Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
For the past year, North Little Rock has had its own Grover Cleveland of sorts in Mayor Terry Hartwick. But unlike Cleveland, who went four years between terms, Hartwick waited 32 years before running again.
Hartwick's return to City Hall came as the world was reckoning with covid-19, and Arkansas, in particular, was in the worst of the pandemic.
[NEWSLETTER: Sign up for the Week in North Little Rock email at arkansasonline.com/emails/]
Hospitals across the state were near capacity, and state regulations limited operating hours and capacity of restaurants and bars. Many people avoided eating out altogether because covid cases were high in January 2021 and vaccines weren't yet available to most.
But months later, covid cases dropped, vaccines became widely available and North Little Rock received $16.8 million in federal stimulus funds.
Two weeks ago, the city opened a pump track for mountain bikers at Big Rock Quarry Park thanks to $400,000 in federal stimulus. Hartwick said Friday that he also has a handshake agreement with Baptist Health to open a health clinic in the Rose City area, which also would be funded by federal stimulus money.
With the help of federal dollars, Hartwick also has hired a homeless outreach coordinator, purchased new trash trucks for the city's sanitation department and bought a $5 million office that will become the workspace for about 150 city employees.
But with or without federal help, Hartwick said he isn't done. In May, the city bought the Greyhound bus station, clearing up available land along the city's waterfront. He said he hopes the space can be used to build a hotel with a large conference center and wants to annex land, expanding the city's limits to the Lonoke County line.
Hartwick said he envisions turning the pump track at Big Rock Quarry Park into a multimillion-dollar mountain biking facility. He said he has other projects in mind too, and plans to ask for a referendum to keep the city's half-cent sales tax increase from lapsing.
Some of Hartwick's colleagues and friends describe him as a people person, hyper and a micro-manager.
"Terry has so much energy and, you know, he gets up every morning and says, 'What are we going to do to make something happen today?'" said former Mayor Joe Smith, who tapped Hartwick as director of Parks and Recreation.
Even at 73, Hartwick said he loves the retail politics that have propelled many politicians' careers. He's adamant about answering every call he can that comes into City Hall and doesn't mind the complaints from angry residents.
"I like seeing the problem and saying let's go get it fixed," Hartwick said.
In his office, he has a framed letter from President Bill Clinton congratulating him on his campaign victory. Hartwick said he goes way back with Clinton. His first term as mayor overlapped with Clinton's tenure as governor, and Hartwick said at one time he thought he might succeed Clinton as governor.
But in 1988 Hartwick lost reelection after scandals in his public and personal life. During his first term as mayor, Hartwick was accused of accepting gifts from companies that had done business with the city. An ethics investigation concluded that Hartwick did not violate the law.
Also during his first term, he had a publicized relationship with a student at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and a divorce that followed. In 1988, he lost his reelection bid to Patrick Henry Hays in the Democratic primary.
"I thought I was a very popular mayor," Hartwick said. "I was 36 years old, things changed. I went through some stuff."
Before his current term, Hartwick worked as the city's director of parks and recreation and before that led the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.
Hartwick said he didn't plan to run again but friends pushed him to, with one telling him, "I'm tired of this crap. Either you're running or you're not running."
"I sort of looked around and said, it looks like we're running for mayor," Hartwick said.
Hartwick said he is more patient now, analogizing his previous term to sport shooting, saying he would just aim and fire. Now he "thinks about it a little bit longer" before he shoots.
The city has changed in a lot of ways in the 32 years since he was last mayor. It is home to an arena and a Double AA minor-league baseball stadium. The city's downtown has grown to become a local hub for theater, boutique shops, bars and restaurants.
But some of its old neighborhoods such as Rose City, where Hartwick grew up, continue to suffer from high crime rates, poverty and lack of access to grocery stores.
Hartwick took over from Smith, his longtime friend, at the beginning of January 2021 after a hard-fought election campaign where Hartwick finished second to former state Sen. Tracy Steele in the initial election but won in a runoff.
Steele bested Hartwick by 3,170 votes in the November 2020 election but failed to get more than 50% of the vote, triggering the runoff, which Hartwick won.
With it only about a year in, Steele said it was hard for him to rate Hartwick's job performance so far.
Steele praised his former rival on the selection of Patrick Thessing as police chief, calling it "probably the best decision I'm aware of that the mayor had made." But Steele said the city is still divided by race and class, and that Hartwick and other city leaders have neglected those communities.
Steele suggested that Hartwick needs to make an effort to heal racial divisions in North Little Rock and diversify the city's Police Department.
"The people in these areas are there because they want to be there," he said. "I think there has been a desire for people to move back to communities where they are from, where they grew up, but they want to move back to a community that's safe. They want to move back to a community that has good infrastructure and good economic development."
Linda Robinson, who represents Ward 2 on the City Council, which includes Rose City, pushed back against the idea that parts of the east side are neglected.
Robinson gave the mayor high marks on his job performance, citing Hartwick's promise to set up a pandemic office in the city and assigning a staff member to covid-19 issues.
But Sonya Irving, a longtime resident of Rose City, said the city's pandemic office has come up short of what Hartwick promised during his campaign because it is not a full-time position.
"There's literally two North Little Rocks," said Irving, a longtime resident of Rose City who was a volunteer on Steele's campaign. "There's the top of the hill, and there's the bottom of the hill. I would like to see the bottom of the hill -- other than Main Street -- get some attention."
Hartwick acknowledged the issues facing the neighborhood, saying the health clinic he promised to deliver and economic development would help turn around the neighborhood.
He said he's back in the mayor's office because he believes in politics and he likes being mayor. And if you need another reason, Hartwick asks a simple question.
Who keeps the streets clean and the lights on?
"Guess who does that? It's called politicians," Hartwick said. "And in our local level, I have more of an effect on their life than a senator, a congressman or even the president of the United States."