Feb. 18: ALC Personnel

Representative Les Warren We’ll call this meeting of the Personnel Committee to order. Chair sees a quorum. Co-chair, would you like to say anything? I think she’s tied up. All right, so we’ll go into items for review. Tony, if you’ll take over on that. 

Staff Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item B is a request from the Department of Public Safety, Arkansas State Police. They’re requesting to surrender three corporal positions at LES-07 in return for three ASP lieutenants at LES-09. 

The positions are requested for the I-40 corridor to cover the increase in new troopers, providing proper supervision and ensure chain of command. The cost of the positions is estimated to be at $89,000. That’s out of general revenue. This request does not increase the total number of positions at the division. And OPM has recommended the requested swap. 

Representative Les Warren Okay, you’ve heard from Tony. Do you have any questions? If not, I’ll entertain a motion. Second. All those in favor, say aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion is approved. Item C. 

Staff Mr. Chairman, item C is a request from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro. The request is for three project program administrator pool positions from the higher education central growth pool. These positions will be assigned to work with the administration, faculty, and students within the College of Veterinary Medicine, which receives its first class of students this fall. 

The duties will include developing recruitment strategies, administrative and curricular support for the first-year courses, and student activities, as well as the student ambassador program. The Department of Higher Ed has recommended the requested positions, and this will increase the total number of positions authorized at ASU by three. 

Representative Les Warren OK, you’ve heard the report. Any questions? All right, I will entertain a motion. All right, have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion is approved. Item D. 

Staff Mr. Chairman, item D has been pulled. So we’re on to item E. Item E is a request from the Department of Commerce, Economic Development Commission, for an extra help position through the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act. Peer approved the appropriation for this position yesterday. 

Personnel is tasked with reviewing the requested title. OPM has recommended the requested title, which is an extra help. And according to the agency, we reached out, this is going to be a fiscal related position involved in budgeting and auditing the program. 

Representative Les Warren All right, you’ve heard what he had to say on that. Any questions? I’ll entertain a motion. All right. Second? All right. Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? All right, motion is approved. Move on to the report. 

Staff Mr. Chairman, another report to require action. I want to point out one in particular, which is item F. This is a reduction in force that was done at Veterans Affairs. It eliminated six positions. The employees in those positions were eligible for severance and a special re-employment consideration with other state agencies. 

Representative Les Warren Any questions on that? I’m sorry. One second. Senator Petty, you’re recognized. Did I miss it? Now you’re recognized.

Senator Jim Petty Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m not sure who this is addressed to. But anytime we do anything that affects veterans, I’d like to have just a little bit more knowledge and especially when we’re talking about a reduction in force that could potentially affect the services that we provide veterans. So just a little bit of insight if you could on the process. 

Representative Les Warren If you would, come to the table. Once you get seated, introduce yourselves. Are you on? Bear with us just a second. We’ll get you working. Are any of your microphones working? There we go. 

Robert Ator Good afternoon. I’m Colonel Rob Ator. I am the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for ADVA. 

Representative Les Warren All right, sir. 

Wayne Ruthven Wayne Ruthven. I’m Chief of Staff at Veterans Affairs. 

Rochelle Garcia I’m Rochelle Garcia. I’m the HR Administrator for Veterans Affairs. 

Representative Les Warren Senator Petty, you’re recognized for your question. 

Senator Jim Petty So the question was just– and I know, Colonel, that a lot of thought and you of all people are going to be looking out for veterans, but I just wanted to know for for the sake of the audience here what drove that decision and to be assured that it’s not going to affect services to our veterans. 

Robert Ator Absolutely. And Senator, let me start off by saying I really, really appreciate the question and what this body does to make sure that we’re taking care of our veterans in the state of Arkansas. That’s very, very important to us. And the partnership that we have with you all is vitally important. So I really want you to look at this not as a RIF per se. It was a restructuring. 

So the last time that the Department of Veterans Affairs was restructured was in 1979. The structure that we had is not reflective of all that we want to do to be able to take care of veterans. So specifically what I was doing to live within our own budgetary limitations– again, 88% of the funding that I have for the agency comes from the federal government via reimbursement and about 14%– or I’m sorry about 12%– comes from general revenue in the state. 

I needed to reclaim some positions to be able to expand. And this is what the governor has asked me to do was that she thought, and I absolutely agree with her, is that we had spent too much time and effort on end-of-life care for veterans. And at the time we’re looking at when we see all the struggles that some veterans have in reintegrating into society that we need to do a better job while they’re still productive in their productive years after service in our nation’s cloth. 

So we wanted to be able to expand that and so we’ve started a new program. We’re calling it a continuum of care. But basically we’re interacting with service members while they’re still in their last year of enlistments, and then we’re going to carry them and work their benefits before they leave service. 

And then what we’re doing is we’re freeing up these resources to create a new position called a VES or a veteran employment specialist. And their job is to work with Arkansas companies to provide those opportunities so that we’re not, I don’t want to say handhold, but we’re going to do a warm handoff with these companies that allow us to be able to walk our veterans as they come out of uniform right into a job. 

And then we’re going to care for them through their life cycle all the way through the times when we need some help with the veterans homes or at the end when we honor them in one of our state cemeteries. So this is an expansion. It’s not so much a RIF. So these are positions that did not reflect what we were doing. And certainly I was trying to free up resources to be able to expand services. 

And at the end of it, we actually save some money too. And that’s vitally important because of how lean the organization is. We want to be able to continue the expansion of those services to veterans. 

Representative Les Warren Senator Love, you’re recognized. Hit it again. 

Senator Fred Love Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Colonel, let me ask you this, kind of in the same vein. What are we doing for veteran service officers? Is our veteran service officer’s program still running strong? And do you foresee any improvements in the veteran service offices? 

Robert Ator That’s a great question, and again, thank you. And yes, the way we’re currently structured is that I have about six district veteran service officers that cover the entire state, but then each county has a veteran service officer. And I’ll be very frank with you that sometimes the performance that we’re giving our veterans will vary county to county. And so we’ve taken this very, very seriously. 

And so some of the things that we’re doing is we’re really trying to lean into making sure that we are going to train them and we’re going to have more contact time with them to be able to make sure that the performance that we are getting out of our VSOs is more consistent across the board. Part of that is, statutorily, I’m required to provide supervision to these county VSO’s. And a lot of that comes with working with the county judges. 

And, as a matter of fact, tomorrow I’ll be addressing all the county judges at the association meeting tomorrow. This is the second time I’ve talked to them. The first time was to explain the value proposition of having a veteran. Most people don’t know that every time you have a veteran in your county, that’s about $37,000 that comes into your county without having to do anything. 

Especially now, when you have a veteran whose whole life is centered around service, how they absolutely make a community better, there’s a value proposition there. So I explained that. So now what we’re doing is we’re going to be explaining, and we’ve come up with an algorithm to be able to give a report card to the county judge, to tell them how they’re performing.

Senator Fred Love No, no, no. That’s great. I was listening. I just said, wow. I didn’t know there was a microphone, which is right there. 

Robert Ator But yes, I want to be able to have partners with the county judges. And so we’re having that dialogue so that they know exactly how their county VSOs are operating and what other things that we can do to be able to help them. 

Senator Fred Love All right, thank you. 

Representative Les Warren Senator Hammer, you’re recognized. 

Senator Kim Hammer Thank you. Good afternoon. I appreciate what y’all do for the veterans. Quick clarification on a statement that’s in the handout sheet. Each one of the six employees are eligible for severance pay, correct? 

Robert Ator Yes, sir. 

Senator Kim Hammer If they should take employment with the state somewhere else, then that severance amount would be reduced if they find employment first? Or do they get that severance regardless? 

Robert Ator Well, I’m going to defer to Ms. Barnhill. 

Kay Barnhill Senator Hammer, once they receive the severance pay, it is theirs. We do not recoup it if they are rehired back to the state department. But generally that’s what tides them over until they are rehired or somewhere else. If they’re transferred immediately to another state department, they don’t get the severance pay. 

Senator Kim Hammer If you don’t mind, pull the mic a little closer. Just like in one minute or less, what’s the strategy or what is the policy for determining the amount of severance that they would receive? Because I see that one is 24 years and one is 3 years. Well, the one with 3 years is going to get $800 and the one with 24 years is going to get $1,600. Can you just give me a one minute or less explanation? 

Kay Barnhill Yes, sir. It’s all spelled out in the class and compact. And it’s all based on the total number of years of service each employee has. And it is a graduated scale with $1,600 being the highest payout and $800 being the lowest. There’s one more level in between, but I’m afraid I’d quote it to you wrong. I believe it’s $1,200. 

Senator Kim Hammer So if the employee of 24 years, and I forgot how many years with the state they got to have to be able to start drawing their retirement–

Kay Barnhill 28. 

Senator Kim Hammer So if that employee of 24 years doesn’t find a state job that’s going to give him four more years, they will have lost their benefits. Is that correct? 

Kay Barnhill Well, they don’t actually lose their benefits. Now we’re kind of moving into the retirement area where there’s options available. Some employees at that time choose to retire early. But there is a half percent per month penalty, I believe, if they retire early. But some take that option. Some just keep their years as they are and go look for another job somewhere with the government agency where they could get the other four years. But if they don’t do anything, that$1,600 is going to be it until they actually file for retirement from APERS or teachers or whichever the appropriate system is. 

Senator Kim Hammer Okay, last question. In the case of that 24 and that 20 years of service one, if they weren’t able to be hired on by another state agency where they could continue to work toward their 28 years, and they were forced into where they had to take early retirement to make ends meet, would they be penalized because they are starting earlier even though they were RIFed? Or would they have that penalty applied against them? 

Kay Barnhill I believe that penalty applies against them. 

Senator Kim Hammer That’s something we’ll talk about offline. I won’t be around next year, but that seems like it might be something I want to take a look at. And appreciate the intent of what y’all want to do. I just want to make sure you don’t confuse my questions with disagreeing with what you’re doing. Thank you. 

Robert Ator No, sir, I appreciate the question. And believe me, one of the hard parts about this decision is because it does impact real humans. And I’ve always lived off the theory of, once they’re my airman, they’re  my airman till the very end. And so I appreciate your care. 

Representative Les Warren All right, I do not see any other questions. That’s the end of the reports. If there’s no other business to come before the committee, we stand adjourned.