Bell Buckle, Tenn., doesn’t sound like the launching pad for the career path of a CEO for the world’s largest protein company and one of Arkansas’ largest employers.

However, it provided the foundation for a storied career for Tyson Foods CEO Donnie Smith, 54, who started with the Springdale-based meat giant in 1980 when he was fresh out of college.

“I was a broiler service man calling on growers and trying to help them do a good job growing chickens,” Smith recalls.

Bell Buckle is smack-dab in the middle of Tennessee. It boasts a population today of 500 residents and is known for its annual RC Cola and Moon Pie festival. The land surrounding the town – as its name might suggest – is fertile farm and pasture land with a lot of activity in the cattle and poultry business.

The lessons learned by Smith in tiny Bell Buckle proved instrumental for guiding his career to the top post of Tyson Foods, a dominant worldwide brand and business founded three generations ago by the legendary John Tyson.

GETTING TO TYSON FOODS
A pre-vet major at the University of Tennessee, Smith figured out by his sophomore year that he ought to consider a different pursuit. Guided by his college advisor, a poultry science extension service representative, Smith pivoted to a degree in animal science.
His advisor noted that Tyson Foods had a complex in Shelbyville, Tenn., about an hour-and-a-half from where Smith grew up.

“I started working them really hard my last year of school,” Smith said.

He graduated from UT on Dec. 12, 1980; married his wife, Terry, on Dec. 20; and started working for Tyson Foods on Dec, 28. It’s been that kind of pace for Smith’s entire career.

After a few years as a broiler service rep, Smith was promoted to feed mill manager in Shelbyville before then-CEO Leland Tollett called Smith to Tyson’s headquarters in Springdale in 1987 to work with the company’s grain purchasing group. Smith mastered the challenge and by the mid-1990’s he was in charge of additional purchasing groups – not just grain feed, but bags, boxes, food ingredients, maintenance items, and more.

In 2008, Smith was asked to take another role in Tyson’s retail group working with the poultry and prepared foods divisions – two of Tyson’s four major business silos.

By 2009 – after his early mentor Leland Tollett returned for an interim CEO stint – Smith’s broad and balanced skills made him a natural selection for the role he has today. Smith, however, says he really didn’t see it coming.

TURNING IT AROUND

It won’t take 10 seconds into a conversation with Smith to recognize his enthusiasm and animation, not to mention his endearing Tennessee twang. Throughout our talk, Smith is self-deprecating and humble, quick to credit his management team and employees, but full of zest for the subjects at hand.

High-energy is another adjective that leaps to mind. He is intense in his personal engagement with others. As we walk briskly through the corporate headquarters on a tour, Smith interacts often with employees in the hallways, kitchen areas, and research and development division.

The Springdale headquarters has a large volume of masterpiece art adorning its hallways. A whimsical statue of a chicken-cow – an artist’s rendition of a morphed animal with a chicken’s comb, beak and tail attached to a cow’s body – would make the perfect prop for a hilarious cover photo, especially if Smith would agree to sit on top of it and wave like Bronco Billy.

“I’ll do it,” Smith says after I suggest the shot. We have a good laugh as his PR handlers wisely encourage us to “move along” to the next destination.

When Smith took over as CEO in late-2009, Tyson Foods was struggling – like most businesses – from the recession that reshaped the American and world business landscape. Tyson finished that year with a $547 million net loss. Its debt was massive and it had only invested $368 million in capital expenditures, a significant drop-off from the previous year.

CULTURE FOCUS
Smith says a focus on two primary areas helped the company move forward since the bumpy years when he inherited the CEO mantle. Number one was culture.

“I think creating a culture where people are willing to take some risks – not crazy risks, but reasonable, controlled risks – not afraid to fail, knowing that we’ve got to try different things, we’ve got to try to innovate … we knew we had to create a culture where people know we care about them, and they were willing to take a chance and try something new,” Smith said.

As an example, he points to a time in 2009 when light truck weights were eating into the profitability of the company’s poultry business. He says Tyson was averaging about 24,000 lbs. a truck. Smith and his management team made the decision to enlist ideas from the customer service representatives who were on the ground dealing with the light truck weight issue. They were asked how to improve transportation efficiency, says Smith, and in return ideas ranging from shifting order patterns to re-working production plant operations emerged.

“Now we average close to 34,000 lbs. a load in that business,” Smith notes. “The bosses didn’t do that. It was the bosses turning the people loose.”

He underscores that listening to clients and customers and responding with solutions has been a part of the culture, too.

“I think God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, so we try to shut up and listen,” he jokes. “It’s hard to tell through this interview because I’m talking like a machine gun.”

CONTROLLING COSTS
The other half of the equation leading to Tyson’s turnaround financial performance centers on a commitment made in 2010 when Smith was in his first full year as CEO. He said there was broad consensus that a realignment of the company’s cost and capital structures had to be brought in line.

“I remember not long after they put me in this job, I brought the senior team together and said okay we’re going to have our first strategy talk. And here’s our strategy: we’re not going to talk about strategy for at least a year. We don’t need a strategy. We need to fix this business. Forget about grandiose ideas about who we could be in five years because if we don’t fix this thing, there ain’t going to be five years. Just go get good at what we do,” Smith told the troops.

He emphasized that the turnaround investments and changes he’s helped guide have little to do with controlling grain and feed costs related to the beef, poultry and pork industries. As important as they are, Smith says Tyson Foods has spent the last four years fixing its internal operations in order to become more efficient and profitable.

“I’m talking about things that we had complete control over that we just weren’t focusing on at the time,” said Smith, who highlighted changes in line efficiencies, labor resources, plant spending, and yields as examples.

In four years, Tyson Foods has shaved more than a billion dollars worth of debt from its balance sheet and lowered its debt-to-capitalization ratio from 44% in 2009 to 27.9% in 2013.

Sales have climbed nearly 29% higher during that time and net income has reversed from that $547 million loss in 2009 to a $778 million profit in 2013. Its stock price has climbed from a low of $4.40 per share at one point in 2009 to a high last year of $31.83. It has approached $40 per share so far in 2014.

“It’s been about getting back to the fundamental basics of blocking and tackling of running a good business,” said Smith, who is also quick to point out that he is undeserving of any individual accolades for the improvements.

“I don’t think any one person can ever get credit for what a team or group of people accomplishes,” he said.

Wal-Mart Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said Tuesday (March 11) that the retailer failed in three of its five main operating objectives last year — sales growth, leveraging its expenses and operating income growth. And while he promised the retailer will do more to leverage expenses this year, Holley said the biggest focus from its U.S., Sam’s Club and International segments will be to improve dismal same-store sales.

Holley, speaking at the Bank of America Consumer and Retail Conference in New York, said sales have rebounded strongly in recent weeks now that the snow is melting and the sun is shining.

Wal-Mart has forecast flat comp store sales for the 13-week period ending May 2, after citing sluggish January traffic because of weather-related store closures and SNAP (food stamp payment) reductions, which mean less money to spend for roughly 20% of the retailer’s shopper base.

He said Wal-Mart’s agenda this year is highly focused on accelerating its small format and linking them up with expanded digital and mobile capabilities. These two initiatives comprise more than half of the company’s $12.4 billion in capital expenditures for the fiscal year.

He said expanding new brand offerings is also key in driving shopper satisfaction and ultimately traffic and sales. Wal-Mart added several brands last year including active wear clothing from Avia and Russell, and Calphalon and Faberware cookware. Holley said more brands are coming and the retailer will only use private label to fill gaps in value within certain categories.

HEADWINDS, HEALTH CARE
While Holley is optimistic this year will be more profitable than last, he did mention several headwinds the retailer is likely to face, with the primary hits being foreign currency fluctuations and added costs for ongoing compliance issues.

Oddly enough, Holley said Wal-Mart was taken by surprise that more than 100,000 additional employees signed up for health care under the Affordable Care Act. He said that was an unexpected cost increase of $300 million this year.

When Analysts asked Holley why Wal-Mart was surprised didn’t anticipate the expense, he said Wal-Mart is not aware of every employee’s situation and what other insurance they may or may not have outside the plan that Wal-Mart offers.

Wal-Mart has said it financially performs better in times of slight inflation as opposed to deflationary climates. Holley said deflationary pressures could hurt sales revenue in 2014. That will likely remain true in certain competitive categories such as electronics or laundry detergent, but food and fuel inflation is on the rise.

A new report from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations shows the food price index rose sharply in February driven rising commodity prices across the globe. The index, based on the prices of a basket of internationally-traded food commodities, saw price upticks in all commodity groups, with the exception of meat, which fell marginally. The largest increases since January have been seen in sugar (6.2%) and oils (4.9%), followed by cereals (+3.6%) and dairy (+2.9%).

Analyst said the higher commodity costs take about six months to reach the consumer, except for meat and dairy, which is passed to the market within two weeks.

GROWTH OPPORTUNITY
Holley said Wal-Mart is in a strong financial position to invest in future growth which will occur at the “intersection of physical and e-commerce.” He said the small format acceleration married to improving e-commerce and digital services is the winning prescription. 

Retail analysts warn that the value shopping channel is already a crowded space, with Amazon and other online retailers taking market share from big box, small box and warehouse clubs.

That said, Holley told the group that there was still room for hundreds, if not thousands more small format Wal-Mart stores. He added that the small formats offer fuel and pharmacy along with an in-store kiosk that allows shoppers to order any product Wal-Mart offers elsewhere. The tests underway in home delivery, storage lockers and depot pick-up locations are going well, according to Holley.

“You are going to see a lot more of these pick-up stations built here in the U.S.,” Holley said.

Commuters using Interstate 540 in Fort Smith and Van Buren should prepare for lane shifts starting Wednesday (March 12), a sign that the more than $78 million rehabilitation project is inching closer to completion later this summer.

According to District 4 Engineer Chad Adams of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, project construction manager Kiewit Corporation will begin the process of moving northbound traffic to the outside, northbound lane of the interstate between Rogers Avenue and the I-40/I-540 interchange on that day. But just because northbound traffic is moving back to the northbound lanes does not mean the project is done, he said.

"I would say it is still on schedule," he said. "That is a statement I really want to get out there. Switching traffic doesn't mean ... we're not a week or two from opening the (remaining closed traffic) lanes. But we're getting closer."

He equated the transition to home construction.

"It's like when you see a house being built and you see walls go up and the roof go up. You (still) have a couple more months of inside work. So yeah, there's progress, but there's still stuff that has to be done before we can open it up to two lanes both directions. But there is good news. It's a positive thing."

Adams said the work that still needs to be completed will require more work in the median, thus the requirement that traffic patterns adjust. The work includes installing cable barriers in the median to prevent crossover accidents, as well as installing guard rails and adding an additional layer of asphalt to the southbound lanes.

With the movement of traffic and the transition of workers to the median, drivers will notice construction workers more often than before, Adams said.

"Right now, people have been separated from the workers," he said. "Now (the workers) are going to be in the middle. Traffic's going to be on the outside lanes of both directions. Contractors will be somewhat more exposed to the traffic. So we ask people to be aware and on the lookout for those things. Workers will be in a different place then they are used to seeing them. (Drivers should) consider that they are coming from different places, too. You're always used to them coming from the right side, where now they'll be coming from the middle."

The risk to workers and drivers could increase due to the lack of concrete barriers separating the two, though he said drivers should actually find the lanes roomier than before, allowing them to have a shoulder to use should an accident occur or a car break down, an option that has not been available since construction started in late January 2013.

Having the wider lanes, Adams said travel times should be reduced between the region's two largest cities.

"(Instead of a concrete barrier), the drums are set up to block the other lane. Now there is a way to get vehicles around or out of the way. It will feel wider. People will feel like they have more room. They'll move more quickly. With that barrier wall, people pucker up and slow down. People will now drive closer to the speed limit."

The original completion of Summer 2014 still appears to be on track, Adams said, even in spite of winter weather.

While weather has not slowed the project, other unforeseen obstacles have slowed the project slightly.

"It's just things that you encounter when you get into the construction. There was a column that was, I believe, on the bridge for Highway 64 (in Van Buren). One of the columns, there was a bald area where concrete popped out. We had to repair that," he said, adding that other bridge decks had to be repaired at the I-40/I-540 interchange.

"The bridge is taking more traffic than it's used to. And sort of weak areas are exposed quickly then. So we've made arrangements to get those repaired while the bridges are closed to traffic. It's just somewhat routine things that you expect to happen when you go through a project."

Adams said the project, which officially kicked off Jan. 28 of last year, may be a nuisance to many commuters, but he said the project is being completed in double the time most other projects of comparable size would be due to a special bidding process, emphasizing project completion by mid-Summer 2014.

"The project had what we called A+C Bidding. It's basically a method for us to consider time and the cost — road user costs — that are in the way when we are doing construction. We let the contractor tell us how fast they think they can do it. It's considered in the contract. Kiewit bid 153 working days. I don't remember how many other bidders there were, but every other bidder bid 300 working days. So you're talking about half the time (compared to what) the other contractors will do."

Fort Smith city directors spent much of a noon Board of Directors study session debating and discussing what they would like to see a board governance policy. The idea of a board governance policy was originally proposed by City Director Pam Weber during a Board retreat in 2013.

According to City Administrator Ray Gosack, the adoption of a "board governance policy provides for transparent, responsive, and accountable representation of the public," he said in a memo to the Board. "It embodies the principles and procedures that help the board and staff function effectively."

But the proposed policy, which in its draft form is 17 pages long, went too far according to Weber and some other directors who expressed interest in having a more general governance policy that would introduce new city directors to their work on the Board rather than detailing with precision what they are allowed and not allowed to do as city directors.

City Director André Good said he felt the proposed policy drafted by city staff was far too strict.

"Some of these restrictions, they seem to be ... some of these policies seem to be pretty restrictive in what we can and what we cannot do, especially where on the mandate to work professionally, work with integrity and work with the best interest of our citizens."

He pointed specifically to section 7.1 on page seven of the document, which deals with structured contact between the Board and the community, as well as 12.1 on page 10, which says all requests for a city representative at "ceremonial events will be handled by the Mayor's office."

Good said the language made it appear as though all requests for the directors to appear at any community function would have to go through the Mayor instead of just being allowed to determine their own schedule. Mayor Sandy Sanders said he viewed the verbiage as dealing more with individuals who will represent the city at conventions and other events.

With more discussion, Weber spoke up and explained what it was that she wanted in her request for a governance policy.

"What I was really wanting was something just for a new board member, (a brochure) or a pamphlet that when you got on the Board you could have something you could refer to — these are my responsibilities, these are my duties, this is who I contact with questions. It was more of that type of thing. This feels a bit more restrictive than we talked about in the retreat."

City Director Keith Lau said he didn't understand why other directors were troubled by the document, adding that as a policy position it was something he and other Board members could choose to disregard since it was not an ordinance or law, adding that a detailed document such as the draft would allow him to know in much greater detail what his role as a director was rather than bugging Gosack and administrative staff with questions as they came up.

After much discussion, the Board asked Gosack to prepare a shorter document no more than four pages that the Board could compare with the longer document at its May brainstorming session. Suggestions from Board members for the document will be submitted to Gosack no later than March 31.

In other business, Finance Director Kara Bushkuhl addressed the method for balancing the city's budget at the request of the Board following several contentious budget meetings during the latter part of 2013, which saw Lau questioning the city's ability to proclaim a balanced budget when using unused expenses from the previous year to balance the next year's budget.

"The city has allocated current revenues plus the prior year balance in each operating fund as a means for providing total resources available for appropriation in each fund," she wrote in a memo to the Board. "This is a usual practice in municipal budgeting. However, some municipalities restrict appropriations to the level of the current year revenues and do not include the prior year balance as a resource. This is termed as a structural balance."

As a result of not using the funds, she said the unused balances "would remain in (their) respective fund and are normally used for one-time expenditures or capital improvements if they exceed the reserve requirement."

She said moving to the structural balance method could result in less conservative revenue estimates and could lead departments to spend 100% of their appropriations regardless of need. She said it could also result in lost personnel during economic downturns at times when the public may seek additional services.

No action was taken on whether to change budgeting methods. The discussion was somewhat limited following the lengthy discussion of the Board governance policy. Bushkuhl is scheduled to address the Board during another study session in April, when the topic is likely to be discussed in greater detail.

The Fort Smith Planning Commission passed a set of planned zoning districts Tuesday (March 11), both of which faced opposition from residents in neighborhoods surrounding the proposed districts.

The PZDs, one located along Massard Road and another at the site of Fianna Hills Country Club, must still go before the Fort Smith Board of Directors for final approval on April 1.

The Fianna Hills PZD is necessary for developer Lance Beaty with Fort Smith-based FSM Redevelopment Partners to turn the aging country club into a four-story facility that will revitalize the property at a cost of about $20 million.

At issue for many in attendance were the guest suites to be included in the new facility. The suites, Beaty said, would only be available for use by members and their guests and would not be available for use by the general public.

Resident Jerry Rusnick asked specifically how such a rule, which is written into the PZD ordinance, would be enforced. According to Planning Director Wally Bailey, Beaty's application for the PZD included information stating that a governing body at the Fianna Hills Country Club would enforce such requirements, though he said should the PZD regulations not be followed, the city would have the option of pursuing legal action against Beaty's company after initial attempts to resolve the situation non-legally.

Sebastian County Justice of the Peace Danny Aldridge, whose home is the second home along Essex Drive leading away from the country club, said he did not want the PZD approved because of what it could do to his home value, as well as his contention that his view would be obstructed by the larger building. Aldridge also argued that permitted uses within the UDO could open the facility to other uses beyond what Beaty has proposed should the development ultimately fail.

"The PZD has many permitted uses that is spelled out and has a number that's conditional and some that are (not)," he said. "And it is dually noted that the country club and the golf course are permitted uses. But also in there, a permitted use that they've asked you to do is have a group home for a family and defined by the city's own people, that is a residence that can house up to eight mental or physical state custodial inmates. Now I do not want that kind of facility two doors down from my home. If that was in there as a conditional use, where it would have to come back to you, it would be different. But it's not. It's a permitted use."

Bailey addressed the issue, stating that "group homes" are permitted in all city residential zones, adding that the city is complying with federal law and the homes are not permitting the housing of criminal offenders but instead handicapped individuals.

While there was opposition to the PZD, with about half of the more than 50 in attendance raising their hands in opposition to the project, the other half of those in the room raised their hands in support of the project.

Resident John Higgin pointed out that if the PZD was not approved and FSM Redevelopment Partners is unable to move forward with the project, there is a chance the current owners could close the country club, leaving the golf course open to residential two zoning, which would permanently alter the golf course in a way he said was worse than any construction at the site of the current clubhouse.

Another resident, Champ Hinton, said he lives right next to the country club and was in favor of the development.

"I'm for these guys 100% and I totally understand what they're doing. I don't see how the city could put any objection to a $20 million facility that's going to be outstanding in the state run by a golf company that's a national organization that doesn't run anything but prestige courses," he said. "I think it will be a benefit to the city and I know it will be a benefit to Fianna Hills. And it will supply 75 to 100 jobs. That sure won't hurt. We need those in the city."

The commission approved the PZD in a vote of 9-0.

The other PZD approved Tuesday night included far less detail on the planned development to take place at 4401 Massard Road. The property, which is zoned for multi-family use, is proposed to be turned into an office and retail park.

According to property owner Cliff Cabaness, president and CEO of Trinity Multifamily, he has received a lot of interest from individuals more interested in the property for commercial use.

"Some high end medical and commercial (businesses) have made contact," he told The City Wire, though he added that no contracts have been signed for any construction on the property.

Many of the residents who spoke in opposition to the plan have said the noise of a commercial and office complex would disrupt the neighborhood north of the facility.

Resident Tim Post insisted that the Massard Road area was more residential than commercial. He was among a group of 42 residents who presented a petition to the commission asking that it restrict the types of businesses to be included businesses that he said would "not have any weekend or evening disturbance."

Restrictions included within the PZD include limiting building heights to no more than three stories to comply with Federal Aviation Administration regulations (the PZD is in the flight path of Fort Smith Regional Airport), making all buildings have a pitched roof with no visible equipment on the top of the facilities, allowing a buffer between any development and the neighborhood of a few dozen feet and limiting any convenience store development to the south of the PZD and making sure any lighting only bleeds onto Massard Road and not into the neighborhood adjacent to the site.

The commission passed the PZD with eight votes and one abstention.

Sparks Health System is again looking for a CEO following the resignation this week of Charles Stewart, himself the second CEO to resign from the hospital since May 2013.

In a statement to The City Wire, Sparks Director of Marketing and Communications Donna Bragg did not disclose details of the resignation of now-former CEO Charles Stewart from the hospital in Fort Smith and its sister facility, Summit Medical Center in Van Buren.

"Charles Stewart resigned from his position as CEO of Sparks Health System this week. We appreciate his contributions to our health system and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Asked about circumstances regarding the resignation, Bragg declined to provide specifics.

Stewart started at Sparks in September, replacing former CEO Gary Blan, who lead the two hospitals for less than three months before he resigned.

Blan was hired by Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates (HMA) as the Arkansas Market CEO on March 19, 2013. According to HMA, Blan stepped down in late May, with the announcement made public on May 23, 2013. Blan was picked to succeed Melody Trimble who was promoted to president of HMA's Southern and Western Group, which includes 26 hospitals in seven states. Trimble’s promotion was effective Jan. 1, 2013. The seven-state region is Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.

Prior to joining Sparks and Summit, Stewart had joined HMA's Poplar Bluff, Mo., hospital, overseeing the completion of a new $173 million HMA facility. His sudden resignation in Fort Smith comes as a surprise, especially considering comments he made when he first started at the two hospitals last year.

“Prior to that (Blan’s departure), Melody was here for a number of years. ... I plan to be here for a number of years. Most of the places I’ve been, I was there for several years,” Stewart said.

It is unknown whether the change in ownership for the hospitals made official early this year had any bearing on Stewart's decision to leave. The new owner, Community Health Systems, was almost double the size of HMA at the time of purchase. Its portfolio of hospitals includes four Northwest Arkansas facilities — Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, Northwest Medical Center-Springdale, Siloam Springs Regional Hospital and Willow Creek Women's Hospital in Johnson.

Bragg said the company has not named a new CEO, adding, "Our work to identify a new CEO will begin immediately, and it will include input from our Board of Trustees and medical staff leadership."

She detailed what she said were attributes those searching for a new CEO would seek in a candidate for the position, which is now open for the third time in a year.

"In our search for our next CEO, we will look for an experienced and motivated hospital leader who will help Sparks Regional Medical Center and Summit Medical Center continue in our commitment to serving the community with excellent health services."

During the time without a CEO, Bragg said the hospital would continue to provide a high level of care for patients in both hospitals.

"We appreciate the dedication of our physicians and employees through this transition as they continue to provide high-quality, compassionate care for our patients."

Sparks Health System includes Sparks Regional Medical Center, Sparks Clinic (an employed multi-specialty physician group), Sparks PremierCare physician-hospital organization, Sparks Home Health and the fully hospital-integrated Marvin Altman Fitness Center. Summit Medical Center is a fully accredited, 103-bed acute care hospital. Its parent company leases the Van Buren facility in which Summit Medical operates.

Shares of Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) was trading mid-day Wednesday at $37.62, down $1.03. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from a $51.29 high to a $36.52 low.

Real estate is a local business, but two global marketers Trulia and Zillow have been hard at it transforming aggregated local data into booming businesses and brands of their own. However, the national players aren’t always supported by the local industry.

Harold Crye, president of Memphis-based Crye-Leike Real Estate, recently backed away from providing Trulia and Zillow with listing information in the Memphis market. He said the firm will continue to evaluate its Jan. 28 decision over the next few months in terms of any pushback from its customers.

“I can tell you so far there has been a 99% approval rating in Memphis since we pulled the plug on Zillow and Truila — very little pushback,” Crye said. “Trulia has asked to meet with us on this issue, but it was postponed because of weather. We are supposed to meet later this month.”

He said for now there are no plans to cut the services in other markets while they evaluate the move in Memphis.

LISTING INACCURACIES
Crye said there are plenty of reasons to walk away from third party listing sites, and top of the list are the “glaring” inaccuracies.

“The information they provide is not clean, it’s not accurate and it’s not up-to-date. They have home listings on their sites that sold six months ago, sometimes a year ago. The listing price has been wrong on occasion and the estimated values are low in some cases or occasionally too high,” Crye said.

Trulia told The City Wire that it works with hundreds of brokers and multiple listing services to improve the accuracy of their listings.

“We are continuing to work with Crye-Leike in its other markets, to improve the accuracy of its listings on Trulia,” said Alon Chaver, vice president-industry services at Truila.

Chaver adds that firms like Crye-Leike can leverage the Trulia platform and the 35 million unique monthly visitors who are looking for homes and agents to deliver ever increasing value to their agents and the sellers they represent.

Zillow told The City Wire that accuracy and timeliness of listings are very important to the company.

“We work with MLSs, brokerages, agents and homeowners to get the most complete set of listings possible. We update listings every 15 minutes with new information we receive,” said Amanda Wooley, spokeswoman for Zillow.
 
Crye also doesn’t like that these platforms allow local real estate experts to be pushed aside by those willing to pay for exposure on third party sites. He said the listing real estate firm that gave them the data is scantly represented on these sites.

Dozens of firms from Minneapolis to Alabama have been walking away from Zillow and Trulia over the past 18 months, citing the inaccuracies and other concerns. One of the more vocal markets on this issue has been Austin, Texas. The Austin Board of Realtors recently announced that as of April 30, it will no longer distribute its members’ listings to third-party portals through the syndicator ListHub.

The Realtor board cited concerns about unethical business practices and inaccurate listing data on third-party sites. Agents who still want to use these sites can do so on their own.

Crye said he gave his Memphis agents that same option.

‘ZESTIMATE’ VALUE
One bone of contention among the agents surveyed for this story is Zilow’s zestimate.

“One of my agents had a client who asked that their listing be supplied to Zillow, the agent showed them the low zestimate value which was $20,000 below the list price of their home and the seller opted not to give Zillow the listing,” Crye said.

Nicky Dou, broker with Keller Williams in Bentonville, said the zestimate is “nonsense” as anyone can post home improvements to these sites, even if they are not made.

Zillow said the zestimate is calculated using an algorithm that looks at facts about the house itself from public records (square footage, beds/baths, tax assessments, last sale price of the home itself, timing of the sale) along with user-submitted data. Zillow encourages home owners to claim their home on Zillow and submit updated home facts, such as home additions or remodels.

Wooley said Zillow has undated information on 25 million homes. It calculates zestimate values three times a week and publishes accuracy statistics down to the county level on the site. Nationally, Zillow said it has a median error of 7%.

ENCROACHMENT
The Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors (NABOR) is aware of issues with Zillow and has discussed steps it can address regarding accuracy and encroachment concerns from third party sites. NABOR does give local MLS data to Zillow, Truila and other third party sites.

“As a board we have a set of rules that third party aggregators are supposed to sign. Zillow has never signed it. These rules deal with keeping the data we supply up to date. The next step for our board will be to enforce these rules from the third party sites. The ball will be in Zillow’s court,” said Doyle Yates, president elect for the NABOR.

He serves on the National Board of Realtors and said the industry trade group is prepared to fend off further encroachment. Yates said efforts are being made to beef up Realtor.com, which is the industry’s own national listing service.

“The only way we will be able to keep third party aggregators like Zillow at bay is have a more accurate alternative like Realtor.com where we can direct buyers and sellers,” Yates said.

He said the industry is cautious about courting Zillow, after seeing what happened to the travel agency sector with the rise of online sites Hotwire and Expedia. Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff cofounded Hotwire in 1999, sold it to Expedia in 2003 and helped form Zillow in 2005.

NECESSARY EVIL
Kevin King, broker with Weichert Realtors King Realty Group in Fort Smith, said the local board of Realtors voted to provide the multiple listing data to third party sites.

“We felt like getting the most exposure possible for our clients was the right thing to do. It comes at a cost to the agent, and broker but we felt the clients deserve the exposure,” King said.

Zillow and Trulia garner heavy traffic from around the globe as these companies aggregate local MLS data into a more international database. 

“The downside is that we are providing the data free of charge to these sites, who then profit by selling leads and exclusive access to any agent willing to pay the fees,” King said.

King agreed that the data on the site can be in accurate, and said that’s why there is still a need for local real estate professionals.

Jason Smith, broker for Crye-Leike in Fayetteville, uses Zillow and Trulia and pays handsomely to get the leads and exclusive access that Zillow provides to Premier Agents. He admits that data on the sites are often inaccurate, but said Zillow is the No. 1 most visited site for real estate listings and he believes getting the most exposure possible for his sellers.

“Buyers and sellers still need to deal with a local professional, even though they may start their search on a national site. I advertise on Zillow to get the leads and for me it’s well worth the money spent,” Smith said.

He received two leads Wednesday morning (March 12) and one of those came from an interested buyer for his own listing. Smith said if that potential buyer purchases that listing his commission will be $15,000, versus $7,500 if another agent finds the buyer.

King and Smith said using the third-party sites for added exposure is a necessary evil today as so many consumers crave information.

‘NO, THANK YOU’
Dou, a top selling agent at Keller Williams in Bentonville, says “No thank you,” to supplying Zillow or Truila her listing information. She cited issues with the zestimates and other inaccuracies that keep her from using these third-party sites.

“I personally do not like Trulia or Zillow. We try to educate our buyers where to search online and where not to search. Both of these are on my ‘no’ list,” Dou said. “I have had several listings that appear on both of these sites as rentals when they are actually only for sale. Scam artists have hacked in and posted these as rentals.”

Instead of giving away her listings to a third party, Dou and her husband Jerry have set up her own sites that are tied into the local MLS and use other technology applications. She said marketing properties is the name of the game in real estate sales, but that doesn’t mean you have to play ball with inaccurate sites like Zillow and Trulia.

Dou also utilizes YouTube, Facebook, Craigslist, ActiveRain, Pinterest, Real Estate Blogs and many other portals to get her listings in front of as many buyers as possible. 
As for national real estate sites, she said Realtor.com is not too bad as it is usually up to date.

Crawford County Judge John Hall announced the hiring of James Langford of Collierville, Tenn.-based SouthBuilt TEAM LLC to be the architect for the county's proposed jail.

The jail, which would be constructed only if county voters approved a set of sales taxes totaling 0.75%, is estimated to cost $20 million to build and will be built along U.S. Highway 64 east of Van Buren.

Langford's past experience includes the construction of county jails in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Locally, the University of Tennessee-educated architect was involved in the design of the Washington County Adult and Juvenile Facilities, as well as the Scott County Detention Center.

According to his resume, he "has over two decades of experience in project management, programming, planning and design."

Financial terms of the contract between Langford and the county have not yet been released.

Voters in Crawford County will decide on the jail tax, which has failed on three different occasions, on May 20. If passed, the sales tax rate in Van Buren — the county's largest city — would be 10.25%, among the highest local sales tax rates in the United States.

The U.S. Marshals Museum, a more than $50 million museum to be built along the banks of the Arkansas River, will still have a September groundbreaking, but the opening of the museum will be delayed one year to 2017.

The delay, confirmed by Marshals Museum President and CEO Jim Dunn, is due to a variety of factors, including securing funding. One of the funding mechanisms the museum had counted on to move the project forward is known as new market tax credits. The credits are available both on a federal and state level. Dunn said the museum had hoped to secure the credits at the federal level.

"We had planned for and hoped to obtain $10 million in new market tax credits to be allocated this year," he said. "We could use it toward the cost. Because of some changes in that program and other factors, we learned that we could really not qualify for the entire $10 million in one year and we should spread out our efforts over two years, and possible three, and (that would) improve our chances for up to $8 million."

The tax credits are administered by certified Community Development Entities (CDEs), which are essentially investors who use the funds for investments in low-income communities. Dunn explained that as the economy has recovered and more businesses are interested in securing the tax credits, it would be more difficult to secure the funding necessary to move forward with the project.

"The bottom line was it would behoove us (to apply for the credits over multiple years) because the likelihood of us getting that amount of money in one year was very slim and because we were not shovel ready," he said. "We just can't be shovel ready this calendar year. Our fundraising has not been to the point we could qualify."

According to Dunn, the museum has "raised a total of just over $14 million," adding that the museum currently has between $9 million and $9.5 million "in cash or pledges receivable."

In order to stand a better chance of being a recipient of the tax credits, he said the staff and supporters of the Marshals Museum would have to ramp up fundraising efforts while using cash on hand to start the ground work following the expected groundbreaking on Sept. 24, 2014.

"We will self-fund the 2014 phase (of construction). In 2015, we will aggressively fundraise. Plans are in 2015, when we've reached necessary fundraising thresholds, then we can hopefully apply (for the tax credits). ... Ideally, we'd like to have $25 million in cash or pledges next year sometime."

He said the museum had the next 12 to 15 months to raise the $25 million needed, adding that "if we can spread it out over two years, we hope we can get (the tax credits)."

But Dunn said it was not only the tax credits that delayed the opening of the museum, but also the construction of the museum itself.

"When we started looking at that and what the architects were telling us about the construction period and the length of time to start actual bricks and mortar, it made sense for us to reevaluate our schedule. Frankly, I had underestimated the complexity of the project and the length of time to get it completed."

The museum, which held a board meeting Tuesday (March 11), continues to move forward with final design for the facility, according to Dunn. He said during the meeting on Tuesday, the board voted to hire exhibit designers at a cost of $2.158 million.

He said the museum had also partnered with members of the Oklahoma-based Native American tribes who are part of the Trail of Tears Committee, which are partnering with the museum to design a memorial to cross-deputized Native Americans who were killed in service to the United States during the period when land west of the Arkansas border at Fort Smith was known as Indian Territory.

"Plans are now underway to get that project designed and built," he said. "It would be a significant addition to the campus and downtown Fort Smith. We are very excited about the cooperation we are getting from the five tribes."

The Five Civilized Tribes refer to the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole nations, according to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.

Groundbreaking for the U.S. Marshals Museum, which will include 20,000 square feet of exhibition space and will be located on the riverfront in downtown Fort Smith, is set for Sept. 24, 2014, to coincide with the 225th anniversary of the creation of the service in 1789. The U.S. Marshals Service is the oldest American federal law enforcement agency and was established by President George Washington.

In January 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the site for the national museum. The cost to build the museum — including exhibit work — is estimated at around $53 million. Although the announcement was made in 2007, formal fundraising activities did not begin until the latter part of 2009.

Much of Arkansas is in the area of “greatest risk” for severe weather that may include a spike in tornadoes and damaging thunderstorms and is expected to begin in early Spring, according to AccuWeather.com.

AccuWeather.com reports persistent cold air during the first part of the spring is likely to cause severe weather to get off to a sluggish start in a heavily populated part of the nation. However, a marked turnaround is expected later in the spring for 2014.

On average, severe weather gradually ramps up moving forward through the spring. This year, the transition may occur later and may be more dramatic. A spike in damaging thunderstorms, including some capable of producing tornadoes, is expected during May and June.

"We expect a southward dip in steering-level winds to occur much of the time over a large part of the Midwest to the Eastern states during March and the first part of April,” said AccuWeather Long Range Weather Expert Paul Pastelok.

TORNADO STATS
The National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration estimates that about 1,300 tornadoes hit the U.S. every year. The federal agency shows 1,691 reported tornado events in 2011, 939 in 2012 and 908 in 2013. Tornado-related deaths totaled 553 in 2011, 70 in 2012 and 55 in 2013. April is the month with the most tornadoes, with a three-year average of 350. May is second with 238.

Between 1980 and 2009, there were 965 reported tornadoes in Arkansas, ranking the state 15th for the number of events, according to this NOAA report. Texas was first during the same period with 4,557 reported tornadoes, Kansas was second with 2,259, Florida was third with 1,913, Oklahoma was fourth with 1,647 and Nebraska rounded out the top five with 1,537.

However, Arkansas ranks fourth in the total number of deaths (126) in the same period. Alabama is first with 165, Texas had 147 reported deaths and Tennessee had 142. Arkansas ranks second in the number of “killer tornadoes” in the period with 47. Texas ranked first with 58.

JET STREAM INFLUENCE
This dip of strong winds high in the atmosphere, known as a jet stream trough, will generally keep warm, moist air at bay from near the Mississippi River to the Atlantic coast.

Last year, a similar setup occurred in much of the same area during the spring and led to a much lower-than-average severe weather season for the nation as a whole.

"This year, the ground is colder, the Great Lakes have an extensive amount of ice and the Gulf of Mexico waters are starting off colder than average," Pastelok said. "All of these can have a negative impact on temperatures in the lower atmosphere."

Over much of the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast, the tornado risk will be lower than average early on due to the colder-than-average environment expected.

"As a positive note, we may not see the frequency and violence of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that typically occur during March and much of April, because of the lingering chill impacting a significant part of the nation,” said Severe Weather Expert Dan Kottlowski.

Kottlowski urged caution when comparing overall numbers of tornado and other severe weather incidents to other seasons.

"This is not to say there cannot be a couple of outbreaks of severe weather during the first part of the spring in portions of the Midwest, the South and even the Northeast," Kottlowski said. "People should not let their guard down."

EARLY START FOR SEVERE WEATHER
There is one area where severe weather may get off to an early, typical start with the possibility of frequent severe weather events during March and April. In portions of Texas, Oklahoma, western Arkansas and western Louisiana, Kottlowski and Pastelok both expect warmth to build quickly relative to the balance of the Central and Eastern states.

"We expect a normal to perhaps an above-average amount of severe thunderstorms over the Central states during May and June," Kottlowski said.

Indications are that the jet stream will pull to the north during May and June and hence will allow warm, moist air to flow northward more regularly over the Midwest.

"While warmth combined with drier air may keep a lid on severe weather for a time in the East during May, the air should be thoroughly warm and moist over much of the Midwest and South Central states," Pastelok said.

Areas from the Dakotas and Minnesota to Wisconsin, Michigan, the Appalachians and Atlantic coast should experience surge of severe weather during June and July.

A significant number of severe weather events are likely to continue to occur over the balance of the Midwest and South Central states and expand to along the Rockies as spring draws to a close and summer begins.

Even though the economy has been slow to recover since the start of the Great Recession in 2008, it has not stopped Arkansas’ budding entrepreneurs from not only having dreams of building their own business, but putting those dreams into writing in the form of a business plan.

One event helping young entrepreneurs develop their business plans is the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup, billed as “the premier statewide business plan competition for college students.”

Sam Walls, president of the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation (AEAF), the annual event’s sponsor, said the competition, founded in 2001, is about more than just helping business majors write a well-formed business plan.

“If you look at the great stories in Arkansas — Wal-Mart, Tyson, Stephens, Acxiom, J.B. Hunt — those have been a large economic driver for us. The question is where is the next one? You want to see as many of those businesses as you can.”

According to Walls, the competition is about encouraging students to think outside the box and even if their initial idea does not place in the competition, to continue pursuing an interest in entrepreneurship down the road.

“You hope it plants the seed, drives the interest for them, to be an entrepreneur, to at some point down the road step up with the next big idea for our state.”

One business plan that has gone from an idea to an award-winning business plan to an actual company is TrustedWills.com, the brainchild of Ouachita Baptist University student Lindsey Fowler and her faculty advisor Bryan McKinney.

Fowler, who competed in the Governor’s Cup last year as a junior, presented the idea for a website that would allow individuals to create legally-binding wills online. And even though she still had a year of school to complete, Fowler said it was far from her first business plan competition.

“Bryan McKinney came to me and had this vague idea for what became Trusted Wills and he had seen me participate in the freshman year business plan competition at OBU and he thought it would be a really great partnership for us to do this business, so we started working on it last year,” she said.

The vague idea from McKinney, who is an attorney and the dean of OBU’s Hickingbotham School of Business, landed Fowler with a first-place win in the school’s business plan competition, as well as first place in another business plan competition hosted by OBU that included entries from the school’s cross-town rival, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.

“The next step was the Governor’s Cup. Throughout the process, we were getting feedback from the judges that really helped prepare us for the Governor’s Cup and for the statewide level,” she said.

Using that feedback to update the company’s business plan, Fowler was able to take TrustedWills.com to the Governor’s Cup, where she finished as a finalist and also won a competition known as the Elevator Pitch, where the various competitors are able to pitch their business plans to a group luncheon, with those in attendance choosing a winner of the competition.

McKinney said he believed one advantage Fowler had as she presented was being able to have a product that was live and able to be shown in service.

“The thing that I’ve seen win at these competitions are things the students are passionate about and actually intend to do, instead of just a class project.”

Since launching in June 2013 and using the feedback from the competition judges to refine the company’s business plan, TrustedWills.com has logged 5,368 visits and 11,659 page views (as of February 2014). And while the numbers may seem light when imagining an online business, McKinney said the company had already recovered its startup costs, again emphasizing that he and Fowler had taken the advice of competition judges in re-tooling the site.

“We significantly exceeded our start-up costs immediately upon our launch in June of 2013, shortly after the Governor’s Cup competition. We had initially planned to launch initially in Arkansas and Texas, but we were surprised to see the level of interest from beyond those two states,” McKinney said. “Some of the judges in the competitions along the way had strongly encouraged us to go to every state as soon as we are able.

Their advice was spot on. We are currently working to have each state live within the next two months.”

There are dozens of teams in this year’s Governor’s Cup attempting to take an idea and use the feedback to build their business, just as Fowler and McKinney did. According to AEAF Executive Director Marie Bruno, 38 teams from 10 universities filed intents to compete by the January 31 deadline, with business plans due for the competition on February 21, with winners to be announced April 9.

Among the students taking part in this year’s competition is John Brown University student Chase Skelton, who is one of a four-person team. Skelton’s idea, he said, came from his time interning for a Wal-Mart vendor in Benton County in the summer of 2013 and having a conversation with a co-worker who used to work for a company that produced dolls targeted to pre-teen girls.

“She was just talking about her experience in the company and kind of the reason that she left was after she had a daughter, she kind of thought that their products really weren’t about the healthy values she would want to share with her daughter.”

Skelton added that he and his classmates were also being bombarded by messages from their peers on social media decrying certain dolls for young girls as not portraying realistic self-image and realistic beauty, adding to the perceived need for a values-based doll.

“Talking with my classmates, we thought there was a real opportunity here for a real accurate representation of beauty in like girls’ dolls, girls’ toys, and with that also healthy values,” said Skelton.

As a result, their plan calls for not only the physical production and sale of the dolls, but also an interactive component online for children and their parents to craft the doll’s characteristics in a positive way.

“And so that was the idea behind our product — kind of a custom doll that they like built together with the girl and the mother’s perception of what is real beauty,” he said. “And through that, like prompts about (the doll’s personality). Like what does the doll do for fun? Like activities that she’s a part of? And we’d have like different pre-set prompts that comes up as they’re creating the doll out of these like modular pieces and all of these different aspects that promote values conversations for the mom and the daughter to kind of have naturally.”

Eva Fast, Skelton’s business instructor and faculty sponsor for the Governor’s Cup competition, said while it may have sounded easy for Skelton and his team members to come up with the idea, it was a challenge to develop the right idea for a business.

“That was not their first idea at all,” she said. “They went through probably…they probably had three or four other ideas that they actively researched before they landed on this one.”

Fast said her role as a business instructor and advisor is not to form the students’ ideas and subsequent plans for them, but to get them to start noticing openings right in front of them.

“What I do is I meet with the juniors once right before summer time just for an hour and I tell them you need to become aware of your environment and you need to become alert to opportunities. So I give each of them just a really small notebook that they can keep in their back pocket.”

The goal, she said, is to get the students to not only find challenges in their community but to see if there is a way to solve those challenges through business.

“I encourage them not even to think first of the product, but to think first of the problem. A solution — you can write down a solution, but until you identify a real problem and a real need that people will pay for, then you don’t need to spend any time working on the product.”

Another group competing in this year’s Governor’s Cup competition did just that. Danielle Clark, a senior business major at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, is part of a group of four students who tackled the problem of individuals on bed rest — mainly pregnant women — who have back and neck pain as a result of being immobile for extended periods of time.

“Basically, in the past, (pregnant women) have just had to stack pillows on their side or if you’re in the hospital, they just had to stack pillows on the side of your bed. You’re uncomfortable, plus the nurses can’t even maneuver,” Clark said. “So this pillow is shaped in a wedge and you don’t have to move or anything like that. It just provides support for anybody on bed rest. And it also helps with bed sores.”

The prototype Clark and her team members will present at the competition will cost about $500 each and will only be available through hospitals, she said, and was developed through surveying a variety of potential users in their region, reinforcing that the business plan was right for their target market.

As part of the business plan, Clark’s group — Launch Pad Invents — estimates that it would need about $125,000 in startup costs. The group also included in the plan a sales projection of 85 pillows a month by August 2015, just more than a year after the company expects to launch in July of this year.

Clark and Skelton said they hoped to follow in the footsteps of Fowler in launching a successful business, possibly while still in school. The process could be made easier should either place in the competition, as first prize is a $30,000 cash prize, with second receiving $20,000 and third receiving $10,000. Additionally, first and second place winners in the undergraduate and graduate categories will go onto the Tri-State Business Plan Competition later this year at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

As for Fowler, she is in the process of finishing her studies at OBU and plans on using earnings from TrustedWills.com to help finance her ultimate dream — law school. She is also encouraging Arkansas students to pursue their dreams in business and to make competing in the Governor’s Cup a part of that journey.

“There’s few things in life more satisfying then seeing an idea taken from the very first stages of just discussing it to having a vague idea to getting feedback from business professionals from across the state,” said Fowler. “The Governor’s Cup did such a wonderful job of bringing in people to encourage you and give you really healthy, helpful feedback to say you can take your idea from the beginning stages all the way to where we are right now with Trusted Wills, where we are a launched website, a working business.”

Good-for-you products once again dominated the most successful consumer packaged goods launches last year, according to the 2013 New Product Pacesetters report from IRI Worldwide.The consumer marketing firm evaluating 190,000 new products and 9,500 new brand launches that hit retailer shelves in 2013. These products represent high-octane fuel for potential CGP growth, the reports notes.


“Manufacturers are always striving to create breakthrough innovation, and our impressive list of the 2013 Pacesetters, which earned an average of $35 million in their first year, is no exception,” said Larry Levin, executive vice president for IRI.

He said new product innovation also provides excitement for brands and can be game changers for CPGs companies and consumers alike.

“Innovation in 2013 is all about healthier-for-you products,” said Susan Viamari, editor, Thought Leadership, IRI. “‘Healthy’ is truly everywhere. From food and beverages to hair care, skin care, and even pet food and cleaning products, consumers not only want to look and feel their best, but they want improved wellness to extend to their homes and pets, too.”



Healthy attributes played a huge role in the success of new food and beverage brands, as seven of the top 10, and 73 of the top 100 food and beverage products launched in 2013 offer a healthier-for-you benefit, according to the report.

Top 10 New Product Pacesetters (Food and Beverage)
1. Dannon Light & Fit Greek: $144.9 million
2. Yoplait Greek 100: $135.1 million
3. Kellogg’s Special K Pastry Crisps: $100.6 million
4. TOSTITOS Cantina Chips: $100.3 million
5. Bud Light Lime-A-Rita: $97.4 million
6. Muller Yogart: $95.8 million
7. Eight O’Clock K-Cups: $89.8 million
8. Pepsi NEXT: $83.2 million
9. Kellogg’s Special K Flatbread Breakfast Sandwiches: $77.9
10, Atkins Frozen Meals: $74 million

Viamari said Greek yogart topped the list again in 2013, but the most prevalent addition last year was fiber and whole grains which were foundin 42% of the new product launches.
The report underscores that “dieting” has evolved into “nutritional management.” Consumers are looking for products offering lower calories, less sugar and fewer ingredients, the report notes.

In the non-food arena IRI said the average year-one dollar sales for the top 100 brands were $34 million. The top 10 did much better than that. Earning $2 billion in aggregate year-one launch sales, 48 out of the top 100, non-food Pacesetters deliver wellness. And, for the first time in recent Pacesetter history, three home-care products achieved top-10 status, including Tide Pods, Ajax Triple Action and Downy Infusions.

Top 10 New Product Pacesetters (non-food brands)
1. TIde Pods: $324.6 million
2. L’Oreal Advanced Haircare: $141.8 million
3. ZzzQuil: $121.1 million
4. Vidal Sassoon Pro Series: $96 million
5. Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy: $97.7 million
6. Downy Infusions: $90.2 million
7. Ajax Triple Action: $84.2 million
8. Always/Tampax Radiant: $83 million
9. Secret Outlast: $82.4 million
10. Puffs Basic: $74.5 million

Foreclosures continue to be a smaller part of the local housing markets of Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith metro area. Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac reports just 398 foreclosure filings across the entire state last month, down 50% from a year ago.

There were 254 new foreclosures started and another 144 completed at the state level in February. Starts plunged 63% and completions decreased 44% from the year-ago period.

• County Statistics (February)
Benton County: 50, down 62%
Washington County: 26, down 59%
Sebastian County: 11, down 54%
Crawford County: 8, down 60%

RealtyTrac reports 112,498 new foreclosure filings for February, down 27% from a year ago, the lowest monthly total since December 2006.

“Cold weather and a short month certainly contributed to a seasonal drop in foreclosure activity in February, but the reality is that new activity is no longer the biggest threat to the housing market when it comes to foreclosures,” Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said in the report. “The biggest threat from foreclosures going forward is properties that have been lingering in the foreclosure process for years, many of them vacant with neither the distressed homeowner or the foreclosing lender taking responsibility for maintenance and upkeep of the home — or at the very least facilitating a sale to a new homeowner more likely to perform needed upkeep and maintenance.”

Blomquist refers to these vacated properties as “zombie foreclosures.” The report shows roughly one in four homes in foreclosure across the U.S. has been vacated by the owners. While Arkansas is not among the states with the most “zombie foreclosures,” it did record the longest foreclosure time for owner-vacated homes (1,128 days).

Experts say when vacated homes linger it’s a drain on the neighborhood valuations and they contribute to a climate of uncertainty and low inventory in local housing markets.

Jim Long, agent with Crye-Leike Real Estate in Bentonville, said there are 273 foreclosure filings in the local multiple listing service which includes all four of the counties in this report as well as Madison County and McDonald County, Mo.

Long said the number of new foreclosure listings continues to dwindle. This time last month there were 301 properties for sale, down from 322 in December. He said since the moratorium was lifted in 2012 foreclosure listings peaked in August of last year at 373 and continue to decline.

“The foreclosure listings we are seeing today are for homes in the $100,000 to $125,000 range on average. This is quite a bit higher than the $50,000 to $99,000 range we getting in the past two years,” Long said.

MODIFICATION RESETS
Some experts warn that the lull in foreclosure filings across much of the country during early 2014 is the calm before the storm. There are plenty of eyes on the estimated 800,000 U.S. homeowners who took advantage of mortgage loan modifications in 2009 who are facing loan resets this year. This will require once-financially strapped borrowers to come up with a higher mortgage payment — in some cases up to $302 per month over the term of the reset, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

This report estimates between $400 billion and $500 billion in modified loans at risk for redefault. In Arkansas there were 1,825 homeowners with active modifications, and 81% of those are subject to payment increases within five years of their original modification. 

While the economy is on stronger footing than in 2009, the report warns that consumer balances sheets have little buffer to absorb higher mortgage payments as they have taken on more debt. Consumer indebtedness rose to $11.52 trillion as of Dec. 31, up 2.1% from the third quarter, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Board of New York. That report found that 2013 was first four quarters to register a net annual increase ($180 billion or 1.6%) in debt since 2008.

PwC reports that mortgage delinquencies are improving, but at 10% the loans aren’t recovering as quickly as other consumer loans.

During his eight years as Arkansas’ chief executive, Mike Beebe has seen his party lose ground time and again. Five out of the six members of the Arkansas congressional delegation were Democrats when Beebe took office in 2006. Today, five out of six are Republicans.

Barack Obama lost Arkansas in 2008 by 20%, a margin that increased to 24% in 2012. The GOP now has control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time in over a century. Meanwhile, Beebe’s tenure in office has taken place against a bleak national backdrop of financial crisis and recession, political polarization and near-complete gridlock at the federal level.

And yet, if Beebe could run for a third term in 2014, it’s a virtual certainty he would win. Early last year, an analysis on a blog kept by national pollster Nate Silver showed Beebe was the second most popular governor in the nation. A poll performed by the University of Arkansas last October showed 68% of likely voters approved of his performance. Talk Business and Hendrix College surveys have reported Beebe’s popularity in the 60% and 70% range throughout his governorship.

How has he done it?

It’s partly his sheer skill in negotiating the weakening political center, undoubtedly, and partly a matter of good timing. But underlying Beebe’s achievements are three properties without which his brand of pragmatic centrism might well have failed to achieve results in either elections or governance: a complex relationship with the state legislature, a shrewdly narrow approach to the business of policy, and an unwavering focus on Arkansas affairs as opposed to national ones.

AN ADVANTAGE OF EXPERIENCE
“My success is based upon a willingness to sit down and listen and work with [others] rather than just jump up and say it’s my way or the highway,” said Beebe in a morning interview for Talk Business Arkansas shortly before the 2014 fiscal session began. The governor wasn’t talking about the struggles between the two parties, but between the legislative branch and the executive.

Beebe spent two decades as the state Senator from Searcy, half of it under the long reign of Bill Clinton. As he built his law practice back home in the off months, the legislative sessions educated him on public policy and gave him a deep understanding of the fiscal machinery of the state. The Senate that Beebe knew as a legislator has been transformed today – by term limits, by the ascent of the GOP – but, he says, there are more fundamental truths about the job that haven’t changed.

“Here’s the deal about being a legislator. You worry not so much about the big picture. Your focus is more parochial. Your focus is more district oriented, your focus is more narrowed to one or two areas you have a major interest in or a major reason to be involved in. You don’t have time to be everything to everybody.”

Although that’s not a bad thing, he emphasized, it’s in stark contrast to his responsibilities as governor.

“The main difference between the two [jobs] is the global reach of the governor’s office and the big picture that permeates everything you do, every decision you make. I have to look at the big picture every minute, every second – because all the pieces fit together.” And yet, he said, it’s essential that a governor exercise leadership “in a way that involves an understanding and some empathy with the issues and the problems that legislators have to face.”

If his previous life of 20 years in the Senate gave Beebe a valuable respect for the function of the legislature, it also provided him with a more pointed political tool: a tremendous amount of knowledge in a body whose high turnover creates a chronic experience deficit.

Beebe came into the governor’s office at a time when term limits were stripping the Capitol of many members who had been around since the early nineties. That has given him a unique leverage among newcomers to the General Assembly, who struggle to navigate the labyrinth of state government on the fly. State Senator Jonathan Dismang, a rising leader in the GOP who has served in the legislature since 2009, says the governor embodies an institutional memory that’s sorely needed by members intent on learning how to run the state.

“When I first came in, we were losing potentially all those folks who had strong legislative knowledge, the Percy Malones of the world. You can rattle off a list of guys who went through both chambers, because of term limits,” said Dismang. “I didn’t always agree with Percy Malone, but I wanted to sit next to him because he had the institutional knowledge that I would like to learn from. With those guys all fully turned out at this point, it obviously gives (Beebe) a great deal of ... maybe ‘power’ is not the right word, but his understanding [of government] is critical in how successful he’s been.”
“It all goes back to an ability to lead through knowledge,” Dismang added.

SPENDING & SAVING POLITICAL CAPITAL
Beebe’s ability to thrive in a Southern state in the Obama era is something of a puzzle, says Dr. Jay Barth, professor of politics at Hendrix College. Yet if that tension bothers the governor, he never shows it.

“Beebe conveys a lot of confidence to voters. He’s got a very confident personality, but without the ideological purity — which is counter to most successful politicians today,” said Barth. “And he tends to brag about issues on the back end, after something is accomplished, but not on the front end, like so many do.”

The governor seems to feel neither the need nor the desire to rally voters around big, systemic changes. His major 2006 campaign issue was the grocery tax; in 2010, he emphasized his stewardship of the budget through the national recession. His history of accomplishments is a decidedly non-activist one – a record of steady improvements, lack of crises, fiscal responsibility, and firm but cautious adjustments. Pragmatism and compromise aren’t concessions with Mike Beebe, but simply how he does business.
This too has been shaped by his career in the legislature, says Democratic State Senator Joyce Elliott, who has served a decade in the General Assembly under both Beebe and former Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“I don’t think he discounts all these years of being a senator,” she said. “It’s an understanding that goes, ‘I’m one of many people, and as one person I can’t get it done. So the pragmatic thing says I have to take into consideration what other people think in order for them to do at most 75% of what I want to see happen.’ He’s never hung up on that 100% — ever.” She laughed. “Sometimes that’s to the point that it drives everybody nuts, but that’s the way it is.”

“Because the legislature was envisioned by our founding fathers as the first branch of government, I defer to that for a good reason,” Beebe said. “They’re in charge of the money and the policy and the executive branch is supposed to execute by its very nature, by its very definition.”

That appreciation cuts past partisan affiliation, he asserted. “Whether it’s been Democrats or Republicans, it’s been a good relationship. [Senate President Pro Tem Michael] Lamoureux is easy to work with. [House Speaker] Davy [Carter] is easy to work with. We don’t always agree, but, you know, I didn’t always agree with Bennie Petrus or Robbie Wills or Paul Bookout or any of those folks either.”

Beebe’s popularity raises a question: In a state that still lags far behind many national indicators of well-being – in health, in education, in poverty – could he have done more?
When George W. Bush was elected to his second term as president, he was quoted as saying, “’I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.”

Beebe’s own reserves of political capital are overflowing, but the governor has expended it with the same parsimonious hand that he’s taken to the state budget over the years. Given his immense talents and golden position, one could argue that Beebe’s governance has leaned too heavily on caution.

Still, it is also worth remembering that President Bush’s ambitious agenda of immigration policy and Social Security reform floundered during his second term. Overreach is always a possibility, even with a 68% approval rating.

Perhaps Beebe’s tendencies towards restraint and compromise have secured the policy legacy for which he may be best remembered: the private option. Given the necessity of GOP support in securing passage, it’s likely a more activist approach from the governor would have derailed the process. Instead, he allowed Republican leaders such as Dismang, Sen. David Sanders, and Representative John Burris to craft the historic legislation.

“Obviously, his influence is present on the majority of legislation we see,” Dismang said, but it’s been cognizant of the new Republican majority.

“With the creation of the private option, he had a broad picture of what he wanted to do, but then we as legislators influenced that with a more conservative tone,” Dismang said.  ”He had an overall goal to expand Medicaid and what we did was – while staying within some of the parameters of his leadership – we then took off and developed a different plan, and he’s been supportive of that. And that’s kind of replicated itself on a number of different issues.”

AN ARKANSAS FOCUS
Wrapping up his final legislative session as Governor this year, Beebe will exit office in January 2015.

It’s perhaps no accident that Beebe uses the phrase “global reach” to describe the office he still holds, because Arkansas is Mike Beebe’s world.

In over thirty years of elected office – he served four years as Attorney General before becoming Governor – he has kept his focus squarely on legislative decisions made in Little Rock, not Washington. Despite approval ratings that are the envy of his peers and despite the state’s history of producing formidable presidential candidates, Beebe is decisive in his intent to end his career as an elected official in 2014. One gets the impression that to Beebe, the Arkansas governorship is both the natural outgrowth of legislative leadership and also the apex of political power.

Arkansas is a famously provincial place, and Beebe’s lifelong dedication to the state resonates with voters. It also helps to explain how Beebe has managed to insulate himself from increasingly negative sentiment towards the Democratic Party, even in the 2010 and 2012 elections that swept so many Republicans into office. That sets him apart from his predecessors.

“Every other modern Arkansas governor, with the exception of Frank White, had ambitions for national office,” Jay Barth said.

It also sets him apart from either of his likely successors. While both have played significant roles in state-level affairs, Mike Ross and Asa Hutchinson have forged much of their political careers through federal elections and appointments. Both are accomplished in their own right, but neither have the wealth of experience in state government that Beebe brought to the office.

“It’s going to be difficult for the [new] governor no matter who it is,” Dismang said. “There is no one running at this time that has that institutional knowledge that he possesses. It’s going to be interesting, in my opinion, to see how that shifts with the process…when I first came here, and to some extent today, a lot of things originated out of the governor’s office. I don’t believe that when that institutional knowledge is gone with him as governor that will necessarily be the case.”

The new governor will face a shifting political landscape as well. Although Beebe may have a rare talent in seeking compromise, it’s also true that not all executives have the good fortune to work with legislative leadership as generally like-minded as the ones he’s encountered, both within his party and the opposition.

So can either party replicate Mike Beebe’s formula for success? In short, no.

The Senate that Beebe knew – the Senate that made him – is gone. Term limits have made twenty-year Senate careers impossible. One-party rule has disappeared. As Arkansas continues to slowly shed its provincial image, the labels of national politics seem likely to be more inescapable for state leaders.

Nonetheless, for the gubernatorial candidates this season and in the future, Beebe’s lessons of restraint are crucial. Respect legislative partnerships over executive fiat. Prioritize state governance over national ambitions. Accept 75% rather than demand 100%. And, above all, never underestimate the power of institutional memory.

It didn't take long for Sparks Health System to name an interim CEO while the organization conducts a search for a permanent replacement.

According to a statement Thursday (March 13) from Marketing and Communications Director Donna Bragg, Tim Schmidt has been appointed to lead the organization and Summit Medical Center in Van Buren on an interim basis beginning March 20 following the resignation of Charles Stewart earlier this week.
www.thecitywire.com/node/32166

"While the search for a permanent candidate is underway, Tim will provide support to physicians and employees as they continue their work to deliver quality care to patients at Sparks Regional Medical Center and Summit Medical Center," Bragg said.

Schmidt, who has more than 20 years experience in hospital administration, previously served as CEO at hospitals in Illinois, New Mexico and Texas.

Sparks has experienced a tumultuous year, with the hospital having had two CEOs resign within six months of their hirings.

Stewart, who became the top dog at Sparks in September 2013, was hired to replace former CEO Gary Blan, who resigned in May 2013 after having been on the job for less than three months.
www.thecitywire.com/node/28006

Blan was picked to succeed Melody Trimble who was promoted to president of Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates' Southern and Western Group, which includes 26 hospitals in seven states. Trimble’s promotion was effective Jan. 1, 2013. The seven-state region is Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.

Sparks and Summit were part of the sale of HMA to Community Health Systems, a company whose portfolio of hospitals was nearly double the size of HMA's portfolio. Locally, CHS owned four Northwest Arkansas facilities — Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, Northwest Medical Center-Springdale, Siloam Springs Regional Hospital and Willow Creek Women's Hospital in Johnson. Shares of Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) were trading mid-day Thursday at $36.58, down $0.76. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from a $51.29 high to a $36.39 low.

In announcing Stewart's resignation Wednesday (March 12), Bragg said the company would be looking for a CEO with a high level of experience.

"In our search for our next CEO, we will look for an experienced and motivated hospital leader who will help Sparks Regional Medical Center and Summit Medical Center continue in our commitment to serving the community with excellent health services."

Following is Bragg's complete statement regarding the appointment of Schmidt as interim CEO, as well as the complete announcement Wednesday announcing Stewart's departure:

• "This morning, Sparks Health System announced that Tim Schmidt has been appointed our interim CEO, effective March 20. While the search for a permanent candidate is underway, Tim will provide support to physicians and employees as they continue their work to deliver quality care to patients at Sparks Regional Medical Center and Summit Medical Center. Tim has more than 20 years of hospital administration experience and has served as CEO of hospitals in Texas, Illinois and New Mexico."

• "Charles Stewart resigned from his position as CEO of Sparks Health System this week. We appreciate his contributions to our health system and wish him well in his future endeavors. Our work to identify a new CEO will begin immediately, and it will include input from our Board of Trustees and medical staff leadership. In our search for our next CEO, we will look for an experienced and motivated hospital leader who will help Sparks Regional Medical Center and Summit Medical Center continue in our commitment to serving the community with excellent health services. We appreciate the dedication of our physicians and employees through this transition as they continue to provide high-quality, compassionate care for our patients."

Pizza, Mexican food and a snoring wife are what keeps local mayors up at night. At least those were the comical responses to the first question asked of four Northwest Arkansas mayors during an hour-long panel discussion on Thursday (March 13) at the Tomorrow’s Leadership Conference held in Rogers.

The Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce event featured four of the region’s mayors in a candid conversational atmosphere with questions posed by the audience. Mayors attending were Rogers Mayor Greg Hines, Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin, Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse and Siloam Springs Mayor John Turner. Fayetteville Mayor Lionel Jordan could not attend because of death in the family.

GROWING PAINS
The mayors agreed infrastructure constraints plague them all and remain one of the areas they collaborate on the most. Mayor Hines said transportation across the region is one of its biggest challenges, but the $100 million infrastructure projects ongoing around the city will pave the way for more growth. He said the growing pains are going to be around for the foreseeable future.

Mayor McCaslin said over-reaching regulations are one of his biggest concerns. He said even small infrastructure projects can get bogged down when regulatory agencies are involved.

“I have an ‘expedite it now mindset,’ and these (federal) projects take a long time to complete. Something like the 8th Street project (federal project) that was announced in 2005, and we have not turned the first dirt. My math says that’s eight years,” McCaslin said.

Mayor Sprouse said he worries just how far the money is going to go, because there is still so much to do.

“We’ve identified several worthy projects, but they take so long to go from the concept to construction and right now we are not in the same bid climate we were two years ago. I am nervous because we are about to bid more projects approved nearly two years ago. While we saved $2 million on the Don Tyson interchange, we don’t know what these other road projects are going to cost,” he said.

Sprouse said the city is close to bidding two large parks, and three fire stations next month.

“I have felt paralyzed when looking at other opportunities because I don’t know exactly where we stand on the pending projects that have not gotten bids. We are anxious to get started because there still so much to do,” he said.

Mayor Turner said the cities have a great opportunity to work together. He joked that he’s not kept up at night about street issues, because that’s his city administrator’s job.
He then offered each of his colleagues a pair of “happy socks,” which he proudly displayed, grey with red stripes.

Turner said the city of Siloam Springs in unique, smaller, not on the I-540 corridor but growing nonetheless. He said one of the things the city did to help ensure their bond money went further was to establish a city street crew and construction crew that is responsible for moving utility lines.

He said since bringing those functions in house, the city expects to be able to double the money they have spend, because the bids are roughly half what they were with those services included.

“That’s the kind of thing that helps you sleep at night,” Turner said.

HARNESSING OPPORTUNITIES
The mayors were asked what area they think will present the biggest opportunity for jobs in the Northwest region for the next generation. Technology was the top of list. Sprouse said Nanomech and other nano technology applications. Turner agreed that high tech or perhaps energy-related technology fields are areas that the region can harness potential growth.

Sprouse commended the educational contributions of the University of Arkansas, NorthWest Arkansas Community College and the area secondary schools are doing a better job equipping todays students for technology related jobs.

McCaslin said regional growth is poised to continue, and last year the metro area was the fourth fastest growing metro in the country. He said the arts and manufacturing will continue to provide employment opportunities from the enormous fallout of Crystal Bridges and Wal-Mart’s onshoring program. 

“These projects won’t happen tomorrow, it takes time, the seeds have been sowed,” McCaslin said. “We have all the ingredients necessary for growth, employment opportunities, great educational system and high quality of life.”

Hines cited health care, saying the region can be a health care destination building on the strong presence already here.

“This region has a philanthropic nature, it’s one of the leading philanthropic metros in the country. This is an important metric for being a health care destination,” he said.

LEADERSHIP THOUGHTS
Spouse said establishing trust is essential to being an effective leader.

“It’s important not to manipulate the truth believing it’s more important to be right than do right.,” Sprouse said. “We do what’s right, not always politically popular.”

McCaslin said his Christian principles guided him though a 30-year career at Kraft Foods before he become mayor. 

“To my knowledge those principles have never harmed anyone. It’ s our mission to lead with professional wisdom, character and integrity. If’s the thing, it’s right thing,” he said.

Hines said for him consistency is one of the most important aspects of his leadership style. Transparency was the most important leadership quality for Turner. He said the city of Siloam Springs makes all meeting memos and minutes available online seeking to be as transparent as possible.

“If there are going to FOIA it, you might as well make it available upfront,” Turner said.

He also believes that civic leaders should be accessible, even if it takes him three hours to pick up mail at the local post office.

While the race between Tom Cotton and Mark Pryor for the U.S. Senate is getting a lot of attention, at least one other race is bound to create a buzz. For the second time in two years, advocates of medical marijuana are gathering signatures to place a measure on the ballot that would legalize pot with a prescription.

According to Campaign Director Melissa Fults of Arkansans for Compassionate Care, the petition circulated this year is largely the same as the one that made it to the ballot in 2012, a ballot initiative that failed by a vote of 48.56% for and 51.44% against.

She said while the petition closely mirrors 2012's proposal, there were a few changes.

The difference that is likely to catch many people's attention is what is now known as the hardship clause, which Fults said would allow individuals who live too far to receive deliveries of medical marijuana or have medical issues that prevent them from driving to grow up to three marijuana plants in the privacy of their own home for personal, medical uses. But she said such a provision in the law is not intended to just let people freely grow pot with no supervision.

"A health department representative can go to your house, ask to see your (medical marijuana) license, ask to see your grow room, to see that you are only growing the three mature plants you're qualified to grow," she said.

Another big difference in this year's version of the ballot initiative versus 2012 is the affordability clause, which Fults said would allow individuals prescribed medical marijuana to get it at a steep discount from the mandatory non-profit dispensaries that would be created as a result of the legislation.

The affordability clause, she said, would essentially allow those on a low income to obtain their prescription from their local dispensary at a reduced price. The difference would be covered by a fee all dispensaries in the state would have to pay to the Arkansas Department of Health that would amount to no more than two percent of the total sales of said dispensary, which would have to be a non-profit entity according to the language of the ballot initiative.

"So say you have three dispensaries in the upper end areas of Little Rock. They wouldn't likely have any low income (patients) come in," she said. "But you may have one in College Station, a dispensary with a lot of low income people. Those dispensaries with low income patients will make a report with (a list of) which low income patients came in. The health department will have a record of what they paid and the Health Department will then reimburse the dispensary."

Fults explained that any sales tax collected as a result of prescription marijuana sales would be used to fund any work the Arkansas Department of Health has to do as a result of the addition of medical marijuana to the list of prescribed controlled substances in Arkansas.

"It is all self-contained. The patients are the ones paying the sales tax and the patients' sales tax should go to the program," she said. "Anything over what they need will go to the Arkansas Umbilical Cord Bank and the DHS (Department of Human Services) for drug education."

Arkansans for Compassionate Care is not the only group attempting to get medical marijuana on the ballot. Arkansans for Responsible Medicine, a group that did not respond to request for comment, is also attempting to get medical marijuana on the ballot, which would allow physicians to write patients with certain medical conditions a prescription for marijuana at least once a year. The group's proposal does not allow for personal growth of marijuana and it also allows cities and counties to prohibit dispensaries.

Asked whether she viewed the other group's efforts as a threat, Fults said she did not, adding that she felt confident Arkansans for Compassionate Care would succeed in getting its petition on the ballot in November.

"Right now, we only have about 10,000 signatures. It's been at a standstill the last couple of months because of the weather. …At the end of April, we are going to have a Compassion Weekend across the state. There'll be a hard push for signatures. We have a very, very good chance for getting our signatures. We are about where we were in 2012."

As a result, she said there's a good chance the measure will get the votes it needs to gain passage, making Arkansas the first Southern state to pass some form of legalized marijuana, whether medical or recreational. Fults said the reason 2014 could be different is because of the amount of public education and support that has swelled online and elsewhere since 2012.

"I think why we'll do so much better this time is because of the amount of education that's out there this time. In 2012, we really didn't have a chance to do a lot of educating and there wasn't a lot of education out there. Since 2012, things have changed drastically. For example, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine, and CNN's chief medical correspondent) — who was dead set against marijuana because of the lies our government has told — has done studies and now sees it as a medicine and has done a couple of documentaries (on the topic)."

There has not been much public opposition to the ballot initiative this year, likely due to the fact that the ballot initiative has yet to collect its more than 62,000 needed signatures by the July 7 deadline for a November vote. Once it gains a spot on the statewide ballots, anti-weed groups are likely to make their voices heard much like they did in 2012.

Fults said the changing landscape, both in the media and the public at large, makes her hopeful that the initiative will easily pass in the Fall.

"I think with these changes, I think we're a shoe in. I really do. I thought we would win last time, but I really truly believe we will win and win by a large margin this time."

A second shot at attempting to legalizing medical marijuana in Arkansas, notes on the new PR chief at the University of Arkansas, and the estimated growth of small business in Northwest Arkansas are part of the Northwest Arkansas Friday Wire for March 14.

NOTES & ANALYSIS
• Legalizing the weed
Could the second toke be the one that loosens up the Arkansas body politic to say “Alright,” and give a thumbs up to legalizing medical marijuana?

Folks with Arkansans for Compassionate Care believe that their second push for ballot approval of an amendment to legalize medical marijuana could win approval.

"I think with these changes, I think we're a shoe in. I really do. I thought we would win last time, but I really truly believe we will win and win by a large margin this time,” said Melissa Fults, campaign director for the group.

Irrespective of what one thinks about the issue, Fults’ optimism can’t be discounted. A similar 2012 ballot issue failed, but by a slim 51.44% to 48.56% margin. Possibly more troubling for those who believe marijuana should not be legalized in any way is that voters in the historically conservative belt that stretches from Fort Smith to Northwest Arkansas supported the 2012 measure. Combined, the proposal to allow medical marijuana was supported by 51.5% in Benton, Crawford, Sebastian and Washington counties. However, the measure failed in Benton County (47.4% for, 52.2% against) and Crawford County (47.7% for, 52.6% against).

Many polls since 2012 show a growing willingness of voters around the country to support an open or limited legalization of marijuana. If that proves true in Arkansas, well,   it may not be by a large margin, but The Natural State could have a second meaning after November 2014.

ICYMI
Following are a few stories posted this week on The City Wire that we hope you didn’t miss. But in case you missed it ...

• The Supply Side: Good stuff sells
Good-for-you products once again dominated the most successful consumer packaged goods (CPG) launches last year, according to the 2013 New Product Pacesetters report from IRI Worldwide. The consumer marketing firm evaluated 190,000 new products and 9,500 new brand launches that hit retailer shelves in 2013.

• Wal-Mart land buy near Bella Vista
Wal-Mart Stores has made no secret that it would like to build a Neighborhood Market in Bella Vista, just five miles from retailer’s home office in Bentonville, and also home to hundreds of Wal-Mart corporate employees.

• The new UA PR chief
If she'd had a career goal starting out two decades ago, Laura Jacobs met it a month ago.

NUMBERS ON THE WIRE
$195 million: Estimated investments out to 2016 among the 529 Northwest Arkansas businesses surveyed as part of a Northwest Arkansas Council report.

24: Number of new commercial construction projects in the planning stage in Northwest Arkansas, according to the January edition of a report from CBRE Northwest Arkansas.

50: Number of Benton County properties in a phase of foreclosure during February, down 62% compared to February 2013.

OUTSIDE THE WIRE
• The political push against Sen. Pryor
Americans for Prosperity is launching a major ad buy hitting Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) on Thursday, pushing the group’s advertising spending in the race to more than $1.4 million so far this year.

• Drug testing Welfare recipients
From written tests designed to flag drug users to singling out people with recent drug convictions, state lawmakers across the country are pursuing novel strategies to deny welfare benefits to drug users without running afoul of a recent federal court ruling.

• Track bus and truck driver hours
Commercial trucks and buses that cross state lines would have to be equipped with electronic devices that record how many hours the vehicles are in operation, according to a government proposal Thursday aimed at preventing accidents by tired drivers.

WORD ON THE WIRE
“I remember not long after they put me in this job, I brought the senior team together and said okay we’re going to have our first strategy talk. And here’s our strategy: we’re not going to talk about strategy for at least a year. We don’t need a strategy. We need to fix this business. Forget about grandiose ideas about who we could be in five years because if we don’t fix this thing, there ain’t going to be five years. Just go get good at what we do.”
— Tyson Foods CEO Donnie Smith about his early effort to right the financial ship at the Springdale-based company

“We started 11 years ago with four people and two trucks, today we employ 85 and have 45 pieces of equipment. We do commercial and business relocations. Regionally we see a lot of inbound growth to Northwest Arkansas, even though Arkansas is a neutral state. Enough people are leaving Little Rock and the Delta area to make the state appear neutral, but I can tell you this MSA is a vey inbound area.”
– Bill Locke, owner of Fayetteville-based Admiral Moving Services, about how his business growth has been tied to the growth of Northwest Arkansas

“The information they provide is not clean, it’s not accurate and it’s not up-to-date. They have home listings on their sites that sold six months ago, sometimes a year ago. The listing price has been wrong on occasion and the estimated values are low in some cases or occasionally too high.”
– Harold Crye, president of Memphis-based Crye-Leike Real Estate, when asked why his firm cut its ties in Memphis with Zillow

A second shot at attempting to legalizing medical marijuana in Arkansas, a prediction on severe weather in the early Spring, and a planned union vote at Fort Smith-based O.K. Foods are part of the March 14 Friday Wire for the Fort Smith region.

NOTES & ANALYSIS
• Legalizing the weed
Could the second toke be the one that loosens up the Arkansas body politic to say “Alright,” and give a thumbs up to legalizing medical marijuana?

Folks with Arkansans for Compassionate Care believe that their second push for ballot approval of an amendment to legalize medical marijuana

"I think with these changes, I think we're a shoe in. I really do. I thought we would win last time, but I really truly believe we will win and win by a large margin this time,” said Melissa Fults, campaign director for the group.

Irrespective of what one thinks about the issue, Fults’ optimism can’t be discounted. A similar 2012 ballot issue failed, but by a slim 51.44% to 48.56% margin. Possibly more troubling for those who believe marijuana should not be legalized in any way is that voters in the historically conservative belt that stretches from Fort Smith to Northwest Arkansas supported the 2012 measure. Combined, the proposal to allow medical marijuana was supported by 51.5% in Benton, Crawford, Sebastian and Washington counties. However, the measure failed in Benton County (47.4% for, 52.2% against) and Crawford County (47.7% for, 52.6% against).

Many polls since 2012 show a growing willingness of voters around the country to support an open or limited legalization of marijuana. If that proves true in Arkansas, well,   it may not be by a large margin, but The Natural State could have a second meaning after November 2014.

ICYMI
Following are a few stories posted this week on The City Wire that we hope you didn’t miss. But in case you missed it ...

• U.S. Marshals Museum opening delayed to 2017
The U.S. Marshals Museum, a more than $50 million museum to be built along the banks of the Arkansas River, will still have a September groundbreaking, but the opening of the museum will be delayed one year to 2017.

• The pitch from Altes and Pitsch
The May 20 primary is little more than seven weeks away and the area's first political debate of the 2014 political season took place Monday afternoon (March 10). Republicans Bobby Altes and Mat Pitsch, the only two candidates for the District 76 House seat, debated nearly an hour on topics ranging from teacher pay to tax cuts to the Private Option in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Fort Smith.

• Falling foreclosures
Foreclosures continue to be a smaller part of the local housing markets of Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith metro area. Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac reports just 398 foreclosure filings across the entire state last month, down 50% from a year ago.

NUMBERS ON THE WIRE
9-0: The vote of the Fort Smith Planning Commission when deciding whether to approve a proposed Planned Zoning District at the site of the Fianna Hills Country Club. The PZD was necessary for Fort Smith-based FSM Redevelopment Partners to turn the aging country club into a four-story facility that will revitalize the property at a cost of about $20 million. The PZD will come up for a final vote before the Fort Smith Board of Directors in April.

$530 million: The Congressional Budget Office estimate of how much it would cost to fully implement House Resolution 2413, the Weather Forecasting Improvement Act of 2013. The legislation would fund research which could lead to warning times for tornadoes in excess of one hour. The bill has made its way out of committee and is awaiting a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

965: Number of reported tornadoes in Arkansas between 1980 and 2009, ranking the state 15th for the number of events, according to federal data.

OUTSIDE THE WIRE
• The political push against Sen. Pryor
Americans for Prosperity is launching a major ad buy hitting Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) on Thursday, pushing the group’s advertising spending in the race to more than $1.4 million so far this year.

• Drug testing Welfare recipients
From written tests designed to flag drug users to singling out people with recent drug convictions, state lawmakers across the country are pursuing novel strategies to deny welfare benefits to drug users without running afoul of a recent federal court ruling.

• Tracking bus and truck driver hours
Commercial trucks and buses that cross state lines would have to be equipped with electronic devices that record how many hours the vehicles are in operation, according to a government proposal Thursday aimed at preventing accidents by tired drivers.

WORD ON THE WIRE
"I'm for these guys 100% and I totally understand what they're doing. I don't see how the city could put any objection to a $20 million facility that's going to be outstanding in the state run by a golf company that's a national organization that doesn't run anything but prestige courses," he said. "I think it will be a benefit to the city and I know it will be a benefit to Fianna Hills. And it will supply 75 to 100 jobs. That sure won't hurt. We need those in the city."
— Fianna Hills resident Champ Hinton about a plan to renovate the Fianna Hills Country Club

"Right now, they have a one to one relationship. The employer holds all the chips. All the employee can do is quit. We don't feel that that is right. We feel they should reform. We want to help these workers to fix OK Foods and make it a more fair workplace — with better insurance, a better retirement package. We want a more fair future."
– Anthony Elmo, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Unioin (UFCW), explaining why the organization is still pursuing unionization of OK Foods' Fort Smith facility, along with two locations in Oklahoma

After more than a year of planning, the Walmart to Go convenience-store format quietly opened in Bentonville on Saturday (March 15), with the grand opening set for March 19. 

Store workers told The City Wire this was a soft opening and it was a busy day with heavy in-store traffic as travelers on the busy intersection near 1300 S. Walton Blvd., sought a look inside what is the first store in a new effort by Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to capture a different and growing element of the retail market.

The small store is a hybrid format — part traditional convenience store, part grocery, part quick serve restaurant. Walmart partnered with Bentonville Butcher & Deli, one of the more popular names around in terms of quality meat, to operate a quick serve meat counter in the back of the store. Fresh deli sandwiches or hot barbecue brisket, ribs, smoked chicken and traditional sides were available by the plate or by the pound.

Krispy Kreme has a donut stand between the beverage stations on the right wall of the store. There is a traditional soda fountain, Icee fountain, milk shake option and full coffee/cappuccino area.

Refrigerated food-to-go includes market fresh pizzas, sandwiches and other meat entrees. There is also fresh fruit and a Greek yogurt smoothy station. The center of the store closely resembles a traditional convenience format with cashiers in a corral with a wide range of tobacco products.

The left side of the store is merchandised much like a tiny grocery. Coolers line the outer wall offering wine and beer with a walk-in cooler. Frozen foods can be found in two large freezers along the outer left wall. 

The mini grocery includes five wide aisles that contain hundreds of packaged foods and non-edible items from breakfast cereals to dog food and diapers. Shirley’s Flowers has a fresh floral stand near the front doors next to Hallmark Cards. The store also has magazines, books, and ATM and a seating area near the front of the store.

The convenience store also features six gas pumps out front with a covered awning that sports the Walmart sunburst on the underside. One unusual feature is a large awning that connects the pump area to the front door. Ice, Blue Rhino propane and Red Box are all positioned outside the store under awnings. There is a picnic area outdoors to seat those wanting to eat onsite.

With this new convenience format Wal-Mart hopes to capture some of the $415 billion quick trip marketshare it is losing to Dollar General and other convenience stores. Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said earlier this month that the retailer has just 10% of that marketshare and is vying for more with the hybrid stores that can serve consumer fill-in trips, which Walmart estimates to be 40% of their grocery spend.