Board OKs buyingnew city vehicles
The Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday approved the purchase of several new vehicles for the city's police and public works departments.
The board authorized the purchase of four SUVs for the Little Rock Police Department. The total cost for the four Ford Interceptors is $111,008. Those vehicles will be acquired through a contract with Mark McClarty Ford.
The purchase of two rear-loader sanitation trucks for the city's Public Works Department was also authorized at the board's regular voting meeting. The total cost for those two trucks is $402,078.
Green commissiongets higher status
The city has officially moved the Little Rock Sustainability Commission from a mayoral commission to a formal commission.
The move ensures that the sustainability commission's work will continue after a new mayor takes office in January. The commission focuses on environmental stewardship, energy consumption, community design, food access and green building standards.
Little Rock boards and commissions are made up of members appointed by the city's Board of Directors who serve on a volunteer basis and give recommendations to the board.
The sustainability commission will have 15 members, the same number it had as a mayoral commission.
City to join programfor discount drugs
Little Rock plans to join a national program that will provide residents with discounts on prescription drugs, at no cost to them or the city.
The NLC Prescription Discount Program is a partnership between the National League of Cities and CVS Caremark, the prescription benefit management subsidiary of CVS Health.
The city Board of Directors voted to participate at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
Residents will be able to obtain prescription cards that they will use to access an average 24 percent discount on prescription medicines from more than 68,000 participating pharmacies, including the four CVS pharmacies in Little Rock.
City stage to hoststorytelling event
The Moth, a storytelling podcast, will hold a live event at downtown Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall on Oct. 4.
Five storytellers will take the stage and share a true and personal story from their life, a news release from the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau states. The show's host, R. Eric Thomas, is a humor columnist and an award-winning playwright.
Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 7:30 show. Tickets are $38.
Loan approved forwater utility work
The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission approved a loan of up to $43 million to Central Arkansas Water on Wednesday.
The funding will go toward an investment-grade audit project, which will culminate in energy-saving upgrades for the utility, utility spokesman Doug Shackelford said.
Those upgrades include solar power, energy tariff and rate adjustments, replacements to inefficient pumping equipment and generators, Mark Bennett, the agency's Water Development Division manager, said in a news release.
The money comes from the Arkansas Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund, according to the commission.
Metro on 09/23/2018