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King commission finance director resigns Wednesday, Mar 5, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The two remaining staff members of the state Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission resigned Tuesday, adding to the turmoil surrounding the panel charged with promoting the principles of the slain civil rights leader. In the same vote the commission accepted the resignations of its finance director and her assistant, the commission also voted - again - to hire DuShun Scarbrough as the panel's executive director. The commission's original 12-5 vote last month to hire Scarbrough was being challenged. Tuesday's vote was 15-0. Commission Co-Chairman John Walker of Little Rock said Tuesday's vote to reaffirm Scarbrough as executive director was taken to "make sure any question raised about the number of votes (needed to approve the hire) was no longer a question." Commissioner Odies Wilson of Little Rock, who had sought an attorney general's opinion last month as to whether the 12-5 vote Feb. 14 was sufficient for the 26-member commission to take action, said he was comfortable with Tuesday's vote. "This is an opportunity for a fresh start," Wilson said. Jerelyn L. Duncan, the commission's chief financial officer, and Roberta Cross, the executive assistant, both turned in their resignations to the commission before it went into executive session Tuesday. "It's sad," Duncan told reporters when asked about the infighting among commission members. "It's definitely not what our agency was built upon. "I love this agency and when it's obvious that people are not (getting along) there are emotions that are attached to that." In her letter to the board, Duncan said she did not think the board had fully appreciated the work she did as interim executive director after state Sen. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, resigned the post in November 2006. Duncan, who had questioned the Feb. 14 hiring of Scarbrough, also said in her letter that she could not resume the financial officer's job because it would mean a $17,000 cut in pay from her salary as interim director. Scarbrough's salary will be $59,000. The commission has been embroiled in dispute for more than a year over hiring a permanent director and over who legitimately serves on the commission. Late last year, a commissioner filed a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of some commission appointees, including Wilson. That case is pending in Pulaski County Circuit Court. The attorney general's office has not issued an opinion that Wilson sought on the legitimacy of the original vote to hire Scarbrough. Last week, the commission held a telephone conference meeting and voted to remove Wilson as co-chairman. At the time, the panel also voted to let Scarbrough begin work immediately. But Kay Barnhill Terry, the state's personnel director, said her office would not process the paperwork for the newly appointed executive director until the attorney general rules on whether his appointment was legal. Tuesday, Terry said Scarbrough's paperwork probably would be processed after she received official notification of Tuesday's unanimous vote. "That may make the issue particularly moot," she said, adding a final decision would be made after talking with Department of Finance and Administration director Richard Weiss. Walker said he expected Scarbrough to be on the job Thursday. "The burden would be on (DF&A) on why they would deny the King Commission, of all the commissions, a staff," Walker said. |
