County sending drivers to CDL class

County sending drivers to CDL class

Training will shore up numbers for county workforce with specialized licenses

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Crittenden County will be paying to send seven workers in the Road Department to get their commercial drivers license.

County Judge Woody Wheeless said that the class will be held at Arkansas State University Mid-South.

“They are actually going to have a class next month,” Wheeless said.

“Hopefully we can get that taken care of and they will all get certified.”

The county has a shortage of workers who actually have a CDL. State law requires workers to possess a CDL to operate any equipment that is over 26,000 pounds such as a dump truck or a clam shell truck.

Last January, the Quorum Court offered to pay for the test and to boost the pay by an extra two dollars an hour to $13. At the time, only two out of 15 workers had their CDL.

In order to obtain a CDL, a driver must pass both a written and road test requiring them to learn about driver safety, cargo safety, equipment basics, traffic rules, inspection procedures, and hazardous materials.

Wheeless said there will be some cost to the county to send the workers, but he did not yet have the numbers.

“It’s not going to be a major expense to the county to do it,” Wheeless said.

Justice Lorenzo Parker said while he is all in favor of the county sending its workers to take the class, they may want to include a provision requiring drivers to stay on the job for a cer- tain time period since the county is paying for the class.

Law enforcement agencies are required to pay for the academy costs if an officer joins their agency from another department.

“I’d like to get a commitment from the guys if we are paying for it they will stay a certain length of time,” Parker said. “I don’t know if that’s a year or two years. I’d hate to see them get their CDL then two months later they go somewhere else to work.”

Wheeless said he hopes the training and increased salary will aid in retention.

“ I understand that,” Wheeless said. “ But I will say we are blessed. We don’t have turnover out there. We hope we are doing the right things to retain

them.”

Wheeless said from this point forward the county will require all new road

department workers to have a CDL.

“The individuals all say they want to take it,” Wheeless said. “Hopefully by November we will have six or seven individuals with their CDL.”

By Mark Randall