National honors go to sewer utility
Little Rock's sewer utility received several awards from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies last month.
The Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority was presented with the association's Peak Performance Award, which is presented to honorees that have achieved excellence in operational performance and permit compliance, according to a news release from the utility.
Two of the utility's treatment facilities, Fourche Creek Water Reclamation Facility and Adams Field Water Reclamation Facility, received Platinum Awards, which recognize 100% compliance with permits over a five-year period.
The Little Maumelle Water Reclamation Facility received the Gold Award presented to facilities with no permit violations for the entire calendar year.
"We owe these awards to our knowledgeable and dedicated employees who are committed to regulatory excellence," Greg Ramon, the authority's chief executive, said in a news release.
Board to vote on land sale to UAMS
The city plans to sell a parcel of land at a nominal fee to the University of Arkansas for Medical Science for the construction of a child development center.
The sale includes 19 lots on the east side of Jonesboro Drive.
The sale price is $1 because the city determined it no longer needs the property.
The Little Rock Board of Directors is scheduled to vote on whether to approve the land sale at Tuesday's regular meeting.
City Manager Bruce Moore said the deal is similar to others the city has made with Pulaski County, when the city had park property that was not going to be developed.
The facility will be used by UAMS faculty and staff as well as by people in the community.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said at last week's board meeting that the sale was a big deal in terms of "targeted community development."
Moore said UAMS needed to own the property to pursue new market tax credits for the development, and that the sale will soon go before the University of Arkansas board of trustees.
Virtual tour keys on military history
Little Rock's tourism bureau has compiled 14 local landmarks to form a virtual and driving tour of military history in and around the city.
The Little Rock Military History Tour, a collection of monuments, memorials and museums dedicated to those who have served, launched last week on Veterans Day, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau announced.
"Little Rock has a rich military heritage with so many of our own having served our nation," Gretchen Hall, the bureau's chief executive, said in a news release. "Over the years, we've welcomed many military meetings and reunions groups who truly appreciate that our city honors the men and women who have protected our freedoms. We worked to develop a tour that reflects those places of honor."
A guide to the tour is available at: littlerock.com/experience-little-rock/tours/little-rock-mil itary-history-tour.
Jeffries building on board agenda
The Little Rock Board of Directors will decide whether to remove the historic Murphy Jeffries building from the city's demolition list next week.
Located at 2901-2903 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the structure is the former office of Arkansas' first Black bail bondsman, Andrew Jeffries, as well as that of Christopher Mercer, the first Black lawyer to be appointed a deputy prosecuting attorney in Little Rock.
Mercer also worked on desegregation during the 1957 Little Rock Central High School crisis.
The property was listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places in 2019, but city staff recommends that the building be demolished because of its unsafe structural condition and asbestos.
At a previous board meeting, Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright asked for the building to be removed from the city's demolition list after hearing Jeffries' daughters, Belynda and Helen Jeffries, speak at the meeting about plans to restore the building.
An online petition to remove the building from the demolition list had garnered more than 1,600 signatures as of Friday.