Texarkana, Arkansas A&P Commission to hire first executive director, targets January start
TEXARKANA, Ark. The Texarkana, Arkansas Advertising and Promotion Commission voted unanimously this week to advertise for its first full-time executive director, a move City Manager Tyler Richards said is needed so he can step back from running the commission.
Chairman Ulysses Brewer and Commissioners Dr. Ellen Holmes, Danny Jewell, George Dodson and Rachel Scott voted 5-0 to approve the job posting. Vice Chairman Meredith Mills was absent.
Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field and have at least three years of marketing experience. City staff will screen out applications that don’t meet those minimums before passing the rest to the commission.
Richards said he has been handling A&P business on top of his city duties for about two years and can no longer do both.
“I can’t continue putting the countless number of hours into A&P commission that I have been the last two years,” he said. “Even if the A&P Commission decides not to hire a director, I’ve got to step away either way.”
He said a director whose only job is the commission would get more done than he has been able to, pointing to a downtown cleanup proposal he brought to the same meeting. He said that proposal missed what commissioners wanted, in part because so much time had passed since they first discussed it.
Jewell said the first priority is to relieve the city manager so he can return to his city job, followed by leading and promoting the commission.
“I fully expect our director to work with the Chamber of Commerce to promote Texarkana, Arkansas, as well as Texarkana, Texas,” Jewell said.
Salary and timeline
The director would be a city employee covered by the city’s benefits and employee handbook. Staff research found that A&P director salaries in similarly sized Arkansas cities average about $75,000 to $80,000, while larger cities such as Fayetteville pay up to $180,000. The city’s pay scale for director positions starts at about $72,000.
Total cost with insurance and benefits would be about $125,000 a year at a $75,000 salary and about $132,000 at $85,000, Richards said, adding that exact figures would follow. The commission had previously been given a budget estimate of $150,000, which would cover a salary up to about $100,000.
Commissioners chose not to hire a search firm. The position will be posted on the city’s website and social media.
The schedule commissioners discussed:
- Applications are due Oct. 23.
- The commission will meet Nov. 5 to choose candidates to interview.
- Interviews are set for Nov. 12 in executive session.
- Second interviews, if needed, could happen in early December.
- The target start date is Jan. 4.
Shared position raised
Commissioner Rachel Scott asked whether the city should revisit a past arrangement in which the Arkansas and Texas sides shared the cost of a tourism director at the Chamber of Commerce. She argued that Texarkana should market itself as one city.
Jacob Potter, the commission’s attorney, said using A&P money to help pay the salary of a chamber employee raises legal questions. He agreed, though, that a director could be directed to work with the chamber and with Texarkana, Texas. Brewer suggested making that collaboration part of the director’s duties.
Downtown cleanup bid sent back
The commission also reviewed the only bid received for downtown maintenance in the Arkansas side of the entertainment district. U.S. Lawns offered to do the work for $32,807.49 a year at the frequencies the city requested, plus $3,685.19 a year to maintain a portion of the Crossties property. Richards said parks staff had estimated doing the work in-house would cost $15,000 to $20,000.
Commissioners said the proposal focused too much on mowing and too little on what visitors actually see. They want weekend trash can emptying, litter pickup along sidewalks, alleys and gutters, and upkeep of the tree grates and planters along Broad Street. They also noted that the bid included landscaping at the post office, which the city had not requested and which is outside the entertainment district.
“Broad Street between Walnut and State Line is the money,” Dodson said. “That’s where 90% of the people that come downtown, that’s where they land.”
Jewell, playing what he called devil’s advocate, noted that city ordinance requires property owners like himself to maintain their half of the right of way. He said downtown business owners should share responsibility for the area in front of their buildings. Richards said the ordinance only prohibits growth taller than 12 inches and that enforcing it on city-installed planters would be difficult.
Richards said the bidder had set its own schedule instead of following the weekly service the city requested. He said he would ask for line-item pricing or rebid the work, possibly with separate vendors for landscaping and for trash service.
Delinquent A&P taxes
Commissioners also discussed ways to collect from businesses that do not pay the city’s A&P tax, which is levied on restaurants and hotels.
Richards had proposed allowing the city to revoke a business’s certificate of occupancy for unpaid A&P taxes. He said, however, that an Arkansas attorney general’s opinion suggests the two are unrelated, because a certificate of occupancy is tied to building safety. Some other Arkansas cities instead require an A&P permit that can be revoked, he said, though any new requirement would mean existing businesses have to file new paperwork.
Potter said he sends delinquency letters almost monthly and that one business has never paid. He said stronger enforcement would be fair to businesses that pay each month.
“They’re collecting dollars and keeping them that aren’t theirs,” Dodson said.
Brewer said the commission should be “methodical, cordial, and firm.” He suggested inviting delinquent owners to meet with the commission as a good-faith step before any harsher action.
“We don’t want to go chain up a restaurant,” Dodson said. “It’s just a PR nightmare on the city.”
Potter said he will research what other cities have done and report back.
Commissioner Scott noted that A&P collections are about $65,986 behind budget pace this year. Richards said revenue typically lags at this point in the year and catches up during the holiday season.