With Mayor Peggy Hammack casting the fourth vote, the City of Cotter has settled a federal lawsuit with the Twin Lakes Recovery Center of Northern Arkansas. Under the terms of the settlement, the city will pay $45,000, and Twin Lakes Recovery Center owner Brian House has agreed to not operate a community correction facility in Cotter.The decision was finalized in a special meeting of the Cotter City Council Monday evening.
The Twin Lakes Recovery Center opened its doors in Cotter in April 2016, after being granted a license by the state earlier that year. The facility housed prison inmates in a six-month program designed to help them prepare for parole status. At one time it housed 10 inmates and was licensed for up to 23.
At the heart of the dispute was action taken by the City of Cotter to terminate Twin Lakes Recovery’s occupational permit, saying the facility opened in April but the center’s officials did not request the document until May. As a result, city officials contended the facility had opened without notification to surrounding residents of its existence.
In the lawsuit filed last November, Twin Lakes Recovery noted it is licensed by the Arkansas Department of Community Correction under state statute to operate a re-entry facility, including in the City of Cotter.
It further noted, municipalities and local government subdivisions in Arkansas are not vested with veto power over the Department of Community Correction. The Arkansas Constitution prohibits municipalities from enacting any ordinance contrary to the general laws of the state.
In addition, it noted there is no provision for termination in the city’s ordinance regarding occupational tax permits. There is also no provision in the ordinance suggesting its purpose is to protect the health and safety of any persons.
Through the suit, Twin Lakes sought to prohibit the City of Cotter from blocking the operation of a re-entry facility and from terminating its occupational tax permit.
Arkansas Municipal League General Counsel John Wilkerson says the council, by a vote of 3-2, supported the settlement, but it took the fourth vote in favor by Mayor Hammack for the measure to pass. Voting in favor of the settlement were council members Wayne Alexander, Nathan Buck, and Carolyn Gill, with members John Bell and Vikki Francis in opposition. Member Roland Morris was absent.
Wilkerson says the re-entry program was a new program for the state when the facility opened in Cotter.
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The settlement follows a day of negotiations during a hearing in Fayetteville on Oct. 2nd. However, the terms of the settlement were not official until the vote Monday evening.
Wilkerson says he has told all parties in the suit and the judge while the settlement has been reached it does not imply any wrong doing.
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Wilkerson says the Arkansas Municipal League has learned a lot of lessons from the litigation to help other cities and towns around the state.
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