Committee approves funding line for full-time election coordinator position and sends ordinance 25-26 to budget committee

The Faulkner County Personnel Committee voted to send proposed ordinance 25-26, which restores funding for a full-time election coordinator, to the budget and finance committee for consideration.

An elections official identified in the transcript as Miss Darter said the county previously funded a full-time election coordinator position in 2015 and that the role has been part-time since 2021 at the request of the last coordinator. With that employee's departure to the secretary of state's office, Miss Darter said the county needs a full-time coordinator ahead of a special election scheduled for Nov. 18. "...to fill this quickly, I have an employee that can fill the row and and do the row, but they can only do it as a full time position," she said.

Miss Darter said she reviewed salaries for comparable class 6 counties and requested the position be funded at $58,000 annually, citing averages among peer counties. She told the committee that this year she will transfer funds between line items to cover the position for the remainder of the year and that about half of the salary will be new money in the next fiscal year, which is an election year.

Committee members recorded a motion and second to send the ordinance to budget and finance. The chair called the vote and said, "All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you." The ordinance will move to the budget and finance committee for a formal review of salary and funding transfers.

No roll-call or individual vote tallies were recorded in the committee transcript.