FAYETTEVILLE — The Boston Mountain Solid Waste District’s new director will face more stringent operating procedures than the previous one who was fired.
The district’s Board of Directors this month created an expanded description and detailed responsibilities for the position.
At A Glance
What Is It?
The Boston Mountain Solid Waste District is one of 18 in Arkansas. The district provides solid waste management in Washington and Madison counties. It operates a transfer station where residents drop off solid waste and recyclable material. The solid waste is taken to the Eco-Vista Landfill near Tontitown. The district also works with cities to provide recycling programs for residents to reduce solid waste disposal in landfills.
Source: Boston Mountain Solid Waste District
The board adopted the new job description for the director Oct. 16. The district began newspaper advertising Sunday and will run more ads Wednesday, said Melissa McCarville, board member.
Rhonda Hulse, chairwoman of the board’s Personnel Committee, said the district will place ads in trade magazines and notices with organizations, such as the Arkansas Municipal League. The committee will begin reviewing applications after Nov. 26, Hulse said.
The board approved a five-page job description filled with more requirements, responsibilities and experience than the two-page description used to hire former director Maylon Rice.
The board fired Rice on Sept. 13, after allegations surfaced in connection with misusing public money and mismanagement. The board also reviewed a 24-item list of corrective recommendations written by Dan Short, the person chosen to investigate Rice and chief of staff to Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards, board chairwoman.
“We don’t have much for the folks to run the (district) on,” Edwards told board members. “We need procedures in place to tell them what to do, when to do it and how to do it.”
The district has an employee handbook and some policies regarding financial transactions, such as when to use credit and debit cards. However, board members said the district needs a standard operational guide.
Rice was hired in August 2009 making a salary of $57,500 that never changed. The board approved this month a starting salary range between $50,981 and $61,573, based on a study and recommendation from Blair Johanson, who is Washington County’s salary consultant.
The job description makes the director responsible for everything that “happens or fails to happen” while developing a solid waste management plan.
Edwards told the board Short helped write the job description. Short cited his military experience writing evaluations for subordinates that included responsibility for failure.
“If they didn’t do something that resulted in a problem, then they were responsible,” Short said.
Hulse said that language fits with discussions during Rice’s termination process.
“A lot of what Maylon said was that it was somebody else’s fault,” said Rhonda Hulse, board member representing Lincoln.
The process to create a new job description for director began with a Personnel Committee meeting Sept. 18 led by Hulse, chairwoman, and committee members Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, Huntsville Mayor Kevin Hatfield, Melissa McCarville of Farmington, and Don Marr of Fayetteville.
The committee reviewed a description from October 2007 that would pay between $41,321 and $68,882.
The 2007 description’s “essential duties and responsibilities” listed five paragraphs that included skills in administration, promoting economic growth and stability and counseling business organizations and industry on problems. Other duties included speech writing, annual budget preparation, and the study of legislation, taxation and other fiscal matters to determine community interest.
The newest description listed 19 duties and responsibilities, many are clear directions to avoid reported flaws recently pointed out by Rice’s former co-workers and other associates, according to Short’s investigation released by the county and district last month.
One item includes familiarity with state and federal laws related to bidding, purchasing, fair labor standards and the proper expenditures of a governmental entity.
Short’s investigation included items regarding Rice’s alleged hiring practices and use of the district’s cash box. Employees said Rice routinely removed cash from the box to pay employees for “extra work,” according to Short’s investigation file.
Employees said Rice would avoid giving cash receipts while collecting disposal fees and other charges, according to the investigation.
Short said Rice admitted he used cash from a day’s collections to pay workers for extra work. Rice admitted he didn’t put documentation into the box or on a computer system accounting for the personnel expense or any deductions, such as income taxes, according to the investigation.
Rice placed new hires on “contract status” for an undetermined number of months, according to the investigation. Under that status, Rice admitted to not deducting income taxes or insurance premiums from employees, according to Short’s investigation.
Members on the board are reviewing the district’s employee suspension and termination process. Only the full board could suspend or terminate the director, but the decision to suspend Rice had to be recommended by the personnel committee, Sprouse said.
The time lapse between a committee meeting and board meeting spanned several days before Rice was suspended, Sprouse told the board at its last meeting. In September, Sprouse told personnel committee members, he was concerned Rice had access to the district’s office after knowing the committee recommended his suspension.
“The personnel committee couldn’t take that action on its own and he knew that action was coming, and as far as I know there wasn’t any abuse of that, but it’s not the best situation,” Sprouse said.