Fayetteville Advertising, Promotion Commission Rejects Chamber Proposal During Special Meeting

FAYETTEVILLE -- Advertising and Promotion commissioners rejected a proposed management contract from the Chamber of Commerce for the second time this week.

Commissioners voted in public during a special meeting Friday. The group voted during an executive session at Monday's regular meeting. The special meeting was called after members of the media questioned the legality of the executive session.

Commissioners voted 4-3 both times to reject the proposal. Matt Behrend, Bobby Ferrell and Justin Tennant voting for further discussions with the chamber and Ching Mong, Tim Freeman, Matthew Petty and Hannah Withers voting to end discussion.

The Advertising and Promotion Commission is comprised of volunteers and city appointees and determines how part of the city's hotel, motel and restaurant tax revenue is spent and advises commission staff on ways to promote the city.

John Tull, general counsel for the Arkansas Press Association, said Friday that Monday's discussion and vote should have been done in open session. The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requires public bodies to meet in open session unless members are considering the employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of any public officer or employee.

Organizations such as the chamber and their proposals aren't individuals who warrant privacy when qualifications are discussed, Tull said, adding having the special meeting Friday to discuss and vote on the issue is a step in the right direction but doesn't undo Monday's wrongdoing.

"If a meeting is illegal under the Freedom of Information Act, it is illegal under the Freedom of Information Act and you can't undo that," he said.

The commission is reviewing applicants to replace Marilyn Heifner, executive director, who is retiring Jan. 31. Commissioners met in a separate executive session Monday to narrow 56 applications to three candidates to interview.

Withers said the group didn't believe they were doing anything wrong when they discussed the chamber's pitch in executive session.

"We were considering the chamber as another applicant," she said.

Vince Chadick, the commission's attorney, advised the group no action taken in executive session becomes official until voted on publicly. He also suggested commissioners discuss the chamber's proposal in public at Friday's meeting. Chadick wasn't at Monday's meeting.

Steve Clark, chamber president, said before Friday's meeting he hoped to hear why his proposal was voted down Monday.

Heifner distributed a letter to commissioners before Monday's meeting discouraging them from moving forward on the proposal.

Clark sent an email Thursday to commissioners asking them to reconsider and refuted several of Heifner's claims, such as her assertion commission employees don't want to become chamber employees. Clark said the chamber's proposal would keep those workers under the commission, not the chamber.

"We do not know what was discussed regarding this memo because those discussions were not public," he wrote in his email to commissioners.

Clark attended Friday's meeting but didn't speak. After the meeting he said he believed the contract proposal is a good one and he'll bring it up again after the commission hires an executive director.

Commission Chairman Mong voted against discussing the proposal now but said he was willing to examine it at a later date.

"I don't think the timing is right. Our purpose right now is to find a replacement for Marilyn," Mong said.

The three commissioners who voted to continue talking to the chamber said they had more questions they would like answered before deciding if they approved of the proposal.

"I would bring them back because I have not seen enough to discount them," said Tennant, one of two City Council members who also serves on the commission.

Freeman said one thing that kept him from supporting an ongoing discussion is the chambers take political positions and he doesn't believe it's appropriate for the chamber to run a commission funded by tax dollars because it could create a conflict of interest.

Clark announced last week the chamber was encouraging residents to vote to repeal the city's Civil Rights Administration ordinance.

The City Council approved the ordinance in August and the issue is the subject of a Dec. 9 special election. The ordinance tells businesses they can't turn away, refuse to hire or otherwise discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, age and several other characteristics. Arkansas and federal law doesn't explicitly include sexual orientation or gender identity.

The chamber has a contract with the city for economic development services. Petty, also a City Council member, said the chamber's opposition to the ordinance didn't influence his decision to dismiss further discussion.

"For me it was really just about the application," he said. "I think their proposal was worth due consideration, and I think we gave it that consideration."

Rusty Turner, publisher of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, said Friday's meeting doesn't solve problems caused by Monday's meeting.

"The original discussion is what's important," he said.

Northwest Arkansas Newspapers contacted Casey Jones, city prosecuting attorney, Wednesday to make a formal complaint seeking criminal charges against the commission for what the newspaper company believes are a number of Freedom of Information Act violations stemming from Monday's meeting, which included two executive sessions.

Jones agreed to meet with newspaper representatives Monday afternoon, and Turner said he plans on keeping that appointment.

"A government agency's position should be, 'How do we keep this public' and not 'How do we make it private,'" he said. "Clearly (the commission's) approach is the latter."