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0:00
Thank you.
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Thank you.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
5:00
On our meeting to order, it's good to see each of you. We have a special order of business to start off with, and I'll recognize Representative Lane Jean.
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
5:27
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, we have a retirement at December
the 31st of a special person, Mr. Herb Scott. Mr. Herb has served 40 years with the state of Arkansas, consecutively. I'm going to give them a chance to say
something if you want to say something. Well, hey, this is your time
because you took a lot of butts you went through these 40 years, and if you've got something you need
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
6:18
is him. Well, he came to work when he was
26 years old here, and, of course, I was former chairman of this subcommittee, and he was always a pleasure to work for. I don't know anybody, and I mean this, and it's hard to find. I don't know anybody that doesn't like Herb Scott. But anyway, we appreciate your service to the state
and best wishes in your retirement, and get some more of those commercials because you look pretty good
on them TV commercials. Thank you, Herb.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
6:56
Thank you. To look as good as you look and spend 40 years in state government, you've accomplished a lot. Okay, at this time, we'll move on to the communications, the reports only,
no actions required, and I'll turn it over to Tony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Speaker 13
7:16
Items B1A and B1B, these are quarterly reports for state agencies and higher education institutions for the first quarter of FY20. The average number of state agency employees for the quarter was 30,787. The average number of employees for higher ed institutions was 28,409. Compared the last month of the first quarter to the last month of the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year, State agencies were down 42 employees, while the higher ed institutions were up 1,353 employees.
This increase at the institutions is due to them coming out of summer months and into the fall semester, seeing a significant increase from June in the fourth quarter to September in the first quarter is not uncommon for the institutions. Items B2 and B3 are reports from the Department of Higher Education and the Office of Personnel Management detailing the use of directors' discretion, labor market adjustments, special entry rates for exceptionally well-qualified candidates, and existing administration grids as reviewed by the committee and authorized in Arkansas Code. Item B4 is a report from the Department of Higher Education that details
institutions' requests for new provisional positions. Provisional positions are created using other monies, which may include grants, donations, or other unanticipated funds. Each institution has provided a number of positions available to them for this purpose. There are 50 new provisional positions approved by DHE. 47 of the positions are at four of the four-year institutions, and three of the 50 are at one of the two-year institutions. This leaves the institutions with just over 3,000 positions available for the fiscal year. Item B5 is an
annual equal opportunity report and documentation provided by the agencies and the institutions for FY19. Committee had given us permission to adjust the data being reported and to remind the agencies of what was needed we worked with each of the departments agencies and institutions to provide data for the committee since this report is over 500 pages uh long with the chair's permission we've provided one hard copy which is up here if anybody would like to look at it uh for the committee today and there's a link in your packet and on the web if you want to pull it
up and and print it out for anybody uh with mr chairman with that that's my reports and i'll take any questions if there are any. Senator Hammer. Thank you
Speaker 16
9:31
Mr. Chair. I just want to make sure you're on B1A. Is that right? I just did B1A through B5. I did all of them together.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
9:39
Okay on B1A. Yes sir. Page three of nine. I noticed that the overtime pay keeps increasing if I'm reading that right. Do we have an explanation why it keeps inching up the way it is or am I reading that
Speaker 16
9:54
wrong well you're looking at it at an average the first
Speaker 13
9:59
column is going to be the average for the quarter the second column is going to be the just the last month of the quarter so that that month goes into that average um and i think it's going to depend
Speaker 19
10:11
month to month on you know by agency k may have a better explanation of why that may go up
Speaker 21
10:18
or down yes sir i think the reason this one went up particularly was DDSSA when they come to the end of the federal year they have to work all
these cases for uh they try to triple the cases up in the federal government pays over time and I think that's the reason for the shift
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
10:34
in this particular month one more time I couldn't
Speaker 21
10:37
hear very good who is it you say DDSSA developmental uh disability determination agency which is 100 federally funded and so at the end of their federal fiscal year they put them on they work overtime that last month so there's almost always goes up at this particular point in time so that overtime that we're paying
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
10:54
out is it but is it 100 federally funded okay so it's not out of our
Speaker 21
11:00
budget right there is some overtime including in this that is in our budget like at correctional offices in place but i
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
11:10
think the reason for the increase was due to disabilities all right thank you thank you mr chair i want
Speaker 27
11:19
somebody to tell me why all i'm reading about
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
11:40
is decreased enrollment I need a representative from higher ed, Nick Ford, Mr. Ford.
You look like you anticipated. Yeah, you can tell that. Mr. Ford, I keep reading and seeing in the media and other print media regarding the falling of enrollment. And some of them are fairly significant, particularly here at Little Rock. But yet, every time we meet, we have additional needs for higher education.
Yes, sir. And there's some other, this may not be the place for it, but there's some other fiscal irregularities that are going on. You know, when you read in the paper that you have an institution that said they were going to have an $11 million deficit, and they wound up with $126 million. You know, that gives room for pause, I think. But why do we keep adding people?
Speaker 35
12:56
I'm Nick Fuller. I'm the Deputy Director at the Division of
Nick Fuller
Unverified
13:01
Higher Ed. And the majority of these provisional position requests that we're coming to you each month with requests for are for specific grants or programs that the institutions have received that they've applied for throughout the year, they receive this grant funding outside of the regular budget process that they weren't anticipating, and these positions are specific for that grant that they had applied for. So those positions weren't already in their budget either, and they're only funded from the grant,
and so as long as the grant's available, these positions will be funded, and then when the grant goes away, the position goes away. So it's not directly tied to the enrollment and increases or decreases enrollment at the school. It's for a certain grant
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
13:41
that the school will be operating. So you're telling me when we apply for a new grant that we don't have perhaps people already employed that could
Speaker 35
13:50
fill that grant position? At some instances there are not
Nick Fuller
Unverified
13:52
and a lot of the times throughout the past few years we've tried to limit those increases in overall authorized positions on the campuses to what
is needed for continuing operations of the campus just knowing that we don't want to have excess authorized sitting there without the ability to use them trying to be more efficient in the
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
14:13
operations i hear the more efficient but i don't see the tangible results of it we continually are pouring more money into higher ed yes
sir so i would just I ask that y'all be more prudent in looking into the matters of the financial situation.
I'm getting, my constituents are beginning to really question about the Department of Higher Ed and all of that bureaucracy that we have there, and yet we continue to have all these problems out in the universities. Henderson, Monticello, here at Little Rock, and then we come before this committee meeting and we're getting we're adding more and more and more people. So I would just encourage you to look very closely, which I'm
not saying that you're not, but I think it's something that really needs to be looked at
Speaker 13
15:31
yes sir thank you any other questions okay we'll move on to item c thank you mr chairman item c is a miscellaneous federal grant request from the arkansas state police for one new grants coordinator position the department has received a grant from the department of workforce services through
TANF funds for the development and expansion of a children's advocacy program in order to provide child victims with free services. OPM has recommended the requested classification, which is a grants coordinator, and staff concurs.
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
16:00
Any questions? Do I have a motion? Motion. Senator Elliott, second. All in favor say aye. Opposed, likewise.
Speaker 13
16:14
Mr. Chairman, item D is a request for three SWAT pool positions from the Department of Public Safety. The department is requesting to surrender six positions as seen on the first page of the letter. Four of them are IT positions and two admin assistants. The agency has determined that they need to merge computer programs and databases at the different divisions through shared services for the entire Department of Public Safety so that each of the divisions have has access to the same data two of the new two of the three new positions will be filled by promoting current
employees and the third position will most likely be filled with a new hire since two of the positions will be filled by promotion the cost of these two positions will be limited to the cost of the promotion which should be about a 10 salary increase for each of those employees additionally the two employees being promoted currently fill two of the positions being surrendered the request will also lower the authorized number of positions by three for the department of public safety opm has recommended the requested positions and classifications and staff concurs okay so
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
17:14
they're they're reducing their positions by three and making all these
alterations and changes they'll have three fewer
Speaker 13
17:22
they'll have three fewer positions that in total more than likely they'll have one additional
Speaker 45
17:27
employee because the two of the positions will be promoted into and then they'll probably do a new hire. Okay, any
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
17:37
questions? You're recognized fielding. Thank you,
Representative David Fielding
Unverified
17:41
Mr. Chairman. Kay, you might be able to answer this or someone from the agency one. On these positions that was surrendered, was those positions filled already? And so what
Speaker 51
17:53
come of those persons? I think as Tony just mentioned, two of these positions were filled and they
Speaker 21
18:01
will be going into these higher-level positions, but the rest of the positions, to my knowledge, were vacant. There were two filled and four vacant. Yes, sir. So those four was? Four of the six were vacant. Two of them were filled. And the two filled ones will be moving to the higher-level positions, and then we'll have one
Speaker 54
18:19
more higher-level position. Is this where the match put? Okay.
Representative David Fielding
Unverified
18:25
Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. any
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
18:32
further questions comments do I have a motion to accept the recommendation that so
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
18:48
all right all in favor indicate of saying aye opposed likewise motion passes
Speaker 13
18:55
you. Recommendation. Mr. Chairman, item E is a request from the Department of Finance Administration for the surrender of three positions in return for one ATC deputy director position. This is requested due to the merger of the Tobacco Control Board with Alcohol Beverage Control Administration and Enforcement. The position will be responsible for overseeing new criminal investigation division that investigates medical marijuana issues as well as alcohol and tobacco cases. Like the previous request, this position will be filled via promotion, limiting the cost of the request to the increase in salary to the individual
being promoted into it. The request will also cut the number of authorized positions by two at the Department of Finance Administration. OPM has recommended the requested position and staff
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
19:42
concurs. Okay. Any questions? Do we have a motion to accept the recommendation? Senator Elliott, second okay all in favor say aye opposed likewise thank you mr chairman
Speaker 13
20:01
item f is a request from
the department of labor and licensing to surrender four unbudgeted positions uh administrative specialist positions for two computer support specialist positions this will lower the number of authorized positions at the department by two position the new positions will be utilized to aid in the process of incorporating the newly transferred agency's licensing, permitting, and registration systems into one IT environment at labor and licensing. The cost of filling these two positions will be roughly $137,000 with salary and match. OPM has recommended the
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
20:39
swap of the positions and staff concurs. Any questions?
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
20:48
Senator L, that you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I heard that these are unbudgeted positions. And
so that just means, of course, they're authorized, but unlike a lot of positions that we have the money there for them all along. This one does not. And so this will be new money?
Speaker 21
21:12
This will be additional money for these two positions. Right. Okay. They'll be taken out of their existing budget.
but they don't have there's not a cost with these positions okay because it's normally if
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
21:24
we were uh it'll be taken out of the budget uh they've got enough to do this and all these good things yes we've got that with
Speaker 65
21:32
the office of budget to make sure that they can afford
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
21:35
these positions and while i've got the mic i know that i think you generally give us a kind of
a a running report i believe of when we we have several budgeted positions and i'm of late we've been um i think in some cases when we would get rid of a merge or whatever budgeted position
we're are we putting that money back into the uh into general revenue what are we doing with us i'm remembering something that's not clear to me help me
Speaker 21
22:09
out okay um it just kind of varies from the funding source for the particular positions i mean they could be federally funded or to a cash funds or whichever generally when the money goes back at stake when they give up positions and then actually get new positions the money stays
pretty much the same it's just a different way of spending the money at that particular point in time I can't tell you that's going back to general revenue unless till the end of the year when the
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
22:37
agency has to turn back any funds that they may have so we
Speaker 21
22:40
have an unfunded some budgeted positions there are that's you've got basically three categories of positions and i don't want to bore you but you've got your appropriated positions which is generally always your highest number and then you've got your budgeted positions which means the agency anticipates that they may be filling them sometime within that fiscal year and then the third category i call is your field
positions your actual number of employees all right what do you call the third one uh well those are the field positions those are the positions that actually have employees occupying those positions well which is generally not
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
23:14
so go ahead go ahead
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
23:16
mr. go ahead so really you've got
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
23:24
mean yeah to answer her to answer well I know but I'm just
I'm just speaking point blank about it. I mean, we see positions here, we see them there, we see them unbudgeted, we see them
Speaker 21
23:38
appropriated. I think most agencies would like to fill all their budgeted positions. Generally, the reason the budgeted positions are not filled is turnover, because depending on the turnover, such as Department of Corrections, which is the highest turnover. But generally, if the agency had their way, when they budget the positions, they're saying these are the positions we intend to fill. Well, you
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
23:59
know, I could concur with you, except when I see recommendations come in, we're going to give up three to get one.
We're going to give up six to get two. I mean, where does it end? It just keeps going. Yes, I understand,
Speaker 21
24:18
there are actually two types of pools that the executive branch has. One is for growth pool positions, and one is for agencies have to surrender positions to get one out. I think to this year so far, we have not approved any true, what I would call growth pool, because we are trying to keep the numbers down. Okay. Senator Burleto.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
24:38
Mr. Chair, could I, I had one more. You mind if I go
ahead and ask my other question? Go ahead. I just had that one more question. So I think it's coming back to me, what I was trying to remember, is that are we at this point authorizing more unfunded budget positions than we have been in the past? I would have to
Speaker 21
25:07
go back and really look at historical data.
You've always had more appropriated positions. I don't think we are, because in the past, Some agencies actually included a lot of unbudgeted positions within their Appropriation Act, and we have, over the past six years, tried to go out and strike most
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
25:24
of those positions. Because there was something—I'm sorry to cut you off. I'm sorry to cut that
off. I'm trying to hurry and get out of the way here. There was something at some point about the positions being budgeted and helping us make sure it
was helping to keep the public employees' health insurance stable.
Speaker 21
25:43
What happens? Yeah. Okay. Every budgeted position has a cost of $5,040, I think, that has contributed to the State Employees Benefit Division. And agencies, and here's where it gets. I heard what Representative Wooten said. Agencies change their budgeted positions throughout the year, but at the very beginning of the fiscal year, an agency will go to EBD and say they had $250 authorized. They say, we're going to budget $220.
of those positions. So they always pay the match on 220 positions to the Employee Benefits Division. Now, a position could be budgeted today and unbudgeted tomorrow, you know, if they decide they move one person out of one position into another. Okay, so
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
26:30
here's a question I think I was trying to get to originally. I was trying to figure out, at
one point, I thought we'd been getting a report about the amount of money that is not going into the public employees fund because
we have unbudgeted positions i don't remember presenting
Speaker 21
26:50
that but we can we can provide that data well
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
26:53
that would be kind of good to know because we because we get into a point you know we're having we can't ignore i don't think how we are keeping that um keeping the the health insurance stable without kind of knowing what
the impacts are, I think, going along. And to that end, I think
Speaker 21
27:14
you're right. We usually give you a report of how many unfilled budgeted positions there are at the biennial
session when you're looking. I'm sorry. I was not following you correctly, but we can definitely get that for you
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
27:26
at the time of session. That's helpful. That way, it's less likely something will sneak
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
27:31
up on us. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Senator Blasso. Thank you. That was really my question, because having been here a while, just like Senator Elliott, we remember those reports, and we were going to ask. And I think it's important for those who are new to understand that those budgeted positions come with a cost and what that cost is.
And so I think that was explained. So thank you very much. Senator
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
27:56
Hickey, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'm going to have to piggyback off of you and Senator Elliott. and this is kind of for Miss
Fetcher and I just want to make sure whenever we'd passed this transformation bill and I've mentioned this before we were guaranteed that there was going to be cost savings and we were also promised the way I seen it that after a certain time even though we didn't do that that we were going to we were going to be told where those savings were going to
be and I asked this in a previous meeting in a case like this I believe that the both of these positions will go into a negative column for that because those aren't filled and I want to get some clarification that that is the way we're going to do that because if we have these four positions that we're doing away with if they're not filled that is not cash flow that's going out and now cash flow or monies will be going out so I would expect those to go in
Speaker 91
28:57
the negative column would you agree we will be uh providing a list uh for the legislature of all
the positions that have been surrendered throughout uh this fiscal year that that is on our radar to do are you going to
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
29:11
tell us if those were filled or unfilled though when you do that because if there are unfilled positions and i and i can appreciate what you're doing and i think over time that's that's going to help but if these are unfilled positions there's not there's not money going out for that as far as from a budget standpoint but we're going to put these two people on and we're putting them on to say that we're going to make transformation and it's due
to transformation we should have a positive category and a negative category this should go into the negative category of whatever it's going to be somewhere between 100 and 150 000 So I just want to make sure that we're doing that because we were promised whenever we passed this transformation that it was going to save, Senator Sample, is it $15 million? $15 million minimal. And we just want to see where those savings are at. And I don't consider this to be in it.
I consider this to be in the negative column. So I hope somebody down there is doing that and we weren't just
Speaker 91
30:13
told that whenever we passed it. And Senator Hickey, what this body doesn't see is the positions that through attrition someone's leaving that we're not feeling and there's many of those as well. And that'd be great to have on the report
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
30:24
whenever we get those savings that we put those in and we'll get to see them so and I appreciate it. Thank you. Senator Hammer. Thank
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
30:35
you Mr. Chair. On this subject I'd like to ask a question. I've got one after this subject's
concluded. The positions that are being referred to what exactly is it that they're going to be doing that couldn't be done by somebody that's already holding a position now
that we've got to add them. Senator
Speaker 21
30:54
Hamer, I'll be happy to start this. You may want somebody from Labor and Licensing to come forward, but the main reason for these two positions is because Labor and Licensing took over all the small boards and commissions that are occupational licensing commissions. Many of them run on different software systems. One of them in particular I'm familiar with, they can't
get anybody to update that particular system because the person that designed it went on to come later a state employee so the system doesn't work what they're trying to come up here is a universal licensing system that will track all these things so everything will be in one particular system instead of 10 or 11 different systems mr. chair gentlemen came to the table
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
31:34
you want to follow up good well I just I saw gentlemen come to the table I wonder if If he
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
31:41
had anything to weigh in. Identify yourself, and we'll talk to you.
Speaker 107
31:58
on 21 additional boards' commissions. They have been helped through DIS, and DIS is continuing to provide some support to them but a lot of them are starting to run those support calls through us and as Kay said, we're integrating them into our LaserFish system
and that way we disrupt their business at a minimum because we're able to let them continue to use the platform they're used to as we integrate it into our system. for that we need this computer support to help move this along
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
32:35
in a quicker manner follow-up mr. chair so amy did i mean what
i just heard him say is we're we're shifting workload away from all the other ones and the concept i got my mind around but i'm just wondering if we're shifting
that workload away from them why we couldn't have shifted the cost for these two positions away so it wouldn't end up in the negative column but it could end up as cost
Speaker 91
33:02
neutral right did you i believe that will be part of the overhead uh for the boards and commissions that have come under them there'll be a portion that comes out to support their overhead also the system um this system is going to be one that will a lot of them don't have an online presence or a way of renewing things online so it's going to make that capability much easier
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
33:24
Where were they? Who was doing this when they were just 21 separate agencies? Who was doing
Speaker 107
33:39
the work? Some of the work was performed by IT-capable individuals that were employed at the agency, and then some of the work was support through DIS. and then some had no support whatsoever it was just uh whoever was available that could possibly
understand how to correct an issue that was taking place in fact some of these agencies only had one employee at the at the commission or the board and that results in a lot of potential security concerns, application concerns, web presence, and our goal with transformation is to bring all that together and we're able to take care of those IT situations for them, but in order to do so, I need a couple of extra staff.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
34:35
Any other questions? Mr. Chair yes at some point in time I'd just like to make this request tagging on Senator Hickey's comments a while ago I think it'd be good for the personnel committee to have Amy prepare an overview of all the movement of positions condensed into one and let's as a committee give some special time to that instead of coming in and doing the onesie twosies if we could just
kind of get a real good overview of all those positions just summarized and
and the reasoning for it all right thank you
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
35:16
if we could i'd like to hold that as a special recommendation till we finish up here because i've got some additional comments i'd like to make about this situation representative love
Speaker 115
35:32
thank you mr chair all right so for clarification
Speaker 116
35:38
um kay you said we had budgeted positions unbudgeted positions some are filled some are
unfilled some are accounted for what what i'm trying to i guess understand because if you take like say these four positions that are in f were they unbudgeted or were they just unfilled because i'm trying to get a better understanding these positions of
Speaker 21
36:02
the department of labor were not budgeted positions they were not they were unbudgeted and they were not filled okay they were vacant unbudgeted positions all right
Speaker 116
36:12
so if you take these four positions you condense them
into the two positions that you're asking for do are these two positions then become field budgeted positions yes sir okay so i guess i'm trying to figure out how we come to a savings if we take unbudgeted unfilled positions and then go to two feet i'm in and here's the thing i'm not saying that you don't need them because i mean that's i'm just trying to get a better understanding
on how this piece of transformation is supposed to work? The idea
Speaker 51
36:52
here, Representative Love, is that we will create these two positions, and I think
Speaker 21
36:57
that will eliminate some of the need in the boards and commissions. It will mean contracts they may have had in the past will not have to continue. They may not need a support person. The initial cost, yes, is about $105,000, I think. I'm looking at it, around $103,000. But we feel like that cost will be made up in other cost-saving measures through the reduction of either current employees or the reduction in contract services.
Speaker 117
37:21
Okay. All right. Okay. All right. I think that'll do it for me. Yes, sir. Senator Hammer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I got a
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
37:31
question, but it's not related to the subject on the table, but it is related to Exhibit B3, so it's appropriate time. If you want it now,
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
37:43
I'll hold. Yeah. Okay, any further questions on this matter? Any other comments? Do I have a motion?
Senator Bledsoe, a second. Second, Lowry. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, likewise. We're all
renounced. Thank you. Other business. Mr.
Fetcher, we'd like to have you back up here.
It is becoming very clear that this movement of personnel and this budgeting of unfunded, funded, unfilled, filled positions is getting out of hand, and I do hope that y'all are keeping up with it because we are looking for that $15 million in savings. I mean, you know, I'm going to go back to antiquated times, but, you know, what we may need in state government right now
is another good dose of zero-based budgeting to make every one of these agencies go back to bare bones zero and start over and build their budget to look at them. I see higher ed keep adding, keep adding. DHS keep adding. Department of Parole and Corrections. At some point in time, this is going to have to come to an end. I know we're putting more people in the penitentiary, but we're taking fewer kids into college.
Whether you can equate the one with its cost, its dollars, its money, its taxpayers' money. and it just seems to be unending as it relates to the constant position swapping and that type thing. I don't understand why an agency, I knew how many I had in DFA, I knew how many I had in commerce, and we didn't run up and down the road trying to find additional personnel or field
positions and when we did our budget we budgeted for exactly what we were
going to need and i don't see that
Speaker 91
40:14
being done i think it's really difficult this one year uh since the budget was was done prior to transformation and prior to act 910 going into effect so it's kind of two different
Speaker 96
40:28
animals that they're dealing with, what they budgeted
and then what they're doing now
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
40:36
with their staff. Well, and I understand that, that there's
a difference. But this is not just for transformation. It's been going on for some time relative to the size. And I know there's been efforts to reduce the number of employees, Kay, and cut it back. But when we continually see what we're seeing here at each meeting, and I think you can tell from the comments by other committee members that we've got a real source of concern relative to the future and relative to the number of employees.
And I don't mind having a number of employees if you need them.
Speaker 126
41:23
It's something we're very mindful of, and the governor is keeping a very close watch on. That's why
Speaker 91
41:29
you'll see so many surrendered positions. I don't think that's always been the norm, but we are being very mindful of the
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
41:35
number of positions. All right, and Senator Hickey's point relative to the plus and minuses, I
think is crucial. I think it's critical, and I hope you all are seeing all of them. And, you know, it gets discouraging to me, and this doesn't have anything to do with you,
but it gets discouraging to me whenever Sunday morning I open a newspaper and there's a big article about some state agency that's in trouble, an institution of higher learning, a youth treatment center. It's just continual. and uh you know folks folks are looking at that today as it relates to to the overall operation of government senator hammers you have something you want to add thank mr chair my question is this
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
42:29
and i'll direct it to you kay on exhibit b3 um we get the list of the recommendations that that come from you and the way i understand it works is the agency director comes and makes a request at you know kind of a discussion a discretionary request and then what we're seeing in the report are those that make it past opm and i guess amy
and your office what I'd like to see is a list of the original request made by the directors and which ones you turn down so we can have a comparison between what the agency directors are requesting and what we are only seeing that you have approved as reflected in this report and if you don't mind let's go back a couple years I'm gonna pick 2017 so we can see see that and do a comparison against what we've been given and we can
develop the thought further offline but I'd just like to see whether or not at whose discretion are these requests coming to us as legislators and I think that should be revealed by the information I'm asking for and is that clear as mud are you good or okay thank you thank you mr
Speaker 22
43:55
chair thank you representative lowry thank you mr
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
44:05
chair and if i could uh like to make a request that that report
be made available to all of us i have interest in that as well thank you any other
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
44:23
questions of miss lurcher or k okay we have
Speaker 13
44:34
any other business yes sir item g we have one item of other business this is uh be a supplemental agenda so uh committee uh if they're so inclined we'll need to suspend the
rules uh vote to suspend rules to take this up mr chairman okay
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
44:49
do i have motions okay okay second all in favor say aye spin the rules all in favor of the motion aye opposed likewise okay all
Speaker 13
45:03
right mr chairman item g1 is a request uh from the department of higher education and the arkansas state in arkansas state university system and they wish to create six project program specialist positions to help implement a system
wide erp project this will unify all asu entities into one erp system these positions will be responsible for the integration and transfer of the computer systems at the individual locations the department of higher education has recommended the positions and the classifications and staff concurs. Senator Hammer? Questions?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
45:44
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The funding for all this
federal or where's the money coming from? 4K here? Mr. Broadway?
Speaker 135
46:03
Anybody? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Shane Broadway ASU system. Senator, the funding for this will come
Speaker 136
46:08
from each individual campus. Instead of expending the funds to pay for new software individually, they will now be a part of a
Speaker 135
46:18
system-wide project, so they will contribute those funds to the system project.
Okay, so you're going to centralize it? Correct. Okay, all right, thank
Speaker 136
46:30
you. and I'll add one comment in your packet it talks about six campuses as you know excuse me we are presently have both boards have entered into a merger agreement for Henderson State University to become a part of the ASU system. Henderson State will be part of phase two of this project and we will be able to bring them on to this system as well without any more
additional personnel so it will be six people for bringing seven campuses into one system this is part of an efficiency study that our board of trustees requested back last year this was one of the recommendations was to put all of our campuses under the same student information system it's estimated by our IT folks that once implemented outside the cost of these six employees that we will save a million plus per year because of the buying power of seven campuses
versus one entity and so that's why the recommendation was to to proceed with this representative
Speaker 138
47:39
what you last said you said outside of the cost of six additional people so since each one of these is with salary and benefits almost 100,000 apiece that's almost 600,000 yeah net will be 400,000 in savings no no no outside you so you
Speaker 136
47:57
put the positions over here you still have a million dollars in savings over here so it'd be 1.6 I guess is what you would say and these will be permanent positions well that's a good question and the chairman was asking me where they would be housed too I'd made a call on that. Some will be housed. These are going to be ASU system employees, not Jonesboro, not BB, not Newport. These will be system employees. Some will be housed depending on which campus they're working on at the time, bringing into the whole computer system. So some could be housed
here in Little Rock. Some could be in Jonesboro, BB, Newport, West Memphis, Henderson, wherever it may be at the time. Once the project is over, and that's why we're asking for these positions in order for them to become permanent positions we will have to come back to you in the regular session and ask for them to be made permanent once the system is up and running henry torres our it director will make a determination how
Speaker 141
48:57
many would would have to remain permanent it may be that we're able through attrition and otherwise be able to absorb that
once the project is done and not have to have the additional six permanently but that will be if we do have to keep them you will have to approve that
Speaker 138
49:13
um and are you working or have you talked to uh university of arkansas system i think they just went through a similar they did yeah we're going to use a
Speaker 136
49:23
different vendor uh different system because of some of the systems we already have uh our overall cost is going to be about six and a half million to be able to add the seven campuses on to what it's called banner uh the banner system and so but yes henry all those
IT guys, they talk regularly, and so we've been following the U of A system as they go through their process. Okay, thank
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
49:53
you. Yes, Senator. Thank you. Two things I'd ask. One, because this is kind of a new start, would you mind, because you're going to come back to ask us for permanent positions. Correct. So while you're doing this, would you mind just building a case based on actual savings so we could see specifics as to where you saved and and have some justification
for adding those full-time positions on instead of just coming in and saying we saved money yes question i just think it would help no and
Speaker 135
50:23
we can we can build that a lot of us just going to be in software
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
50:27
savings you're buying one set of software instead of seven okay and then my second question is this so u of
a's got the system using a different vendor you're going to have a system which now you have how many schools in your system? At least seven when this is completed. When Henderson? Correct. Okay, comes in. Is there any reason that some of the other schools that are sitting out there independent
couldn't participate with you in order to be able to pass that savings on to them if they're standalone universities or all the other ones tied up in one of the two systems? Because we're moving toward two systems. Possibly.
Speaker 136
51:00
It would depend on their contract status, and that's one of the reasons we had to ask for suspension of the rules we were having to work through all all of our campuses were in various stages of their current system contracts and so it kind of perfect storm came together where we could get this ready and rolling because so we can advertise over the holiday hire and have these people ready in february and that's why we had to
ask for the suspension so for the other independent campuses it would depend on where their status is and their contract with the system they use, but I don't see any reason why, if an institution was interested in participating, why one of our systems or the U of A system wouldn't consider them. I'm not the IT expert, but I don't know. I can't think of a reason off the top
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
51:44
of my head why they could not participate. Okay, would you be prohibited? Is there anything in law that would prohibit you from reaching
out, maybe to some of the private ones like maybe CBC and Conway?
because you're talking about maybe a memorandum of understanding type arrangement that you could provide these and they could piggyback on the savings, which would increase your savings, too. Right. So I just wish
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
52:14
you'd explore that. I can
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
52:18
ask Henry about that. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Senator Bledsoe. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just interested in the salary range here. Yes. Are these positions, are you starting with those who already work for the college?
Speaker 136
52:35
There is a potential that he, that Henry could hire within existing people who already work in this ASU system. He mentioned that to me, but he will likely have to go out because you not only need to be IT specific, but he's also looking for, and that's why they're project program specialists and not just IT, he's going to look for someone who has some experience in financial aid because that's one of the pieces of this, finance administration, HR, all the other student. So they're going to
need to be specialists in certain sectors. So he's going to be looking for people potentially who could already be under the employ of the university
Speaker 135
53:19
in a way, but he may have to go to find
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
53:23
some specific people that he's looking for he told me I just noticed the qualifications and it said no certification beyond degree and work experience is needed and I I've always been concerned about the low salaries that we pay some of these people and I noticed that this was
really above it was on the high end and so to get
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
53:51
let Neil decay but I understand that but just just today I was speaking about some of the employees that we have doing a tremendous amount of work and doing it well and yet it seems as if in many areas we pay only for the degree and maybe some bonuses for the work experience and then that's the
end of it and I think there ought to be a way to reward employees that go beyond their job description and do a tremendous amount of work and hold up a standard of excellence you want to make a comment on that no I think you're right and we're looking
Speaker 21
54:32
at ways but what you're saying we need to have career paths for people that come in and and have that good performance and we're going to be
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
54:41
exploring all that and i did notice that the high range is is better than some and so i just didn't know if
you had found the pot of gold at the end of
Speaker 136
54:52
the rainbow it's one of the challenges that all of our campuses face especially in rural parts of the state uh
Speaker 141
54:58
attracting it people to their campus and And so that's why going to a systematic approach will help us in terms of being able to keep the system up and running as opposed to individual campuses was the other factor that the report concluded. All
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
55:13
right. Thank you so much. Thank you,
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
55:16
Mr. Chair. Thank you. Any further questions or comments?
Okay. You've heard the recommendation. Do I have a motion? Motion. Motion. Second. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, likewise. Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. We
stand adjourned, and thank you. Merry Christmas.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Communications
C. Request from the Arkansas State Police for the establishment of Miscellaneous Federal Grant position for the development and expansion of the Children’s Advocacy Program. (Colonel Bill Bryant, Director)
D. Request from the Department of Public Safety to establish three (3) positions from the OPM surrender pool established by Ark. Code Ann. §21-5-225{a}(1). (Jami Cook, Secretary)
E. Request from the Department of Finance and Administration, Arkansas Tobacco Control Board to establish one (1) position from the OPM surrender pool established by Ark. Code Ann. §21-5-225{a}(1). (Larry Walther, Secretary)
F. Request from the Department of Labor and Licensing to establish two (2) positions from the OPM surrender pool established by Ark Code Ann. §21-5-225{a}(1). (Daryl Bassett, Secretary)
G. Other Business
H. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — ALC - PERSONNEL, Dec 17, 2019 | Agenda | 3 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B1A Quarterly Report State Agencies | Exhibit | 9 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B1B Quarterly Report Higher Education | Exhibit | 5 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B2 Personnel Actions Letter and Report December 2019 | Exhibit | 2 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B3 December 2019 Personnel Actions Report | Exhibit | 2 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B4 Provisional Positions Report - December 2019 | Exhibit | 7 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. B5 Planned Activity - Procedures and Checklist | Exhibit | 599 | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. C Arkansas State Police MFG | Exhibit | 1 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. D Department of Public Safety ACIC (3) Pool Positions | Exhibit | 7 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. E DFA - Tobacco Control (1) Pool Position | Exhibit | 4 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. F Labor (2) Pool Positions - REVISED | Exhibit | 4 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| Ex. G Suspension of the Rules- Higher Ed | Exhibit | 7 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Jim Wooten
Unverified
Representative Lane Jean
Unverified
Speaker 8
Speaker 13
Speaker 16
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 19
Speaker 21
Speaker 27
Speaker 35
Nick Fuller
Unverified
Speaker 45
Representative David Fielding
Unverified
Speaker 51
Speaker 54
Speaker 55
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
Speaker 65
Speaker 74
Speaker 73
Senator Cecile Bledsoe
Unverified
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
Speaker 91
Speaker 106
Speaker 107
Speaker 115
Speaker 116
Speaker 117
Speaker 96
Speaker 126
Speaker 22
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
Speaker 135
Speaker 136
Speaker 134
Speaker 138
Speaker 141