After receiving an opinion from Alabama Attorney General Troy King, Argo Town Council called a special meeting Tuesday, July 15, to discussing moving forward with designating the new Municipal Complex as the town’s polling place.Controversy concerning the construction of the Municipal Complex began about a month ago when Councilman Bill Rutledge and Councilman William Leake called for a special meeting Monday, June 23, to discuss whether construction of the complex violated public works bid laws.
While Mayor Louie Glenn was in attendance long enough to declare the meeting adjourned for lack of a quorum, Rutledge and Leake stayed to discuss the issue with any citizens of Argo interested in staying.
During the discussion, Rutledge expressed his regret in giving all the power to construct the complex to Glenn instead of having the council make decisions as a group.
Councilman Jim Nichols and Councilwoman Cheryl Lee said after Tuesday’s meeting that the June meeting was part of the political cycle and they refused to attend what they believed would be a “finger-pointing” session.
Nichols said the council had been in touch with the proper entities, including the Justice Department, throughout the process of establishing the Municipal Complex to make sure things went as planned.
This process made him, Lee and Councilwoman Linda McCoy confident there was no need to attend the June meeting to discuss possible bid law violations.
Glenn maintained that the work for Phase I of the complex was estimated to cost less than $500,000 to construct.
Therefore, the council needed to advertise in one paper to meet requirements of public works bid law.
When the bids were opened, the lowest bid was for $553,481, which exceeded what had been estimated.
Rutledge had sought a lawyer’s opinion and said the town should have advertised in three newspapers statewide if the bid was for more than $500,000.
Glenn said even if that were true, The Birmingham News, which is the paper in which the town placed the advertisement, is linked to www.al.com and two other newspapers statewide.
However, Glenn did stop construction on the complex until a decision could be reached on the legality of the bids.
As of Monday, July 21, King’s statement had been issued to council members and department heads, letting them know his official opinion on the issue.
“If the town of Argo obtained a good-faith estimate that the project was less than $500,000, it was not required to advertise in three newspapers of general circulation throughout the state,” King wrote in his opinion. “Even if this requirement applied, under the facts outlined, the town of Argo substantially complied with the Public Works Law and the town may proceed with the executed contract.”
The meeting Tuesday was meant to inform Argo residents that the complex would be moving forward and would be the polling place for future municipal elections beginning with the upcoming election Tuesday, Aug. 26.
The polling place ordinance, being read for the second time, also stated that Argo Town Hall would no longer be used as a polling place for Argo.
Rutledge said it appeared the polling place had already been changed according to an official election notice that went out Tuesday, July 1.
He also said it appeared St. Clair and Jefferson counties had known about the change as early as Wednesday, May 14.
Rutledge said there were guidelines the town had not observed in moving the polling place location.
“According to the League of Municipalities calendar, the deadline for changing a polling place is May 26,” Rutledge said. “No adjustments may be made within three months before an election. I asked for opinions from another lawyer and he said there was ambiguity in the Attorney General’s opinion. It is unclear, but it seems a change can be made as long as you give notice to the citizens and get it pre-cleared with the Justice Department.”
Town attorney Hugh Holladay said there was nothing in the state code to prevent the town from changing its polling place.
He said specific reference was made to changing ward lines, but the League admitted the deadline Rutledge quoted was an error.
He said county voting places were also specifically mentioned when discussing things that could not be changed, but he could not find anything that would prevent the town of Argo from changing its polling place.
Rutledge said he did not agree with moving the polling place to a building where the inside was not complete, and still may not be complete for the election in 43 days.
The polling place was changed to the new Municipal Complex after the council voted 4-2 to approve it.
Rutledge and Leak were the two opposing votes.
