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Council may be asked to pay in ongoing fire chief issue |
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Tuesday, 16 March 2010 |
The fallout from the Benton Civil Service Commission’s meeting last week may come down to whether the City Council wants to pay for another opinion concerning the promotion of Mark Mills to assistant fire chief.
The council’s Health and Safety Committee, which is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the mayor’s conference room, will allot some of its time to discussing the possibility of the council paying for another opinion in the Mark Mills case.
Mills, the assistant fire chief and acting fire chief, hired attorney Robert Newcomb to represent him during the aftermath of the commission’s decision to allow 13 questions thrown out of a promotional exam in 2009.
Mills was given the position after the questions were eliminated.
City Attorney Brent Houston gave his opinion in February to reinstate Mills as captain and allow him to take the test again.
In December 2009, he had advised the commission to delay a ruling on a recommendation from former Chief Ben Blankenship to promote Mills. The commission went against Houston’s wishes and voted 4-1 for the promotion, with Commissioner Joey Brannon casting the only dissenting vote.
On Friday, the commission voted 3-2 to seek an opinion from the Municipal League with Brannon and new commission member Judy Pridgen voting against the recommendation. If the Municipal League decides not to intervene, the City Council may be charged with finding another attorney, which would cost money.
“The Municipal League would be free,” Houston said. “But I am not sure that they will look into this, given the political and legal nature of this.”
Houston said submittedthe league all of the information concerning the case after Benton Mayor Rick Holland asked him in an e-mail to look into the matter.
“I am not sure if Mayor Holland gave the Municipal League enough information surrounding the case, and I am not sure they will want to participate after they find out,” Houston said.
An answer from the league could come by next week since those who would be involved are currently attending a conference in Washington D.C.
Paying for an independent attorney’s opinion would have to be approved by the City Council. Alderman Steve Lee said he is inclined to abide by the city attorney’s opinion.
“The man got feedback from the attorney general on this,” Lee said. “He was elected by the people to serve as our attorney. He has our best interests. Why would we be looking at someone else?”
Mills scored a 73 percent on a written examination after former Benton Fire Chief Ben Blankenship recommended to the commission that 13 questions be thrown out. That decision came after Mills had passed the physical examination, which violated rules set forth in the fire handbook. The handbook says an applicant must pass the written test before the physical test is given.
The commission adopted changes to the fire and police handbook at Friday’s meeting.
A permanent fire chief eventually will be appointed by Holland, but Mills’ probationary period regarding the assistant chief’s position will be completed at the end of June.
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