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¶ 2 · The most troublesome resolutions — and those with potential to be
"Troublesome" = split/overridden votes, sustained public opposition, legal threat, conflict-of-interest exposure, or a subject that recurs across multiple meetings with continued friction. 111 of 580 resolutions/ordinances in the archive were flagged high/medium; the 42 "high" ones cluster into the following issues, ranked by documented friction.
- CARDs solid waste contract (Sep 2025, 5-4, with the mayor breaking a 4-4 tie). Adopted against the 35-year Waste Management relationship, with a contract value kept out of the public record (an "RFP gag clause" per the record), after an SWS-structured RFP in which SWS's own CEO was the consultant. It produced months of continued conflict (rate disputes, service-transition complaints, a later council-approved WM settlement, and a separate 5-2 rejection of an earlier CARDs authorization). This is the single most contentious action of the Flowers era in the record.
- Go-kart track financing chain (2023–2026). A string of high-friction votes: $300K reallocation from the 58-cent sales tax bond/fund (6-2, Sep 2024); $48,224.93 urban-renewal transfer (5-3, Oct 2024); the $860K city carryover commitment (2025); Resolution 4993 — URA/go-kart funding — vetoes by Mayor Flowers on Feb 6, 2026 (her memo: the document was "out of context, incorrect at best and dishonest…") and a 6-2 council override; a $375K cost-overrun report (Feb 2026) and the June 8, 2026 special call that finally moved to an MOA contingent on Go Forward's written $1.2M private pledge. Web corroboration: the Fox16-hosted mayoral veto memorandum says the project needs an additional $1.4M, putting it $1.7M over budget; Pine Bluff Commercial reports $95,000 in unpaid invoices stalling completion, with the builder having voided its warranty. The go-kart track is the archive's best single example of a resolution that stays "troublesome" for three years.
- Minimum housing standards / landlord-tenant ordinance (2025–2026). Failed at first reading (2025), a May 11, 2026 town hall under fire from landlords (Floyd Franklin II, JP Reginald Johnson, Ivan Whitfield — "one-sided," vague fines, a justice of the peace weighing in), then failed 3-5 on third reading June 15, 2026 (Mays/Frazier/Fails aye; Holcomb/Brown/Lockett/Brunson/Denton no). It will almost certainly return, and the landlord bloc it has organized is durable.
- The 58-cent (5/8-cent) sales and use tax (2017 original; 2023-25 extension fight). The 2017 seven-year tax (voter-approved 2017, per Arkansas Advocate) funded the urban-renewal pipeline; its ~$860K remaining balance was allocated to the go-kart/URA in Dec 2024, and a new 5/8-cent tax ordinance failed first reading in Aug 2023 amid a heated, interrupted public session, then passed a March 2025 override of the mayor's veto 4-3. KATV's special-election coverage indicates the Go Forward civic-projects 5/8-cent proposal was rejected at the polls — so this tax line remains an unresolved, recurring fight.
- Nuisance abatement / tax-book lien resolutions (recurring, 2023–2026; e.g., #4936, #4872, #4852, #4838). The same two resolutions — declaring structures nuisances and placing correction costs on the tax books as delinquent taxes — appear in meeting after meeting, each time opposed by Finley ("sham ordinances," perjury allegations, a contested $270 mowing bill, an $89,700 lien threat of litigation) and Lever. The Nov 2025 round even drew a medium-severity conflict entry involving code enforcement and a $4,997.94 demolition billing at 1120 Florida St. This is a slow-burn legal liability: liens the city must prove, against organized, courtroom-minded opponents.
¶ Tier 2 — high-friction and worth watching
- Simmons Bank conveyance ratification (July 1, 2024, 5-3) — retroactive approval of the bank's Oct 31, 2022 transfer (community center/food hall, exclusive ATM easement, permanent naming rights) plus a naming-rights extension; Lockett had pulled the item three times. See §3.
- Hotel financing (Amendment 78 promissory note, $3M, 6-2 July 2024; amended note 5-3 Aug 2024) — Lockett: the hotel will "bleed this city for the next 30 years." USDA-guaranteed $18M package.
- Police executive leadership reclassification (Dec 14, 2025; all eight members + mayor in the conflict) — $94,000 savings; Flowers defended it as a transition-report recommendation while the department's leadership churned (Richardson termination, Davis, Hadley, Warrior interregnums).
- Jan 2025 override of the mayor's removal of the Inspection & Zoning director — a full-council vs. mayor fight in Flowers' first months, with a supporting public speaker (Danny Walker) and a year-long transition narrative.
- Small-box store moratorium (Aug 2023, 6-2) and its zoning follow-up (Mar 18, 2024, 4-4 FAIL) — grocery-access economics, antitrust arguments, and a failed ordinance after a year of friction (Mays and Brown Sr. opposed the moratorium; the follow-up failed for lack of a fifth vote).
- 1-cent sales and use tax (2025–2026) — first reading Aug 2025 (Maize vs. Flowers conflict), mayor's March 2026 ballot announcement (KATV), then the council voted no on the election proposal — the Pine Bluff Commercial reports defeat 6-2 with only William Fails and Glen Brown Jr. voting to put it on the ballot.
- Urban Renewal Agency existence/funding (Feb 2026, Resolution 4993) — the mayor-council structural conflict (see #2): veto, override, and the question of whether a quasi-public body holding federal grants and "$4M in private partnership funds" can simply be wound down.
- "Bought council members" allegation (Jan 5, 2026) — a public accusation tied to the Simmons Bank relationship (see §3); even if unsubstantiated, it sits on top of the ratified conveyance, the city attorney's GFPB board seat, and the naming-rights economics, which is why it keeps resurfacing.
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