PINE BLUFF -- The City Council will consider three ordinances and four resolutions at today's regular meeting, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.
One of the more contentious issues is a resolution authorizing Mayor Shirley Washington to negotiate an agreement with the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency to engage the resources of the agency in the abatement and remediation of public nuisance properties within the three urban renewal areas near downtown.
The resolution comes on the heels of an opinion issued Dec. 4 by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge that says the Urban Renewal Agency can act to remove blighted properties through the condemnation process so long as it acts within the boundaries of a cooperative agreement with the city.
On May 20, the city attorney, Althea Hadden-Scott, had issued an opinion that state law prohibited the Urban Renewal Agency from removing blighted properties unless it first acquired ownership of the properties because, as an autonomous entity, it was legally barred from acting as an agent of the city.
Allowing the agency to remove blighted properties has been consistently opposed by two council members, Ivan Whitfield and Steven Mays, both of whom are challenging Washington in the March Democratic primary election for mayor.
Other resolutions include:
• A resolution to declare the city a secure and friendly environs in which people seeking services are not to be questioned about their resident status or denied services on account of resident status unless required by state or federal law.
• A resolution providing for placement of costs of correcting certain nuisances on tax books as delinquent taxes and collected as such by assessing a list of property owners for the costs of remediating nuisance and blighted properties.
• A resolution appointing Rosie T. Pettigrew to the Historic District Commission.
Ordinances to be considered include:
• An ordinance to adopt a formal, written policy regarding the naming of municipal properties, streets and other locations (second reading).
• An ordinance adopting a stormwater management plan for 2019 (first reading).
• An ordinance adopting the stormwater pollution prevention, grading and erosion control, best management practices manual (first reading).
State Desk on 12/16/2019