ALC-Personnel
Video
Transcript
9 documents
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- Whisper
- Model
- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin RTX5060
- Processing date
- October 8, 2026
Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 3
12:30
So it does include long-term as well as short-term. All right. Thank you so much,
Julie Link
Unverified
12:42
and thank you, Mr. Chair. Are there any additional questions? If not, what are the
Speaker 12
12:55
wishes of the committee? Okay, it's a report, so we don't have to. Okay. All right, Mr. Chairman, item B3 is a report from the Department of Higher
Speaker 13
13:00
Education that details institutions' requests for new provisional positions. Provisional positions
are created using other monies, which may include grants, donations, or other anticipated funds. Under Arkansas Code, each institution has provided a number of positions available to them for this purpose. There are nine new provisional positions in total approved by DHE, one position at one four-year institution, and eight positions across three two-year institutions. This leaves the institutions with 3,095 additional provisional positions available for the fiscal year.
Speaker 16
13:35
And do we have any questions from the committee? Is there anyone here from Higher Ed? Yes, sir.
Speaker 18
13:46
In Higher Ed, do we have a representative from Higher Ed, Mr. Foley? Would you please
Nick Fuller
Unverified
13:59
come up? go ahead nick fuller i'm the deputy director at the division of higher education thank you mr fuller
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
14:14
it you're reading every day about the loss a loss of student enrollment at all of our universities we've got two of them that are in financial trouble, and here we are with a request for additional employees. I mean, you know, we just spent $27 million. I know that's out of the foundation on football coaches, but where is this going to end?
We just keep hiring people, hiring people, and we keep hearing that the enrollment's dropping.
Nick Fuller
Unverified
14:46
Yes, sir. Now, these positions that the requests are for are for certain specific grants or awards that the schools received for individual purposes that they may not have these position titles already in their act. So it's new money that the school may have applied for a grant for some research or anything that they've received outside funding for. So the position they didn't have
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
15:08
available already. So it's not general funds, it's grant money.
Yes, sir. Now, what happens when the grant runs out? Do we have a clear delineation of how we're going to deal with it? Yes, sir. Yes, it would be handled similar on the state
Nick Fuller
Unverified
15:21
side. It would be like a federal grant-funded position. When the funding goes away, the position is no longer funded as well. Thank you. Senator Hammer? Thank you, Mr.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
15:33
Chair. These are all federally funded or from private grant sources, is that correct? Yes, sir, and then there should be a
Nick Fuller
Unverified
15:41
column there in the chart that states where the funding comes from for each of those.
Tony, where are we going to find
Speaker 13
15:50
that in our paperwork? Which one is it? It's the sixth column over. As you go through each of these individual documents on page 2, 3, 4, and 5, it says type of funds, federal grants, gifts, collections, and or university funds and percentage. That's the type of funding that you have. And then the next column, position assignment, is where it's going to be at, where the position's being utilized. All right, so
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
16:14
follow-up. Just out of curiosity, how many,
do you know how many positions start off as being federally funded or private,
and then they convert over to the permanent payroll
where there's not federal funding supporting their position? I would not know that.
Nick Fuller
Unverified
16:33
these positions are the provisionals if they want to continue the position it has to come back for review again so they would have to move that person to
a different position within their authorized appropriation to be able to keep that person on payroll so it wouldn't be that this position stays active for ongoing years even when the funding
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
16:53
goes away do you have an estimate of
how long these positions are going to be funded for based on the money that you've got committed right now that you're before us
today i don't have that with me i could probably get that information for you i'd like to get that and kate how impossible is it for you to do a look back and see how many positions that are now um full-time positions covered under revenues other than what started those positions like these we've actually i think you we
Speaker 3
17:22
talked about this a little bit last month and we're actually working on that the problem is we have to go work with the office
the budget as well to find out the new funding. I mean, I can tell you how many started as the federal funded under miscellaneous federal grant, but once they become regular positions as they do every biennium, I've got to go back to budget to find out where they are. So we're working on that. We're actually trying to research that at the moment. What do you think? A month or
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
17:46
two before next month's personnel meeting, or what do you realistically? I think we're close enough that we can probably
Speaker 3
17:52
look for that for next month. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Julie Link
Unverified
17:59
Are there any other questions from the committee? If not, what are the wishes of the committee? No
Speaker 12
18:21
action? Okay, there's no action for this. Yes, ma'am. These are reports. Under Arkansas Code, there are certain things that are sent to the
Speaker 13
18:27
committee that are reports only. there's no action required the other items are review that's and that's what we require action on
yes ma'am okay mr chairman item c item c is a request from the university of arkansas for medical sciences ums is requesting a vice chancellor position with a maximum salary of three hundred fifteen thousand seven hundred ninety three dollars from the higher education central pool that will lead the clinical academic and research effort at the uams rockefeller cancer Institute. Cancer Institute received 90 positions in the last session, both administrative and academic, as well as research positions. They also received $10 million from the Governor's
Rainy Day Fund in the last month. UMS has stated that they have a plan for a new director for the center as the previous one is retired, and they intend for the new director to also be a vice chancellor. The Department of Higher Ed has recommended the requested position. Senator Hamer, agency to come forward.
Speaker 52
19:40
Please introduce yourself. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Maurice Rigsby, Vice Chancellor, Institutional Relations, UAMS. Thank you, Mr.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
19:52
Chair. Does this have anything to do with the national certification, the cancer, help me out, read my
Speaker 55
20:05
do that all the time. Okay. Thank you. Yes, Senator Hammer. Yes, Dr. Patterson, as a part of our work in to move UAMS in Arkansas to have a National
Cancer Institute designation, has worked to recruit, use this position to recruit a doctor to come in to lead our Cancer Institute at UMS, and so this is a part of that. Dr. Patterson has been able to recruit Dr. Michael Beer. Dr. Beer is coming from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the UAB. He was the director there of NCI. UAB is the only comprehensive cancer center in the South.
Dr. Beer is coming and bringing $4 million in grants with him. Three of those grants are NCI grants, and three of those grants are Department of Defense grants. And so he's a specialist in ovarian cancer, and so this will definitely put us on the road to being designated an NCI cancer center. and he understands NCI and will be the person leading the charge on campus and in the state.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
21:18
Okay, and the funding source for these salaries, refresh my memory again, part of it out of the Rain
Speaker 55
21:25
Day Fund, or where is it? No, for his salary will come from our clinical revenues and state funds and other sources, philanthropic or other research dollars, a mix of those dollars. okay and it wasn't that
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
21:38
long ago y'all were in financial distress and pretty hefty salary here and I get why you know we need somebody leading the charge and everything but to the overall
financial stability of the institution given the hit recent history not that long ago you guys keeping it between the ditches are we we getting close
Speaker 55
22:00
to going the wrong direction again or no we're actually doing really well and Dr. Patterson since he's been here has worked well with the team and our CFO. We've submitted balanced budgets to the Board of Trustees for FY19 and FY18, and we were actually $40 million ahead of budget during the most recent year. So not only have we
gotten out of the ditch, I think we have really worked to be fiscal stewards of the generous resources you all give us. So, I think Dr. Patterson has us on sound footing, and I think that allows us to do things like this in a way that's beneficial to all Arkansans. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator Chesterfield. Senator Sisco
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
22:55
is back up. You already know who you are hiring for this position.
Speaker 55
23:07
We're here because I think it's because we need a vice chancellor position. So we have an allotment of vice chancellors positions and the cancer director currently is not a vice chancellor. So this will make the cancer director on par with other vice chancellors on the campus. And were we not to grant this,
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
23:26
that person would still be working. but not at that title
Speaker 61
23:32
well this is I think a part of the agreement was to
Speaker 55
23:37
get a vice chancellor slot so I think this is necessary based on the offer that was made to Dr. Beer before he gets on campus we wanted to make sure he was in a vice chancellor slot
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
23:52
I guess it troubles me when we've already had a done deal and we come on subsequent to the deal and yet we're asked to approve the deal.
Speaker 70
24:04
So I guess to answer your question, he would be in the director's slot as the Cancer Institute director.
Speaker 55
24:09
That position already exists, and I think as a part of this was to, even though he's accepted that position, is to make it a vice chancellor's slot. So, but I think that a part of
Speaker 53
24:20
the arrangement was to get the vice chancellor's slot. Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator Hamer.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
24:34
You'd mentioned, or maybe it just went by me, but did I hear something about 90 positions a while ago,
Speaker 13
24:44
or did I just dream that? Yes, sir. I did mention that, that the Cancer Institute did get additional positions back during the session. It's background for the position for the Cancer Institute. I was just
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
24:56
giving you that additional information. How many of those have
Speaker 55
24:59
been filled, or are they all filled, or explain that to me, please? So I think as a part of that recruitment, so Dr. Vera will be responsible for recruiting other physicians, other scientists, other researchers, other staff to start working towards NCI designation.
And a lot of that has not happened yet because he's not on campus. And as a part of that, he's going to move his entire lab from Birmingham to Little Rock. And so we're going to have to go down with refrigerators to bring all those samples, to bring all that research that he's doing on cancer here. So as a part of that, he will find other cancer researchers around the country in Arkansas to come to be a part of the team to lead that effort. And so that's what those positions were designated for, was to bring that information in.
And so as a part of the funding that you provided for us, there is a report that reports that we will provide to the General Assembly on a frequent basis as well. Yeah, and don't get me wrong, because I'm all
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
25:57
about this, and he was in a meeting last week. I said,
Ian, I'm fine with this, but, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was presented to us that it'd be $10 million is what was going to be set aside. But now it seems as though it's $10 million plus. and am I getting the wrong picture here?
Speaker 55
26:17
Yeah, and let me say this, Senator Hammer, as a part of the plus is Dr. Patterson and our Advancement Office and our donors, we're going to raise a significant portion of the money as well. So we're not asking for additional state money as far as plus, but we were trying to get $10 million annually. But UAMS, through the clinical enterprise, through philanthropic opportunities, will raise the money to match what you all have done as well. And those positions will be funded through research grants,
clinical revenue, and other sources. So basically you stole this guy away from
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
26:54
Alabama? I think so. I think he can get anybody else from down there. He has a great
Speaker 55
27:02
background, was leader of oncology at Harvard and Mass General. So I think this is a real coup for the state of Arkansas. I will
Speaker 70
27:13
try. Dr. Patterson's from Alabama, so he might be able to do that.
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
27:23
Senator Stubblefield. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to ask you, Maurice, he doesn't have any coaching
Speaker 70
27:29
credentials, does he? I don't know. I think we're probably, you think you're going to step in next, Senator? Well,
Speaker 85
27:33
I would sign a contract. Okay. Hey, can I be your agent?
Julie Link
Unverified
27:46
Absolutely. Are there any further questions? If not, we do need an action on this. What are the wishes of the committee?
Speaker 18
27:55
I have a do pass. I have a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And
Speaker 12
28:12
it passes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right, Mr. Chairman. Next on the agenda, item D. This is a miscellaneous federal grant
Speaker 13
28:18
request from the Department of Health for one new epidemiologist position. The department has received a federal grant from the Center for Disease Control for $2.4 million for the Overdose
Data to Action Program. The program provides education, awareness, and prevention for drug monitoring programs, opioid misuse to help support other state partners. Peer reviewed the creation of the position this morning. Personnel is tasked with the classification, which is the epidemiologist at a grade GS09, OPM has recommended the request, and staff concurs. Are there any questions
Julie Link
Unverified
28:48
from the committee? Seeing none, what are the wishes of the committee?
Speaker 18
28:59
I have a motion. And I have a motion of due
Speaker 12
29:15
pass. I have a second. All in favor? Aye. and it has passed. All right, Mr. Chairman, item E is a request for swap pool position from the Department of Energy and Environment. The department is requesting to surrender
Speaker 13
29:24
two positions, the oil and gas deputy director at a grade GS-13 and administrative specialist one at a grade GS-02. They're asking for a new position with a new classification in return. The new
classification requested is an energy and environment chief counsel at a grade GS-15 with a salary range of $96,000 to $140,000. The justification letter from OPM provided states that they want to consolidate shared services within the department and provide a single position in charge of all legal affairs cabinet-wide with a cost of just under $14,000. The current incumbent in the oil and gas deputy director position will be promoted into the chief counsel position. He will maintain his current duties as the deputy director of oil and gas while also
overseeing all legal matters of the department. The agency has stated they intend to provide a 5% increase to the employee upon promotion. They've also stated that they anticipate substantial cost savings due to the consolidation. Furthermore, they said prior to the transformation, contract labor was used for some of their legal services within a department, and this will eliminate the need for outside assistance, providing additional savings. OPM has recommended this request.
Speaker 14
30:32
And I have a question. Representative Warlaw.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
30:35
I have a question. Can I have somebody from AEDQ come forward, please?
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
30:59
Please identify yourself. Senator Wallace, Mr. Chairman, Representative Wardlaw. My name is Julie Link. I serve as the Deputy Director of the Division of Environmental Service, and as of July 1st,
I have a side hustle as the Chief Administrator of the newly formed Department of Energy and Environment. Before beginning my remarks, I wanted to let the committee know that Secretary Keogh wished very much that she could be here, But as many of you all know, she and her family are dealing with a prolonged, severe health issue. And I appreciate the indulgence of the chair. I know we spoke before. And we'll be thinking about her and her family.
Thank you very much, Senator. Representative Wardlaw. Yes, ma'am.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
31:44
Thank you, Julie. And my condolences are well with the secretary. when you add these two surrendered positions together um if you add the medium of the range you come to about 120 and um what are you guys planning on paying the new position in that range are are we going to be losing money saving money where where are we going to be when this is worked
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
32:10
out thank you very much for your question representative wardlaw um a little bit of this issue we we
inherited as you know oil and gas became part of this energy and environment with department of environmental quality and perhaps historically to let you know how we got here at the at the time the new pay plan went into effect uh larry bingle and shane curry were the only gs 99s in the oil and gas commission chairman um shane at that time made 102 000
and uh director bingle made 112 000 this is under the there were gs 99s in the old pay plan after the new play pan pay plan um director bingle was put in an se01 that had a pay range of 108 000 to 147 000 however deputy director curry was placed into a gs 13 that maxes out at 112 000 When we inherited Mr. Curry, he had that exact salary.
While being a member of our executive team of E&E, he's actually done two jobs, Deputy Director of Oil and Gas, and he serves as Chief Counsel of our newly integrated department. There's nowhere for him to go in this GS-13. He can't even take a well-earned and well-deserved, he's received fours and fives every year on his personnel evaluations. We can't give him that salary increase in his base. So that's the first part of it. The second part of it is
the position where surrendering is the position that he is in. The second part, Secretary Keough, while him going from a 13 to a 15, would naturally allow him a 10 percent raise. We are being very conservative in that really looking at our number of salaries that are over in the six-figure range and secretary keogh has let mr curry know that she will only be asking for a five percent raise so he won't even be at the the i guess the 10 percent that he would be allowed by law
two other things i think essential to this request oil and gas commission not only do they not use general revenue they provide approximately three million dollars of general revenue per year so um this is this is a agency that um i i believe that we are good stewards of the money we almost have to operate like a business if if we don't give a good service the people aren't going to pay our fees but we're completely self-supported agency and this will result
and the cost savings, which for us is the important part to remain offering a good product at a good price for how we have to consider our business model for our customers, the taxpayers and the permittees in the state of Arkansas. Can you follow up, Mr. Chair?
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
35:16
I'm sorry, go ahead, follow up. Can you tell me what that net savings is? And just a number. I don't need a 30-minute answer.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
35:24
Sure. So I think off the top, just in surrendering the positions, we're talking about $25,000. We also spend on outside attorney counsel, and it ranges anywhere from $10,000 to $16,000 a year. With the addition of Mr. Curry on our legal team, we will no longer have to outsource any of our legal work because with the agencies together, we have a complete knowledge.
For instance, on oil production,
I'm trying not to be 30 minutes, so around 45. How's that? That's hard for me to do. I'm sorry.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
36:10
Okay, Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So from this point forward, we won't see you contracting without any to any outside legal representation you feel that this is going to do it all by him assuming these duties well specifically
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
36:24
for this kind i suppose i suspect that there could be a
situation where we were all conflicted out but not in the regular course of business and anytime that we do have conflicts our first choice is the attorney general's office they just don't have this niche type of law
that we require for our routine practice but generally yes and and part of
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
36:48
the concern I would have in the testimony is that it sounds like he has all he can do now we're going to add more duties to him plus we're going to take away the outside contracting service
which is a whole lot to put on one
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
37:06
individual so can you relieve my concern yes senator hammer and he this will
not be a one-man show we what what we will do is hopefully realize an economy of scale going from a legal team our discrete legal teams had four in oil and gas and eight lawyers at DEQ now with those legal teams put together we're able to share resources and hopefully be a much more efficient legal department being able to share the load
throughout our Office of Chief Counsel. Can I get
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
37:41
one more, Mr. Chair? Go right ahead, sir. Thank you. So you throw out the phrase, sorry, substantial cost savings. That kind of leaves it open-ended, I'm thinking, millions. How are you going to have the substantial cost savings? Is that $45,000 you referenced a while ago, or what accounts for you being able to defend the phrase substantial cost savings?
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
38:06
I'm not sure that I used that phrase, but I understand that cost savings is relative.
For us, in our legal department, $45,000 is substantial. It would fund an entire position, and we hope with this consolidated legal model that we, in fact, will need fewer attorneys as we become cross-trained and have an opportunity to maximize the potential of our staff.
And any time that we can surrender a position, not only do we surrender the cost of that position, but, of course, the state benefits that
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
38:46
accompany it. Do you think by Friday ALC meeting
you could have for me something more than a letter as far as it's this? And give me the numerical breakdown of what we would see in the way of savings, how we would see it, but also just give me the financial breakout sheet, if you will.
so we can see how this thing's going
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
39:09
to be justified out okay and senator does
it i usually when we do these we separate general revenue from non-general revenue but in this case none of this is general revenue is is there any kind of distinction you would like well
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
39:25
you commented a while ago about it being supported through you know through your You said fees, but are fees another word
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
39:36
for fines? Well, fees, not necessarily all fines.
No, when people pay applications for permits or they would like to begin a drilling project or work. So the fees are where they would be paying for a variety of services, engineering, geological, and the accompanying legal services. Okay. Tell you what, we'll talk offline afterwards
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
39:56
what I'm looking for exactly, and I'll yield. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Do we have
Speaker 44
40:05
any other questions? I'm sorry, Representative Wooten.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
40:09
The very nature of the agency, let me phrase it this way. Do you see the very nature of the agency as a conflict? Energy versus environment? I
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
40:31
think it is a V, it's an ampersand would be my, I
think that we look for a way to work in concert.
But yes, there are different missions between the two. Your point is taken, Mr. Chairman.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
40:47
How are you going to handle a situation where oil and gas has approved something and you've got the chief counsel is out of oil and gas and you have an environmental impact or someone objects to it. I mean, so are you going to go outside for outside counsel or the attorney general?
I understand what you said about the
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
41:16
attorney general. Well, within our office of chief counsel, as we have designed it, we
have built an internal structure to handle those potential conflicts because frankly there are more of those though we share some incestuous overlap in boards so we had to give a great deal of thought to this even in the incantation of energy environment so the way the chief council's office is structured there's a chief council but then there is an energy division
and an environment division, and we build legally sound walls that keep the others from in potential conflict matters where the two branches of our legal agencies almost work and serve as separate entities to avoid those potential conflicts on the front end before they ever begin. So in addition to the chief counsel, we have two deputy counsels that we're asking for no changes in their salary.
We used positions that were available. One leads the energy section, the other the environment section, and we keep all of the, in law, we call them legal walls or blocks to keep the purity of those two sections. Okay. Thank you. Wish you luck. and the chair recognizes senator hammer you know i'm
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
42:46
reading this statement here in order to
accommodate this request i propose placing two current you know department positions part of what i'm i'm kind of seeing a trend come through here uh and this is kind of directed toward some of the other agencies it seems like we are developing a top heavy solution where more just gets pressed down to those below them and have you lost employees out of your upper-level management in the
last few months are you you holding all the
positions other than those referenced on here
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
43:25
I for purposes of clarification senator I would think of a top-level position of a 13 or above would that
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
43:34
that'd be fine for their same body
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
43:37
in a 13 and above um we have surrendered
a 15 and we anticipate after the consolidation of this chief counsel um move where all our attorneys are together that we will surrender two attorney positions
which are 12 they're downgraded 11s that can go up to a 12 um and we we have currently a GS-14 that as the structure of our agency develops, we may have a necessity to fill it, but at this time, we're waiting for any efficiencies realized through the restructuring to even go down that road. Again, for us, because we are a revenue-producing agency and department, we have to think like
you all do. If we don't offer a good price, our customers won't buy our service. So we have to be bottom line oriented in our business models. Right. But the way I think
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
44:42
about it is the more you add and the higher you drive the cost up, the more you charge the customers when they come and want to get a permit from you. So I'm not sure I could
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
44:55
totally subscribe to that argument. Oh, I agree with you. And in fact, Arkansas has not raised their
permits in over 10 years. We have the second lowest permitting paradigm in the United States of America, and for this transformation, when we went to E&E, this is the singular request that we have asked at all.
We've used positions we had already, and this position, we're not even asking for the customary 10%. We're even reducing that, which I'm sure Shane isn't thrilled with, to 5%. We have not increased in any way the upper management of E&E. We're all doing two jobs. We received zero new positions. It would have been nice, people would have liked that, perhaps, you know, to have a chief counsel of E&E and a chief counsel.
We can't do that and survive in the business model we have. This 5% raise will be the only raise in E&E that is a product of transformation. And really, this is, in our opinion, just unfair to a guy who's working really hard that has no room to grow in the position he currently resides. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are there any other questions?
Julie Link
Unverified
46:17
If not, what are the wishes of the committee? I have a motion. Do pass. Yes.
Speaker 18
46:25
Is there a second? I have a second. All in
Speaker 119
46:31
favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Congratulations. Thank you,
Speaker 12
46:44
Mr. Chairman. All right, Mr. Chairman, next on the agenda is item F.
Speaker 13
46:47
This is a request from the Department of Shared Services. This is the holdover request from last month. This is for the Building Authority Division that was held, excuse me, that was held. The request is to surrender a vacant energy conservation manager position, GSO6, in return for an engineer position at GSO9. The engineer classification will be utilized in the design review section of the division. It is not required to be a licensed or professional engineer. The duties of the engineer classification will be for overseeing and conducting engineer studies,
developing design drawings and our specifications and performing related administrative duties. The department stated this particular position is needed to perform in-depth reviews of space allocations, code reviews, and project oversight. OPM has recommended the swap of positions. And do I have any questions from the committee? Thank you.
Speaker 119
47:49
Any other questions? Okay, I have a motion to do pass. I have a second. All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? And it
Speaker 12
48:08
passes. All right, Mr. Chairman, the last item on the agenda is a separate item behind your agenda.
Speaker 13
48:12
This will be a supplemental agenda item. The committee will need to vote to suspend the rules to take this item up, Mr. Chairman.
It's a request from the Department of Corrections that came in late.
Julie Link
Unverified
48:25
And do I have a motion to suspend the rules?
Speaker 125
48:37
I have a motion. Is there a second? Yes, yes,
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
48:41
go ahead. What's your question? My question is, what's the agency's defense for coming in at the last minute before we decide whether we spend the rules or not?
Speaker 49
48:53
Or if staff can answer the question. Kay, can you answer that? I
Speaker 3
48:57
can start that. Director Kelly's here as well. What happened here, Senator Hammer, is they needed to get approval from the Board of Corrections, who did not meet until last Monday, to get this particular process approved. They received that approval. It was Monday or Tuesday of last week, And as soon as they did that, they submitted the request to us. So that is the reason why it came in late. Okay. Thank you.
Speaker 57
49:18
Thank you, Mr. Chair. How often does that board meet?
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
49:25
Did they decide? I mean, I'm agreeing with Senator Hammer. At the last minute we get this request rushed in here, they have more than one board meeting down there. How come this wasn't taken care of beforehand? I may let
Speaker 126
49:41
Director Keller respond to that. Or Secretary Kelly. Please identify yourself.
Speaker 130
49:54
Wendy Kelly, Secretary for the Department of Corrections.
I apologize for the late request. The board did
Speaker 131
49:59
meet last Monday. They meet approximately once a month, generally, and they will hold an emergency. They will hold a telephone conference if they need to. They were meeting Monday to name a new director for the Division of Community Correction. They named Mr. Bradshaw. I didn't want to ask for the request until there was a director for that division. This affects only that division. And at the time when the board agreed to outsource commissaries back in May,
so that as of July 1st, those positions would be available for probation and parole officers in order to lower caseloads. But the inmates waiting in county jail and waiting for a sanctioned bed for treatment has risen in the last year. from 80 to 440 as of today so I asked the board if rather than using those for probation and parole officers if we could add five correctional officers at Texarkana and two advisors so that we could open 50 beds down there and get some of these people that are awaiting treatment into the
treatment beds as opposed to having them wait in the county jail or out in the community awaiting treatment so it was my delay waiting for them to name a new director before I brought this forward I sent the request the next day to Ms. Barnhill, and then she told me that y'all had a meeting if I wanted her to ask for you to suspend the rules to take it up today, and I asked her if we could go that route. So I apologize, but I appreciate your indulgence if you choose to do so.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
51:27
Well, it's just a matter of fact that we have rules to go by,
and I understand your dilemma, but still, at your October meeting, you couldn't go ahead and submit that request at that time to your board and then submit it to us there was
i don't understand i don't understand the delay kevin
Speaker 135
51:56
murphy was the director for the division of community correction and he was retiring his
Speaker 131
52:02
retirement wasn't effective until the end of october at that time the board on the first Monday after that named a new director, which was Jerry Bradshaw, because the intent from May had been for these positions to be used for parole and probation officers. I didn't want to move forward with a request to use them for correctional officers instead until I knew that the new director, whoever that was going to be, was on board with that decision. So are you using some
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
52:33
of these parole officer positions that we gave you in the last session.
Speaker 131
52:38
No, sir, I am not. Those positions are still available. The division was trying to add additional probation and parole officers in order to lower the caseload. It's currently below 100. In the meantime, on the community, the residential side for community corrections, the backup for a sanctioned bed has grown from in the last year from 80 to 440 so those people that were sanctioned for treatment
the best practice is when you get sanctioned you carry out the sanction they're just sitting waiting because we don't have enough bed space for them so this was to add 50 beds at the Texarkana facility it includes no management positions it's simply one post one correctional officer post which it takes five officers to cover a post 24 7 and then two advisors to meet their licensing requirement so one advisor can only have 25 clients so that's the request and then we were adding a IT person for that area which we already needed to do that's the request
that's before you today it is simply in order to carry out our mission in a more effective manner and yes sir I could have made the request in October I chose to wait until I was I had a director for that division so that we could all be on the same page moving forward. Okay. Okay, I
Speaker 18
54:02
have a motion on the floor to suspend the rules. Do I have a second? I have a second.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And I have a motion on the floor to accept the recommendation. I've got a question. Senator
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
54:27
Hammer. Director, was the contract for the commissary, is that a contract or these are positions that are retained within the department, right? These positions were under
Speaker 130
54:37
the contract. These six of these positions, the commissary
Speaker 131
54:42
positions were vacated in order to turn them in for other positions the commissary contract with keith was for them to take over operation of the commissaries there was not a need for the commissary positions and those were intended from the time the contract was approved to turn in for officer positions and when
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
55:01
was that contract originated or when did that contract start it was effective July 1 okay and so the savings that this are where are we
realizing savings to be able to do this did that cost for those six positions shift over to the cost of that contract or did we save that much money
Speaker 131
55:27
no sir the commissary contract the commissaries made money off the commissions that are charged the increase on the products that they sell and they made around three hundred thousand dollars a year the contract with keith required them to operate them provide the staff to operate them in a
guaranteed minimum of three hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year to community corrections so there was no cost in that it simply freed up six budgeted positions that could be used utilized for officer positions and is what's driving this that you
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
55:59
want to come before us on you know the manner you are with us having set aside the rules that you're trying to get the beds open as quickly as you can at texacanna that i mean that's that's really what's driving this yes sir the county
Speaker 135
56:12
jail backup is it what a year ago there were 80 people waiting a sanction
Speaker 131
56:18
program in county jails today there's 440 waiting for a treatment bed we have the beds because we've had people in that part of the facility before so all we need are the positions approved community corrections does not have the money to fund the total cost of that this allows them to use the budgeted positions that they had turned in well i tend to turn in to pay the salaries and the matching for the people and then we are going to take out of the division of corrections budget
the money for the medical contract on these 50 people and the community corrections still has to absorb about $75,000 in cost for food and clothing for the 50 people that will be in these treatment beds. So what's the
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
57:04
net cost that this is going to increase at just the bottom dollar? All that said, summed into one number, what is it?
Speaker 131
57:14
It's over $300,000. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Speaker 145
57:21
Senator Chesterfield? Thank you, Mr. Chair. there is a need for what you're
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
57:30
talking about. That's the only reason I moved to suspend the rules. But what is of concern to me is we continue to outsource services. And I know that that is supposed to get us to efficiency, but it plays havoc with the retirement system. Yes, ma'am. And we're having hearings around the state trying to stabilize that retirement system. so what is the thought process that goes into undermining that system while in essence i
suppose making things more efficient for you
Speaker 131
58:03
i don't know if that if that was considered this was before transformation and this was only done on the community correction side director murphy made the recommendation to the board just prior to us being consolidated or you know put together but i do know that the six people that were in those positions five of them took vacant officer positions within the division of community correction they did not leave state government only one left well how many folks
Speaker 137
58:30
are being hired by the company that came in
i believe it's six but mr banks can answer that question three there
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
58:39
are three individuals who came in i i would just admonish all of our state agencies to think about every time you outsource you're undermining your own retirement system. And when we're looking at that, that we look at the totality of it all. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are
Julie Link
Unverified
59:00
there any questions? I have a motion on the floor.
Speaker 89
59:05
Do I have a second? I have a second. One moment. Go
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
59:14
ahead, Senator Hammer. So we clear this out of here today. we can pull it out for a separate vote on Friday in ALC and send it back if we choose to do so. Is that right? Am I right on that, Tony? That's correct. Okay. Is it appropriate that I could ask her a question on the basis of that answer? Go right ahead. So this thing's been brewing since July. Here we are in November.
Now it's come down to the last minute. We're having to deal with it now. what's the reason for that again because the contract for the commissary
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
59:53
it became effective july 1st yes sir so so why after where am i wrong and thinking august september october november four months later that this couldn't have been
dealt with before before now is it because of change of director and
Speaker 131
1:00:08
all that you mentioned or what Yes, sir. That's part of it. The positions were actually intended to be switched over for probation and parole positions. However, the caseloads have gone down. Mr. Bradshaw has reviewed those. And upon consultation due to this backup, and these are the same offenders that probation and parole supervise that are waiting these treatment beds. So it is a benefit to the community, but to the entire agency. I'll let Mr. Bradshaw speak to it.
Speaker 152
1:00:35
Jerry Bradshaw, Director, Division of Community Correction. Yes, sir. You know, as a result of 423, we developed a new offender violation guide, and we've gone through the process of sanctioning offenders for shorter periods of time in our supervision sanction program. It has grown substantially. The thought was originally that we would be able to place people in the vacant community correction center beds,
but at the same time 423 was passed, we also had legislation that extended the stay that people could be sentenced to a community correction center. And this time of year, you would have backup drop, and the thought was it would drop in the cooler months of the year, but it's not happening because our backup for the community correction centers is still up there. So, uh, we've kind of, this, this snuck up on us. We didn't think we thought that it was going to drop and it did not.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:01:36
So we need to go back and revisit that because this is going to be an, I mean, depending on what culture and society does, it's, it's going to be an ongoing problem that, um, all right. And, and what's the current parole number? You said they dropped.
What is it today? What's the ratio today? Um, I believe
Speaker 153
1:01:52
it's 92 to one. Okay. All right. Thank you.
Speaker 44
1:02:02
Okay, just to review, I've got a motion on the floor.
Speaker 18
1:02:06
I've got a second, and we're prepared to
Speaker 156
1:02:39
voting aye, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And it passes. And we are adjourned. And it's
Speaker 156
1:02:54
Yeah, it's exactly what I was going to say a while ago. It's a shell gas. And it won't be hard, yeah.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Communications
C. Request from the Arkansas Department of Education, Division of Higher Ed to establish one (1) non-classified position from the Higher Education Central Pool authorized by Act 763 of 2019, ACA §21-5-1415. (Dr. Maria Markham, Director)
D. Request from the Arkansas Department of Health for establishment of Miscellaneous Federal Grant position for the overdose data to action program. (Dr. Nate Smith, Secretary)
E. Request from the Department of Energy and Environment to obtain a pool position from OPM Surrender Pool established by A.C.A §21-5-225(a)(1). (Becky Keogh, Secretary)
F. Request from the Department of Transformation and Shared Services, Division of Building Authority to obtain a pool position from OPM Surrender Pool established by A.C.A. §21-5-225(a)(1). (Amy Fecher, Secretary) The Department of Transformation and Shared Services, Division of Building Authority to OPM that its match percenage was approximately 23%.
G. Other business
H. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — ALC - PERSONNEL, Nov 12, 2019 | Agenda | 3 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B1 - Personnel Actions Letter and Report - November 2019 | Exhibit | 2 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B2 - November 2019 Personnel Actions Report | Exhibit | 5 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B3 - November 2019 Provisional Position Report | Exhibit | 5 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. C - UAMS Central Pool Letter and Backup 10_2019 | Exhibit | 5 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. D Dept of Health | Exhibit | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. E - Department of Energy and Environment- Oil and Gas | Exhibit | 4 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. F - Department of Transformation and Shared Services- DBA | Exhibit | 7 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. G - Supplemental Agenda- Department of Corrections | Exhibit | 6 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Speaker 3
Julie Link
Unverified
Speaker 12
Speaker 13
Speaker 16
Speaker 18
Nick Fuller
Unverified
Speaker 23
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 52
Speaker 53
Speaker 55
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
Speaker 61
Speaker 70
Senator Gary Stubblefield
Unverified
Speaker 85
Speaker 14
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 109
Speaker 44
Speaker 119
Speaker 125
Speaker 49
Speaker 57
Speaker 126
Speaker 130
Speaker 131
Speaker 135
Speaker 145
Speaker 137
Speaker 89
Speaker 152
Speaker 153
Speaker 155
Speaker 156