Newport council approves routine administrative items, personnel changes and record destruction

The Newport City Council handled a series of administrative items Oct. 7, approving meeting minutes, an updated personnel policies manual, authorization to destroy older personnel records and an ad valorem tax resolution for 2024 taxes to be paid in 2025.

Regina Lake moved and Carol Falwell seconded approval of the Sept. 3 minutes; that motion carried 7-0. Mayor Ratliffe presented an updated personnel policies and procedures manual with a revised date of June 2024; the manual incorporates Council-approved holidays including Good Friday and Juneteenth and clarifies the city's "Return to Work after Serious Injury or Illness" procedures. Regina Lake moved to approve the manual and Wendell Green seconded; the motion carried 7-0.

The council also approved an affidavit allowing destruction of employee time sheets from 2007 through 2019 and personnel files dated 2016 through 2019, citing Arkansas statutory authority; Michael Allen moved and Leroy Mansko seconded the motion, which carried 7-0. City Attorney John Pettie read the ad valorem tax resolution required for notification to the Jackson County clerk under Ark. Code Ann. §26-73-202; the council approved the resolution (five mills for the general fund and one mill for the Firemen's Pension Fund) on a 7-0 vote after a motion by Michael Allen and a second by Regina Lake.

Other items included the reappointment of Frank Plegge to the Newport Airport Commission for a term expiring Sept. 30, 2029, which passed on a 7-0 vote. The mayor closed the meeting after "Good of the City" remarks about a proposed street renaming; no formal action on the renaming was taken at this meeting.

The council recorded unanimous votes on administrative items; details such as specific pages of the personnel manual or the affidavit language are part of the official file.