Jonesboro group seeks repeal of city’s property maintenance code

Attorney Travis Story walked into the Jonesboro City Clerk’s office late Friday afternoon with 5,034 signatures on 585 pages of petitions, seeking to repeal the recently approved Jonesboro city property maintenance code.

If the signatures match up with eligible voters in Jonesboro, the repeal vote is one step closer to happening. Story, who is based in Northwest Arkansas, brought the petitions with about a half dozen supporters to ask for either a May 3 or May 10 special election on the issue. Supporters have said the group needed 2,432 signatures to be on a special election ballot. Jonesboro voters already head to the polls May 10 to decide a vacant city council seat, in which then-council member Tim McCall resigned earlier this year after moving out of the city.

As for the code, the group, Repeal Property Code 105-2, started gathering petitions on Jan. 23. The code has been a key issue of debate in recent months after Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin broke a 6-6 tie Dec. 15 to approve the code. The code is now under a 90-day moratorium, with the effective date of implementation on April 1, city officials have said.

Group gathering signatures for repeal of Jonesboro property maintenance code

A citizens committee approved a plan last year, sending the proposal to the Jonesboro City Council for their review.

“It is necessary because of the vote of the city council and the mayor,” Story said.

People who support the code have said it would address issues with dilapidated homes, while opponents have said it violates the 4th Amendment prohibition on illegal searches. Story said the petitions were gathered by 65 canvassers going into several areas of Jonesboro during a 22-day period. The petitions are a first step in a multi-step process, Story said.

“The next process is certification by the city clerk within 10 days,” Story said, noting he expects the signatures to be verified within two or three business days.

The Jonesboro city offices are closed Monday for President’s Day, with offices opening on Tuesday. If the petition signatures are valid and a sufficient number were gathered, a special election would be called by the Jonesboro City Council, Story said.

ANTI-REPEAL GROUP FORMED
Officials with a group in support of the Property Maintenance Code announced plans for a new group, “Citizens for a Better Jonesboro.”

In a press release e-mailed Friday afternoon (Feb. 12), the group said it is a “broad coalition of concerned citizens have joined together to form a new ballot committee to combat an intentional misinformation campaign and a distorted view of a Jonesboro city ordinance concerning property maintenance.”

“I am working with other community leaders who have banded together to form ‘Citizens for a Better Jonesboro’ because I’ve encountered numerous residents with unfounded fears about the property maintenance code,” said Dr. Gregory Hansen, a director of the group, and professor of folklore and English at Arkansas State University.

Hansen said the group will seek to educate people on the code, talking about its positives.

“A major focus of our organization is to address the many misunderstandings about the code and to show our support for the decision made by the Jonesboro City Council,” Hansen said. “The code establishes a process that will help prevent residents from threats of property condemnation by providing structure, procedures, and new options to prevent outright condemnation of property that was not in place before.”

In the press release, Hansen also referred to reports of possible scare tactics used on people who signed the petition.

“In closing, I want to stress that we respect the Constitutional right of those opposed to the code to seek petitions for a redress of the City Council’s action, however, we deplore the scare tactics used by some in seeking signatures. To infer that the intent of the code is to force rent to go up, or to allow city code enforcement personnel to enter dwellings without consent of the resident is deceitful and we will work to correct misinformation as a part of our campaign.”

Story countered that the canvassers did not force anyone to sign the petitions.

“We simply presented the petitions to those who were willing to sign (the petition),” Story said, noting people have a constitutional right to sign or not to sign. “The people were taking the extraordinary right to say, ‘We don’t want this code.’”

Late Friday, city officials announced that Mark Roberts, senior regional manager for government relations of the International Code Council, will speak Wednesday (Feb. 17) about the code. The meetings will be held at 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Jonesboro Municipal Center on Church Street.