The Little Rock Sanitary Sewer Committee is holding a pair of public receptions next week for candidates in the running for CEO of the Little Rock Wastewater agency.
Each candidate will present a five-minute overview of their background and what they would bring to the job if hired. A 10-minute question-and-answer session will follow.
The receptions -- set for the River Market Pavilion, Bill and Margaret Clark Multi-Purpose Room, 400 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock -- are scheduled to run from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
The candidates, selected in June by the Sanitary Sewer committee, are:
• Greg Ramon, assistant general manager at the Central Arizona Project in Phoenix, who will be at a reception Monday.
• Charles Logue, technical services director of Renewable Water Resources in Greenville, S.C. His reception is Tuesday.
The Sanitary Sewer Committee is to interview the candidates in executive sessions scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday and 11 a.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of Little Rock Wastewater's Administration Building at 11 Clearwater Drive.
The Sanitary Sewer Committee oversees certain operations and finances of the wastewater utility.
The new leader will join an agency that former CEO Reggie Corbitt led for nearly 30 years. The committee fired Corbitt in January after a police investigation confirmed information reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about Corbitt's business practices, use of public funds and what a police memorandum called "questionable expenditures." Former operations manager Stan Miller was also fired in January.
The utility's chief executive would likely be one of the highest paid public officials in Pulaski County. Corbitt received annual pay of $187,875, plus benefits. He was the fourth highest-paid city official in Little Rock, following two top executives at Central Arkansas Water and the executive director of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field. The advertisement for Corbitt's replacement lists the salary at approximately $180,000 yearly.
In December 2013, the Sanitary Sewer Committee decided to hire Illinois-based Voorhees Associates to conduct a nationwide search for applicants, deliver a report recommending top picks and assist in the final interview and selection process. The firm is getting $24,700 for its work, according to the committee.
In April, a panel of the Sanitary Sewer Committee reviewed a list of 60 applicants whose resumes came from 22 states and three countries. The public governing body's members allowed the search firm consultant to participate in an executive session as they deliberated over who to consider for interviews.
Allowing the consultant -- an outside party -- to attend the executive session violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. After the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette objected, the commission decided to re-do its vote selecting which candidates to consider further.
Metro on 07/30/2014