Former city director seeking work at city hall

Eric Besson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported a curious piece of Little Rock City Hall business this morning about what appears to be a case of Mayor Mark Stodola creating some part-time work for former City Director Brad Cazort.

It seems the mayor wants more vigorous legal action to foreclose on derelict property and clear titles. He apparently doesn’t think the 11-attorney city staff is sufficient for the job. Twice, the city took bids from lawyers to handle the work on a contract basis. The Wilson Law Firm, experienced in real estate law, was the only applicant on one occasion, but its bid was rejected. It, Cazort and another applicant applied on a second solicitation. Wilson was ranked first among the three, but again all bids were rejected. Then Stodola instructed Carpenter to follow a different path, to hire a part-time staff member. Three people, including Cazort, have applied.

I get the sense oddsmakers should like Cazort’s chances to get the work. Terms not yet determined.

I thought the most interesting sentence in the story about Cazort’s application for a part-time job with the city of Little Rock was the second-to-last in the article:

Cazort’s full-time job is administrator of the Arkansas Crime Information Center’s repository division, which is responsible for maintaining criminal history records.

Second most interesting sentences were City Manager Bruce Moore’s Sgt-Schulz-like “I know nothing” responses to questions about the new city employee position.

UPDATE: I asked City Attorney Tom Carpenter when he expected to make the hire and what the terms might be. He said there is still a question of whether he makes a hire. He added that he has a staff member, Shawn Overton, who is a real estate specialist who’d worked previously in the real estate department for Walmart, a job with relevant experience.