City of Searcy Hires Planning & Community Development Director
The City of Searcy announced Thursday that they have hired Richard Stafford as the new Planning and Community Development Director. The City Council voted in January to change the part-time city planner position to a full-time Planning and Community Development Director position.
“We saw the need for a full-time Planning and Community Development Director due to the growth of our city, and we’re extremely excited to have Richard on our team,” Mayor Kyle Osborne said.
Stafford is a resident of Searcy and will join the city on April 11. He graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and has over 20 years of experience in the industry. He spent the past 14 years as a Landscape Architect & Certified Arborist for Whitlow Engineering Services, Inc.
“Searcy is my home, and I am extremely excited about the opportunity to help it grow,” Stafford said. “I look forward to working with the City Council, Planning Commission, city leaders, and the citizens of Searcy to plan for our community’s future.”
The salary for this position was originally approved for $62,000 in January, but the Council voted Tuesday to increase the salary to $68,000.
“After analyzing the salaries of city planners around the state, we saw the need to increase the salary for this position in order to hire a qualified candidate,” Osborne said.
According to a report done by the Arkansas Municipal League in 2021, salaries for full-time community development planning directors in Arkansas cities with a population of 20,000 to 44,999 range from $58,099 to $87,149 with an average salary of $72,624. Funds for the position will come from the $36,000 that is currently being paid for a part-time city planner and the remainder will come from revenue collected by the Code Enforcement Department.
“Increasing this salary is just one more step in the right direction of allowing us to offer competitive pay and recruit the best talent to our community,” Osborne said. “We announced in January that we increased the salary of all city employees by 5%, and we continue to evaluate all positions to ensure we are offering competitive pay.”