Job description may change for Elkins post
Posted on Friday, November 2, 2007
ELKINS - After being without a recorder / treasurer for a little less than a week, the City Council may revamp the position's job description.
It's currently the tradition in Elkins to hire whoever is elected as recorder / treasurer to be the city clerk and oversee the city's finances, but the council looked at a few different options at its meeting Thursday night.
On Oct. 29, Norrita Fischer, the ex-recorder / treasurer for the city, submitted a letter of resignation at a special council meeting. The council had previously met on Oct. 23 and passed a resolution reassigning all of Fischer's duties as recorder / treasurer after Mayor Jack Ladyman fired her from the city clerk position on Oct. 22. Ladyman said the reason Fischer was fired was because he wanted to go another direction with the position.
Elkins has been riddled with budget problems stemming from poor bookkeeping of financial records. The council said that most of the problems were from individuals trying to keep the finances in order who were untrained in the accounting software the city uses. The biggest example of Elkins'budget problems is its Police Department, which was unofficially $ 56, 000 in the red as of early September.
City Attorney Danny Wright said Arkansas statutes state that the council was supposed to appoint a recorder / treasurer at its next regular meeting, something he said was a way of speeding up the process more than a penalty.
"There's no set, prescribed penalty for not doing it," he said.
Ladyman said there was no way the council could have picked someone Thursday because no one qualified enough for the job came forward. The time frame was not realistic considering Fischer resigned less than a week ago, he said, and the council is not sure what direction it wants to go with the position.
"No matter what we do we're going to need some help in the interim," Ladyman told the council.
The council discussed hiring a part-time accountant to help until a new recorder / treasurer can be found, or even hiring an accounting firm for the city finances while the search continues.
"We could go back and hire somebody like we have in the past, or we could use a part-time person and hire an accounting firm to supplement them," Ladyman said.
Wright said the recorder / treasurer only has to do certain tasks set forth by the state, and there's no requirement for that individual to be solely responsible for the city's finances, meaning an accounting firm could be contracted.
Alderman Bobby McGarrah said he wants the parttime person to be qualified to do the job and have experience working with city finances and the accounting software Elkins uses.
"I'm not for bringing somebody in par t time unless they have some kind of city and municipal training," he said.
The only problem with bringing in an accounting firm is the expense, especially for a city already struggling with departments in the red. Ladyman said a firm could cost about $ 24 an hour, twice what the city is used to paying. As for the recorder / treasurer position, Ladyman said that person receives $ 35 a week for his or her services.
The council decided it needed to work on filling the elected position as soon as possible.
Additionally Thursday, the council agreed to let the city's Water and Sewer Committee begin the process of taking over its own budget and finances. It also retained a spending freeze on the Police Department.
Ladyman said the spending freeze allowed the department to purchase items that were necessary for daily operations but required council approval for anything extra.
New police Chief Shawn Ellis said he's fine with the council's decision.
"If you feel that leaving the freeze on the Police Department will help people sleep at night, then that's fine," he said.
As for the Water and Sewer Committee taking over its finances, McGarrah said he supported it because it would be one less thing for the people at City Hall to worry about.
"I don't have a problem with letting them try it," he said.
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