Mayor Overman in a photo from a campaign flyer

The Arkansas Municipal League is having the 2014 convention and celebrating its 80th anniversary this week here in Little Rock.  The first meeting took place in 1934 at the Hotel Marion.

On Friday, Mayor Mark Stodola will become the sixth Little Rock city official to be president of the Arkansas Municipal League.

Each day this week will feature a look at a previous Little Rock leader who led AML.

Mayor Richard “R. E.” Overman, was the third president of the Arkansas Municipal League serving in 1937.  While he was AML president, he started his second two year term as Little Rock Mayor.

First elected in April 1935, he was re-elected in April 1937.  Mayor Overman led efforts to create the first public water utility in Little Rock and to upgrade the wastewater system.  He also worked with the various New Deal programs to build up the city’s infrastructure.  In November 1936, he asked the City Council to call a special election for January 1937 to pass the bonds to allow for the construction of a new municipal auditorium. That initiative was passed by the voters.  Mayor Overman spent much of his last two years in office dealing with the water, wastewater and auditorium projects.

Mayor Overman was defeated in a bid for a third term in 1939.  He continued to live in Little Rock until his death in April 1947.