Newly elected officials sworn-in

Weather ends year wild, starts year wild; Maumelle City Council report; Krebs, Saunders recognized for service plus sports and headlines

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Jan 05, 2023

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Death toll drops

The total number of dead Arkansans this past week was 12.

Last week, it was 14, and the week before that it was 25. The lower number this past week may be a reflection of of deaths not being reported during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The total number of dead Arkansans is now at 12,698.

Covid toolkit
There’s now a one-stop shop to learn about vaccination sites and other Covid related information. Click here to learn more.

If you don’t want to get sick and die, there’s some things you can do:

Get vaccinated
Get boosted
Wear a mask
Avoid crowds

The Headlines

Upcoming meetings: The North Little Rock School Board will meet tonight at 5:30 p.m. and the North Little Rock City Council will meet next Monday night but at an earlier start time of 5:30 p.m.
Upcoming events: Today is the Eve of Theophany and the Feast of Theophany will be on Friday. Also known as Epiphany, the occasion is marked in some Christian churches this Sunday, while others will celebrate today and tomorrow. It also means it is now time to take down those Christmas decorations.
ICYMI: Let your Christmas tree sleep with the fishes

Maumelle: City Council report

CHAD GARDNER

This week’s council meeting was the first of the year as well as the first with newly elected members of Maumelle’s government.

Mayor Caleb Norris was sworn in for his new term as mayor and Council Members Michael Tierney and Jess Holt were sworn in along with me for a new 4-year term. Joining us on the council for her first term is Christine Gronwald who was recently elected from ward 1 (Country Club of Arkansas and Riverland neighborhoods).

Continuing as City Clerk is Tina Timmons who was elected to a new term and our new City Attorney is Andrew Thornton who is serving for the first time.

The only item of unfinished business on our agenda this week was an appointment to the Civil Service Commission. We’ve attempted to make an appointment at the three previous meetings, but no candidate has been able to garner the necessary five votes. At this week’s meeting we once again went through several rounds of voting without a candidate gaining five votes. At this point, City Attorney Thornton shared a memo he had prepared for Mayor Norris on whether or not the Mayor could cast a vote to give a candidate the needed fifth vote. Based on Mr. Thornton’s research, the state Attorney General had issued a past opinion that a Mayor does have the authority to cast a vote in another situation similar to ours. Based on the counsel of our city attorney, Mayor Norris cast a vote in favor of Sam Williams to be appointed to the Civil Service Commission. It’s worth noting that four of six voting council members had also voted for Mr. Williams so the Mayor’s vote gave him the five needed for appointment. While this appointment took two months to finally complete, we had two excellent candidates and I hope that Ms. Kelley Hughes will consider applying for a future opening on the commission.

There was no city business to conduct under new agenda items other than to elect a President Pro Tempore to preside over the next council meeting due to the mayor’s expected absence. Despite my best efforts to nominate another council member, I drew the short straw, so I’ll be filling in for the mayor at the next council meeting.

Note, city offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 16 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, at 6 p.m..

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Chad4Maumelle@gmail.com, 501-529-1336

Maumelle: City recognizes Krebs, Saunders

The new year means new elected officials but Maumelle took the time to recognize outgoing city attorney Melissa Krebs and council member Ken Saunders for their service to the city.

Saunders was the longest serving council member in the city’s history and served a total of three, four-year terms starting in January 2011. He stepped down from the council due to health reasons.

Krebs served one-term as city attorney but was Maumelle’s first, full-time city attorney as the position had previously been a part-time role.

North Little Rock: Elected officials sworn-in

At a brief ceremony on Tuesday at North Little Rock City Hall, newly elected city officials were sworn-in.

The newest face is a familiar one as Vince Insalaco III was sworn-in to represent Ward 4 in North Little Rock.

Insalaco defeated incumbent council member Jane Ginn last November by six votes, 46.7 percent to 46.61 percent. Insalaco was widely supported financially by North Little Rock mayors, past and present as current Mayor Terry Hartwick, and former mayors Joe Smith and Pat Hays all gave campaign donations.

Others sworn in by Judge Paula Juels Jones were Council Members Debi Ross, Linda Robinson and Steve Baxter. Amy Fields was also sworn in as City Attorney. All four were incumbents.

At a separate ceremony Jones swore in her husband, Will Jones, as the newly elected Prosecuting Attorney. Will Jones replaced a retiring Larry Jegley as the Sixth District prosecutor who serves Pulaski and Perry counties.

New year but the weather seems familiar

There’s a long-running Arkansas joke that roughly goes, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait, it will be different tomorrow.”

Yet, even by this state’s darkly hilarious standards, the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 was a wild one, weather wise.

First it was cold, really cold.

The National Weather Service office in North Little Rock called it “a blast of Arctic air on December 22nd sent temperatures below zero in parts of northern Arkansas.”

In central Arkansas that meant temperatures in the single digits with wind chill values well below zero as social media posts proliferated of people taking boiling water into their yards and creating snow.

Jeremy Peppas @jeremypeppas

I can do magic. #arwx (video by Gwen)

Yet, it was even colder elsewhere in Arkansas where in Harrison, that city saw a low of -6. As in six degrees below zero.

Real snow followed on Christmas Eve and some in Arkansas woke up to a White Christmas with some, not lots, but some snow on the ground. Especially in the shade.

But new year, new weather as the state rapidly warmed up going into January as highs were in the 70s across the state.

The Weather Service noted in Harrison, where it had been -6 on Dec. 23, that on Monday, Jan. 2, it was 75, “(a difference of 81 degrees)!”

The much warmer temperatures meant unsettled weather as heavy rain and tornadoes roared in across the state.

The heaviest rain was in east and southeast Arkansas with eight to 10 inches being measured in DeWitt and Star City with a tornado on the ground in Jessieville.

The storm touched down on Monday and literally skipped across the football field at Jessieville High School. Video of the tornado is seen below.

“Scarily, the tornado hit while school was in session, but no children were harmed” the Weather Service reported. “There were two minor injuries reported in town.”

Sports

Basketball: Season starts back in earnest this week

A new year and a new season as conference play started in earnest for teams North of the River.

Maumelle Charter lost a pair of games on Tuesday night, while Maumelle picked up a pair of wins while North Little Rock split.

Central Arkansas Christian didn’t play and return from the holiday break on Friday with games against Mayflower.

Maumelle Charter boys are back in action tonight with a game at Episcopal, then a pair of games on Friday as they host Perryville.

Maumelle travels to Sherwood on Friday to face Sylvan Hills, then hosts Little Rock Parkview next Tuesday.

Friday ... at Conway ... 6 p.m.
Tuesday ... vs. Little Rock Southwest ... 6 p.m.
Jan. 13 ... at Jonesboro ... 6 p.m.
Jan. 24 ... vs. Bryant ... 6 p.m.
Jan. 27 ... vs. Cabot ... 6 p.m.
Jan. 31 ... vs. Central ... 6 p.m.
Feb. 3 ... vs. Conway ... 6 p.m.
Feb. 7 ... at Little Rock Southwest ... 6 p.m.
Feb. 10 ... vs. Jonesboro ... 6 p.m.
Feb. 17 ... at Bryant ... 6 p.m.
Feb. 24 ... at Cabot ... 6 p.m.

For the roster, click here.

The week that was: North Little Rock beat Little Rock Central on Tuesday night after having won two of three games at a Texas tournament over the Christmas break.

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