FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County Attorney Steve Zega asked Circuit Judge Doug Martin to leave the county and its Election Commission out of Protect Fayetteville's lawsuit claiming the city's Uniform Civil Rights Protection ordinance is invalid.
In a motion filed Wednesday, Zega said "there is no justiciable controversy between the plaintiffs and the county" now that a special election has been held.
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Go to the online version of this story at nwadg.com to read a copy of Washington County Attorney Steve Zega’s motion.
Source: Staff Report
"The court should dismiss the complaint of the plaintiffs against the county," according to the motion.
In the Aug. 31 lawsuit, filed less than 18 hours before early voting began in the Sept. 8 special election, Protect Fayetteville representatives claimed Washington County and its election commissioners were about to participate in an illegal referendum.
The group asked Martin for a temporary restraining order to halt the election.
The judge on Sept. 3 rejected the request but has yet to rule on Protect Fayetteville's broader complaint seeking to void the ordinance.
Protect Fayetteville has alleged, among other things, that the City Council improperly referred the Uniform Civil Rights Protection ordinance to voters June 16. Travis Story, the group's general counsel, said Mayor Lioneld Jordan should not have been allowed to cast the sixth and deciding vote advancing the measure to its third and final reading.
City Attorney Kit Williams has disputed Story's claim, citing Arkansas Code Annotated 14-43-501, which states, "The mayor shall have a vote to establish a quorum of the city council at any regular meeting of the city council and when his or her vote is needed to pass any ordinance, bylaw, resolution, order or motion."
Protect Fayetteville's lawsuit also claims the city's ordinance, set to take effect Nov. 7, conflicts with Act 137, passed by state legislators without Gov. Asa Hutchinson's signature earlier this year. Act 137 prevents cities and counties from enacting or enforcing ordinances that prohibit discrimination on a basis not contained in state law.
The ordinance Fayetteville voters approved, 7,666 (52.8 percent) to 6,860 (48.2 percent), prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, two classifications that aren't included in the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are mentioned, however, in other state laws dealing with domestic-abuse shelters and bullying in public schools.
Therefore, Williams has argued, Fayetteville's ordinance, and others like it in Little Rock, Eureka Springs, Hot Springs and Pulaski County, do not conflict with Act 137.
"The protected classifications are certainly there in state law and, therefore, this is not a new protected classification," he said.
The plaintiffs have 10 business days to respond to Zega's motion.
As of midday Wednesday, a hearing in the case hadn't been set.
NW News on 09/17/2015