Scott named head of youth services
Barry Hyde, county judge of Pulaski County, this week named the director of Arkansas Baptist College's Upward Bound program as the new director of the county's Youth Services Department.
Jamie Scott, 33, replaces Charles Mobley, who retired.
Mobley served as department director for several years and earned $76,935.82 in 2014. He was set to make $83,391.88 in 2015 as a part of a reclassification of his job and the community services director's jobs that he, former community services Director Laverne Paige and Buddy Villines, former county judge, pushed for in November. The Quorum Court approved the reclassifications with no dissent.
Hyde asked the Quorum Court last month to change the reclassification back to the lower salary -- which they approved with no dissent -- and has since replaced both department directors.
Scott said she will earn $64,000 this year.
Scott has been a member of several different academic and community organizations, including the Arkansas Women's Actions for New Directions board; Inspire the Vote, where she has served as chief operating officer; and the Junior League, where she was once named Member of the Year.
Scott said she plans to expand the reach of the Youth Services Department, including adding 12 after-school program sites to the three the county currently operates by the end of the year using grant funds.
She said department employees will make proposals next week for eight of them.
Panel: Spend $1M in carryover funds
The Pulaski County Quorum Court Ways and Means Committee recommended spending $1 million in carryover funds on maintenance and building repairs in the county, including $250,000 on the purchase of property on Second and Spring streets.
The committee approved the recommendation at its first quarterly meeting of 2015 Tuesday night in a 9-0 vote with no discussion.
The $1 million would come from $1.7 million received in carryover funds -- money collected but not spent in 2014.
The recommended expenditures include $500,000 for a phone system and wiring in the administration building at Second Street and Broadway and the county buildings adjacent to it, $80,000 for security cameras in the parking lots and around the administration and prosecuting attorney's office buildings, and $136,898 in roof repairs.
The rest of the carryover money would be used to boost the general fund, the emergency reserve fund and the capital maintenance and technology reserve fund.
That $1.7 million carryover cushion is ideal, said District 13 Justice of the Peace Phil Stowers, R-Maumelle, who voted for the recommendations.
"I would not want to see it get much thinner than that," he said. In contrast, he said, if the carryover were consistently closer to $4 million or $5 million, he would assume residents are being taxed too much.
"The carryover in the last 10 years has allowed us to do a lot of good things," he said, noting building maintenance and lack of layoffs.
Renovations nearly finished at tax site
Renovations at the Jacksonville tax-collection site will be completed by the week of Feb. 23, Pulaski County Treasurer Debra Buckner said Tuesday.
Renovations that shut down the southwest Little Rock tax-collection site in December have already been completed for just less than $8,000, she said.
The Jacksonville renovation has been planned to cost about $80,000, and the Crestview Plaza site has not closed during renovation.
Pulaski County, which shares that site with the state revenue department, paid several thousand dollars for some of the renovations, including $4,000 for each of two new workstations for the treasurer and assessor.
The renovation was designed the make the site more technologically efficient and to provide special accommodations for disabled veterans.
The Jacksonville and southwest Little Rock sites were to close by Jan. 1 in what the treasurer's office said was an effort to cut costs. The county struck deals with the state and building owners to keep the sites open last fall.
Metro on 02/12/2015