City of North Little Rock; Mayor Joe Smith; Alderman Debi Ross; Alder — Hart, J., Concurring in Part and Dissenting…

Summary

The separate opinion agrees that the circuit court had subject-matter jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus but concludes that issuing the writ was erroneous because the petitioner had an adequate remedy by appeal and the writ improperly controlled a discretionary legislative decision. It also concludes that the city council's failure to memorialize its decision in an ordinance did not justify mandamus because an ordinance was unnecessary to perfect the appeal and compelling a useless act was unwarranted.