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Arkansas County has history of dual seats
Dual Seats
Arkansas County has two courthouses with vastly different architectural styles
Story by Mark Christ and Photography by Holly Hope Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
Arkansas County’s dual courthouses are testaments to the old and the new in a region that is home to the oldest settlement in the state. The Southern District Courthouse in DeWitt reflects the 20th-century Art Deco style even as it houses some of the oldest records in Arkansas; the Northern District Courthouse in Stuttgart, exhibiting the Colonial Revival style drawing from the nation’s earliest architecture, was built to serve an area that was experiencing an agricultural boom.
The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, has worked with Arkansas County on both buildings to keep them in service, using Real Estate Transfer Tax funds from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council (see sidebar).
Arkansas County was formed on Dec. 31, 1813, by the Missouri legislature, which governed the area that would eventually become the state of Arkansas, and Arkansas Post (which had housed an American military presence since 1804) became its seat. It also became the capitol when Arkansas Territory was created in 1819, a position it would hold a mere two years before the seat of government moved to Little Rock.
With the eclipse of Arkansas Post, a new, more central location was desired for the county seat. DeWitt is named for DeWitt Clinton, then governor of New York. The name was selected from among three names placed in a hat and pulled at random — DeWitt being among the contenders because there already was a town called Clinton in north-central Arkansas. A log courthouse was built in 1855, and the county records were moved there from the Post. The first county court and probate sessions were held in October of that year. The log building was used until a more substantial two-story brick building was erected in 1862. This building served until replaced by a three-story brick edifice in 1893, but because of a faulty foundation, the third courthouse deteriorated to the point that it had to be condemned.
This building was replaced by the current Arkansas County Courthouse — Southern District in 1932. Built on the same site as the previous brick courthouses, the new building sported a modern Art Deco design by noted Little Rock architect H. Ray Burks and was constructed by the E.V. Bird Construction Company. Noteworthy features include the overall symmetry of the facades, the employment of such stylized Classical elements as the fluted pilasters and the pseudo-Classical, almost abstract “zig-zag” detail common to such early Art Deco designs, and the square, blocky lettering used for the name panel near the cornices on both the eastern and western elevations. Interior features such as the ceramic tile floor and shallow, stylized “bracket” details at the tops of the columns also survive.
The new building in DeWitt may have been inspired by friendly competition with its neighbor to the north, which had constructed a brand-new courthouse four years earlier. Stuttgart
had been founded by German settlers from the American Midwest in 1880. Its founders wisely relocated a bit to the north in 1882, when the first railroad ran through the area. While many of the descendants of these initial settlers left the area around the turn of the century as the traditional cotton and hay grown in the area depleted the soil, a new crop — rice — was introduced to the Grand Prairie.
The combination of agriculture and abundant railroads allowed Stuttgart to thrive, especially after the state’s first rice mill was built there in 1907. By 1909, 27,000 acres near the town were planted in rice. Ten years later, rice acreage had ballooned to 143,000 acres. The resultant surge in commercial and legal activity likely resulted in the establishment of a new courthouse to serve the northern area of Arkansas County.
A local architect, J.B. Barrett of the Barrett and Ogletree firm, was selected to design a building to house offices for the new district, and he chose a restrained interpretation of the Colonial Revival style of architecture. The new building, completed in 1928, features such elements as a projecting pediment and entablature supported by raised brick pilasters on each of its principal elevations, but also includes such whimsical details as diamond patterns of brick in a basket weave design. Both courthouses continue to serve the people of Stuttgart to this day. Opposite Page: Arkansas County’s Southern District Courthouse in DeWitt reflects the 20thcentury Art Deco style even as it houses some of the oldest records in the state. It was designed by H. Ray Burks and constructed by the E.V. Bird Construction Company. Top Left: Features of the Art Deco-style Southern District Courthouse include fluted pilasters. The symmetrical facade also has zig-zag details and block lettering on the name panel near the cornices.
Top Right: Arkansas County’s Northern District Courthouse in Stuttgart was designed by architect J.B. Barrett. Built in 1928, it is a Colonial Revival-style building.
Arkansas Historic Preservation Program County Courthouse Restoration Grants awarded to Arkansas County
FY94 Repair piers on north side, DeWitt FY95 Exterior restoration, DeWitt $17,500 $18,000
FY96 Exterior restoration, Stuttgart FY97 ADA restrooms and ramp, DeWitt
$6,000 $19,548 FY98 Roof restoration, DeWitt $21,165 FY00 Interior ADA modifications, Stuttgart $65,000 FY01 ADA accessibility, Stuttgart $40,000 FY03 ADA accessibility, DeWitt $13,000 FY03 ADA accessibility, DeWitt $43,000
TOTAL: $243,213
Arkansas County Circuit Clerk Sarah Mer-
chant and County Clerk Melissa Wood display one of the many bound volumes of documentation such as marriage licenses, deeds and probate records that has been preserved. Photo by Holly Hope/AHPP
Arkansas County historic preservation efforts encompass recorded documents
By Mark Christ Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
One of the greatest challenges faced by Arkansas county courthouses, from the historian’s viewpoint, is the preservation of county records. Held in large bound volumes, these cumbersome, often moldering books contain a county’s history from its earliest days. Marriage licenses. Deeds. Probate records. The details of the lives of the people touched by county government.
Arkansas County has taken an aggressive approach to preserving its records, which include marriage and probate records dating to 1819 and deeds, mortgages and other materials that go as far back as 1808. Here you find the records of indentured servants who came to Arkansas to start a new life, the files that show a slave who received manumission and returned later to purchase his wife’s freedom. The lives of real people, long dead.
Arkansas County Clerk Melissa Wood and Arkansas County Circuit Clerk Sarah Merchant are keeping the preservation effort moving.
“I take great pride in our restoration project,” Wood said. “We have received numerous compliments on the condition of records. I always enjoy when a person comes in to do genealogy research and they find something new. We have marriages, adoptions, guardianships, tax records, wills and probate records that date back to 1819. Our records are an important tool in telling a person’s family history. We must do our very best to maintain and preserve these records for years to come.”
Merchant shares that sentiment.
“It is my personal opinion that we should always be mindful of ‘where we came from.’ I think it helps to keep us grounded and gives us prospective in creating goals for the future,” she said. “All county records are rich in heritage and history. Even grade school and high school students who are not particularly interested in history seem to be in awe of the old records. There is nothing like sitting down with a 200-year-old book to get a feel for how things used to be. Many young people come away with a thankful attitude that they don’t have to write everything by hand, they don’t have to ride a horse to town, they don’t have to walk to school and they don’t have to feed the livestock. For adults of all ages, the records are a source of valuable information that provides a connection with generations past. Many people sit and reminisce over the books as childhood memories of family, friends and community return. I believe that it is of utmost importance to preserve these records so that generations to come may have the same opportunity to enjoy them.”
The restoration effort began about 17 years ago when Arkansas County Circuit Clerk Tommy Sue Keffer began budgeting money from the Recorder’s Cost Fund, and the first records targeted for preservation were indices, deeds and mortgages, circuit court judgments, marriage licenses, wills and probate records — the records that are researched and handled the most. The Arkansas County Records Preservation Committee was established around 2001 to raise funds for the project, beginning with an Arkansas County Historical Cookbook, which was a huge success. The citizens — private, corporate and non-profit — have made donations in Gold, Silver and Bronze categories, and the Committee has raised $76,700, while the Recorder’s Cost Fund has supplied $68,000 over the years.
Circuit Clerk Merchant began a digital imaging project in 2009, beginning with a $25,000 Arkanas Court Recorders grant that helped buy equipment to scan county records, and $35,040 in additional grants has kept the project moving along.
To date, 28 of the 139 books targeted for preservation by the county clerk’s office and 86 of the 240 in the circuit clerk’s office have been completed, and they will continue preserving Arkansas County’s heritage, one page at a time.
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Establishing roots
County government gives State Auditor Andrea Lea strong base of experience
By Christy L. Smith AAC Communications Coordinator
After spending her childhood moving from base to base with her military family, State Auditor Andrea Lea had little difficulty planting roots in Arkansas. She has now lived in Russellville for more than three decades and is leaving her mark on the community through public service.
A graduate of Arkansas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in emergency management and administration, Lea served three terms on the Pope County Quorum Court, one term on the Russellville City Council, three terms as a state representative and is in her first year as the state’s auditor.
She said she sought a seat on the Pope County Quorum Court in 1996 because she wanted to get involved.
Once sworn in as a justice of the peace, Lea hit the ground running.
“Something that was important to me was to understand each person’s job, and so I spent time in the courthouse learning what they did. I spent time with the ambulance crew, the road crew … I wanted to learn all aspects of it,” Lea said.
She also was appointed chairman of the Pope County Jail Renovation Committee, which managed to remodel the county jail without incurring debt.
“We built the jail with no bonds and did not go into debt. We paid cash for remodeling,” she said.
Lea said the committee carefully planned and budgeted, putting large sums of money away in a fund over the course of several years, in order to accomplish this. And they tackled the project with an eye toward future expansion.
“We built it with the future in sight so if they ever come up with the money, they can drop another pod in very easily. To me, that was significant,” Lea said.
During her tenure as a justice of the peace, Lea also initiated the annual Pope County Cleanup. Then in 2002, Lea ran for and was elected to the Russellville City Council.
On the council she continued her budgeting work.
Then after a two-year hiatus from politics, in 2008 she waged a campaign for the District 68 seat representing Russellville and Pottsville in the state House of Representatives. The seat had been vacated by Michael Lamoureux, who did not seek reelection in 2008 but won a special election in 2009 to fill the District 4 seat in the state Senate. He now serves as chief of staff to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
During her three terms in the House, Lea served on the Budget, Revenue and Taxation, and Rules committees. She was a member of the Arkansas Legislative Council and chairman of the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.
In addition to many other legislative efforts she was a part of, she co-sponsored legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas, and she co-sponsored an amendment to state income tax rates.
She said she also proudly served as a mentor to newly elected legislators.
“I spent my time encouraging and helping other legislators as they got their feet wet,” she said, noting that freshmen legislators spend much of their time learning about the law-making process. “I was fortunate that I had a person who chose to do that with me. I saw others that didn’t have a mentor flailing. I kind of committed to being a mentor and helping other people.”
Lea said serving as a county elected official was “one of the best training grounds” for becoming a state legislator.
Lea said the relationships she forged with county officials while she was on the quorum court served her well while she was a state representative. She said she never hesitated to ask county elected officials about issues she was considering in the House — and she encouraged other legislators to do the same.
“This is something I tell people when I am mentoring them: go talk to your county officials. You have a question about elections? No one can answer that better than your county clerk. You have a question about roads? Go talk to your county judge … your county judge knows more about roads than anyone,” Lea said.
Toward the end of her third term in the state legislature, Lea was ready to “go home.” Her husband, Phillip, had retired and her family is important to her.
Lea’s father was a native Arkansan who enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. The family had many duty stations over the course of his military service, but settled in Southern California, where Lea met her husband. The Navy man also had family ties in Arkansas. When he retired from the military, he knew he wanted to return here to work at the nuclear plant in Russellville.
The couple has three children — a daughter and two sons — and three grandchildren. They have lived in the same house in Russellville for 30 years, and they enjoy relaxing evenings on their back deck.
However, Lea said, several people approached her about running for state Auditor, a position being vacated by longtime public servant Charlie Daniels.
“I struggled, and then I decided, ‘Ok, I’ll run.’ The worst thing that could happen is I would lose, and I would be retired with my husband, and that would be fine. But I won,” she explained.
Lea was sworn into office on January 13, 2015, along with the state’s other constitutional officers. Her mother attended the ceremony. Her father passed away years ago, but the American flag that draped his coffin has a prominent position atop a bookshelf in Lea’s office.
“Mom came when I was sworn in and saw that I had the flag up there. She burst out crying. She said that dad would have loved to see this day, to see [me] elected,” Lea said.
Now Lea splits her time between Little Rock, where she keeps a small apartment during the week, and her home in Russellville.
The U.S. flag encased in glass above state Auditor Andrea Lea’s desk is the one that draped her father’s casket when he was buried. He had served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.
State Treasurer Dennis Milligan, who served as Saline County Circuit Clerk from 2011 to 2015, stands near the vault in his office at the Capitol.
A change maker
Proven innovator Dennis Milligan takes his ideas, philosophies to the Capitol
By State Treasurer’s Staff
During his time as Saline County Circuit Clerk, Dennis Milligan never accepted the phrase, “that’s how we’ve always done it” as an excuse to block progress.
Milligan, who served as circuit clerk from 2011 until 2015 when he became the Treasurer of State, made many changes that advanced his county office.
“It seemed like every time I came up with a better, more efficient way to conduct business, somebody would tell me we shouldn’t make a change because ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it,’” Milligan said. “As a small business owner, I am always looking for an innovative and more efficient way to do business. When you try to do that in government, people get upset at the idea of changes — even if it is change for the better.”
During his time as a county official, Milligan changed the way prospective jurors were notified when they needed to come to the courthouse for jury service. The method being used when he took office involved jury panel members calling an answering machine on Monday nights to listen to a recorded message.
If a jury trial was set for that week, the recorded message told them when to come to court. In August 2011, only 19 people showed up for jury selection. Luckily, only 18 jurors were needed to fill the jury on that trial.
“It didn’t take long for me to realize that the number of people remembering to call in declined each week of the term. I knew there had to be a better way,” Milligan said.
He began using an Internet-based system that notified potential jurors by sending them a text message, e-mail or phone call to their home or cell phone.
“We took the burden of knowing when to come to court off individuals and put it on the circuit clerk’s office where it belongs. The results were that more people were available for jury selection,” Milligan said “This best result was that we were more respectful of people’s time. We were able to notify people not to come to the court house when a trial was cancelled or postponed.”
This had the benefit of saving money because the county did not have to pay jurors for coming in when a trial canceled at the last minute. In Saline County, jurors are paid $25 per day for coming to the courthouse. They get paid even if the trial has fallen off the docket since the original notification.
In 2012, Milligan was one of 12 nominees for the prestigious G. Thomas Munsterman Award for Jury Innovation. This national award from the National Center for State Courts recognizes states, local courts, organizations or individuals that have made significant improvements or innovations in jury procedures.
Milligan didn’t win that award, but he remains the only Arkansan nominated to date.
During the 89th Session of the Arkansas General Assembly, Milligan worked closely with legislators on Act 291 of 2013. He had previously ended the practice in Saline County of the circuit clerk being paid personally while acting as the commissioner for the court-ordered sale of real or personal property.
Act 291 ended the practice statewide, and the fee now goes into the county funds covering the operation of the circuit clerk offices.
As Treasurer of State, Milligan continues to bring his innovate spirit to that office. He pledged to restore honor and integrity and to regain the public’s trust in the office.
Milligan currently is reviewing a blind bidder program that will eliminate the possibility of favoritism in investing state securities in the long-term portfolio. Pre-approved vendors seeking state investments will be notified electronically of the potential to bid for state investments.
Bids will not have the name of the bank, broker or vender. Instead, each bidder will be assigned a number. The bidder giving the best return, per the qualifications given, to the state will be awarded the investment. After the bid is awarded, the name of the bidder is revealed to the Treasurer and his staff.
“This prevents favoritism to any bidder. The only favoritism shown is to the hard working taxpayers of Arkansas who get the benefits of the best deal for the state,” Milligan said.
Milligan already is posting more public records about the office’s operation on the official state website, under the Inside the Vault section, than have previously been available online.
On his first day in office, Milligan instituted a no gifts policy for himself and staff. This new policy prohibits the Treasurer and his staff from accepting gifts from anyone doing business with the office.
In February — Milligan’s first full month in office, the office saw an increase in the returns on short-term investments from an average of $3,000 per month to $182,036.97. In March, the returns increased to $237,186.
This additional revenue is placed in
the Securities Reserve Account, which assists in funding issues the people of Arkansas care about such as: highway funding, four-lane highway construction, Game & Fish, the Secretary of State Help American Vote Act and other accounts. Additionally, the office launched a 75-county tour to promote the GIFT Arkansas 529 program, which provides a tax deferred savings account for families to save for their children’s and grandchildren’s college education. Those funds can be used in state or out of state at any four-year, two-year, technical or vocational education institution. As a part of the tour, the office announced a 75-county drawing for one eligible individual per county to win a $529 GIFT Arkansas 529 account. During the 90th Session of the Arkansas General Assembly, the Treasurer of State’s office worked on seIn February — Milligan’s first full month in office, the office saw an increase in the returns on shortcuring supplemental appropriation of an additional $100 million in the term investments from an average of $3,000 per month to County Sales and Use Tax $182,036.97. In March, the returns increased to $237,186. redistribution for Fiscal Year 2015, secured an additional $100 million in the County Sales and Use Tax redistribution for Fiscal Year 2016 and secured an additional $100 million in the Amendment 74 Property Tax redistribution for Fiscal Year 2016. The office also assisted in legislation allowing state employees to participate in payroll deduction into a 529 college savings account, and assisted in legislation implementing the Federal Achieving a Better Life Program in the state allowing families with disabled individuals to set aside savings to care for the individual in a tax free account. Treasurer Milligan is looking forward to continuing to work with all his county colleagues in his new role as well as serve the people of Arkansas. County officials in need assistance involving a local redistribution question or issue, should call Rachel Graves in the Treasurer’s office at (501) 682-0002.
Soaring to the top
Clark County Treasurer Judy Beth Hutcherson ascends to AAC board presidency
By Kitty Chism For County Lines
The 17 elected officials from around the state, who earlier this year elected Judy Beth Hutcherson to be board president of the Association of Arkansas Counties, must have had in mind the old Ben Franklin adage “if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.”
Hutcherson is the first new president of the board in 15 years. She succeeds Mike Jacobs, who retired as Johnson County judge last fall but now serves as a justice of the peace.
The AAC board presidency most often has gone to one of the state’s 75 county judges. Hutcherson is a county treasurer, albeit a highly visible one as a three-term president of the 100-member Arkansas County Treasurer’s Association.
She won the Clark County Treasurer’s seat in 1997 and has been re-elected handily every two years since. The job is to manage the three-person office that receives and monitors and makes public all the revenue the county collects —mostly in fees and taxes — and distributes for county operations.
That means keeping track of 190 different accounts, Hutcherson says, and making sure that every one of those balances at the end of each day. It’s detailed and demanding work that requires as much mastery of federal, state and local laws as it does agility with numbers.
Hutcherson’s office is in the basement of the most beautiful building in the county — the Romanesque brick Clark County Courthouse with its six-story clock tower in the center of Arkadelphia, built in 1899 and designed by Charles Thompson, that era’s most famous architect in the South.
“I just love this job,” Hutcherson said in her signature alto voice, her eyes crinkling into her just-as-customary smile as she speaks of the career niche she found quite by accident in life. “When I walk into this court house every day, I look up and just stand in awe. And I think how everything I do is for the good of the people who elected me.”
She attributes her zest for public service to her father, a Baptist minister who grew up in Northwest Arkansas and for most of her growing-up years was a U.S. Army chaplain. That meant moving often — to Europe several times, but also to New Orleans and Houston and Fort Smith so he could pursue his studies in history, English and Latin and one day teach in the Bible
Profile AAC B
Opposite: Clark County Treasurer Judy Beth Hutcherson was first elected to office in 1997. She has a basement office in the historic Clark County Courthouse. Top Left: Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson swears Hutcherson in as president of AAC’s board of directors. Top Right: Hutcherson presides over her first AAC board meeting in April. Seated next to her is AAC Board Vice President Debbie Wise, Randolph County Circuit Clerk.
college in Dallas. Adapting to new situations and opportunities was just part of the family life he lived and fostered.
She was the second oldest of his five children and his only daughter. He was a man of remarkable energy who milked cows every morning before class to pay for his undergraduate degree at Ouachita Baptist University. And wherever they lived, he almost always preached on the side — and tithed —in small, rural churches, black and white.
“He had an ability to reach out to people, bring them in, make them feel as if they were a part,” she said of her father. “He was a teaching minister, low-key, not hell, fire and brimstone, and he rarely raised his voice. We thought of ourselves as a service family. In fact all of my brothers [eventually] joined the military — the Air Force and Navy. I’m the only one who followed Daddy’s footsteps into the Army.”
That might seem out of character for this stylish woman with a penchant for Chico’s clothes and jewelry that complements her perfectly coiffed, highlighted curls and the Saturn Sky convertible with initialed tags. But her stint as a soldier is one of the first things she tells people about herself, how when she was a single mom after her divorce, she joined the nearby battalion of U.S. Army Reserves to earn extra money. See “HUTCHERSON” on Page 36 >>>
So, yes, she wore combat boots and learned to shoot an M-16, and even pilot an airplane on those weekend-a-month exercises for eight years. The experience satisfied her bent for adventure as has riding a BMW motorcycle with her forester husband Elven on every road in Arkansas, mudding in their Jeep a long time ago, and climbing the USTA tennis ladder the 10 years she stayed out of the workplace to “spoil her new husband and raise their children,” she said. But the 95th Division of the Reserves — like deer camp, Guys & “I just love this job ... When I walk into Gals bass tournaments, the Cattlemen’s Association gatherings, the this courthouse every day, I look up and just stand in awe. And I think how Democratic Committee, and the local Lions and Rotary clubs, hallmarks of the connected life in a small Southern everything I do is for the good of the people who elected me.” town — ended up providing a base of community support for her that became valuable when she decided to seek public office in this county of — Judy Beth Hutcherson 23,000 in the mid-1990s. Clark County Treasurer She never went to college, but she honed the skill sets she needed for the Treasurer’s job working in accounting for Blue Cross Blue Shield, bookkeeping in an Arkadelphia law office and then in the appointed post of clerktreasurer for the city of Arkadelphia for 10 years. The work fit. “But I always wanted to run for office,” she said.
Continued From Page 35 <<<
So when the county treasurer retired in 1996, she stepped up. She had two opponents then but none since, but she takes nothing for granted, making appearances at everything from fire department fund raisers to chamber luncheons and county fair cook-offs. She only rarely drags her husband along to these things, though; she’s the social butterfly of the two, she says.
“ I just like to be around people. I meet strangers, introduce myself, keep going. But then, I have a crazy personality. I’m a cut up. I admit,” Hutcherson said.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, a colleague on the AAC board, sees that “crazy personality” as a strength.
“She has a style that is very present with people. She keeps things light with humor and color,” he said.
She also has a propensity to jump into the fray and soar to the top of whatever she joins, like a users group of 57 counties that all employ the same software and, of course, the Association of County Treasurers.
She was vice president there five years ago when a division developed among the 75 treasurers and then the president lost reelection to her seat back home. So Hutcherson ran for and won the presidency, then knit the group back together again. The presidency put her on the AAC board, comprised of two leaders from each association of elected county officeholders statewide.
And three years later those leaders, representing 600-plus other elected county officials, have chosen her as their leader. She is only just now getting her arms around all of the responsibilities, having run only one official board meeting since the February day when Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson did the swearing-in honors.
But Hutcherson understands the board’s mandate: To unite the counties and engender their support of one another to be one voice for all when they are threatened by state or federal legislation or directives that could undermine any of their rev-
enue, safety, authority, livability or stature. But her style, Hutcherson predicts, will no doubt differ from the steady guiding authority of Jacobs, whom she describes as a “giant, former Razorback linebacker” with a big presence about him. Her first goal for herself is to attend a meeting of every association that is part of the AAC, introduce herself as their advocate, and hear their issues. The recent legislative session, during which AAC lobbyists made a big difference in measures to improve back-road construction and jail overcrowding, among many other issues, will provide fodder for conversation wherever she goes. So will Congress’s perpetual foot-dragging on providing adequate Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for rural counties where federal lands undermine property tax revenue. “I want to bring people together, make them feel as if they are part of what we are doing,” she said. “I probably get that “I want to bring people together, make them feel as if they from my dad.” Expect her to are a part of what we are doing. I probaby get that from my dad.” have fun, too, this county treasurer who, just to stay — Judy Beth Hutcherson visible everywhere Clark County Treasurer she goes, hands out million dollar bills picturing her county courthouse on one side and her contact information on the other — then lets out a hearty laugh with the takers. “She’s a hoot, very smart, very well qualified and very personable,” said former AAC Board President Mike Jacobs, who became a justice of the peace after his county judgeship. “She will probably be the best president we ever had.” Agreed Debra Buckner, treasurer of Pulaski County for 14 years who has watched Hutcherson in various leadership roles over the years. “She’s so genuine. With all of the changes at the Capitol, a new governor, new legislators and new fights for power and influence, we will be tap dancing on a new dance floor. She is the right point person — honest, gregarious, polite, knowledgeable and sensitive to these winds of change. She’s absolutely the right president for right now.”
We want your
Did any of your county officials or staff get an award, appointment or pat on the back? Please let us know about it for the next edition of County Lines magazine. You can write up a couple of paragraphs about it, or if something ran in your local paper, call and ask them to forward the story to us. We encourage you or your newspaper to attach a good quality photo, too: e-mail csmith@arcounties.org.
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47th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Springdale, Holiday Inn August 5-7, 2015
47 Years
75 Counties - One Voice COUNTIES GETTING IN THE GAME
his year’s Annual Conference will be held at Northwest Arkansas Holiday Inn &
TConvention Center in Springdale. Enclosed is your registration form, which once completed, will need to be sent back to the AAC office in Little Rock. Also enclosed is hotel information for the conference. The Holiday Inn and The Hampton are the host hotels, and there should be plenty of rooms available for our group. However, we have listed additional hotels in the area for your convenience. When making your room reservations, please remember to mention you are coming for the AAC Annual Conference.
We are in the process of planning an informative and fun meeting for all attendees and will be getting out a tentative agenda later. For your planning information, registration will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, August 5. The Opening General Session will begin at 1 p.m. and individual association meetings will begin at 3:15 p.m. Our Southern Fish Fry will be at 7:30 p.m. As you can see above, the 2015 Conference theme is “Counties Getting In the Game.” The Dinner Dance will continue that game theme with:
“Game Night: Make Your Move”
We look forward to seeing you in Springdale!
Registration information is also available online at www.arcounties.org
47th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Springdale, Holiday Inn August 5-7, 2015
Register Today!
ASSOCIATION OF ARKANSAS COUNTIES
47th Annual Conference - Springdale
PRE-REGISTRATION Received Before 7/30/15 $125.00 officials, employees, guests $ 80.00 spouses $145.00 non-members
REGISTER ONLINE www.arcounties.org
ON-SITE REGISTRATION Received After 7/30/15 $145.00 officials, employees, guests $100.00 spouses $165.00 non-members
PLEASE FILL OUT A SEPARATE FORM FOR EACH REGISTRANT. YOU MAY COPY THIS FORM – INCOMPLETE FORMS WILL NOT BE PROCESSED. Return this completed sheet with your registration form if paying by credit card or you may call the AAC office in order to process payment.
Credit Card Payment Sheet
Name of Registrant: Payment method (please select one)
American Express
Credit Card Number: Visa Master Card Discover
CVV#
Expiration Date:
Cardholder’s Name:
(as it appears on card)
Billing Address:
City:
Telephone#: Amount to be charged:
STATE ZIPCODE
AACRMF benefits continue to strengthen program!
What’s in your county ?
n GUARDIAN RFID has been exclusively endorsed by the National Sheriffs’ Association since 2008 and was the first product in the world to earn this distinction. n GUARDIAN RFID is the only Inmate Management System in the world that exclusively leverages radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. n GUARDIAN RFID® Mobile™ is the most widely used mobile application in corrections, actively deployed in 25 states. n Guardian Inmate tracking system
GUARDIAN RFID is 20x faster and more defensible than barcode.
The AAC Risk Management Fund is managed by a Board of Trustees comprised of YOUR county colleagues. As a fund member, YOU help develop the fund’s products that meet the needs of our unique and valued county resources and employees. Our latest added benefit came to fruition in a partnership with Guardian RFID inmate tracking systems. All AACRMF member counties will reap the benefits of this cutting-edge system.This unique tool exceeded the needs and met the concerns of many members in regards to the challenges in county jails.
We listened and now we’re proud to welcome this product to the Risk Management Fund program, and we look forward to a continued partnership with all of you.
Program outline:
GENERAL LIABILITY AUTO PROTECTION PROPERTY PROTECTION RURAL FIRE DEPARTMENT PROGRAM
n Partnership with Metro to provide P.O.M Services Your peace of mind partnership for emergency claim services. RMFMembers receive priority response with participation in the AAC Property Program.
n Codification of county ordinances.
Accessing your ordinances is made efficient by AAC compiling your substantive county ordinances and codifying them into a single-bound volume.
Debbie Norman RMF Director 501.375.8247 Riley Groover Claims Analyst 501.375.8805, ext. 522 Barry Burkett Loss Control 501.375.8805, ext. 523
n Drug testing
Free CDL drug testing with participation in the RMF Auto Program.
