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JPs give OK to high pay for jail nurse |
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Wednesday, 16 January 2008 |
Saline County Quorum Court upped the price it will pay for a permanent nurse at the new jail.
Justices of the peace approved paying up to $25 per hour for a nurse in a brief Finance and Personnel Committee meeting before the regular meeting Tuesday night.
JP Sharon Riggan, R-Benton, who served as chairwoman of the jail committee last year, said nurses they had talked to said “they’d walk out the door” at the previously proposed rate, which was under $20.
JP Buster Warrick, R-Benton, said he didn’t see the use in hiring a nurse until “we absolutely have to.”
Riggan said the county should have hired a nurse two years ago. If the nurse position hadn’t been approved, she said the county would be “opening ourselves up to a lawsuit.”
Having a jail nurse also is expected to cut down on medical expenses, Riggan said. “In a six months’ time, we had five sent to the ER and each had an MRI.” She noted it costs $3,000-$5,000 for each MRI.
Warrick said he wasn’t against hiring a nurse. “I just don’t want to blow it out of proportion,” he said, noting government has a tendency to pile on things. For instance, he said, the county hires one nurse this year and then down the line, there will be eight working at the jail.
Riggan added that a nurse is needed to do such tasks as recording insurance information of inmates.
JP Tom Lish, R-Hot Springs Village, asked why a registered nurse is needed for that job.
The job entails more than writing down information from an insurance card, Riggan said. “They’re required to be weighed in and have a medical screening,” she said. Also, a nurse will know how to properly administer medications such as insulin shots.
Bottom line, the county will “save a lot of money,” Riggan said.
Lish made a motion to table the matter so that more study of the issue could be taken. No one seconded the motion.
In the regular meeting, voting against the nurse’s pay rate were JPs Mark Kizer, Lish and Warrick. JP Chuck Daniels, D-Bryant, was absent from the meeting, and his absence counted as a no as well.
In other matters, County Judge Lanny Fite provided the new committee structure for the Quorum Court. This year, there will be two main committees: Finance and Personnel and Public Works and Safety.
Under Finance and Personnel, falls the Health Insurance, Employee Policy and Procedure and Wellness Program sub-committees.
All other committees are under the Public Works and Safety umbrella. Areas of responsibility include the airport, library, veteran’s board, fair board, hospital board, solid waste board, building committee, animal issues, jail, 911/Office of Emergency Management, courts, miscellaneous ordinances and resolutions.
Serving on the Finance and Personal Committee are co-chairs Doug Curtis, R-Benton, and David Allinson, R-Bauxite. Other JPs on the committee include Jerry Landreth, D-Traskwood; Owen Bullock, D-Benton; Riggan; J.R. Walters, I-Alexander; Warrick; Lish; and Mel Kirby, D-Mabelvale.
Serving on the Public Works and Safety Committee are co-chairs Walters and Lish, and Kizer, Barbara Howell, R-Lake Norrell; Daniels; Pat Bisbee, R-East End; and Warrick.
Fite said after the meeting that the purpose of the rearranging is to get the Quorum Court members more involved in the community. The new setup will allow JPs to rotate which community meetings they attend rather than one member going to the same meeting all the time.
Officials also are hoping the new plan will ensure JPs meeting the required quorum so they can conduct business at the meetings.
Circulated at the meeting was a spread sheet reflecting how many meetings each JP had missed last year. Reasons vary for each member. Tallied were regular meetings, which are the third Tuesday of each month and special meetings, which vary.
Allinson missed a total of zero, Bisbee missed two, Bullock seven, Curtis six, Daniels 26, Howell 12, Kirby one, Kizer six, Landreth two, Lish three, Riggan three, Warrick eight, and Walters zero.
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