Marr's the man : Jordan names former alderman as chief of staff
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2009
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Stephen Smith, left, congratulates Lioneld Jordan, center, as Don Marr, campaign manager, announces Jordan's victory in the runoff mayoral election Nov. 25, 2008, at the watch party at Uncle Gaylord's in Fayetteville. Jordan announced Monday he has selected Marr to fill the newly created chief of staff position for the city.
Don Marr is the newest addition to Mayor Lioneld Jordan's administration.
The new mayor said Monday that he chose Marr, a good friend and Jordan's campaign manager during his 2008 mayoral campaign, to fill the new chief of staff position Jordan created on Jan. 2.
The mayor stated shortly after his swearing-in that he was accepting applications for the new position, one that would be in charge of managing all the departments currently managed directly by the mayor, except for the police and fire departments and the library.
Jordan said that Marr was not hired as an act of political patronage but was chosen because his qualifications and experience fit what the job required better than the other 21 applicants.
"He was the most experienced," Jordan said.
The new mayor added that he was good friends with Marr and that he thought they both worked well together.
The job description for the chief of staff position asked that candidates have "considerable professional administrative management experience at the level of chief executive officer or chief operating officer." It also asked for experience in mayor-council form of government.
According to a city of Fayetteville press release, Marr has approximately 18 years of experience serving the city of Fayetteville. He was on the Planning Commission from 1996-2001 and was a Ward 2 alderman from 2002-2006 but resigned toward the end of his second term, stating he needed to focus on his business and take care of his health.
He is the president and chief executive officer of HR Factor Inc. and BOSS Inc., companies involved in executive recruitment, human resources advising and employee staffing.
Marr said in a phone interview with the Northwest Arkansas Times that he was thrilled to get the job.
He said that his first day at the office is Wednesday and he doesn't have any immediate items to work on when he starts. He said he does plan to follow Jordan and the council's bidding.
"I'm sure Mayor Jordan's going to lay it all out there for me," Marr said.
Marr said he plans to remain president and CEO of HR Factor Inc. and BOSS Inc. and let his staff run them while he works on city business.
The new chief of staff will start out at $105,000 a year, said Missy Leflar, the city's human resources manager.
The salary will come out of the money the city had available for its former director of operations, Gary Dumas, who was let go on Jan. 2 after Jordan announced an administrative restructuring to make room for the chief of staff position.
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