Ron Salley, former superintendent of Pinnacle Mountain State Park, is the new manager for War Memorial Stadium.
Salley is being paid $69,307 a year in his new position that he started on Tuesday -- up from his salary of $63,004 a year in his previous job -- state Department of Parks and Tourism Director Kane Webb said Friday. The stadium's former manager, Jerry Cohen, was paid $86,401 a year. Cohen resigned, effective in mid-August, after two years as the stadium's manager for a new job that Webb has said has better pay and better hours.
Webb, who said in August that the stadium manager position would be advertised, said Friday, "We decided not to advertise the job after all.
"Ron was so impressive during the interim that Parks Director Grady Spann and I made the decision to promote him," Webb said.
He said John Latch, former superintendent of Mississippi River State Park, started in his new position as assistant stadium manager on Tuesday. He said Latch's salary is now $50,222 a year -- up from $40,339 a year in his former job. The former assistant stadium manager, J.O Bailey, who left May 15, was paid $65,323 a year.
Webb said four people applied for the assistant stadium manager job and two people were interviewed for it.
Salley and Latch have been assisting in the management and operation of War Memorial Stadium over the past five weeks, the Department of Parks and Tourism said in a news release.
Before overseeing Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Salley worked at the Mount Nebo and White Oak Lake state parks.
"Ron Salley has a proven leadership record with managing one of Arkansas's busiest parks for the past 13 years as superintendent of Pinnacle Mountain State Park, with an estimated 635,000 visitors each year," Spann said in a news release. "With 34 years of experience at Arkansas State Parks, Ron has the ability to lead and manage [War Memorial Stadium] to a new level of customer service and to increase the use of [the stadium] for Arkansas."
The stadium has been under the control of the Department of Parks and Tourism since Feb. 22 when Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed legislation -- now Act 269 of 2017 -- immediately merging the free-standing War Memorial Stadium Commission into the department. The eight-member commission's actions are subject to Webb's approval under the 2017 law.
The Republican governor has proposed cutting the stadium's general-revenue funding roughly in half to $447,647 in fiscal 2019, which starts July 1, 2018, with the long-term aim of making the stadium self-sufficient. The Legislature will consider that recommendation in the fiscal session starting in February.
Webb said he hopes a stadium consultant hired by the department will complete its work sometime in October. The department has a $160,000 contract with Conventions, Sports & Leisure International LLC of Frisco, Texas, that runs through April. The firm has been hired to conduct a feasibility study on the future of the stadium.
Metro on 09/09/2017