In 30 seconds
- The council voted 6-0 for Resolution 7-2024, censuring Mayor Christopher Franklin and requesting his immediate resignation over a profane Facebook Live video involving his adult daughter and niece.
- Franklin refused on the spot: "I'm happy to inform you, I'm not moving. I'll still be here. So, meeting adjourned." That is how the video ends.
- Before the vote, Franklin called the video "a family issue that got spewed on social media," invoked "he without sin cast the first stone," and told the packed chamber: "when we had water and sewer issues we couldn't get you all to show up ... now ... you want to take him straight to the Cross."
- The attorney for the hospital buyer reported due-diligence findings — the roof, mold, and a confirmed diesel-tank leak — and put the offer at $3 million with $900,000 held in escrow toward repairs he said could roughly double in cost.
- City Attorney Andre Valley said the contract's 30-day due-diligence period, extended once, had run out and he had no authority to extend it; Councilman Joe St. Columbia said the council had been left out of the communication.
- Councilman Don Etherly held the line on the full $3 million price but proposed continued negotiation through the city attorney; the buyer's side agreed, saying time is of the essence.
Recap
A 6-0 demand for the mayor's resignation
Councilwoman Maxine Miller told the chamber she had contacted the city attorney after receiving the viral video and took no pleasure in what followed . She read Resolution 7-2024 into the record — resignation requested "for conduct unbecoming of the office of Mayor during a recent Facebook Live broadcast" — through its operative clause: the council "strongly censures and officially condemns" the mayor and "undeniably requests" his immediate resignation . Councilman Joe St. Columbia seconded , and the roll call carried it with all six members voting yes .
"I'm not moving"
Franklin answered the vote from the chair: "I thank you all for there, but I'm happy to inform you, I'm not moving. I'll still be here. So, meeting adjourned" . The video ends on those words, with the agenda's remaining items unheard.
Franklin's framing before the vote
Before the resolution was read, Franklin addressed the room: the video was "a family issue that got spewed on social media" involving his daughter and his niece, and both sides had agreed to counseling . He reached for scripture twice. First the stone: "the Bible also teaches us, he without sin cast the first stone" — "I'm not ever going to be perfect." Then the Cross, aimed at the packed chamber: "when we had water and sewer issues we couldn't get you all to show up, but now as it come to the faith of your brother or somebody who's in the community, you want to take him straight to the Cross." With that, he handed the agenda to the chief of staff.
The hospital sale: $3 million, a $900,000 escrow, and an expired clock
Kyle Stoner, the attorney for the hospital buyer, reopened the due-diligence negotiation from two weeks earlier and reported three findings driving the delay: the roof, mold, and a confirmed diesel-tank leak . The offer on the table: $3 million, with $900,000 held in escrow toward repairs — repairs he said had roughly doubled from the expected cost , with his client covering the rest . City Attorney Andre Valley said the contract's 30-day due-diligence period, extended once, had expired and he had no authority to extend it ; St. Columbia objected that the council had been left out of the communication ; Valley answered there was nothing to give the council until the buyer's documents arrived . Councilwoman Miller called the reduced net price a tough sale to the community, citing residents who had reached out .
Etherly's middle path, and where it landed
Councilman Don Etherly said he was not ready to walk away from the full $3 million price but proposed authorizing the city attorney to continue negotiating, each side having a vested interest in closing . The buyer's side agreed — "we're good with that" — while pressing that time is of the essence . The exchange ended with negotiation continuing rather than a vote on new terms.
Transcript
Auto-generated from the meeting video's captions and lightly cleaned for readability — wording is kept as spoken, not corrected, except that caption-garbled names of city officials are normalized against the roster. Speaker names follow the attribution work in our governance record; a ° marks a name our reviewers have not yet verified. Every timestamp plays the city's video from that moment. Watch the full meeting ↗
19:26
Unidentified prayer the plge
19:36
Unidentified prayer let us pray father we come to you in the name of Jesus father we pray uh that this meeting will be conducted decent in order let it be led by your spirit this evening and father let let everyone do what's in the best interest of the citizens this evening that the business be conducted in a manner that is productive organized thoughtful and uh what's best for the s in Jesus name we pray
20:30
Unidentified so Madam CL you will call the RO
20:33
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey please miss David Mr St Columbia pres Dr
20:39
Unidentified Miller here Miss Harris pres Mr etherly
20:43
Unidentified here miss Miller here six
20:55
Unidentified present is a representative the hospital
20:57
Unidentified here
20:59
Unidentified Mr Cal
21:10
Unidentified Stoner is there is there any representative from the hot from the hospital Cal
21:20
Mayor Christopher Franklin Stoner yeah
21:43
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) good even even it's the most folks I've seen in a city council meeting ever we just want to kind of get back on the agenda kind of touch base again where we were two weeks ago uh regarding the uh progressives Amendment after doing the due diligence on the hospital I know last time we were here everybody wanted to kind of figure out read through the on-site visit and kind of see what the expenses were and what the offer was didn't know if there was any questions need to be asked or we're here to answer any questions we have about it no questions at
22:26
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) all the status right now is the we actually have three things that are very important with the hospital we have one the roof we have the other one that's the mold and in the last seven days we found out we thought there was a potential Leak with a diesel tank and now we're being told there is the leak with a diesel tank so the status right now is we're in limbo uh with the extension of the due diligence period after giving y'all the the onsite exam essentially the offer is 3 million to be paid 900 to be held into escro is essentially a third of the improvements that have to be made the other two3 we paid by Progressive and the 1.2 I 2.1 we paid to the to the city that's the offer after all the due diligence was done so have anybody reached out to Helen and health Foundation who managed who managed the building for all that time because my thing is if if the city who's just received the building has never received
27:31
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) what y'all were told everything was in the contract we discussed it it was time sensitive and it is time sensitive um my client wants to close he does want to close but he he he you can't close on something if you don't do your due diligence and and and now we're finding out why you know if you don't do your due diligence you buy a piece of property next thing know you got 2.3 2.6 Million worth of repairs that are immediate you know that almost doubles the purchase price of the building you thought you were
27:59
City Attorney Andre Valley good if I may ma u i consistently try to contract Progressive relating to this there was a 30-day due diligence per period it was extended another 30 days and I don't recall the council taking any action after that uh but I ConEd was trying to contact Mr Stoner and nobody ever came back to this body to seek another extension uh paragraph three of it says that due dealers was to be completed within 30 days or it's waved and the council when I continue to try to contact initially Mr stona didn't have any information for me because I contined to contact there was nothing to tell me and um as I continue to contact I don't have the authority to extend the due diligence the city council does I I do not and so there was repeated attempts to trying to to get to the issue because each council meeting I was being asked when are we going to close because closing was supposed to be 60 days after uh the closing of the 30-day due diligence period And so city council has not by vote extended to due diligence any further the packet that you receive AI uh that portion the own site didn't start to April 5th and the packet you had last council meeting has April f is a beginning date for onside inspections and Etc and paragraph 17 does say that they were person as he is in paragraph three does state that they wave if they uh do not complete the due dilig within the time period uh I think that that uh the contract says what it says if the council wants to accept the offer or want to negotiate the offer you're free to do
29:37
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) so if I may respond to that um contacts between me and the City attorney have been plentiful so as far as not being contacted I believe that's wholly inaccurate so me and you have had contact about I said you had no information relating to what happened I didn't say you had you didn't contact but there was just over clear because everybody's here today there was conversation between me and you about the delay and getting all the due diligence done because of outside
30:01
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) companies correct correct okay but I make sure that's what I said
30:05
City Attorney Andre Valley but I have no author told here tonight I have no authority to extend the due diligence period
30:10
Councilman Joe St. Columbia okay the council have been left out of the communication
30:13
City Attorney Andre Valley but there was nothing for me to give you until they gave me the documents yeah any other
30:25
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) questions and like I said we you know Council Miller said that hey you we thought this was a time was of the essence and it is my client still wants to close but like I said I mean any businessman can't close them without doing his due diligence if they if they do they won't be a businessman for long Mr Monday that's no
30:45
Councilwoman Maxine Miller audio I just think that that would be a very um tough sale to our community to take a decrease of that amount there were many of the citizens who reached out to me and they were not in favor at all of selling the hospital I think that we would need some more time I can't speak for everybody else but I think that we need more time to talk about that that's a lot of money that's not 50,000 it's not H 100,000 that's $900,000
31:18
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) I understand but you also would like everybody to understand that that 900,000 my clients the one that's going to be paying the other portion of the 2.32 that's what he's going to be paying and that's that's just for the the 12 months so he's he's not asking y to pay half or anything like that if you look at what he has to pay over the next several years he it's roughly a third so that as far as taking a discount I understand I understand your position but my client's position is he's willing to foot the other two-thirds of it and even after you know if there was some well we we'll just say that he's willing to he's willing to pay the other two-thirds of of what needs to be done the next 12 months so the option is you know who fixes the hospital from here because they're running the operations end of it you know the lease doesn't doesn't make them responsible for for the maintenance of the building I think that's that needs to be the next discussion is if we can't get this settled and the hospital doesn't sell then we need to start discussing who's going to maintain the building
32:28
Councilman Don Etherly I have um I think I understand the legal positions that each side has taken in this point um and I think it might be I'm not ready to walk away from the full $3 million price that we agreed upon but it might be at this point beneficial they've already purchased the business and we've already agreed to sell the land so I think each side has a vested interest in trying to get this deal done it might be worth um some more discussions about how it can be concluded I would say with us receiving the entire amount but maybe we have to be flexible in how we receive it that's not a specific thought I haven't thought of it specifically as how how it could happen but uh we could send send the City attorney to to try to negotiate that and have discussions everybody would have the ability to talk to the City attorney and get his um thoughts opinions and ideas outside of a meeting and uh maybe we can send them back to try to work this deal out any other questions I can answer and and like I said last meeting
33:39
Unidentified go ahead I guess I would say is is that acceptable to your side to try to continue to negotiate it out yes we're
33:46
Kyle Stoner (attorney for the hospital buyer) we're good with that I just um like I said time is of the essence and we we feel just like y'all have that it's been delayed long enough yeah this delay has been nothing on my client's behalf I can guarantee you because I tell I can tell you the hours I put in this and like I said last meeting anybody has any questions I'm easy to get a hold of you can call my cell phone you can email me at any time my office is a block away okay all right thank you
34:16
Mayor Christopher Franklin Mr thank You' all very much before before Mr Val presents the agenda uh the room is real crowded and and I'm glad to see that everybody came out tonight for for this reason but before we let Miss Miller before Mr Val introduce Miss Miller these are some things that I'm I'm G let you all know um we hear about a video and here by me resigning um this is a family issue that got spewed on social media my daughter and my niece me and them are working on this relationship I didn't say it would be easy we're working on it both sides have agreed to counseling and I think that words were said that can be taken back but as we just prayed we ask the Lord to forg forgive us for all our sins so the Bible also teaches us he without sin cast the first stone and I say this I'm not I'm I'm not ever going to be perfect some of you people in this room I can say this it's so good to see y'all in here but when we had water and sewer issues we couldn't get you all to show up but now as it come to the faith of your brother or somebody who's in the community you want to take him straight to the Cross but I tell you this once this resolution is read wherever it is it is Mr Mr Valley
36:00
Chief of Staff James Valley ladies and gentlemen of the city council we have an extended agenda uh some things are being moved um but the first item that's on the agenda is a resolution calling for the resignation of Mayor Christopher Franklin and that's on page three out of 125 is the one that ask for resonation and on page four is one that is a censure the language I really the same in the two resolutions what's the resolution number
36:34
Unidentified yeah the
36:35
Chief of Staff James Valley clerk that's on page three resolution seven M Miller
36:43
Councilwoman Maxine Miller I contacted the City
36:50
Councilwoman Maxine Miller attorney um after I received a copy or the video that went viral I don't take any pleasure in this but I am going to read the resolution as I read it because I do believe that it is necessary in this case city of Helena West Helena resolution 7 2024 resolution requesting the resignation of Mayor Christopher Franklin for conduct Unbecoming of the office of Mayor during a recent Facebook live broadcast whereas Arkansas law gives the city council all legislative powers and whereas Arkansas law grants city council other corporate Powers not prohibited by law or by some ordinance of the city council and whereas Arkansas law allows and provides that voters of Helen West Helen shall elect City officers as shall be necessary for the good government of the city and whereas the voters of Helena West Helena elected Christopher Franklin to represent all of the people of the city of Helena West Helena and whereas the city council has determined that mayor Christopher Franklin has recorded published and disseminated a derogatory Facebook live video in which he tells his adult daughter an adult niece to in quotation marks e his and some other foul mouth statements using a Litany of profanity and antagonistic language and whereas the video of marris Franklin is fan grotesque misogynistic narcissistic nauseating and in nowise expressive of all the people of our city and whereas the said statement should not be representative of one who executes policies procedures rules regulations and state statutes that affect all citizens in this community now therefore be it resolved that the city council of Helen West Helena Philips County Arkansas hereby strongly censors and officially condemns mayor Christopher Franklin for his conduct referenced above and the city council of Helena West Helena Phillips County AR Arkansas undeniably requests the immediate resignation of Mayor Christopher Frank
39:39
Councilman Joe St. Columbia I'll second that
39:43
Unidentified motion any discussion Miss Miller makes the
39:50
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey motion call Ro please Miss Miller
39:55
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey yes Mr Sun Columbia
39:58
Unidentified yes Miss
40:08
Unidentified Davis Dr
40:11
Unidentified Miller Miss Harris
40:14
Unidentified yes Mr anly
40:18
Unidentified yeah six
40:21
Mayor Christopher Franklin yes so with that being done ladies and gentlemen I thank you all for there but I'm happy to inform you I'm not moving I'll still be here so meetting
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.