The state Board of Examiners in Counseling has hired board member Michael Loos of Fayetteville to be its executive director after he was the only candidate to apply who met the minimum qualifications for the job, board chairman Mark Coffman of Russellville said Tuesday.

The board received five applications after advertising the position for about 30 days; only Loos had the required doctoral degree, Coffman said.

The board regulates about 2,000 counselors in mental health, marriage and family therapy.

Coffman said the board voted Saturday to hire Loos at a starting salary of $72,000, pending the approval of state Department of Finance and Administration officials. If the department authorizes the pay, the board hopes to have Loos start work by May 15, Coffman said.

The annual salary range for the board's executive director is $65,000 to $81,250, said Kay Terry, the state's personnel administrator. A salary of $73,125 or more would require the approval of the Legislative Council and its personnel subcommittee, Terry said.

Loos is a licensed professional counselor and supervisor with a specialization in alcohol and drug counseling who is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and part-time faculty member at Capella University, according to information provided by Coffman. Loos received his doctorate in counselor education from UA in 1998.

Loos is highly qualified for the job and is "everything we were working for," said Coffman.

Loos could not be reached for comment by telephone Tuesday.

The board's former executive director, Alan Pogue of Sherwood, departed at the end of last month.

During the Legislature's fiscal session this year, Pogue moved up the effective date of his resignation by a month from the end of May to the end of April in what Coffman described as a mutual decision, after state Rep. Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood, threatened to try to block legislation funding the board if Pogue, a Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives, didn't hasten his resignation date.

In the 2012 election, Nickels narrowly beat Pogue. Nickels is barred from seeking re-election under the state's term-limits amendment.

During this year's fiscal session, a legislative subcommittee voted to recommend cutting the executive director's job and transferring the board's powers, funds and two staff positions to the state Health Department starting July 1, after a deputy legislative auditor questioned some of Pogue's travel expenses that he said the board had authorized.

But the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee later declined to follow this recommendation, after numerous counselors objected to the proposed reorganization.

In April 2013, the board voted 5-3 by secret ballot to hire Pogue, who resigned from the board in January 2013 to take the job on an interim basis.

The board publicly confirmed its vote in July after doubts were raised about the legality of the secret ballot. Later that month, the Legislative Council approved a $70,000 annual salary for Pogue -- $10,000 less than the board had requested. Pogue expressed unhappiness with the pay and said then that he'd be leaving the post soon.

Metro on 05/07/2014