Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday approved a resolution in a voice vote that expressed how they intend to spend roughly 60% of the first tranche of money the city has received from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The resolution represented a scaled-down version of the spending package presented to board members for the first time at a meeting last week, with the measure approved Tuesday encompassing the most urgent and widely agreed-upon items.
At last week's meeting, some city directors raised concerns about elements of the first proposal, such as a $500,000 payment to the regional water utility Central Arkansas Water to fix aging galvanized pipes.
During the meeting Tuesday, City Manager Bruce Moore said that the items on the new resolution up for review were ones the city needed to move forward with after listening to the discussion.
The most critical initiative, he said, was an allocation for cybersecurity because the price for the technology upgrades was set to increase by 20%-30% soon if the city did not act.
The resolution before the board Tuesday listed a series of "current critical needs and priorities for which there is consensus" among officials.
The items on the spending resolution encompassed slightly more than $11.6 million. So far, about $18.8 million has been received by the city.
A total of $37.7 million has been allocated to Little Rock from the stimulus package. The first half of the federal money arrived in May and the second half is expected to be disbursed next year.
About $350 billion in direct aid to states, territories, tribal governments, counties and cities was included in the American Rescue Plan Act. President Joe Biden signed the legislation in March.
Moore has indicated the individual spending items will have to go back before the board for approval at a later date following approval of the broader resolution.
At $3.4 million, critical information technology upgrades to cybersecurity and technology infrastructure was the most expensive single spending category among the initiatives listed in the resolution.
A vendor had guaranteed the price for the work only through Aug. 15, according to the city.
"Given the importance of cybersecurity for all Departments and the significant increase in price if the purchase is not made swiftly, this is a top priority and a pressing need," a memo from the city manager's office included with meeting materials said.
The purchase of Fire Department apparatus was listed at $2.2 million in the resolution, of which $1.46 million was earmarked for a new aerial truck.
A separate resolution on the board's agenda Tuesday related to the American Rescue Plan Act purchases was approved during the adoption of the consent agenda.
The measure gave authorization for the city to buy three pumper trucks and one mid-mount aerial truck for the Fire Department for up to roughly $3.4 million, with the federal money funding the purchase of the aerial truck.
Community violence intervention programs are intended to receive $1.5 million. Moore said that a lot of the details "are still to be worked out," but noted federal support behind using the stimulus dollars to try to address violence in the community.
Covid-19 mitigation and prevention efforts are to receive up to $700,000 for use on communications work and vaccination incentives.
On Tuesday, Moore suggested the city would partner with a bank to offer gift cards to vaccinated people.
The second-largest category of spending included in the resolution would disburse about $3.2 million in one-time payments to eligible full-time and part-time city employees.
Full-time workers would receive $1,500 and part-time workers would get half that amount under the resolution approved Tuesday.
According to the city manager's memo, each one-time payment would be categorized either as premium pay or a retention incentive for the purposes of federal reporting.
According to the original version of the resolution, these eligible employees must have been hired no later than July 1. But city board members, led by City Director Capi Peck of Ward 4, voted to amend the resolution on Tuesday to make March 1 the eligible latest start date.
The motion to amend was approved in a voice vote after Peck agreed to adjust her motion to allow the most recent graduating classes of police and fire recruits to be included for bonuses.
The final item on the list of initiatives would help cover indirect costs associated with administering the funding at 5.5% of the total cost of the batch of projects, or $605,000 through the end of 2026.
"This will enable the Finance Department to hire staff to manage reporting and compliance," the city manager's memo said.
At the end of the meeting, Mayor Frank Scott Jr. thanked city directors for their yes vote. "This really helps some of our most dire issues that we are dealing with as a city," he said.