Little Rock Parks unveils redesigned website and online pavilion reservations

Graham Grama, the department’s marketing and data coordinator, showed commissioners a redesigned Little Rock city website and the parks page during the commission’s February meeting, saying, “This is live.” The site uses a new WordPress content-management platform intended to make routine updates easier and centralize commission-related materials such as bylaws, meeting minutes and recordings.

Grama demonstrated the parks’ pavilion reservation workflow on ActiveNet, explaining that residents can submit requests online and will receive an initial pending confirmation email. Final permits will be issued by staff following a short approval check to avoid approving bookings during closures or emergencies. Grama told commissioners the reservation system is live for submissions but pavilion use will not open until April 1, when bookings will be honored for the season.

Commissioners asked about user experience, notifications and fees; Grama said users receive a permit and an email once staff approves the request, and staff will follow up with fee information and payment instructions. Commissioners also asked whether the contracted social-media specialist would support website maintenance; department leadership said the social-media contractor will focus on content and not on site engineering or CMS administration.

The demonstration also included examples of improved community-center pages and a plan to fix links that did not transfer during the platform migration. Staff requested commissioners and residents report broken or missing pages so they can be corrected as the site rollout continues.