Food insecurity is a problem that has only grown in severity since the financial crisis of 2008, according to a local food bank executive. Arvest Bank is teaming up with local organizations to reduce the number of hunger in the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas regions.

Arvest Bank has partnered with the Rice Depot, the Community Services Clearing House and more than a dozen other organizations to collect nonperishable food items at its branch locations across the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas regions in an effort to fight hunger.

According to Ken Kupchick, director of marketing and development at the River Valley Regional Food Bank in Fort Smith, events that raise awareness of the issue of food insecurity facing our neighbors and friends are needed to bring an end to the crisis.

"The issue of hunger has been on ongoing one and at the height of the recession, it captured the hearts of so many people," he said. "Memories are sometimes short. There is a bit of issue fatigue, so having events like this is really important. Hunger has lagged the recession in terms of impact and is a bigger problem now than in '09 and 2010, so events like this and September being Hunger Action Month, it's very important.”

According to data provided by the River Valley Regional Food Bank, three of the top four counties in the state of Arkansas for food insecurity by total population are Washington County (34,740 people), Benton County (31,160), and Sebastian County (22,640). The only county in the state to outpace the three local counties was Pulaski County with 78,100 people, or 20.4% of its population, facing food insecurity.

When it comes to the number of children facing food insecurity, the top 10 list of overall population includes the four counties from Fort Smith to the Missouri border. Benton County comes in second place with 14,840 children facing food insecurity, followed by Washington County (14,100), Sebastian County (9.440) and Crawford County comes in 10th place with 4,760 children facing food insecurity.

Kupchick said efforts like those at Arvest Bank are part of the solution to fighting hunger. And he said not only does it help local men, women and children get fed, but it also helps the local economy to fight food insecurity.

"By helping people feed their families, we're also helping pay their bills, put gas in the car and take care of themselves," he said. "It means people are more productive and the motor of the economy is fueled. The benefits go far beyond the obvious.”

And while it may seem like a daunting task to raise a million meals as Arvest is attempting to do, figures from the River Valley Regional Food Bank show just how efficiently an individual can be fed.

In Sebastian County alone, providing a meal to someone who is facing food insecurity only costs $2.54 per meal. In Washington County, the figure is only $2.56 while Crawford County's total is $2.66. In Benton County, the average meal is only $2.65.

Kupchick noted figures from the Hunger in America study that showed the food insecurity problem in America is affecting all groups.

Nearly all individuals receiving assistance at food pantries are American citizens, according to the study, while only 1% are homeless. Eight out of 10 are white non-Hispanics and seven out of 10 have at least a high school diploma. Ten percent of those receiving assistance are labeled as having had professional or managerial careers, the study said.

According to Kupchick, events like the Million Meals campaign are what drive awareness of the facts, but locals still may not be aware that those using the shelter are by and large working adults trying to feed their families.

"So many people that we help are employed and working. What used to be an emergency provision due to unexpected medical expenses or short term unemployment … we're now feeding people that are chronically dependent on food pantries to make it month to month. That's the difference we're seeing.”

The Million Meals campaign will kick off Friday (Sept. 5) at the Arvest Bank Tower in Fort Smith at 10 a.m. on the fourth floor. The plan, according to Vice President and Marketing Director Beth Presley is to pack 7,500 meals in one hour during the event.

The Arvest Plaza branch on the Fayetteville Square will meet Saturday, Sept. 13, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in an attempt to pack 10,000 meals. Other branches across Northwest Arkansas will be hosting events, as well. For more information, contact individual branches.

The proposed Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine announced the formation of an atypical construction management partnership at the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Breakfast this morning (Sept. 5).

According to Kyle Parker, president and CEO of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, Beshears Construction and Nabholz Construction in Fort Smith brought strengths to the table when applying for the construction manager position.

"But individually, they would not have won the bid," he said, adding that Beshears had expertise in construction of educational facilities while Nabholz is ranked 22nd in the United States for healthcare facility construction.

"They've done over $1.5 billion alone in the last five years in healthcare building," Parker said of Nabholz.

Nabholz will manage all of the pre-construction work, pricing and implementation of energy efficiency standards before construction, Parker said.

ENERGY SAVINGS
In the area of energy efficiency, Parker said the new osteopathic school — which will be housed in a three story, 100,000-square-foot building valued at more than $31 million in Chaffee Crossing — would include many energy efficiency features unique to the medical school. Parker is familiar with energy efficiencies, having worked with officials at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to save more than $1.4 million per year in energy savings through his work as the university's former vice chancellor of operations.

Working with Nabholz and Beshears, Parker said he knew the right energy questions to ask and was able to work with the companies to get amenities such as darkened skylights, a specially-designed roof that is cooler than typical as well as the college having its own wells dug on site to water lawns and provide some of the school's water needs versus having to tap the city of Fort Smith's water supply for all of its needs.

The companies themselves expressed excitement about the unique construction management arrangement for the project.

"We are so very excited to be working with the college and the community on this project," said Travis Beshears, executive vice president of Beshears Construction. "Not only does it represent keeping the construction responsibility local, but it's the first time we've had the opportunity to partner with another local group on something of this scale."

Rob Dodd, senior project manager at Nabholz, said the company was excited to be a part of "something so special and important to the region."

"Combining the talent and resources of both our firm and Beshears will mean the college will get unprecedented focus and quality for the project. As a lifelong resident of Fort Smith, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in a project that promises to have such a positive impact on the community."

Parker said using the two companies allowed the ACHE to keep management local and pump money back into the local economy while advancing the school from a proposed concept to reality.

"Our team is very pleased that both Beshears and Nabholz could be a part of this effort," he said. "From the very beginning, our Board of Trustees had a goal of trying to keep as much of the work local as possible. This is a significant step in that direction."

MORE MONEY SUPPORT
In addition to announcing the construction management partnership on Friday, Parker also announced funding from the federal Economy Development Agency in the amount of $1.2 million which he said would be used to expand Chad Colley Boulevard in front of the medical school, as well as construct a new road into the school's site.

Parker also broke news of a $200,000 gift to the school from the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, bringing total donations and other funding committed in some form to the proposed school up to $106.9 million, according to figures included in Parker’s presentation on Friday.

The largest amount of funding — $60 million — came from the Degen Foundation, while an additional $14 million came from an anonymous donor. The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority donated the land valued at $5 million while the city of Fort Smith has committed to infrastructure and other improvements in and around the site of the school at a cost of $1.5 million.

Additionally, Parker said a “local financial institution” has offered to loan the school $25 million at an interest rate below the market rate.

"That puts us at $107 million (of access to working capital)," Parker said, adding that while the school did not require a loan for operations, it would "be crazy" to not take the offer of credit at such a low rate.

All of the donations, community support and the offer of below-market lending, he said, is overwhelming.

"I mean it straight up — I've been overwhelmed with the generosity of the community involvement," Parker said.

And it is more than just monetary contributions from the community, but also time the community is putting in. Parker announced the addition of four local doctors to the ACHE Board of Trustees including Drs. Cole Goodman, Chris Greer, Esther Tompkins and Jim Zini. The four join Chair John Taylor, Vice Chair David Craig, Secretary/Treasurer Ronnie Hawkins, Jeff Beauchamp, Dr. Judy Boreham, Dr. Benny Gooden, Jim Patridge, Karen Pharis and Mike Rappeport on the Board.

MOVING THE NEEDLE
Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Allen said the financial show of support was an easy decision.

"There's never a magic formula on our participation. We sat down with Kyle and his team and said, 'Look, there's a lot of people already participating. What can we do?' So, we sat down and we identified some capital expenditures within the building and on the property,” Allen said. “And so the Chamber, we have limited funds like most chambers do, but we just felt there was enough passion behind this thing to say, 'Hey, look, we've got to be a part of it. Let's drive it home.'"

In order to receive the full funding, Allen said the school would have to meet certain unspecified contractual deadlines for construction and other aspects of getting the school operational. Once obligations are met, funding would be released to the school, he said.

Allen said the deal will “move the needle” in terms of economic impact for the region.

"For me, the school is awesome in itself. But you heard the residency story and 70% of the people who go through the school, they're here for such a very long time and they end up usually staying in the community. (It is) good for real estate agents and the ripple effect through the community of the selling of houses, the leasing of apartments. I mean, it really is the type of project that actually moves the needle in a community for a very long time. A $100 million impact … it just doesn't get any better than that, right? It's awesome."

CONSTRUCTION, ACCREDITATION TIMETABLE
The news kept coming from Parker Friday, announcing in addition to the construction managers, funding for the school and the new board members that bids would be put out later Friday for pad work for the school, with the hope of awarding the bids by Sept. 15 and getting bulldozers on site to complete the pad site before letting the bid on the initial more than $31 million in building, parking and other facility construction.

The plan, he said, was to have construction complete by April 2016 so the first cohort of students could begin classes by that fall.

While plans are advancing to get the school from concept to reality at Chaffee Crossing, plans are also advancing to get the school from concept to reality academically, as well.

Parker said reserves have been established in compliance with the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA), and that applications had been put in for accreditation with the commission for accreditation. He said ACHE expects to hear back from COCA in the next 15-30 days regarding an on-site visit, with an expected Dec. 2 pre-accreditation hearing to follow.

"At that point, at pre-accreditation, we have to have under contract our associate deans and there are three associate deans that have to be under contract. Of which, we have all three of them. We're going to announce that closer to the end of December because they're under contract right now and they're not here in Arkansas. We're bringing them all in (from around the nation)," he said.

The school also established more than 200 slots for residencies for its students. Parker said recruiting of students for the first 150-student class scheduled to begin in fall 2016 could begin once the school receives provisional accreditation, which is expected as soon as April 2015.

If you’re tired of Republicans and Democrats, there may be an alternative for you in the November election.

In the Governor’s race, the focus has been on major party candidates Democrat Mike Ross and Republican Asa Hutchinson.

Two other candidates who have qualified for the ballot are Libertarian candidate Frank Gilbert and Green Party nominee Josh Drake. Both men appeared on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics for an extended political roundtable conversation.

A constable in the Dekalb Township of Grant County, Gilbert is a former mayor of Tull and has served as coroner for Grant County. He’s also a former president of the Bauxite Education Association. Gilbert graduated from Van Buren High School, attended Ouachita Baptist University, and is a U.S. Navy veteran. He has had a career in private security and serves as a minister of Universal Life Church.

Drake, a Hot Springs attorney, was born in Germany. He graduated college from Rhodes in Memphis and received his juris doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law. Active in several civic organizations in Garland County, Drake has run for office before. He’s been a Green party candidate for U.S. Congress in the Fourth District in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

As statewide candidates this year, both Gilbert and Drake hope to pull at least 3% of the general election vote in order to help their political parties meet a threshold for recognition as a political party in future elections.

On key issues, Gilbert and Drake have major differences with each other and the major party candidates; take taxes for instance.

Drake likes Mike Ross’ income tax bracket reform proposal, which would retroactively index Arkansas income tax brackets taking a 1997 state law and applying it to the 1971 realignment of the tax code. However, Drake thinks there needs to be a higher income tax percentage on larger incomes.

“I think we should be raising them [taxes] to some extent,” Drake said. “The family making $50,000 a year in Arkansas pays the same percentage of taxes as the family making $5 million and I don’t think that’s fair. ... The people that are making the money, that are doing the best, they can more afford to pay a higher percentage of their taxes because this economy, this economic environment we have, is obviously good for them.”

Drake also advocates for an eventual elimination of the sales tax, which he says disproportionately hurts lower income families.

“It hurts the hard-working people that are working 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week and spending every dime they make on groceries and fuel and rent and education for their kids and clothes and so forth. They put it back in the economy,” he said.

Gilbert wants to eliminate the personal income tax completely. As income taxes account for nearly half of state tax revenues, Gilbert said it couldn’t be done all at once without wreaking havoc on state services. But he says it could be done over a multi-year period.

“If there was a switch, I’d throw it,” Gilbert said, acknowledging that the state Legislature would likely buck such an effort. “Corporate welfare in Arkansas is $200 million a year. We can cut that back. The average Arkie is not going to feel it, the fat cats that are getting it aren’t going to feel it that much either and they don’t’ deserve it anyway.”

“I would go as far as selling the Governor’s mansion,” he added as a symbolic gesture to cutting what he perceives as unnecessary government expenses.

Rick Webb is tasked with helping solve big problems and improving global processes at the world’s largest retailer. He leads a team of other engineers dispersed around the planet who depend on science, technology and math.

Webb, keynote speaker at the recent ARK Challenge Demo Day in Bentonville, said there are not enough advanced degreed scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians (STEM) in or entering the workforce. It’s why Wal-Mart and other STEM advocates continue to push for more educational opportunities.

He said engineering schools and universities need to do a better job integrating the colleges of business and technology with engineering and math disciplines so the graduates are better equipped to work on complex problems.

ENGINEERING PUSH
Wal-Mart’s fascination with hiring engineers is not new, according to retired Wal-Mart exec Andy Wilson. 

“The fascination of engineers have been going on for many years and it begin when Sam was alive. Sam understood that our competitive advantage was developing a distribution and supply chain systems. Building stores, stockrooms, transportation of merchandise, customer traffic flow, and flow of merchandise from stockroom to sales floor shelf has to be accomplished at a high rate of speed and efficiency. Every time a person touches a piece of merchandise it reduces the profit on the item and adds cost,” Wilson told The City Wire.

“The use of engineers has increased over the years due to size of stores, distribution and supply chain cost  and high sales per square foot to help control cost and improve efficiency,” Wilson added.

Over the past few years the retailer has added at least 600 engineers to its ranks to continually look at each process from the supplier to store shelves with goals of streamlining logistics and reducing costs.

“The bottom line is that engineers are critical to accomplishing the global footprint and profitability of Wal-mart,” Wilson said.

OPTIMIZING RETAIL WITH STEM
Webb said in his prior job with Walmart U.S., his team was focused on optimizing supercenter performance. Today as a senior vice president of Wal-Mart’s global system processes, Webb said his international team of engineers look at “whole” problems on a global scale.

“We see Wal-Mart as a global operation taking the best practices — those we build and  those we borrow from other retailers — configure ways to efficiently implement them on time. Take grocery delivery, which is already successful at ASDA, the next step was to build out a cross-functional team in Denver to fully test this service in the U.S.,” Webb said.

He said creating solutions with the use of technology is just part of the job because real solutions also must include process applications down to the hourly employee level. For instance, the new “Pickup Grocery” delivery model slated to open soon in Bentonville involves many processes that have to be perfected after the technology solution is complete.

“This Drive Up Grocery solution is a new concept in the U.S. but it’s quite common in France. In order for Wal-Mart to test it here, there was a lot of collaborative work to do to get this up and running,” Webb said.

He explained that on the tech side it starts with website capabilities that are user friendly with electronic and digital payment options. He said the logistics team that gets the order also will get some type of routing detail that tells them where the product is located in the small warehouse, so they don’t wander around looking for each item.

But the pickers also have to be trained in processes that require human discernment. For instance, what constitutes a ripe and suitable tomato for a customer who orders a pound or two online?

He said the consumer will scan their phone receipt into the kiosk when they enter the Drive Up facility. They will be prompted to pull into a covered lane area where they will wait for their order to be delivered within five minutes by an hourly employee.

Webb said complete cross-functional teams including engineers were put in place by Wal-Mart for Denver home delivery test and new Pickup Grocery center in Bentonville.

STEM ADVOCATES
Webb said Wal-Mart is working to boost STEM education around the world. Karenann Terrell, chief information officer for Wal-Mart Stores and an engineer, recently shared similar concerns for the lack of engineers and technologies available for hire.

At the NWA Tech conference in August, Terrell said Wal-Mart is a retailer and that will never change, but it’s also tech invested and that’s the future for giving customers what they demand. She said Northwest Arkansas institutions must do a better job with STEM education.

“We have the opportunity here to make the University of Arkansas great. Wal-Mart and other companies have to be able to co-exist with entrepreneurial ventures and companies have to elevate the role of technology within their corporations investing in talent,” Terrell said.

Webb agreed, saying that with “Big Data” usage now becoming mainstream, demand will rise around the world and in all business sectors for technologists and engineers. He said the region, state and nation needs to do more to support STEM education, which he said is now a fragmented effort. 

“The world is watching,” Webb said.

Supervising an army of more than 500 IT and computer scientists, Terrell said the UA and most colleges have to put more emphasis on computer science graduates because just one in 17 technologists nationwide graduate with a degree in computer science. Terrell said technologists now working in retail today often earned a business degree

“As we see the business school’s entrepreneurial program feed the talent pool, there is much more to be done in computer science education,” Terrell said. “If we don’t, we will miss an opportunity.”

STAY FASCINATED
Webb also is a strong advocate for mentoring others who work and innovate with technological applications. He said the time he spends mentoring startup teams in Northwest Arkansas is one of the ways he keeps abreast of the newest ideas and technology uses.

“I have been challenged with staying fascinated in the midst of the constant retail grind. Working with these startup teams of entrepreneurs (NWArk Challenge) gives me a glimpse of what’s coming and I am always looking for applications for Wal-Mart,” Webb said.

He adds although 95% of Wal-Mart’s efforts are still focused on making sure its stores run smoothly and efficiently, it’s crucial to embrace the 5% spent on innovation.

“My supervisors have challenged me to plug into mentoring and other advocate positions that help to support STEM education and innovation. This leads me to wonder what we all might accomplish if we collaborate with this common purpose and a singular vision,” Webb said.

Mary Beth Brooks, president and CEO of Bank of Fayetteville, has been appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe as a member of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the 16-member panel that provides guidance and direction to the state agency focused on job recruitment and retention.

She replaces Mary Ann Greenwood, chairman of Fayetteville-based Greenwood Gearhart Inc., and the appointment expires Jan. 14, 2017.

The University of Arkansas graduate grew up in Fort Smith, the daughter of the politically active and politically connected Mary Ellen and Brad Jesson. Her more than 26 years in banking has included stops in Fort Smith, Little Rock and Memphis.

Brooks, 49, also is a member of the Northwest Arkansas Council, a member of the Fayetteville Public Schools foundation board, advisory board member for the Yvonne Richardson Community Center, is a former board member of the Beaver Water District and former board chair of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.

Brooks is married to U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks, who was confirmed March 5 as a federal judge for the Western District of Arkansas.

“I’m as honored as I can be. I love Arkansas and I’m such an advocate and I’m ready to do anything to help,” Brooks said Monday when asked about the appointment. “If you look at the (AEDC) list, you will see there are a lot of accomplished people on it, and I just hope to be able to be a contributor.”

Brooks said the post will also give her another chance to tour Arkansas. The last time she was able to frequently visit different parts of the state was in the 1980s as a bank examiner. She looks forward to learning more about economic development efforts around the state and then compare those to what is happening in Northwest Arkansas.

“All of that could shed some light on lessons learned, in Northwest Arkansas or wherever, ... and then how we use those to make the state better. Whatever is good for one part of the state is good for the entire state,” Brooks said.

Fayetteville native Mike Malone, the president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, has known Mary Beth Brooks since he returned to Northwest Arkansas in 2006.

“Mary Beth Brooks is a great business leader in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas,” Malone said in a statement. “She understands economic development through her banking experience and in the roles she’s taken on with the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Arkansas Council. She’ll do a fantastic job with the AEDC.”

Other AEDC members are:
• Stuart Dalrymple, president of Dalrymple Commercial and Residential;
• Ed Drilling, president of ATT Arkansas;
• Steve Edwards, owner and president of Food Giant Supermarkets;
• Doug Falls, president of Trinity Lighting;
• Gene Hill, president and CEO of Highland Industrial Park (east Camden);
• Loutelious Holmes, assistant superintendent of federal programs, West Memphis High School;
• Thomas Kirk, chairman and president of Tom Kirk Chevrolet and Kirk Equipment Co.;
• Chester Koprovic, chairman of Boyd Metals and Kopco Inc.;
• John Lipton, former member of the Arkansas Highway Commission;
• Jack McNulty, partner, Bridges Law Firm;
• Shelby Moore, owner of Moore Properties;
• Mike Roberts, president, Roberts Law Firm;
• Steve Ronnel, vice president of Metal Recycling Corp.;
• Lee Webb Jr., president of Bellwether Industries; and
• Lang Zimmerman, vice president of Yelcot.

Other Northwest Arkansas residents were included in Monday’s announcement of board and commission appointments.
• John Paul Davis, Fayetteville, to the Criminal Detention Facility Review Committee, Judicial District #4. Appointment expires Jan. 14, 2017. Replaces Boyce Davis.

• Patricia Kulish, Fayetteville, to the Arkansas State Board of Massage Therapy. Appointment expires Aug. 20, 2017. Replaces Lisa Douglas.

• Melinda McIlroy, Fayetteville, reappointed to the State Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board. Appointment expires July 31, 2017.

• Michelle Stephens, Bentonville, to the Arkansas Early Childhood Commission. Appointment expires July 1, 2017. Replaces Debbie Malone.

• Elizabeth Williams, Fayetteville, to the Board of Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Appointment expires June 30, 2017. Replaces Donna Edgmon.

• To the Advisory Council for the Education of Gifted and Talented Children: Dustin Seaton, Fayetteville. Replaces Eunice Thrasher. Appointments expires July 20, 2017.

The rash of earthquakes plaguing the state of Oklahoma have the state's governor and insurance head pushing for new regulations for insurance agents, but at least one local agent said any consumers fearing the big one should probably not worry.

The new emergency rule authorized by Gov. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., would require agents selling plans in the state, which could include Arkansas-based agents selling to consumers across the state line in Oklahoma, would require at least one hour of continuing education involving earthquake insurance every two years.

"This emergency rule will ensure insurance agents in our state stay up-to-date on earthquake information," Fallin said. "It's important as the market for earthquake insurance expands in Oklahoma that residents get reliable and accurate information from insurance agents to help them consider whether they need this additional coverage."

According to Michael McNutt, Fallin's press secretary, the new continuing education rule will affect any insurance agencies licensed to do business in the state of Oklahoma beginning Jan. 1, 2015, meaning many Arkansas agencies doing business over the border will be impacted.

Nathan Cooper, an agent with State Farm's Brad Scott Insurance in Fayetteville, said the rules will be new for many agents in the area since Arkansas has functioned like Oklahoma for many years, not requiring earthquake insurance education. Even though neither state has required the professional education hours in the past, Cooper said when customers have asked, he and others in his office have been educated on what are known as "riders" on homeowners and renters policies.

According to Cooper, while the frequency of earthquakes has increased in central Oklahoma with some even being felt as far away as Arkansas, there is not much reason for Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas area residents to run out and buy a policy.

"I would say for my clients, 90-95% of them do not have earthquake coverage just because of the part of the state we live in and the threat is not imminent like it is in the eastern part of the state (near and along the New Madrid Fault Line)," he said.

For individuals interested in earthquake coverage, he said earthquake coverage is typically covered in most homeowners policies — at least the ones he sells through State Farm — and actually require a written opt-out form to drop the coverage from a typical homeowners policy. As a result, many times the issue is discussed with customers whether they inquire about coverage or not.

Cooper said the key to whether you might need to consider coverage in a non-seismically active area like eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas is how your home is constructed. He said if a home is a typical frame home, there would be enough give to allow for swaying in the unlikely event of an earthquake. But for brick or stucco homes, or homes that are multi-story, he said it would not be a bad idea to keep the earthquake rider or add one if your policy does not already cover earthquake damage.

The total cost will run between $50 and $70 per year on average depending on the price of your home and the level of coverage. The deductible, he said, would also be a factor.

But even though local residents are not near active seismic zones, he said professional education like Oklahoma is mandating is not a bad idea since agents near seismic zones in central Oklahoma and eastern Arkansas need to be able to accurately discuss coverage and costs with customers.

"The closer you get to a real active fault, those (insurance) options (and costs) change," he said, adding, "The greater the risk, the greater the cost."

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak echoed Cooper sentiments, adding that the continuing education requirement for agents like Cooper and others who may do business in Oklahoma was important for consumers wanting to know their options in terms of earthquake coverage.

Whirlpool submitted a proposed supplement to its Final Remedy Work Plan on Monday (Sept. 8) to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality that would add additional injections of chemical oxidant combined with soil removal to remedy an area near the northwest corner of the Whirlpool site where additional trichloroethylene (TCE) has been found.

The potentially cancer-causing TCE was used as part of a degreasing agent by Whirlpool until the 1980s at its now-closed Fort Smith plant. According to Kristine Vernier, senior manager of global public relations at Whirlpool, the supplement builds "on the remediation activities that are already underway.”

There are four areas of remediation activities proposed for a portion of the TCE plume known as "Area 1" that is found on the Whirlpool site's northwest corner. The first of the proposed activities involves removal of nearly 300 cubic yards of TCE-impacted soil using "large diameter borings.”

"This impacted soil will be properly characterized and permitted for disposal off site," according to a press release from Whirlpool. "Soil removal provides certainty regarding the effective removal of TCE impact in soil in Area 1 and the linear drainage area.”

Following the removal of the soil, Whirlpool's environmental consultants at ENVIRON propose placement "of crushed limestone backfill in the large diameter borings to increase the naturally low Ph of groundwater in Area 1 and the linear drainage feature to enhance natural attenuation of TCE in groundwater and provide a platform for potential future activities.”

Whirlpool has also proposed a third round of chemical oxidation injections that would take place at the northwest corner of the closed factory site and the drainage feature "via permanent and temporary injection points to remediate TCE impacts characterized in saturated soil and groundwater in the vicinity.”

The company said the supplement submitted to ADEQ on Monday was consistent with what was outlined to the Fort Smith Board of Directors at its July 8 study session. Whirlpool said the supplemental work would take place under the "Adaptive Remedy Approach" that is being used at the TCE plume site. The plume extends north of the Whirlpool site, under dozens of homes which have seen their values reduced by the Sebastian County Assessor's Office, some by more than 50%.

A class action lawsuit filed by residents in the area has seen an offer of settlement made to residents impacted by the contamination, though it is unclear how many have accepted the offer from Whirlpool that would recover the lost value of their homes.

The area of the TCE plume includes an area where the city of Fort Smith is about to commence work on a road widening project, with Whirlpool and the city agreeing to a donation of land and monitoring by the company of the TCE in the area.

"So we've drafted an agreement with Whirlpool that would give them access to the construction site if they need it. It would also require that if the city has to take extraordinary measures during the construction because of the TCE contamination, that Whirlpool would reimburse the city for the cost of implementing those measures to deal with the TCE contamination," City Administrator Ray Gosack told the Board at its Sept. 2 meeting, when an agreement between the two parties was approved by city directors.

Following a review of the proposed supplement, Whirlpool said the proposed remediation activities would begin.

"Following ADEQ approval, receipt of all necessary permits and mobilization of contractors, the proposed work will be implemented over a period of approximately 8 to 11 weeks," Whirlpool's press release said.

Mel Redman was the early face of the much-publicized effort by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to return manufacturing jobs on the U.S., but his company faces a troubling hitch in plans by to make battery-operated ride-on toys in Redman & Associates spacious new assembly plant in Rogers.

Sales Chief, Redman’s Hong Kong-based manufacturing arm cut off the 60-day credit line with Redman and demanded full payment for the toys ordered for the holidays, according to a lawsuit filed by Redman in Federal court on Friday (Sept 5).

Redman was forced to suspend its small operation in Rogers until this matter can be resolved.

“This is a very sad day for Arkansas and for the many associates who dedicate themselves to bringing jobs back to America. Closing our upstart manufacturing program is something that was done only as a last resort,” said Mel Redman, chairman and CEO of Nuvzn Technologies, the parent company of Redman & Associates.

Wal-Mart seems undaunted by the action and released this statement through spokesman Kory Lundberg: “The circumstance in this situation appear to be specific to this manufacturer and its 3rd party supplier and it’s best for any comments to come from them. I will tell you that we are excited about the progress being made on our $250 billion commitment to support U.S. manufacturing and U.S. jobs. We continue to see growth in the number and type of suppliers who are bringing us products that support our commitment.”

Wal-Mart said it was not aware of any other similar problems with other onshoring efforts.

Redman was the first big announcement in Arkansas related to the Wal-Mart onshoring plan. Gov. Mike Beebe and then Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon were part of an Oct. 7, 2013, press event in Rogers announcing the deal. Beebe at the time credited Wal-Mart for stepping out to help facilitate suppliers and economic teams to make success stories like this happen.


DELIBERATELY TIMED DISRUPTION
Redman claims in the lawsuit that Sales Chief knew by breaching the 60-day payment arrangements the partners have used for the past two years it would disrupt the supply chain and hold ordered product hostage resulting in Redman’s inability to fulfill its large holiday orders to Wal-Mart.

The suit claims that Ellen Liu, executive director for Sales Chief, made clear her intention to derail the “Made in the U.S.” plan earlier this year. Between March and May, Sales Chief shipped $3.4 million of inventory to Redman in the U.S., but on May 24, Sales Chief revoked Redman’s credit terms requiring full payment of goods ordered, shipped and those in transit.

Redman said the disruption was deliberately timed. The company worked to gather money to get some of the product released but in so doing they depleted their working capital. He said the freight storage fees on inventory sitting in containers has already accrued to $1.4 million – product they don’t have access to but are billed for storage.

BACKDOOR MEETING?
The suit also claims that Sales Chief contacted Wal-Mart directly to try and sell the product, cutting Redman out of the transaction. Wal-Mart notified Redman of this backdoor meeting and invited them to attend, which they did on Sept. 4. However, on Sept. 5, Redman notes in the suit that Sales Chief had a meeting with Wal-Mart to which Redman was not invited. Wal-Mart would not comment on alleged meetings when asked by The City Wire.

“Continuing forward, we will put our focus on retail operations and supply chain logistics. Our current inventory and future sales projections should allow us to repay and honor our financial obligations to our lenders and the state going forward,” said Wyatt Watkins, chief financial officer of Redman & Associates.

For now the 275,000-square-foot Redman facility in Rogers is dark and 24 workers have been laid off.

Grant Tennille, executive director for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the state did give Redman a few incentives to move their manufacturing operation from Shanghai to the Natural State. Those incentives included $2 million that goes toward building and equipment costs for Redman, and the Arkansas Advantage 1% state tax credit on wages paid for five years. In addition, Redman was to get a sales tax rebate on manufacturing equipment purchases relating to its startup.

Tennille said the tax credits occur retroactively. Redman said the incentive package helped to seal the deal, but some of the incentive money will have to be repaid if the contract terms are violated.

“We were informed that our company was the talk of China, and not in a good way. Our supplier’s unexpected departure from years of business dealings hurt the supply of goods to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately for the people of Arkansas, and especially our associates and their families, their underhanded strategy worked,” said Redman.

“Our plan is to do what we know best, which is providing quality goods to Wal-Mart at the best possible price for the consumer, as we have done for years,” Redman added.

There’s a major shift underway in how health insurance costs will be covered as corporations are transferring more of the burden toward employees. Higher deductibles, spousal surcharges and reduced availability for retirees have become the new reality for millions of Americans since The Affordable Health Care Act – aka, ObamaCare – become law.

The annual survey of Towers and the National Business Group found that 80% of the 1,000 employers surveyed in 2012 said they will continue to raise the share employees pay for their health care over the next three years. A recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation states the cost of medical care per-person in the U.S. $13,700.

The average cost for health insurance benefits was $2.36 per hour worked in private industry according the March report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That represents 7.9% of total compensation. In March 2004, employer costs for health benefits averaged $1.53, or 6.6% of total compensation.

Employee share of premiums increased 8.7% between 2012 and 2013 with the dollar burden rising from $2,658 to $2,888, according to the Towers survey. Employees contribute 42% more for health care than they did five years ago and out-of-pocket costs are up 15% over the past two years. Meanwhile, annual incomes rose just 1.6% over the past three years, according to the Towers report.

In addition to funding less for employees, corporations are also implementing surcharges for spousal coverage averaging $100 per month. About one-third of the companies surveyed by Towers already do this. Employer subsidies for retiree medical coverage have declined with just 15% of those surveyed still covering it.

Jennifer Parks, owner and broker of Fort Smith-based HealthPointe Insurance Services, said the small groups she represents have seen between a 7% and 15% premium increase for 2015, with the average being 8%. She said this is lower than the standard 12% increases employers faced each year over the past decade, which many times were not fully passed on their employees.

“Some folks are experiencing sticker shock this year, especially those coming from employer-sponsored group plans into individual plans. I gave a quote to a lady last week who said to that the price was anything but affordable, like the law claims,” Parks said.

Higher prices also are hitting public sector workers around the nation – especially teachers.

“Our teacher insurance doubled for the same type of coverage we had last year,” said Kathy Whitfill, a teacher in east Texas. “It will cost us $1,000 a month for a family of three to be covered this year.”

Parks said teachers in Arkansas have experienced similar shock, in part because that demographic has proven to be frequent users on a national scale. 

An Arkansas-based media company recently told its 2,600 employees they would have the choice of two plans. The self-insured group offers a basic plan with 3,000 annual deductible and a premium option with 1,000 deductible, prescription benefit and doctor copay. The cost increase for the premium plan rose more than 200% for this coming year. The standard plan rose modestly. 

Parks said employers are asking their employees to make a choice: pay more if you want all the benefits or pay less if you don’t. She said those who are frequent users of prescription cards and doctor copays should pay more for that benefit. Under the previous system, Parks said frequent users hiked up the costs for everyone in the group. This new model is a more practical solution.

HIGHER DEDUCTIBLES
Parks said companies and individuals have moved toward higher deductibles for the past few years to keep monthly premiums affordable. But this has raised concern among health providers and consumers.

Don Gibson, CEO of Legacy National Bank in Springdale, said higher health care costs are ever present on the minds of small business owners he speaks to regularly. He said many of them are shifting more of the cost burden toward the employees who are choosing high deductibles.

“I expect to see more consumer bankruptcies as an indirect result of higher health care costs in the future,” Gibson said.

Kaiser found that higher deductibles are more popular than ever. Employers like higher deductibles because it requires employees to be careful about how they spend their heath care dollars. 

Mike McCurry, chief operating officer of Mercy Health, said during a June meeting in Rogers that more large employers such as FedEx Corp., Home Depot and Walgreens as are making radical changes to their plans, eliminating health care options for retirees and non-spouses and raising the minimum deductibles to keep costs down.

“The biggest growth area impacting Mercy’s charity care fund are insured people who can’t afford the deductible. We are seeing $5,000 deductibles and higher among people who need to have a procedure but are not able to cover that on the front-end. Mercy has had to help patients set up payment plans to payout the deductible after the procedure has been performed,” McCurry said.

The other dynamic at play is that insured individuals are being advised to have tests and procedures but do not have them because they can’t meet the deductible.

“This is of great concern, because it will likely come back to haunt everyone,” McCurry said. “Patients are also shopping services like never before, looking for lower cost alternatives. As Mercy moves more of the diagnostic testing and procedures out of its primary care clinics the cost for customers will go down.”

He estimates that will sting Mercy’s annual budget by $30 million a year. McCurry said Mercy’s systemwide budget is operating on $120 million less revenue coming into this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act and the reduced payments. The cost of treating the uninsured is expected to be $17 million this year for Mercy Health, he said.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
Companies across the country are finding unique new ways to help reduce their own costs and assist their employees with added cost burdens.

Wal-Mart Stores plans to open 12 in-store clinics this year, bringing lower cost heath care to its employees and shoppers in select markets. Rogers is one of those test markets. Why the clinics? The retailer is facing $500 million in added health care costs this year as a result of the Affordable Health Care Act.

Former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon has explained that when a Walmart worker visited a doctor they paid a $20 copay and the company wrote a check for $120. He said the in-store clinics will allow Wal-Mart to better control those costs and reduce copays to $4 for its insured workers and dependents, and $40 for customers. The first clinics opened in Texas earlier this summer and are doing well, according to Wal-Mart.

Siloam-Springs-based Simmons Foods has used a similar system for several years and said it has brought down the cost of its insurance overall.

WEHCO Media, the parent company of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, recently told its employees that its own credit union would be available to make loans to those who need help with their deductible ahead of medical procedures. WEHCO officials did not return The City Wire’s request for further comment about this service.

COST UNCERTAINTY
Parks said there are some opened-ended costs associated with the new law which have insurance companies scrambling to try and gather enough premiums for possible exposures. She said under the new law the basic plan offers an annual routine exam, one mammogram a year and a colonoscopy every decade, as well as an annual eye exam with no out-of-pocket costs to the insured. She said older plans sometimes capped these wellness benefits, but there is now no cap.

No limit policies and the “habilitative” care requirements create uncertainties on the part of insurance companies, she said. Habilitative care, Parks explained, is treatment, medicines and therapies never before covered. For instance habilitative treatment could help someone born blind get their sight, or provide therapy for a person born lame to learn to walk. Because such treatments have never been covered it is difficult to gauge what the cost will be, Parks said.

Executives with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. gathered Tuesday (Sept. 10) for a meeting designed to reinforce efforts to empower women like 20-year-old Avani Bhadra of India, and Veronica Moreno, a tortilla baker from Atlanta, Ga., and help them reach bigger dreams through their Women’s Empowerment initiative.

The retail giant held its first Woman’s Empowerment Summit in Bentonville to celebrate a three-year milestone toward three primary goals:
• Sourcing $20 billion of U.S. product from women-owned businesses;
• Double what is sourced from woman-owned businesses internationally; and
• Train almost one million women around the world by 2016.

“We met the annual goals in the first two years and our spending since then is $432 million ahead of our $20 billlion goal,” said MiKaela Wardlaw Lemmon, senior director for women economic empowerment at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores CEO Doug McMillon opened the meeting noting that empowering women goes beyond making sound economic sense.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “We know that women invest 90% of their income back into their families and communities supporting causes that matter like education.”

He shared a story of how the Wal-Mart initiative helped elevate a small sister-owned wine operation in South Africa. 

When Vivian Kleynhans was a child, the system of Apartheid law her and her siblings out of their small South African hometown. Twenty years later, the country’s changed political landscape opened doors for their dream of starting a business and now they produce wines not only sold in South Africa, but on two additional continents.

McMillon said working with Wal-Mart, Seven Sisters Wines now supplies products to more than 500 U.S. Walmart Stores. The wine products are imported by Heritage Link Brands, an African-American woman-owned company.
 
By investing in Seven Sisters, he said the investment is not only furthering the success of a woman-owned business – but also supporting growth in Africa.

WOMEN LEADERSHIP
Ryo Kanayama, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Walmart Japan, attended the meeting via webcast. He said women are under-utilized assets in many countries around the world.

David Cheesewright, CEO of Walmart International, agreed, saying businesses are the most successful with they connect the “heart with the head.” He said it doesn’t take a grand scale program to make a difference.

Cheesewright said he is proud of efforts by Walmart Canada to increase its number of women managers all because someone inside expressed the idea. He said a team worked on a game plan and within two years the number of women managers in Walmart Canada has risen from 17% to 26%. In Chile, the same program has helped increase the number of female managers from 35% to 70%. Cheesewright said when it works in one country the other markets will adopt quickly.

Wal-Mart also notes that it has double the female corporate officers — executive and senior vice presidents — than the Fortune 500 average. Female U.S. store managers have risen to 27%, up from 18% in the past years.

WOMEN SPEAK UP
Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Barack Obama, was in Bentonvillle for the Wal-Mart event. She shared a story illustrating how important it is for women to let their bosses know when they must wear the mom hat.

Jarratt said years back when she worked in the Chicago government she was called into a meeting in the mayor’s office with the another female, a member of his corporate council. 

“He was talking and we were both looking at our watches. He asked what we were doing because we were both so distracted. In a moment of courage I spoke up and told him that the Halloween parade started in 25 minutes. To which he answered, ‘Then what are you doing here,’” Jarrett said.

She said from that moment on she was loyal and hardworking as ever because he understood and appreciated her position and respected her needs.

“I would say to working moms today to make sure you have the courage to speak up and make your needs known. If your boss doesn’t respect them then you might want to find another place to work,” Jarrett said.

FAMILY SUPPORT
Avani Bhadra knows all about standing up for her needs. The 20-year-old began working outside her home in Anhar, India, to support her three sisters and a younger brother, her parents and her grandmother.

Bhadra traveled to Bentonville for the Women’s Empowerment Summit though she does not speak English. Through an interpreter Bhadra said it was her mom that encouraged her to take a job outside the home, an act rarely practiced by unmarried women in her village.

She said economic times were bad and she was glad to take work at Wellspun, a Wal-Mart supplier near her home. Two years ago she began as amachine operator but was quickly promoted to a supervisory training role.

“I never saw myself working for a large corporation, but others have believed in my potential and are helping me to realize bigger dreams. Now that I am working, others in my immediate community are following along. I also have risen to a higher status in my family and I have a bigger voice in family decisions,” Bhadra said through the interpreter.

In five years Bhadra said she hopes to be married, working toward a college degree and moving higher up within the company. She said the job helps her reach her dreams and provide a better standard of living for her family. By teaching others the skills she’s learned, Bharha said she’s passing that legacy on to help lift her entire village.

WAL-MART LEVERAGE
Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation, told The City Wire one of the reasons she joined Wal-Mart was because of the massive scale of Wal-Mart and its ability to impact real change around the world.

“One of my personal passions is the role of the private sector in the role of development. I have been working in that space for many years. There is no better place to do that from than Wal-Mart. ... To see Wal-Mart making as much of a difference as say a Gates Foundation in certain areas of development is powerful. We can take what is intrinsic to us — the purchase order — which is really a powerful tool and quite different from aid. While aid is important, so are our purchase orders. We are using the purchase order as means to elevate women who then invest back into their communities. It’s economic development,” McLaughlin said.

She said the training piece of the commitment is also critical because it allows entire regions to benefit. One example given during the event was the training of 500,000 women farmers working in emerging markets around the globe. In China, for instance 70% of the apple crop is planted and harvested by women. Bhartra was one of the 32,400 women to receive workforce training as the company works toward its 60,000 goal.

While the Walmart Women’s Empowerment campaign is global in nature there were also some U.S. results spotlighted at the meeting.

Veronica Moreno, CEO of Atlanta-based Ole Foods, was invited to attend the Bentonville event. Moreno said she began selling tortillas on street corners after purchasing her first press in 1988. The business, grew slowly with regional sales until she became a Wal-Mart supplier. Since that time Moreno has expanded into 3,000 U.S. stores and she employs 1,000 workers, and 50% of them are women.

Wal-Mart has roughly 1,000 suppliers who made their way on to the retailer’s shelves through the women-owned business initiative. Women-owned businesses contribute more than $1.3 trillion dollars to the U.S. economy and women are responsible for more than 80% of the consumer decisions globally, according to figures provided by Wal-Mart.

Ground was broken on a fourth Centennial Bank location at 5801 Rogers Ave. on Tuesday (Sept. 9), bringing an investment of more than $1 million to the local economy.

The 5,500-square-feet location is a relocation for a now-closed branch of the bank that had been located behind Chick-fil-A and Outback Steakhouse on Rogers Avenue, according to Centennial's Area President Greg Rotter.

"It wasn't an ideal location. It was hidden and a lot of people had a hard time finding it. So this location gives us a much better opportunity for visibility and accessibility for our customers," Rotter said, adding that the previous location had more space than the bank could make use of.

The bank's new location will be part of a development built on a former hotel at the site. Fort Smith-based The Westphal Group bought the 3.36 acres where the former Hometown Inn and Suites once stood in October 2013  for just under $1.5 million.

Rotter said the new branch will offer traditional retail banking services, such as new accounts, mortgage lending and commercial lending. Any new services, he said, could come at a later time.

"There are things that I'd love to do in the future. Right now we just want to get this one open, make it a success and look to see what we can do in the future to continue to help us grow in the market."

With the new Rogers Avenue location, Centennial's portfolio of bank branches in Fort Smith and Van Buren will grow to four, along with a drive-thru location on Boston Avenue, Rotter said.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders said at the groundbreaking Tuesday that banks like Centennial making an investment in new branches and loan offerings are part of what is driving job growth in what had been a depressed Fort Smith job market only a few years ago at the height of the recession.

"A financial institution like Centennial Bank does not make this kind of investment, this kind of a commitment to the community unless they do have confidence in how we're growing, how we're moving forward," he said, pointing to the more than 2,000 jobs announced in the Fort Smith region in the last two years.

Centennial Bank's North Arkansas Regional President Davy Carter said part of the investment in the building of a new branch — which he told The City Wire was an investment of more than $2 million — was due to the great success story of the branches already operating in the Fort Smith region and the growth of new and existing businesses in the Fort Smith market, adding jobs, retail dollars and a population in need of banking services.

"Those kind of announcements you have with jobs and all the great economic activity that's going on in Fort Smith, you ought to be very proud of that. Indeed, that's part of the reason why we continue our investment here in Fort Smith," Carter said.

He added that Centennial's parent company, Home Bancshares of Conway, is a $7 billion bank that is making decisions locally and investing in cities across the state, like Fort Smith.

"They are making decisions right here in Fort Smith, Arkansas," he said. "You have loan decisions right here in Fort Smith, Arkansas. You can have an $80 million loan credit and it won't get out of the state of Arkansas. We make the decisions, they're local decisions. We believe in that. They're local people. We give them the ball and we let them run with it."

Home Bancshares/Centennial entered the Fort Smith market with the more than $280 million acquisition of Jonesboro-based Liberty Bank. The deal, announced in June 2013, closed in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Rotter said even with increased regulation of the banking industry through federal legislation like the Dodd-Frank Act, Centennial has been able to adapt and grow in recent years.

"We're still going at a good clip. Obviously banking has changed a lot in the last few years and it change sometimes it feels on a daily basis, but we've adjusted well and everybody learns and adjusts on the fly. But as far as our service and our ability to do loans, it hasn't hampered that. We handle it the best we can."

He added that the new branch would employ between 10 and 12 staff, with many of those having come from other branches including the closed branch behind Chick-fil-A. Rotter added that two to four new staffers could be added to the new branch.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2015, with a grand opening planned for April 2015.

Centennial Bank's reported income of $57.522 million for the first half of 2014, an increase from $36.443 million during the same period of 2013. It reported total assets of $6.749 billion.

The share price of Home Bancshares closed Tuesday at $30.25, down 45 cents. During the past 52 weeks the share price has ranged from a $38.98 high to a $27.10 low.

The Fort Smith Board of Directors received an update on the effort to update the city's comprehensive plan that has been underway since last year. Senior Associate Silvia Vargas of consulting firm Wallace Roberts & Todd said the comprehensive plan update was scheduled for completion later this year.

"We are in the process of getting the policy framework completed. Yesterday, we had a meeting with the (Comprehensive Plan) Steering Committee in which they reviewed the first completed draft of what we call the policy framework. They're taking it all into review more carefully, getting feedback from them and in a couple of weeks, we will be starting to put flesh on the bones of that framework and adding all the other pieces that will be a part of the comprehensive plan."

Brian Traylor, also of WRT, said the policy framework contained four sources — retaining and enhancing community character and quality of life; promoting sound growth and development; growing and diversifying the economy; and uniting people, institutions and government.

"The Steering Committee has approved in its current format the policy framework. They spent the last two months going through each policy, each goal, each action and its based off of four sources," he said.

Within the frame work are seven different focuses that Traylor said would work together to move the four policy framework sources forward.

Following are excerpts from Traylor's discussion with the Board on each of the seven focus areas included within the policy framework:
• Future land use: "It's about creating more livable and walkable centers, understanding the growth and that residential development and commercial development happen consistently, and taking the time to prioritize different centers."

• Economic development: "One of the issues is the growth trends that we identified is fairly monotonous … or (has a) lack of diversity. So one of the key things also with the economic base is (it needs to be) diversified, as well. Maintain the manufacturing economic base, but look at more information and connections with the university to get a little more cutting edge (economic development."

• Housing and neighborhoods: "Balancing the preservation of the existing neighborhoods — there's a lot of great neighborhoods in the city. … There's talk of maintaining those neighborhoods and protecting them, but also identifying new opportunities for redevelopment and infill."

• Community and character design: "Improving aesthetics. I know the city is already doing that with beautification and this is just to try to reinforce that, but also look at identifying or promoting more of a community for the city as a whole but also there's a language in the policy framework talking about neighborhood identities and trying to bring about that identity within communities in different parts of the city."

• Transportation and infrastructure: "Maintain and enhance is the theme of this. The city has been addressing access issues, but there's always room for improvement and not just for vehicular traffic, but to make places more walkable, more bikeable."

• Public facilities and services: "I think the Future Fort Smith community engagement process that's been going on for the last year is sort of setting the stage for a different type of dialogue between residents and maybe more of a community-based vision and maintaining that connection between what the city's doing and what the plans are and relating that back to the city through things like FutureFortSmith.com and the community forums that we've been taking on."

• Natural and cultural resources: "Talking about how the environment can play a role for parks and recreation, but also as an environmental and natural resource and in terms of infrastructure for the city in terms of green infrastructure throughout the city."

Steering Committee Co-Chair Galen Hunter said the committee is still at work even though much of its work is drawing to a close.

"Some of them got combined together, a lot of them reach across different goals that we do and we'll make sure we've got them slotted in the right places. We're still looking at some actions that will go with these and how we track those actions so that we know that the plan's successful."

Vargas said it is her intent to have a final version of the comprehensive plan update available for a vote of the Board of Directors before the end of the year. (Link here for a PDF – large file – of the working document.)

In other business, the Board received an update on a planned $2.8 million Riverview Hope Campus to be built at 301 S. E St., southwest of the heart of downtown Fort Smith. Debbie Everly, director of homeless programs at Riverview, said the proposed center would initially be able to house up to 75 individuals and would feature on-site medical clinics and continuing adult education provided by the Fort Smith School District.

A capital campaign is underway, Everly said, with Kansas City, Mo.-based Hartsook Companies working with the group as a fundraising consultant.

The project is expected to receive a $225,000 bridge loan from the Fort Smith Housing Authority, as well as a five-year, $500,000 bridge loan from First National Bank of Fort Smith to help get the project off the ground once pledges are in-hand, according to Fort Smith Housing Authority Executive Director Ken Pyle.

The Board also discussed creation of a beautification commission and will vote on its formation and appointments to the commission at future regular meetings of the Board.

The amount of land to be purchased for a voter-approved, bond-financed $20 million county jail facility in Crawford County could be growing in size if a plan discussed at Tuesday evening's (Sept. 9) Jail Committee meeting is approved by the full Quorum Court at its regular meeting next week.

According to Justice of the Peace Lloyd Cole, chairman of the Crawford County Quorum Court's Jail Committee, the county already has under contract an agreement to purchase about eight acres of land along U.S. Highway 64 just outside of the Van Buren city limits for about $275,000.

A landowner to the east of the land under contract has made an offer to the county to sell it another 7.66 acres of land, Cole said.

"The purpose of the meeting is to explain to the JPs the proposed site that we want to purchase that we told the voters. And we have an opportunity to buy 7.66 acres to the east for the amount of $191,000, which I think is a bargain and it is within our budget," he explained. "The $20 million construction cost, it is within that budget to spend up to $450,000 for land purchase. So we can buy that without having to increase any costs.”

According to Cole, the landowner had originally planned to build at least one subdivision on the land tucked between Interstate 40 and U.S. 64, but the selection of the adjoining property by the county for the voter-approved jail project scuttled the developer's plans.

"The owner of this was going to build subdivisions and said, 'Hey, my plans to build houses is not going to be very good with the jail right next door. Why don't you guys buy the whole thing from me?' So, he's given me a good price and we have under contract pending Quorum Court approval to go ahead and buy that 7.66 acres.”

The land will allow the county to more easily expand the jail if needed in future decades, according to Cole, who showed the land that was already under contract would have been usable but would have required more dirt and fill before being usable and could have run up a higher total cost on future expansions.

"It'll cost that much just to prepare that land for a (future) structure as (we're paying for) the land we're trying to buy right now," County Judge John Hall interjected.

He also said expanding the jail to the west of the proposed jail on land the county had already planned to buy would have made prisoner escorts through the facility more dangerous since there would not be a direct link between the sheriff's intake center and any future expansion without first having to go through the original jail. Having the additional land will allow the county to build any future expansion closer to intake and reduce the distance inmates would have to be transported.

"If you're bringing a prisoner in, you've got to escort through one controlled facility all the way to get to another facility. Well, as someone who's escorted inmates before, you don't want to escort them any further than you have to. You have a lot of things going on," Cole said.

"You've got a control center right here with 350 inmates. There's a lot going on. I don't want to have to transfer them through there. If we come up and make a 'Y' through here, we can purchase this over to the east – the wagon wheel, we call it – and at some point add another facility right here.”

Cole said any expansion of the new facility would likely not take place for another 20 to 30 years since the new facility in the planning stages is expected to meet the county's capacity needs for at least the next two decades or more. And while planning is taking place to ensure enough space is available for future growth of the jail, Cole said enough land would be purchased so other county offices could relocate in future years.

"You know, we used to be proud of the fact that we have the oldest operational courthouse west of the Mississippi (River). I'm not so sure (that's) something to be proud of. We've got an old building we've got to keep maintaining. At some point, they (may) want to build a new courthouse over here. They may want to move all the county government buildings in this area. You know the jail can expand right here, but we still got all this. So at some point, we consolidate all the county government building in one location. It's right between Van Buren and Alma.”

Hall said bonds sold last month are scheduled to be released to U.S. Bank as trustee for use by the county on Sept. 24, with closing on the purchase of the two properties on U.S Highway 64 scheduled for Sept. 26.

He added that bids on the project are expected to be let in December, with construction on the new jail beginning in late January or February with a scheduled completion within 18 to 20 months.

The Crawford County Quorum Court will vote on the land purchases at its Monday (Sept. 15) meeting.

Wal-Mart toy buyers said kids’ tastes are changing and they’re gambling on 20 top picks that show an appetite for imagination and creativity.

“The kids surprised us this year with their changing tastes in toys, but we were ready to react to their feedback,” Anne Marie Kehoe, vice president of toys at Walmart U.S., said Tuesday (Sept. 9) during a presentation at the Walmart Supercenter on Pleasant Grove Road in Rogers. “When we saw specific trends emerge, we worked closely with our toy suppliers to make sure we were stocking our toy shelves and e-commerce distribution centers with the items kids really want this holiday season.”

That said, classics like Barbie accessories, Little People play sets and Hot Wheels also got votes of kid approval this year.

This is the second year Wal-Mart let kids weigh-in on their buying decision from suppliers. In February, former Walmart U.S. CEO BIll Simon said the entertainment segment which includes toys, posted a mid single-digit negative comp during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 which included the 2013 holiday season.

He also said the retailer grew market share in toys during the 2013 holiday season, which he attributed to the “Chosen by Kids” program and a strong Black Friday event. The new management’s emphasis on increasing sales and reducing excess inventory puts mounting pressure on buyers to get the toy mix right given the vast majority to annual toy sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas Eve.

To encourage early shopping the retailer said it’s kicking off the holiday layaway option in stores this Friday (Sept. 12). Wal-Mart also said all 20 of the kid-approved toys would be covered on its Savings Catcher program beginning Wednesday (Sept. 10).

THE TOP TOYS
Kehoe unveiled the top 20 kid-approved holiday toy list today before a dozen of area school children invited to the Pleasant Grove Road Walmart Supercenter by the Salvation Army.  Lt. Curtis Sadler of the local Salvation Army said the children were selected from the Fayetteville and Rogers school system and regularly take part in Salvation Army programs.

“They had no idea why they were invited to the store after school today,” Sadler said.

When Kehoe pulled back the curtain to unveil the toy display she told the kids they would each take one toy home for an early holiday gift. She said focus groups of children made their favorites clear. Wal-Mart groups the toy picks into five categories.

• Creativity
Spin Master Sew Cool Sewing Machine
Moose Toys Beados
Maya Group Make Your Case Cell Phone Cover Kit
Kehoe said creativity crafts are one of the fast growing toy categories at Walmart.

• Movie/TV fans
Jakks Snow Glow Elsa Doll
Just Play Doc McStuffins Get Better Talking Mobile
Disney Palace Pets Magic Dance Pumpkin
Licensed toys from Frozen and Doc McStuffins topped the favorite list, Wal-Mart said.

• Ride-on scooters, racers
Razor Crazy Car Spinning Go Kart
Based on last year’s sales Wal-Mart said it added this category for the focus groups and the kids picked the Razor Go Kart.

• Electronics
Spin Master Flutterbyte Light Up Fairy
Spin Master Zoomer Dino
Leapfrog Leap TV
Vtech Kidizoom smartwatch
Hasbro FurReal Friends Walking Pup Pet
Spin Master Air Hogs Zero Gravity Laser Racer

• Throwback classics
Mattel Hot Wheels Street Remote Control Flying Car
Nerf N-Strike Elite Demolisher 2-in-1 Blaster
Zing Airstorm Firetech Bow
Vtech Go! Go! Smart Wheels Amazement Park Playset
Mattel Barbie Glam Camper
Mattel Hot Wheels Track Builder Turbo Takeover
Fisher Price Little People Musical Preschool

TOY WOES
One local toy supplier Redman & Associates had planned to sell ride-on toys in Wal-Mart this holiday season. Last year, Redman sold 1.1 million battery-powered ride-on toys in the United States as made in China. A recent dispute between Redman and his China manufacturer Sales Chief has rendered Redman unable to take receipt of some $10 million in inventory headed to retail shelves for the holiday.

Wal-Mart has declined to say whether it will have Redman-assembled ride-on toys in its stores this holiday season, but there were several models on display at the Walmart Supercenter in Rogers at Pleasant Grove Road on Tuesday.

Redman has sued its Chinese manufacturer in federal court for $20 million in damages from the supply chain disruption for its products.

CEO Mel Redman said he expects to continue providing Walmart with toys, but did not disclose where or by whom they would be manufactured.

Tumbling crude oil prices are pushing gasoline pump prices to their lowest level in years, giving optimism to U.S. and Arkansas consumers that they will be able to fill up for less than $3 a gallon this fall.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) recent short-term energy forecast, U.S. regular gasoline retail prices fell to an average of $3.49 per gallon, 12 cents below the July average and 21 cents below the average in June. U.S. regular gasoline retail prices are projected to continue to decline to an average of $3.18 gallon by December, 12 cents lower than what was previously predicted a month ago.

Those month-to-month revisions to the U.S. Energy Department’s short-term forecast on Tuesday mean that Arkansas drivers, who typically pay nearly 20-30 cents less per gallon than the national average, could see pump prices fall below $3 a gallon in the fourth quarter for the first time since 2010 – if retailers choose to lower prices comparatively at the local level.

“The big crunch in summer travel is done and most of us can look forward to lower gas prices during the next few months,” said AAA spokesman Avery Ash. “If we can get through September without any major refinery or overseas problems, we should see more gas stations drop below $3.00 per gallon this fall.”

Typically, Ash said, gas prices from September to December are cheaper than the rest of the year as the nation’s refineries switch to cheaper blend winter fuels after Labor Day, which signals the end of the summer driving season.

And although the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline during the summer driving season was the fourth most expensive on record at $3.58 per gallon, pump prices in most parts of the country have fallen significantly during the second half of the summer with the national average 25 cents cheaper per gallon since June 28.

“It was truly a summer of contrasts with consumers paying the highest seasonal prices in years to begin the summer, but ending with the lowest prices since 2010,” Ash said. “Many drivers lucked out with it costing significantly less to fill up the car during the busiest part of the summer.”

Overall, gas prices nationally averaged $3.46 per gallon in August, compared to $3.57 (2013), $3.69 (2012) and $3.62 (2011). The national average price of gas was $3.60 per gallon in July and $3.67 per gallon in June. Currently, average U.S. price for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.43, about 5 cents per gallon than a month ago and down 13 cents from a year ago.

ARKANSAS PRICES
Closer to home, Arkansas motorists today are paying an average of $3.19 per gallon to fill up their tank across the state, eight cents cheaper than a month ago, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge.

Pump prices in the state’s metropolitan areas range from a low of $3.15 per gallon in the Pine Bluff area to a high of $3.19 at the Texarkana state line. Motorists in the Fort Smith and Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers area are seeing prices at an average of $3.17 per gallon and travelers and residents in Little Rock-North Little Rock are paying an average of $3.18 a gallon to fill up their tanks.

Drivers choosing to fill up the tanks with a higher-grade of gasoline should expect to pay an average premium of $3.56 a gallon across the state. Big rig drivers and other diesel fuel users will see pump prices at about $3.67 a gallon, down three cents from a month ago.

CONSUMER IMPACT
Not surprisingly, the lower pump prices are already having a positive psychological effect on consumers according to National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). On Tuesday, NACS released its monthly consumer fuels survey showing that optimism among U.S. drivers increased 8 percentage points from August’s 10-month low of 39%.

NACS, which represents more than 151,000 convenience stores across the U.S. with annual motor fuel sales exceeding $491 billion, conducts the monthly consumer sentiment to gauge how gas prices affect broader economic trends. In September, the NACS report said, 47% of gas consumers across the U.S. said they were optimistic about the economy, the highest level of optimism in 14 months.

Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic initiatives for the convenience store industry, said the eight-point swing in overall in optimism from a month ago was the largest recorded since January 2013, when NACS first began its conducting its monthly snapshot of nearly 1,100 gasoline-buying consumers. Overall, nearly 9 in 10 consumers (87%) say that gas prices, which they report have dropped 20 cents per gallon over the past two months, have an impact on their feelings about the economy.

“We have seen increasingly wide swings in economic mood over the past three months as consumers continue to sort out how world and national events could affect their economic security. At the same time, it appears that what happens at the corner store with gas prices continues to play a major role with consumer sentiment,” Lenard said.

Still, Lenard hedged his bets on whether or not fuel prices nationwide will drop below $3 a gallon, a perceived psychological barrier that some economists say affects consumer spending habits. Lenard said a number of factors affect the price that consumers pay at the pump, ranging from whether crude oil prices drop stay $100 a barrel or a hurricane hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast to local factors such as taxes and transportation costs from the refinery to the pump.

Lenard said convenience store owners, which represent about 80 percent of the gasoline sold to U.S. consumers, don’t make a big profit at the pump. He said most convenience stores owners use gasoline sales as a lead-in to get consumers to buy other goods, such as fountain drinks and snacks, when they fill up their tanks.

“For retailers, they only make three cents per gallon, or about a quarter (25 cents) for a fill up,” Lenard said. “If they are not feeling good about the gas prices, they won’t go into the store. ... The whole idea behind the survey is that we feel that gas prices have an enormous impact on consumers. It is not a discretionary spend that they can put off. You can’t go to the boss and say I am not coming in this week. People drive because they have to.”

OTHER ENERGY MARKET MOVES
Below are additional highlights of the EIA’s short-term energy outlook:
• Natural gas spot prices fell 15% from an average of $4.59 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in June to $3.91 MMBtu in August even as natural gas stock builds continued to outpace historical norms. Natural gas working inventories on August 29 totaled 2.71 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), 0.47 Tcf or 15% below the level at the same time a year ago and 0.50 Tcf or 15% below the previous five-year average (2009-13). The EIA expects that the Henry Hub natural gas spot price, which averaged $3.73 per MMBtu in 2013, will average $4.46 per MMBtu in 2014 and $3.8 per MMBtu in 2015.

• Total U.S. crude oil production averaged an estimated 8.6 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in August, the highest monthly production since July 1986. Total crude oil production, which averaged 7.5 million bbl/d in 2013, is expected to average 9.5 million bbl/d in 2015, 0.2 million bbl/d higher than projected in last month’s forecast. If achieved, the 2015 forecast would be the highest annual average crude oil production since 1970.

“The growth in domestic liquids production has contributed to a significant decline in petroleum imports,” the EIA said.

• The share of total U.S. petroleum and other liquids consumption met by net imports fell from 60% in 2005 to an average of 32% in 2013. EIA expects the net import share to decline to 21% in 2015, which would be the lowest level since 1968.

In trading Tuesday, international Brent crude oil prices slid below $100 per barrel for the first time in 17 months, while U.S. crude prices moved higher following the EIA’s weekly inventory report citing lower energy stockpiles as refineries prepare to switch to winter fuel blends.

At the close of Tuesday’s session, Brent prices settled at $99.16, the lowest closing price since April 18, 2013. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery closed up nine cents at $92.75 per barrel.

Meanwhile, NYMEX natural gas futures were trading Wednesday at 3.956 per MMBtu, down slightly from Tuesday’s close at 3.978 per MMBtu.

A Congressional watchdog agency says Arkansas' private option won't be revenue neutral and could bring a price tag for state taxpayers of $778 million over the next three years.

On Monday, the Governmental Accountability Office released a 16-page report that outlined its contention that the 2013 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approval of a waiver for the private option – Arkansas' bipartisan-crafted Medicaid expansion plan – would have cost more than straight Medicaid expansion.

HHS allows states to experiment with innovative approaches to programs through waivers, which often leads to hypothetical scenarios or models in scenarios pitched for experimentation. The GAO report was critical of Arkansas' assumptions.

"Specifically, HHS approved a spending limit for the demonstration that was based, in part, on hypothetical costs — significantly higher payment amounts the state assumed it would have to make to providers if it expanded coverage under the traditional Medicaid program — without requesting any data from the state to support the state’s assumptions," the report stated.

"GAO estimated that, by including these costs, the 3-year, nearly $4.0 billion spending limit that HHS approved for the state’s demonstration was approximately $778 million more than what the spending limit would have been if it was based on the state’s actual payment rates for services under the traditional Medicaid program," the report said.

But state and federal officials countered the GAO criticism.

Matt DeCample, spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said GAO never contacted Arkansas officials for additional details of the state's assumptions, which might have clarified aspects of the criticism. He also said GAO's reluctance to take into account program changes that Arkansas is implementing to lower costs makes the watchdog group's conclusions questionable.

For instance, Arkansas officials have maintained that the private option will result in savings from marketplace competition among insurance plans and from improved health care due to more access.

State leaders have also long contended that "churning"– which occurs when Medicaid recipients enter and exit the program due to income fluctuations – would be reduced with the exchange system, thus producing cost savings. And there has been substantial debate about the rising costs of Medicaid payments to providers, which led to Republican legislators' interest in experimenting with competition in the marketplace through the private option.

The GAO report admits these omissions, but justified them in its comments.

"As noted in this report, we reviewed Arkansas’s budget neutrality explanation as provided to HHS, and we found that the state’s assumptions that the state would pay Medicaid providers significantly higher rates in the absence of the demonstration were questionable and supporting documentation was limited," GAO said.

"[W]e based our estimate on the historical expenditure data provided by Arkansas, which we believe is the appropriate subset of data for developing such an estimate," the GAO report said. "In our view, if the state was not paying these costs before the demonstration, these costs should not be approved under demonstration spending limits without strong evidence supporting the deviation from HHS’s policy of relying on state historical spending for projecting future costs."

This latest report from the GAO highlights an on-going feud between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. The GAO is the watchdog arm of Congress and conducts its analyses independent of federal agencies.

In the private option report, GAO officials conclude, "HHS’s approval of $778 million dollars of hypothetical costs in the Arkansas demonstration spending limit and the department’s waiver of its cost-effectiveness requirement is further evidence of our long-standing concerns that HHS is approving demonstrations that may not be budget-neutral."

This week, Arkansas officials disclosed that private option enrollment had reached 194,257.

“From our perspective, interest in the program continues to be strong and we think the private option is working as it was anticipated,” said Arkansas Department of Human Services Spokeswoman Amy Webb.

On Tuesday, a new coalition of hospital and health care groups announced an initiative to help Arkansans learn about their health care options and enroll in coverage using a $300,000 grant from the Fred Darragh Foundation.

Arkansans for Coverage was created in response to legislation passed this year by legislators prohibiting state agencies from publicizing the private option, the state program that uses Medicaid dollars to pay for private insurance for low-income residents. The law also prevents state agencies from publicizing the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace, the exchange where consumers can purchase subsidized health insurance. The group also will advocate for a smoother enrollment process.

The Darragh Foundation money will fund four “assister” positions at community organizations – one each at Mental Health Council and at Future Builders, Inc. in central Arkansas, one at Tri-County Rural Health Network in Jefferson County, and one at Legal Aid of Arkansas in Northwest Arkansas.

The coalition involves Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, the Arkansas Hospital Association, Arkansas Interfaith Alliance, Arkansas Minority Health Consortium, Partners for Inclusive Communities, and Community Health Centers of Arkansas.

Dollar General won’t take “no” for an answer. The company extended a tender offer directly to Family Dollar stockholders for $80 a share on Wednesday (Sept. 10). The hostile takeover attempt comes after two rejected acquisition offers to Family Dollar’s board of directors.

“By taking this step, we are providing all Family Dollar shareholders a voice in this process, and we urge them to tender into our offer,” said Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling. “We now can begin the antitrust review process and will have an opportunity to present our position directly to the Federal Trade Commission. As we previously have stated, we are confident in the results of our antitrust analysis, and we look forward to a constructive dialogue with the FTC.”

In an offer made last week, Dollar General added a $500 million breakup fee and increased the number of stores it is willing to sell to get antitrust approval to 1,500 from 700.

Family Dollar management opted to take a lower priced offer from Dollar Tree, a deal that would reward stockholders with $74.50 per share and allow more of its 7,000 stores to remain open. Family Dollar management cited anti-trust concerns as the main reason it opted for the Dollar Tree offer because there is not as much overlap in those two company footprints. 

If Dollar General is successful in its hostile takeover attempt and U.S. regulators sign off of the deal, the combined companies would form the largest retail chain in the country more than 18,000 stores. Wal-Mart, a big box discounter but also a competitor in the dollar store channel, has just 11,000 stores across the entire world.

Family Dollar said Wednesday it would "review and consider" the tender offer from its larger discount retailing rival, as part of its fiduciary responsibilities to its shareholders. Family Dollar urged its shareholders to take no action until it announces its recommendation in a regulatory filing no later than Sept. 23. The company reiterated its support for the Dollar Tree merger.

The hostile offer announced Wednesday is slated to expire Oct. 8, unless extended. Dollar General said it will immediately begin seeking anti-trust clearance for the deal.

The jury is still out as to whether this blockbuster deal will pass regulatory muster. It ranks as the fifth largest hostile takeover attempt this year among U.S. based companies, according to Dealogic who values the deal at $9.849 billion. None of the four larger deals have been completed, according to Edward Jones, media spokesman for Dealogic.

The 21st Century Fox hostile attempt to acquire Time Warner was valued at $96.34 billion when announced in July and has since been withdrawn. The same is true for Charter Communications $62.61 billion bid for Time Warner announced in January.

Jones said Valeant Pharmaceuticals $56 billion hostile bid for Allergan Inc. is still pending as is the $33.7 billion hostile takeover deal for T-Mobile by Iliad SA.

“It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. It is likely going to come down to the Federal Trade Commission approval and this is a way for Dollar General to test for themselves those waters,” said Alan Ellstrand, corporate governance expert at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.

He said historically the measure of success in hostile takeover situations is linked to how the deal is financed. 

“If a company has to highly leverage its assets with a great deal of debt to accomplish a hostile takeover, then it could be vulnerable if market dynamics change, interest rates rise or there is some other economic factor that impacts profitability,” Ellstrand said.

The Dollar General offer is not conditioned upon any financing arrangements. Dollar General has received written commitments from Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. for the financing necessary to consummate the proposed all-cash transaction.

Ellstrand said shareholders will likely to be tempted to take higher offer, especially institutional investors.

Dollar General management notes their $80 per share offer provides Family Dollar shareholders with approximately $640 million of additional aggregate value over the Dollar Tree offer. It represents a premium of 31.9% over the closing price of $60.66 for Family Dollar stock six weeks ago, the day before Dollar Tree made its first offer.

Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst with St. Louis-based Edward D. Jones & Co., notes that Dollar Tree will just have to see how events play out as it probably lacks the resources to outbid Dollar General, which is about twice its size.

“There’s no reason for Dollar Tree to up their bid,” he said. “At the end of the day, they know Dollar General has a lot more firepower.”

With the ink barely dry on its blockbuster $8.55 billion deal, Tyson Foods CEO Donnie Smith wasted no time in providing an upbeat “Brady Bunch” assessment on the integration of Hillshire Foods brands’ and operations.

"We're moving forward quickly with the integration and finding synergies, and we feel good about our ability to capture $225 million in synergies in the first year and $500 million by year three," Smith said Monday during the Barclay’s Consumer Conference in New York. "The more we get into it, the better we feel."

Smith said as the companies come together, it will be important to keep the best aspects of both organizations intact. He especially wants to keep the spark that led to the brand-building, marketing, innovation and product-development success at Hillshire. He said the Hillshire merger moves Tyson forward faster.

“What have to be careful not to over Tysonize Hillshire Farms. We know what our strengths are and theirs and we want to bring the best of both companies to the table,” Smith said. 

While the deal was still being finalized, the first mission among Tyson Foods’ execs was step back and assess, “Who is Tyson 2.0?” Smith told investors. Realigning talent also was a first initiative. That announcement was made Aug. 28. Smith referred to their blended corporate family as the “Brady Bunch approach.”

“I feel like we’ve brought the best of both companies together and used the strengths of both companies to help move our business forward,” Smith said.

Tyson Foods’ Chief Financial Officer Dennis Leatherby also reassured investors by announcing that the company is sticking to its 2014 full year earnings guidance of $2.78 per share – independent of the Hillshire costs and merger activities. Tyson's fiscal 2014 year ends Sept. 27.

Tyson expects the addition of Hillshire to be accretive to earnings in fiscal 2015 and substantially accretive thereafter. Leatherby said he expects at least 10% earnings per share growth in fiscal 2015.

"We're staying focused on our strategy. We're going to leverage our iconic brands and No. 1 market share positions to grow the prepared foods segment, and we've hit the ground running to capture synergies. If we do all these things well, the result will be reduced volatility and expanded operating margins," he said.

Leather told investors that Hillshire’s business is 74% retail and 26% food service, which makes for a complimentary blend into Tyson’s prepared foods segment which is the opposite.

Tyson Foods also expects beef and pork margins in its red meat business to improve in 2015.

“I see a much better year ahead for the chicken business too,” Smith said.

Smith projects the beef herd will shrink about 2% to 3% this coming year, but with more cattle moving toward to the Midwest, Tyson expects no problem with procurement given that’s where its slaughter facilities are located.

“All of our beef processing plants are around the big high-efficiency feedlots. So cattle are actually moving toward our plants,” Smith said.

Plants at a distance from the Midwest will become more challenged over time, given the cost of moving live cattle is about 10 cents per mile per head, Smith said.

“So if you're 500 miles away from the cattle supply, you've got a $50 a head disadvantage, for example, to someone like Tyson who is sitting right on top of the big high-density feedlots,” he said.

Smith said Tyson has been able to maintain decent beef margins and he doesn’t see that changing in the near term. In pork, lower corn prices will provide incentive for production to expand, after double-digit declines tied to the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus. Bio-security measures put in place at hog farms around the country should help reduce the PEDV effect going forward, Smith said.

“It would likely be the latter part of 2015, maybe moving on into 2016 before that increased supply manifests itself in a meaningful way, but I think we can say that production could be up 1% or 2% next year,” Smith added.

Smith predicted Tyson’s chicken segment margins will reach or exceed 10% percent in 2015. Smith said overall supply won’t begin to increase until about July 2015 because of the limited breeder flock.

Margins in the company’s prepared foods business will be “significantly stronger” next year, boosted by the addition of Hillshire Brands and operational improvements, Smith concluded.

Fort Smith's highest grossing hotel is back under local ownership and millions of dollars in renovations are planned for the facility, according to its new owners.

The 178-room Hampton Inn and Suites, located at 6201-C Rogers Avenue, had been put up for sale by Austin, Texas-based Summit Hotels for an asking price of $12 million, according to Storm Nolan, a partner in Fort Smith-based CSK Hotels.

"We've actually been interested in the Hampton for a long time and tried to buy it years ago," he said, adding that the sale of the hotel was completed Tuesday (Sept.9).

Summit Hotel Properties said in a Wednesday (Sept. 10) press release that the property sold for $8.8 million.

"It was owned by a publicly traded REIT based in Texas and so when they were ready to sell we happened to be the one they selected," he added.

For Nolan, the purchase of the hotel will be his company's 15th hotel project to be involved in and adds a third property to the company's portfolio. The other properties under DSK ownership include a hotel under the Marriott brand in Little Rock and a Choice Hotel-branded property in Texarkana, Texas.

The reason for purchasing the Hampton Inn property in Fort Smith, Nolan said, was partly because of the corporate branding associated with Hampton.

"Hampton is in the Hilton family (with) HHonors Rewards," he explained. "Business travelers love that system. As such, Hilton does a good job of making sure the properties are well maintained and part of our plans include a $3 million renovation."

According to Nolan, the renovation will include a complete top to bottom re-do of guest rooms, as well as an update to the facade of the hotel which he said will provide a "well designed, modern hotel experience" in the Fort Smith market.

Renovations are expected to begin between the end of this year and mid-2015 with a scheduled completion date of "the end of next year," he said.

Nolan said financing for the hotel's purchase and renovations was provided by Fort Smith-based Benefit Bank. For Nolan and business partner Kane Whitt, adding the hotel to its list of Fort Smith-owned and managed properties will allow them to focus their efforts locally.

"It just complements some of the other businesses we already have," Whitt said, adding that one of the company's local investments is ownership and management of Green Pointe Shopping Center on Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith.

Nolan said the purchase of the hotel was not simply about the numbers making sense, but also about positively impacting the local economy, noting that the hotel's general manager Henry Perez is on the city's A&P Commission and other hotel staff are involved in community non-profits.

"As far as why (we invested in this property), we're based in Fort Smith so it is in our hometown. This will make our 15th hotel project. Based on the numbers they're doing (with $4.1 million in annual revenues), it looked like a good investment for us. We're kind of excited. We know a lot of business people in Fort Smith and to take a hotel from Wall Street ownership to local ownership will resonate well with locals, local travelers and people referring other travelers to the area."

The hotel employs 40 staff, with Nolan adding that the levels would not increase for the foreseeable future.

The share price of Summit Hotel Properties (NYSE: INN) closed Wednesday at $10.51, down six cents. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from an $8.50 low to an $11.09 high. The company has 90 hotels with 11,380 rooms in 21 states.

The Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority is scheduled to meet with the chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee next month, the second meeting with a high-ranking Washington politician in Fort Smith since August regarding infrastructure-related issues.

According to RITA Executive Director Mat Pitsch, U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, a Republican from Pennsylvania and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was invited to visit Fort Smith and meet with RITA by U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers.

The visit will be much like U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe's visit to Fort Smith in August, when the Oklahoma Republican and ranking member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee toured the area's infrastructure, heard about area needs and met for a question and answer session with the RITA board of directors.

Pitsch said bringing senior politicians like Shuster and Inhofe to the area places special emphasis on the region's infrastructure needs that the board hopes will be kept in mind when funding is allocated for infrastructure development.

"When we bring in people like Congressman Shuster, we are trying to shine a bright light on where we want to see this interstate," Pitsch said, specifically highlighting the group's efforts to see the interstate completed from Alma to Texarkana.

Pitsch said the success of meetings with Inhofe and Shuster will not be able to necessarily be measured in tangible, immediate ways.

"If you define success as shining a bright light, that is the success of what RITA can do. We all understand that money for roads (is limited). We all hear the stories, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to communicate with the folks (responsible for funding) to build this road. Our job is to keep shining bright lights where we need interstates, railroads, the (slack water) harbor and expand the airport and offer to help in any way we can help."

He said specifically that the days of getting large earmarks to fund the billions needed to complete the interstate or other infrastructure projects were in the past, adding that the focus during each budget cycle should be on completing segments of the road that will eventually join Interstate 49 into a single roadway from Louisiana to Kansas City.

To illustrate his point, Pitsch pointed to the segments of the interstate completed from north of the Arkansas state line to Kansas City, as well as stretches from Bella Vista to Alma, the stretch through Chaffee Crossing expected to open next month and another stretch from Texarkana to the Louisiana border.

"You always want to keep the end in mind and we want an interstate that traverses the middle of the U.S., but when asking for an interstate in one chunk you don't get a responsive audience. But if you put it into bite-sized pieces, you might."

One of the more critical bite-sized pieces is an about 15-mile segment across the Arkansas River near Fort Smith that would connect I-49 near Alma to the northern segment of I-49 at Chaffee Crossing and Barling. That piece is estimated to cost at least $350 million.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark, said in August that even getting funding to replenish the federal Highway Trust Fund was going to be a challenge and added that for new projects, it would be essential for the federal government to receive assistance from local and state governments.

Pitsch may have an opportunity to influence the state's funding of highway projects in January when he is sworn in to his first term as a state representative after winning a primary in May and having no general election opponent in the November general election. But he said it is difficult to say what exactly he will be able to do in the short term as a state representative to get funding, such as requesting state surplus funds be used for interstate construction.

"I would hope to be involved in some transit issues from my day job, but the House is one of 100 people. I'm going to be a freshman legislator down there. I'm all about roads and infrastructure. … I'm all about that. Infrastructure leads to jobs, employed people and a better society and economy. But as to what kind of an impact someone who has not served in the legislature can have, it's not fair (to try and answer that question right now). I don't want to say that I'm going to do this and that."

As for what happens after Shuster's visit, Pitsch said it is anyone's guess. The hope, he said, is that the Fort Smith projects will be top of mind for Shuster and Inhofe as they head back to the Hill and that the Arkansas Congressional delegation is able to remind both men about the area's infrastructure needs as bills are written and come before committee in the next Congress.