Pulaski County may be looking to have a new maintenance director in place before setting out to restructure the department. Commissioner Chuck Mellon previously presented a restructuring proposal that would involve adding a qualified maintenance person at a rate of $25 per hour.
But he’s since stressed that at this point, the commissioners plan to advertise the position as it currently exists, with the job description and pay guidelines that are already in place. “And that person might fall into the restructuring,” he said during the commissioners’ March 1 meeting. “You know, we can’t say it’s two separate things. But we need to cover this vacancy as-is and then move forward as we had planned on if we had not have had a vacancy.”
So far, no official action has been taken on Mellon’s restructuring proposal, which would seek to separate maintenance duties from custodial duties. County Attorney Kevin Tankersley reminded the commissioners that creating a new position would require the county council’s approval.
Mellon said he planned to continue the discussion during next month’s joint session. “I think in that proposal, we were eliminating two half-time positions to cover the new full-time,” he noted. “So we’ll just have to see how that works out. It may not. That whole proposal may be done away with.”
The maintenance director position became open with the resignation of Mia Salyers, who held the job for the past two years.
