Pulaski County officials postponed action Tuesday on the county executive's proposal to have his office run the county juvenile-probation office, a plan that is opposed by all 17 circuit judges.
County Judge Barry Hyde, the county's chief executive, wants to create a new position of juvenile-justice director at a salary of $68,200 a year. The new director, overseen by Hyde, would manage the county juvenile-probation department, update department policies, manage the department's budget and oversee other youth-justice programs.
At Tuesday's Quorum Court meeting, Hyde proposed tabling a vote until July to allow for a "good faith effort to find compromise," he said.
But after the meeting, juvenile-court judges Joyce Warren and Wiley Branton Jr. said they might have reached an impasse on the issue.
The judges, along with the county's third juvenile-court judge, Patricia James, contend that Hyde's plan to move juvenile probation into his office violates their legal authority. But they still plan to meet with Hyde today to discuss a potential resolution.
"His plan is inconsistent to what the statute says," Branton said.
"I'm clear on the law," Warren added. "And I think the federal courts would uphold our argument."
Arkansas law [ACA 14-14-1102(5)(A)] says that the county judge is responsible for the hiring and firing of county employees "except those persons employed by other elected officials of the county." Another law [ACA 16-13-328] also describes juvenile probation and intake officers as assigned to elected circuit judges who "serve at the pleasure of the judge or judges."
In a Quorum Court budget committee meeting last month, James said that the proposed new director's responsibilities are "overreaching" and that the judges would challenge Hyde's proposal -- if approved at Tuesday's meeting -- in federal court.
On May 17, 6th Judicial Circuit Administrative Judge Vann Smith wrote a letter to Hyde siding with the three juvenile-court judges.
Smith wrote that there were "grave concerns that any unilateral action by the Quorum Court will interfere with the Administration of Justice" and also noted that he spoke for all 17 Pulaski County circuit judges.
Hyde has said that his proposal was based on results from a pair of 2017 reports that found the county's juvenile-probation system needed an overhaul, mostly because of poor organizational structure and management, not enough data-keeping and outdated training materials.
Warren, a longtime youth advocate with decades on the bench, also described Hyde's proposal as a "piecemeal" solution.
She said change needs to come through statewide standards, where personnel -- no matter the county -- receive good pay and practice policies consistent with what research says works best for child development.
"I love children, I love families," she said. "I think that kids deserve the best we can give them in any arena."
An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette investigation last March found that many children placed in juvenile probation, across the state, didn't get needed help because of overworked officers and circuit judges who didn't change the way they handled cases.
Outside Pulaski County, circuit judges used probation to discipline, rather than rehabilitate, young offenders -- going against what national research indicates works best, the newspaper reported.
Metro on 05/29/2019