With problems at the Aquatics Center still hanging over her head, Mayor Flowers will convene the Pine Bluff City Council for it’s regular meeting tonight at 5:30. The council will be asked by the Mayor to consider repealing an ordinance from 2024 that made the Aquatics Center it’s own entity in 2024. If approved tonight, the oversight and all management would be returned to the Parks and Recreation Department. The ordinance would spell out that the operation of the Aquatics Center in no longer in the city’s best interest. There will likely be comments from citizens prior to the meeting, who have started a petition to bring back popular Director Raymond Joshua. Although Joshua was not shown to be at fault for the death at the center, he was told to either resign or be terminated. Joshua is the longtime instructor of water aerobics classes at the facility.
Up for it’s third and final reading tonight is an ordinance amending the city’s non-uniformed employee handbook, which would establish a 90-day probationary period for newly hired employees. Under the new policy, supervisors would be expected to evaluate an employees performance and the employees would remain at-will during that period.
