtown Pine Bluff in Cleveland County.
Other department heads living outside the city include Gail Blackerby, head of the Cemetery Department; Larry Reynolds, head of the Transit Department; Albert Ridgell, city collector; Brandon Southerland, head of animal control; and Robert Tucker, head of the city’s Inspection Department and Zoning Department.
According to city personnel records, Blackerby and Reynolds were hired before the 2000 ordinance was enacted and are not affected by it.
Hollingsworth said at a meeting with her City Council on Tuesday that the 2000 ordinance was not followed in past administrations when hiring department heads, creating a situation known as “practices and customs.”
“I did not create this problem,” Hollingsworth said. “If you decide to uphold this law, four people will lose their jobs immediately.”
Hollingsworth said she is in support of repealing the ordinance, “because commuting is a normal way of life. And we don’t want to lock ourselves into a situation where we can’t find the best people simply because of where they live. And we certainly don’t want to terminate quality people who are working for us now.”
Aldermen George Stepps sponsored the resolution directing the city to follow its residence ordinance. He, Charles Boyd, Thelma Walker and Glen Brown voted for the resolution.
Aldermen Bill Brumett, Wayne Easterly, Steven Mays and Lloyd Holcomb Jr. voted against it.
Two aldermen - Brumett and Easterly - have also indicated that they support repealing the ordinance.
Holcomb called the situation surrounding the ordinance “delicate. We are in a tug of war with each other here. I signed up to make a difference in this city, not continually fight.”
Pine Bluff City Attorney Althea Hadden-Scott said that Arkansas Municipal League attorneys told her that the city should either “repeal or amend” the residency ordinance and that “it’s not a good idea for the city to continue breaking its own laws.”
After Tuesday’s meeting with aldermen, Hollingsworth vowed that the residency issue would be addressed again in council committee meetings.
“I can assure you this is not over yet,” she said.
Stepps said after the meeting that Hollingsworth “has but one choice, and that’s to follow the law and fire those who are not complying with the ordinance.”
During the contentious meeting Tuesday, several supporters of Davis-Jones, the former police chief, held up signs at the back of council chambers. One read: “Bring Brenda back.”
When asked to comment on the residency issue, Hubanks said after the meeting that he had “nothing to say at this time.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/28/2013