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Monday, 23 February 2009 |
Karen Scott is a numbers person, and that’s good since she is succeeding John Walden, the city of Benton’s longtime director of finance.
Walden hasn’t left the job yet, but will be retiring in May. And Scott said she’s happy Walden is sticking around for a while to assist with the transition into her new responsibilities.
Scott comes to the city job from the Division of Youth Services for the state Depart-ment of Health and Human Services, where she was chief fiscal officer and assistant director.
Before that, she was director of financial services for the University of Arkansas, Divis-ion of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service.
Other jobs she has held, all related to accounting and finance, have been at the Arkansas Workers’ Compensa-tion Commission; Arkansas Development Finance Author-ity; Arkansas School for Math-ematics and Sciences; Garland County Judge’s Office; and city of Hot Springs.
Scott is a longtime resident of Magnet Cove. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting and finance at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.
Tuesday marked her first day as an employee of the city of Benton. She said it was a pleasant experience.
“Everyone’s been really nice and very helpful,” she said, noting she had met with various department managers.
Scott didn’t grow up in Arkansas.
“I lived in Chicago until I was in the 10th grade when my family moved in 1979 to Magnet Cove,” she said. Then she added, “But I still love the Cubs.”
She noted that she is just beginning to understand how the financial information for the city is presented to others and may be making some changes in the format.
“I’ve been asked by some to try to put the information into a more user-friendly format,” she said. “There are a lot of details and everyone doesn’t relate to numbers readily.”
Scott said she’s “really excited about the opportunity” the new job presents. “I like working with city finance. I worked for the city of Hot Springs and loved it.”
She said she left that job when a friend persuaded her to take a job at the Hot Spring County Judge’s office.
“When I saw this job with the city of Benton advertised, I applied because I saw it as a fabulous opportunity,” Scott said. ‘I hope to be able to contribute to the well-being of the city.”
Her annual salary is $71,602 plus benefits.
Scott’s husband, Mike, owns a window and door business. They have two daughters, Alyssa, 18, a freshman at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, and Caitlin, 14, who attends Magnet Cove High School.
Alyssa is a member of the track team at ASU and Caitlin plays basketball and sings in her school choir, Scott said. The family attends Butterfield Mission-ary Baptist Church.
Scott is both a musician and an athlete.
“I like to sing and I can play the organ,” she said. “I think it’s important to learn how to read music. It’s a great benefit.”
The thing she does for herself is bowl, Scott said. She’s a member of two Hot Springs leagues and has traveled “all over the country” in conjunction with this activity.
Although her husband bowls occasionally and previously participated in league play, this “really isn’t his thing,” Scott said. “He hunts and fishes.”
She is active in the Magnet Cove community and has served on the Magnet Cove School Board since 2000. She successfully campaigned for a board position when the district was in serious finance trouble and a former superintendent was convicted of embezzlement. That individual currently is serving a prison term, she said.
“I wanted to be part of the change the district needed,” she said in noting her reasons for seeking the board seat.
“We have a fabulous staff now and great teachers. It’s a wonderful school district of about 800 kids in grades K-12. We have great Benchmark scores that are above state average. We’re doing a lot of good things there.”
She said school district patrons have been supportive in the rebuilding process and approve a millage increase to build a new gym.
Her board term expires in 2010 and she doesn’t know if she will seek re-election to a third term.
“My younger daughter will graduate in 2012 and she’d like for me to hand her her diploma,” she said.
“I plan to get as knowledgeable as I can,” she added. “It’s pretty time-consuming.”
Every job is a learning experience, Scott said. “When I went to work for the Division of Youth Services, I didn’t know anything about juvenile justice,” she said. “I had to learn how to help.”
She said she has “a healthy respect for taxpayers” and supports responsible spending of taxpayer monies. “There should be a healthy balance between financing services and paying taxes.
“You have to reach a balance between what’s best for the city through responsible spending and whether the funds are available to finance a new project.”
Terry McKinney, general manager of Benton Utilities, said his department is “very happy to have Karen here.”
“We interviewed several candidates and all were good, but Karen appeared to have the best qualities and experience for the position.”
McKinney added that Alderman Doug Stracener, who heads the City Council’s Finance Committee, is “very happy with the selection of Karen and so am I. We’re glad she’s here.”
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