The Arkansas Supreme Court has reversed and dismissed a 2025 circuit court ruling that had found Helena-West Helena's former mayor in contempt for violating a declaratory judgment. The decision unwinds a legal fight that had put the ex-mayor and a top aide on the hook for repaying thousands of dollars in disputed salary increases.
According to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state's highest court found that the lower court's contempt ruling against the ex-mayor could not stand, striking down the finding entirely. The original case stemmed from a civil complaint filed by a former city employee in 2023, which eventually led to the contempt proceedings against Helena-West Helena officials, per a report from WREG.
A Costly Order Now Erased
That earlier contempt ruling had carried real financial consequences. A court order required Mayor Christopher Franklin to repay $23,000 and his chief of staff, James Valley, to repay $33,000 stemming from salary increases, according to the same WREG report. The two officials were given 90 days to return the money or potentially face jail time for contempt of court, the station's report noted.
Not the First High-Court Fight Over Helena-West Helena's Mayor's Office
This isn't the only time Helena-West Helena's top elected office has landed before the Arkansas Supreme Court in recent years. In 2024, the court ruled 4-3 to uphold a lower court decision in a separate dispute involving then-outgoing mayor Kevin Smith, according to the same Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report on that case. That fight centered on vetoes Smith issued on Dec. 31, 2022 — New Year's Eve — targeting ordinances that would have raised his successor's pay and loosened restrictions on city contracts.
The pattern of legal battles over pay, vetoes and contempt findings in Helena-West Helena underscores ongoing friction in the eastern Arkansas city's local government. With the latest contempt finding against Franklin now dismissed, the broader questions of whether the underlying salary dispute or any related claims remain active have not been resolved in the available record.
