Riff Raff: The Hotz hot seat

It might be easy to have some empathy for Sebastian County Judge Steve Hotz in having the full responsibility for the general election fall hard in his lap less than 95 days out, but he’s part of the reason for being so encumbered.

Sebastian County Election Coordinator Meghan Hassler resigned July 19. At risk of oversimplifying a complex situation, Hotz and the Sebastian County Quorum Court thought they’d call her bluff when she pressed for more equitable pay for what is officially a part-time job that is a full-time job during election cycles. Hassler wasn’t bluffing. She left, as did four other members of the coordinator office.

Hassler had 27 unchallenged elections under her belt. No hiccups. No complaints. Her term is impressive considering it’s an incredibly detailed process with more than 100 key actions – everything from ordering food for poll workers, recruiting and training at least 200 poll workers, renting enough trucks to transport materials among 32 polling sites on election day, detailed maintenance and testing of all voting machines, and ensuring all steps meet specific legal requirements – requiring incredibly deft choreography with state and local officials and a long list of hard deadlines set by state law.

And that’s just during an election process.

Which is why it remains a mystery county officials declined to work with Hassler on what she thought was a more appropriate salary. Hassler had received only two small pay raises in nine years prior to June, and then only because federal law required such. A recent pay raise of $7,800 boosted her pay to $43,888, still well below the $57,381 coordinator pay in smaller Saline County.

I asked Hotz during a July 30 interview why he, Sebastian County Clerk Sharon Brooks and others were not willing to raise Hassler’s pay to reward her performance and ensure stability in such an important process. They wouldn’t even let Hassler make a case before the quorum court.

“Because it was in her (Brooks), and their opinion, it was taking our salary structure out of kilter and would make this position be paid much more per hour than practically anybody else that works at the county,” Hotz said.

Finding kilter is not easy. Hotz stressed that he was focused on “comparing apples and apples” using hourly pay. However, the hourly pay comparison did not factor in benefits and did not factor in the realities of part- and full-time pay structures.

Hotz and Brooks also argued there is not enough work between elections to justify higher pay. Maybe the other side of that coin is having a full-time election coordinator is the price we might want to pay to ensure elections are not only efficient and legally managed, but as voter-friendly and modern as practices allow. Which is to say the hourly pay focus neglects any responsible consideration of whether the job should be full- or part-time.

Here’s the rub. The county is likely to incur at least $10,000 in extra contractual and other costs to ensure the election runs smooth. Others familiar with the process believe the cost will be significantly more than $10,000. (Talk Business & Politics has asked to be notified when a contract with voting machine consultants is signed.)

Here’s another rub. Spending $10,000 – if not more – to boost the pay of Hassler and others in her office would likely have prevented the county from its scramble – and associated uncertainty – to ensure a smooth election. In the rural part of Arkansas where I was raised, folks might say that’s a dollar waiting on a dime.

Here’s a rub on the previous rubs. Judge Hotz has a lot on his plate. Being a county judge is not easy. Demands and expectations are incessant and dynamic, respectively. But Hotz now has many of the election coordinator duties on his daily to-do list. It’s not the highest and best use of his time – and all because he and Brooks and others were focused on an arbitrary we’ve-always-done-it-this-way belief in the kilter of pay.

“Believe me, I don’t like having to do this. … This is going to be a lot of extra work on me, and, probably extra expense on the county,” Hotz said during the recent interview. “Right now though, our total concentration is, ‘Get this election in the bag and done right without controversy.’”

Hotz is confident he and others, including Arkansas Secretary of State employees, will deliver a smooth election for more than 47,000 Sebastian County voters (47,291 voted in the 2020 general election) when early voting begins Oct. 21.

“I feel comfortable. We’ve got the basics covered. Now I’m looking for all the little loose ends. We’re developing a timeline when things have to be done so that we don’t miss anything. I’m having that reviewed right now,” he said.

While I have little to no empathy for the position Hotz faces, we should all very much hope his confidence is rewarded. Folks who take the time to participate – voters AND poll workers – in this fundamental part of our republic deserve not only an efficient and fair election, but certainty that behind-the-scenes vote management is legit.

But for now you’ll have to excuse me for feeling like the patient just wheeled into pre-op who is told about a last-minute surgeon switch.