Little Rock notebook

Wrather named interim HR head

Pamela Wrather has been named interim chief people officer for the city of Little Rock, according to city spokesman Aaron Sadler.

She replaces Stacey Witherell as head of the city’s Human Resources Department. Witherell’s last day in the office was May 26, according to Sadler.

Wrather previously served as a classification manager.

Library raises cash for legal challenge

The Central Arkansas Library System has raised almost $25,000 in donations to cover legal fees associated with a legal challenge to Act 372, a new law on library materials, Executive Director Nate Coulter wrote in a report prepared for a library system board meeting Thursday.

“Our goal is $30,000,” he wrote.

The library system’s affiliated nonprofit known as the CALS Foundation “has voted to fill the gap with a grant, if needed, but so far that hasn’t been necessary since donations are flowing steadily,” Coulter wrote.

During the meeting, Jo Spencer, the library system’s director of finance, said in response to a question from board member Alexis Sims that the donations are being received by the foundation. The foundation will make a grant to the library system to reimburse the library system for its legal expenses, Spencer said.

The lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of two provisions of the new law was filed June 2 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. The Central Arkansas Library System is one of more than a dozen entities and individuals that signed onto the complaint as plaintiffs.

Library board gets update on property

Members of the Central Arkansas Library System at a meeting on Thursday received an update from Executive Director Nate Coulter regarding plans to offload a property in the Hillcrest neighborhood.

The library system purchased the property known as Hillcrest Hall, located at 1501 Kavanaugh Boulevard, from a garden club organization in 2013, but since then, it has proved to be expensive to own and difficult to operate as a programming venue, according to a previous written report by Coulter.

Coulter on Thursday recalled for the board that he told representatives of the Hillcrest Residents Association recently that the library system would not simply accept the highest offer for the property but would try to “find the right fit” for the library system as well as the neighborhood.

In a written report prepared for Thursday’s meeting, Coulter said the property had been appraised at $560,000. Three purchase offers have been received even though the hall has not been formally listed, Coulter wrote.

“For a variety of reasons, we did not think any of these offers warranted a response or a request of the board for authority to accept,” he wrote. “We need to get a broker in place but at this juncture do not yet have one to recommend for listing Hillcrest Hall.”