SPRINGDALE -- The City Council on Tuesday voted 6-1 to appoint Rex Bailey to fill a vacant position on the council.
Bailey will finish the Ward 2, Position 2, term left open when Kevin Flores resigned at the end of August. The ward covers the southeastern part of Springdale.
Bailey runs a local barbershop and served two terms on the council and six years on the Washington County Quorum Court.
Ray Dotson, a former council member, and Darryl Coit, who serves on the city's Active Transportation Committee, also applied for the position.
Dotson is a local businessman, and Coit is a special education teacher at Woodland Junior High in Fayetteville.
State law says the council can fill a vacated seat, but they don't have to, said City Attorney Ernest Cate. If the time between the vacancy and the next general election is longer than one year, the council would have to appoint a new member or call for a special election.
Filings for the general election were closed in early August.
The seat had to be filled by someone living in Ward 2, Cate said.
Law allows the council to determine their route for filling the seat in the first regular meeting after the seat is vacated, he said.
The council called an executive session to discuss the applicants, and voted for Bailey when the regular meeting reconvened.
Council member Mark Fougerousse voted against Bailey's appointment.
"Nothing against him," Fougerousse said via a text message Tuesday night. "I was leaning more towards a special election."
Flores, the first Hispanic member of the council, left his position for a job opportunity in Washington, D.C.
Bailey served on the City Council from 1992 to 1996 and again from 1998 to 2000. He served on the Washington County Quorum Court from 2008 to 2014, and he has served on the city's Public Facilities Board for 20 years.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Bailey to the Arkansas State Barber Board in 2021. Bailey has operated Bailey's Barber and Style Shop in downtown Springdale for many years.
Bailey, 71, will fill the void left by Flores, but will not run for reelection when the term expires at the end of 2024, he said.
Bailey hopes to help Mayor Doug Sprouse and the city. "I knew they needed someone with experience," he said in a phone call Tuesday night.
He said he doesn't see the city facing many tough issues right now.
Bailey said he will miss his seat on the Public Facilities Board. He will resign his term Wednesday morning, then District Judge Jeff Harper will administer the oath of a council member.
The council in April 2020 appointed Jim Reed to fill a position in Ward 2 -- the northwestern part of the city -- when Colby Fulfer vacated his seat in February 2020 when he moved out of the ward.
Reed had previously served 12 years on the City Council. He was elected in 2006 and chose not to run for reelection in 2018. He retired as the construction manager of Springdale Public Schools.
Fulfer volunteered for several months in the mayor's office, learning about city government from Wyman Morgan, who had been the city's director of administration and finance for 21 years. Morgan retired in March.
The council in June 2020 approved a new job position for the city: the mayor's chief of staff. Fulfer filled the position.
Fulfer was elected in January to serve out the state Senate term for Senate District 7. Sen. Lance Eads resigned the position in October 2021 to take a lobbying job.
The term expires this year, and Fulfer is not running for reelection.