New director of King panel on the payroll
Posted on Thursday, March 6, 2008
The new executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission is on the state payroll at an annual salary of $ 44, 956, the state’s personnel director said Wednesday.
DuShun Scarbrough’s starting pay reflects the amount the state’s chief fiscal officer can approve, said Kay Barnhill Terry, state personnel director. The Legislative Council’s Personnel Committee will consider the commission’s proposed salary of $ 59, 000 a year during its March 20 meeting, she said.
“We reached the decision to place him on the payroll once we were notified that there were 15 [commissioners who ] voted [Tuesday ] for Mr. Scarbrough and that the interim director [Jerelyn Duncan ] had resigned,” Terry said.
“I’m very happy that an agreement has been worked out, and my goal is to move forward with the King Commission,” Scarbrough said Wednesday.
The commission authorized Scarbrough to hire his staff. He said he must post the positions before he hires anyone. The commission’s appropriation has these positions: executive director, chief fiscal officer, program coordinator and executive assistant.
The commission’s fiscal 2008 budget totals $ 258, 737, including $ 212, 188 from state general revenue, the rest from grants, donations and other sources, said Mike Stormes, state budget administrator.
Scarbrough said five volunteers and commissioners helped him at the commission’s office Wednesday.
“As of... Feb. 26, 2008,” Duncan warned the commission in a memo dated Tuesday, access “was granted to the commission’s office beyond my recommendations and insistence... to non-state employees who entered without my knowledge or permission and to this date still [have ] access to the offices.”
She said she didn’t know who these people were, when they were in and out of the office, or how they obtained access to the keys. “Please note that because of this unsecured operational provision that I cannot be responsible for items that have been tampered with, damaged, and / or removed to include but is not limited to, computers, file documents, supplies, mail, etc.,” Duncan said. Claire Bailey, director of the state Department of Information Systems, said one of the department’s employees was called to the commission’s office Wednesday and a preliminary check of the commission’s computers, requested by Scarbrough, revealed that files had been erased. The department has not yet determined “the full extent or who the individuals were that did the erasing,” she said.
Scarbrough said he had the locks on the office changed Wednesday and got new keys “as a precaution” because he doesn’t know how many old keys had been disbursed.
Anne Laidlaw, director of the Arkansas Building Authority, said there is a security camera outside the commission’s office in the 501 Building east of the state Capitol. She said she has asked a supervisor for the authority to review the camera’s tapes with Scarbrough.
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