FAYETTEVILLE -- Officials are preparing for a large crowd at tonight's City Council meeting, where an anti-discrimination ordinance will be considered for the second time in 10 months.
"It'll be a spirited debate I'm sure," Mayor Lioneld Jordan told aldermen at an agenda session last week.
An Aug. 19-20 meeting where the council approved a Civil Rights Administration ordinance went past 3 a.m. last year.
The ordinance was later repealed in a Dec. 9 special election.
The new proposal, called the Uniform Civil Rights Protection ordinance, also seeks to prohibit acts of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
But, unlike the previous proposal, complaints would be heard by a council-appointed commission, rather than a single civil rights administrator. The ordinance also makes direct reference to and borrows language from the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993. If approved by a majority of the City Council, the ordinance will be up for a public vote Sept. 8.
Tonight's meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.
Doors to the City Council chambers will open at 4:30 p.m., according to a news release.
Fire Marshal Harley Hunt said Monday the room's capacity is 130 audience members. After it is filled, residents will be asked to wait in the lobby at city hall or in one of two overflow rooms, where the meeting will be televised.
"Keep in mind that when you leave any room that has reached its occupancy limit, the next person in line has the right to take your place," Jordan said in the news release. "If they do take your place, then you cannot be allowed back in until another person leaves."
Jordan said everyone who wants to address the council will be given one opportunity to do so. Residents will be allowed to speak first. Participants are asked to give their name and address. Each person will have three minutes to speak unless they are asked to return to the microphone by a member of the City Council. All remarks must be directed to the mayor, and all attendees are encouraged to be respectful and courteous and refrain from derogatory remarks.
As with any ordinance, the Uniform Civil Rights Protection proposal must be read three times before it is subject to a final vote.
The floor must be opened to public comment each time an alderman proposes an amendment or if the council votes to suspend the rules and go to the next reading.
Tonight's meeting will be televised live on the Fayetteville Government Channel: Channel 216 for Cox Communications customers and Channel 99 for AT&T U-verse subscribers. The meeting will also be streamed online at fayetteville-ar.gov.
NW News on 06/16/2015