By Ray King
A request by Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Director Samuel Glover to hire a person to supervise the city’s Jaycee Golf Course as well as its athletic fields won the approval of the City Council’s Administration Committee Tuesday.
Glover said his department currently has 14 athletic fields and that number could go up with the addition of a Little League football field and soccer field. The person hired would take care of the grass, particularly at the Jaycee nine-hole golf course which Glover described as “non-normal grass.”
Council members Lloyd Holcomb and Steven Mays voted to set a salary of $35,000 plus benefits for the person, even though Mayor Shirley Washington said the amount was less than the person Glover wanted to hire wanted. Including benefits, the city would be paying $47,719.30 annually and Washington said the applicant wanted $40,000 annually plus benefits which, in her words, would be more than what other city employees would be making.
The Mayor also corrected Mays when he saw the Jaycee Golf Course was making money.
Also on Tuesday, the committee voted to allow the Inspection and Zoning Department to add a second full-time secretary to replace a part-time position.
Department Director Mitzi Ruth explained why the position was needed.
Ruth said the city’s Finance Department told her she would need an additional $10,704 added to her 2021 budget to cover the change from part-time to full-time.
