PINE BLUFF — An attorney for Pine Bluff Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday afternoon in Jefferson County Circuit Court seeking, among other things, an injunction to stop the November mayor’s race.
He proposes staying on for an additional two years beyond his term to realign the city’s election cycle, which needs to be reset under Arkansas law.
Nine candidates, including Redus, have filed to run for the city’s highest office.
The suit comes just weeks after city officials learned that Pine Bluff ’s election cycle must change because of a population decline.
The 2010 U.S. Census showed that Pine Bluff dipped below 50,000 residents to 49,083, and according to Arkansas law, the city must elect its mayor, city treasurer and city clerk in nonpresidential election years.
Arkansas Code Annotated 14-43-305 states that any city with a population of less than 50,000 must hold such elections “on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of 1970 and every four years thereafter.”
According to the law, that would mean an election in 2014.
Further, Arkansas Code Annotated 14-43-303 states that the terms of mayor, city treasurer and city clerk should be extended by two years if a city’s population exceeds 50,000 residents after a U.S. Census count and during an incumbent’s term.
However, the code doesn’t mention what happens if a city’s population dips below that mark.
Referring to Code 14-43-303, Redus’ attorney, Gene McKissic of Pine Bluff, writes in the lawsuit that the mayor “would suffer irreparable harm in that [Redus] would be denied the additional two years conferred upon the incumbent mayor pursuant to the statute.”
McKissic has said in an interview that he believes Code 14-43-303 “swings both ways,” meaning that a population decline would allow for two years to be added to the mayor’s term, since he held office when the census results were made official.
The suit doesn’t mention the treasurer or city clerk’s races. Three people have filed for treasurer and one for city clerk.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Joe Childers, Pine Bluff’s assistant city attorney, said a reasonable interpretation of Arkansas law dictates that the mayor, treasurer and city clerk’s positions would be “held over for two more years, then you would have an election in 2014, and those positions would serve for four years” thereafter.
McKissic’s suit notes that Redus is seeking “judicial interpretation and clarification” of the codes governing election cycles, and that he seeks “injunctive relief enjoining and restraining ... the Jefferson County Election Commission from conducting the mayoral election for the City of Pine Bluff in November 2012.”
In addition to the election commission, Gov. Mike Beebe, state Secretary of State Mark Martin and Jefferson County Clerk Patricia Johnson are named as defendants in the suit.
Some officials in Pine Bluff have proposed that whoever is elected mayor, city treasurer and city clerk in November should serve two-year terms. Then, another election would be called in November 2014.
In the suit, McKissic writes that such a move would “violate state election laws, and taxpayers would absorb the cost of a second election ... the monetary cost of elections is tens and possibly hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars, and it would be a waste of taxpayer funds.”
The secretary of state’s office did not have a comment Wednesday afternoon. Alex Reed, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, said he was unaware of the suit and the situation in Pine Bluff.
Trey Ashcraft, chairman of the Jefferson County Election Commission, called the recent developments “surprising and confusing for everyone involved.”
Ashcraft said he hadn’t seen the suit and he declined to comment on it, although he said, “regardless of how it gets in front of a judge, I do think that is where it needs to be.
“It’s good that it’s there so maybe we can get some closure. It’s a shame, though, that we are in September, two months before this election, with this happening. This is something that should have come out two years ago.”
Clarence Davis, one of the nine running for Pine Bluff mayor this year, said he still plans to campaign “until someone tells us that there isn’t going to be an election.”
Davis said his hope is that the election this November will be held.
“The law is not really clear, so, obviously, the judge will have to rule. We are just going to have to wait and see. It’s just unfortunate that it’s come down to this, but I do believe that this election will go on.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/06/2012