Little Flock City Council members could vote in mid-July on a proposal to create a full-time mayoral position, which, if passed, would come with a pay increase that might stretch city savings.
The proposal was tabled June 18 because some council members weren’t familiar with the proposal, said Robert Phillips, chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee, which recommended for the job change.
Funding the additional pay and the necessity and feasibility of the change were also concerns for some members.
“We tabled that for now, allowing us, as a committee, to get our information we used to make that recommendation to show the rest of the council,” Phillips said.
If passed, the proposal would increase Mayor Buddy Blue’s salary by more than $9,000, to $37,500 annually. More than $4,000 of the salary funding is proposed to be pulled from reserve at the start of the third quarter, which begins July 1, according to minutes from the June meeting.
The committee reviewed salaries and employee numbers with other small cities in the area for comparison. The committee began discussing the recommendation in early June.
Some areas of the city and government aren’t getting the attention they should, Phillips said.
Another factor influencing the committee is the amount of work Blue puts into the position, Phillips said.
The job would become a permanent, full-time position which would increase the appeal of the job in the future to qualified, potential individuals, Phillips said.
For Blue, who owns his own business, the full-time position would mean more time to represent Little Flock throughout Northwest Arkansas, he said.
“Being part-time, I’m not getting done with everything I need to. There’s a lot of meetings out and about that I miss because I run out of time,” he said. “I can only go to so much.”
Blue is in the second year of a four-year-term.
The next City Council meeting is set for 7 p.m. July 16 at City Hall.