The Pulaski County Commissioners named a new maintenance director and head custodian last week, but their actual employment remains up in the air, as the county council wants firmer cost estimates for the department’s restructuring plan.
Commissioner Chuck Mellon had proposed expanding the maintenance director and head custodian positions to 40 hours a week, cutting the number of part-time jobs from four to two, and paying more for a maintenance director with additional expertise.
While that would appear to save the county money in wages, Council President Ken Boswell was concerned Monday that the estimate didn’t include benefits. “What we don’t talk about is the PERF,” Boswell said. “Last year, the person that was making roughly $38,000 made $5,432, roughly, in PERF.”
Mellon previously said that the real cost savings would come from having someone qualified to do more work internally, rather than outsourcing it. But Council Member Kathi Thompson questioned whether the new maintenance director’s lack of certifications would impact those figures, and she wanted the commissioners to give more specifics about where those savings would come from.
“It’s very aggravating,” Thompson said. “They say it’s going to save us $27,000. I want to see their budget figures, but we have not been shown all of their figures against what our current costs are. We have not been involved in the process, like we should’ve been, from the beginning. I don’t like the way it’s been done.”
Mellon told council members that he thought he had their consent to go ahead with the hiring process last week. Still, he stressed that no specific salaries had been promised, and the new hires were aware that no contract would be signed until the council set the pay levels.
In the end, the council decided to hold off on setting salaries and discuss the issue in-depth during a special joint session with the county commissioners Monday. It will start at 7:00 p.m. EDT at the Pulaski County Highway Garage.
