Mayor facing heavy criticism from city council

WILLIFORD, Ark. (KAIT) - A small town in Sharp County is facing a crossroads after multiple issues have led to a gridlock between the city’s mayor and council.

Mayor Linda Brock took office on Jan. 3. Brock explained she changed the locks to the office portion of the fire department, and until certain parts of the department are cleaned up, she won’t be handing out any new keys.

“This Fire Department, in my opinion, is unsanitary from the bathrooms to the ceiling tile. You can smell the mold. A lot of this stuff should have been cleaned up.”

Brock says WFD members can still access the truck bays with key codes to the garage.

“As far as me shutting down the whole fire department, I shut down this office. That’s what I have shut down. Until I think that they can get the ceiling tiles done, the bathrooms done, clean up some things or even put them in a dumpster, no.”

Members of the department say they have access to the trucks, but there is specific equipment behind locked doors that they need access to.

We reached out to the city council, who told us in a statement that this was the mayor’s agenda.

“We as a council feel that this wouldn’t be the situation if the mayor would have not taken office and started her own agenda instead of what the city wants as a whole. The situation needs to be rectified and hopefully will be soon. The town is a close-knit community, and we want it to stay that way.”

The council said they don’t know what lies ahead for their city.

“We are not sure what our next step is moving forward. We are currently talking with the Municipal League to see what the best course of action will be. About 3/4 of the town would like to see her removed as mayor.”

Mayor Brock explained through mutual aid agreements, other fire departments can help in Williford should their department not be available to respond.

Williford City Council plans to hold a meeting on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 19, at six inside the fire station.

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