Turrell, AR -- The city of Turrell, Arkansas is closed for business. According to the city's aldermen, the mayor locked up city hall Friday, February 20, 2009. Since then, there has been no garbage pickup and no police or fire protection.
As you can imagine, people who live there are pretty upset.
Today we saw the mayor parked on the side of the road and followed him to ask him what was going on, but he wouldn’t answer any of our questions and sped off.
"I have no comment, don't take my picture. Don't call me or ask me any questions,” says Mayor Franklin Lockhart.
“He's dodging responsibility, he does not want to talk to the public,” says resident Anna Davis. “You cannot talk to him. If you go to city hall he will tell you to get out."
Residents say this type of behavior is inexcusable, especially when they pay taxes and for garbage pickup on their utility bills.
"I'm to the point where if it was vote for a dog or vote for him, I'd vote for a dog because at least you can teach a dog something," says resident Norman Mosley.
None of the city's six aldermen would go on camera with us today, but Alderman Floyd Holmes says the problems stem from money issues. Holmes says the city has not passed its 2009 budget and also owes the IRS $200,000. Holmes says in January, the IRS levied $43,000 from the city’s coffers, leaving one dollar in the account.
In October 2008 we told you about problems between the city's alderman and Mayor Lockhart. Lockhart tried to fire the aldermen because he said they were not living in wards. A state law says a city the size of Turrell should have at least four wards representing its voters, but the problem is those boundaries have never been established.
The alderman claim they have contacted the Arkansas Municipal League and the Arkansas Attorney General but are not getting any help. The next scheduled meeting is March 17, 2009.
