Plans tie lawmen, jobs, Little Rock dwelling

Police residency on board agenda

Little Rock city directors raised questions Tuesday about the fairness of two employee-residency proposals before them -- one that would create monetary incentives for new city employees to move to Little Rock and another that would mandate that any newly hired police officer live in the city.

The incentive program proposed by City Manager Bruce Moore would provide money to full-time employees hired on or after Aug. 1 who live outside the city, if they promise to move to Little Rock and stay employed by the city for at least two years. Homebuyers would get $5,000, and renters would get $2,500.

Moore said he expects the program's pilot year to cost up to $40,000. The city hires about 127 new full-time employees every year. Half of those live outside the city and would be eligible for the benefit.

Moore estimated that 3 percent to 5 percent would take advantage of the program, pointing out that some people have ties to nearby towns and wouldn't want to leave, some already own homes and others wouldn't want their children to switch schools.

Current employees and new hires who already live in Little Rock wouldn't be eligible for the incentive. That discouraged at-large City Director Joan Adcock.

"We have an employee that's been with the city of Little Rock for 10 years working. She's a single mom with children. She's been trying to save for 10 years to buy a house. So we are going to hire someone from Conway to work with the city, and she's going to qualify for $5,000 for us to give her for her house?" Adcock asked. "Tell me how this is fair."

Moore told Adcock that he and his staff first recommended that all current and future employees be eligible, but he was told by City Attorney Tom Carpenter that wouldn't be legal.

"What I can tell you is that the Arkansas Constitution says municipalities are not allowed to give money to any individual. If it's an incentive on a hiring basis as a job benefit, we can probably do it. But for people already here, there's no incentive for them to move here because they are already here, and all we would be doing is giving them money," Carpenter told Adcock.

The longtime city director said she won't support the new program "when we have employees that have saved for their homes and we are giving money to someone just coming in."

Other directors noted the timing of Moore's proposal, going to the Board of Directors on the same agenda that includes the police residency requirement proposed by Ward 1 Director Erma Hendrix.

Ward 2 Director Ken Richardson and Ward 7 Director B.J. Wyrick suggested coming up with some kind of housing incentive for police officers that wouldn't be a mandate. Wyrick mentioned a previous city incentive program that helped officers buy homes in certain designated areas of town, but Moore said that initiative wasn't successful.

Richardson said he wants police who live in Little Rock to automatically get to take home vehicles, but Moore said that would cost $5 million.

"I'd love to give everyone who lived in the city a take-home car, but fiscally it would not be prudent at this point," Moore said.

When it came time for Hendrix to brief the board on her proposal, which will be up for a vote Tuesday, she didn't have much to say.

"It's no discussion. It's that we will vote on it next Tuesday and you vote on your conscience, that's all," Hendrix told her colleagues. "I have no problem with whether you vote it up or down. It's so I know what to do after the fact."

She didn't elaborate on what she meant. A similar police-residency proposal from Hendrix failed in a 6-4 vote last year.

Carpenter said such residency requirements have been upheld around the country on the basis that emergency personnel would be available to respond quicker to emergencies by living in their service areas.

Mayor Mark Stodola pointed out that the way Hendrix's proposal is currently written, police recruits still going through academy training would have to move to Little Rock or face being fired.

The ordinance states that any new hire must move to Little Rock within 90 days or be terminated. It gives Moore the ability to bend the rules in special circumstances, such as when an officer experiences a house fire.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the second-floor boardroom at City Hall to vote on both residency proposals.

Metro on 08/31/2016

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