Webb announces bid for District 4 board seat
Dudley Webb III has announced his candidacy for the District 4 position on the Hot Springs Board of Directors. The seat is currently held by Director Larry Williams, who is a candidate for State land commissioner.
Webb is a teacher for the Hot Springs School District who was the 2017 Hot Springs Teacher of the year. For HSSD, Webb has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Superintendent’s Council, Relay for Life, Student Council sponsor, Class Dojo Mentor, Henderson State Mentor Teacher, and Trojan Trot Color Run.
Webb is a board member for the Professional Licensure Standards Board of Arkansas as a representative of Arkansas State Teachers Association where he also serves on an evidentiary hearing panel as well as a subcommittee for Higher Education. He also was a member of Teacher Leaders Advisory Group for the state of Arkansas in the 2017-2018 school year, when, along with the other 29 members representing the state, he developed criterion for the educator career continuum. TLAG members including Webb held regular meetings with Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key and attended a special luncheon at the governor’s mansion with Gov. Asa Hutchinson, all to help drive positive direction for teacher pay rates in Arkansas as well as teacher retention plans and necessary and unnecessary job load requirements.
In Hot Springs, Webb has served as a facilitator for the Ouachita Children’s Center summer outreach program, founder of the Building Bridges Program for the Garland County Juvenile Drug Court, and literacy and math facilitator for YMCA Power Scholars Program in 2016-2017. He is vice chair of the Hot Springs Parks and Trails Advisory Committee, where he has served as a member since 2015.
“I believe the greatest attribute I have is my ability to make a positive impact in other people’s lives,” Webb said. “Since the start of this campaign and even in prior years, I’ve taken extreme pride and honor in conversations, interactions, and working relationships with residents of District 4 and throughout the city of Hot Springs. It gives me great pleasure and dignity to know that I’ll be in a position to not only uncover and solve city issues but also determine what the individual needs are in District 4 all in an effort to bring forth a positive approach to reaching a solution that brings happiness to the residents here.”
Webb said he feels streamlining commercial and residential development policies, reducing crime rates, helping bridge relations between the city and county, enhancing city government transparency, feasible solutions for water, maintaining a cooperative and collaborative city board atmosphere, and ensuring continued support for education are issues of demand for the city of Hot Springs. On top of these issues of demand, Webb said it is important to continue to focus on areas such as tourism, local business support, and investment opportunities at the old Majestic Hotel location.
“I am very serious in approaching all of these issues, and all hold equal importance. However, one area I plan to jump right on is the planning and implementation of programs targeting the reduction of crime rates here in Hot Springs. I am familiar with Uniform Crime Reports and will use this data as a driving force to present proposals in a working relationship with the city police. I believe it is past time to send a clear message to those committing crime in this great city, and that message is simple: Hot Springs will no longer accept criminal activity of any kind. I want the citizens of Hot Springs to feel safe in their homes and not have to worry or be concerned with the threat of crime,” he said.
Webb has a bachelor’s degree in criminology and sociology. He also has a master’s degree in public administration and a master’s degree in teaching. He currently is working on a master’s degree in educational leadership with plans to be in educational administration.
He, along with his two children, Annabelle and Dudley IV, are members of Hot Springs Baptist Church. Webb can be reached by calling 501-285-5467 or by emailing dudleywebb4citydirectorhs@gmail.com.