# Pulaski County Judge's Office The executive office of [[Pulaski County]] government. Arkansas counties are headed by an elected **County Judge** whose role is **chief executive officer** of the county — distinct from a judicial-branch judge. The County Judge presides over the [[Pulaski County Quorum Court]] (the legislative body) but does not vote in it; the Judge is the final-signature authority on County contracts and the County's primary executive officer for administration, public-works oversight, and inter-agency coordination. The Judge's office address: **201 South Broadway, Suite 400, Little Rock, AR 72201**. Phone 501.340.8305 | Cell 501.351.6616 | Fax 501.340.8282 | pulaskicounty.net. For the surveillance investigation, the Judge's Office is the **executive-authorization node** for Pulaski County's [[Flock Safety, Inc.|Flock]] and predecessor [[Genetec, Inc.|Genetec]] ALPR procurements — Judge [[Barry Hyde]] signs every contract that lands in the [[Pulaski County Circuit Clerk]]'s files. ## People - **[[Barry Hyde]]** — Pulaski County Judge / Chief Executive Officer. The named Authorized Official on the [[Pulaski County PSN18 Grant Award (Contract 6228)|2018 PSN federal grant]]; the signing authority on the [[Pulaski County Flock Safety Term Contract Award (Contract 6764)|August 7, 2023 Flock Term Contract Award Letter]]; the customer-side wet-ink signatory on the [[Pulaski County Flock Safety MSA and Order Form (Contract 6764)|November 28, 2023 Flock MSA]]; the author of the [[Pulaski County ARDOT Right-of-Way Permit Request for Flock Cameras|January 13, 2025 ARDOT permit letter]] for the 6 Flock camera locations. ## Roles in this corpus - **Final executive signatory on all County contracts.** Per the County's standard Contract Approval Routing form, Judge Hyde is the terminal signature in a chain that includes Originating Department → Grants Administration (if applicable) → Purchasing → Comptroller → County Attorney → Judge. Each Flock-related contract and each PSN-grant document in the production carries Judge Hyde's signature line. - **ARDOT permit applicant.** Judge Hyde's January 2025 letter to ARDOT names Pulaski County (not [[Pulaski County Sheriff's Office|PCSO]] and not Flock) as the permit applicant for the 6 Flock LPR camera installations on state-highway right-of-way. The decision to put the Judge's name on the permit — when the [[Pulaski County RFP-23-003 Solicitation and Flock Safety Bid|RFP scope]] required Flock to handle ARDOT permitting — reflects the County's choice to use executive-office authority to facilitate the deployment. - **Federal-grant Authorized Official.** For the [[Pulaski County PSN18 Grant Award (Contract 6228)|PSN18 federal grant]] that funded PCSO's pre-Flock Genetec LPR system, Judge Hyde is the federal-grant Authorized Official. The day-to-day grant-administration authority was designated to [[Nina Jones]] (PCSO Financial Director) as Acting Authorized Official, but Judge Hyde's signature appears on every federal Award Document, Modification, and certification. ## Notes - The County Judge is the corpus's analog of the **Mayor** in the Conway PD / Fayetteville PD productions. Conway Mayor [[Bart Castleberry]] signed ARDOT permits for Conway's Flock deployment; Fayetteville Mayor Molly Rawn signed the Axon trial agreement; Pulaski County Judge Hyde signs the County's Flock-related authorizations. The functional role is the same; the title and the underlying constitutional basis differ. - The Judge's executive authority over County contracting is what allows Pulaski County's Flock procurement to proceed **without [[Pulaski County Quorum Court]] action**. The Conway and Little Rock procurement narratives required (or at least produced) legislative-body votes; Pulaski County's procurement structure routes the entire approval chain through executive offices, ending at the Judge's signature. See [[ALPR Procurement Below the Appropriation Line]] for the cross-jurisdictional analytic frame. - Pulaski County is led by **two distinct elected executives** with overlapping but separately-elected mandates: the **County Judge** (Hyde, chief executive) and the **County Sheriff** (Higgins, chief law-enforcement officer). The County Judge contracts on behalf of the County; the Sheriff operates the law-enforcement agencies and the jails. PCSO's Flock procurement crosses both offices: PCSO is the originating department, but the contract is signed by the Judge.