Arkansas school district chief recalls casino pitch; JP argues private talks don’t count as meeting

Russellville School District Superintendent Mark Gotcher is shown in this file photo.
Russellville School District Superintendent Mark Gotcher is shown in this file photo.

A Russellville School District administrator said Tuesday that he attended a private meeting earlier this month with elected Pope County officials -- including three members of the Quorum Court -- who told him about the benefits a casino would bring to the school district and the River Valley.

The meeting was held Aug. 6, a week to the day before the Pope County Quorum Court voted on Aug. 13 to endorse Cherokee Nation Businesses of Oklahoma for a casino license there.

Russellville School District Superintendent Mark Gotcher provided an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter with a written memo Tuesday night documenting the Aug. 6 meeting as well as copies of a text exchange he had with Ben Cross, county judge of Pope County.

The documents were provided in answer to an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

[RELATED: See complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of casinos in Arkansas at arkansasonline.com/casinos]

According to the documentation, Gotcher said he was ushered into Cross' office at about 3:15 p.m. by Cross' secretary and was greeted by Pope County Justices of the Peace Doug Skelton, Caleb Moore and Ernie Enchelmayer.

"They were wrapping up a meeting," Gotcher said in an interview after a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday of the Russellville School District Board of Education.

Gotcher wrote in the documentation that a "conversation began about some possible opportunities" for the students of the Russellville School District "that a casino entity might be able to offer."

"Topics included were: possible funds that could benefit the Center for the Arts foundation, purchase of school buses, non-profit opportunities that we could apply for, and possible capital improvement projects," Gotcher said in the memo. "This conversation lasted approximately 10-15 minutes before all left except for Judge Cross and me."

Gotcher's statement comes on the heels of a complaint filed with the Pope County prosecutor's office by Pope County Justice of the Peace Joseph Pearson and seven other residents alleging that Cross and several members of the Quorum Court violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by discussing casino applicants in private meetings.

According to Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-106, meetings of a public governing body are open to the public. Also, the public must be given at least two hours' notice of special meetings.

Messages left for Cross, Enchelmayer and Moore were not returned as of late Tuesday.

Skelton said in a telephone interview late Tuesday that he did not consider the Aug. 6 meeting with Gotcher an "actual meeting" under the legal definition.

"You guys are a bunch of...," Skelton said before halting, then continued by asking an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter, "Are you telling me it was planned? I didn't call a meeting."

Skelton went on to say that he believes that there were more Quorum Court members in attendance at the Aug. 6 gathering in Cross' office besides him, Moore and Enchelmayer.

"I'm pretty sure [Justice of the Peace] Jamie Jackson walked in," Skelton said. "There was nothing illegal. Nothing improper."

Jackson said Tuesday night that he does not recall the meeting.

Skelton continued -- raising his voice periodically -- and called an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter's intelligence into question before saying that Cross was smart in how he chose the Cherokee Nation Businesses to endorse for the casino license there.

"Judge Cross scheduled individual meetings with the Quorum Court members," Skelton said. "He's not a dummy. He called us in to his chambers to go over what the proposals were, and if we liked it, we liked it. If we didn't, we didn't. It just so happened that eight people liked the Cherokees."

There was little discussion among Quorum Court members before the decision was made last week at a special-called Quorum Court meeting to sign a one-page resolution to support the Cherokee Nation Businesses.

In Arkansas Attorney General Opinion No. 2000-111, then-Attorney General Mark Pryor said it's illegal to poll individual members of a governing body outside of a public meeting in order to reach a consensus or make a decision.

Of the 13 justices of the peace, eight voted to sign the resolution -- Skelton, Moore, Enchelmayer, Phillip Haney, Reuben Brown, Jackie Heflin, James Kusturin and Ray Black. Four -- Jackson, Pearson, Bill Sparks and Tim Whittenburg -- voted against it, and Justice of the Peace Blake Tarpley abstained.

"The Cherokees had the best proposal hands down," Skelton said.

In a text message sent from Gotcher to Cross at 9:56 a.m. on Aug. 13, Gotcher told Cross that he knew it was going to be a "big day for you."

"But I wanted to let you know, we do not feel comfortable/support any changes to the property tax revenue stream that would affect our district," Gotcher said. "The precedence that could cause would not be good for any district in Arkansas."

In the telephone interview, Skelton again said the Aug. 6 meeting with Gotcher was not illegal.

"I don't care who is sitting there listening. At no time was I asked a question by any other justice of the peace nor did I ask any other JP questions," Skelton said. "If Dr. Gotcher asked me a question, I can answer it. You're trying to make something out of nothing. It's really simple, but you choose to ignore that process."

Amendment 100, approved by voters in November, allows a new casino in both Pope and Jefferson counties, and allows the expansion of gambling at the racetracks in Hot Springs and West Memphis.

The amendment requires new casinos to have the backing of local officials. Pope County voters soundly rejected the amendment and approved an initiated county ordinance that would require officials to seek voter approval before backing a proposal.

Last week, Cross and members of the Pope County Quorum Court were sued by Citizens for a Better Pope County, represented by James Knight. The suit asked that no casino be endorsed without first holding an election, as required by the initiated ordinance.

Cross has vowed since he campaigned for office last year that he would not issue any endorsements for a casino license there unless it was the will of Pope County voters.

Before last week's Quorum Court meeting, Cross read from an 11-page "Economic Development Agreement," which details the Cherokee firm's proposal and stipulates that the company will pay -- in the form of a cashier's check -- a $38.8 million "economic development fee" within 30 days of "the successful resolution of all litigation or administrative challenges relating to the issuance of" a casino license for Pope County.

In June, the Racing Commission rejected five applicants -- Gulfside Casino Partnership of Mississippi, Cherokee Nation Businesses of Oklahoma, Kehl Management of Iowa, Warner Gaming of Nevada and Choctaw Nation Division of Commerce of Oklahoma -- for the Pope County license because none had the local government endorsement required by Amendment 100 and by gaming rules subsequently adopted by the commission.

On Thursday, the commission denied Gulfside's appeal of the June rejection of its application -- which included letters of endorsement given by local officials right before they left office in December.

Gulfside is suing the Racing Commission in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

After the Pope County Quorum Court's endorsement of the Cherokee Nation Businesses for a casino license there, the Arkansas Racing Commission on Monday opened a 90-day window for accepting new applications for a casino license in Pope County.

photo

Democrat-Gazette file photo

In this file photo Ben Cross, Pope County Judge, speaks in support of Amendment 100 during a meeting of the Arkansas Racing Commission Thursday, Feb 21, 2018 in Little Rock.

Metro on 08/21/2019

Upcoming Events