Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Mayor-elect Lioneld Jordan chairs Tuesday's agenda-setting session preparing for his first meeting as mayor on January 6, 2009

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Lioneld Jordan chairing meeting of the city council to set agenda for its January 6 meeting. Jordan has served as vice-mayor and chaired many meetings the past few years. Next Tuesday will be his first as mayor. Jordan is to be sworn in Friday morning at the Washington County Courthouse.
Please see Jeff Erf's Web log for the tentative agenda for the Jan. 6 meeting at Tentative agenda for Jan. 6, 2009, city council meeting

For the final agenda, check the same link Friday or Monday or go to Final agenda for Jan. 6, 2009, city council meeting for the agenda and link for live web streaming on Tuesday.
Below the photo, please find final report on campaign spending including the runoff from The Morning News edition for Wednesday, December 31, 2008.



The Morning News

Local News for Northwest Arkansas


Coody Outspends Jordan In Mayoral Race

By Skip Descant
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody raised more money for his re-election bid than his opponent Lioneld Jordan. The incumbent mayor raised $87,375 -- and $12,464 was his own money that he lent the campaign.

But it was not enough. Coody lost his bid for a third term to Jordan, a two-term city councilman who raised $49,615. Final campaign finance reports were due Tuesday.

Jordan won the 2008 mayoral race in a runoff, capturing 57 percent of the vote to Coody's 43 percent.

"It's got to make you feel good when you raise $50,000 and your opponent raises nearly $90,000 and you win by about 14 percentage points," Jordan said Tuesday.

All told, the 2008 mayoral race picked up $200,857 in contributions. Steve Clark, a former state attorney general and the new president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, picked up $46,214 in contributions. More than $11,000 was a loan to his campaign made by Clark and his wife.

In Coody's final report, which spans Nov. 14 to Dec. 6, he accumulated $14,205 in contributions, much of it from developer interests. For example, Ruskin Heights LLC gave $1,200. Nock Investments contributed $1,000.

"The business community was supportive of my campaign. They recognize that I recognize the importance of a strong business base," Coody said Tuesday.

Jordan's final report, which spans Nov. 16 through Dec. 26, shows $8,000 of his final $10,131 in contributions came from union organizations such as the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees or the International Association of Fire Fighters. All told, union organizations contributed $12,099 to Jordan's mayoral campaign. But unions notwithstanding, the bulk of Jordan's contributions came from local residents.

"It was just a huge diverse group and it was an amazing campaign," Jordan said.

And ultimately, the challenger rallies the troops, Coody said.

"Unhappy people always go vote," he said. "And Lioneld had a broad base of support. And my supporters were happy."

With sizable amounts of money being spent in the last leg of the election --$19,169 going toward television, newspaper and radio advertising -- and other expenses, Coody's campaign ended in the red, owing $11,416.

Jordan closed his campaign with $2,951 still in the bank.

Three-hour public-listening session fills Chamber of Commerce meeting room early with small groups toward noon

Transition team committee Dec. 29, 2008, NWAT

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Linda Ralston (from left), Michelle Halsell and James Phillips facing the camera, with Cindy Cope at right and Julie McQuade facing the table. Not pictured were Jeff Erf and Walt Eilers (chairman of the Jordan mayoral transition teams' communition subcommittee).

Mayoral Transition Task Force communication subcommittee holds final public hearing January 13

Please announce:

The Transition Task Force Communication Subcommittee holds its concluding open public
hearing Tuesday, January 13 from 6:30 to 8 PM.

This 90 minute open hearing will be held in the Council Chamber (City Hall 219). The
hearing will be broadcast live on the Government Channel (Channel 16).

It will feature live public input for those attending and both a call in or an email
option for those viewing from home.

The contact information for the live call-in open hearing is:

Live Call-In 575-8299

Live Email: GOVERNMENTCHANNEL@YAHOO.COM

For more information please contact Transition Team Chair – Don Marr 479-236-1739 or the
Communications Sub-Committee Chair Walt Eilers at 479-582-0784

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Jordan mayoral-transition committee sets public-input session for Monday

Northwest Arkansas Times preview of transition team's input session
Transition Committee plans input meetings
BY DUSTIN TRACY Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Sunday, December 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/72503/
Fayetteville's mayorelect wants to know how his administration will best be able to communicate with the city's residents and he's using a series of public meetings to help figure it out.

Monday morning marks the first public hearing for Lioneld Jordan's Transition Committee's subcommittee on communication. The meeting is from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. Walt Eilers, the subcommittee chairman, said Monday's event is mainly for people in the business community and the Fayetteville Council of Neighborhoods and will give these groups a chance to drop in and share their thoughts on the best way to have open government.

"We already have 25 people who've RSVP'd," Eilers said Friday. He said an RSVP is not necessary to attend the public hearing.

During Jordan's mayoral campaign he promised transparent and open government to the voters, specifically stating that he wanted to hold four town meetings a year, one in each ward. As a Ward 4 alderman, Jordan and fellow Alderman Shirley Lucas held monthly ward meetings.

Eilers said the subcommittee will be asking individuals what their defini- tion of "open government" is as well as a series of questions about how they'd like to see town hall meetings with the new mayor work.

"Our interest is what should be the best flow of info to and from the mayor," Eilers said.

A week ago the subcommittee met with city staff and city employees to figure out the best way to get suggestions and communicate with the workers. Eilers said they drew the conclusion that employees would like anonymous surveys attached to their pay stubs they could fill out and turn in. That survey goes out Jan. 16.

The group also plans to have a night meeting in each ward for the general public to attend and share suggestions. The dates of these meetings have not been set yet.

Eilers said the subcommittee also decided to take advantage of technology available to it through Community Access Television. On Jan. 13, subcommittee members will host a live broadcast question-and-answer session from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Fayetteville City Council chambers. Eilers said that interested parties who wish to remain anonymous can e-mail or call in questions or suggestions about open, transparent government.

Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

Friday, December 19, 2008

Mayoral transition team considering many documents including ones listed at link below

If you want to do the homework along with Lioneld Jordan's mayoral transition team, please see Documents being studied by Lioneld Jordan's mayoral transition team
Please click on images to ENLARGE view of second mayoral transition meeting.



Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of second meeting of Lioneld Jordan's transition team on December 18, 2008.

NWAT report on second transition meeting

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Lioneld Jordan on Crossing Safety Day 2008

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Lioneld Jordan on West Martin Luther King Boulevard on Crossing Safety Day 2008.