SPRINGDALE — The city could soon have two new departments with new department heads.
The City Council Finance Committee, in a meeting Monday, voted to send the creation of the Engineering Department and Information and Technology Department to the full council with a recommendation for approval. The council would vote on the proposal at its 6 p.m. meeting on March 26.
Mayor Doug Sprouse suggested the change, saying he believes the city would benefit from the move of the two from divisions to departments. The technology department would be split off from the Administration department and engineering from Planning and Community Development.
Mark Gutte would move from manager of information systems to department head of information technology. His pay would climb from $66,327 per year to $71,711, an increase of about 9 percent.
Alan Pugh, chief engineering coordinator, would become the Engineering department head. His salary would go from $76,800 to $79,463, an increase of about 4 percent.
The city would benefit, Sprouse said, by having Gutte in the department head meetings, where he would receive a better idea of what is going on in each department.
“I think he can get a better idea of what each department needs and how our information system can help them,” Sprouse said.
Gutte would have a staff of four. The division added an additional technician in 2011 and 2013.
Gutte’s pay increase for 2013 would be covered by savings in salary so far this year, Sprouse said. The division has two openings, Gutte said.
“Mark runs a pretty tight ship,” Sprouse said.
Gutte’s pay would still be about $17,000 per year less than comparable positions, said Brad Bruns, alderman.
The new engineering department would have a staff of six, with four remaining in the Planning and Community Development Department.
The engineering department would oversee the construction of city streets and other projects coming from the bond program. City voters approved a bond sale that raised $42.7 million for street projects, $16.1 million for parks and $8.5 million for fire stations. A 1 percent existing sales tax, first approved in 1993, will pay off the bonds.
“We have so much going on that it would be more efficient to have a separate engineering department,” Sprouse said.
Both new department heads would receive less than those in other cities, said Wyman Morgan, city director of Administration and Financial Services.
The pay range of the engineering manager for Little Rock is $70,868 to $109,137, according to that city’s job descriptions. The range for the Little Rock director of information technology is $83,551 to $128,669, according to the descriptions.
Patsy Christie, director of planning, would remain at the same pay rate, Sprouse said. She is paid $89,072.