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Mayor outlines Maumelle’s ‘Maumelle Mile,’ trail grants and $3.1M for training facility in State of the City
Summary
Maumelle’s mayor highlighted several projects — Milwood Station food‑truck park and a connected 'Maumelle Mile,' trail grants including $500,000 for Lake Willistine work, and a $3.1 million allocation for a joint police‑fire training facility — and said the city is improving internal controls and communications.
The Mayor delivered the State of the City on Feb. 17, laying out a three‑part agenda to strengthen places that bring residents together, shore up city infrastructure and modernize government operations.
The Mayor said Milwood Station, a food‑truck park and events venue on the site of the city’s original police and fire station, will open March 13 with five full‑time food trucks committed. The site will link to a new bike and pedestrian trail that connects to the Center on the Lake, Lake Willistine and nearby neighborhoods — a connectivity package the mayor referred to as the 'Maumelle Mile.'
The mayor highlighted trail investments at Lake Willistine, saying the city has begun upgrading trail segments and has secured a $500,000 grant with a local match to update additional sections. He also reported a $335,000 Metro Plan grant to move a fully engineered Woodland Trail extension (Edgewood Drive to ODM Boulevard) into construction, and $315,000 to design a future trail through White Oak Bayou natural areas. The mayor’s remarks included a reference to larger natural‑area grant funding that is unclear in the transcript record (the spoken figure appears as “$2.8 $8 million” and could not be verified from the meeting text).
On public safety and capital planning, the mayor said the council has set aside $3.1 million toward phase one of a joint police and fire training facility so first responders can train locally rather than travel to other cities.
The mayor emphasized operational improvements in city government: strengthened financial controls, clarified purchasing and contract practices, decentralization of some contract management, and modernization of communications. He noted Maumelle’s GIS program earned national recognition in 2025 and said the city will roll parks and police information onto a redesigned city website and begin a mailed quarterly publication and monthly email newsletter to improve public engagement.
“The vision is clear. The work is underway, and the bar is rising,” the Mayor said.Citing completed, underway and planned projects, the mayor framed the plan as coordinated steps to preserve Maumelle’s character while preparing for future growth.
What’s next: Several projects are moving into engineering, grant execution or voter consideration (the Lake Valencia boardwalk replacement has been included in a bond proposal). Formal permitting, funding draws and voter decisions were described as the next procedural steps for those projects.
