Hot Springs board previews Feb. 4 agenda: public-safety pay tables, CRC upgrades, infrastructure projects and zoning change

The City of Hot Springs Board of Directors reviewed multiple items at an agenda meeting and scheduled them for formal consideration at its Feb. 4, 2025 regular meeting at City Hall.

Finance Director Karen Scott told the board the 2025 approved budget included raises for all employees and described a staff recommendation to amend pay tables for public-safety personnel so uniformed employees step up one grade in the first pay period of the fiscal year, matching nonuniformed staff.

The amendment would accelerate step increases for police and fire personnel hired before Jan. 1, 2025, to be effective on the March 6, 2025 pay date unless they already advanced during the fiscal year. Scott said staff did not propose a budget increase at this time and would monitor expenditures and bring a midyear amendment if necessary. "The 2025 approved budget included raises for all employees," Scott said as she reviewed the item.

Why it matters: Changing step timing affects pay timing for police and fire employees and could shift payroll expenditures earlier in the fiscal year; staff said vacancy savings in those departments are expected to partially offset the cost.

The board also reviewed a staff request to apply for a $225,000 Blue & You Foundation grant to finance renovations at the Community Resource Center (CRC). Grants writer Sarah Delozier said the CRC needs separate men’s and women’s shower/locker rooms, a laundry facility, kitchen upgrades and safety improvements to support warming and cooling center activations and other services.

Delozier said the city has invested more than $1.3 million in the CRC, largely from CDBG and other grants, and that the Blue & You award would not require a local match. She told the board the city also submitted an Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) application on Jan. 13, 2025 that includes $51,400 designated for remodeling; the Blue & You request would complement that work. If awarded, Delozier said, the funds would be coordinated with a soon-to-be-hired CRC director.

Infrastructure and procurement items on the agenda include several staff recommendations to purchase equipment and award contracts through cooperative or…