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Council explains thinking |
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Wednesday, 14 January 2009 |
Mayor Rick Holland’s controversial appointment of Kirk Lane as chief of police in Benton resulted in a divided City Council on Monday night when aldermen voted on whether to override the mayor’s decision.
Lane is considered a controversial figure because of allegations linking him to the deaths of teenagers Kevin Ives and Don Henry, who were run over by a train in the early morning hours of Aug. 23, 1987. No one has ever been charged with the deaths, but a county grand jury investigation determined the deaths were homicides.
On Monday, following an agenda meeting in which Lane’s appointment was discussed, the council met in public session and voted on a motion by Alderman Larry Wolf to override the mayor’s decision.
Because the vote was divided 5-5, the motion failed. To override the decision, it would have taken seven votes.
Voting “yes” were Aldermen Wolf, Greg White, Joe Lee Richards, Brad Moore and Doug Stracener. Voting “no” were Charles Cunningham, Jerry Ponder, David Sparks and Steve Lee; and an additional negative vote was recorded for Bill Donnor, who was absent because of an employment obligation.
All of the aldermen were asked to explain why they voted as they did. Following are their comments:
Larry Wolf, Ward 1
“I just feel there’s far too much baggage in my opinion concerning Mr. Lane and I just thought it was a very bad move. Obviously, folks had their say and supporters had their say. Now I’m ready to move forward. I think he’ll get the support of the council now. “Anyone who’s lived here any time is well aware of this story and they’re concerned about it. It was a difficult position. The mayor put us all in a very bad situation. Kirk and the mayor are friends and he made it very difficult for us.
“I’ve never had so many phone calls on any other issue. In all honesty, the mayor had been dragging his feet on hiring a chief. The council was ready to do something — in fact, an ordinance was being drawn up to turn the responsibility over to the Civil Service Commission, and just before that happened, he hired Kirk Lane. I think he did it because of that. He didn’t share with us what resumes he got. Frankly, Kirk was put in a tough spot. I was impressed with the way he handled himself the other night. I just hate that the mayor put us in that spot.”
Greg White, Ward 1
“I think that my foremost thought on voting the way that I did was that I felt like the cloud of suspicion surrounding this was going to be extremely hard for Chief Lane to overcome and that this would keep our community in sort of an underlying fear. That’s what I was hearing from people who called. I just felt the best thing for the community was for Mayor Rick Holland to choose another chief.”
White said he heard from 60 people about the issue.
Charles Cunningham, Ward 2
“I think for the council to take action overturning that decision by the mayor, we would need to have some factual basis relating him to the incident (deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives in 1987). I sympathize with the persons affected by the death of those kids, but in all fairness, in the absence of any factual information, I could not vote to override his appointment.”
Joe Lee Richards, Ward 2
“I had gotten so many comments from so many people — more than 60 — who didn’t want him to be chief. I had phone calls, saw people at the grocery store, at the restaurants, on the street. Four people spoke in favor of him and over 60 were against him, and I always vote the way the people feel. The way I go is with the majority of the people.
“I had no personal feelings about it myself. Most everybody just felt uncomfortable with this and didn’t feel it was the right thing for the city of Benton. I always vote my conscience. I’ve never deserted my voters in all the time I’ve been on the council and I don’t intend to start now.”
Jerry Ponder, Ward 3
“Prayer plays a big part in all aspects of my life and it certainly did in this situation. Obviously, I don’t have the historical information or emotional aspect associated with the 1987 incident that a lot of people have simply because of the time I’ve lived in Benton.
“While I understood this was the mayor’s call, I felt fell he had done the council a great disservice by not calling a personnel committee meeting or a special council meeting since he had already extended the offer of the job to Mr. Lane ... If there were seven members who were to say this is the most awful decision you have made, then it becomes incumbent upon mayor to see if people want to stick to their guns, or if perhaps he wants to rethink his choice of nominees. We were never granted that opportunity ...
“The mayor called me the Monday after Christmas and told me he had hired a police chief. I told him I supported that decision since it had been since April that Chief Sipes left. told me his name was Kirk Lane and I said I looked forward to meeting with him and getting to know him. He said he had the backing of the council. Then I began to get more information about Mr. Lane related to the incident back in 1987. I then proceeded to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Ives personally. I spent some time personally with people who had been with Mr. Lane at the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office and also some attorneys he has worked with in the past. I spent an hour with the mayor last week, then two hours with Mr. Lane on Saturday. ... I responded to each and every e-mail. In visiting with the mayor last Friday, I told him I had seen incidents in which people were angry with me because of the way I voted on issues, seen people angry with mayor for positions he took on issue, but I told him I didn’t know of a situation where so many people were disappointed in the way this issue was handled.
“ ... Certainly Chief Lane is qualified. From what I can ascertain, he’s had 22-25 years of experience, working his way up through sheriff’s office. His service is fine. On the other side, there’s been no indictment against him, no trial, no conviction, nothing related to the death of Mr. and Mrs. Ives’ child. There’s a whole lot of commentary and supposition, including the mayor’s testimony in Mr. Lane’s defamation of character lawsuit and the decision of the Court of Appeals. I had to try to weigh all that and then consider where we were as far as the position we were in because Mr. Lane had already done well. If he had not been allowed to stay, what would be the situation for him since he had already done work here. If he had gone to another city and they learned he had been with the city of Benton for one week, his opportunity for receiving a job would have diminished significantly. I also didn't know if there was legal liability as far as city of Benton could be concerned .... If the Civil Service Commission had made the decision based on facts, I believe the commission would have had to make that hire.
“ ... I truly, truly hope for the city of Benton that Chief Lane is as exemplary in his service for our city as he was in Pulaski County. I hope people in law enforcement, the media and the citizens will see changes in our department and say it was a good thing.
“Mr. Lane will be under the microscope. Maybe it will be OK and it’s just a perception issue.
“I told mayor this is twice in one year that I believed he has put us in an untenable situation. The other was when he gave pay raises to one department’s employees and other departments didn’t get them. Those guys at the police department need a chief. They need to know they have purpose in their jobs, in their lives every way. It’s an important decision.”
Bill Donnor, Ward 3
“I would have been a ‘no’ vote if I had been there. It’s the mayor’s responsibility to hire the chief. I didn’t see any reason why we should remove him as chief. He hadn’t done anything to cause us to remove him. He’s been in good standing with Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, he’s in good standing with Minimum Standards, and he meets all the criteria to be chief.
“I think maybe in the future we may need to look at an ordinance to put the hiring of police chief and fire chief in the hands of the Civil Service Commission and that will keep us from having any problems in our chief selection.”
David Sparks, Ward 4
“Basically, we decided in executive session that no matter how we voted, we would move on. I believe someone is innocent till proven guilty. We live in a country where rumors and innuendos have destroyed people’s lives. I want to look at the facts: The man has been a sheriff’s deputy in Pulaski County for 20 years. He’s served under two sheriffs and is well qualified. I think we’re lucky to have him. From what I understand, the ranks of the police department are excited to have him.
“I feel like he’s a good man. The rumors about him are 20 years old. ... He got support from his first sergeant, who’s now retired, and then a state prosecutor made positive comments about him. Those outweighed anything else for me. We need to be progressive and move forward. I think Kirk Lane is a plus in that factor. Of the phone calls I got, they were split 50-50. I told them I would vote for him. I think he’s the right person for the job.”
Brad Moore, Ward 4
“The decision was simple for me. I was responding to the feedback I got from the citizens of Benton in Ward 4. It was clear to me what their feelings were about that issue. They were not all negative, but the overwhelming majority was negative. In each call and e-mail conversation, they were very cordial and respectful, but all very sincere.”
Steve Lee, Ward 5
“It’s sort of like I said that night. You’re innocent till proven guilty. He’s been working a little over 20 years at Pulaski County Sheriff’s office. I talked to Mrs. Ives, and no one can know the feelings she has. It’s my prayer that they find whoever is responsible for her son’s death and do what needs to be done. But to ruin somebody because of accusations is wrong.
“I wouldn’t like to be treated that way and I wouldn’t want my children to be treated that way. It boils down to doing the right thing. If we as a council base all our decisions on accusations, all you’ve got to do is get on any of the local computer forums and you know there are accusations flying ... We know it’s happening, but we cannot condemn people on accusations.”
“Where were all the outcries in Pulaski County for the past 20 years? Everyone in Saline County goes to Little Rock and that’s the heart of Pulaski County. I hope he doesn’t disappoint us. We need to move on. Nearly every one of the aldermen wanting to oust him has stated that if he stays, they will be fully behind him. I’m interested to see if that holds water. If we had done our voting in executive session and could have come out unified as a council one way or another, it would have been better, but I’m not ashamed of my vote.”
Doug Stracener, Ward 5
“Basically, my vote was based on what I thought was in the best interests of the city. There are too many things from the past that should stay there, and I didn’t think we needed to shine the light on them again.”
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