Friends,

There’s no question that our workforce is our greatest asset at the City of Little Rock. City employees are the unsung heroes who fill the potholes, pick up your trash, keep you safe and dedicate their careers to improving the quality of life in the state’s capital city.

We’re fortunate to have dozens of team members who have worked almost all their careers within city government, providing us with excellent service and the kind of institutional knowledge it’s hard to find anywhere else. Standing out among our nearly-2,500 employees, though, are those who have served the city for decade after decade. Recently, we had the opportunity to celebrate three individuals who have worked for the City of Little Rock for more than four decades.

These three employees were recognized for more than 40 years of service at an employee appreciation luncheon.

My congratulations and appreciation to Debbie Thompson, Jeff Ralston and Glenn Haley. Their passion for their jobs and expertise contribute to Little Rock’s success and make us a better City.

Here’s a little more about each of them:

Debbie Thompson

After graduating with a degree in biology from the University of Illinois, Debbie Thompson moved to Little Rock for her first, and only, job as a carnivore keeper at the Little Rock Zoo. Debbie was promoted to carnivore senior keeper in 1987 and was named carnivore curator in 1996. She was the City of Little Rock Mahlon A. Martin Employee of the Year in 2015.

Debbie has been the National Association of Zoos and Aquariums coordinator for species conservation for the sloth bear and the ringtail, a small carnivore related to raccoons. She’s also served as the national chairperson for the Bear Taxon Advisory Group, which oversees the management of care for every bear species living in an AZA-accredited zoo worldwide.  

As someone who has had a lifetime love for animals, she chose biology as her college major in order to pursue a zoo job, she shared advice for others who are considering a zoo career:

“You will find the job is harder than you thought it would be, but you need to remind yourself every day what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to work around these animals. That will result in making this a lifetime career. Stick with it. It’s worth it in the long run.”

Jeff Ralston

Jeff Ralston has more than 41 years of service to the City, with his first major project in the early 1980s involving the development of software to report employee W-2 information on magnetic tape for submission to the IRS. Through his career, he has been heavily involved in developing software and systems for the police department, fire department and emergency communications departments.

He created management software for LRPD that was in place for more than 25 years and completed the first Motorola radio interface to the City’s computer-assisted dispatch system. He also assisted in development of the city’s first LRFD dispatch system. He’s currently Applications Development Manager and is responsible for Little Rock’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

When he’s not at his full-time job, Jeff works with the music program at Grace Lutheran Church in Hillcrest, where he performs vocally and also plays the trombone.

Jeff said that he’s enjoyed working for the City alongside “many really outstanding and dedicated public servants. As I appear to be in the twilight of my career, all I can say is I’ve been so blessed. I’m just so thankful.”

Glenn Haley

Glenn Haley became a full-time employee of the Little Rock Public Works Department in August 1982, after starting part-time in 1980 as an engineering aide. His first full-time job with the City was as a draftsman in the Mapping and Graphics section of the Department.

He was named Graphic Support Specialist in 1995 and then was promoted to Projects and Addressing Specialist. In that role, which he currently holds, Glenn is coordinator for the Adopt-A-Street program, which gives organizations and residents an opportunity to help beautify Little Rock by volunteering to pick up litter along selected streets.

One fascinating aspect of Glenn’s job is that he heads up the City’s addressing program, where he is responsible for assigning address numbers to homes and businesses. For the superstitious out there, that means Glenn is the city worker who won’t assign “13” as an address number, continuing a longstanding practice.

“We’ve had people not want to buy a house with a ’13’ in it, so many, many years ago we just stopped assigning 13s,” he said.

The first-ever Public Works employee of the year – he was presented that award when it started in 2003 – Glenn said he works with a great group of people.

“It’s always been an interesting job, and I don’t do the exact same thing every day,” he added. “I’ve always worked with a great group of people.”

Celebrating Championships

The cheering section for the Little Rock Parkview Patriots grew by a whole team at last week's Little Rock Board of Directors meeting. As a proud Parkview alumnus, I'm one of a handful of Parkview graduates that attends every meeting, but on Jan. 17 we had almost the entire football team on hand to recognize the players and coaches who won the 2022 Class 5A football championship.

It was a pleasure to present them a plaque recognizing their achievements, and even better to have two champions from the capital city present as we also honored the longtime football powerhouse Pulaski Academy Bruins for their state title. Pulaski Academy won the 6A title in December. 

Congratulations to Pulaski Academy and Coach Anthony Lucas and to Parkview and Coach Brad Bolding for representing Little Rock well and earning state titles!

Emprende Kicks Off

The second year of our successful "Emprende" program for small businesses started last week with 40 participants.

Emprende is a pathway of the City’s BUILD Academy. that offers Little Rock’s Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs an eight-week series of free classes on establishing, operating, and growing a business. The only program of its kind in the city, Emprende is cohort-based and comprehensive, providing participants with the necessary knowledge, resources, and connections to ensure that our Spanish-speaking community is fully included in—and contributing to—Little Rock’s economy. 

The program runs through March 16. 

The Week Ahead

-The City's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is hosting an Equity Labs Neighborhood Mixer Saturday, Jan. 28, from 12:30-4:45 pm at the Mosaic Church, 6221 Col. Glenn Road, This program will include lunch, panels on youth perspectives and programs, information about the City’s minority business development programs, and dialogue with community members from neighborhoods across the city. Come on out for an engaging afternoon and bring a friend. Click here to let us know you’re coming.

-The Department of Community Programs hosts a Pre-Bid Seminar on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 10 a.m. to help connect individuals or businesses with grant opportunities available through the City. Participants are encouraged to attend in order to learn how to apply for up to $25,000 to implement innovative community ideas. The seminar is at Mosaic Church, 6221 Col. Glenn Road. Register here.

-There is no Board of Directors meeting this week. The next Board meeting is Jan. 31 at 4 p.m.