The North Little Rock City Council will finalize its pandemic wish list at its meeting tonight after receiving the first of two covid checks from the federal government.
Given broad leeway on how to spend the money, two of the biggest items on the city’s list are a new $1.6 million firetruck and about $1 million worth of new trash cans for city residents.
The funds, part of the American Rescue Plan Act’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress in March, are part of a plan to push a post-pandemic recovery after many localities were hit hard by covid-19.
North Little Rock will receive $16.8 million delivered in two $8.4 million tranches. The first of those tranches was delivered to the city May 17, with the second one expected to come a year after that.
While not official yet, the resolution to approve the budget for the city’s American Rescue Plan Act money is on the consent agenda, meaning it has unanimous support from all eight City Council members.
“We talked to all the department heads, got an idea of what they wanted,” North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick said. “Then I visited with all the aldermen one-on-one to see what they wanted, and this is what we came up with.” At $1.6 million, the ladder truck for the Fire Department is the most expensive item on the city’s stimulus budget. The truck will be custom-built and will augment the department’s fleet, which consists of one other ladder truck, which is in the shop for repairs.
The city has a standby ladder truck while it waits to order the new truck and for its current one to be repaired.
A ladder or aerial firetruck has an extendable boom ladder to reach high places. The ladder trucks in North Little Rock carry their own water in case they can’t reach a nearby pump.
“They carry water, they have a pump, they carry [hoses], they carry pre-connect hand lines,” North Little Rock Fire Chief Gerald Tucker said. “So if there is not a pumper available, this is a pumper with a 100-foot ladder on it with a bucket up top.” Tucker said he doesn’t have a good estimate of when the new ladder truck will arrive, other than saying he would be surprised if it comes before the end of 2022.
The sanitation department also will get a big boost from the American Rescue Plan Act funds as the city plans to buy two side-loader garbage trucks and 10,050 new trash cans, which combined will cost roughly $1.6 million.
Hartwick said the trash trucks and the cans to go with them will save the city money because only one person will be needed to drive the trucks and pick up trash.
“Right now it takes three people to run our sanitation trucks — one person driving, two people picking up,” Hartwick said.
Among other items the city has budgeted with stimulus money is $500,000 for a new health clinic in Rose City and $400,000 to the North Little Rock Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to recoup losses from canceled events.
The city also plans to use the funds to purchase $620,000 worth of police patrol vehicles and radios, a $200,000 street sweeper, $315,000 in battery backups for traffic lights and $400,000 to the Parks Department for lost revenue.
Each of the four wards also will receive $100,000 earmarked for parks, trails and other beautification projects.
With cities struggling with tight budgets from the pandemic and millions of people out of work, Congress approved a second covid relief package with funds for state and local government and direct payments to Americans.
Arkansas will receive $1.7 billion in relief funds. How that money is spent will be at the discretion of the state and cities.