Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – July 3, 2024- Jonesboro City Council Ward 2 Position 2 alderman Chris Moore raised questions about two topics at Tuesday night’s Council meeting.
One of the questions involved the city’s homeless population. Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit cities from criminalizing sleeping outdoors. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the court rejected the claim that criminalizing sleeping in public by those with nowhere to go violates the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
“About a year ago we had the discussion in here about homeless people sleeping under the bridge,” Moore told the council. “The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that cities couldn’t do anything about residents sleeping on public property unless we had an alternative place for them.” Moore referenced this week’s Supreme Court decision that overturned that ruling citing Chief Justice John Roberts opinion that “cities have the right to ticket people sitting or sleeping on public property.”
Moore suggested that “while we’re not in a crisis” that the council “consider developing an ordinance to address people sleeping on public property.”
City Attorney Carol Duncan said the Arkansas Municipal League had sent guidelines to member cities to give some guidance “on what a good path forward is.” She said she expects more information on the subject from AML “in the next couple of weeks.”
“Right now, we have people sleeping on public property and before this week’s decision there was nothing we could do about it,” Moore said. “I remember Carol (Duncan) getting mad at me at a council meeting one night when I said someone could go out to Craighead Forest and set up camp and there wouldn’t be anything we could do about it.”
In another statement, Moore also suggested that the city needs to get an agreement in writing with Craighead County regarding the operation of the Craighead County Detention Center. “As you know, the county is considering a sales tax referendum to build a new jail,” Moore said. “We’re the largest customer. We pay 90% of the jail fees that are paid to the county. I would think that it would be important before a referendum came on a sales tax that we might know the details. We’ll be expected to pay 90% of the O&M (operation and maintenance).”
“Our conversations with Sheriff (Marty) Boyd and Judge (Marvin Day), are going to continue,” Mayor Harold Copenhaver said.
Finance Director Steve Purtee told the Council earlier in the meeting that the city’s jail fees expense so far this year was coming in $800,000 better than expected “thanks to a negotiated contract.”