Several entities that serve as semiautonomous branches of Little Rock government are reviewing their hiring policies as they relate to sex offenders in light of the city's recent move to ban employment of higher-level sex offenders and limit what positions lower-level offenders can hold.
Little Rock Wastewater, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Port Authority and the airport are mostly governed and controlled by city-appointed committees that set policies and oversee each organization's operations and the majority of its finances. Employees of those entities are not considered city employees and are not covered under city personnel policies.
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field already had a policy that bans certain criminals from employment, including sex offenders convicted of certain crimes. Spokesmen for the other three organizations said they are considering creating limitations on the employment of sex offenders since Little Rock implemented its policy June 10.
The city's policy bases employment eligibility of sex offenders on the notification level assigned by the state assessment committee. The higher the level, the more community members should know the sex offender lives or works near them. The names of Level 3 and 4 offenders, and certain Level 2 offenders who were adults at the time of the crime and whose victims were age 14 or younger, are listed on the public sex offender registry.
Little Rock now bans Level 3 and 4 sex offenders from working for the city and only allows Level 1 and 2 offenders to work in certain positions that require a group setting and minimal contact with the public. The new policy also bans sex offenders of any level from working in the Animal Services Division, the Parks and Recreation Department or at the Little Rock Zoo, because children often frequent parks, zoos and animal adoption places.
The airport follows federal guidelines that take into account the offense a person was convicted of, rather than an assigned notification level. All prospective employees receive a FBI Criminal History Records Check as well as a security threat assessment. A rape or aggravated sexual abuse conviction -- among other crimes -- would disqualify someone from working at the airport, according to the policy.
The airport does not plan to alter its hiring policy to factor in the sex offender ratings, Human Resources and Administration Director Allen Williams said, noting that the federal regulations the airport must abide by are not subject to deviation.
Sheri Flynn, administrator of the state's Sex Offender Screening and Risk Assessment Program, said previously that she understands why employers set policies that restrict employment of certain sex offenders, but cautioned against using a rating to decide job eligibility.
"We need to link whatever decision we make in reference to guiding sex offender management to what they do and what their sexual interests are," Flynn said. "It would be my preference that [decision] not be based on a number assigned by this office that was never meant to govern those decisions."
In response to such concerns about Little Rock's new policy, City Manager Bruce Moore said he and his staff spent a lot of time researching it and that he thinks it is the "right approach." The city is still researching the effects the policy will have, particularly as it relates to contractors hired to do certain work, Moore said Monday.
Currently, the policy doesn't address contracted workers. For example, if the city contracts with a company to do street work and that company employs a Level 3 offender, nothing in the city's policy prevents that person from doing city work through a third-party vendor even though the policy prohibits the city from directly hiring a Level 3 offender.
Moore said he plans to meet next week with the finance director, the city attorney and the human resources director to discuss such a scenario and talk about what the city would do in that situation, if anything.
Little Rock Wastewater began reviewing its own hiring policy last month after the city revealed the policy change, the utility's Human Resources Director Lynn Luther said.
"It is my normal procedure to review our policies when I hear of the city or other entities reviewing or altering their policies. It just makes good sense," Luther said. "Right now, we are waiting for legal to look at everything the city did. There's been some questions about some of the stuff, so we are kind of looking to see what comes out of that."
Luther isn't sure what recommendations will be made as it relates to Wastewater's employment of sex offenders, but said that if any policy revision were to come out of the utility's review that it would likely be put in place in the next few months. She said she hasn't checked to see if the utility employs sex offenders, although she does know that at least one Level 2 offender works for the utility.
Leigh Ann Biernat, senior vice president of finance and administration at the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the bureau is also including a review of its hiring policy as it relates to sex offenders in its regular policy review this year.
A time frame for the review has not been set, and there are no expectations about whether the bureau will restrict the hiring of sex offenders, Biernat said. Officials there have not checked to see if the bureau employees any sex offenders, she said.
Bryan Day, executive director at the Little Rock Port Authority, said he's reviewing all of the port's policies over the next several months. Day was recently hired as the director and began work last month. He wants to compare the port's various policies with what other ports are doing and best industry practices, he said.
"At this point, I do not know if the port will adopt the policy in question and until I do my research on what is in place, it is a bit premature for me to make a recommendation," Day said, adding that the Port Authority Board would have to approve any policy changes.
Metro on 07/08/2014