Concerns about costs
Dear editor:
Newly appointed District 1 City Director Erin Holliday likes to tout that she has obtained her Professional Community and Economic Developer certification through the Community Development Institute (CDI) at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
According to its website, CDI provides attendees with the "tools and strategies they needed to create vibrant, successful communities." Consisting of training workshops held over three successive summers, participants study leadership, ethics and working with local organizations (among other topics).
Ms. Holliday graduated from the CDI program this past March.
This summer she plans to follow-up and attend the program's "Advance Year" workshop which " ... allows graduates the opportunity to use the skills and knowledge they've gained from (the program) ... in a real-world setting."
I have two concerns.
First, according to the invoice Ms. Holliday has provided, she paid for the "Advance Year" workshop using her own money Six months before being appointed City Director. Yet she is now asking taxpayers to retroactively pay for her to attend the workshop -- in effect, having taxpayers reimburse her for expenses she paid long before becoming city director.
Secondly, how much will this workshop actually cost taxpayers? The workshop itself is $550. However, city policy states that payment for "in-state travel, including lodging, shall be at the discretion of the individual Director." Ms. Holliday can seek reimbursement for mileage, food and lodging for the week she spends at the workshop -- without publicly disclosing these costs. We may never know the total hit to the public purse.
In May, I wrote a letter explaining how neighborhood associations throughout Hot Springs have promoted revitalization efforts. My own neighborhood (the Whittington Valley) and others (including Park Avenue and the Gateway Community) have for years sought sidewalk repairs, marked bike lanes, new affordable housing, streetscape beautification, rain garden installations, new community parks and the razing of unsafe structures.
Our efforts are beginning to show promise. We see property values stabilizing and, in some instances, rising; once vacant commercial buildings are now occupied; and new commercial establishments are opening and older establishments are seeing more business. However, there has been one universal stumbling block to our efforts: funding. In instance after instance, we must find outside funding (i.e. grants) because the city "doesn't have the money."
As a real-world application of the lessons learned from the CDI program, perhaps Ms. Holliday should use the skills she's learned by showing leadership and consider the thorny ethical issue of asking for reimbursement for an expense she incurred six months before becoming city director.
While in this instance the amount may not be especially large, such modest expenditures add up, whether paying for weeklong workshops in Conway or traveling at taxpayer expense for cultural exchange trips to Japan. Being a city director means leading by example and placing the public interest ahead of self-interest or, more importantly, self-enrichment.
Mark A. Toth
Hot Springs
Editorial on 07/18/2019