Gentry fills finance director post

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

GENTRY -- Tonya Carney was hired by the city of Gentry to assist with the financial and administrative duties of the city clerk. She begins her new job on March 3 and, if all goes as planned, will assume duties as the city's director of finance on Jan. 1, 2015, when JoEllen Martin, the city clerk, retires.

The new post was publicly advertised in the Eagle Observer and other publications.

The present goal, according to Kevin Johnston, mayor of the city, is to have another employee in the city office to help cover for vacations and to keep offices staffed (including the police station) and open during noon hours and when other employees must be out of the office to tend to city business.

The city's plan is to have the new employee assume duties as the city's director of finance in 2015 and possibly hire another administrative assistant in 2015, after Martin retires, to have enough employees in city offices to keep them open and available to city residents throughout the day.

Council members on Feb. 2 passed on its first reading an ordinance that will change the structure of city government by separating the duties of the city's finance director from those of the elected position of city clerk and treasurer.

If passed on two more readings, the ordinance would create on Jan. 1, 2015, the position of director of finance to perform most of the duties currently performed by the city clerk. The position will be filled by appointment rather than by election, with the employee subject to the mayor or his designee. The position would be a full-time salaried position.

The ordinance also creates, on Jan. 1, 2015, the combined position of city clerk and city treasurer, but limits the duties of the elected position to attending all meetings of the city council, planning commission and board of adjustments and acting as city clerk at such meetings by keeping and finalizing official minutes of those meetings. Duties would also require the quarterly submission to the council of a full report and detailed statement of the financial condition of the city. The position is an elected position with an annual salary of $4,000 ("subject to adjustment from time to time in accordance to the provisions of Arkansas law").

By separating the positions into a hired/appointed position and an elected post, the city would have more control over ensuring that it has a qualified employee to handle the day-to-day management of the city's finances and not jeopardize that management when administrative changes take place following elections.

The change would also affect retirement benefits, with the full-time post coming under the city's participation in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System, and the part-time elected post subject to retirement benefits for city clerks under Arkansas Statute 24-12-121 (a)(1).

General News on 02/26/2014