Another covid-19 victim

Slowing down advisable as pandemic disrupts

Making a big move sometimes is all about timing. The middle of a pandemic, it turns out, may not be the right time.

Just ask Doug Sprouse, the mayor of Springdale. Last week Sprouse pitched a plan to hire recently resigned Springdale City Council member Colby Fulfer as a mayoral assistant at an annual cost of $60,000 a year. The position, since it doesn’t exist, would need the approval of the City Council before Sprouse could fill it.

Fulfer, who would have faced an election in November had he decided to run again in Ward 1, stepped down from the council in late February. He said he and his family were moving. The relo- cation would keep him within Springdale, but it would put him out of the boundaries of the ward he’s served since 2017 after he defeated a 14-year incumbent for the post.

State law requires city council members to live within the wards they represent.

Now, two months later Sprouse, the 11-year veteran of the mayor’s office, said he’s making plans for the future with the proposed hiring of Fulfer.

Wyman Morgan has served 20 years as Springdale’s director of administration and financial services. He’s said he plans to retire in 2022. That’s a date that, once upon a time, sounded far away, but the big ball will drop on New Year’s 2022 in just a little more than 18 months.

Sprouse’s notion was this: Hire an assistant to the mayor who can learn Morgan’s job. Then, once Morgan retires, that employee can transition into the role.

A succession plan is never a bad idea for key positions of leadership, especially when there’s a date circled on a calendar and marked “Retirement Day.” And in Sprouse’s estimation, Fulfer is the right guy to fill Wyman Morgan’s shoes.

All Sprouse needed was the City Council’s approval to add $54,300 to cover Fulfer’s salary and benefits for the remainder of 2020.

He didn’t get it.

Blame covid-19, the worldwide pandemic that’s disrupted lives and, more to the point of this discussion, up-ended all economic projections for the remainder of 2020 and beyond.

The City Council, meeting Tuesday while observing the social distancing all of us are encouraged to follow these days, voted 4-3 against funding the position. Four of the seven members apparently favored some fiscal distancing, too.

Even those who voted against Sprouse’s proposal said they liked the concept, but worried that the coming months are likely to be unpredictable. The covid-19 response has closed businesses and forced people to severely curtail their activities, whether it’s going to a Naturals baseball game, spending a night on the town for dinner and drinks or even getting haircuts. City governments rely primarily on taxing people as they spend money to generate revenue for government services and payroll. A lot of people are out of work and are spending less. Ultimately, that’s going the shrink sales tax revenue for Springdale’s coffers.

“The stumbling block is not the virus, but revenue we’ll be getting,” said council member Mike Overton.

It was the right call. In a matter of weeks, Springdale and other local governments could be facing a fiscal crisis requiring reductions in spending. The future is always a guessing game to a degree, but the upheaval caused by the pandemic is unprecedented. Anyone who says he can accurately predict the economic impact on city government budgets is bold and undoubtedly mistaken. Who knows what kind of cuts the mayor and City Council may have to make?

It’s a pretty good lesson for everyone in leadership right now. Whether it’s budgetary or regulatory, the pandemic and its impact on economic conditions should encourage government leaders to slow things down a bit. The necessary restrictions on gatherings, for example, create barriers to public awareness and participation in meetings. Pushing through major ordinances quickly could easily be viewed as opportunistic. Special care should be taken to make sure covid-19 doesn’t erode appreciation for the very public nature of our government institutions.

As for the mayor’s assistant, we suspect Sprouse will eventually get the position he wants, but at a time when budgetary prognostications can be made on a solid foundation, or at least not a sinking one.