SPRINGDALE -- The Police Department soon will again have an assistant chief. The City Council approved hiring for the position Tuesday.
Salary for the assistant chief position runs from $73,512 to $110,251, not including benefits, said Police Chief Mike Peters. The full salary will depend where on the city's pay grade list the officer chosen currently sits.
The new assistant chief will have charge over the entire department, Peters said.
The assistant chief will come from the ranks of the Police Department with only captains and lieutenants able to apply, according to the city's Civil Service Code. Candidates also must have 10 years of experience with the Springdale Police Department and five years as a supervisor with the department, the code continues.
The department has 10 officers eligible, Peters said.
Peters said former Chief Kathy O'Kelley in 2017 decided she didn't need an assistant chief. Instead, she used that salary to pay another captain position. The job description for the assistant chief has remained in the city's employee policy and the Civil Service Code, he said.
Capt. Ron Hritz retired from the department in April, giving the department the opportunity to restructure, Peters said.
The Police Department works with a $9,736,000 budget for salaries of roughly 150 officers, according to the city budget.
The council also unanimously approved a $793,820 contract with Emery Sapp & Sons to build a retention pond on the grounds of the Springdale Municipal Airport to control flooding in downtown.
The pond will sit on the northwest corner of the airport, just south of East Emma Avenue, to hold water as it drains into Spring Creek as part of the natural watershed area. The design of the pond will allow the water to be released more slowly and at a level the creek can hold, said Ryan Carr, assistant director of the engineering department.
Most of the area along Spring Creek as it passes through downtown lies in a 100-year flood plain, Carr said. The goal is to keep the creek within its banks and underneath the culverts, not reaching street level, he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency defines a 100-year storm as one dropping 4.5 inches in an hour on an area of 10 inches in 24 hours, Carr said.
Development changes the natural drainage patterns of the land, Carr said. Water doesn't soak into areas such as concrete streets and parking lots. Rather, it runs off and into the watershed very fast.
The water should fully drain from the airport pond within 30 hours. The Federal Aviation Administration requires all water gone in 48 hours, Carr reported.
In other business, the council:
• Approved a contract of $269,010 with All Service Electric to install a traffic light at Butterfield Coach Road and the Ford Avenue extension.
• Reappointed Jayson Janda and Justin Cole to the Springdale Advertising and Promotion Commission. Janda's term will expire in 2024 and Cole's in 2025.
• Reappointed Payton Parker to the Springdale Planning Commission with his term to expire in 2024.