Charley Baxter, director of North Little Rock's senior citizens center since its start and Mayor Joe Smith's deputy chief of staff, will retire May 1 after 47 years with the city under seven different mayors.
Bernadette Rhodes, the city's Fit 2 Live and Employee Wellness director, will become director of the Patrick Henry Hays Senior Citizens Center, 401 W. Pershing Blvd., on May 1. Isaac Henry, special assistant to the mayor for the past two years, will take over Rhodes' position.
Baxter's retirement and the other changes were noted in letters filed Tuesday as part of the City Council's agenda packet for Monday's meeting.
Baxter, 68, began working with the city as head of the Urban Renewal Agency in June 1970 and went on to be the city's community development director, planning director and Housing Authority director before overseeing the development and management of the Hays center. The center opened in February 2004 and completed an expansion in August 2007.
Baxter's experience has led to him being called on for several special projects, especially as Smith's deputy chief of staff since Smith took office Jan. 1, 2013. Baxter has led the city's emergency preparedness plan and been part of Smith's inner circle as an adviser. Baxter has agreed to stay involved with the city's Emergency Operations Center on a part-time basis, Smith said.
"He's been a very good friend and confidant to me, so it will be hard to adjust without having him real close by," Smith said in an interview Tuesday. "Charley is the type of guy that any project you give him, he's going to do it, complete it and do it very well. He has learned so much about emergency management over the last four years as we built our [operations center], and his knowledge there is so valuable."
Baxter said Tuesday that he's been "thinking about [retirement] for a couple of years" and finally decided at the first of this year to make the change.
"The mayor said to give him a couple of months' notice," said Baxter, who will be 69 in July. "I told him I want the whole summer to play golf and fish and work in the yard all I want to. After 47 years, it's time to let somebody else have a shot with all of this stuff."
For all the different departments he's led with North Little Rock, Baxter said the "big surprise" was when then-Mayor Terry Hartwick asked him to become the city's Planning Department director. Later, being director of the city's Housing Authority best prepared him, he said, to take charge of the senior center.
"The thing most interesting about the housing part was all the connections I made throughout the city, and then I come here [to the Hays center], and it's just about people," Baxter said. "You're dealing with people here, and you dealt with people there, so it's kind of the same."
Baxter was housing director and a member of the senior center planning committee when then-Mayor Patrick Hays, for whom the senior center is named, asked him to head up the center.
"Its been a challenge, but it's been a fun challenge," Baxter said of leading the senior center. "Every time we'd think of something new, we'd just give it a try and see it if worked. If it didn't work so well, we said, 'OK, we'll do something else.' We just try anything."
Rhodes, 36, joined the city in March 2011 as coordinator of its Fit 2 Live initiative, created in 2009 and aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles within the community.
Smith said he met with Hays center staff Tuesday about the changes.
"Bernadette is so smart, and she has a great work ethic," Smith said. "The [center's] employees, as I told them today, they'll touch more citizens in one day than most of our employees do in a year, so it's important who we hire to work there. I really have complete confidence that she will continue the success Charley has had there and will even add some new ideas and energy there."
Rhodes said she will "shadow" Baxter for about a month as he helps her with the transition. Her experience with health and wellness programs will be a plus in working directly with the Hays center members, she said.
"I am very excited and honored to be making this step," she said. "I'm going to work my way in. Right now, I'm really excited to hear new ideas from the clients and the staff itself. I'm being entrusted with this facility and this program, which is already a success for our city and is a huge amenity for our citizens."
Henry, 33, started in February 2015 with the city as special assistant to the mayor. Both Henry and Rhodes are currently pursuing master's degrees in public administration.
Metro on 03/22/2017