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alderman on the Russellville City Council. During this time, I knew that Richard would
thoroughly research the issues at hand, and make well informed decisions based upon his
research. I believe that this research‐based approach is a common practice of his as he
currently serves as our mayor. Mayor Harris pays a great amount of attention to detail and is
very process oriented. Upon taking office, he took the same oath of office as the city council
which states: I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
State of Arkansas. Per state statute, the mayor technically does not have a no vote to cast. He
has two options in a tie vote setting. He can choose to not vote, which would cause the issue to
fail for a lack of passage. The second option would be for the mayor to vote affirmative, which
would be for passage.
As I understand, there is a group working with city and non‐city residents to help initiate the
drive for a recall petition. Some are good friends of mine and I respect their opinion. My
position on the recall petition or my own personal opinion of Mayor Harris does not align with
that of this group. However, I can respect the fact that all citizens have their own perspective,
even when we do not agree. This drive seems to have gained a great amount of traction
following the recent vote on zoning for a potential medical marijuana dispensary. The
marijuana issue is in direct conflict between the State and the United States Constitution. Due
to this, I am unable to find fault in his decision or anyone decision regarding this issue.
Mayor Harris has been on the job for almost six complete months. Upon taking office, he
inherited a decent number of various issues. Mayor Harris has been navigating through those,
while also getting his current administration up and going in his first few months on the job. I
am not going to say that I completely agree with him or his approach 100% of the time. I also
know that he may not 100% agree with me. That is all just part of the political process. In city
government, we discuss and make decisions based on the information available. As both a
resident and Russellville City Alderman, I support Mayor Harris as our mayor.