By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A proposed change in St. Francis County's personnel policy and procedures handbook that would make all county employees at-will workers was met with strong opposition from members of the Quorum Court's Personnel Committee Tuesday night.
Members of the committee discussed the changes, proposed by Mike Rainwater, an attorney with the Arkansas Association of Counties, which would bring the county in line with Arkansas State government where all employees are at-will.
According to County Attorney Fletcher Long, the move to at-will employees would lessen the probability of lawsuits against the county for wrongful firing and would also put the county on a even level with employees.
"Arkansas is an at-will employment state, and that means that someone can be hired or fired for any reason at all with the same exceptions like sex, race, religion or disability. That means that if you're at-will, you can be fired if you part your hair on the wrong side. The current policy and procedure manual that the county has implies a contract and lists some vague reasons that an employee can be fired for. What Rainwater suggests is making all employees at-will and then establish a grievance procedure for instances where an employee feels that he has been terminated under cases such as discrimination due to race, religion, sex and so on," Long said.
"The at-will policy would put the county on an even level because currently, if an employee goes out and finds a better job, then they can quit without notice. This just evens out the field allowing the employer the same rights," he added.
Justice Jack Crumbly objected to the move to at-will employees, questioning whether employees would have any job security if all employees were at-will.
"I just can't endorse this idea because I feel that it would take away what little rights our employees have, with the exception of a complimentary grievance hearing. While we do want to protect the county, we don't want to take away all of the employees' rights. Under this system, we could have an employee who works for the county for over 20 years walk in and be told that they were fired for no reason at all. That doesn't promote job security, and the positions with the county already lack upward mobility. Now, we're talking about taking away any security they have," Crumbly said.
"I would like to think that we offer careers to our employees, but under this system, I would have to think that they would always be looking for the first thing smoking to get out of here," Crumbly added.
Committee chairperson Earline Smith also objected to the proposal citing possible changes in office holders and the lack of security that at-will employment would provide. Each county office currently has a chief deputy position which are considered at-will positions. According to Long, any decision by the personnel policy committee could be rendered moot if individual office holders establish their own policy handbooks. Currently each office uses the county's policy manual.
In other business, the Budget Committee gave its approval to a measure which will allow the Building and Maintenance Committee to seek $120,000 in loans for the construction of a building at NEARCO and for improvements to a rental office on Davis Street and the paving of a county parking lot which is located at the corner of Davis and South Forrest streets.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Caldwell City Council on Tuesday agreed on two new pieces of playground equipment to be purchased with proceeds from its annual festival, and hired a new city attorney.
"We're in the process of making the final decisions on what to do with the proceeds," said Mayor Gary Hughes. "As you know, we had about $3,000, and the money was designated to purchase an additional piece of playground equipment for the park. Now, its springtime, and we're anxious to get this added."
He said one piece is "an old-fashioned merry-go-round," and the other is called a Play Hoop.
After a brief discussion, the council agreed on the choices.
On another matter, Hughes said he was ready to make a recommendation for a new city attorney, and recommended Steve Routon.
"He has a lot of experience with towns this size and knows what to expect," said Hughes.
Routon will be paid $250 a month, attend council and planning commission meetings, and prepare ordinances.
The council voted in favor of hiring Routon.
Hughes also proposed that the city purchase some new banners.
"The green ones are dangling," he said. "Although some are in good shape...we've had them about three years and that's about the life of them."
Hughes suggested banners with a patriotic theme. The council agreed.
He also asked the council for permission to get estimates on some remodeling of the city hall.
"We think it's about time to update our fire station/city hall a little bit," he said.
Particularly, he was talking about the floors and the cabinets in the kitchen. The council agreed to seek estimates.
He also told the council that a new truck has arrived for use by the fire department. It was purchased with Act 833 funds.
The council also agreed that the city needed to look into getting some water pipe replaced in the Telico area, where they said there had been numerous patch jobs done.
The council also voted to allow the placement of three double-wide mobile homes on a piece of property in Caldwell. The city's planning commission had already given a do-pass recommendation. The property covers at least three acres.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
The youngest of two siblings critically injured Monday morning when their car was hit by a train has died at a Memphis hospital.
A spokesperson for Le Bonheur Children's Hospital said Billy Pate Jr., 9, died this morning from injuries sustained in the accident as he and his 16-year-old sister Angela were on their way to classes in the Palestine-Wheatley School District.
Angela died Tuesday at the Med Center in Memphis.
A memorial fund for the Pate family has been established at the First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas. Anyone wanting to donate to the Pate Memorial Fund may do so at any FNBEA branch.
Angela Pate was driving a1996 Chevrolet south across the Highway 261 railroad crossing in Palestine just after 7:30 a.m. when the vehicle was struck by a westbound Union Pacific train. Both were airlifted from the scene to Memphis hospitals.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The director of the annual Mightymite Triathlon offered an update on this years event to members of the Forrest City Advertising and Promotion Commission Tuesday afternoon.
Wyndell Robertson, who also serves as president of May Memphis, Inc., said, "We have already started on this year's event. The date chosen is Saturday, July 19. This year I'm putting applications for the race in our company's Memphis in May race packs. We had 328 participants last year, and it is my goal to have about 330 this year.
"I feel confident that we could reach about 330 again this year, but to reach 400 is a goal for a few years from now," added Robertson. "This year I hope to change some things from last year. Having a year under our belt, we have made an assessment of what we would like to change. One thing is the transition area. Last year there was some confusion among the racers, Sand we hope to improve the system this year.
"We also had some complaints about the transportation for the participants with the shuttle buses, and we want to improve on that as well. Another problem I feel that happened last year was our communication with the local media. They were great with us and gave us lots of coverage, but we didn't provide them with enough information about the event and some of the top runners. I plan to really work on that so that we can promote the event better this year."
A&P Chairman Kem Merrill told Robertson of a problem reported to him folllowing last year's race.
"We heard that the sheriff's department and several other law enforcement agencies did not receive the t-shirts promised for helping with the event," Merrill told Robertson. "We have also heard about several groups of volunteers who did not receive the money for their organizations that was also promised."
"I had not heard that," Robertson said. "I thought that those things had been taken care of. If anyone knows of someone who did not receive what they were promised, have them call Sheila (Lieblong of the F.C. Chamber of Commerce), and she will forward the names to me. We also have a list of volunteers from last year, and I'll go back through the list and call to ask if they have gotten their compensation."
The commission officially signed Robertson to a contract for the 2003 Mightymite and asked him to update them on further developments of the race via e-mail.
Laura Mazzanti, director of the St. Francis County Museum, made a request of $1,000 for the Circle of Friends Intertribal Native American Pow Wow. The event, to be held Friday, March 28, through Sunday, March 30, at the fairgrounds, is in its second year in Forrest City. The commission granted Mazzanti $700 to help fund the event.
A cold, wet and icy February held building permits in Forrest City to projects valued at a total of $38,750.
There was only one permit issued for commercial work, repairs at Taylor Chapel CME Church valued at $18,000.
The rest of the permits were for residential projects. There were four permits issued for repairs, one for remodeling, one for an addition and one for a storage building.
The Forrest City Planning Commission heard a request for a variance of a city ordinance in a rescheduled meeting on Tuesday.
David Ramsey of Emmanuel Baptist Church asked the commission to approve a 15-foot variance from the required 25-foot setback to allow for the construction of a family life center on the church grounds.
"We would like the variance because the back of the lot where we originally wanted to build has a ditch, and it will take a lot of work to build the ground up," said Ramsey, adding that a soil engineer had completed a survey of the original plan and determined that the original area in question was not suitable for the building, making the variance necessary.
The members voted unanimously to grant the variance. The matter will now be presented to the Forrest City City Council for approval.
The Board of Trustees of East Arkansas Community College will meet in regular session on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m. on the EACC campus.
Included on the agenda are reports on construction and remodeling of Classroom Building 1 and Phase II projects.
Some of the other agenda items include the 2003-2004 holiday schedule, discussion of the summer schedule and resignations.