At Monday’s city council meeting, alderman Autumn Slane brought up defining the mayor’s position as full-time, adding a definition of duties including rules to handle conflict of interests and making sure being mayor was the sole work of the elected official.
Conflict of interest was the mainstay, with alderman Nick Roberts questioning why there had been a resolution made in the past to allow the mayor to do architectural work for the city. Berry explained that the resolution was for a single use so that he could draft plans at Lake Leatherwood City Park. He said that any work that an alderman or the mayor does for the city separate from their duties as elected officials must be approved by vote of council.
Berry also said that Arkansas law defines who can and cannot run for office, and that council could not add restrictions to the position, only define further duties.
Alderman Melissa Greene said that neither Berry nor future mayors would bring something to council seeking to make money off of the decision and that “it wouldn’t fly with city council and wouldn’t fly with the public.”
Slane argued that such rules should be in place to help both the community and those at the table to know what exactly the mayor does. She also floated the idea of the mayor bringing a report to council at each meeting summarizing work completed and intended to be complete within the office.
The conversation ended with talk concerning perception that council attempts to hide topics from the public.