It’s been a good year for home builders across Northwest Arkansas, but the residential construction pace in the region’s four largest cities continues to taper with a 15% reduction in the number of new home starts in October compared to a year ago.

The cities of Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville issued permits for 122 new homes during October with a value of $29.788 million. This compared to 145 permits worth $34.747 million in the year-ago period.

Springdale was the only city of the four to report a busier October. While the number of permits increased slightly to 18, the value rose some 38%, according to city records.

RESIDENTIAL PERMIT VALUES (October)
Bentonville $11.240 million, down 26%
Fayetteville $8.412 million, down 4.4%
Springdale $5.488 million, up 38%
Rogers $4.649 million, down 26%

Several builders interviewed by The City Wire in recent months said the residential construction pace is steady and sustainable at this time, after making up some ground in shorter suppliers earlier this year. Local home builders expect to close 10% to 15% more transactions this year which would make 2013 the best business climate they have witnessed since the market recovery began in 2009.

MountData.com reports new homes are selling well throughout the region, with 69 pending transactions during October. The data firm reports that agents and builders sold just over 200 new homes during past 90 days, with an ending new home inventory of 366 properties, a 5.4-month’s supply.

PRICES, DEMAND
Across the region, the average selling price for new homes in October was $106 per square foot, according to MountData.com. Prices are up slightly from this last year and are expected to rise more in later 2014.

Among the four cities noted in this report, the largest overhang of new unsold homes listed for sale are located in Bentonville (110) and Rogers (84). Given the ongoing demand in these two markets, Paul Bynum analysts with MountData estimates about a 5.5-month supply.

Fayetteville shows the tightest supply with 44 new home listings last month, and 17 sales left a 2.6-month supply of new homes on the market, according to MountData.com

Springdale has the slowest moving market for new home sales averaging three transactions last month, at the lowest average price of $98 per square foot.

Bentonville had the highest price per square foot at $110, while Rogers and Fayetteville came in at $105 and $106, respectively.

COMMERCIAL UPTICK
Much of the construction activity in the region this year has been residential, but this fall a number of restaurants and other retail outlets have begun to pop up.

In October, nearly half of the total $58.107 million in new permits issued by the four cities were for new commercial projects. Commercial permit values totaled $28.319 million, up 348% from the same month in 2012. The October permits were boosted by one large project, the new Walmart Supercenter in Springdale. The new supercenter under construction at Elm Springs Road and I-540 in Springdale was valued at $15.442 million when the permit was issued by the city last month. It was one of two new permits totaling $18.724 million issued by the city in October.

Rogers issued a couple of large permits totaling $5.187 million in value. The largest – $4.337 million – being a new addition to the Preformed Line Products facility located at 2740 S. First St. The other permit valued at $850,000 is for the new Longhorn Steakhouse under construction at 2206 S. Promenade Blvd.

In Fayetteville there were a handful of new projects valued at $3.88 million, up from $139,000 reported a year ago. Casey’s General Store is under construction at 2720 W. Wedington Drive in Fayetteville. The value of this convenience store and gas station is $2.125 million.

Also in the works is a 15,000 square-foot mixed-use space at 525 W. Willoughby Road under construction by Joe Terminella as well as a retail strip center shell located at 240 E. Joyce Blvd.

Bentonville issued two new commercial permits last month both listed as convenience stores, with no other detail available.

Other projects on tap in the region according to permits issued by the Arkansas Department of Health include:
• Slims Chickens, W. Wedington Drive and Golf Club Drive in Fayetteville;
• Kum & Go, Huntsville Road & Ray Avenue in Fayetteville;
• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steak Burgers, 4507 W. Walnut in Rogers;
• LIttle Caesars, 931 W. Walnut in Rogers; 
• Cherry Berry Frozen Yogurt, 1011 Mt. Olive in Siloam Springs; and
• CVS Pharmacy at Dartmoor Road and Bella Vista Way in Bella Vista.

PERMITS TOTALS (October)
Springdale: $24.312 million, up 199%
Fayetteville: $12.299 million, up 45%
Bentonville: $11.76 million, down 22%
Rogers: $9.836 million, up 27%

(Permits are for new construction, additions and remodels are not included.)

The U.S. military’s impact on Northwest Arkansas exceeds $150 million annually, according to a report issued Tuesday (Nov. 26) from the Northwest Arkansas Council.

“The Military in Northwest Arkansas” economic impact report on the importance of the Arkansas National Guard, the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, and military retirees and veterans who live in Benton and Washington counties is the first in a series of periodic overviews of certain aspects of the region’s economy.

According to the council, the report recognizes the “significant efforts of Northwest Arkansas’ largest employers, including Walmart Stores, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt Transport Services” to hire “thousands of military veterans, benefiting both the new employees and the companies.

Northwest Arkansas was noted earlier this month in a report put out by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes project as the nation’s seventh-best place among mid-sized cities for veterans to find a job.

Findings from the report include:
• $134.3 million is the annual payroll of the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, which includes the Fayetteville hospital and six community-based health clinics.

• $33 million annually is how much the Veterans Health Administration paid for military veterans to receive medical services at non-affiliated hospitals and clinics. That kept veterans from waiting to schedule services at more distant Veterans Health Administration facilities.

• $31 million is the annual operational spending of the Arkansas National Guard in Benton and Washington counties.

• 31,782 military veterans live in Benton and Washington counties, which is about 7% of the population.

To recognize the military presence in Northwest Arkansas, the Arkansas National Guard’s 142nd Fires Brigade has been invited to join the council.

“Having Troy and the 142nd join us is a great reminder of the important role the Arkansas National Guard plays in Northwest Arkansas and statewide,” Mike Malone, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, said in a statement.

Link here for a PDF from the council detailing the military impact.

The economy across Benton and Washington counties slumped in September, after a fairly robust spring and summer.

The dip in consumer spending was evident in the 3% decline in sales tax revenue receipts this month, but it doesn’t worry city officials.

The cities of Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville reported cumulative November tax revenue of $4.29 million, down 2.89% from $4.418 million a year earlier. Three of these cities showed modest gains in revenue receipts this month, but they were offset by double-digit declines in Bentonville.

Each city collects a 2% local sales tax that is split evenly between bond repayment and each city’s general fund. This report tracks the 1% tax going to fund city budgets. The revenue reflects sales in September, creating a two-month lag in the reporting.

November Collections
Bentonville: $599,836, down 27.43%
Rogers: $1,196,429, up 4.24%
Fayetteville: $1,593,272 up 1.33%
Springdale: $900,914, up 3.31%

Denise Land, finance director for the city of Bentonville, has said one month doesn’t make a year. The city’s tax revenue through November is up 9.14%, according to city records.

Rogers continues to report strong sales tax numbers marking 18 consecutive months with revenue in excess of $1 million, according to Casey WIlhelm, finance director for the city of Rogers.

She said new restaurants and retail shops continue to draw traffic and spur on spending in Rogers. It’s been one year since Cabela’s opened in Rogers and Wilhelm said it’s hard to split out the impact from this single venue except to say the city did see a slight revenue increase in November 2012 from the store receipts two months before. She added that it’s one of several attractions that continues to draw consumers to Rogers and Bentonville.

WIlhelm reports that through November sales tax revenue in Rogers is up roughly 8% from a year ago with $12.987 million in sales tax receivables.

In Benton County, sales tax collections totaled $2.829 million in September and are reflected in the counties November revenue report. Revenue dipped 2% from a year ago.

Washington County reported November sales tax revenue of $2.789 million, up 2.12% from a year ago.

Springdale and Fayetteville each report their sales tax revenue through November was up 2.7% and 3%, respectively. City officials said their budgets are in good shape as collections remain steady, despite finicky consumers.

CONSUMER CONCERN
Sales tax revenue is closely tied to consumer sentiment, because consumers don’t typically spend as much money when they are concerned about their jobs or the overall economy.

“Consumer confidence decreased in September as concerns about the short-term outlook for both jobs and earnings resurfaced, while expectations for future business conditions were little changed,” according to Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators for the Conference Board.

Franco noted that consumers’ assessment of business and labor market conditions at that time (September) was a little more positive but they were also concerned the momentum could be sustained in the months ahead.

The government shutdown was also looming when the survey was taken in September and economist feel could have some negative impactive on overall sentiment.

The reduction in SNAP benefits (food stamps) is also taking a $4 billion bite out of the spending which began when the cuts took place Nov. 1. While food is not taxed in many states, consumers reliant on these benefits have less money in their pockets to spend on other things.

The impact to Arkansas recipients is expected to $52 million through September 2014, according to state welfare officials.

NWA GROWTH
Despite weak U.S. job growth, Northwest Arkansas has been the recipient of several new ventures that have or will create some 2,000 new jobs in this region. More than half of those were at Serco, in Rogers, where the average pay is $12 per hour with full benefits.

These local jobs new to the region range from manufacturing, to back office clerical, and sales and are a healthy sign that Northwest Arkansas continues to fare better than many other regions across the country.

Mike Malone, CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, recently said that these solid jobs added are yet another catalyst to fuel the ongoing population growth in the two-county area. The council estimates the local metro area will cross the $500,000 population mark by the middle of 2014.

Increases were posted for sales tax collections in Fort Smith and the city’s portion of the countywide sales tax, but the amounts collected year-to-date remain below budget estimates.

Each of the city’s 1% sales taxes (1% for streets and 1% for water and sewer projects) collected $1.605 million in the October report, up 0.69% from the same period in 2012.

The collections in the October report were 2.36% below budget estimates. (Because the state of Arkansas has a two-month delay in reporting collections back to the cities, the city of Fort Smith — for budgeting purposes — has historically reflected the collections on a one-month delay. Which is to say, the tax collections remitted to cities in November are from taxes collected in September and transferred by merchants to the state in October.)

For the first 10 reporting months of 2013, each of the 1% sales taxes generated $16.363 million, down 1.02% compared to $16.532 million in the same period of 2012.

The year-to-date collections are also 3.92% below budget estimates.

Collections in 2012 of the two 1% taxes totaled $39.21 million, slightly ahead of the $38.683 million during 2011. The 2011 collections were 3.9% above 2010 collections.

Fort Smith’s share of the county 1% sales tax in the October report is $1.248 million, up 0.39% compared to October 2012. The collection was down 2.12% compared to the revenue estimate.

For the first 10 months of 2013, the countywide tax has generated $12.927 million for Fort Smith, up 0.34% compared to 2012 and down 2.12% compared to budget forecasts. The dip in collections compared to budget estimates has resulted in city officials seeking 4% budget cuts from all departments.

The countywide tax generated $15.279 million in 2012, just ahead of the $15.15 million in 2011, but lower than the peak collection of $16.61 million in 2008.

The countywide tax collection is critical because the revenue is a little more than 40% of the city’s general budget of roughly $42 million. A majority of the general fund budget general supports fire, police and other critical city functions.

AREA COLLECTIONS
Sales tax collections in Crawford County for the first nine months of 2013 total $4.718 million, slightly ahead of  the $4.695 million in the same period of 2012.

Collections in Van Buren for the first nine months of 2013 are $$5.372 million, well ahead of the $2.645 million in the same period of 2012. The city approved a 1% sales increase in 2012 for infrastructure improvements and emergency services upgrades.

Collections in the Sebastian County city of Greenwood totaled $1.494 million, better than the $1.468 million during the same period of 2012.

PREVIOUS ANNUAL COLLECTION INFO (Fort Smith)
2% sales tax collection (1% for streets; 1% for water/sewer bonds)
2012: $39.210 million
2011: $38.683 million
2010: $37.229 million
2009: $37.554 million
2008: $41.226 million
2007: $37.858 million
2006: $36.840 million

Fort Smith portion of 1% countywide sales tax
2012: $15.279 million
2011: $15.15 million
2010: $14.89 million
2009: $15.04 million
2008: $16.61 million
2007: $15.15 million
2006: $14.71 million

Mary Hatfield Lowe was elected to the board of directors of the American Association for Paralegal Education at the annual conference in Phoenix  on Nov. 8.
 
Lowe is the coordinator for NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s American Bar Association-approved Paralegal Studies Program. She has a law degree and doctorate in higher education from the University of Arkansas and has been at NWACC since 2004.
 
Lowe will be the director for the South Central Region of the United States. With more than 400 members, the American Association for Paralegal Education is the nation’s largest and continually operating organization dedicated to promoting quality paralegal education. The organization’s membership includes hundreds of universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning throughout the United States and Canada.

While many Arkansans have come to know Greg Henderson’s work through his satirical news website Rock City Times, his next venture will be anything but a joke.

Henderson is set to launch Manufacturing Times, an online business-to-business publication, in early 2014, tapping into a vast network of contacts from his time in the manufacturing industry. He will use many of those contacts as contributors for the web venture, using his manufacturing and web savvy to launch the site and eventually branch out to provide training and consulting to manufacturers from across Arkansas.

“It’s sort of a two-part thing,” Henderson said. “On one hand, what we’re going to do is be almost like a Forbes of manufacturing. (We’ll) offer advice, offer stories that impact manufacturers, do some profiles of manufacturers who are doing things well.”

The other end of the trade publication will involve training of not only high-level executives, but also the men and women on the manufacturing floor.

“I’m going to start off making it online and then do a few local training sessions around the state, as well. So that’s going to be your basic manufacturing training, quality control, environmental training. So sort of the back end, on the floor-type of manufacturing training all the way up to (management consulting),” Henderson said. “I’m going to bring my marketing knowledge to it for marketing of floor manufacturers and do some of that higher-level CEO training, succession management, stuff like that.”

Having a background in manufacturing marketing, Henderson is hoping his experience taps into an industry that is seen by many as on the decline.

Consultant Allen Engstrom is chief executive officer of CFO Network. Engstrom said he is looking forward to taking his experience and partnering with Henderson as a contributor to Manufacturing Times.

“It’s easy to do, first of all. We’re very involved with manufacturing issues and we see a lot of things people are doing great and a lot of problems people are having and we try to leverage the things people are doing well and highlight areas needed for improvement and put them in one place,” he said. “For myself, if it means putting in some efforts to help somebody and also benefitting my business, then it’s a win-win for everybody involved.”

Henderson said the benefit many manufacturing consultants are likely to receive from contributing to his new site would be a high level of exposure to an industry in need of their services.

“A lot of these consultants, a lot of them are going to write for this very reason – they’re out there consulting in the field two or three days a week, at least. But what they don’t have time to do and what they don’t have expertise to do is market themselves. So outside of their own contacts, they really have a hard time getting their name out there. That’s just not their specialty. So in exchange for writing, what I want them to do is build some thought leadership for these people, get their name out there pretty regularly and help them market their services, as well,” he said.

Engstrom said he is looking forward to the high number of contacts he could reach through his contributions.

“It will introduce us to a new group of companies that we haven’t seen before,” he said. “There’s a lot of businesses there that we haven’t been in touch with.”

While manufacturing consultants will be contributing two or three stories per month, they will also lead training seminars both in person and online. Engstrom, whose business helps small to mid-sized businesses with accounting, said it is the specialized expertise that he and other consultants will bring to Manufacturing Times and its training sessions that will help the company carve out a niche in the increasingly competitive online media market.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunities there, things we learned along the way that would be easy to convert into a training course,” he said, again adding that contributing and providing training will help an industry that has shed almost 38% of its workforce since February 1995.

But as with any business, Henderson is aware that he will have to find multiple revenue streams to take his idea from a dream to a profitable business. He said there are plans for at least two other ways to monetize the site besides conducting training sessions.

“Yeah, of course there will be the training. And there’s probably some level of advertising. And I’ve had people say if we do webinars, they’d actually buy up some of those leads from the webinars. You know, buying a list of people who’ve attended a webinar if they agree to have their name given out. That’s a possible revenue stream.”

As with any new business, Henderson said the key to success would be remaining flexible.

“I’m really just going to go with this and see what happens. Luckily, this is not the first website I’ve set up, so I can keep money as lean and as tight as possible and do most of this on my own. If money opens up, then certainly I’ll expand things. But if it stays lean, then I’ll probably keep (the operation small),” he said.

First Data Corporation, a large electronic payments processing company, reports softer spending patterns among consumers so far this holiday season. The report released Wednesday (Dec. 11) found overall retail spending in November rose 1.3% from a year ago, but slid backwards from the 5.6% spending uptick in October.

November dollar volume growth of 4.4% marked a downtick from October’s growth of 6.8%. Although the cold and dry weather at the end of the month offered perfect holiday shopping climate, several portions of the country earlier in the month dealt with blasts of snow hindering shopper foot traffic. Transaction growth slipped in November to 4.8% compared to last month’s growth of 6.2%.

Retailers have pulled out all the stops to get consumers into their stores and sweetened the enticements to spur online shopping as well, offering free home delivery and Sunday delivery in some areas. First Data notes that spending growth was strong at 9% on Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday. Given there are fewer shopping days this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, retailers took no chances and began offering deals early.

However, First Data found that retail spending growth cooled in November in spite of strong Black Friday turnout. Average ticket growth was down 0.3% in the month as retailers offered price discounts and gasoline price deflation took those receipts lower. One area that reported robust growth last month was travel and hotel merchants who cited 9% and 6.4% respective increases in receipts thanks to more consumers traveling for Thanksgiving.

“Although spending growth increased on a year-over-year basis, the growth slowed on a sequential basis as consumers were more modest in their purchases throughout the month as they prepared for the holiday shopping season,” said Krish Mantripragada, senior vice president for Information and Analytics Solutions at First Data. “We definitely see that consumers are more confident and have enjoyed stronger income growth in 2013 compared to 2012. This should encourage shoppers to open up their wallets as the holiday season progresses.”

Economists believe consumers are willing to hold out for the absolute best deals, which is why retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy have guaranteed shoppers the lowest price and will refund the difference in a gift card if the item can be bought cheaper in the next couple of weeks ahead of Christmas.

First Data reports that shoppers pulled back on retail spending for most of the month in anticipation of holiday deals at the end of November and they may continue to hold out for what they perceive as rock-bottom pricing.

Another report by IBIS World, a marketing research firm, expects consumer spending will end up 3.4% ahead of the 2012 holiday totals to a projected $68.9 billion. The report notes the government shutdown, sluggish income growth and sustained unemployment as the main threats to retailers reaching their sales goals this year. At the same time lower gasoline prices are helping to put a little more money in some pockets and a pullback in SNAP benefits is also being felt among lower income families.

IBIS World research expects gift expenses to generate $53.5 billion in sales, up 3.1% from a year ago, but note that fewer people will benefit. 
The trend this year is to shrink the circle as consumers pare down their list to a smaller group of friends and family, the firm predicts.


Two of the biggest gift giving categories are expected to be electronics (6.6% growth), driven by releases of new games and gadgets and jewelry expected to rise 7% from a year ago.
 Clothing and other apparel spending is expected to decline year-over-year, according to the report.


"Many consumers are opting for gatherings with close family and friends, particularly over food and drinks, instead of exchanging gifts with an extensive network," noted the company in a report.

About 111.7 million U.S. households will celebrate the holiday season this December, spending 3.9% more on average for a celebratory dinner than they did in 2012, IBIS World predicts. The firm also expects the holiday decoration segment to under perform the average holiday spending, growing only 2.9% from 2012 to less than $6 billion.

"Tight budgets and weak economic confidence are encouraging consumers to reuse decorations from previous years or make some themselves instead of buying new decorations," the report notes.

The foreclosure pace across Arkansas remains mixed as 2013 winds to a close. There were 469 foreclosure filings across the Natural State in November, down 5.25% from the year-ago period, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac.

The number of foreclosure filings nationwide totaled 113,454, down 37% from November 2012.
 
“While some of the decrease in November can be attributed to seasonality, the depth and breadth of the decrease provides strong evidence that we are entering the ninth inning of this foreclosure crisis with the outcome all but guaranteed,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “While foreclosures will likely continue to stage a weak rally in certain markets next year as the last of the distress left over from the Great Recession is dealt with, it is highly unlikely that there will be a foreclosure comeback that poses any major threat to the solid housing recovery that has now taken hold."

Northwest Arkansas areas differed in their reporting last month with 66 new foreclosure filings in Benton County, up 11% from a year ago. In neighboring Washington County there were 26 new filings, a 53% decline from November 2013.

The Fort Smith metro area was also a mixed bag with 17 new foreclosure listings in November, up 13% from a year ago for Sebastian County. Crawford County reported 11 new foreclosure filings, down from 13 filings a year ago.

Local real estate agents report the number of new foreclosed properties coming back into the markets of Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith metro area have been fairly stable at 360 listings as of Wednesday (Dec. 11). Crye-Leike agent Jim Long said the new HUD listings are few and far between with a smattering of properties from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the mix.

“We see a fairly large number of bank-owned properties on the market at this time. The listings range from $12,900 for one acre and an uninhabitable home, all the way up to two homes in Fayetteville listed at  $1.4 million,” Long said.

Last month Long reported there were 368 foreclosed homes listed for sale in the four counties included in this report. That number totaled 354 in September, down from 373 in August.

Foreclosure listings peaked at 393 in July, rising from 222 in March of this year. The listings have slowed a bit, according to Long, who said the clean, well-kept properties are still selling fast, as investors and cash buyers are back in the market.

RISING REDEFAULTS
Roughly 967,000 distressed homeowners took advantage of federal programs to obtain mortgage loan modifications intended to stem foreclosures since 2009. But the most recent report from the Inspector General indicates that nearly half of those mortgages modified in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are back in default.

The HAMP initiative has helped about 888,394 homeowners avoid foreclosure through permanent modifications since it began, but 337,854 had redefaulted by the end of September, according to the most recent government report. The Obama Administration has made multiple attempts to fix the program, including expanding the requirements for participation, paying investors more for principal reductions, and extending deadlines.

When it was first initiated, officials estimated that it would reach as many as 4 million homeowners, but closer to just 900,000 have been helped. And more than 1 million borrowers have been bounced out of the program either thanks to redefaulting after failing to make the first three payments during the trial process, failing to qualify, or for failing to finish a three-month trial.

In Northwest Arkansas the report indicated there had been 1,035 permanent modifications, with a redefault rate of 29%. The Fort Smith metro area reported 175 permanent modifications with a redefault rate of 23%. Nationwide the redefault rate has been 27%.

The Treasury reports homeowners with redefaulted loans serviced by the 8 largest mortgage companies have had mixed results since falling out of HAMP. As of Sept. 1, about one-third of borrowers were able to secure an alternative modification, usually a private sector modification. About 22% of the redefaulted loans have moved into foreclosure and 13% lost their homes through deed-in-lieu of foreclosure proceedings or short sales.

Arvest Bank has commissioned a large-scale consumer sentiment survey to measure and report the economic expectations and outlook of consumers in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. 

The survey will measure respondents’ opinions on their state’s economy for a comparison to the national Surveys of Consumers conducted by the University of Michigan for Thomson/Reuters. Conducted twice a year, the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey results will be shared with local media outlets and Arvest business customers.

The bank has commissioned four universities — the University of Arkansas, Missouri State University, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University — for the survey. 

The Arvest Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey, which measures the level of optimism on the state of the economy reflected by consumers’ activities of saving and spending, will be designed for direct comparison with the Thomson/Reuters Michigan survey.

The nationally representative Thomson/Reuters Michigan survey is reported on a monthly basis and is based on telephone interviews of households. It is included by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis as a factor in determining the Composite Index of Leading Indicators, a tool used by many economists to judge what is going to happen in the near future. Manufacturers, retailers, banks and the government monitor changes in consumer sentiment to factor the data in their decision-making processes.

The Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the University of Arkansas is leading the research team and the University of Oklahoma’s Public Opinion Learning Laboratory (POLL) will conduct the telephone surveys. CBER, Missouri State University and Oklahoma City University will analyze state level data and provide local analysis of the findings. 

CBER director Kathy Deck will be the lead researcher for the project and will provide evaluation and guidance for results within Arkansas. David Mitchell, director of the Bureau of Economic Research at Missouri State University, and Russell Evans, director of the Steven C. Agee Economic Research & Policy Institute at Oklahoma City University, will evaluate results for their respective states.

The first Arvest Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey data should be ready for public release in Spring 2014 after the survey is conducted in February. The next survey results will be released at the end of the third quarter.

The survey is designed to measure three primary indices mirroring the national consumer sentiment survey. Those indices are: Index of Consumer Sentiment; Index of Consumer Expectations; and Current Conditions Index.

“Arvest Bank has always been attuned to our customers and the markets we serve,” said Jason Kincy, marketing director for Arvest Bank. “To be consumer- and community-focused, we need to know our customers’ views on the economic climate as it applies to Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. This type of survey has long been needed on the state level and will help us better understand the economic mood of our friends and neighbors while providing factual guidance for our small business customers as to the economic mood in their markets.”

The survey will have sample size of 1,200 with 400 respondents from each state and margin or error of 4.2% at the state level.

“The University of Arkansas is pleased to work with Arvest in this endeavor that we feel will provide an incredibly valuable tool for consumers, businesses and policymakers within each of the three states to be surveyed,” Deck said.

The data is meant to provide a snapshot of consumer sentiment which is used by businesses to better understand their customer base. Economists like Deck, use the data to project outcomes in their economic forecast models.

The early start of winter usually signals seasonal slumber for the local real estate market, but despite softer overall sales in November a few agents are celebrating a record year.

MountData.com reports 461 Benton and Washington county home sales in November, down 4.5% from the same month last year. In Benton County agents sold 292 homes valued at $49.835 million. The number of units sold dropped 9%, while sales volume decreased 15.7% from November 2012. In Washington County sales rose slightly during November with 169 units valued at $30.853 million. This market rose 4% from a year ago.

Coldwell Banker, the largest local real estate firm, reported unit sales rose 12% in November, while total sales volume was up just 1%.

“We continue to write a great deal of new business, although that has decreased somewhat since September, which would account for the pullback in closed business in both October and November. Some of that decrease is seasonal, and some is due to the tremendous amount of business we did in the April to August period,” said George Faucette, CEO of the local Coldwell Banker franchise.

Harold Crye, CEO of Crye-Leike Real Estate, reports his firm bucked the downward trend last month with total sales volume rising 8% from a year ago, selling 177 homes across Benton and Washington counties.

“November was my best month in five years,” said Helen Dansker, Crye-Leike agent in Bella Vista.

QUICK SALE
Dansker recently listed a home in Bella Vista that went under contract at the first showing.

“It had been listed four days and the first couple to see it made a $244,000 cash offer on the spot. It happened so fast it totally caught the sellers off guard. These buyers were locating to Northwest Arkansas from Texas and wanted a quick closing,” Dankser said.

The buyers and sellers agreed to a quick closing with a delayed possession date. She said the sellers ended up renting the home from the buyers for one month while they shopped for another house.

“These sellers were able to find a smaller home that they liked in the same general neighborhood within a few days, but they had planned to have a large family gathering at Thanksgiving with several out-of-town guests and moving during that time just wasn’t feasible,” Dansker said.

WHAT’S NEXT
Nicky Dou, executive broker with Keller Williams in Fayetteville, said the snow and ice in recent days has not slowed her business.

“I have put two homes under contract this week. One of the subdivisions that I represent, Hyde Park, has had tremendous activity in the past two months with both pre-sales and existing homes. I also have four homes waiting for the snow to melt so that I can go list them. In short, the sales climate is hot unlike the weather in Northwest Arkansas,” Dou said.

She said prices have been steady in recent months, but predicts new home prices will rise in 2014.

“Buyers still think they can get good deals but it is harder and harder to find the fire sales and so I am trying to educate both buyers and sellers alike. For sellers, pricing correctly is key along with property marketing, good photography, etc.,” Dou said.

Faucette is also optimistic for 2014 citing the increase in new construction which should maintain the balance in the supply and demand of homes and help to keep overall pricing of homes from getting out of hand.

“We are seeing substantially fewer foreclosures and that segment of the market will continue to ameliorate over the next 18 to 24 months,” he added.

Dansker also looks forward to 2014 despite the cautionary concerns of a still somewhat sluggish overall national economy.

Mortgage applications declined each week during November, but turned positive to start December with a modest 1% increase for home purchases, according to Mortgage Bankers Association. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates that the full-year 2013 purchase mortgage volume will be up 11% year over year.

Bankrate reported Thursday (Dec. 12) that mortgage rates have held steady, with the 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.55%, unchanged from the previous week. The 15-year fixed rate was 3.6%, down slightly from 3.62% in the previous week.

RECORD YEAR

Dou said 2013 has been a good year doubling her production from 2012, after holding her income steady between 2011 and 2012.

Through 11 months of 2013, MountData reports 6,667 home sales in the two county area. Unit sales are up 17.3% from the same period last year. Total sales volume has exceeded $1.21 billion so far this year, up 22% from 2012.

Faucette, said through November his firm has seen sales volume rise 20% with 18% more units sold than last year’s time period.

Crye-Leike reports similar local numbers year to date with a 15% rise in the number of units sold this year. Total sales volume for the local Crye-Leike market totaled $353 million at the end of November, rising 17% from a year ago, according to Crye. He said his entire firm is on pace for another great year with $4.78 billion in sales through November, up 16% from 2012.

The rise is total sales volume has been boosted by rising prices throughout this year, but most agents expect to see home price appreciations begin to level off at around 3% annually in the local market.

If the Northwest Arkansas market tracks with the national market, 2014 could be another good year. Fitch Ratings reported Thursday a positive outlook for the U.S. housing sector in 2014, based on its view that the year would see “a slowly expanding economy.” The expansion could help maintain prices and consumer confidence.

“Home prices are likely to increase by 2.5%-3.5% next year with employment showing gains and consumer confidence likely to improve,” Fitch Managing Director Robert Curran said in the statement, adding that sales should benefit from new inventory.

MEDIAN PRICES
So far this year median sales prices have risen to $150,000 in Benton County, which is roughly $82.20 a square foot. One year ago the median price stood at $145,000 or $77.70 per square foot, according to MountData.com.

Washington County reports a median sales price of $148,000 or $85.70 per square foot. This compares to $139,000 or $81.40 per square foot one year ago. In the past two years median prices have risen 25% in Benton County while they climbed 23.9% in Washington County.

Market analysts said smaller inventory levels of new and existing homes and fewer distressed property listing comparisons are helping to fuel the price increase.

Home builders told The City Wire in recent months that 2014 would bring higher new home prices as land prices rise with new development and they continue to see higher material costs.

With more than 35 years of medical practice to his credit, Dr. Jerry Jones at Arkansas Children’s Hospital has seen things. As one of less than 20 physicians in the country board certified in Child Maltreatment, most of what he’s seen are cases no one ever wants to see.

“Child abuse cannot hide under the covers,” said Jones. “It’s not just a social problem or a medical problem or a public health problem. It’s a community problem and a legal problem and a business problem. No one group has a lock on this issue.”

The numbers around abuse in Arkansas are enough to turn anyone’s stomach. Roughly 11,000 cases of abuse were reported in Arkansas in 2011, the most recent year statistics are available. Experts estimate for every case that is reported, there are two unreported cases. According to the National Child Protection Training Center, abuse will cost the state of Arkansas $362 million over the lifetime of the children whose cases of abuse were confirmed in 2011. The cost would be higher, but children who are abused typically die 10-20 years sooner than counterparts who were not abused.

The $362 million represents:
• $25.29 million for acute medical treatment
• 29.97 million for mental health treatment
• $219.36 million for the child welfare system
• $272,416 for law enforcement costs
• $1.22 million for special education
• $4.20 million for early intervention programs
• $6.25 million for emergency/transitional housing
• $3.15 million for mental health and health care
• $25.16 million for juvenile delinquency
• $47.19 million for lost worker productivity

“Because of the cyclical nature of abuse, it’s not just one family that ends up disorganized, but many families are disorganized,” Jones explained. “But the thing is, we know how to break the cycle.”

However, knowing what to do and being able to fund it are two different things. That’s where the Quinn family and Heartland Bank entered the picture. Together, they will donate $1 million over the next five years to build a new Children’s House on the campus of Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The facility, when complete, will house physicians, counselors, trained interviewers, crisis interventionists, law enforcement officials and child advocates. The center will also serve as a training facility for child abuse professionals across the state.

“Over the past few years, we’ve been getting requests to support any number of causes,” said Walter Quinn, Partner and CEO of Rock Financial Partners, the holding company for Heartland Bank. “We didn’t want to give $100 here and there. We wanted to give a substantial gift to something that would make a difference in our community. This was it.”

Terry Quinn has been part of the ACH Auxiliary for many years. She’s seen first hand how the hospital is run and what a difference it makes in the lives of families across the state.

“It’s past time for people to stop saying, ‘Oh those poor abused children,’ and moving on. We need to do something about it. Getting the business community involved in this allows companies to recognize that they have people on the payroll who are hurting and need help, so we’re going to provide it,” she said.

The $6 million plan for Children’s House will move all of the services currently available for abuse recovery under one roof. Currently, if a child presents in a clinic or the emergency room or is reported through the child abuse hotline, the medical and mental health services they need are in three different buildings scattered around the ACH campus. Many people don’t complete recovery services, in part, because the process becomes too arduous to handle.

“Right now, it’s hard to coordinate treatment because all the different departments because they’re predominantly working in silos that don’t integrate well,” explained Jones. “We’ve got to change the mindset to change the outcomes.”

When the Heartland Bank and Quinn family gift was announced, Walter Quinn said an employee who was visibly emotional told him that she had experienced abuse in her family as a child. She plans to volunteer at Children’s House once it’s built.

This is an example of what the Quinns call the “power of philanthropy.” When other companies and business owners heard about their gift, they began to make pledges too.

Rebecca Rice and Associates recently pledged $1.1 million for the project and the Children’s Hospital Auxiliary pledged $1.5 million. The Quinns believe people in the state trust the vetting process they use for foundation gifts and want to “be a part of something good.”

“You can call it social issue, but that’s not all it is,” said Richard O’Brien, president and CEO of Heartland Bank. “It’s people who come to work every day, but they can’t do their jobs effectively because they’re worrying about their child or their sister or any number of situations. It needs to be acknowledged, and business needs to get behind a solution. Otherwise it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Dr. Jones warns that short-term success may not look like it strictly by the numbers.
As more families get help and education, more families will start to report behavior they may not have previously understood to be abuse, such as hitting or slapping a child.

Mothers with PTSD from an abusive situation will learn they don’t have to live with that anymore and seek help. The fear of upsetting extending family members by reporting abuse will ease enough to allow for follow-up counseling for children after their physical wounds have healed.

“Ultimately, our goal remains what it has always been,” said Jones, “for every family to leave here better than they arrived.”

Roughly one year behind schedule, Kunal Mody, CEO of Little Rock-based Reimagine Hospitality, said the Sheraton Four Points Hotel should open along Walton Boulevard in Bentonville sometime in early 2014 – that is if prolonged inclement weather does not get in the way.

“We have taken our time to get this right, carefully shopping the brand and working closely with our lender, Signature Bank, to make sure this new hotel not only meets, but exceeds expectations among business travelers to the Bentonville area,” Mody said during an a phone interview on Thursday (Dec. 12).

The new hotel will be located at the former Clarion site near Rainbow Curve in Bentonville. Joe’s Italian is set to open in the former Boston Pizza restaurant space attached to the hotel. Permits with Arkansas Health Department have already been filed for the restaurant. Mody said the restaurant should open about one month ahead of the hotel, likely in late January or early February.

“They are waiting on us at this point and there is still more construction to complete on the hotel side,” Mody said. “We are in the process of splitting the gas and water lines from the hotel to the restaurant so Joe’s can proceed with their opening.

He said the construction team is adding about 3,000 additional square feet of meeting space, a needed commodity in Bentonville. The former Clarion Hotel had roughly 26,000 square feet of convention space, which was the largest meeting area in Bentonville when it closed in September 2011, according to Kalene Griffith, CEO of the Bentonville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

Mody is not sure exactly how much meeting space will be available because the construction plan includes turning some of the open atrium area into meeting space. He said there is a full bar renovation and expansion as well as a lobby overhaul still yet to be completed.

The new hotel will have roughly 105 rooms in addition to the meeting space. Mody said Sheraton Four Points is a cross between Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn, which cater to the business traveler seeking comfort, functionality with modern decor.

“We know this location at 211 S.E. Walton is golden, given it’s proximity to Wal-Mart’s Home Office and the Sheraton Four Points should be a good fit for Bentonville. It’s a strong brand and part of the Starwood Property network. The Aloft Hotel in Rogers is the only other Starwood property in the local area,” he said.

A total hotel transformation takes time and Mody said he consulted with Sam Alley, co-owner of the Chancellor Hotel in downtown Fayetteville, who knows a thing or two about a massive hotel renovation.

“We consulted with Sam Alley’s firm VCC Construction and we are using Crossland Construction to do the work locally. We use local contractors and service providers  so that the community of Bentonville benefits from this project each step of the way. Our lender, Signature Bank, has also been a great partner in the planning phase as well as providing the necessary funds,” Mody said.

He declined to give the project costs at this time.

Third-quarter 2013 banking and other economic data released Thursday (Dec. 12) by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) show improvements in the state’s banking sector and continued signs of muted economic growth.

The quarterly FDIC state profile shows total nonfarm employment up 1%, an improvement over a 0.1% gain for the same period in 2012. For all of 2012, non-farm employment was up just 0.6% compared to 2011, and 2011 non-farm employment was up just 0.6% compared to 2010.

The average jobless rate in Arkansas during the quarter was 7.4%. Arkansas’ jobless rate in October was 7.5%, below the national rate of 7.3% in October. Arkansas' unemployment rate was lower than the national average for five years, with the trend reversing in 2013.

In other indicators, the number of single-family home permits issued statewide during the third quarter were up 5.8% and apartment and duplex permits were down 72.8%. Permits were up 35.7% and multi-family permits were up 137.5% in the third quarter of 2012.

The home price index was 1.4% in the third quarter, compared to a 0.9% increase in the third quarter of 2012 and a 0.7% increase during all of 2012.

The number of banking institutions in Arkansas in the third quarter was 126, unchanged from the third quarter of 2012 and unchanged from all of 2012. Total assets of the 126 banks grew to $62.298 billion in the third quarter from $60.505 billion in the third quarter of 2012 and from $61.289 billion for all of 2012.

Loan quality, which has been a persistent problem for many Arkansas banks, has improved in recent years. The ratio of past due and non-accrual loans to total loans was 2.4 in the third quarter of 2013, down from 2.97 in the third quarter of 2012. In all of 2012, the ratio was 2.93, down from the 3.17 in 2011.

Arkansas banks also are performing better well on the key metric of return on assets. The ROA average all 126 banks during the quarter was 1.01, just off the 1.05 during the third quarter of 2012, but better than the 0.98 in all of 2012.

Arkansas bank execs have approved more loan activity in recent years. The net loan to assets ratio was 59.92 in the quarter, higher than the 59.71 in the 2012 quarter. For all of 2012, the ratio was 57.03.

Arkansas’ top five largest deposit markets by metro area, based on June 2013 summary of deposits are:
• Memphis Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.: $23.519 billion, 60 banks in the market
• Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway: $14.238 billion, 37 banks in the market
• Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers: $8.277 billion, 38 banks in the market
• Fort Smith: $4.058 billion, 22 banks in the market
• Jonesboro: $2.791 billion, 19 banks in the market

Sales of homes in the Fort Smith region showed mixed results in November, with Crawford County beating November 2012's figures by 76.46% while Sebastian County's home sales figures dropped 25.98% for the same period.

In Crawford County, 50 homes were sold last month, showing a sales volume of $5.74 million, an increase from the same month last year when only 31 homes were sold for a sales volume of $3.253 million.

Sebastian County posted the sale of 72 homes valuing $9.546 million, down considerably from last year's 105 homes sold for a collective $12.896 million.

According to Betty Lyles, managing broker at Chuck Fawcett Realty's Van Buren office, Crawford County's drastic increase in home sales could be tied to Van Buren's upcoming loss of rural development loans, which allow some buyers to purchase homes with no money down and low closing costs.

"That's probably got a lot to do with it – trying to get in at the tail end of (the rural development loan). If you're not already in the pipeline, you won't get in."

The loans, Lyles said, will no longer be available to first-time buyers in the Van Buren market due to the city's estimated population now standing at more than 25,000. Should the Farm Bill be renewed, Van Buren would be among the cities to continue eligibility through the year 2020 based on population estimates. The bill would also raise the population limit defining a rural community to 35,000.

Besides rural development loans, Lyles said other drivers in the sales boom in Crawford County last month have been an influx of residents making a living in the medical field and buyers looking to get low interest rates before they go higher.

"The 3.5% (interest rates) are gone and I think it has scared people," she said. "But rates are still good. 4.5% is a good rate, but the 3.5% is probably going to be gone for good now."

But even with the surge in sales last month, Crawford County is still showing a decline in home sales for 2013 of 5.13%, while Sebastian County is showing an increase of 9.4% in year-to-date sales figures over 2012.

A contributing factor in Crawford County's decline, according to Lyles, is the number of higher-priced homes that aren't moving.

"You get up into the $300,000 range and it's really hard (to sell), unless someone specifically has the money to do it. It's just hard to move homes in that price range."

Average sale prices for 2013 reflect Lyle's claim, with Crawford County's average sale price at $111,816, a decrease from 2012's figure of $119,127, while Sebastian County's average sale price was $137,532 compared to $137,716 for the same month last year.

Overall, she said 2014 could be a good year for the housing market if other external factors work in the region's favor.

"If the overall economy straightens out a bit, I think that will help us," Lyles said. "But our area ... Arkansas has always been at the tail end of everything. And we've also had a lot of foreclosures and short sales, which has affected the market. But as those start going away, I think the market will start getting better."

Home Sales Data (January-November)
• Crawford County
Unit Sales
2013: 471
2012: 466

Total Sales Volume
2013: $52.665 million
2012: $55.513 million

Median Sales Price
2013: $106,250
2012: $112,000

• Sebastian County
Unit Sales
2013: 1,125
2012: 1,027

Total Sales Volume
2013: $154.724 million
2012: $141.434 million

Median Sales Price
2013: $115,000
2012: $118,000

D. Scott Hancock was recently tagged as the new divisional president for Northwest Arkansas following Centennial Bank’s acquisition of Liberty Bank, according to a press release from bank on Thursday evening (Dec. 12).

Hancock has served as executive vice president and chief lending officer of this region for 8 years, after serving as senior vice president of lending since joining Liberty Bank as it started in 2001.

“I am very excited about Scott leading our Northwest Arkansas division. He strong leader in a market that is very important to Centennial Bank,” said Davy Carter, regional president for Centennial Bank.
 
Hancock has 20 years experience in the financial services industry. He earned his master’s degree from University of Arkansas at Little Rock and bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

Hancock has served his community through several organizations including the New School Board Chair, AR Community Foundation-Fayetteville Area Board, Pagnozzi Charities Board and now the 2014 Fayetteville Chamber Board.

A resident of Fayetteville, he is married to Christie Hancock and has two children, Rylie and Cade. 

Hancock will be located in Centennial Bank’s Joyce Branch at 1400 East Joyce Blvd., Fayetteville.

The pace of housing growth, Obamacare jobs in Rogers and the possibility of a Walmart store on an Ivy League campus are part of the Northwest Arkansas Friday Wire for Dec. 13.

NOTES & ANALYSIS
• International intrigue
Wal-Mart officials have moved fast to create leadership certainty in the retailer’s international division. Just two weeks after saying Walmart International President and CEO Doug McMillon would be the next Wal-Mart Stores President and CEO beginning Feb. 1, the company named David Cheesewright to replace McMillon in the international top spot.

The international division will need stable leadership and a smooth transition to best deal with expected fallout from the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation into Wal-Mart’s international operations. Bribery allegations within the division were first made public in the April 2012.

• Top of the trend?
Home sales in Northwest Arkansas have been impressive for most of 2013, with the number of sales and the prices moderating slightly toward the end of the year. Will that moderation continue into 2014?

If prices don’t moderate, the region will have supported three consecutive years of significant home price increases.

In the past two years median prices have risen 25% in Benton County while they climbed 23.9% in Washington County. Market analysts said smaller inventory levels of new and existing homes and fewer distressed property listing comparisons are helping to fuel the price increase.

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 ...

• Economic optimism, regulatory concerns
Most of the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas business leaders who responded to an informal survey from The City Wire are optimistic about overall economic conditions in 2014, but worry that federal regulations and changes in healthcare will curtail the potential for growth.

• The foreclosure pace
Northwest Arkansas areas differed in their reporting last month with 66 new foreclosure filings in Benton County, up 11% from a year ago. In neighboring Washington County there were 26 new filings, a 53% decline from November 2013.

• Kudos on downtown NWA support
It’s no secret that numerous changes in residential, commercial and traffic patterns during the past several decades have resulted in the decay – if not abandonment – of thousands of downtowns around the U.S.

NUMBERS ON THE WIRE
$1.211 billion: The value of the 6,667 homes that sold in Benton and Washington counties through 11 months of 2013, according to MountData.com. Sales rose 22% from $990 million a year ago.

29%: The redefault rate for homeowners in Northwest Arkansas who sought mortgage modifications to stem foreclosure since 2009. The national redefault rate is 27% as of Oct. 1.

18.2%: Estimated percentage of Arkansas high school students who smoke.

3.4%: Estimate by IBIS World of how much holiday sales will increase over 2012 levels.

OUTSIDE THE WIRE
• Attention for Rogers
Serco has set up four facilities to handle paper applications for Obamacare coverage. Paper forms are mailed to a facility in London, Kentucky, where they are converted to an electronic format and sent to offices in Wentzville, Missouri, Lawton, Oklahoma, and Rogers, a city of 57,000 in northwest Arkansas.

• Ivy League Walmart?
Wal-Mart Stores, which operates 11,098 locations around the world, has opened three locations on college campuses since 2011, according to company spokesperson Deisha Barnett. Ivy League students interviewed for this story overwhelmingly opposed the idea of a Walmart opening up at their schools.

• The first female CEO in the U.S. auto industry
On the brink of failure in late 2008, the U.S. auto industry begged Washington for help. Five years later the industry has been rebuilt and has named it’s first female CEO Mary Barra at General Motors, a second generation autoworker to rise from the factory floor to the executive suite.

WORD ON THE WIRE
“The Walmart supplier market that we work within is expected to grow. As the millennials enter the job market, they will be reinventing the job descriptions needed to manage the ever-changing Walmart business. By 2015 they will represent over 50% of the Walmart supplier jobs.”
– Cameron Smith, CEO and founder of Rogers-based Cameron Smith Associates, on his expectations for the 2014 economy in Northwest Arkansas

“I have put two homes under contract this week. One of the subdivisions that I represent, Hyde Park, has had tremendous activity in the past two months with both pre-sales and existing homes. I also have four homes waiting for the snow to melt so that I can go list them. In short, the sales climate is hot unlike the weather in Northwest Arkansas.”
– Nicky Dou, executive broker with Keller Williams in Fayetteville, who said the snow and ice in recent days has not slowed her business

“Child abuse cannot hide under the covers. It’s not just a social problem or a medical problem or a public health problem. It’s a community problem and a legal problem and a business problem. No one group has a lock on this issue.”
– Dr. Jerry Jones, at Arkansas Children's Hospital, who is one of 20 board certified physicians in the U.S. on child maltreatment

Beautifying a major Fort Smith interchange, a big money push for the U.S. Marshals Museum and the hiccups of life are part of the Dec. 13 Friday Wire for the Fort Smith region.

NOTES & ANALYSIS
• Big gap to close
Those old enough to remember the Smokey and the Bandit movies probably remember the movie’s title soundtrack lyric, “We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there ...”

The same could be said of the effort by U.S. Marshals Museum employees to secure $25 million in donations prior to a planned September 2014 groundbreaking for the museum to be located in downtown Fort Smith along the Arkansas River.

Museum President and CEO Jim Dunn said in mid-August that the museum effort needs between $10 million and $15 million more to reach the “threshold” of between $30 million and $35 million needed to break ground and begin construction.

• Finally!
A group in Fort Smith is finally working to beautify and maintain the Interstate 540-Rogers Avenue interchange in Fort Smith – possibly one of the highest profile crossroads in the city.

According to Nancy Smreker, president of Beautify Fort Smith, the group has raised about $90,000 in funding to transform the interchange into an area landscaped with more than 4,000 shrubs and more than 100 trees. There are numerous great volunteers and companies stepping up to help, and they are all to be saluted for the effort – which will include other locations. The City Wire will stay tuned to this promising effort.

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 ...

• Fort Smith area jobless rate ticks higher in October
Small year-over-year gains in the Fort Smith metro workforce and the number of employed saw the October metro jobless rate fall to 7.3% compared to 7.5% in October 2012. However, the October rate increased from 7.2% in September.

• Economic optimism, regulatory concerns
Most of the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas business leaders who responded to an informal survey from The City Wire are optimistic about overall economic conditions in 2014, but worry that federal regulations and changes in healthcare will curtail the potential for growth.

• The museum push
Jim Dunn said the U.S. Marshals Museum leadership and staff have a lot to do in the next few months as they work to meet a Sept. 24 groundbreaking. The focus of that work will be on securing more than $25 million in donations for a museum expected to cost more than $50 million.

NUMBERS ON THE WIRE
$800,000: The amount of money the Sebastian County Quorum Court and the Fort Smith Board of Directors could jointly pour into the Ben Geren Aquatics Center above the already-committed $8 million should both approve an amended interlocal agreement for the project.

20,000: The number of Arkansas Valley Electric customers who lost power at the height of the Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 ice storm that blanketed the much of the Fort Smith region with more than a half-inch of ice.

18.2%: Estimated percentage of Arkansas high school students who smoke.

3.4%: Estimate by IBIS World of how much holiday sales will increase over 2012 levels.

OUTSIDE THE WIRE
• Obama’s Orwellian Image Control
The White House-based press corps was prohibited from photographing Mr. Obama on his first day at work in January 2009. Instead, a set of carefully vetted images was released. Since then the press has been allowed to photograph him alone in the Oval Office only twice: in 2009 and in 2010, both times when he was speaking on the phone. Pictures of him at work with his staff in the Oval Office — activities to which previous administrations routinely granted access — have never been allowed.

• The first female CEO in the U.S. auto industry
On the brink of failure in late 2008, the U.S. auto industry begged Washington for help. Five years later the industry has been rebuilt and has named it’s first female CEO Mary Barra at General Motors, a second generation autoworker to rise from the factory floor to the executive suite.

• Ivy League Walmart?
Wal-Mart Stores, which operates 11,098 locations around the world, has opened three locations on college campuses since 2011, according to company spokesperson Deisha Barnett. Ivy League students interviewed for this story overwhelmingly opposed the idea of a Walmart opening up at their schools.

WORD ON THE WIRE
“We have seen a number of positives occur recently which bodes well for the coming year. Company expansions along with new companies moving to the (Fort Smith) area provide a ray of hope, especially when coupled with the efforts of the state in incentivizing economic development throughout Arkansas.”
– Mike Callan, president of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp., and chairman of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, on his thoughts about economic conditions in 2014

"I wish things would work faster and there wouldn't ever be a hiccup, but that's not how life is. I think planning and getting the right plan together is critical. Yeah, would I like to see the police station under construction now? Sure. But you have to put time into planning to make sure it's the right thing instead of just jumping at it and later saying I wish we would have done this.”
– Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman, explaining why more progress has not been made on projects to be built using funds from a 1% sales tax passed by voters in late 2012.

“It’s easy to do, first of all. We’re very involved with manufacturing issues and we see a lot of things people are doing great and a lot of problems people are having and we try to leverage the things people are doing well and highlight areas needed for improvement and put them in one place. For myself, if it means putting in some efforts to help somebody and also benefitting my business, then it’s a win-win for everybody involved.”
– Allen Engstrom, chief executive officer of CFO Network, explaining why he is partnering with web satirist Greg Henderson as a contributor to his new and completely serious web venture Manufacturing Times

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. named Krish Iyer as the new CEO and president of its Indian unit, effective January 20. He replaces Ramnik Narsey, who served in the interim since June, after the departure of Raj Jain, who headed up Wal-Mart’s business venture with Bharti.

This is the second announcement this week of management promotions within Walmart International. On Tuesday (Dec. 10) David Cheesewright was named the new CEO of Walmart International. He will step into that role on Feb. 1 when Doug McMillon takes the reigns from the retiring Mike Duke.

Iyer joined Walmart International unit in 2012 as a senior vice-president. In October Wal-Mart announced it was dissolving it joint venture with Bharti and moving ahead on its own.

Late last year, Walmart Bharti suspended several employees, including the chief financial officer, as part of an internal investigation into bribery allegations in India.

Wal-Mart continues work with federal regulators regarding the Federal Corrupt Practice Act allegations and has stepped up its own internal compliance protocol.

NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s Office of Learner Support Services has recently completed a major reorganization, promoting four educators in the process.

Since assuming the role of NWACC President, Dr. Evelyn E. Jorgenson has consistently addressed the importance of increasing the college’s student completion and retention rates. As a part of that focus, learner support services has completed its reorganization, which includes the merging of the admissions and advising offices and the creation of an associate dean that will oversee the area of student success.

The NWACC Office of Admissions & Advising will serve as a true “one-stop” office to assist students entering the college, said Dr. Todd Kitchen, vice president for learner support. The office will provide support to students with a primary focus on advising and placement through students’ first 15 credit hours of coursework.

Zach Pharr has been chosen as the new director of Admissions & Advising, the release states.

The college’s academic success center will assume responsibility for outreach to students requiring tutoring and other academic support, as well as a new focus on serving students in jeopardy of not being in “good academic standing.”

Eric Vest will assume the role of director of the Academic Success Center.

The office of the associate dean for student success will have the primary responsibility of overseeing the college’s retention and success initiatives. This will include the full-implementation of “Success Planner,” an online networking and intervention tool for faculty, staff, and students, as well as the academic success center, career services and the transfer advising office.

Tay Sha Carter has been selected to serve as the associate dean for student success. Brooke Holt, dean of learner services, will also assume responsibilities for leadership of the office of student records.

In other changes earlier this academic year, Dr. Patrice Whitely was named director of the Title III grant program. She previously has been the director the NWACC Academic Success Center.

Other leaders within the Learner Support Services team include Dale Montgomery, dean of students, and Brenda Green, dean of off campus learning programs.

Adam Rutledge has been named CEO and president of First Security Bank's Northwest Arkansas market.

Jim Taylor, who had served as president of the market, will continue a leadership role as senior vice president of the bank’s parent company, First Security Bancorp, in Little Rock.

Rutledge, who has played an integral role in the growth of the Northwest Arkansas market as senior vice president and commercial lender, will be responsible for day-to-day management of the northwest Arkansas region, according to a press release on Friday (Dec. 13).

"We are positioning First Security Bank for the future," said Reynie Rutledge, chairman and CEO of First Security Bancorp. "Adam will follow behind Jim to continue our focus on growth in Northwest Arkansas. Adam has a true passion and a commitment for the region and is a true asset to the team."

Rutledge is active in the Northwest Arkansas community serving as board member and volunteer for Life Source International; participating in WorkMatters; and serving on the Walton College of Business Alumni Society Board.