By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – At a meeting on June 20, the Leeds City Council heard from a resident who said that she was forced from her position at Leeds Youth Baseball and Softball.
The resident, Brenda Scoggins, said that she had been treasurer of the Leeds Youth Baseball and Softball until she stepped down due to a transaction that was reportedly done by the previous board president. She said that a year ago, she was elected fairly to the position but that it “didn’t go the way that certain people” wanted before her stepping down. She did not name anyone specifically.
The transaction refers to a time when the board held a tournament to raise money for a family in need. The issue apparently arose after they discovered that they were supposed to advertise the tournament as a charity, as required.
“And for that reason, I’ve been the scapegoat when I didn’t do the transaction,” she said. “I have a petition here that’s been going around on Facebook with 146 signatures of people that are backing me up.”
She added, “I’ve been told nothing face to face – well, I have been told face to face by a city employee – but I never got to speak for myself.”
During the following discussion, Councilman Eric Turner said that the board supports and respects her but that the city had no input on the decision to have her step down. Rather, this was by the board of the Leeds Youth Athletic Association.
Turner later said that elections will be restructured and shifted to being done online after voting was traditionally done in person at the park, citing that there were questions about how the ballots were handled.
After further discussion, Mayor David Miller said that the matter will be looked into by the city. Rita Dickerson afterwards spoke at length on the same subject to urge that Scoggins be reinstated before the meeting was adjourned.
During the regular meeting, before the public comments, it was announced by Fire Chief Chuck Parsons that the department received a grant from FEMA of $309,660 to replace their air packs, these being breathing equipment for firefighters in situations involving smoke.
Parsons said that this is the largest grant that the department has gotten for some time. The old air packs will be surplus before the new replacements come.
“This is an outstanding grant,” Parsons said. “We’re all excited about this grant.”
Additionally, the department was cleared by the council to receive a new vehicle free of charge thanks to the Federal CARES Act, which administers funding to provide emergency equipment through a beneficiary. In this case, the city agreed to be the beneficiary to receive the car valued at $359,675.65.
The final item on the agenda was an ordinance to extend the moratorium for new R-5 and R-6 zoning applications. The subject of the R-5 or garden home district code has been a topic of discussion in several past meetings in which the Planning and Zoning Commission has proposed modifying it to make homes more aesthetically pleasing.
The proposed modification was rejected at a meeting on April 18. The commission is currently working to revise their proposal, which is why the extension of the moratorium was requested, Miller said. The extension was approved for six months.
In other business, the council:
- Tabled a resolution at the request of Turner accepting the Fiscal Year 2022 City Audit for further study,
- Approved the construction of a utility and storage area at Fire Station #2, and
- Canceled the regularly scheduled meeting of July 3.
Meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of every month at City Hall on 1400 9th Street Northeast. Agenda packets can be seen online at the City of Leeds website.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.