With Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Mike Preston, his new jobs boss, in attendance, the mood was celebratory at the formal groundbreaking for the $30-plus million new corporate headquarters for Fort Smith-based ArcBest. But company CEO Judy McReynolds brought a sense of urgency. Her comments during Wednesday’s (April 15) event touched on market opportunity and a 2015 revenue goal of $3 billion.

“Let’s get the shovels digging,” she said, drawing laughter from the more than 50 people gathered near McClure Amphitheatre at Chaffee Crossing for the ceremony.

McReynolds, a tax accountant by training and a 17-year veteran with ArcBest, is serious. The company just pulled together two consecutive years in the black. Full year net income in 2014 was $46.177 million, up 192% compared to the $15.811 million in 2013, and a wide swing from the $7.7 million loss in 2012. Total revenue during 2014 for the publicly held company (NASDAQ: ARCB) was $2.612 billion, up 13.6% compared to 2013.

The transportation and logistics company is expected to spend $200 million during 2015 to modernize and expand its trucking equipment, build new facilities – about $55 million planned for buildings and real estate – and invest in technology.

Such spending is part of the company’s goal to push beyond $3 billion in annual revenue in 2015. McReynolds is likely counting on financial momentum, a favorable rate environment resulting from capacity constraints in the freight sector, a more flexible labor contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, growth in non-trucking subsidiaries, and acquisitions to meet and exceed the self-imposed goal.

As to acquisitions, the company has little debt, and as of Dec. 31 was sitting on almost $205 million in cash or holdings easily converted to cash. ArcBest officials have said they continue to seek companies to buy.

NEW BUILDING
ArcBest officials first announced in May 2014 the plan to invest $30 million in a new 40-acre corporate campus. The news was part of a larger announcement in which the company plans to add 975 corporate jobs in the area by 2021. As of May, there were about 1,400 ArcBest employees in the Fort Smith area. The company employed more than 11,480 at the end of 2014.

When first announced, the new corporate office was estimated to be up to 150,000 square foot. The building is now projected to be 200,000 square foot and four stories, with completion expected by late 2016. ArcBest corporate offices and its technology subsidiary will move into the new building. Walter Echols, a vice president at ArcBest and head of real estate for the company, is managing the process.

The company will retain its high-profile, 195,000-square-feet corporate headquarter building on Old Greenwood Road in Fort Smith. That facility, which opened in early 1995, is expected to provide space for the consolidation of ABF Freight and ArcBest Technologies offices. Moving corporate and logistics jobs out of the existing corporate headquarters will allow room for expansion at ABF Freight and ArcBest.

ArcBest’s largest subsidiary is less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System. The non-asset subsidiaries are Panther Premium Logistics, ABF Logistics, FleetNet, ABF Moving and ArcBest Technologies (formerly known as Data-Tronic.).

COMMUNITY HISTORY, FUTURE
In her opening comments, McReynolds said the ceremony is another example of how the company has “grown from a local trucker” to a global logistics and transportation company.

Arkansas Best began as a small local freight hauler –  OK Transfer – in 1923 operating in the Fort Smith area. The company has grown organically and through acquisitions to provide global shipping and logistics services. Fort Smith attorney Robert A. Young Jr. bought the a small regional trucking company in 1951 and through several acquisitions grew the company to a national freight carrier.

Mike Barr, with Fort Smith-based Harry G. Barr Company and board chairman of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, thanked McReynolds and ArcBest Board Chairman Robert A. Young III, for the investment in the region. Barr noted that one of the ceremonial shovels is from the chamber vault and was part of a 1970 headquarters groundbreaking for Arkansas Best Corp. (The company changed its named to ArcBest in May 2014.)

“It’s (the shovel) a good reminder of the partnerships between our community and our corporations,” Barr said prior to introducing Gov. Hutchinson.

Hutchinson said he was living in Fort Smith and remembers when the corporate building at Old Greenwood Road opened in 1995. He also said Wednesday’s ceremony is another example that “good things are happening in Arkansas,” and that economic development “pieces are fitting together for future growth.”

The Governor also said the $5 million investment in computer coding classes in Arkansas schools – part of his legislative package and recently approved by the Arkansas Legislature – will help companies like ArcBest who depend heavily on information technology.

“It means something, I believe, to Arkansas ... and to the future of Fort Smith,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson also took the opportunity to introduce Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, to the Fort Smith community. Preston, who has worked with an economic development agency in Florida, was named the new director on March 26.

Real estate agents in the Fort Smith metro area like what they are seeing from the local market to start 2015. 

The number of homes sold in the first quarter of this year rose 17% from the same period last year. Total sales volume for Sebastian County equaled $41.281 million in the first three months of 2015, up 18.4% from the $34.851 million reported a year ago, according to MountData.com.

March delivered a strong showing on the heels of solid results reported in the preceding two months. Agents sold 131 homes in Sebastian County in March worth an estimated $19.987 million. This compared to 104 home sales valued at $15.117 million in the same month of 2014. 

“I attribute the strong results to improving consumer confidence readings that are back to higher levels on par with 1990s. It’s been years since that was the case,” said Kevin King, broker and owner of Weichert King Realty in Fort Smith.

King said he continues to see positive vibes from buyers and investors on the residential and commercial side of the business.

“Rental demand is very strong in Fort Smith and there are nearly always investors in the buying market. We are seeing buyers coming in from out of town. The new medical school (Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine) is drawing more interest out to the Fort Chaffee area. That and ArcBest are expected to double the traffic count at Massard Road and Zero giving that entire area a shot in the arm,” King said.

MODEST PRICE GAINS
MountData shows home prices have increased modestly in Sebastian County year-over-year. The average home price for the first quarter of 2015 is $136,241 with a median square foot price of $69. This compared to $134,563 a year ago, while median square foot prices are up 3.75% year-over-year, according to MountData.com.

King said inventory levels across the Fort Smith market are mixed. He said there are more higher-dollar homes listed than buyers at this time. The lower priced homes, particular those in good shape, are moving quickly either by investors or first-time buyers looking to lock into a home before interest rates move higher later this year.

He said an active new home market is also hindering some prices of older homes in certain price bands and that is expected to continue.

Interest rates are projected to move toward the mid-5% range before the end of 2015. That’s nearly a full percentage point from where they are now and King said that can make a significant difference in payments.

MountData.com also reports the number of days on market from list to contract was 125 in the Fort Smith metro area, up from 119 a year ago. King said anything under 150 days is pretty good for the Fort Smith area, and under 100 days is really good. 

While the Fort Smith metro is off to a strong start in 2015, King expects to see the market activity to taper as the year progresses.

“I think this will be a good year overall. My predictions are modest gains of between 3% and 6% over last year,” King said. 

Cliff Warnock, broker with Warnock Real Estate, also told The City Wire he expects 2015 will be a good year.

“Many of the right variables are lining up: the threat of higher interest rates, rising rental costs, improving job market, competitive prices and slightly looser qualifying requirements,” he said.

CRAWFORD COUNTY
Mount Data reports agents sold 120 homes in Crawford County during the first three months of this year, down from 133 sales in the year-ago period. Total sales volume for the quarter equaled $13.554 million, down 6.6% from a year ago.

The smaller Crawford County does offer between 15% and 20% price value over neighboring Sebastian County. The average home price of those sold in Crawford County this year was $112,950, some 17% cheaper than the $136,241 average sales price record in Sebastian County.

One other interesting factor in Crawford County was the 85 median days on market reported in the quarter. That was down from 114 days reported a year ago.

For March, MountData.com reported there were 41 home sales in Crawford County valued at $4.798 million. Market activity is down from 59 homes valued at $15.117 million in the same month last year.

Arkansas foreclosure activity continues to slow and are part of a national trend in which first quarter foreclosures were their lowest rate in 8 years, according to Irvine, Calif.,-based RealtyTrac.com. Filings were down in Northwest Arkansas, up in Sebastian County, but down overall in the Fort Smith metro.

There were 313,487 U.S. properties in foreclosure during the first quarter of this year, down 8% from a year ago. These properties included those in default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. 

Arkansas had 1,302 foreclosure filings reported in the first quarter, down 4.12% from the year-ago period, according to RealtyTrac. Also following a national trend, the number of bank repossessions reported in March ticked higher in most Arkansas counties and marked a 17-month high for bank repossessions in the country.

“The 17-month high in bank repossessions in March corresponds to a 17-month high in scheduled foreclosures auctions in October,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “The March increase is continued cleanup of distress still lingering from the previous housing crisis; not the beginning of a new crisis by any means. Some of most stubborn foreclosure cases are finally being flushed out of the foreclosure pipeline, and we would expect to see more noise in the numbers over the next few months as national foreclosure activity makes its way back to more stable patterns by the end of this year.”

Despite the spike in March, bank repossessions in the first quarter were still down from a year ago. Lenders repossessed 82,081 U.S. properties during the quarter, up 7% from the previous quarter but still down 14% from a year ago.

Properties that completed the foreclosure process in the first quarter took an average of 620 days to complete the foreclosure process, up from 572 days in the first quarter of 2014.

States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter were Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Illinois, and New Jersey. Among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more, those with the highest foreclosure rates were Atlantic City, N.J., Rockford, Ill., Ocala, Fla., Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla., and Miami, Fla.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
In Benton County RealtyTrac.com reports there were 119 new foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2015, down 35% compared to the first quarter of 2014.. The majority of those (68) homes were bank repossessions.

RealtyTrac reported one in every 789 households in Benton County were in some phase of foreclosure in the first quarter of 2015.

In neighboring Washington County there were 64 new foreclosure filings in the quarter, down 14.67% from a year ago. The majority of these filings (51) were scheduled auctions, which can take an average of six to eight weeks to complete once the date is filed with the court. The foreclosure rate represents one in every 1,377 households in Washington County. 

FORT SMITH REGION
Foreclosure activity in the Fort Smith region bucked the state trend with Sebastian County reporting an uptick in new filings compared to a year ago. Sebastian County reported 41 new foreclosure filings in the first quarter, up 5% from the same period last year. The majority of these filings (31) were homes slated for auction. This could mean  the number of filings remain higher through the next quarter or so as these properties work their way through the pipeline. 

One in every 1,341 homes in Sebastian County were in the midst of foreclosure in the first quarter of this year. 

In Crawford County there were 15 homes in foreclosure in the first quarter, down 44% from the same period last year. Like in Sebastian County, the majority of new filings (13) were for homes slated for auction within the next two months. 

One in every 1,742 homes in Crawford County had a foreclosure filing in the recent quarter.

A lament about a Clinton Bush appearance in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the unfortunate allegation that the Fort Smith Police Department attempted to hack an attorney’s computer, and the politics of hiring and firing within the city of Fort Smith are part of Dawson Meadow’s report.

In his report on upcoming events in the Fort Smith area, Meadows is reminded that Nat King Cole is still dead.

The Video Wire is a collaboration between The City Wire and Things to Do in Fort Smith.

Oral arguments in the case of State of West Virginia vs. Federal Environmental Protection Agency began Thursday morning (April 16) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The hearing was slated to last 80 minutes.

The court will hear arguments on two separate but related lawsuits against the EPA in the wake of last June’s proposed rule requiring states to reduce carbon dioxide emission by 30 percent in 15 years. The rule, also known as President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, has been the subject of controversy among power companies, alternative energy supporters and business interests since last summer.

Both lawsuits contend that the rule and EPA’s threats that it will carry out that rule are illegal.

In August 2014, a dozen states originally filed an initial lawsuit to challenge the rule. Those states include West Virginia, Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kentucky. West Virginia led a group of states in one lawsuit and is an intervener in the other lawsuit.

In February, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed 111(d) rule. That motion was granted in early March, allowing Arkansas to join West Virginia and the other 11 states in the case.

“As attorney general, I will seek to protect Arkansans against an overreaching federal government that is attempting to implement heavy-handed regulations that go beyond the scope of the law,” Rutledge said in a statement on March 9.

The EPA regulation would cut existing power-plant carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 30% by 2030. Arkansas environmental and utility regulators are studying the potential impact in conjunction with various stakeholders with an interest in the new rule. Eventually, a state or regional plan to try to comply with the EPA edict will be submitted.

Earlier this week, officials with Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas leaders met with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to outline concerns and offer alternatives to the EPA’s draft 111(d) rule. Duane Highley, president and CEO of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation, and Mel Coleman, CEO of North Arkansas Electric Cooperative of Salem and president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), were among a group of the executives from member-owned electric cooperatives across the nation to attend the meeting in Washington, D.C.

“We are seeking to preserve the remaining useful life of existing power generation facilities,” Coleman said. “Many power plants across the United States have outstanding debt as they have not reached the full term of their production life. Flexible state-by-state goals with deadlines respective to each state’s situation are needed as each state’s situation is vastly different.”

Coleman indicated that the cooperative delegation asked McCarthy to eliminate the 2020 interim goals and adjust a 2030 reduction deadline timeframe to at least 2035. These changes would allow states to plan, prepare and reach the goals, while preserving reliability for consumers, he said.

Added Highley: “It would be unfair for consumers to pay twice for their electricity. In some situations, ratepayers would have to pay for the debt on the plants that are being closed, as well as the costs of new power plants that will have to be built to meet energy demands.”

On the other hand, The Arkansas Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel have been staunch supporters of the proposed EPA “dirty air” rules.
Today’s court hearing in the nation’s capital is expected to conclude around 10:30 a.m. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey as well as other officials are expected to hold a news conference after the hearing.

The EPA plans to release the final Clean Power Plan rules in June and include a federal implementation plan for any states that do not craft state or regional implementation plans.

In just under three years Kourtney and Beau Barrett have disrupted the fitness headband segment with Junk Brands, a growing custom headband manufacturing operation based in their hometown of Bentonville.

Their finished products have resonated with fitness enthusiasts garnering Junk Brands a key partnership in the National Reebok Crossfit Championships, and a new licensing deal gives Junk an inside opportunity with the NBA. Junk is also has working deals in the collegiate realm with the NCAA and other licensing groups.

“We’ve come a long way from the days since my only outlet was selling these headbands out of the back of my Landcruiser,” said founder and CEO Kourtney Barrett. 

This year she expects her burgeoning company will produce and sell between 300,000 and 500,000 custom headbands with the help of the 40 full-time employees she’s added since the summer of 2012. The headbands retail between $16 and $22, a price point that includes enough margin for Junk to continue its growth. 

JUNKING IT
Some seven months pregnant with child No. 3 in the fall of 2011, Barrett said she and Beau were driving through a Starbucks for coffee when the barista complemented the headband she was wearing. The couple had just sold their real estate business with Grubb & Ellis and were looking for other opportunities.

“Beau looked at me at that drive thru window and said, ‘Headbands are going to be your next business and I am going to give you one year of my time to get it off the ground,’” Barrett said. “We have never looked back.”

The baby was born in February 2012. By that summer she recruited a seamstress via Craigslist because Kourtney did not sew. She had merely been folding the fabric for her own use, but said in order to sell a finished product she had to find some help with the sewing. 

At that time, Barrett was ironing on the Junk logo. The Junk name came about because she was looking for something that was counter culture, but also cool and simple.

“In those early days I was hiring the sewing out and then ironing on the logos in my kitchen. When the baby was just a few months old, we loaded up the RV and trekked across the country setting up as a vendor at Crossfit competitions. Selling direct to consumer was best way for us to market our new brand and it’s something we still do today,” Barrett said.

GROWING PAINS
Early on Barrett said customers began to contact her saying the Junk logo had cracked and was peeling off after several washes. 

“They didn’t want to return the headband. They just asked us to re-affix the label because they thought it was cool. This got Beau and I to thinking that there must be a better way. It literally kept us both up at nights,” she said.

Junk Brands by that point was up to 12 employees all working out of the couple’s garage at home. She said luckily her neighbors were great about the disruption and three large Junk Brands vans being parked in the drive.

During this period the couple experimented with the distributive work model, supplying sewers the equipment and allowing them to cut and sew the headbands in their own homes. 

“That really didn’t work. We were getting the products back with coffee stains, smokey, covered in pet hair, and there was no way for us to control the quality of the product. We knew if our product was going to be made in the USA the quality had to be excellent. That’s why Junk Brands also became a manufacturer,” Kourtney Barrett said.

Junk Brands imports its raw fabric which is a polyester blend, not weaved in the U.S. The large fabric rolls are white or gray typically because the colorful designs on the headbands are created in-house by a team of five designers who are graphic artists. The colorful and proprietary designs are first printed on a special type of paper and run through a machine that infuses the image that includes the Junk logo into the fabric. 

Barrett said it’s not like screen printing, but rather the ink is vaporized and burned into the fabric weave, so that it becomes one with the fabric and there is nothing to crack and peel over time.  

“This process encompasses at least 17 variables for perfect execution. It was very expensive equipment and it took lots of trial and error, but we have perfected the process which allow us to customize as few as 10 headbands with the quality that is unheard of in this category,” Barrett said.

She said this process was exactly what they needed to disrupt the market in this category because most fitness quality headbands are made by major sports apparel companies who just use a solid color fabric, given that it’s such a small part of their overall sales.

Junk Brands headbands feature brilliant colors and designs that the company says hold up over time, which means a lot to the Barretts given they are made in Bentonville, Ark.

WHAT’S NEXT?
Junk Brands has already found a following in several sporting areas such as crossfit, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, running, biking and yoga. The headbands are sold nationwide in dozens of small specialty stores and boutiques and locally in Lewis & Clark and Rush Running. Junk has a large e-commerce business and also sells on Amazon.com.

Barrett said Junk has just signed national deals to get their product in Dick’s Sporting Goods and Hibbett Sports stores. It recently got on the shelf in Lid’s, and Lid’s Team, Reebok and Fithub stores as well as Shields Sporting Goods. 

“We worked hard to get into the national retailers and will continue to expand on these wholesale relationships this year and next. I have four sales people working this area daily. We also have a higher margin retail business and our growing customer business returns good margins too. Our events segment is also a revenue producing element of this business, which is ridiculous given that it’s also our marketing spend,” Barrett said.

Junk Brands has managed to grow its annual sales between 275% and 330% year-over-year since 2012,” Barrett said.

All of the money outside of payroll is being invested back into the business. She declined to provide investment startup details saying only that the couple has bootstrapped most of the expense cashing in equity from real estate owned and also buying, remodeling and selling 13 real estate properties in recent years.

“We are always buying and selling it’s just what we do. Beau also works full-time for Citrix which is what supports our family. We are not pulling any income from Junk Brands at this time, choosing to reinvest back into growing this company,” she said.

In January of this year Barrett said the couple took on an angel investor.

“We just had to do it. There were some big investments in equipment and infrastructure that had to be made if we were going to grow,” she added.

The couple in early 2014 purchased the Cox Communications building at 1006 N.W. 11th St. in North Bentonville. The 3,000 square-foot facility is at full capacity with 40 employees, packing, designing, printing, manufacturing, sales and back-office staff. The Barretts purchased the building next door (1004 N.W. 11th St., just of North Walton Boulevard) for $650,000 in November and have renovated 9,000 of the 15,000 square feet.

“We are planning to move into the 9,000 square foot space within the next week. They are finishing up the painting and cleaning at this point. The other 6,000 square feet of space is presently leased and we will have access to that space later this year as we work out a deal with those tenants,” Barrett said.

BRAND EXPANSION
The Barretts said Junk is their brand and all of their efforts have been building equity there, but that doesn’t mean there are can’t be sub-brands at lower price points in the future that could appeal to mass retailers like Wal-Mart or Target, perhaps more as a fashion item than fitness apparel.

“I don’t think you can walk into a big retailer off the street. We are a manufacturer and it has taken some time to get that process down. I feel like there is a place for a sub-brand of Junk on those shelves in due time. Junk is a woman-owned business and we are made in the U.S.A. which resonates well with several large retailers this day and time,” she said.

She told The City Wire that she comes from a long line of entrepreneurs and she and Beau always knew they wanted to make something. Today, that’s custom headbands, but who knows what products Junk Brands may produce from their Bentonville factory.

“Our customer base will let us know when they are ready for something else. I know hard work pays off and we have a creative team eager to tackle new challenges. There is not better place to start and run a business than Northwest Arkansas,” Barrett said.

Matt Fifer, CEO of Selling to the Masses, said what the Barretts have been able to do with Junk Brands is astounding. Despite being based just 1.5 miles from Wal-Mart’s headquarters, Junk Brands has focused elsewhere but found plenty of helpful resources  for retail in channels that fit their pricing model and niche marketing area.

He likened them to Fran Free founder of Oh Baby Foods in Fayetteville who has managed to grow an organic baby food business into a national name without ever gracing the shelves at Wal-Mart.

The group seeking renewal of Fort Smith’s 1% sales tax for street work and a 5% cut of that tax for trail and greenway work raised $5,000 in March to cover campaign costs. A Crawford County group seeking a 1% sales renewal raised just short of $5,000 for its campaign.

Both elections are set for May 12.

Pushing for the Fort Smith tax plan is the “Keep Your Penny Rolling, A Project of Citizens for Continued Progress” committee. Combined with the funds raised prior to March, the committee had a fund balance of $28,186 as of March 31.

Following are the donors in the March report, in the order listed on the report.
River Valley Cycling, $1,000
Oklahoma Gas & Electric, $1,000
Sparks Health System, $1,000
Weather Barr, $500
Township Builders, $1,000
Glenn Yaffe, $500

The committee reported that it spent only $531 in March. Chip Paris, with Fort Smith-based Williams Crawford & Associates, said it is likely that most if not all of the money raised for the campaign will be spent on the effort to win voter approval. Williams Crawford has been hired to manage marketing for the campaign.

The Fort Smith Board of Directors approved Jan. 20 a May 12 election in which city voters will be asked to vote for renewal of the 1% sales tax for street, bridges and drainage improvements. Part of the ballot will also include a voter question on directing 5% of the tax collections toward the multi-use trail system. A Trails & Greenway Committee developed the plan that seeks to add 35 miles to the city’s trail system. The Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Smith Regional Council have endorsed renewal of the tax and the 5% portion for trails and greenways.

The street tax generates $18 million to $20 million each year. The tax, first approved by voters in 1985, has a sunset clause that requires voter approval every 10 years. The tax was renewed by voters in 1995 with 87.2% voting yes, and in 2005 with 66.3% voting yes. A renewal vote is planned for May 12.

TRAIL PLAN OPPOSITION
Jerry Fleming, chairman and spokesman of the “Save Our Streets in Fort Smith” committee opposes the 5% redirection of the street tax. His group hopes to raise $2,500 for a limited campaign using billboards, social media “and a couple of print media ads.” Joining Fleming on the committee officer list are David Armbruster, treasurer, and Donald Dickey, director.

Fleming said he is not against the trail system, but is opposed to the funding mechanism. He said if the 5% plan fails, he wants to work with those he now opposes to find a funding plan.

“If the diversion effort fails, then I am already working on a plan to get that trails system implemented – after this election,” Fleming said in a note to The City Wire. “I will have no problem whatsoever working with those who are now my opponents, to get the trails system implemented. We can work together. This is my promise to my ‘opponents’ as well as my supporters.”

Both sides appear to be active on social media. A Fort Smith Trails and Greenways Facebook page includes several posts about the economic impact of trails. The Save Our Streets Facebook page includes posts arguing that Fort Smith’s infrastructure will suffer if 5% is diverted to trail development and maintenance.

CRAWFORD COUNTY VOTE
The “County-Wide Sales Tax Renewal Committee” in Crawford County collected $4,849 in March, spent no money and ended the reporting period with a $7,899 balance.

Following are the donors in the March report, in the order listed on the report.
APAC Central, $500
Cathy Gifford, $100
Kevin Bell, $200
Joe Morgan, $500
First Bank, $100
Eva White, $100
Rusty Myers, $200
Scott McBrayer, $49
Donna Parker, $100
Steve Forsgren, $500
Todd Green, $250
Jason Myers, $200
Doug (last name unreadable; with Mid-Continent Concrete), $500
Jay White, $1,000
Candice Settle, $50
Fred Williams, $100
Neal Moon, $100

There is no known opposition to the Crawford County tax renewal effort.

The Crawford County sales tax was first approved in 1999 by a narrow margin of 2,571 for and 2,502 against. It was renewed in 2007 by a much wider margin of 3,592 for and just 884 against.

Money from the tax is distributed to cities within the county based on population. Following is the eight-year distribution total to the cities and county.
Alma: $4.09 million
Cedarville: $1.092 million
Chester: $109,040
Dyer: $822,048
Kibler: $832,566
Mountainburg: $572,963
Mulberry: $1.411 million
Rudy: $70,980
Van Buren: $17.758 million
Crawford County: $22.728 million

Link here to see the list of donors in previous reports from the Fort Smith and Crawford County groups.

As thousands of college seniors prepare to receive their degrees next month and then head out into the job market, a group of students from the University of Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and other regional institutions received a head start Thursday with a portfolio review.

CJRW, a marketing agency in Springdale and Little Rock, brought professionals from Northwest Arkansas agencies together with 35 soon-to-be graduates, majoring in different areas of design and marketing, from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, John Brown University, NorthWest Arkansas Community College, The Design School, and Oklahoma State Institute of Technology in Okmulgee.

Students were assigned seats through the CJRW office suite and waited for any of the 13 professionals to make their way to them to review, critique and provide feedback on examples of their work in a portfolio. The professionals represented interactive, shopper marketing and traditional advertising. The portfolio event was intended to bring agencies and students together, said Tom Cooper, creative director at CJRW. It was the first time for such an event in Northwest Arkansas.

The portfolio is a collection of work examples from each student. Much like a journalism graduate would provide writing samples to prospective employers, the design student shows a portfolio in the job market.

It was also an opportunity for students to develop or sharpen networking skills, said Colin McLain, an assistant professor in art and graphic design at UAFS.

“The students want to get their work in front of professionals and ultimately get placed in jobs,” said Bryan Alexis, also an assistant professor in graphic design at UAFS.

Alexis said students at UAFS will have a portfolio review on the Fort Smith campus next Thursday.

Jarrod Ramsey, 22, of Lavaca was one of 13 students from the Fort Smith campus to attend the review. It was the first portfolio review he had attended and was anxious for some professional critique. He hopes to get a job in Fayetteville in the creative side of an agency after graduation.

Sarandy Westfall, 21, from Springdale, hopes to find work in Fort Smith or Northwest Arkansas. Westfall developed an interest in graphic design while working on the yearbook at Har-Ber High School.

Some students had hard copies of their work to show off while others used tablets or laptops to share their work.

Blake Reynolds, 22, of Dallas, will graduate in a few weeks from the University of Arkansas and hopes to get a job in a small agency where she can expand her skills in web design, photography and social media. Amy McLarty 22, of Rogers, said the feedback she received early in the event was positive. McLarty said she hopes to get a job in Northwest Arkansas.

“She admired my work,” McLarty said, noting the feedback came from a CJRW professional who mentioned the company would be hiring an intern.

“I have received a lot of good feedback. It’s motivation to go back and work really hard to make the portfolio more communicative. Fine tuning it,” said Hope Johnstone, 30, of Siloam Springs.

She was the office manager of a small construction company before going back to school at the University of Arkansas to major in visual design and sculpture.

“It’s really fun to meet people one on one who can give quality advice,” Johnstone said.

Alejandro Sanchez, 20, a graphic design student at NWACC and The Design School, said the feedback was that his work was visually appealing but he needed to consider his audience and to work more with color.

“It was very constructive and really good,” Sanchez said. “It’s a good process, very helpful.”

Whirlpool officials said Friday (April 17) they have paid more than $3 million to property owners harmed by pollution around the company’s former manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, and have settled claims with all but two property owners near the plant.

The company closed the refrigerator manufacturing plant in June 2012, and later that year it was made public that trichloroethyclene – a cancer-causing chemical – was found in and around the plant. Whirlpool has been working to monitor and remove the chemicals, with oversight of the work handled by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. ADEQ issued its first remedial action plan December 2013.

Jeff Noel, Whirlpool’s corporate vice president of communications and public affairs, and Mike Ellis, an engineer with Environ, told the Fort Smith Board of Directors in January that TCE levels have decreased around Whirlpool’s plant in Fort Smith. Environ is consulting Whirlpool in the clean up effort. According to Whirlpool’s annual report to the Board, the company has installed 202 “membrane interface probes,” 62 soil probes, 86 monitoring wells, and five temporary boundary wells.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) continues to monitor Whirlpool’s mitigation and removal efforts. Whirlpool initially sought a groundwater well ban in response to the discovery of TCE, but public outcry and ADEQ involvement resulted in more extensive and expensive work by Whirlpool to address the issue.

Friday’s announcement by Whirlpool followed Thursday’s dismissal by U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III, of litigation between Whirlpool and some of the property owners. Both sides requested the the dismissal after “extensive arms length negotiations” resulted in a mutually acceptable agreement.

"The settlements concluded during the past two months include paying affected owners the amount by which each property was devalued by the Tax Assessor, plus 33% of that amount,” Noel said in Friday’s statement from Whirlpool. “In exchange for the payments, property owners agreed to release all claims and dismiss pending litigation, to file deed restrictions prohibiting drilling of wells on the properties, and to allow access for testing and remediation activities being undertaken by Whirlpool and its consultants."

Whirlpool said 54 property owners “have entered into, or are in the process of finalizing, settlement agreements on the same terms.” The company described as “unreasonable” the two claims not being settled.

“The claims that are continuing in litigation are outliers with demands that are simply unreasonable. We have been more than generous in determining the compensation we will pay to owners, but any settlement must be fair to everyone involved,” Noel said in the statement.

Through Noel, the company also noted: “Whirlpool remained steadfast in its promise to be fair to the community by treating all property owners the same and by compensating even property owners who had not brought claims against us. To achieve this, we literally went door-to-door in the community seeking out people who had chosen not to sue the company to ensure that they were compensated the same as those plaintiffs in the litigation. We will also continue to work closely with environmental regulators and the City of Ft. Smith to remediate the contamination pursuant to the Consent Letter and RADD. We are also actively working to sell the remainder of the closed facility for redevelopment, which we hope will only further help nearby property owners.”

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores confirmed Friday (April 17) plans to eliminate the role of zone managers in its U.S. stores in the coming weeks. This impacts 14,000 workers who were told recently and given the opportunity to transition into other roles at like pay, the retailer said.

Walmart U.S. CEO Greg Foran told analysts April 1 that the retailer was adding back the position of “department manager” to better streamline the chain of command, but he made no mention of eliminating zone managers.

The retailer did recently outline plans to spend $1 billion this year in wages and staffing changes in its U.S. segment. This shift from zone to department mangers are part of this overhaul, according to Kory Lundberg, Wal-Mart spokesman.

There are about five zone managers in a typical supercenter and those employees will be reassigned to either department of assistant managers, he said. The role of a zone manager has typically been to oversee a few departments and came about as an effort to reduce store count away from department managers that were originally part of the retailer’s store operational structure, retail experts said.

Lungren told The City Wire that increasing the number of department managers who look after just one area such as produce or electronics will allow managers to focus more on narrowly engaging with workers and ensuring their department is meeting customer needs.

“Our department managers are closest to our customers and are able to really understand what they are looking for in the department,” he said.

Other duties of the department managers include making sure the merchandise is getting from the back of the store to the shelves, making sure customers can find what they are looking for and the department managers will also have a say in merchandising.

“Bottom line is we think these changes will help make Walmart a better place to work and a better place to shop,” Lundberg said.

'BETTER TOGETHER'
Experts said this store restructure is not unusual given the entire management team under CEO Doug McMillon has been revamped over the past year.

Foran wasted no time in shifting the roles of his top management so that the merchants, those tasked with the day-to-day purchase of goods for the retailer, report directly to him. Judith McKenna, his chief operating officer, has often spoken on “simplicity” which is part in parcel to the core goals of this management team. McKenna reportedly sees the need for closer internal collaboration between merchants and store operators at Wal-Mart.

The phrase “Better Together,” is how McKenna has previously characterized the internal collaboration she expects to see the company do a better job of going forward. She told analysts April 1 that reducing bureaucracy at the corporate level and putting more power in the hands of people running the stores is going to make a big difference in raising customer service levels, improving in-stock and ultimately boosting top line revenue growth.

Foran, a store operator at the core, said he’s been tasked to improve the overall shopping experience at Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores. He said that won’t happen overnight and it likely wouldn’t happen at all without first mobilizing the retailer’s army of some 1.4 million workers.

“Our job at the Bentonville home office is to serve our stores, and let’s be frank we have slipped away from this. We have to empower our stores to make decisions,” Foran said.

He said adding back between 8,000 department managers is just one of several initiatives underway. Raising store worker wages which went into effect earlier this month made national headlines in February when it was announced during the retailer’s earnings call.

Foran recently told analysts that while the wage increases grabbed the headlines, that was just part of the $1 billion investment in improving store operations. He said training will be improved and technology is being added to simplify manger workloads. Foran said his plan also allows store management more opportunity and insight on modular design merchandise offerings and features that cater to their unique shopper base.

STORE CLOSURES
The retailer also made headlines this week when it confirmed the temporary closure of five stores related to alleged plumbing issues. The 2,220 impacted workers were given little notice of the store closures which are expected to last up to six months. Wal-Mart said deciding to close a store is never taken lightly, but after careful consideration the retailer felt the extensive repairs must be made and the temporary closure was the solution chosen.

Even under performing stores are generally profitable and it’s unusual to see stores close for extended times even in the wake of major remodels, so employees in some of the affected stores are claiming they were targeted because of their outspoken views for needed changes at the retailer. Venanzi Luna was one of the 530 workers at the Pico Rivera Walmart store near Los Angeles notified this past week about the store closure.

“My coworkers and I were laid off with no guarantee that we can be transferred to a nearby store or get the same pay if we are ... When our store reopens will have to reapply for our jobs,” Luna, a member of OUR Walmart, announced in a media statement on Saturday (April 18). “It’s clear Wal-Mart didn’t like that we were standing up and winning so they are targeting us to try and quiet us down. It’s not going to work.”

The five stores slated for temporary closure are in Los Angeles, Calif., Brandon, Fla., Tulsa, Okla., Livingston, Texas, and Midland, Texas.

Wal-Mart said the closures have “nothing to do with anything but the plumbing.” Wal-Mart told The City Wire that after careful consideration, “we felt it was necessary to make these repairs so we can better serve our customers and the community in the long run.”

CNN reports that full-time and part-time workers impacted by the store closures are being put on paid leave for two months, during which time they can try to transfer to a different Wal-Mart location. Full-time employees who don't get another Walmart job by June 19 may be eligible for severance, which part time workers aren't eligible for.

Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon’s renewed focus on the “every day low price” model and away from promotional pricing may result in pressure on large and small suppliers near the boundaries of Wal-Mart’s 30% rule, which is the limit of sales the retailer wants any one supplier to have within its stores.

Driving prices lower is one of Wal-Mart’s core strategies and it works with a vast supplier base to negotiate the rock bottom prices. But McMillon made a point earlier this year to tell suppliers that buyers would be asking them for “best price” deals and steering away from promotional and shared marketing strategies to better align with its every day low price agenda.

Retail analysts like Ali Dibadj, of Sanford Bernstein, have recently noted this pricing crackdown. 

"We get the impression from (Wal-Mart) management that negotiations with suppliers will be tougher,” Dibadj said in a note to investors.

Joseph Feldman, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group, said driving prices down is Wal-Mart's core strategy and many product companies have learned to live and thrive with it. However, Feldman said smaller suppliers might feel a bigger pinch from Wal-Mart than mega-product producers.

"If I'm from the consumer packaged goods side, I may be concerned," Feldman said. "But at the same time Wal-Mart is one of their best customers and they probably have the best relationships."

According to Bloomberg 2014 data, companies pushing the 30% rule with sales to Wal-mart include:
• J.M. Smucker: 30% of its $7.67 billion in revenues, or $2.35 billion
• Hillshire Brands: 27% of its $4.1 billion in revenues, or $1.1 billion (Hillshire Brand was acquired by Tyson Foods in late 2014. Tyson Foods’ business to Wal-Mart was 14.6% in 2014, outside of Hillshire’s business.)
• Clorox: 26% of its of its $5.6 billion in revenues, or $1.5 billion
• Kraft Foods: 26% of its $18.2 billion, or $4.7 billion
• Tootsie Roll: 23.7% of its $543.5 million in revenue, or  $129 million
• Kellogg: 21% of its $14.6 billion in revenues, or  $3.1 billion

Bill May, a retired Wal-Mart executive, recently spoke to small suppliers at the Selling to the Masses CPG School in Bentonville. He urged suppliers to step up and tell Wal-Mart the truth anytime the pricing pressures are too strong.

“You can’t agree to deals that will put you out of business. If you can’t deliver the price a buyer wants then tell them why you can’t do it. It does no one any good to agree to unsustainable terms,” May said.

He also said buyers and their teams can work with suppliers to find efficiencies in the supply chain if they know a buyer is struggling with cost containment.

Tanya Lewis, inventor of the Green Glide mop head and a new supplier to Walmart Stores, told The City Wire she was amazed at the willingness of her buyer to work with her on the logistics side of the business given that she is testing a product in 300 stores stretched across 49 states. Having orders spread among 42 distribution centers could be cost prohibitive for this small supplier, but tapping into the retailer’s freight collect consolidation program, Lewis said she is able to sell the product $3 cheaper at Wal-Mart than she can sell it on her own website.

Lewis said buyers want to see their vendors succeed but negotiating the best price is going to be part of the deal.

“This is good for the consumer and hopefully generates more overall sales for all concerned,” Lewis said.

Tonnage moved on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System was down 8% during the first quarter thanks in large part to a 31% dip in outbound shipments and an 18% decline in sand, gravel and rock shipments. However, one local port operator says his operations are off to a good start in 2015.

The U.S. Corps of Engineers reports that 2.81 million tons floated up and down the Arkansas River during the first quarter of 2015, down 8% compared to the first quarter of 2014.

Tonnage totaled 11.719 million tons in 2014, down from the 12.139 million in 2013 but better than the 11.687 million in 2012 and the 10.6 million in 2011.

The river system is 445 miles long and stretches from the confluence of the Mississippi River to the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa, Okla. The controlled waterway has 18 locks and dams, with 13 in Arkansas and five in Oklahoma.

Marty Shell, president of Van Buren-based Five Rivers Distribution, which manages port operations in Fort Smith and Van Buren, said his operations have been busy and was surprised tonnage was down compared to the 2014 period.

“First quarter for Five Rivers Distribution has been another good quarter. I don’t want to jinx myself ... but so far it’s been a good year,” Shell said.

He said recent conversations with port operators in Houston, Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans indicate “they are riding a wave right now of activity.”

“We’re busy up and down the river, and the big guys at the ports are jumping. ... So I don’t know what to think about those (Corps tonnage numbers),” he said.

Shell said port operations in the Fort Smith area continue to supply construction materials to Northwest Arkansas and other metro regions with a 200-mile radius.

“I can tell you that the port of Fort Smith is full of lumber for a lot of that new home construction in Northwest Arkansas. That’s a good indicator of the housing market when you see a port full of lumber,” he explained.

The three sectors often connected to economic growth were, overall, down. During the quarter, there were 636,154 tons of sand, gravel and rock shipped on the river, down 18%; 437,925 tons of iron and steel products, up 1%; and 102,200 tons of minerals and building materials, down 4%. The iron and steel products are inbound shipments that typically go to manufacturing operations.

Those three critical sectors in 2014 were up 12%, 15% and 7%, respectively.

In the other big shipment categories, 725,684 tons of chemical fertilizer was shipped, up 11%, 396,300 tons of soybeans were shipped, flat compared to the 2014 quarter, and 130,500 tons of food and farm products were shipped, down 21%.

Inbound shipments totaled 1.398 million tons, up 18%, and outbound shipments fell 31% to 880,189 tons.

The Millennial generation — consumers between 19 and 34 years of age — are nothing like their parents and grandparents. So it comes as no surprise that their buying habits are garnering the attention of service providers and product manufacturers hoping to cash in on the expected $200 billion this demographic will spend by 2017.

That’s also a projected cohort spend of $10 trillion over their lifetimes, according to a recent report by Fayetteville-based Field Agent. The main topic covered in the Field Agent research report is how and why Millennials are spearheading a revolution underway in the way television programming is packaged and delivered.

“Millennials aren’t just watching different content; they’re actually changing the way TV is packaged and delivered in the first place,” said Field Agent CEO Rick West. 

Field Agent notes that more Millennials are “cutting the cord” from cable and satellite and opting to web-stream their programming through subscription services like Netflix and Hulu. According to the Los Angeles Times, as of 2014, 7.6 million homes had severed their connections to cable and/or satellite. This was up from 5.1 million homes in 2010. Field Agent notes that these numbers don’t speak directly to Millennials, but they are the group leading this movement.

Field Agent surveyed 300 Millennials, with an even split between men and women on this “cord cutting” topic. A “cord-cutter” is someone who is unwilling to pay for traditional TV-viewing platforms such as cable or satellite and, instead, watches TV exclusively over an alternative medium such as the internet via subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and others.

West said Field Agent wanted to know not just how many Millennials are watching Netflix and other services, but how many have completely quit paying for cable and satellite, accessing their TV content exclusively over the web.

“In our survey of 300, 39% self-identified as cord-cutters. However, 74% of Millennials surveyed said they utilize web-streaming to one degree or another in accessing their television content. It’s just that many of these combine web-streaming with cable or satellite,” the report notes.

Millennials cite a number of reasons for their cutting the cord with traditional cable and satellite:
• 84% cite better value/lower cost;
• 70% cite greater control of programs;
• 57% sought to avoid commercials;
• 36% sought better content;
• 34% cite frustration with cable/satellite providers; and
• 8% sought a better picture quality.

A 24-year-old surveyed by Field Agent said in his Salt Lake City, Utah market, that TV is far too expensive for his budget. 

“I don't watch that much and feel that most of the programming is unnecessary. Why would I pay so much when I can get everything I want for far less with fewer or no commercials.” he responded.

Field Agent also sought to find out if there was any remorse among this “cord-cutting” consumer. Of the 116 cord cutters in the survey, West said not a single one regretted that decision:
• 54% were completely satisfied;
• 30% were very satisfied;
• 30% were moderately satisfied; and
• 2% were slightly satisfied.

Given the lack of remorse, Field Agent was eager to find out how much of the cord cutters would consider returning to cable or satellite. Less than one-third (27%) said they are not at likely to return to those services. At the other end of the spectrum 14% said there’s a strong possibility they will return. The report notes that vast majority of consumers fell somewhere in the middle, which is an opportunity for cable and satellite providers to try and entice these consumers back into their fold.

Field Agents note that the Millennials move away from conventional cable and satellite is prompting innovative changes within those segments.

At this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Dish Network unveiled Sling TV, a new web-enabled, TV-streaming platform, according to the report.  Sling TV specifically targets Millennials as its creators sees it as a viable alternative for live television for this demographic with $20 per month for live television programing, with add-on options along the way for specific channels in a a pay-as-you-go, ala carte option.

West said if Sling TV is any indication, the expectations of this powerful consumer class are in the process of changing not only what’s on TV, but how TV is packaged and delivered in the first place.

“The great unbundling appears to be upon us, and some observers are suggesting pure a la carte TV may be just around the corner,” he notes in the report.

It flew under the radar for the most part, but a significant piece of legislation may make Arkansas a much easier place to start or run a business.

Act 1190, co-sponsored by Speaker Jeremy Gillam and Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, allows the Secretary of State’s office to create a portal for businesses to submit licenses, permits and applications through one interface.

Typically, a business must file organizational paperwork at the Secretary of State’s office, such as articles of incorporation. Then, a business must register for a sales tax permit with the Department of Finance and Administration. Finally, that company may have to find the physical address of a board or commission to receive a license for the type of work it will perform.

In the end, the tasks can be cumbersome and a deterrent for a startup or existing business. Secretary of State Mark Martin hopes to change that. Martin says as an engineer, he’s always been interested in improving processes and finding ways to innovate, but comments on the campaign trail pushed this recent initiative.

“(T)he real impetus behind this legislation started when I traveled across the state campaigning for my first term as Secretary of State,” he said. “One thing I constantly heard from business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs was: How can you make starting and running a business in Arkansas more efficient and modern?”

The Secretary of State’s office has permission to use cash funds from the office to underwrite the costs of the new portal. Act 1190 also allows Martin to “apply for and accept a gift, donation, bequest, grant, or other source of money to carry out” the new law. A price tag for the total scope of the project has yet to be determined.

Martin said he started toward the goal of one-stop business shopping with a web site he launched in his first term – DreamItDoItArkansas.com. The site provides new business owners answers to basic questions on how to navigate state government based on where you’ll locate your business, what type of business structure you organize, and how many employees you plan to have.

From there, an email is sent to users to steer them to some of the local, state, and federal entities with which they’ll have to complete paperwork. Martin says the Act 1190 will allow some – and perhaps eventually all – of this state paperwork to be completed without having to travel to multiple sites or locations.

“With the creation of the online business portal, businesses in Arkansas will have the opportunity to interact with state government in a way they never have before,” said Martin.

Martin envisions hiring an outside group to create the portal – there are many vendors who have developed expertise in government interfaces – and it could take two years to get this project to activation stage. When it’s up and running though, he sees business owners creating an account in one place and handling much of their business online through an ID number.

“Once their business is started, and this applies to existing business who want to start an account too, they will be given a unique identification number that will be used by all state agencies to identify them. This removes the hassle of trying to remember or manage all the different ways various agencies identify and classify businesses, and for multiple business owners, this will really simplify things,” Martin said.

Martin sees the portal as being a big advantage to help Arkansas’ burgeoning startup scene.

“While I think all businesses in Arkansas will benefit from a more modern and efficient mode of interacting with state government, I can’t help but see the Innovation Hub and growing focus on tech startups really embrace this,” he said, noting that the year DreamItDoItArkansas.com launched there were more new businesses created through his office than any previous year.

“I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When we make it easier to start and manage business, entrepreneurship can flourish, and that benefits all Arkansans,” he said.

Most members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors were hesitant to speculate about funding a trail plan if an upcoming 5% diversion tax fails to gain voter approval, but several would consider redirecting tax revenue now received by the Fort Smith Parks Department toward building out a proposed 35-mile trail system.

The Fort Smith Board approved Jan. 20 a May 12 election in which city voters will be asked to vote for renewal of the 1% sales tax for street, bridges and drainage improvements. Part of the ballot will also include a voter question on directing 5% of the tax collections toward the multi-use trail system. A Trails & Greenway Committee developed the plan that seeks to add 35 miles to the city’s trail system. The Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Smith Regional Council have endorsed renewal of the tax and the 5% portion for trails and greenways.

The street tax generates $18 million to $20 million each year. The tax, first approved by voters in 1985, has a sunset clause that requires voter approval every 10 years. The tax was renewed by voters in 1995 with 87.2% voting yes, and in 2005 with 66.3% voting yes. A renewal vote is planned for May 12.

Pushing for the Fort Smith tax plan is the “Keep Your Penny Rolling, A Project of Citizens for Continued Progress” committee. Combined with the funds raised prior to March, the committee had a fund balance of $28,186 as of March 31.

But if voters don’t approve the plan, what then?

Part or all of a solution could come from the $2.5 million a year now collected by the Fort Smith Parks Department. That money results from Fort Smith voter approval in 2012 of a broad tax plan that redirected spending of a 1% sales tax.

Fort Smith Director and Vice Mayor Kevin Settle declined to speculate about redirection of the $2.5 million if the upcoming vote fails. He said he “has not even thought about” funding trails if the 5% vote fails. Director George Catsavis said a review of the Parks Department budget would be a “possibility,” but said it “is really a tough question, and we’ll just have to look at the numbers.”

Director André Good “would be supportive” of looking at the numbers, but said the Board has to remember that “there are other programs that come up through the year that also ask for that money.”

To that point, Director Keith Lau said he is open to the option.

“Yes, I’d be open to that as long as it doesn’t jeopardize other programs,” Lau said.

Director Tracy Pennartz said the Board may have to look at other funding options for the trail system if the vote fails. She said those for the trail system have made a strong argument for the economic development and quality of life benefit it would deliver for the city and region.

“It is clear that there has been a sufficient amount of citizen initiative to support trails development, so something needs to be done,” Pennartz told The City Wire.

To find money for the trail system, Pennartz said it is likely the Board “will have to take another look at the capital improvement plan within Parks and Recreation.”

Relatively stable growth in the labor force size and the number of employed held Arkansas’ jobless rate at 5.6% in March. It is the ninth consecutive month the jobless rate has been at or below 6%.

Arkansas’ March jobless rate of 5.6% was unchanged compared to February and below the 6.4% in March 2014, according to figures released Tuesday (April 21) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The March numbers are subject to revision.

Arkansas’ average jobless rate for 2014 was 6.1%, down 1.3% percentage points from the 7.4% average in 2013. It is the first time the annual average dropped below 7% since 2008.

The size of the workforce – 1.33 million – was up 2.91% compared to March 2014, and was better than the 1.326 million in February. The peak for Arkansas’ labor force was 1.376 million in August 2008.

The number of employed in Arkansas during March was 1.256 million, below February employment of 1.252 million, and up 3.75%, or an impressive 45,505 jobs compared to March 2014. The number of unemployed was an estimated 74,459 during March, above the 73,682 in February, but well below the 82,269 in March 2014.

The closely watched nonfarm payroll number was 1.203 million in March. The nonfarm number topped the 1.2 million mark in December, the first time since September 2008. The nonfarm category does not include farm workers, private household employees, non-profit employees and “general government” employees. Investopedia estimates that the nonfarm category represents about 80% of the total workforce that contributes to national GDP.

Nonfarm payroll during March was below the 1.209 million in February and up over the 1.181 million in March 2014. Nonfarm jobs reached a high in Arkansas of 1,209,800 in February 2008.

ARKANSAS SECTOR NUMBERS
In the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector — Arkansas’ largest job sector — employment during March was an estimated 247,400, below the 249,400 in February and ahead of the 242,400 during March 2014. Employment in the sector hit a high of 251,800 in March 2007.

Manufacturing jobs in Arkansas during March totaled 154,400, above the 153,900 in February and above the 153,200 in March 2014. Employment in the manufacturing sector fell in 2014 to levels not seen since early 1968. Peak employment in the sector was 247,300 in February 1995.

Government job employment during March was 213,300, unchanged compared to February and just above the 213,200 during March 2014.

The state’s Education and Health Services sector during March had 174,400 jobs, up from 174,100 in February and up from 171,600 during March 2014. Employment in the sector is up 20.2% compared to March 2005.

The construction sector employed an estimated 46,100 in March, down from 49,500 in February and above the 44,700 in March 2014. The sector is off the employment high of 57,600 reached in March 2007.

Arkansas’ tourism sector (leisure & hospitality) employed 114,400 during March, down from a revised 114,800 during February, and above the 106,800 during March 2014. The revised February employment marked a record for the industry.

NATIONAL, REGIONAL DATA
The BLS report also noted that 46 states had unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, three states had increases and only Arkansas had no change. The national jobless rate during March was 5.5%, down from the 6.6% in March 2014.

Nevada had the highest unemployment rate among the states in March at 7.1%. Nebraska had the lowest jobless rate at 2.6%.

The March jobless rate in Oklahoma was 3.9%, unchanged compared to February and down from 4.8% in March 2014.

Missouri’s jobless rate during March was 5.6%, up compared to 5.5% in February and down from 6.4% in March 2014.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services began as a small carrier of rice hulls from eastern Arkansas across the state to the burgeoning poultry industry in Northwest Arkansas in the late 1960s. Founders Johnnie Bryan Hunt and Johnelle Hunt, began the company with five trucks and seven trailers and lost money in the first few years of business. 

GRIT & GUTS
In 1969, Hunt turned the family business around relocating to Lowell and putting his partner and wife Johnelle in charge of collections. Johnelle Hunt unabashedly has shared how she would call the wives and mothers of those customers who owed them money because that was the quickest way to get the delinquent invoices paid.

Hunt took the company public in 1983 after it began to profit on the heels of industry deregulation. By 1989 Hunt began to partner with Sante Fe Railroad, taboo at the time, given the two parties were also competitors. That partnership evolved over time into the carrier’s Intermodal segment and is now a widely used strategy across the transport industry.

PROFITS ABOUND
In 2014, logistics giant J.B. Hunt Transport posted net profits of $374.79 million on revenue of $6.165 billion. The Intermodal segment comprises about 60% of the company’s total revenue at this time.

Transport Topics ranked J.B. Hunt Transport as the No. 2 largest logistics company in North America for 2015 based on net revenue. UPS Supply Chain Services ranked No.1, edging out Hunt by a margin of $425 million in net sales last year. By roughly $500 million Hunt ranked above Ryder Supply Chain Solutions and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

FAMILY TIES
Johnelle Hunt remains the largest shareholder of the company with 19.353 million shares or 16.6% of the outstanding stock, according to the recent Proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Her stock holdings have a street value of $1.781 billion as of Tuesday (April 21). She retired from her board seat in early 2008 at age 75 which was the cap age for directors according to company bylaws. 

Bryan Hunt, 56 and son of the founders, remains a director for the company in a seat he has held since 1991. Bryan Hunt is not a majority stock holder in the company, though his annual pay for the board seat is $158,000, which $140,000 was paid in stock last year. 

POLITICAL SPEND
OpenSecrets.com records indicate J.B. Hunt Transport Services made political contributions to individual campaigns totaling $78,599 since 1994. The company does not appear to be active in political lobbying circles given the entire industry contributed in excess of $135.7 million last year to political campaigns.

Hunt’s (corporate) political contributions peaked in 2004 at $20,000. Contributions have declined from $17,000 in 2010, to $10,000 in 2012 to $7,000 in 2014, according to OpenSecrets.com.

SAFETY RECORD
As a carrier and freight broker J.B. Hunt Transport is regulated by the Federal Motor Coach Safety Administration that routinely inspects rigs and investigates accidents involving the company and its drivers.

J.B. Hunt Transport has 14,540 drivers who logged more than 997.858 million miles in 2014, according to the FMCSA website. The company earned a satisfactory rating as of February 2015. 

The carrier was involved in 25 fatality accidents over the the past 24 month period. There were 319 other accidents that resulted in non-fatal injuries. There were 621 trucking crashes that resulted in the rigs being towed. Since April 20, 2013, J.B. Hunt Transport drivers were involved in 965 total crashes, according to the FMCSA data.

As a matter of comparison: Schneider National Carriers with 12,480 drivers logging 1.081 billion miles annually has had 935 crashes in the past 24 months. There were 30 fatalities, 261 injury-related with 644 crashes that involved the rig being towed.

Ron Loveless, the first CEO of Sam’s Club, met Sam Walton as a child when Loveless’ mom became Walton’s housekeeper. A friend and one-time executive of Walton and Jack Shewmaker at Wal-Mart Stores, Loveless was the featured speaker Tuesday evening (April 21) at the Jack Shewmaker Lecture Series in Bentonville.

The event was sponsored by the Enactus student group at NorthWest Arkansas Community College. Loveless delivered a historical and timeless talk about the lessons learned through his 20-plus years rising through the retail ranks.

“Sam was like a father to me. He coached my first baseball team and after I graduated from Bentonville High School I joined the military and spent four years in the service. After I came home in 1964, Sam approached me about going to college. He wanted to help. He offered to front me the money for college or teach me the retail ropes. Not wanting to go in debt for college, I took him up on the job opportunity,” Loveless said.

He spoke candidly about the value of formal education, saying it is highly unlikely he could repeat the successes he had in business if he were trying to launch a career in retail today without a college degree.

“College is important, but it’s not everything. When the degree is obtained the learning can really begin. That’s important for today’s generation to understand. Learning is a lifelong event. No one signified that better Sam Walton,” Loveless said.

Though Walton himself was a college graduate, Loveless said he never wasted an opportunity to gain more insight and knowledge from his competitors, associates or anyone else he met along the way.

Loveless began his career at Wal-Mart Stores in 1964 as a stock boy, assembling bicycles, a job he didn’t necessarily love but one he took pride in doing. 

“Within a year working as a store stocker in Missouri, I developed a love for retail. I loved the merchandising aspect of the business most. I was finally promoted to manager over pets and I was determined to have the best pets department across the company. I ordered monkeys and even a baby elephant,” Loveless joked. 

Loveless said, “No matter what job you start with, do the best you can in that role, whether it’s driving a truck or cashiering or climbing the corporate ladder. Just know that in the real world, hard work can lead to success.”

He said one of the secret’s of Wal-Mart’s success was Sam Walton’s ability to mobilize and motivate ordinary people to work together and achieve extraordinary results.
“Know that not everyone is cut out to be in corporate management. It takes all kinds, diverse talents to create a retail giant like Wal-Mart. The day Wal-Mart will fall is the day its workers lose faith in the mission. It happened at K-Mart and lots of other retailers and Wal-Mart is not immune,” Loveless said.

The four pillars Loveless told students to lean into as they enter the workforce included:
• Do something you love;
• Accept criticism and learn from it;
• Be a self-starter, taking initiative to make changes; and
• Strive to do your best at every turn.

Loveless said one of the most valuable lessons he learned from Sam Walton came after he was working in operational management and was sent to Kansas City to scope out the No. 1 grossing K-Mart store in the nation. 

“We had traveled to Kansas City for other business and Sam sent me to K-Mart to take notes of what I saw. I was not impressed, the K-Mart store was dirty, empty shelves and looked inferior to the Wal-Mart in my eyes. That’s what I told him,” Loveless said.

What happened next was shocking and life-changing for Loveless.

“He told me that he should have never hired me and he couldn’t believe that’s what I saw in the K-Mart store. He sent me back up there to spend two days and write down everything I saw that store doing better than us,” Loveless shared.

That lesson was at the core of what Sam Walton was about, “learning everything he could to be the best retailer in the world,” he added. “People who think Sam Walton cared about money have it got it wrong.” 

Loveless said Walton never had money on him and he retold a story at the urging of Daniel Shewmaker, Jack Shewmaker’s son who is a board trustee at the NWACC.

Loveless said shortly after Wal-Mart stock went public, Walton, Jack Shewmaker and David Glass made a trip to Europe to promote the stock. Walton seeking to save money rented an economy Volkswagon Golf to make the drive on the Autobahn from Germany to Paris.

He said the tiny Volkswagon was loaded down with boxes of documents and the luggage and could in no way keep up speed on the Autobahn. When they reached Paris, he said a bell boy offered to unload the car and take the luggage boxes up to their rooms. 

“Sam told Jack (Shewmaker) I’ll get the tip and he handed the bell boy a U.S. quarter,” which Loveless said left them all speechless.

When the Walton family home burned, Sam moved into a trailer in and would have been content to live in it forever, but the company officers finally convinced him to rebuild, Loveless said.

Loveless rose to the ranks as the first CEO of Sam’s Club, a post he held for four years before retiring from retail in 1987. He remains connected to the local retail community as a consultant, mentor and public speaker.

“I want to commend Dr. Evelyn Jorgenson on inviting me to be the speaker tonight. She could have booked Hillary Clinton for $300,000, instead the college has saved $300,000 by asking me,” Loveless joked.

The U.S. freight sector ended the first quarter on a high note, but authors of closely watched reports say the gains could be shaved in the remainder of 2015 by a decline in the global economy and a slowdown in U.S. manufacturing activity.

The Cass Freight Index showed a 5.1% decline in March shipments compared to March 2014, with March shipments up 0.3% compared to February.

Rosalyn Wilson, a supply chain expert and senior business analyst with Pasadena, Calif.-based Parsons, who provides economic analysis for the Cass Freight Index, said the quarter struggled through West Coast port labor issues and bad weather but trends began to improve in March.

“First quarter freight volumes were affected by labor problems, slowdowns and work stoppages at West Coast ports; extreme winter weather throughout much of the country; and a slowdown in the global economy,” Wilson noted in the report. “Other ports around the U.S. have been reporting higher container shipments as carriers try other options. After a rough few months, freight volumes overall were building strongly toward the end of the quarter. With that growth, we will see rate increases that may outpace the growth in volume. ... April is usually the start of the spring shipping season, and the upturn in March for both rail and truck signals improved conditions ahead.”

Wilson also said new export orders continue to decline because of global economic conditions. The decline has been consistent since December 2014.

Cass uses data from $22 billion in annual freight transactions to create the Index. The data comes from a Cass client base of 350 large shippers.

‘POSITIVE SIGN’
The American Trucking Associations’ Truck Tonnage Index was up 1.1% in March and followed a revised decline of 2.8% in February. During the first quarter, tonnage was unchanged from the previous quarter while increasing 5% from the same period in 2014.
 
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment was 17.2% above February.
 
“While tonnage did not fully recoup the loss from February, it increased nicely in March,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello noted in his report. “I’d say that tonnage was one of the better indicators for the month, which is a positive sign for the broader economy.”

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 69.1% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 9.7 billion tons of freight in 2013. Motor carriers collected $681.7 billion, or 81.2% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.
 
Costello said truck tonnage is up in five of the last six months, but is down 1.7% from the January 2015 high.
 
“The next couple of months will be telling for truck freight volumes as we enter the spring freight season,” he said.

‘SLOWER INDUSTRIAL DEMAND’
Brad Delco, a transportation industry analysis with Little Rock-based Stephens Inc., said companies in the truckload sector should do well for the remainder of 2015. He said reduced manufacturing activity could slow tonnage gains for the less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers – such as Fort Smith-based ABF Freight System.

“Looking ahead to 1Q’15 earnings reports for the Truckload group, as a whole, we expect positive earnings announcements as a result of a solid truckload demand environment, favorable weather conditions relative to last year, and falling fuel prices,” Delco said in an investor note. “Longer term, we continue to believe that underlying fundamentals remain strong driven by driver shortages and regulatory capacity constraints that will lead to positive pricing trends over the next several years.”

For the LTL sector, Delco predicts “muted growth for the group compared to previous years due to relatively slower industrial demand levels and tougher comparables.”

Oil and gas giant ExxonMobil Corp. will pay nearly $5 million in state and federal civil penalties to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and state environmental laws stemming from the 2013 crude oil spill from the Pegasus Pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Director Becky Keogh announced Tuesday (April 21).

The Pegasus Pipeline, carrying Canadian heavy crude oil from Illinois to Texas, ruptured in the Northwoods neighborhood of Mayflower on May 29, 2013. Oil flowed through the neighborhood, contaminating homes and yards, before entering a creek, wetlands and a Lake Conway cove. The spill volume has been estimated at nearly 3,190 barrels, or 134,000 gallons, officials said.

According to the consent decree that was reached with ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. and Mobil Pipe Line Co., both subsidiaries of the world’s largest publicly traded integrated oil firm, ExxonMobil will pay $1 million in state civil penalties, $600,000 toward water quality-based environment projects to ADEQ and $280,000 to the Attorney General’s Office for litigation costs.

In addition, ExxonMobil will pay $3.19 million in federal civil penalties and perform measures to improve pipeline safety and spill response, officials said.

“This consent decree is a critical victory for the State and the Mayflower community. ExxonMobil was responsible for the damage to the environment and for disrupting lives of Arkansans,” Rutledge said. “Today, ExxonMobil is being held accountable for the estimated 134,000 gallons of oil that flowed out of the ruptured pipeline.”

Added ADEQ’s Keogh: “This settlement marks an important step forward. The civil penalty of $1 million will greatly supplement funds available for use to address emergency actions and to address contaminated sites across Arkansas.”

Keogh said the $600,000 for ADEQ will receive for supplemental environmental projects will go toward projects where the community will receive benefits. “The project will improve water quality in Lake Conway and its watershed under a plan approved by and overseen by ADEQ,” she said.

Under additional terms of the consent deal, ExxonMobil must comply with all requirements of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) before reactivating the Pegasus pipeline, which has been idle nearly two years since the spill.

If the pipeline is reopened, ExxonMobil must pursue additional pipeline safety measures to help prevent future ruptures. The company will also be required to improve its spill response capabilities by providing additional training to its oil spill first responders, and it will establish caches of spill response equipment and supplies at three strategically located sites near the pipeline, including one cache located near Mayflower.

The complaint in the case, filed jointly with the United States, on June 13, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, alleges that ExxonMobil discharged crude oil in violation of Sections 301 and 311 of the Clean Water Act. The complaint also asserts State claims for civil penalties for improper storage of hazardous waste generated during the cleanup and for water and air pollution violations pursuant to the Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act and the Arkansas Hazardous Waste Management Act.

The consent decree, submitted to the court, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court review and approval.

A year ago, ExxonMobil executives submitted a pipeline remediation plan to federal regulators that included extraordinary integrity testing measures that officials then said would take more than a year to complete.

“The remediation plan that we are proposing will take some time to execute. First of all, we have to do the digs and testing in the ditch any repair that is necessary. And then, the hydrostatic testing. So we anticipate it will take a minimum of a year,” Karen Tyrone vice-president for ExxonMobil’s U.S. Pipeline Operations, told Talk Business & Politics on March 28, 2014.

The response and remediation efforts have been a coordinated effort between the federal Environment Protection Agency, ADEQ, the Arkansas Department of Health, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Faulkner County, the city of Mayflower and ExxonMobil.

In an interview with Talk Business & Politics earlier this month, Keogh said ADEQ is closely reviewing the cleanup and has had inspectors conducting sampling at a number of locations in a cove of Lake Conway and the main body of the lake. The department also monitors the surface water in the impacted areas and post regular updates. Keogh said the cleanup in the Mayflower area was still progressing and the agency had recently received a report from ExxonMobil that it was reviewing.

“Our staff is currently is evaluating the completeness report that was submitted to, and we will provide comments as needed on that,” she said.

In its most recent 10K filing, ExxonMobil said it had filed a motion to extend an earlier court approved stay of discovery to allow the parties to pursue settlement discussions. The Irving, Texas-based oil conglomerate is expected to report its first quarter earnings report on April 30. In the fourth quarter, ExxonMobil reported profits of $6.6 billion as the Texas oil company saw a big decline in its worldwide exploration and production due to falling oil and gas prices.

Still, for fiscal 2014, Exxon reported full-year earnings of $32.5 billion on total revenue of $411.9 billion. Wall Street expects the oil giant to report first quarter earnings of 83 cents per share on revenue of nearly $55 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.