Meeting held to ‘dispel tension’ between officials and employees

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

GRAVETTE - A special meeting of the Gravette City Council was called July 15 for the purpose of working out tensions between the council and the city.

Council members Richard Carver, James Denver, Bob Robinson, Melissa Smith and Margo Thomas were present for the meeting held at city hall, along with Mayor Byron Warren, city recorder Mike von-Ree and city attorney David Bailey. About 25 citizens were also in attendance at the special meeting.

Mayor Warren announced at the opening of the meeting that arrangements had been made over the weekend for the city to turn the farmers’ market over to a co-op which would be operating it in the future.

Warren then explained that the purpose of the special meeting was to “dispel tension and work out issues of miscommunication between the council and city.”

He noted that handouts accompanying the meeting agenda focused on the duties of the mayor and the council members.

Several personal disagreements between council members and the mayor, council members and city employees, city employees and the mayor were touched upon, with misunderstandings and a lack of communication apparently a large part of the problem.

Councilman Robinson said disagreements were not being handled professionally.

“We should all be here to help the city,” Robinson said, “and making negative comments about the city isn’t productive.”

He noted that there was no place for personal attacks.They were only self defeating. Instead, the group should be working together, being open and honest.

Councilwoman Thomas focused on the need to get along because the town is growing and growth brings problems of its own.

“If we can’t resolve problems agreeably now, what will we do when they grow larger?” she asked.

She urged her fellow council members to remember they are representatives of the city, and both their public and personal lives reflect on that. She emphasized the importance of giving a good impression to those citizens in the recently-annexed Hiwasse area.

City attorney Bailey said he was there mainly to help the city with legal problems. The council sets the ordinances, he noted, and it’s up to the mayor to implement them; but the council does have some control over matters as they set the budget and can rewrite the employee handbook.

Mayor Warren, councilmen Richard Carver and James Denver all noted there was a chain of command for employee grievances. Denver said most smaller city councils have grievance committees and mentioned the one at Pea Ridge. Several spoke of the need for a grievance committee or possible rewriting of the employee handbook.

“We are in the business of trying to help people,” Robinson said, emphasizing the need for open communication.

He said the council needed more input from citizens. “Otherwise we can’t do our job as well,” he said.

Several echoed the need for city residents to attend council meetings and air their concerns.

“Don’t make our new department heads question why they chose Gravette,” Tracy Sewell, business director for the city, cautioned.

The need for professionalism was stressed by Ken Foxx. He said the lack of it affects the credibility of the people involved. He suggested a class on “verbal judo” (communication skills) be offered to council members and city officials.

Dodie Evans, editor emeritus of the Eagle Observer, made some concluding remarks, noting that the city’s problems were bigger than personal issues. He said problems had been festering for months and suggested council members “shake hands and be friends.”

News, Pages 5 on 07/24/2013