Unity next NLR mayor’s biggest challenge, says ex-lawmaker Steele

The third in a series of articles looking at candidates running for the North Little Rock mayor’s position in the Nov. 3 general election.

Tracy Steele has a lot on his resume already, having served as a special assistant to Gov. Bill Clinton and as a former state senator and state representative, but he wants to add a mayor’s title.

Steele, director of the Arkansas Health Service Permit Agency and a member of the North Little Rock School Board, is among four candidates vying to replace Joe Smith as North Little Rock’s mayor.

Smith isn’t seeking reelection after serving two terms as mayor. The North Little Rock mayor’s salary is $128,220.27 annually, and it is a four-year term.

The other three candidates are Terry Hartwick, director of North Little Rock’s Park and Recreation Department; Debi Ross, a North Little Rock City Council member who represents Ward 1; and Alice Kunce, a teacher at Dunbar Middle School in the Little Rock School District.

This is Steele’s second run for mayor of North Little Rock. He ran in 2012 and led a field of four on election night before losing to Smith in a runoff.

Steele, 56, is the former executive director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and was elected Senate majority leader of the 86th General Assembly, becoming the first Black man elected to the position.

“I think my experience separates me from everybody else,” said Steele, who also has served as president of North Little Rock’s School Board. “I have the passion and the ability to help people.”

Steele said his goal as mayor would be to continue to build on the success the city has experienced, but he said he also wants to focus on neglected areas of the city. He said some older communities such as Rose City, Glenview and Dixie have been forgotten.

“I want to focus on the entire city, and have the ar

eas that have been successful help the ones that haven’t received the attention they deserve,” he said.

Bringing the city together is the biggest challenge the next mayor will face, Steele said.

“We need to start celebrating and embracing diversity,” he said. “Whether it’s economics or race, we got to bring the city together. Our thing is that there is one North Little Rock.”

Steele said his first task as mayor would be to improve customer and community services within the city. He said he would work closely with city employees to develop and deliver better services.

He said his time on the School Board also has given him the ability to connect with young people, and he wants the opportunity to promote young adults and their careers.

In a news release announcing his candidacy for mayor, Steele said he wanted to become North Little Rock’s first “education mayor,” adding that the city and its education community should work more closely together.

Steele is in his second three-year term as a member of the School Board and touted his experience with the district. He said the district doesn’t just serve as a place for young people to get an education, but also as an economic engine for the city.

“It’s one of the city’s largest employers, with over 1,400 who work for the school district,” Steele said. “We have people move to our city to send their kids to the North Little Rock School District. That’s education, but it’s also economic development.”

He said he also wants to continue downtown development.

“I want to make the downtown area more attractive to small businesses,” he said. “I want to incentivize more opportunities for mom and pop [businesses] to come to our city.”

Steele said he also is interested in finding a use for the Ole Main High School building, which is vacant.

North Little Rock High School, or Ole Main, was constructed in 1928 and completed in 1930, according to Sandra Taylor Smith, director of the North Little Rock History Commission. Little Rock architect George R. Mann of the Peterson, William, Mann, Wanger & King firm designed the brick-and-concrete building.

In 2012, North Little Rock residents voted to approve the $265 million construction project that led to the construction of a new high school that houses students in grades nine through 12.

High school students left Ole Main in 2015, and its doors eventually were closed to the public.

While serving as North Little Rock’s School Board president, Steele said he would like to see the school’s administration occupy the first two floors of Ole Main, but he wanted it to be more than just an administrative building. He envisions a banquet hall that could be used for high school reunions and other events along with a museum.

“The renovation of Ole Main has been one of my top priorities and will continue to be something I support,” Steele said.

Steele said two things he wants voters to consider on election night are passion and experience.

“For those people that want change and want to move forward, I am by far the best candidate to lead our city,” he said. “If you look at our neighbors — including Maumelle, Cabot, Jacksonville, Conway and Little Rock — they all have new mayors, and they are all moving their city forward.”