Lottery panel resets meeting on job reviews

Director, auditor requested session moved to June 25

The Arkansas Lottery Commission will meet with Director Bishop Woosley and Internal Auditor Matt Brown on June 25 instead of Wednesday to discuss the performance evaluations of the two employees, who raised questions about the reviews last week.

Nonetheless, the commission's personnel committee plans to meet Wednesday to consider Woosley's proposal to hire Patrick Ralston, an analyst for the Bureau of Legislative Research, as the lottery's executive assistant for public and legislative relations with a salary of $88,957 a year.

In an email to the commission Thursday, lottery paralegal Patricia Vick said Chairman John "Smokey" Campbell of Hot Springs "believes the commission needs to meet at a time when all members can be present" to discuss the director and auditor's evaluation concerns.

Commissioner Dianne Lamberth of Batesville told the other commissioners in an email late Wednesday afternoon that she would be unable to attend the commission's planned meeting for next week "due to a prior commitment." She wrote in a second email Thursday that she wouldn't be able to attend the June 25 meeting, either.

Regarding the personnel committee meeting, Lamberth said she would try to participate by telephone if someone texts her 5-10 minutes before the meeting begins and if her previous meeting has ended.

Woosley said in an email to the commission dated Thursday that he's "fine" with the commission discussing its evaluation of him with him during its regular monthly meeting June 25 because "it seems like it's going to be impossible to schedule anything before then."

Brown also sent an email saying that's "fine with me."

Campbell could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

In an email Thursday night, Woosley told commissioners that 307 applicants had sought the position for which he wants to hire Ralston. The lottery director said he interviewed 11 applicants.

Ralston's salary in his current job is $61,861 a year, according to the state's transparency website.

Ralston's "service to the Legislature, as a deputy director of [Arkansas Historic Preservation Program] and knowledge of state government will be a valuable resource for our agency in light of the issues we are currently facing," Woosley wrote in his email to the commission.

The position has been vacant since the lottery's former spokesman, Julie Baldridge, retired in April 2013. She was appointed to the commission in July. Baldridge was paid an annual salary of $107,100 at the lottery.

Woosley's proposal to hire Ralston comes as the commission deals with legislative displeasure with the commission's decision to offer monitor games, often called keno.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, who is in line to be the Senate's leader in 2015-16, said he would like the Legislature to change state law to bar the lottery from offering monitor games if lawmakers meet in a special session this summer to enact legislation to help the state and public school employee health insurance plans.

Woosley said Friday that he's not trying to head off a legislative monitor-game ban by hiring Ralston.

House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, said later Friday that no one has talked to him about trying to ban monitor games in a possible summer special session and that he's not personally interested in doing so.

"That's not on my radar screen," he said.

In April, the commission authorized Woosley to proceed with the implementation of monitor games, a day after a majority of the Legislature's lottery oversight committee voted to oppose the games.

State Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, later asked the commission to hold off implementing the games to allow the Legislature to weigh in during the 2015 session.

Woosley estimates the lottery will sell about $12.5 million in lottery tickets and raise about $3.5 million for college scholarships in the fiscal year starting July 1 from the lottery implementing a monitor game called quick-draw Sept. 29 -- the day after the lottery's five-year anniversary of starting ticket sales.

The quick-draw game is similar to Powerball and Mega Millions, except drawings will be held every four minutes and results would be shown on monitors similar to television screens set up in participating locations.

Woosley projects ticket sales of $428 million, with $81.2 million collected for college scholarships, in fiscal 2015 starting July 1.

His revised budget for fiscal 2014, which ends June 30, projects ticket sales of $417 million and raising $82.7 million for college scholarships.

The lottery's ticket sales and net proceeds for college scholarships have dipped during the past two fiscal years.

The lottery has helped finance more than 30,000 scholarships during each of the past four years.

Woosley has been the lottery's $165,000-a-year director since February 2012, and Brown has worked for the lottery since July 2012 at $112,200 a year.

Both men declined to comment about their performance evaluations this week, saying they don't consider the evaluations to be completed.

Woosley and Brown report directly to the commission.

They told the commissioners in emails last week that they want to meet with individual commissioners to figure out how to improve their performance, but a few commissioners declined to meet with them at this point.

Commissioner Mark Scott of Bentonville told Brown in an email dated May 22 that, "I cannot express enough how highly regarded you are by me and other commissioners. But I can understand your perspective based on the two comparisons" of this year's evaluation with last year.

Metro on 05/31/2014

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