Little Rock directors to look at city’s form of government; board plans to set up forum on issue

One of the city Board of Directors' first tasks in January will be putting together a forum to study Little Rock's form of government in the coming year.

The way Little Rock governs itself became a campaign issue in the mayoral race this year, with candidates -- including the winner, Frank Scott Jr. -- calling for the mayor to have more policymaking power.

City directors voted Monday to pass the resolution, the day before Scott was elected.

"I just thought, if there's that much interest in it, we'll look at it," said Dean Kumpuris, an at-large city director who pushed for the ordinance to be drafted and passed.

Kumpuris said in an interview that he thought it would be beneficial to give residents a chance every so often to look at how they're governed. Little Rock last studied its form of government in 2000.

The approved resolution states that a forum structure will be created in January. The resulting recommendation is to be presented to residents within a year of the forum's creation.

"I don't care how it's done," Kumpuris said. "All I want to do is have us set up a mechanism and have the people choose independently of us."

The process could include public hearings and studying governments in cities with populations similar to Little Rock's nearly 200,000.

Ultimately, the study could result in a special election, putting forth a panel's recommendations to voters before the end of 2019.

Kumpuris first asked for a committee to be created in June, in response to a proposed ordinance from Ward 1 representative Erma Hendrix that would have asked voters to decide on eliminating the three at-large positions on the city board.

Hendrix's ordinance failed. Before the 2018 election, she circulated a petition aiming to put the question of at-large representation to voters, but the measure did not appear on the ballot in November.

In an interview Friday, Scott was clear about his own vision for the city's government.

He said he plans to initiate action to transition to a mayor-council form of government within the first 90 to 120 days of his term, which begins Jan. 1. He said he would introduce an ordinance, and if that fails, put the issue before voters.

Little Rock has a city manager form of government, meaning department heads report to a city manager who handles day-to-day operations. The mayor serves as the political head of the government, but has additional powers granted to the office by voters in 2007.

"Right now, Little Rock has a bifurcated form of government," Scott said.

Scott's plan is to convert the city manager office into a chief operating officer. That person, as well as the city attorney and all department heads, would report directly to the mayor.

He said that would set up a "clear line of authority" for the mayor to be held accountable.

He said he also would repurpose the city board's three at-large members to either additional ward representatives or to "super district" representatives. In other cities such as Memphis, "super districts" have multiple representatives.

The city has studied its government twice in the past 25 years. A group called Future Little Rock in 1993 recommended moving from an all at-large board to the current format of seven ward representatives, three at-large representatives and a directly elected mayor, who presides over meetings and votes in the event of a tie.

The Coalition of Greater Little Rock Neighborhoods, a grass-roots group, has for decades pushed for a strengthened mayor and all-ward representation on the city board.

From 1957 to 1993, the mayor was an elected city director chosen for the post by other members of the board. The first Board of Directors took office in 1957, and all of the seats were at-large.

In 2000, the Vision Little Rock group was formed and ultimately recommended no change to the board setup.

Until 2007, the mayor was a part-time, ceremonial position. That year, voters approved an ordinance giving the mayor's office additional powers, including veto power and authority over issues including preparation of the city budget. The ordinance was based on ideas from both groups.

According to City Attorney Tom Carpenter, the board can pass an ordinance to change its makeup of ward or at-large positions with approval from two-thirds of the members.

A measure changing Little Rock's form of government, such as from city manager to mayor-council, would have to be put before voters, Carpenter said, citing Arkansas Code Annotated 14-61-114.

Metro on 12/09/2018

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FILE — City Director At-Large Dean Kumpuris is shown in this 2017 file photo.

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