By Ray King
The Pine Bluff City Council on Monday approved a proposal that would pay police officers who stay to the end of the year a $3,000 bonus as an incentive to remain with the force.
Sponsored by Council Member and Former Pine Bluff Police Chief Ivan Whitfield, the council voted 6-2 for the resolution, with Council Members Glen Brown Jr., and Joni Alexander, two of the three members of the Council’s Public Safety Committee casting no votes.
After the meeting, Whitfield explained the resolution to Deltaplex News.
Voting yes were Council Members Steven Mays, Lloyd Holcomb Jr., Bruce Lockett, Glen Brown Sr., and Steven Shaner.
The proposal, as well as a second to increase the pay of part-time police officers to $15 an hour had previously been discussed in the Public Safety Committee who recommended that the council vote down both.
Brown, the chairman of the committee, said that the committee had been working on a comprehensive plan to attract and pay police officers and any plan the committee came up with would not be good enough because it “was not Whitfield’s plan.”
Lockett, the third member of the Public Safety Committee, supported Whitfield’s resolution, saying during the council meeting that “I don’t sleep well at night because of our situation,” and went on to explain why he voted yes.
The resolution to increase the pay of part-time officers to $15 an hour was also approved by a vote of 6-2 with Brown Jr., and Alexander again voting no.
Also Monday, a resolution that would amend the agreement between the Urban Renewal Agency and the City which among other things would allow urban renewal employees to inspect nuisances, unsanitary and dilapidated structures within the Urban Renewal Agency area was pulled by its sponsor and not considered. Those urban renewal employees would be trained and required to obtain professional licensing.
