Mayor says workers should keep sick leave

Texarkana, Ark., Mayor Allen Brown on Tuesday said he supports city employees keeping sick-leave hours accrued beyond legal maximums, as long as the city complies with the law from now on.

During a meeting of the city Board of Directors, Brown apologized for mishandling a workshop last week in which he sought to inform the board about the problem. He said the meeting should have been a discussion of options and not a referendum on his first proposed solution, erasing any sick leave hours accrued past the limits dictated by state law.

“It was a poor job on my part in explaining what was there. We should have been there in basically a discussion. … I was not there and had no intent of trying to approve anything or, so to speak, shove anything down anybody’s throat to try to make somebody approve something they didn’t want to. I will not do that in the future,” Brown said.

He also stated a new position on what to do with thousands of hours employees have accrued beyond the 90-day maximum.

“I also would like to go on record tonight to say that I would like to get this problem fixed and I will support the employees of this city maintaining their sick hours,” Brown said. He reiterated the point a few minutes later.

“I will, again, openly support any ordinance that comes from this board that allows those employees to keep those hours,” he said.

During the workshop Wednesday, Assistant Mayor Linda Teeters and Fire Chief David Fletcher proposed letting current accruals stand, stopping any new accrual for those at or above the limit, and keeping totals under the maximum in the future.

Any ordinance addressing the issue must meet the approval of city department heads and City Manager Kenny Haskin to be placed on the board’s meeting agenda. Any objection triggers a workshop meeting and requires at least two board members’ approval to put the measure on the agenda.

In other business, the board approved an ordinance that allows building single-family residences on lots slightly too small under previous rules.

Dozens of lots in the city became much more difficult to develop after new landuse rules in 1988 rendered them a few feet too small to build on.

Before the change enacted Tuesday, home construction on one of the lots would have required expensive, time-consuming adjustments such as new surveying and re-platting. Now developers need only the usual building permits, City Planner Mary Beck told the board.

The board also approved purchase of a dump truck and software licenses for Texarkana Water Utilities.

After a brief executive session, the board voted to approve the appointments of Brandon Cogburn to a fouryear term on the Advertising and Promotion Commission and Ricky Pondexter and Ray Cox to three-year terms on the Board of Adjustment.

The board’s next meeting is scheduled for March 4.