Mayor: Raises a must to attract quality staff
Low-paying salaries were the common denominator for multiple positions discussed during the city of Pine Bluff Administration committee meeting on Tuesday.
Mayor Shirley Washington was requesting an increase in various salaries in order to obtain quality individuals who will perform the high-demand job duties those positions require.
With her administrative assistant gone, Washington has been reorganizing and reassigning job duties as well as creating a new position in her office: chief of staff.
“There are a lot of things over the last four years that we wanted to do, but we’ve been so swamped we just hadn’t had the manpower to get any of those things done,” said Washington. “We have not been able to monitor and keep a spotlight on departments, department heads when it comes down to monitoring and helping to organize and move projects forward to get the most effective and efficient operation from each department as I think we are capable of doing.”
Washington said she wants to hire Cynthia Anderson, who she brought in on the administrative assistant’s salary. She has requested a salary increase of $17,691 for the chief of staff position.
“I brought her in at the salary that Mildred [Simmons] was making, $32,309, but we’re looking at a totally different position, and this is kind of
the low end for a chief of staff position,” said Washington. “Anywhere you go, they make far more than what we are trying to bring this in at.”
According to Washington, the chief of staff will perform various duties including research, in-depth reporting, implementing programs, analyzing and investigating and making recommendations for policy changes and procedures, just to name a few.
Louise Sullivan, who is currently the mayor’s assistant and who makes approximately $45,000, would also take on the duties of administrative assistant.
“We are moving Louise from that mayor’s assistant and we want that salary to remain, because she’s taking on all of the position that Mildred was holding and that was the administrative assistant to the mayor and also being the mayor’s assistant that she was performing, “said Washington.
Council member Glen Brown Sr. said he felt the salary increase for the chief of staff position would spark contentious conversations within other city departments that have requested a raise.
“It’s not a matter of what they say; it’s a matter of how we feel,” said Washington. “It’s work that needs to be done. It’s work that we have to find qualified, competent people that can do this level of work, and it’s going to benefit the city so much.”
Washington said just in the few weeks that Anderson has been on staff, she has done things that have never been done before. Washington said Anderson comes with a background that is sufficient, making her more-than-capable for the position.
“She has good property management so she can help in that area,” said Washington, who added that Anderson has taken a huge pay cut. “We can’t stop the bleeding if we don’t have the capacity to do some of the things that we feel the mayor’s office can do if we are empowered with the skill— if we are empowered with the workforce behind us to make it happen.”
Washington said it’s hard to find people who will come to work for $40,000 when they have been making $70,000.
“If they are willing to come in at $50,000, you’re getting a bonus,” said Washington. “We can’t pay them what they’re worth, but $50,000 is the lowest end of the spectrum for this position.”
Chairman Lloyd Holcomb Jr. said he believed the position was vital.
Brown said he would vote to move it to the full council but warned that the discussion of funds not being available for the other departments could come up during the council meeting.
A candidate for director of the Carl Redus Aquatic Center has been found, and Washington said she wants to make sure the pay is sufficient to the experience the person will bring in.
“We’ve been looking for one ever since Mr. [T.R.] Santos left,” said Washington, who added that Santos was making approximately $53,000. “This individual has the aquatic experience and a strong aquatics background who works with Arkansas AAU swimming.”
Washington said the person is willing to move from El Dorado where they are currently making around $80,000 to Pine Bluff for $60,000.
“I’m looking at the fact that our first aquatic director with background came in at $53,000,” said Washington. “It didn’t work out. We’ve been looking for someone ever since and we have not been able to find anyone who is willing to move to Pine Bluff.”
The committee voted to send the agenda item to the full council.
With a prospective candidate in a position to fill the city finance position, the salary was not the main issue. Instead, it was an ordinance that requires the department head to reside within the city limits.
“Most of the folks that applied, the problem is finding someone who was willing to come in at the salary that we’re paying because most of these financial accountants make six-digit salaries,” said Washington. “It wasn’t easy to find anyone.”
According to Washington, the interim was the best candidate that had municipal finance background. Council member Steven Mays said hiring someone with that experience was a good business move for the city considering the interim worked with the former finance director, Steven Miller, for years.
To become permanent, the interim would not be in compliance with the residency ordinance, according to Washington, who said the city looked at other options such as making an exception for the position but decided that would not have been fair.
“If you were to make an exception for the finance director to live outside of the city and the next person you hired had to maintain residency within the city, that would come across being totally discriminatory,” said Washington.
Brown said he didn’t want to repeal the ordinance, considering a new hire for a police chief would be coming up in the near future.
“I won’t go for this,” said Brown. “We must keep the department heads that are getting the bulk of the money [living] in our city.”
Holcomb said as the city’s population continues to decline, officials have to look at the different factors that face the city and as an individual if they want to better the city.
“We always want our people to live here in the city, but some of us travel 30 to 40 minutes to Little Rock or Grady to go to work so how can we say we have to live here?” he said. “I can understand we want our police chief and fire chief, but it’s 2021 and we have to look at it from a broader perspective.”
The ordinance was pulled to allow further discussion, but Washington said changes are going to have to happen in order to see growth in all areas of the city.
“We can always find someone, but can you always find a person that’s capable of doing the job at what you are wanting to pay?” said Washington. “That’s going to be your problem.”
Washington said the ordinance currently in place is handicapping the city from hiring the quality people needed for the jobs in the city.
“As we move forward to grow the community, we’re going to find that this will happen more and more,” said Washington. “It’s not going to be a one-time occurrence.”