Added to Monday’s council agenda was discussion of assistance for the building inspector. Alderman David Avanzino said that Jacob Coburn’s workload is a lot and wanted to discuss whether to add another inspector or a part-time position.
Mayor Butch Berry said he wanted to wait until council began working on the 2024 budget. Avanzino presented stats of Coburn’s workload, including that he is fielding 275 calls a week, 35 – 40 inspections weekly, 10 – 15 inspections for code enforcement violations, 297 permits issued since he’s become Building Inspector, providing income of $42,000 and that inspections are not quick processes.B
Berry said that Coburn will have approximately 160 more hours at work since the classes Coburn has been taken are not continuous. He also said that Coburn had come to him about assistance, didn’t like the answer, and has come to council for a different answer. Berry said he was not convinced a second inspector would be needed. He also said that Coburn had gone to Finance Director Michael Akins.
Akins said that he had asked Coburn to provide reports of what work was being completed and that the stats presented that night were the first he or the mayor had heard. He described Coburn’s want of assistance as “heartburn,” that other departments had more staffing, and that he has a tendency to “go down rabbit holes” outside of his focus. Akins said including the amount of time taken away due to classes, he has not seen anything to justify a need for assistance.
Akins also said that Coburn had asked for expensive additions to the website ($5,000 – $6,000) that would supposedly help take weight off him. Akins said that after the additions were made, Coburn was asking for an assistant again. He explained to council that once the backlog of inspections was complete, the city is not sure the regular workload justifies need for assistance.
Akins said Coburn had asked him to force the mayor to get him an assistant and that he had said “No” as the mayor makes the decisions on how much staffing is needed per department. Alderman Harry Meyer motioned to have a monthly report from the Building Inspector to give council a frame of reference on his workload.
Other Items
- 2347 that levies a tax on personal property in Eureka Springs of 4.4 mills on the dollar passed unanimously three times. This ordinance is an annual ordinance, and no changes were made since last year.
- During Public Comments former mayor Beau Satori saying an FOIA request had been denied via email. He said the email had included a quote from the Freedom of Information Act Handbook that a person can be denied FOIA if they have pleaded guilty or been found guilty a felony. Satori said that the denial can only be made if the person has been convicted and spent time in a correctional facility with the entire quote from the handbook being that access to inspect public records “…shall be denied to: A person who, at the time of the request, has pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of a felony and is incarcerated in a correctional facility.” Satori continued saying that he needed to know if City Clerk Ida Meyer or Mayoral Assistant Kim Stryker had sent the email, so he knew who to sue and asked that city council look into the issue.