Jim Frazier convened and conducted the meeting.

Rayne Gordon was introduced as a new member of the Transition Team.

Charles Hathaway announced the Transition Team webpage is located at www.ualr.edu/cehathaway/hwh .

Charles Hathaway reported on discussions with the Office of the Attorney General and with the Arkansas Municipal League.  The Office of the Attorney General did not feel they could discuss the matter of the unification of the two cities since they are involved in representing a party in a suite connected with the merger. 

The General Counsel of the Arkansas Municipal League, Mr. Mark Hayes, is also constrained to deal with matters as requested by the attorneys of the various member cities.  However, he indicated that he would be willing to meet with the Transition Team if he received an invitation from either Mr. Brian Miller representing Helena or Mr. Andre’ Valley representing West Helena.  After a brief discussion it was decided to request that one or the other or both of the city attorneys be requested to extend an invitation to Mr. Hayes to meet with the Transition Team in the near future.

Charles Hathaway distributed the Arkansas legal statutes under which the Petition for Consolidation and subsequent actions and either took or will take place (¶ 14-40-201 through 14-40-1213).  A general discussion took place on the various aspects of the law. 

Review of Items to be Considered to Achieve Unification:  A brief discussion was held concerning the various matters that were listed at the first meeting that must receive attention and it was agreed these would be posted to the Transition Team Web Page and distributed at the next meeting.

Report on Contact with Mayors:  Jim Frazier reported on contacting the mayors concerning the work of the transition team and provided copies of the letters which he had sent to them.  These letters are appended at the end of these minutes.

Report on Obtaining the Consolidation Petition and Ballot:  Chuck Anderson reported he is in the process of obtaining these documents.

Report on Obtaining the Budget of Helena and W. Helena:  Henry Richmond indicated he had obtained some initial budgetary information for Helena and shared with the Team an initial spread sheet.  Work will continue on this matter. 

Action Items:

Jim Frazier reviewed the two actions passed at the previous meeting, one by which he was elected unanimously as chair of the Transition Team and one whereby it was decided to use Roberts’ Rules of Order in all formal matters of the Transition Team.

ACTION 3: Passed (7/7/2005)

For the purpose of conducting formal business, including but not restricted to the taking of votes on pending matters, a quorum will consist of four (4) of the seven (7) members of the Transition Team

ACTION 4:  Passed (7/7/05) 

Forming Initial Recommendations

Whereas the formation of recommendations that the Transition Team will present to the new city government of Helena-West Helena is complex, and

Whereas recommendations may overlap and affect each other,

Therefore, the Transition Team adopts the following procedure:

·        An initial recommendation will be introduced and read at a first meeting to be voted upon at the next meeting or at a meeting whose date is set in advance at the time of the first reading. 

·        Initial recommendations will be see as recommendations of intent carrying the phrase “intends to recommend” in the body of the recommendation.

·        Once all or the majority of recommendations have been formed and prior to the public presentation to the joint meeting of the governments of Helena and West Helena sitting with the newly elected government of Helena-West Helena initial recommendations will be reviewed and potentially modified before a final vote is taken on each initial recommendation at which time the phrase “intends to recommend” will be replaced with the phrase “recommends”.  

Setting Tasks and Agenda for Next Meeting

The importance of involving others in the process so as to provide to the Transition Team additional expertise was discussed and it was agreed to establish the following subcommittees with the indicated member of the Transition Team to serve as the chair of the subcommittee and liaison from the subcommittee to the Transition Team:

Budgetary Matters ………… Henry Richmond

Personnel Matters ………… Rayne Gordon

Real Property ……………… Dorothy Martin

Fees and Codes ………….. Chuck Anderson

Legal Matters ……………… Jim Frazier

Other Property Matters …… Leroy Carter

Real Property takes into account all real estate as well as the information necessary on which to base a recommendation for which building should be used for the Helena-West Helena City Hall and what might be an appropriate civic use for the other city hall building. 

Each chairperson/liaison will bring to the next meeting the names of appropriate persons who might be named to these subcommittees.  It was felt that initially each subcommittee may be limited to three persons.

The Team decided that they would need information on all commissions now in existence in Helena and knowledge of the enabling city legislation that created each commission to determine the fate of individual commission upon consolidation.  

The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:00 AM.