Arkansas Blog: LR's unitary executive

Speaking of unilateral exercise of authority:

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today did further reporting on a subject it has mentioned previously -- City Manager Bruce Moore's granting of waivers from building permit and street closure fees for downtown construction projects -- $130,000 worth for Moses Tucker Real Estate's River Market Tower. No link to the story is currently available, but I've put the introduction of the story on the jump.

The waivers follow a long city practice of encouraging welcome downtown redevelopment.

But this is what particularly caught my eye:

Mayor Mark Stodola and City Attorney Tom Carpenter said they think Moore’s general supervisory power over city departments extends to waiving fees for this project.

“I think it’s clearly within the discretion of the manager to do that,” Stodola said, citing Arkansas Code 14-47-120. The statute, which doesn’t specifically address waiving fees, says, “To the extent that such authority is vested in him or her through an ordinance enacted by the board of directors, a city manager may supervise and control all administrative departments, agencies, offices, and employees.”

Here I go again, practicing law without a license, but I call horse hockey on this argument. I don't believe administrative control confers a right to nullify city ordinances. If it does, we need to rethink the law. It's an invitation to favoritism, at a minimum, and runaway corruption at worst.

If the unelected city manager can waive statutory street closing fees, he can override code enforcement citations, parking tickets, franchise fees and every other one of the thousands of rules set out by city ordinance. This is power Strong Mayor Stodola has only in his dreams.

If the city manager does decide to hold one favored property owner exempt, say, from weed lot ordinances, there's not much anyone can do about it. You can file suit over illegal exactions. But I don't think there's a reverse process by which you can make someone pay a lawful fee that a city official has waived.

Like so many things the city has done with good intentions and demonstrable public benefits -- Clinton Library, anyone?, or the midnight tax waiver for the Acxiom office building, or this laudable condo project -- the worthy goals can be accomplished without giving voters another reason not to trust City Hall. You have a project of demonstrable benefit to the city ? You think it deserves help to the limited extent the city can provide it? Fine. Announce the proposed benefit in public, with sufficient notice, and have the City Board vote on it.

I had this same conversation yesterday with Rush Harding about the UCA Board of Trustees' secret use of its private slush fund. If the actions are defensible, why be reluctant to publicize them and approve them in a public vote?

Amen to City Director Joan Adock, who told the D-G Little Rock would benefit from clarifying the city manager's authority.

“I think that is important that people look at city code and know what’s expected,” she said. “I would like to revisit the code and come up with the exceptions that say what’s 100 percent so it doesn’t look like we’re doing certain things for certain people.”

FROM THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock’s city manager gave Moses Tucker Real Estate more than $130,000 in unusual fee waivers on its $65 million River Market Tower condominium project, records show.

Such waivers are rare here, if not unique, and came about four months before the city ended 2007 with a $3.2 million budget deficit. Since then, officials have been scouring the city’s $134million budget for sources of additional revenue or places to cut expenses. Building-related fees are factored into the city’s annual budgets and account for $2.8 million of revenue projections for 2008 - $100,000 more than last year.

In all, City Manager Bruce Moore said he waived $216,669 in building permit and sidewalk and street closure fees for the condos. The building per-mit fee would have amounted $110,937; and the street closure fee, $105,732.

As a residential project in one of five neighborhoods targeted for revitalization, the Third Street development qualified for a 75 percent building permit fee discount authorized by city ordinance. Moore took the unprecedented step of also waiving the remaining 24 percent, or $27,734, as well as the entire street closure fee - adding $133,466 to the reduction set by ordinance.

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A long backward-looking examination would reveal, I believe, that the River Market project has been a sinkhole of favoritism, fudging of the laws and outright corruption since the first days when the Central Arkansas Library System broke the ice by using public money to begin the exploitation of the area for a few well-connected players.

Posted by: Claude Bahls | July 5, 2008 09:45 AM

It would be illuminating to know if Co Mayor Moore consulted beforehand with the other mayor, or with the downtown board member from Ward 1, or anyone else in the elected world before dispensing his largesse.

Posted by: Sanford | July 5, 2008 09:48 AM

Not to worry. As the story right above the one about Mr. Moore seems to indicate, our city's pet owners are making up the shortfall from this practice.

That and the evil parking ticket assault.

Posted by: 24fps | July 5, 2008 09:52 AM

For many years whenever the concept of a salaried, elected mayor was discussed...it was done in the context of the mayor replacing the salaried city manager. Why do we now have both? We used to talk about how a strong mayor would be more accountable etc, but again..that discussion was never in the context of both highly salaried positions.

The new system doesn't seem to be helping much on a number of levels. But the largest issue continues to be the declining, increasingly segregated public schools and the fact the city board sees this solely as a school board issue. You can't really market new jobs to replace the outgoing Alltel jobs if you don't have quality schools to brag about to incoming executives.

It is sad that the city hasn't built a new school building since Fulbright Elementary in 1978. How can a city pour money into something like Rivermarket when the school buildings haven't been touched since 1978? The schools that do thrive are given new trailers to add classrooms....and the schools that are not thriving...well...no one seems to worry about that.

Posted by: StrangeTimes | July 5, 2008 09:56 AM

If I recall correctly, Moore said he was the one who okayed Stacy Hurst's $1,700 taxpayer-financed ego inflation.

'Course, Moore doesn't have to run for re-election, it could be the mayor and city directors made him the designated flak-catcher so he can deflect all accountability away from them.

Posted by: Claude Bahls | July 5, 2008 11:36 AM

One may wish to think aobut and reflect on the nature of Mosaic Law, the development of law and the codes we choose to live by within our Fatih traditions. Equally important is to have respect of integrity for those who may not have a belief system that encompasses a Faith tradition. But to comprehend the depth and complexity of the issues that are shaping our communities requires more than a visit to Moses Tucker,. The featured story by Leslie Peacock should idientify substantial concern if not outright cry for addressing the short and long term management questions with more insight and deliberative debate, something which a healthy democracy is supposed to embrace with meaning this 4th. I believe there is a science of greater value behind the nature of the problems we face, but the will to correct both public and private mistakes requires a different sort of courage and human decency.

Posted by: Bill | July 5, 2008 03:36 PM

I would comment on the Moore/Moses/Tucker slime, but I cannot stop wretching. SHAME SHAME

Posted by: Diogenes | July 6, 2008 10:02 AM

Watch out for Moore. He is sneaky. He tried to tell me the other day that a Fee was not a Tax. We got another bill coming from the newspaper for another $1700 ad to recognize 3 folks over at city hall for taking the Leadership class the Chamber offers. Its our money, Bruce. We can take it away from you. The masses are getting fed up. Remember old Dean K said "they didn't do a damn thing wrong."

Posted by: Billary | July 7, 2008 04:46 PM

Arkansas Blog

LR's unitary executive

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