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Brenda Blagg, The Mornings News

The swing vote in Tuesday's 7-to-6 decision to cut Washington County's general tax rate to 3.9 mills came from Justice of the Peace Frank Kelly, D-near Fayetteville.

Last week, when the matter was first up for consideration, Kelly voted with five other Democrats and one Republican to retain the county's 4-mill rate.

JP Kurt Anderson, R-Springdale, who sponsored the tax cut, said after Tuesday's vote that he had discussed the issue privately with both Kelly and JP Ron Clark, R-Springdale, between the two meetings.

"I called two JPs, and I did not press either of them for a vote in my way," Anderson said. "I asked if they had any questions."

He said that he did not lobby Kelly and Clark but telephoned each once between the meetings. He was uncertain whether he had talked with any other JPs in the interim.

"Lobbying to me is even a little too much," said Anderson, who has said before that he believes court members may lawfully discuss issues before the Quorum Court in private.

Based on Clark's earlier vote for the tax cut, Anderson said he thought Clark would vote for his measure.

"Frank didn't give me a clue," he said. "I wasn't going to press them for an answer."

Anderson said he called them because he didn't want JPs to vote against his ideas "because they don't know where I'm coming from."

Anderson, at the first meeting of the current term of the Washington County Quorum Court, told his colleagues that he didn't see any reason that he couldn't talk with another justice of the peace without violating the state's Freedom of Information Act.

The FOI Act requires that most meetings of public governing bodies be public. The definition of "meetings" has been extended through court decisions to apply to committees of public bodies, but there is no case law on whether two members of a governing body may meet privately to discuss business that may come before the governing board.

Anderson and other members of the Quorum Court have been advised by County Attorney George Butler that a meeting of just two members of the Quorum Court could violate the FOI Act. He has specifically cautioned JPs to avoid them.

In an opinion issued in March, Attorney General Mark Pryor concluded that the intent of the participants, not their number, determines whether individual members of public bodies may meet privately to discuss public business.

Neither Kelly nor Clark could be reached for comment after Anderson's acknowledgment of telephone calls with them.

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