City receives award

PRESCOTT – Dennis Clay, with Crews and Associates, presented Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver with a plaque the city won at a competition held by Arkansas Business.

This was done at the March meeting of the Prescott City Council Monday night. Clay said the award was for the new volleyball court the city built last year.

According to the write up in Arkansas Business, the New Olympia Recreation Center was unveiled last year, complete with volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, baggo games, sand boxes and more, providing local residents with more entertainment options when the sun goes down – aside from school-related athletic events.

The center was created, the story states, with “a day at the beach” in mind, and includes tables with umbrellas and barbecue grills, patio lights, tiki torches and wind chimes. This was done at a cost of less than $5,000. According to the article, around 40 people per night make use of the facilities, located where the old swimming pool was across from the City Park.

The council was also presented with a proposed copy of hiring policies and procedures and told no action was needed at the time. This was to allow the councilmen to go over the policy, make notes and address it at the April meeting.

Councilman Bobbie Brown, chairman of the committee, said the group met a couple of times and this is what it came up with. The basic idea is for job openings to be posted, applications taken and applicants interviewed.

Under the topic of personnel requisition, the policy states such requisitions must be completed to fill city positions and must be initiated by a need to fill positions along with department head positions. Department heads are to complete the requisitions for department head openings with the jobs posted a minimum of 14 days, along with the jobs to be advertised in the local paper.

For job postings, all regular exempt and nonexempt openings are to be posted on the city’s bulletin board for employees to check. The jobs will remain posted until filled.

On the topic of recruitment, the proposed policy would require positions to be advertised in the local paper, with the mayor being responsible for placing the ads, which should run a minimum of 14 days. A hiring committee will confirm this is done.

Interviews are to be done by department heads and the mayor for non-department head positions. Applications should be screened in advance of the interviews. For department head positions, the mayor and hiring committee will be responsible for filling these posts.

Once a decision has been made to hire someone, a background check on the applicant will be done for criminal offenses, drug and alcohol testing and all references listed on the application checked.

The proposed policy included a requisition form and a form for new hire checklist.

Councilman Tommy Poole asked for an update on the utility situation. City Attorney Glenn Vasser said there will be some things for the council to address at its April meeting.

Oliver said things have been going good on that front of late.

The question was raised whether levelized billing would be available to commercial customers, primarily small businesses. Vasser said Larry Jones, Jr. is getting information together on levelized billing but there could be issues with commercial customers due to the amount involved.

After the meeting, Oliver said work has begun on the splash pad. He said, depending on weather, it should be completed in two or three weeks and be ready for the Memorial Day weekend.