October 17, 2024 • 27 mins
Join us for a captivating conversation with Mayor Stephanie Orman of Bentonville, Arkansas, as she reveals the transformative power of strong community connections. From her beginnings in advertising and marketing to her role as a dedicated public servant, Mayor Orman's journey is a testament to the impact of citizen involvement and open communication. Discover how initiatives like the 3-1-1 system and public budget reviews have enhanced transparency and engagement, bridging the gap between residents and city services.
Effective communication and collaboration are at the heart of community management, especially during challenging times. We share stories from Bentonville's recent severe storms, where the city's resilience and cooperative spirit shone through. Mayor Orman's leadership and personal involvement in the recovery efforts serve as inspiring examples of how intentional communication can support communities in crisis. Through anecdotes of overcoming storm damage and addressing emergency needs, we highlight the crucial role of city government in ensuring residents are heard and supported.
As we explore the essence of building strong neighborhoods, learn about the Great Neighborhoods Program and proactive disaster relief efforts that fortify Bentonville's communal bonds. The city's commitment to fostering mutual support and neighborly connections underscores its charm amidst growth. Finally, we introduce our nonprofit, Unform Your Bias, where storytelling is wielded as a tool to reduce societal bias. Subscribe to our podcast and visit our website to stay engaged with our mission of building vibrant, inclusive communities.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the 4.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bars podcast.
I'm Ken Leith and I'm PattiLeith.
We're your hosts for somecompelling dialogue, encouraging
our listeners to strengthentheir connections and build
strong communities, lifting eachother up and connecting in ways
that matter.
We named the podcast 4 Bars asa reference to how hard we work
to find a 4 Bars connection onour devices.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And we wondered what could happen with relationships
if we worked as hard atconnecting.
Let's find out.
Welcome back to Four Bars.
And it's the podcast where weexplore good connections in our
lives, our work and ourcommunity.
And today we are very, veryfortunate to have Mayor
Stephanie Orman of Bentonville,arkansas, with us.
It's a pleasure and thank youfor being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Absolutely, and along with my co-host here, Patty Hi,
we're going to exploreconnections.
Welcome back.
And today we'll be exploringconnections and what it means in
community, especially from adifferent perspective of
community and someone whoactually has responsibility for
helping people come together andgrow as not an organization but
as a community, A blending, ifyou would, of everything we've
(01:03):
been talking about in the firstcouple of podcasts.
First, if you just kind of tellus a little bit about you,
Stephanie, about Mayor Orman,how you got to be a mayor and
what kind of was the impetuswhere you said I think I would
like to be mayor of Bentonville,Arkansas?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, I always tell people I was not a political
science major and so, but I justI really got engaged with our
city several years ago bybecoming our POA president in
our neighborhood and I've alwaysfelt like, you know, it's our
responsibility as citizens orresidents to come together and
(01:40):
bring people together and worktowards resolutions.
And so, as I you know, in mycareer I was in advertising and
marketing, so full-time careerthere, but I'm also a mom and a
wife.
But I also wanted to be reallyengaged with our neighborhood
and our city and so through thatprocess, just started to learn
more about city government andhow, on a daily basis, it
(02:03):
affects our lives, probably morethan any other form of
government, and learned about,you know, light poles and that
the city maintains our streetlights and how do we connect to
the city to make sure that theyare changed out.
And from there just started togo to city council meetings,
went through leadership, bentonCounty and just started to learn
(02:27):
the processes within the cityand be engaged with it.
And I did run for city councilmy first time.
I lost, but it was a great, Ihave to say it was a good
experience.
And then from that I justcontinued to attend city council
meetings and learn more andmore so I could bring more
information back to my community, to our neighborhood and
different entities, and I sawthat real need for that type of
(02:50):
connection and communication andso just became more and more
involved, eventually ran asecond time for city council and
won.
And then did a second term oncity council and won that race.
And then in the last mayoralelection our previous mayor was
not going to rerun and so Idecided to run and have had the
(03:10):
pleasure to lead the city ofBentonville for the last five
and a half years.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Very good.
A couple of things come into mymind.
It's probably a lot of similarnuances and some differences
between being a POA presidentand then being a mayor of a city
, but there is some crossoversomewhere as far as skill sets
and just some of thecomplexities.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Sure, well, in my career I was in advertising and
marketing but I handled budgetsand marketing budgets and so the
number one job of the mayor isto make sure that we deliver a
balanced budget.
And we've done that and wontransparency awards for the last
five and a half years here inthe city of Bentonville.
So we've also opened up ourbudget process for a full day
(03:56):
public budget review process soanybody from the public can come
in and listen and understandhow we operate and what our
budget goes towards.
And I just again over the lastfew years, going from taking
those concepts of really wantingto make sure neighborhoods and
(04:17):
people and citizens feltconnected to their city
government and taking thatconcept and being able to lead I
always say I ran as yourcommunity mayor and that's what.
And being able to lead, I alwayssay Iran is your community
mayor and that's what I'llcontinue to do, and so sort of
meshing all that together andthen just with my passion of
helping people be connected andconnected to the city, I would
say it's the last.
(04:37):
Usually people are calling uson probably one of their maybe
worse days to some extent,because we are that last contact
in emergencies, whether it'spolice or fire or ambulance
services or water or sewer orelectric right.
So we really have to, as a city, embrace being a public servant
(04:58):
and listening to the public andtrying to make those
connections and make their daybetter, and so that's always
been my goal as mayor and beforethat.
Even just reaching out tocitizens and residents and
connecting people has just beena passion for me.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, very good.
You mentioned thatcommunication was really
important to you and you ran ona platform of that and, as a
resident, I can tell you it hasimproved really an amazing
amount and I think you'veleveraged a lot of the
technology as it's grown overthe last five years, because
we're in a different technologyworld than we were five years
ago.
What makes you reallypassionate about communication?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I think it's one of your strengths, so tell us how
you got to that I think everyconcern can go back to the
starting of communication aroundit Because I can, I know all of
our city employees want to makeyour day better, but sometimes
it's connecting on what theinformation is, what the
(05:56):
barriers are, and making surethat together we're coming
towards a resolution.
So and I think the only way youcan do that is through
communication we're comingtowards a resolution and I think
the only way you can do that isthrough communication.
When I came into office and Iran on this in my first run as
mayor as putting in a 3-1-1system, and we've done that and
(06:19):
we've been able to get throughabout 10,000 concerns from the
public in about 21 of our maincategories.
Really that first year inoffice in 2019, I really was
trying to assess the concernsthat were coming in and we put
them into a platform so peoplecould directly contact us, and I
really wanted to make sure thatwe also, when they directly
contacted us, instead of gettingbounced around, that we had a
(06:39):
platform that they could contactabout the specific concern and
it would go to that specificdepartment department that deals
with it.
And then we had a way toprioritize based on how, from a
timeline how I just come rightin and then also make sure that
department communicated back outwhen we were able to resolve
the problem.
So it's been, I think,phenomenal for us to be able to
(07:02):
also have the data.
So sometimes, yeah, I came intooffice, we also I was getting
concerns about flooding anddifferent things, but we didn't
have a really good system thatwas collecting that information
so I could have that data.
So in 2021, when we went forthe bond extension, we put that
drainage projects as one of ourbond projects.
But I have the data to sayhere's the concerns that are
(07:24):
coming in.
We need to get, we need to findfunding to go after this
aggressively and address it, andso I think that communication
piece also backs the public sothat they feel like they're
being heard and that we're alsoprioritizing in a very fair and
efficient manner through thatsystem.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Fantastic when you talk about that.
My question follow-up on that alittle bit is and I think you
said a little bit about it justnow impact on the people who
live at Bentonville.
When you got the 311 systemreally up and running, what was
some of the impact or some ofthe feedback you may have gotten
from citizens?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You know, what we hear from citizens is that they
now have a system that they cango in and upload.
And you can upload a picture sowe can, so our department can
also see exactly, because youcould put a location in there.
But when you can give us apicture it really helps.
Our team sort of assess behindthe scenes before we even have
to have put somebody out to thelocation, right.
And so people have justembraced that opportunity and I
(08:29):
think they're appreciative thatthey know that it's getting
pushed to the right department.
They also know that they'regetting some communication back
to say, hey, this is where we'reat.
And you know it's not a perfectsystem because we can't
immediately fix every concernthat comes in, and so we do have
to kind of monitor it a littlebit.
And when there's things thatmight be more long-term
(08:50):
solutions, we've got to be ableto communicate and reach out.
And that's a continuous processwith our employees of how do we
reach out.
Sometimes, when we get a concernand that we can't immediately,
like a streetlight, we canpretty much put that in the
queue and make sure that it getsfixed within a week or two,
right, but there's morelong-term projects that will
come in.
(09:11):
We get a lot of concerns fromour public about just
maintenance of properties anddifferent things, and we have a
process on the back end that wehave to legally go through with
the property owner to get itaddressed.
So sometimes it can take alittle bit more time.
But I do think that what I'veheard from the public is that
the system is very, from acommunication standpoint.
(09:35):
They really appreciate thatbecause they're getting that
response back.
We can improve a little bit, Ithink, on the concerns that take
a little more time and how dowe sort of give an intermediate
conversation with the public tosay, hey, we are working on this
, here's behind the sceneswhat's going on.
But that takes a lot more.
That takes even more resourceson our end to be able to connect
(09:59):
back out, and so it's acontinuous process.
But overall I think thecitizens that use the system are
very happy with the system andgive us positive feedback.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
One of the things we do talk about all the time with
our clients in our meetingsfor-profit work is the fact that
communication is the key.
I mean we work with mainlycompanies that are growing and
readying to grow.
You have a growing city, you'rebasically running, and when we
think about that, the one thingthat can either enable or become
(10:32):
a barrier is communication,lack thereof, or really
empowering communication.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And the ability to resolve problems and solve those
together and collectively, andI know that's something else
you're really passionate aboutfrom a long way back.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe importance of resolution
and problem?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
solving.
Well, I would say, you know,communication is that connecting
piece, that starting piece.
But at the end of it you've gotto build, put communication
into action right, and that'swhere people feel like they're
really heard.
I do say, if you contact myoffice and you have a concern,
usually I'm going to ask you tocome in and let's have that
(11:11):
conversation so that we'reworking on a resolution together
.
Sometimes city government cangive you an immediate fix to
something.
The public are our eyes and earsout there and I don't have
people on every intersection orin the city, so sometimes we can
hear that information from themand immediately get a fix.
(11:31):
But a lot of times it's come inand let's talk to us, let's's
work with the neighbors, let'sfigure out how we come together
on a resolution, and so I thinkcommunication again is key to
everything that gets done in thecity and also having that.
I like to have that buy-in fromour residents and our citizens
(11:53):
in the city that when we moveprojects together, I do say
we're better together.
When we move them together andwe listen to the input and try
to put that communication into aproject, it's always a much
better project and you have thesupport of the community.
So you don't have differingideas that don't get implemented
(12:17):
and people still feel like theydidn't have a voice in the
project right, yeah, that makesa lot of sense, um I was at an
event recently where somebodywas talking about a problem they
had had solved and and how howgreat the process was.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
so I think the implementation of process and
the culture of communication andresolution is is very strong
and and very, very strong, andit makes our community better,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
I just wish there was more time in the day and more
resources to be able to, becauseit is, we'll say, communication
.
It has to be intentional and itdoes take work and time.
Yeah, it does, it really does.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
And then prioritizing .
Patty, during our first podcast, at the end of it talked a
little bit about the damage fromthe storms that we all had on
Memorial Weekend and she talkedabout the fact that we have a
squirrel in the attic becausethings have not been fully
repaired yet.
But I won't be calling the cityto say anything about my
squirrel.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So don't worry.
That'll be our challenge totake on this stuff.
We're trying lots of things.
That'll be our challenge totake on and stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
We're trying lots of things, but um, along the lines
of things like that and againthe I just say some of the on
things we don't deal with on anormal basis, um, right now, um,
the most recent thing we'veseen on the east coast with, uh,
the storm with hurricane heleneand the devastation there.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So terrible and the people were cut off.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
But one of the things just in the last probably 48
hours you're starting to heartrickle in that people that they
are communicating with thosewho are most impacted are
starting to say, no, we're beingcommunicated with, they know
we're here, we're being heard,they're going to get to us and
you can see from the firstinterviews where there was a lot
(13:59):
of tension, Now they're going,we're going to be cared for.
Can you explain something?
I know we went through somemajor storms here and talked a
little bit about communicationduring those times.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Absolutely Well.
Like I said before, we're sortof that last point of contact on
your worst day.
So you need to feel confidentthat your city is going to step
up and make sure that you'retaken care of.
And you know, when the stormsin May rolled through, I can
tell you that our teams werephenomenal behind the scenes and
I think that's what we've heardfrom the public as they.
(14:32):
The night of the storms theywere immediately at our command
center and then just watchingthem from our electric
department, from our streetdepartment to our police and
fire.
We have really good teams in thecity of Bentonville, really
good employees who care a lotabout the community, and I think
(14:53):
that's another aspect aboutBentonville that I think is very
special.
Your community members and alsothe employees of the city
genuinely care about you andwhen you have that passion like
they're going to do everythingthey can to clean up the city
and make sure that you're takencare of and I think that's
(15:14):
absolutely what you sawthroughout that Now you know,
through every disaster orwhatever it might be, from
pandemics to tornadoes I saywe're going to do follow up
after that and what can we dobetter, because we want to be
the best city in America and sowhen you want that, you're going
to make sure that you addressanything that you could have
(15:34):
done better in that process aswell.
But I really can't say enoughabout our city employees and how
they were on call 24-7 afterthat storm for several weeks.
And then the process as we gotthe contractors.
We got things cleared enough sowe could get contractors in to
(15:55):
start the process and then wegot through all of the FEMA
requirements and we're currentlynow, you know, applying for all
that to get the reimbursementto be fiscally responsible.
Yeah, for the city as well.
So I think I would be remiss toalso not mention just the public
and how they responded.
(16:16):
We were guess fortunate in someways that we had a compost
facility we could immediatelyopen up and people just started
neighbors helping, neighborsstarted immediately hauling what
they could to that facility andas we got the contractors on
board, we were able also toutilize some land that the city
(16:37):
has out in the west side of thecity to be able to land, apply
some of the wood chips and stuffand save some money.
But what the public doesn't seeis all the behind the scenes
work for the reimbursement to befiscally responsible.
And then they don't see all ofthe overtime hours that were
(16:58):
worked by our city employees,and some of them, I mean, they
were working seven days a weekout there trying to just get
things as cleaned up as wepossibly could.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
So many of them left their own homes damaged to come
and help the rest of us that hadour homes damaged and yeah it
was special.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I um, we did a sort of a storm recap with um,
several of the the county and um, rogers and some of the other
surrounding uh cities and theywere asking about people you
know, individuals that youreally saw step up and I mean I
told the story.
We have a um, a director, and,and actually his father's home
had been hit that night so hehad literally had went to make
(17:43):
sure his father was okay andthen was immediately showed up
at our command center andstarted directing at his water
and sewer team.
So, like I said, I really can'tsay enough about our team.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They've been, they, they're, they're there for you
absolutely um and telling aboutstories, um, again, disclosure,
um, you know we know you frombeing mayor, but also from
before, during I'll share astory is during the cleanup,
(18:18):
there were again a lot of peoplehelping.
We had a great deal ofassistance and we had people who
helped us carry, cut thebranches off of the trees, carry
the brush up and then you hadto put it along the streets so
it could be picked up, um, andwhich was done really
wonderfully, uh and seamlessly,but, um, on a sunday evening I'm
(18:39):
working in it and I just had aprocedure for a torn rotator
cuff about a week and a half orso before two weeks and I was um
working to not move it and mypartner here had shared with
everyone we know that Ishouldn't be using my arm Like a
broken record Of course, whenyou have a storm like that and
(19:01):
you have people helping, youneed to get involved, and so you
start using it.
So on a Sunday evening, and it'sabout dark, I'm clearing up the
brush and I hear someone behindme say what are you doing?
And I said, oh, I'm movingbrush and not looking back.
And it's like should you bedoing that?
I was like, hmm.
(19:22):
So I turned around and it isnone other than Mayor Orvin who
is there and talking to me about, and I assured her that I had
permission to be doing that work.
But, more importantly, again,talking about values and the
can-do attitude, one of thethings is that Mayor Orman then
(19:42):
began to put her book andclipboard down and she was not
dressed for this and I asked herwhat she was doing.
She was going to help me, whichI appreciate, but that's again,
that's who you are as a personand that's the thing you just
talked about as far as ourcommunity too, that we have a
lot of people and we have a lotof dedicated professionals who
(20:03):
have that kind of attitude.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Absolutely.
Like I said, it's been reallyinspiring to see you know you go
through a disaster, whatever itmight be, to see you know you
go through a disaster, whateverit might be, but when you're on
the other side of that and youcan reflect back to see just the
enormous amount of communitysupport and really truly just
neighbors helping neighbors Iwill say our contractors.
(20:26):
What they told us is that wesaw the cleanup so much I know
it probably didn't feel like it,but more effective and faster
here, because not only did youhave a dedicated city staff out
there, you had a dedicatedcommunity that was going to get
it done, and then we were ableto bring professionals into the
process as well that had theequipment to be able to do it,
(20:48):
and so that combination reallydid result in the type of
cleanup that you've seen in ourcity.
And we're still.
You know, one of the things Idid is we literally set up a
dedicated line you could callthem, and actually it's the
mayor's line, because I didn'thave any more resources to put
towards it, because we, you know, we're obviously a growing city
(21:10):
, so we're continuing with that,but we're also dealing with
disaster relief there, so westill have the debris line and
it does go into the mayor's line.
So I have an assistant andwe've literally been fielding
those calls personally in themayor's office and trying to get
back with people as we learnedthe FEMA process and the things
(21:31):
that we could pick up and applyfor.
And then you know, there'scaveats and all of that.
So there's nonprofits andchurches that happen to be their
own entities to apply and sotrying to work with them to get
them to apply where they could.
There's private roads that arein Bentonville that we can't
pick up for and getreimbursement for.
So we're continuing.
This week we're putting a callout to help somebody that's on a
(21:53):
private road that we haven'tbeen able to pick up for, just
with, hopefully, some volunteersand community members.
So we're we're really, you know, dedicated to trying to get
everybody as cleaned up as as wepossibly can in the process.
And you know I say, come in myoffice, we'll help you figure it
out.
We'll organize volunteers ifthat's what we need to do to try
(22:15):
to move some of that.
And again, we're fortunate wehave the compost facility where
we can take the vegetativedebris to without a charge.
So yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And from a neighborhood perspective we live
in the same neighborhood I justalso have to share that after a
hard day of working the firstday and we were a little
overwhelmed by what had happenedand it's interesting I heard
somebody interviewed the otherday about Helene when it first
happens you don't realize howwidespread it is, you think it
(22:46):
maybe only happened to you, butthen you get out and you see how
widespread it is and we wereworking and it was later in the
day the first day and a truckdrives up and two teenage boys
come out with pizzas and theyasked if we wanted a pizza and
usually I'm like no, I'm good,and it was your son and his
(23:07):
friends and your husband wasdriving them around giving us
pizzas and I said yes, I wouldlove a pizza and it was the best
pizza ever because you couldn'tget food.
Like I was amazed that Domino'swas open and producing.
But yeah, and just those thingsmake the neighborhood special
and I think your neighborhoodprograms have helped that really
(23:31):
spread deep into the community.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
So one of the programs I started was the Great
Neighborhoods Program, and sowe have a block trailer kit and
actually a toolkit too, so if aneighbor needs help mowing or
whatever, those are availableresources at the City of
Benville.
But I think we've had a lot ofpositive feedback about that and
it really was a passion for me.
(23:55):
I feel very, I feel veryadamant that we need connected,
tight knit neighborhoods becausewe kind of look out for each
other and when people can can bea part of that environment or
move into that environment wherethey know their neighbors,
where they know that they'regoing to have help if they're um
(24:17):
out of town, somebody'swatching their, their house and
getting their mail, or whateverit might be.
That's the type of stories thatyou hear from the community,
that that um just makes yourheart go.
You know this.
This is a city that cares forothers.
Um, yeah, and truly do.
I think that you know aphilosophy of of caring for and
(24:40):
loving your neighbor is isadamant and just a passion for
me.
So I love that the GreatNeighborhoods Program has seen
success um over the last five,yeah, four or five years that
we've been doing it and you know, I hope that to continue to
build on that.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
We did a class recently on strengthening
communications and relationshipsand it was in the community.
It was something we did as acommunity gathering and we heard
a lot about the magical culturehere in Bentonville and I think
that has a lot to do with it.
We're going to have a secondpart to this.
We're excited to go deeper intosome of the things that you've
(25:21):
done to build the community.
But, as we close this part out,can you share some things for
our listeners who may not be inthis region that are important
to remember when building strongneighborhoods and strong
communities?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Absolutely Well.
I think again it comes back tothat can-do spirit in
Bentonville and that connectingspirit too.
We really do want you to loveour city and I think people ask
all the time like how do we keepthe charm of Bentonville and
grow right?
Like what is the secret sauceto that?
(25:55):
And I say, you know there's alot of strategic things from the
cities and we'll get into thatmaybe in the second episode, but
that we're trying to do justfrom creating amenities and
gathering spaces andopportunities for that kind of
thing.
But at the end of the day itcomes down to the community.
We all have to be willing andwanting to connect with others,
(26:19):
resolve issues with others andultimately live next door to
each other.
And that's what I think.
As long as we can maintain thatwith our community and our
public, that's how Bentonvillegrows well and grows strong.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Thank you, thanks so much for this, and we look
forward to the next conversation, where we'll dig a little
deeper into some of the programsand initiatives that you've
worked on.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
And thank you for being part of Four Bars and
we'll be looking forward toseeing you here in the next
episode.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Thank you, the Four Bars podcast has been brought to
you by Edges Inc.
A growth advisory firm based inBent.
Thank you.
Differences and addresschallenges together.
We also started a nonprofitcalled Unform your Bias.
We teach kids and their adultinfluencers how to utilize
(27:16):
storytelling as a means toreduce bias in the world.
We hope you'll check us out,subscribe to our podcast and
look at our website.
Welcome to the 4.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bars podcast.
I'm Ken Leith and I'm PattiLeith.
We're your hosts for somecompelling dialogue, encouraging
our listeners to strengthentheir connections and build
strong communities, lifting eachother up and connecting in ways
that matter.
We named the podcast 4 Bars asa reference to how hard we work
to find a 4 Bars connection onour devices.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And we wondered what could happen with relationships
if we worked as hard atconnecting.
Let's find out.
Welcome back to Four Bars.
And it's the podcast where weexplore good connections in our
lives, our work and ourcommunity.
And today we are very, veryfortunate to have Mayor
Stephanie Orman of Bentonville,arkansas, with us.
It's a pleasure and thank youfor being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Absolutely, and along with my co-host here, Patty Hi,
we're going to exploreconnections.
Welcome back.
And today we'll be exploringconnections and what it means in
community, especially from adifferent perspective of
community and someone whoactually has responsibility for
helping people come together andgrow as not an organization but
as a community, A blending, ifyou would, of everything we've
(01:03):
been talking about in the firstcouple of podcasts.
First, if you just kind of tellus a little bit about you,
Stephanie, about Mayor Orman,how you got to be a mayor and
what kind of was the impetuswhere you said I think I would
like to be mayor of Bentonville,Arkansas?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, I always tell people I was not a political
science major and so, but I justI really got engaged with our
city several years ago bybecoming our POA president in
our neighborhood and I've alwaysfelt like, you know, it's our
responsibility as citizens orresidents to come together and
(01:40):
bring people together and worktowards resolutions.
And so, as I you know, in mycareer I was in advertising and
marketing, so full-time careerthere, but I'm also a mom and a
wife.
But I also wanted to be reallyengaged with our neighborhood
and our city and so through thatprocess, just started to learn
more about city government andhow, on a daily basis, it
(02:03):
affects our lives, probably morethan any other form of
government, and learned about,you know, light poles and that
the city maintains our streetlights and how do we connect to
the city to make sure that theyare changed out.
And from there just started togo to city council meetings,
went through leadership, bentonCounty and just started to learn
(02:27):
the processes within the cityand be engaged with it.
And I did run for city councilmy first time.
I lost, but it was a great, Ihave to say it was a good
experience.
And then from that I justcontinued to attend city council
meetings and learn more andmore so I could bring more
information back to my community, to our neighborhood and
different entities, and I sawthat real need for that type of
(02:50):
connection and communication andso just became more and more
involved, eventually ran asecond time for city council and
won.
And then did a second term oncity council and won that race.
And then in the last mayoralelection our previous mayor was
not going to rerun and so Idecided to run and have had the
(03:10):
pleasure to lead the city ofBentonville for the last five
and a half years.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Very good.
A couple of things come into mymind.
It's probably a lot of similarnuances and some differences
between being a POA presidentand then being a mayor of a city
, but there is some crossoversomewhere as far as skill sets
and just some of thecomplexities.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Sure, well, in my career I was in advertising and
marketing but I handled budgetsand marketing budgets and so the
number one job of the mayor isto make sure that we deliver a
balanced budget.
And we've done that and wontransparency awards for the last
five and a half years here inthe city of Bentonville.
So we've also opened up ourbudget process for a full day
(03:56):
public budget review process soanybody from the public can come
in and listen and understandhow we operate and what our
budget goes towards.
And I just again over the lastfew years, going from taking
those concepts of really wantingto make sure neighborhoods and
(04:17):
people and citizens feltconnected to their city
government and taking thatconcept and being able to lead I
always say I ran as yourcommunity mayor and that's what.
And being able to lead, I alwayssay Iran is your community
mayor and that's what I'llcontinue to do, and so sort of
meshing all that together andthen just with my passion of
helping people be connected andconnected to the city, I would
say it's the last.
(04:37):
Usually people are calling uson probably one of their maybe
worse days to some extent,because we are that last contact
in emergencies, whether it'spolice or fire or ambulance
services or water or sewer orelectric right.
So we really have to, as a city, embrace being a public servant
(04:58):
and listening to the public andtrying to make those
connections and make their daybetter, and so that's always
been my goal as mayor and beforethat.
Even just reaching out tocitizens and residents and
connecting people has just beena passion for me.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, very good.
You mentioned thatcommunication was really
important to you and you ran ona platform of that and, as a
resident, I can tell you it hasimproved really an amazing
amount and I think you'veleveraged a lot of the
technology as it's grown overthe last five years, because
we're in a different technologyworld than we were five years
ago.
What makes you reallypassionate about communication?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I think it's one of your strengths, so tell us how
you got to that I think everyconcern can go back to the
starting of communication aroundit Because I can, I know all of
our city employees want to makeyour day better, but sometimes
it's connecting on what theinformation is, what the
(05:56):
barriers are, and making surethat together we're coming
towards a resolution.
So and I think the only way youcan do that is through
communication we're comingtowards a resolution and I think
the only way you can do that isthrough communication.
When I came into office and Iran on this in my first run as
mayor as putting in a 3-1-1system, and we've done that and
(06:19):
we've been able to get throughabout 10,000 concerns from the
public in about 21 of our maincategories.
Really that first year inoffice in 2019, I really was
trying to assess the concernsthat were coming in and we put
them into a platform so peoplecould directly contact us, and I
really wanted to make sure thatwe also, when they directly
contacted us, instead of gettingbounced around, that we had a
(06:39):
platform that they could contactabout the specific concern and
it would go to that specificdepartment department that deals
with it.
And then we had a way toprioritize based on how, from a
timeline how I just come rightin and then also make sure that
department communicated back outwhen we were able to resolve
the problem.
So it's been, I think,phenomenal for us to be able to
(07:02):
also have the data.
So sometimes, yeah, I came intooffice, we also I was getting
concerns about flooding anddifferent things, but we didn't
have a really good system thatwas collecting that information
so I could have that data.
So in 2021, when we went forthe bond extension, we put that
drainage projects as one of ourbond projects.
But I have the data to sayhere's the concerns that are
(07:24):
coming in.
We need to get, we need to findfunding to go after this
aggressively and address it, andso I think that communication
piece also backs the public sothat they feel like they're
being heard and that we're alsoprioritizing in a very fair and
efficient manner through thatsystem.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Fantastic when you talk about that.
My question follow-up on that alittle bit is and I think you
said a little bit about it justnow impact on the people who
live at Bentonville.
When you got the 311 systemreally up and running, what was
some of the impact or some ofthe feedback you may have gotten
from citizens?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You know, what we hear from citizens is that they
now have a system that they cango in and upload.
And you can upload a picture sowe can, so our department can
also see exactly, because youcould put a location in there.
But when you can give us apicture it really helps.
Our team sort of assess behindthe scenes before we even have
to have put somebody out to thelocation, right.
And so people have justembraced that opportunity and I
(08:29):
think they're appreciative thatthey know that it's getting
pushed to the right department.
They also know that they'regetting some communication back
to say, hey, this is where we'reat.
And you know it's not a perfectsystem because we can't
immediately fix every concernthat comes in, and so we do have
to kind of monitor it a littlebit.
And when there's things thatmight be more long-term
(08:50):
solutions, we've got to be ableto communicate and reach out.
And that's a continuous processwith our employees of how do we
reach out.
Sometimes, when we get a concernand that we can't immediately,
like a streetlight, we canpretty much put that in the
queue and make sure that it getsfixed within a week or two,
right, but there's morelong-term projects that will
come in.
(09:11):
We get a lot of concerns fromour public about just
maintenance of properties anddifferent things, and we have a
process on the back end that wehave to legally go through with
the property owner to get itaddressed.
So sometimes it can take alittle bit more time.
But I do think that what I'veheard from the public is that
the system is very, from acommunication standpoint.
(09:35):
They really appreciate thatbecause they're getting that
response back.
We can improve a little bit, Ithink, on the concerns that take
a little more time and how dowe sort of give an intermediate
conversation with the public tosay, hey, we are working on this
, here's behind the sceneswhat's going on.
But that takes a lot more.
That takes even more resourceson our end to be able to connect
(09:59):
back out, and so it's acontinuous process.
But overall I think thecitizens that use the system are
very happy with the system andgive us positive feedback.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
One of the things we do talk about all the time with
our clients in our meetingsfor-profit work is the fact that
communication is the key.
I mean we work with mainlycompanies that are growing and
readying to grow.
You have a growing city, you'rebasically running, and when we
think about that, the one thingthat can either enable or become
(10:32):
a barrier is communication,lack thereof, or really
empowering communication.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And the ability to resolve problems and solve those
together and collectively, andI know that's something else
you're really passionate aboutfrom a long way back.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe importance of resolution
and problem?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
solving.
Well, I would say, you know,communication is that connecting
piece, that starting piece.
But at the end of it you've gotto build, put communication
into action right, and that'swhere people feel like they're
really heard.
I do say, if you contact myoffice and you have a concern,
usually I'm going to ask you tocome in and let's have that
(11:11):
conversation so that we'reworking on a resolution together
.
Sometimes city government cangive you an immediate fix to
something.
The public are our eyes and earsout there and I don't have
people on every intersection orin the city, so sometimes we can
hear that information from themand immediately get a fix.
(11:31):
But a lot of times it's come inand let's talk to us, let's's
work with the neighbors, let'sfigure out how we come together
on a resolution, and so I thinkcommunication again is key to
everything that gets done in thecity and also having that.
I like to have that buy-in fromour residents and our citizens
(11:53):
in the city that when we moveprojects together, I do say
we're better together.
When we move them together andwe listen to the input and try
to put that communication into aproject, it's always a much
better project and you have thesupport of the community.
So you don't have differingideas that don't get implemented
(12:17):
and people still feel like theydidn't have a voice in the
project right, yeah, that makesa lot of sense, um I was at an
event recently where somebodywas talking about a problem they
had had solved and and how howgreat the process was.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
so I think the implementation of process and
the culture of communication andresolution is is very strong
and and very, very strong, andit makes our community better,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
I just wish there was more time in the day and more
resources to be able to, becauseit is, we'll say, communication
.
It has to be intentional and itdoes take work and time.
Yeah, it does, it really does.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
And then prioritizing .
Patty, during our first podcast, at the end of it talked a
little bit about the damage fromthe storms that we all had on
Memorial Weekend and she talkedabout the fact that we have a
squirrel in the attic becausethings have not been fully
repaired yet.
But I won't be calling the cityto say anything about my
squirrel.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So don't worry.
That'll be our challenge totake on this stuff.
We're trying lots of things.
That'll be our challenge totake on and stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
We're trying lots of things, but um, along the lines
of things like that and againthe I just say some of the on
things we don't deal with on anormal basis, um, right now, um,
the most recent thing we'veseen on the east coast with, uh,
the storm with hurricane heleneand the devastation there.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So terrible and the people were cut off.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
But one of the things just in the last probably 48
hours you're starting to heartrickle in that people that they
are communicating with thosewho are most impacted are
starting to say, no, we're beingcommunicated with, they know
we're here, we're being heard,they're going to get to us and
you can see from the firstinterviews where there was a lot
(13:59):
of tension, Now they're going,we're going to be cared for.
Can you explain something?
I know we went through somemajor storms here and talked a
little bit about communicationduring those times.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Absolutely Well.
Like I said before, we're sortof that last point of contact on
your worst day.
So you need to feel confidentthat your city is going to step
up and make sure that you'retaken care of.
And you know, when the stormsin May rolled through, I can
tell you that our teams werephenomenal behind the scenes and
I think that's what we've heardfrom the public as they.
(14:32):
The night of the storms theywere immediately at our command
center and then just watchingthem from our electric
department, from our streetdepartment to our police and
fire.
We have really good teams in thecity of Bentonville, really
good employees who care a lotabout the community, and I think
(14:53):
that's another aspect aboutBentonville that I think is very
special.
Your community members and alsothe employees of the city
genuinely care about you andwhen you have that passion like
they're going to do everythingthey can to clean up the city
and make sure that you're takencare of and I think that's
(15:14):
absolutely what you sawthroughout that Now you know,
through every disaster orwhatever it might be, from
pandemics to tornadoes I saywe're going to do follow up
after that and what can we dobetter, because we want to be
the best city in America and sowhen you want that, you're going
to make sure that you addressanything that you could have
(15:34):
done better in that process aswell.
But I really can't say enoughabout our city employees and how
they were on call 24-7 afterthat storm for several weeks.
And then the process as we gotthe contractors.
We got things cleared enough sowe could get contractors in to
(15:55):
start the process and then wegot through all of the FEMA
requirements and we're currentlynow, you know, applying for all
that to get the reimbursementto be fiscally responsible.
Yeah, for the city as well.
So I think I would be remiss toalso not mention just the public
and how they responded.
(16:16):
We were guess fortunate in someways that we had a compost
facility we could immediatelyopen up and people just started
neighbors helping, neighborsstarted immediately hauling what
they could to that facility andas we got the contractors on
board, we were able also toutilize some land that the city
(16:37):
has out in the west side of thecity to be able to land, apply
some of the wood chips and stuffand save some money.
But what the public doesn't seeis all the behind the scenes
work for the reimbursement to befiscally responsible.
And then they don't see all ofthe overtime hours that were
(16:58):
worked by our city employees,and some of them, I mean, they
were working seven days a weekout there trying to just get
things as cleaned up as wepossibly could.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
So many of them left their own homes damaged to come
and help the rest of us that hadour homes damaged and yeah it
was special.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I um, we did a sort of a storm recap with um,
several of the the county and um, rogers and some of the other
surrounding uh cities and theywere asking about people you
know, individuals that youreally saw step up and I mean I
told the story.
We have a um, a director, and,and actually his father's home
had been hit that night so hehad literally had went to make
(17:43):
sure his father was okay andthen was immediately showed up
at our command center andstarted directing at his water
and sewer team.
So, like I said, I really can'tsay enough about our team.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They've been, they, they're, they're there for you
absolutely um and telling aboutstories, um, again, disclosure,
um, you know we know you frombeing mayor, but also from
before, during I'll share astory is during the cleanup,
(18:18):
there were again a lot of peoplehelping.
We had a great deal ofassistance and we had people who
helped us carry, cut thebranches off of the trees, carry
the brush up and then you hadto put it along the streets so
it could be picked up, um, andwhich was done really
wonderfully, uh and seamlessly,but, um, on a sunday evening I'm
(18:39):
working in it and I just had aprocedure for a torn rotator
cuff about a week and a half orso before two weeks and I was um
working to not move it and mypartner here had shared with
everyone we know that Ishouldn't be using my arm Like a
broken record Of course, whenyou have a storm like that and
(19:01):
you have people helping, youneed to get involved, and so you
start using it.
So on a Sunday evening, and it'sabout dark, I'm clearing up the
brush and I hear someone behindme say what are you doing?
And I said, oh, I'm movingbrush and not looking back.
And it's like should you bedoing that?
I was like, hmm.
(19:22):
So I turned around and it isnone other than Mayor Orvin who
is there and talking to me about, and I assured her that I had
permission to be doing that work.
But, more importantly, again,talking about values and the
can-do attitude, one of thethings is that Mayor Orman then
(19:42):
began to put her book andclipboard down and she was not
dressed for this and I asked herwhat she was doing.
She was going to help me, whichI appreciate, but that's again,
that's who you are as a personand that's the thing you just
talked about as far as ourcommunity too, that we have a
lot of people and we have a lotof dedicated professionals who
(20:03):
have that kind of attitude.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Absolutely.
Like I said, it's been reallyinspiring to see you know you go
through a disaster, whatever itmight be, to see you know you
go through a disaster, whateverit might be, but when you're on
the other side of that and youcan reflect back to see just the
enormous amount of communitysupport and really truly just
neighbors helping neighbors Iwill say our contractors.
(20:26):
What they told us is that wesaw the cleanup so much I know
it probably didn't feel like it,but more effective and faster
here, because not only did youhave a dedicated city staff out
there, you had a dedicatedcommunity that was going to get
it done, and then we were ableto bring professionals into the
process as well that had theequipment to be able to do it,
(20:48):
and so that combination reallydid result in the type of
cleanup that you've seen in ourcity.
And we're still.
You know, one of the things Idid is we literally set up a
dedicated line you could callthem, and actually it's the
mayor's line, because I didn'thave any more resources to put
towards it, because we, you know, we're obviously a growing city
(21:10):
, so we're continuing with that,but we're also dealing with
disaster relief there, so westill have the debris line and
it does go into the mayor's line.
So I have an assistant andwe've literally been fielding
those calls personally in themayor's office and trying to get
back with people as we learnedthe FEMA process and the things
(21:31):
that we could pick up and applyfor.
And then you know, there'scaveats and all of that.
So there's nonprofits andchurches that happen to be their
own entities to apply and sotrying to work with them to get
them to apply where they could.
There's private roads that arein Bentonville that we can't
pick up for and getreimbursement for.
So we're continuing.
This week we're putting a callout to help somebody that's on a
(21:53):
private road that we haven'tbeen able to pick up for, just
with, hopefully, some volunteersand community members.
So we're we're really, you know, dedicated to trying to get
everybody as cleaned up as as wepossibly can in the process.
And you know I say, come in myoffice, we'll help you figure it
out.
We'll organize volunteers ifthat's what we need to do to try
(22:15):
to move some of that.
And again, we're fortunate wehave the compost facility where
we can take the vegetativedebris to without a charge.
So yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And from a neighborhood perspective we live
in the same neighborhood I justalso have to share that after a
hard day of working the firstday and we were a little
overwhelmed by what had happenedand it's interesting I heard
somebody interviewed the otherday about Helene when it first
happens you don't realize howwidespread it is, you think it
(22:46):
maybe only happened to you, butthen you get out and you see how
widespread it is and we wereworking and it was later in the
day the first day and a truckdrives up and two teenage boys
come out with pizzas and theyasked if we wanted a pizza and
usually I'm like no, I'm good,and it was your son and his
(23:07):
friends and your husband wasdriving them around giving us
pizzas and I said yes, I wouldlove a pizza and it was the best
pizza ever because you couldn'tget food.
Like I was amazed that Domino'swas open and producing.
But yeah, and just those thingsmake the neighborhood special
and I think your neighborhoodprograms have helped that really
(23:31):
spread deep into the community.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
So one of the programs I started was the Great
Neighborhoods Program, and sowe have a block trailer kit and
actually a toolkit too, so if aneighbor needs help mowing or
whatever, those are availableresources at the City of
Benville.
But I think we've had a lot ofpositive feedback about that and
it really was a passion for me.
(23:55):
I feel very, I feel veryadamant that we need connected,
tight knit neighborhoods becausewe kind of look out for each
other and when people can can bea part of that environment or
move into that environment wherethey know their neighbors,
where they know that they'regoing to have help if they're um
(24:17):
out of town, somebody'swatching their, their house and
getting their mail, or whateverit might be.
That's the type of stories thatyou hear from the community,
that that um just makes yourheart go.
You know this.
This is a city that cares forothers.
Um, yeah, and truly do.
I think that you know aphilosophy of of caring for and
(24:40):
loving your neighbor is isadamant and just a passion for
me.
So I love that the GreatNeighborhoods Program has seen
success um over the last five,yeah, four or five years that
we've been doing it and you know, I hope that to continue to
build on that.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
We did a class recently on strengthening
communications and relationshipsand it was in the community.
It was something we did as acommunity gathering and we heard
a lot about the magical culturehere in Bentonville and I think
that has a lot to do with it.
We're going to have a secondpart to this.
We're excited to go deeper intosome of the things that you've
(25:21):
done to build the community.
But, as we close this part out,can you share some things for
our listeners who may not be inthis region that are important
to remember when building strongneighborhoods and strong
communities?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Absolutely Well.
I think again it comes back tothat can-do spirit in
Bentonville and that connectingspirit too.
We really do want you to loveour city and I think people ask
all the time like how do we keepthe charm of Bentonville and
grow right?
Like what is the secret sauceto that?
(25:55):
And I say, you know there's alot of strategic things from the
cities and we'll get into thatmaybe in the second episode, but
that we're trying to do justfrom creating amenities and
gathering spaces andopportunities for that kind of
thing.
But at the end of the day itcomes down to the community.
We all have to be willing andwanting to connect with others,
(26:19):
resolve issues with others andultimately live next door to
each other.
And that's what I think.
As long as we can maintain thatwith our community and our
public, that's how Bentonvillegrows well and grows strong.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Thank you, thanks so much for this, and we look
forward to the next conversation, where we'll dig a little
deeper into some of the programsand initiatives that you've
worked on.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
And thank you for being part of Four Bars and
we'll be looking forward toseeing you here in the next
episode.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Thank you, the Four Bars podcast has been brought to
you by Edges Inc.
A growth advisory firm based inBent.
Thank you.
Differences and addresschallenges together.
We also started a nonprofitcalled Unform your Bias.
We teach kids and their adultinfluencers how to utilize
(27:16):
storytelling as a means toreduce bias in the world.
We hope you'll check us out,subscribe to our podcast and
look at our website.
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