FAYETTEVILLE -- Aldermen will consider new rules for local initiatives and referendums next week.
The rules, proposed by City Attorney Kit Williams, would set specific parameters petitioners must follow when proposing or challenging Fayetteville ordinances.
Fayetteville City Council
When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Room 219, City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.
On the Agenda: New rules for local initiatives and referendums
Source: Staff Report
Ballot language could no longer be structured "for repeal" or "against repeal" of a particular ordinance, as was the case in a Dec. 9 special election that overturned Fayetteville's Civil Rights Administration ordinance.
Instead, petitioners would have to follow state guidelines for state and countywide ballot measures. Arkansas law doesn't offer clear guidance for how ballot language must be worded on the local level.
State law gives the Arkansas Attorney General's office 10 days to review proposed language for state and countywide ballot measures. Likewise, under Williams' proposal, the Fayetteville City Attorney's office would have two days to certify local ballot language before petitions could begin circulating.
City code gives petitioners 31 days after the passage of an ordinance to collect the number of signatures needed to put the ordinance to a public vote. In the case of the Civil Rights Administration ordinance, 4,095 signatures were needed -- 15 percent of the 27,296 residents who voted in the last mayoral election.
When the ordinance came to a vote, 7,527 residents, or 52 percent of the 14,580 people who cast ballots in the special election, voted for repeal.
Opponents of the civil rights ordinance have criticized Williams' initiative and referendum proposal, saying it should be up to petitioners to decide how they want the ballot to read -- not a city employee. Alderman John La Tour, who was involved with the "Repeal 119" effort before he was elected in November, added that even a two-day delay would cut into the limited time petitioners have to gather signatures.
"Timing is everything when you're trying to get petitions signed," La Tour said earlier this year.
Williams said his proposal benefits petitioners.
It sets clear parameters for how ballot language must be worded and could prevent lawsuits over language that might not comply with the law, Williams said in a March 4 memo.
Repeal 119 representatives, City Clerk Sondra Smith, Fayetteville aldermen and members of the Washington County Election Commission were, in fact, sued in Washington County Circuit Clerk last year in the run-up to the Dec. 9 election. One of the arguments from the plaintiff in the case, Kristin Higgins, was that ballot language did not comply with state law and was improperly certified.
Judge Mark Lindsay dismissed the lawsuit Oct. 23 and ruled "repeal" language was permissible in the municipal referendum.
Williams, in his March 4 memo, said he's willing to remove the city attorney oversight provision in his proposal if that's what the City Council wants to do, but that would require an amendment at next week's meeting.
Joel Walsh can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAJoel.
NW News on 03/11/2015