LOWELL -- A City Council member last week expressed concern about the disposal of two city-owned vehicles and said he waited weeks for related documents he requested through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Toward the end of the council's meeting April 18, Council Member Bill Adams said his requests for public documents were related to the disposal of two surplus vehicles -- 1989 and 1992 AM General Humvees. He hired an attorney when some of the requested documents took weeks to receive, he said.
Tom Kieklak, city attorney, said Thursday the city has complied with the law and been open and responsive in cooperating with Adams. Kieklak said he had been sick for several days in recent weeks, but Adams was not ignored or put off.
Mayor Chris Moore said last week city staff gathered the information Adams had requested in the allotted time, though he did not know how long the information took to get from Kieklak to Adams.
According to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, records must be made available immediately. If the records are in active use or storage, they must be made available within three business days.
Adams claimed the city does not seem to have followed the appropriate process of disposing of the two Humvees. He said he began looking into the matter around the middle of last year after a resident mentioned it to him.
The City Council approved disposing of the two vehicles on Dec. 15, 2020. Adams joined the council the next month, he said.
According to the December 2020 resolution, the city should give the vehicles to another government agency. If the vehicles cannot be sent to other agencies, the vehicles should be sold by a sealed bid auction, the resolution states. If there are no bids, the city should "sell the balance of the equipment at the discretion of the mayor or his designee," it states. If no parties wish to take the vehicles, the city could scrap them.
During the April 18 meeting, Adams said Moore lied to him when he once told Adams the vehicles were being given to another government agency. Adams also said he has found no evidence of a public notice for an auction posted online or in a newspaper.
Moore said Wednesday the city had planned to send the vehicles to a local police academy, but the academy backed out of the deal. The vehicles were not sent to another government agency, and no bids for the vehicles were received either, he said.
Because the vehicles were worth less than $20,000, the city was not required by law to post an advertisement in the newspaper, Moore and Kieklak both said later in the week.
According to Classic.com -- an analytics platform for the classic, collector and exotic car industry -- the average sale price of a 1989 AM General Humvee over the last five years is $29,028. The lowest recorded sale price on the site is $11,550. The condition of the sold vehicles listed on the site was unclear.
Moore said Wednesday the vehicles were in "horrible shape" and were valued accurately. City staff attempted to get the best deal it could, he said.
"They both rolled, but neither one of them ran," Moore said.
According to Kieklak, there is no appraisal process for vehicles the city is discarding. He said he was not sure if or when the city held an auction for the vehicles.
According to a signed agreement dated March 10, 2021, Moore, Police Chief Tim Kuth and Mike Pierce of Light Em Up, a Rogers business that installs emergency vehicle lights, agreed to exchange the two Humvees for a total of $3,500 toward installation labor costs related to work on a city-owned Dodge Charger.
An invoice from Light Em Up to the Police Department, dated Dec. 1, 2021, does not indicate any credit given by the business. Adams obtained the signed agreement and the invoice through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Kieklak said he thinks the discrepancy was noticed months ago, and city staff have been trying to get to the bottom of it. As of Thursday, Kieklak and city Finance Director Darcy Richard had been unable to determine from relevant documents whether or when the city received the credit. He said he is investigating the issue.
"I'd like to know definitively either we did or we didn't," Kieklak said.
"He's a council member, and he's got an interest in what happens to property within the city. I have an interest in making sure we're following all those procedures," he said.
Adams said at the council meeting he has reached out to the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the FBI about the vehicles.
He confirmed later in the week that county prosecutors have not contacted him recently about an ongoing investigation. Wendy Brown, office manager with the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, said Monday she did not know anything about the issue or prosecutors' involvement.
Adams said Wednesday he thinks the surplus disposal system has been abused, and the city needs a process that is "above board."
"It's a very sloppy system and one that can easily be abused and manipulated," he said.
He said he expects to submit more Freedom of Information Act requests.