Civil Service Commission gears up for opening of Arts District

EL DORADO — Like other groups and individuals around the community, the El Dorado Civil Service Commission is taking steps to help the city prepare for the opening of the Murphy Arts District.

One of the goals of the new arts and entertainment district is to draw visitors to El Dorado, and more events and more people in town will likely mean an increase in city services, including the police and fire departments, commissioners said.

To that the end, the commission has agreed to draft a letter to the El Dorado City Council and its finance committee to request a review of the city budget as it pertains to overtime pay and other related issues for police and firefighters.

Commissioner Toddy Pitard broached the topic during a civil service meeting on June 15, pointing out that services — such as patrols and security in Downtown El Dorado, in particular and the city as a whole — may need to be increased.

Commissioners then requested the issue be placed on the agenda for the city council meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Overtime pay for the police and fire departments was one of the items that was addressed as the finance committee prepared the 2017 city budget.

City officials were anticipating a $1 million revenue shortfall in the city’s general fund.

The shortfall was largely attributed to scores of contract workers leaving the city upon completion of major industry construction and maintenance projects and less economic activity from consumers — a trend that resulted in lower tax revenue for the city.

Beginning last fall, the finance committee asked city department heads to cut their budgets as much as they could without affecting city personnel or services.

The matter became more of a focal point earlier this year after questions arose about if the budget cuts affected public safety as it pertained to fire services.

The matter stemmed from a series of articles that appeared in the News-Times in March, prompting Mayor Frank Hash to ask the civil service commission to look into comments that were made by Fire Chief Chad Mosby in the articles.

Mosby reassured Hash and commissioners that the budget cuts posed no threats to public safety.

On April 28, Mosby said some of the information in the articles led to a misunderstanding and raised concern among several citizens, city officials and the fire department. “That (overtime pay) was one of the line items that was cut, and I made a management decision on minimum staffing,” Mosby said then.

“It had nothing to do with public safety. It was a management tool to stay within a budget number.”

As a result of Mosby’s clarification, the fire and police departments were allotted funding to use as necessary for overtime pay for the year.

If there is a budget lineitem overage, the city council and finance committee have said they will address it accordingly.

“They can use it as necessary until it runs out,” Hash said at the time.

Civil service commissioners said on June 15 that they will address the issue in a letter and during the city council meeting on Thursday to see if there is money available to cover even more overtime that is likely to come within the police and fire departments once the Murphy Arts District is up and running.

The commission has scheduled a special called meeting at noon on Thursday to finalize a draft of the letter.

In other business, commissioners certified the results of entry-level civil service exams that were administered for the police department on June 12.

Of 13 applicants, six successfully completed written, oral and physical fitness exams.

Police Chief Billy White said the department plans to hire four of the candidates — which would place the department at a full staff of 51 for uniformed personnel.

The other two candidates will be placed on the department’s eligibility list for hiring in the future, a designation that is good for a year.

Civil service exams — entry level and promotional — are typically administered in the spring and fall.

In April, White requested an extra round of testing for June.

He explained then that with the official retirement of former EPD Capt. Charlie Phillips this month and more positions anticipated to open before fall exams would be administered, the police department would need to refresh its pool of eligible candidates.

Candidates who passed civil service exams last week and their rankings include:

• Tyler G. Walker, 1.

• Terrance R. Hinton, 2.

• Cameron J. Ellis, 3.

• Chasity E. Lane, 4.

• Jasmine P. Green, 5.

• Matthew A. Primm, 6.