Pulaski County justices of the peace will consider an emergency ordinance this month to establish a process for reimbursing the Road and Bridge Department for using the department's employees to do tasks unrelated to the department.
The county already has a system in place for reimbursing the department for tasks such as maintenance on other departments' cars done by Road and Bridge employees. By law, road funds are considered restricted funds, meaning they can only be used for road work.
But in recent months, two county employees paid by the Road and Bridge Department have done work for County Judge Barry Hyde's office.
Trey Baldwin, hired Feb. 1 as a parts-shop supervisor earning a $35,039 annual salary, has been working in Hyde's office answering phones and providing other assistance. Jarrod Johnson, hired Aug. 3 as the Road and Bridge Department's communication superintendent at a $37,841 annual salary, set up the county's social media accounts, helped revamp its website and occasionally posts items to social media unrelated to the Road and Bridge Department.
"We knew that we were experimenting," Hyde said, adding that he was somewhat aware of the rules regarding road funds at the time.
Baldwin and Johnson were hired in trial positions for new jobs that Hyde said he wanted in the county judge's office, adding that their jobs would include work with the Road and Bridge Department.
Johnson was brought in for communications before the hiring of Communications Director Cozetta Jones at the end of December, and Baldwin was hired as a parts-shop supervisor before being transferred March 9 into the county judge's office as an administrative research specialist for a $38,485 annual salary. The previous administrative research specialist left that position in October.
"I wanted to bring in someone who was a helpline," Hyde said of Baldwin.
Hyde said the fact that Johnson works in tandem with Jones makes his pay using Road and Bridge funds and her pay using county judge's office funds "a wash."
The ordinance that will be considered Tuesday would apply to Johnson, who is still working in the Road and Bridge Department. It specifies that at least quarterly transfers would be made by the comptroller to the Road and Bridge Department for "certain positions paid for out of the Road & Bridge fund whose duties require them to perform tasks in collaboration with other departments."
The Pulaski County Personnel Policy states: "All employees shall perform the duties of their job commensurate with the job descriptions prepared through the classification process and on file in the Human Resources Department."
The communications superintendent job description obtained in March by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says that the superintendent supervises emergency communications equipment and systems and "associated public safety equipment." It does not specify any work outside the Road and Bridge Department, Office of Emergency Management or sheriff's office, and it does not specify promotional work.
The job description for that position is being rewritten, said Public Works Director Barbara Richard, who oversees Road and Bridge and other departments.
"People need to see what Road and Bridge does," Johnson said, adding that his primary responsibility is in that department along with occasional work for other departments. "It's honestly really more of an as-needed basis, especially since we hired Cozetta Jones. Before then, I wasn't really filling that role; I was just doing things here and there."
The parts-shop supervisor oversees the "purchasing, receipt, storage, and distribution of parts and supplies needed by County vehicle repair shop and Road and Bridge crews and maintaining an accurate computer record of parts inventory, department usage, vehicle maintenance," according to its job description.
Emails obtained by the Democrat-Gazette indicate that Baldwin and Johnson did work for other departments while employees of the Road and Bridge Department.
Since his hiring last year, Johnson has set up the county's Facebook and Twitter accounts and posted updates to them. This year, emails indicate that Johnson continued to be consulted for county publicity unrelated to the department after the hiring of Jones as county communications director.
On Feb. 4, Baldwin sent photos of the swearing-in ceremony for a Pulaski County Brownfield Revolving Fund Board member to Johnson, who replied by saying that he would post them online. On Feb. 12, Baldwin took a call at the county judge's office from a Democrat-Gazette reporter asking about the county judge's personnel task force and sent an email about it to another employee in the county judge's office.
Richard said she didn't have any conversations with anyone about Baldwin's hiring in February but said he was hired temporarily for Hyde.
As for Johnson, Richard said his job description was being reworked to include duties outside the Road and Bridge Department.
Sometimes Johnson needs help from Jones, and other times she needs his help, Richard said. Adopting the emergency ordinance would allow her to bill other departments for Johnson's assistance.
"The judge wants us to be a lot more visible to the media and the public," Richard said.
She noted that Johnson assists with the sanitation and emergency management departments, too.
Recently, Johnson has only worked for the Road and Bridge Department, Richard said.
"He started out at the judge's office for a little while, then someone made a comment that we couldn't do that," she said. "So now he's strictly Road and Bridge."
Metro on 04/11/2016