09/23/2026
Thanks to Councilman Harp For Bella Vista for the discussion of the Firefighters Bill of Rights at the most recent City Council Work Session. We would encourage all the City Council members to read the legislation and familiarize themselves with it, as well as try our hand at answering some of the questions brought up by the council.
Firstly, it was brought up about putting these protections in place for all employees, not just firefighters. We agree completely! We would love to see the council adopt these ordinances in a way that applies to all city employees! The legislation is called the “Firefighter bill of Rights” simply because the legislation was drafted and advocated by the Arkansas Professional Firefighters, the state union that represents firefighters. But Firefighter unions have a long and proud history of creating positive working conditions that, sooner or later, find their way to other city employees.
There’s no reason why there should be any additional cost to the city, unless the city was planning to call on employees to be interviewed without paying them for their time during an investigation or interview.
I can assure Mr. Whims, the city handbook does not address several of the items that are covered by this bill of rights. And let me just interject a moment and state, the legislation from the state clearly states that the purpose of the bill of rights is to “recommend a basic Bill of Rights”, so the ordinance is recommended for adoption by SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 14, Chapter 5.
But as stated in the opening, we would love for these practices to be adopted in a manner that they apply to all city employees. There is no tangible difference between adding new procedures to the city handbook or adopting this ordinance, other than that these practices have already been vetted by the state and other municipalities within Arkansas.
For Mayor Flynn’s point that the city has not been sued for unjust termination… is it possible that this is because the employees who have been terminated didn’t have the representation or the resources to pursue such a suit, and were unable to provide documentation about the investigation and termination because they had no assurance that they would have an unbiased record of the investigation? I’m not here to allege that this is the case, but let’s also not confuse correlation with causation.
One of the most telling points in this discussion was when the city attorney stated clearly that neither he nor the Human Resources department was there to advocate for the employee. So doesn’t the employee deserve someone who will look after them? All private sector employees are, including those in the state of Arkansas, are guaranteed a host of rights and protections under the National Labor Relations Act. Public sector employees, however, are exempt from those protections. So our question is this: why are we deserving of less courtesy, dignity, and respect than our private sector peers? Why should we be treated as second-class citizens for the simple crime of working in the public sector? If Mayor Flynn says there is no problem here to solve, then why should there be any reason not to move forward? If the city attorney says there is much teeth gnashing when they must make a decision to terminate someone, then why not let us relieve you of some of that stress and ensure you are making those decisions with the full knowledge that the employee had fair representation to ensure that you’ve crossed all your T’s and dotted your I’s. This ordinance is as much about protecting the city by ensuring all employees are treated equally and fairly as it is protecting the employee.
The city attorney made it clear that he wanted employees to view Human Resources as an entity that existed to help the employee. I think that is an uphill battle as I would wager that if you were to do a nationwide poll, you would find most employees view Human Resources in a negative light. Maybe one step to reconciling that is to earn employee goodwill by advocating for protections such as the firefighters’ bill of rights.
I’d love to share more and answer any further questions, so please reach out!
In closing, the only reason I can see for a council member to vote against this is if you want to leave the door open for the opportunity to mistreat employees in the future.
Please review the firefighters’ bill of rights here
https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1808.pdf
