Mayor’s Letter & Apology to Council
October 28th, 2015 by
“I wanted to take time today, to apologize for how I reacted to Alderman Leonard’s questioning last night at City Council. It was unprofessional. I was not prepared to make a statement about an issue of that gravity and technical nature, without researching the statue and being able to make a fully informed definitive statement; as I have asked Mr. Barton to do this morning. However, cutting Mr. Leonard off & attempting to adjourn the meeting was not an appropriate means of doing that; and for that I recognize and apologize. Since being in office, I have worked hard to establish avenues to allow our residents to have their voice heard, through public hearings, surveys, social media, and the OpenGov website. Limiting Mr. Leonard’s time to express his concerns was not appropriate.
Moving forward, I hope we can continue to work together to better our city. As I stated in my first letter to you as a Council, I truly believe we serve for the same reasons; even if we don’t agree on the same issues all of the time.
Please also know, if you have any questions like this in the future to feel free to call, email, text, or come by the office to share your concerns face-to-face. Issues of this gravity and technical nature can be resolved through research and communication. I have always tried, with any of you, to research your concerns brought to me and respond in a timely manner with an informed answer/ opinion depending on the concern.
After the meeting, I was able to discover, among the issues that attributed to the confusion created around this issue is related to the outdated Municipal League publication Alderman Leonard was citing. Below, I am providing you links to the updated Municipal League publications (June 2015) Guide for Municipal Officials/Mayoral Cities and Municipal Law in Arkansas: Questions & Answers. In December, I will be attending the Winter Municipal League Conference and I will pick up physical copies for each member of the City Council to distribute to each of you.”
Zackery Tucker, Mayor
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Mr Tucker’s apology seems very sincere and I hope this will be enough to continue the plans that will benefit the city and the citizens of this great community.
It is a hard position of being a city councilman, councilwoman or Mayor putting yourself in such a position to be criticized on such big decisions. I think everyone wants good things for our city but things don’t just magically happen. It takes vision,hard work, tough decisions and working together.
Sincerely,
Eric Carolina Davis
whatever, a resignation is in order, darn right it was unprofessional & immature and only shows your in way over your head
Our Mayor in Sackcloth and ashes. The voters need to look at this closely, what are they hiding? This is a bad deal just like the Sieman’s fiasco. Why would this man try to dismiss the meeting with a Council member asking questions? Red flags everywhere on this, Do not be misled, this is not something the City should rush into with the Mayor trying to shut down all questioning.
Our elected officials are human and make mistakes. Rarely do they acknowledge them and apologize! Glad to have this man in the mayor’s office!
The mayor was totally unprofessional. As another said, this guy is way over his head! Also misleading the public. He should resign!!!