ROGERS -- Two residents claim in a complaint filed Monday that Ben Lipscomb is not qualified to be the city attorney and should not be paid his salary and benefits.
Brian Ferguson and Ellen Turner, through their attorneys Don Kendall and Susan Keller Kendall, state Lipscomb lives in a house on Beaver Lake and is not a resident of Rogers and that he abdicated his position and is therefore not qualified to be the city attorney.
Ferguson and Turner also filed a motion to intervene in the Lipscomb complaint against the city.
Lipscomb said the complaint stemmed from a previous conflict.
A special prosecutor was appointed to review an allegation from a Springdale police officer that Lipscomb used his city identification to enter the VIP tent during a concert last summer at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion. The prosecutor, Marc McCune, did not file charges.
"This is just another way to punish me for the failure of the special prosecutor to find that I did anything wrong," Lipscomb said.
Lipscomb filed a complaint against the mayor and aldermen on Nov. 5 stating he was being punished by the city council and the mayor because the majority of his duties as city attorney had been transferred to Chris Griffin, the city staff attorney. Lipscomb requested that his duties be returned to his office.
The complaint also states Lipscomb claims his homestead tax credit on Dearhurst Road at the lake rather than the house he owns and rents on Mockingbird Lane, nor does he maintain water or sewer service inside the city. They also note Lipscomb continues to use the Mockingbird Lane address so that he can vote in city elections.
Lipscomb will make almost $160,000 as city attorney in 2015, although he has few job duties remaining. Benton County Prosecuting Attorney-elect Nathan Smith has said he will not commission Lipscomb to prosecute misdemeanors in Rogers District Court.
Ferguson and Turner are asking the court to find that Lipscomb is not qualified to serve as the city attorney and that any salary and benefits paid to Lipscomb are illegal under Article 16, Section 13 of the Arkansas Constitution.
The complaint against the city is scheduled for a hearing on Jan. 20. The motion to intervene and the complaint filed by Ferguson and Turner will likely be heard on the same date, according to John Wilkerson, an Arkansas Municipal League attorney representing the city.
NW News on 12/30/2014