The 3W Podcast: Stephanie Orman

Stephanie Orman's journey from the world of advertising to the mayor's office in Bentonville is nothing short of inspiring. On this episode of The 3W Podcast, Stephanie shares her personal and professional experiences, giving us a heartfelt glimpse into her life. We discuss the growth and construction challenges in Northwest Arkansas and the unique connections formed through travel sports, particularly baseball. Our mutual Oklahoma roots and experiences as baseball moms have shaped our friendships and community bonds, making this conversation both relatable and enlightening.

Ever wonder what a day in the life of a mayor looks like? Stephanie opens up about managing the city's operations, likening it to running a full-time business, complete with the daily hustle of emails, public concerns, and surprise issues. We explore innovative community initiatives like the 3-1-1 system and the Yard of the Month awards, which help maintain a connected and engaged community. Plus, we celebrate significant projects like the Adult Wellness Center and Gateway Park, showcasing the relentless effort to keep Bentonville a welcoming and continuously improving city.

Looking ahead, Stephanie discusses Bentonville’s future goals, focusing on infrastructure and active commuter transportation, all while balancing professional responsibilities with family life. With projects like the e-bike rebate program and safety videos, Bentonville is committed to modern, inclusive transportation solutions. We also share touching family moments, from celebrating milestones to planning for college. Whether you’re interested in local governance, community engagement or the joys of family life, this episode captures the vibrant spirit that makes Bentonville a great place to live, work and play.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, casey Yokely here with the 3W Podcast
home of the who, what when I'vegot my dear friend Stephanie
Orman here with me.
Stephanie welcome, thank youfor having me.
Thank you for doing this, Ireally appreciate it.
If you all don't know, Stephanieis the mayor of Bentonville.
So we're going to talk allthings Stephanie, all things
Orman family, all thingsBentonville, all things

(00:22):
re-election, even though I'm notpolitically based.
But that's okay, We'll stilltouch on it.
So thank you, Welcome.
Thank you for having me.
I know it's going to be so fun,so I do think it's funny.
I'm just going to jump aheadinto.
I can't read any of thiswithout my glasses, but we were
just talking about how you gothere.
You got here by way of trafficcones.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I did, I did.
We do have a littleconstruction in all of the
cities because we're growing inNorthwest Arkansas, so but it's.
It's definitely going to bebetter on the other side here,
so just give us a little bit ofgrace as we get through Right.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
You're like leave your traffic cones to come to
Mayor Hines's traffic cones, andyou're like everyone's got
cones, we do.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Just know that there's a plan and talk to us
and give us a little bit ofgrace, because you want us to
get the roads built.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Absolutely.
I want roads in the sky at thispoint, because we are just
growing so quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
We're going to have some flying cars at the Up
Summit in Bentonville, so youknow those are coming.
Okay, by way of.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Jetsons Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yes, those are coming , okay, by way of Jetsons.
Yeah, exactly, it's gonna be sofun, okay.
So tell us.
We're gonna dive into reallywho you are, but tell us who you
are quickly, I guess.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh, I don't know really where to start, but, um,
most of all, I'm a wife and I'ma mom, and that's actually how
we know each other.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
How did we meet our kids?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
yes, so and I think that's how a lot of our friend
groups have come about is fromour kids being engaged in
different activities.
So we are both baseball moms, Iknow.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
We're baseball moms and it's September.
We're literally filming this inSeptember, but we're also going
to launch it in September.
But I haven't seen you sinceJune I know Because that's when
baseball ended for the boys andI'm like, oh, I haven't seen my
friends since June and you'rebusy with all the election stuff

(02:12):
and fancy mayoral potholefixing things, and so I'm like,
oh, I'm so excited to see myfriend today.
I know it's just on.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Terry, I was like we got to get the parent group back
together.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
We got to get our core group back together.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
You have a fun little uh texting group.
We do, so, we do it has a name.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's called the branson frat house.
It's not always the cleanesttext chain, but it's a fun text
chain to read.
Actually, my husband isprobably really good for you, so
, but there was lots of umcheering for you a couple weeks
ago in there and I was andspeaking of that, I need of that
.
I need a sign.
I need a sign for the yard,like, the biggest sign that you

(02:49):
can get me is what I need.
So, yeah, I'm excited, so I lovethat Because I believe so.
You have two kids.
I have two kids and we're goingto touch on them later.
But I believe that travelsports I'll just say baseball,
because I don't, even thoughcrew plays travel soccer, yet I
haven't found my travel family,but travel baseball has given me

(03:12):
family up here.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
I think it's always.
People just find theirconnections and you find that
group and you're with them allweekend long.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
All weekend long.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
You better like each other.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yes, and we've even stayed in the same houses
together.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
So yes, it's been fun and being able to have fun with
each other.
I mean, I think that's part ofit.
Everybody wants to feelconnected and have their you
know group, and so we have agreat baseball group.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
I know I love it and it's going to get even bigger
get to meet new parents in thatprocess.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I know I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
I don't know many of them so, but I like that.
The um two full right momformerly full right moms put
together a text thread chain viatexting and some app I don't
remember which app so I'm likewe're all on there together now
yes, the moms, uh that do thatand connect everybody.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I have to give them kudos, because 100, I mean,
that's so needed.
You're always like how do Istay in touch?
And so one of them, takes holdof it, puts the whole texting
group together and we're allconnected.
Yes, thank you, moms.
I know.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Thank you, moms, I'm the chimer in her.
I'm not the organizer up front,because I don't want to leave
anyone it.
But whoever wants to be it, Iwill cheer you on the whole way
around.
So, um, we're both fromOklahoma.
We are originally.
You're from a small town inOklahoma too right.
Okay, northeast Oklahoma.

(04:34):
So yes, collinsville, yeah, andI'm from a small town,
bartlesville, one high schooltown.
Yeah, bartlesville is a littlebit bigger than.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Collinsville.
Oh know, I really have no idealike 35 000.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
It was back in the day.
I think it's shrunk sincephillips exited, but it's.
You know, I'm so proud to befrom oklahoma.
I bleed orange.
Your husband bleeds red becausehe went to that school in
norman, which is fine, but youbleed razorback.
I know, and it's the day beforea game, a huge game between our
teams.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
I know, I know.
So you know, that's okay.
I'm sorry I don't talk trash.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Only to Terry A friendly rivalry, right,
absolutely One of my mostfavorite things is having my OSU
golf umbrella and the new puppyoh, yes, he's not new anymore.
Yes, huck, is that right?
Was that his name?
Yes, yes, was under the OSUumbrella.
A couple years ago at abaseball game.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
My husband likes to tease you all a little bit about
that I know it's good.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
You can tease him sometimes too, I know, but it's
a friendly rivalry.
It is, I absolutely love it.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
And I'm on the outskirts cheering for the Hogs.
I know.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
But I think that's what Terry and Col Sharon we all
cheer for the Hogs because welive in Razorback country,
that's true.
So now you all have thatrivalry with the Sooners joining
SEC.
So have fun with that?

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yes, I know.
I said our marriage was fineuntil the Sooners had to come
over into Hog country here.
So I'm like Terry and I aregoing to have to work that out
Now.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
You're literally a house divided at this point.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, although, like I said, Terry cheers for the
Hogs every time, except formaybe when they're playing the
Sooners right.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
But I'm gonna, so it'll be interesting to see how,
but now we're conference, likeyou're internal.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
I know Terry has to go to the basement to watch
Sooner games anyways, so I'mlike I'll be up, you'll stay
upstairs, yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
I love this.
I love, love it.
Okay, so you are the mayor ofBentonville.
I am First lady Bentonville.
For how long?
Because?
Speak to this because I know itchanged.
It's supposed to be X amount ofyears, but you told me a couple
of years ago it changed.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yes, so I actually got six years with my first term
and it has to do withBentonville, hitting a
population over 50,000.
It threw us into a large citycategory and they like to have
all the mayors on the samepresidential election cycle.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
So I got two years.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
So it's a state statute.
Okay, it's a state.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay, yeah, so you got a bonus two years out of it,
right?
Yes, that's awesome, and partof that was during COVID, so
even better.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yes, yeah, yes, I needed those two years because
we had two years of managingthrough COVID.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
I know but that's like drinking from a fire hose.
And now I feel like that I'vegot to assume COVID preparedness
building the plane while you'reflying.
It essentially helped youprepare for the tornadoes back
in May, somewhat from anemergency response point of view
.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
You know definitely we have a great team at the city
of Bentonville and some amazingdepartment heads, and so when
you've got strong departmentheads, I think any time of
emergency response you know youhave a plan but nothing always
goes according to plan twobecause it's an emergency right.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
It's kind of like a little wavy parallel to the plan
.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
We definitely learned a lot through the tornadoes and
through the pandemic as well.
But you know you have processesin place for each department
and when those were executedwell, hopefully you see, you
know we were fortunate to nothave any severe injuries the
night of the tornadoes.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
That was amazing.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
And then immediately the cleanup started.
You know, I think it camethrough Bentonville, or at least
through.
I'm on the east side ofBentonville about 1.41 in the
morning and I was in my basementbut I was on the phone with our
fire chief who had set tornadosirens.
And you know it just, we have aprocess and it kicks, kicks in,
and everybody kind of takestheir piece of the pie and then

(08:33):
we immediately go into ouremergency command center and
then from there, which isattached to our dispatch center,
and from there each departmentstarts to execute roads,
electric.
You know, so it's a it's apretty impressive process what
time were you in your car that?
morning.
So if it came right after itcame, I mean literally in the
car by two um, a little aftertwo, because we had to, we had

(08:57):
to make sure that all clearsirens went off and everything I
, um, I had, you know, eveningattire on so I had to change.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh right, you had to change out of PJs.
Change yes.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
And so make sure that I could go into the community
center and so but yeah, you wereout within an hour, I think.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
I heard yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Oh yeah, and you know you get out, it's still dark.
And you can't see Well no,because there are electrics down
and everything and literally Ilive just off of Central or 72.
I pull out there and there'sjust trees across that highway
and you're thinking, okay, thisis the real deal.

(09:39):
At that point I think that wasone kind of reality.
I know it gives me goosebumps.
I was in the basement, I couldhear the hell.
One kind of reality I know itgives me goosebumps, set in is
like I mean I, you know whenyou're in the.
I was in the basement, I couldhear the hell and and all of
that, but when you see thosehuge trees, across roads.
You're like, you know, yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
It was reality check the next morning Due to I mean,
it's like you hear the sounds,but until you see it with your
eyes, it's like wow, and youwere seeing it in the dark with
only headlights, so I thinkthat's even scarier.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, a little bit.
It was like I said, it was justit was interesting to pull out
onto the road and see thatacross there because, like I
said, and then I did make itdown Central and J Street to our
command center and then thecalls were just, you know,
pouring in at that point.
So then the calls were just,you know, pouring in at that
point.
so then the reality of uh-oh,you know we've got hundreds of

(10:29):
calls coming in yeah so, butthey, but our teams, you know,
like I said, if you could justwatch them in action, they're,
they're amazing, they're,they're trained well and they
know.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I love that we're in good hands.
I love that.
Okay, take out tornadoes andtake out covid.
What does a day of being themayor look like?
Or maybe a week, Cause I knowevery day is different.
I mean, I follow the socialsand you do lots of photos and I
see you at events, but what does, like the the job part, like
sure you know pushing paper whatdoes that look like?

Speaker 2 (11:01):
So we're on mayoral strong, strong city.
So it's not a part-timeactually, terry.
My husband would probably tellyou it's 24 7 I would say the
same for you.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
It's like owning your own business.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're literally married to it yes, but um, I
love it.
But you know our um a typicalday might be.
Usually I'm coming in trying tosift through um as many emails
as we can to see what's in thereand I always say there's
probably going to be a surprisein there that we have to deal
with for the day.
But we try to be, as you know,responsive to the public as we

(11:32):
possibly can.
A lot of times it's aboutcommunicating and if there's an
issue, we try to, you know,bring them in or reach out If
there's something that we canimmediately tackle.
One of the things I started whenI came into office was a 3-1-1
system and so people can send in21 of our largest concerns in
the city through that system andso and then I get a

(11:53):
notification, or there's anotification that goes out to
the department head and I getcopied on all of them now so I
know where the concerns are withpeople.
So if there's a street light out, which is our most popular one,
I'm sure it is so we try andit's like it's like you know,
potholes and street lights I'vegot, I, I know where most of

(12:16):
them are and how many of themhave been switched out, and then
we've been switching it.
So when we switch them out, weswitch them to led, okay, more
energy.
So I was, and I can explain,you know why there's this, still
this color out in some of them.
It's because the light hasn'twent out yet.
We're trying to be efficientwith changing them out, using
them.
So, um, that.
But, um, you know, and is itright?

(12:36):
Now it's tall grass, so we'retrying to get everybody to mow
their lawns and you know, I willsay, um, our bentonville
residents do like theirneighbors to have nice yards and
so that's even have an awardfor it.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
We do.
We have a.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yard of the Month Landscaping Award for both, for
both residential and commercial.
So we do like for people totake care of their properties.
And it's a good love, you know,and it's you know we talk about
, you know taking care ofproperty, you know, and it's you
know we talk about, you know,taking care of a propter.
But it's really about neighborsconnecting and want to live,
want to be friendly and livenext to their neighbors, and so

(13:12):
that's a piece of the pie.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
It sounds to me my, my total takeaway from daily is
that putting out fires soundsnegative, but I don't mean it
negative, but it's like it'sconstant solving.
Not that they're problems, Imean, that's just yeah, it's
just good, yeah concerns.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
I tell people you know we are typically, because
when you think about theservices that we offer the city,
it's police, fire, roads, uh,water, sewer, electric.
We do have parks and recreationand library, but typically when
you're calling us your day,there's something maybe going a
little bit wrong with your day.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
You're not just calling to say hi, do you want a
donut?

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Some people do call us and say how great you know
how nice.
We've responded to differentthings and we love that.
But you know, I say we're kindof that last contract when
they're trying to get somethingsolved or the day's not going
great for them.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Right.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
So we, we need to, we have to recognize that and be
responsive to that, and so andlisten to people and try to get
them through whatever thesituation is so it's a lot of it
is a lot of problems Projectmanaging as well.
It is but it's also, you know,in the city of Bentonville we're
fortunate that we get amazingprojects.
Yesterday we just did agroundbreaking for our adult

(14:23):
wellness center and next week Isaw that is that by the ledger.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Is that right?
Yes okay, and then you have asuper fun one.
Is it next week or the weekafter?

Speaker 2 (14:31):
next week we've got the a street gateway park and
that's going to be amazing ifyou've seen some of the pictures
out there, um, it's a bigcircle, like there's a big loop
or something around it.
I was like this looks cool,yeah, so it's gonna be um, we're
getting ready to break groundover there and then it's
actually about a two-year buildout.
So I said you can give uspatience.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's fine, but it's in a park yeah, but it's like
more cones for development andprogress.
And I we are literally in thethick of progress.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
We're not just promising progress, you're
delivering progress yeah, andyou know the projects are
getting done, so I just tellpeople, you know, just hang with
us.
Give us a little bit of graceum, and we're gonna, we're gonna
get it done.
We're a very resilientcommunity, um, and I think you
know, going through the pandemic, tornadoes and still seeing the
type of amenities and thingsthat are happening in the city

(15:21):
is something I'm really proud of.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Right, I mean, people love to be not so positive.
Right, that's just nature.
But I feel like, because youall are constantly delivering
progress that is constantlyadding to the culture of
Bentonville and that's just whatmakes it like Mayberry, but not
, you know, just neighborly andcommunity driven and culture

(15:46):
driven and beautifullybeautification processes always
in place, like just it justmakes you want to come home,
thank you, that's what we hope.
Yeah, I think y'all are doing areally great job.
I'm proud, I'm proud of you.
I'm always proud to say I knowher.
So tell me, I know her, so tellme.
Have you had an aha moment inthe last six years?

Speaker 2 (16:07):
An aha moment.
You know, I think the biggestthing for me is Like that told
you you were in the right place.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
You're doing what you're supposed to.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
You know, when people come to you and they say you
know, here's my concern, but youwere willing to sit down with
me, you're willing to bring youknow the part of my head's in
and talk through this process,and so I would say that there's
been a lot of those, becausethat's really what we try to do.
We try to solve problems.
But you know, one of my sort ofgolden rules is that if you

(16:40):
contact me about a concern, I'mprobably going to invite you in
and have a conversation with me.
Sometimes it's a concern that wecould just immediately address.
But you know, if it's somethingthat involves more than just
that immediate fix, it mightinvolve all of your neighbors to
come together.
It might involve we're buildingthe road and you're concerned
about the design of the road andwe need to get everybody

(17:02):
together and try to move throughthe project and input some of
those we're getting ready.
We just finished our secondinput session with um.
We have a j street uminterchange connection okay
company, and it's a big.
It'll be a very large city roadproject.
Probably the largest city roadproject in the state is this

(17:23):
down by, like amazing inbentonville, yeah, so tiger area
.
So we'll tie out to theinterstate there.
So you've got um rdot andcounty and the city all involved
with it.
So, um, but just finish that.
But we have done um just a tonof community input with those
neighborhoods there to try toreally work with them and make
sure the design is somethingthat they'll appreciate and be

(17:46):
and be happy with.
And so I think when you havemembers of of where you know,
it's kind of a controversialtopic initially starting, but
they really recognize the effortyou put in to try to get
everybody on this you know, I'msure the design's not, so they
have a perfect word, but theydefinitely have had a say and
we've changed the design aroundto try to accommodate some of

(18:07):
that.
It sounds like your door'salways open.
It is, and so I would say thoseare some of the moments that
you're like, because I love theconnecting part of it and.
I love the problem-solving partof it, and so when we can do
that, those are definitely theaha moments.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
It takes a special person to be able to balance
both so yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
So if you talk to my husband, he's like I could never
do what you do right so youknow, terry and I was like, but
I'm like, but I actually enjoylistening to everybody's side
trying to put the informationtogether and and you do have to
make decisions so and that's notalways easy, right, sometimes
you have to make tough decisionswith.
But but I think if people aremost people, if you will sit

(18:47):
with them and sort of give themall the information, I think a
lot of times people don't haveall the information you have
when they're looking at asituation and when you can do
that, I think they appreciate itand there's at least an
understanding there.
They may not still love everypiece of it, right, but there's
an understanding, or theyunderstand what roadblocks we're
trying to work through.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
I think you and my husband, colby, are wired very
similarly, because you all willconstantly like powwow on your
own up in the bleachers withbehind the scenes talks and I
I'll hear words, but they meannothing to me.
And just hearing you sayTerry's say um, I could never do
what you do.
I'm like, oh for sure, no, Iwould hate to work with Colby.

(19:28):
Like no, and you do have toknow what's going on behind the
scenes so you can't, sometimescan't, give out everything up
front and there are theroadblocks and I'm like, oh,
this is exactly what he does ona daily basis.
And so'm like this is why thetwo of you connect so well
together on all of this, but youall get each other.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
We do, but we also probably also connect on being
so thankful for our partners.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
So Terry is like my cheerleader behind the scenes
and he's amazing.
So, you know he does.
He doesn't always want to beout front and in the middle of
it, but he is definitely behind.
Always want to be out front andin the middle of it, but he is
definitely behind.
Actually, today, I will tellyou, he's out putting signs up
for me, is he?
Yes, so he's, he's very, he'svery supportive and I have to
say an extra thank you, becausethat's he's a great one he calls

(20:16):
you steph?

Speaker 1 (20:17):
he does doesn't call you stephanie, so now I call you
steph and so, if I have, when Ihad a talk with your campaign
manager, michael, I was, he waslike Stephanie and I was like I
call her Steph.
She's Steph in our likebaseball family, so it's always
like here's Steph's chair andhere's Steph's soda and I'm like
Steph, so it's just Steph.
So I'm like he takes very goodcare of you and I love how he

(20:39):
takes care of you and I justthink y'all are adorable.
But, um, yeah, he needs to stopby Livingston Street in
Bentonville and put a billboardin the yard, okay, so, yeah,
well, well, I'll just text thatBranson Frat House and make that
happen, okay, so what made youso six years ago?
Because you're up forre-election again or up for

(21:00):
election again, I'm sorry.
What made you run the firsttime?
Did you just wake up one dayand you're like this is fun, I'm
going to do this?

Speaker 2 (21:07):
No, I was not a political science major.
I wasn't really thinkingpolitics was.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
What did you graduate with?

Speaker 2 (21:16):
I have an undergrad in journalism and a master's in
communication.
But, I've been in theadvertising and marketing world
for pretty much all of my careerbut I got involved, I just
really got involved with thecity.
I went through leadership,benton County and a couple of
other distant, differentorganizations.

(21:37):
I was highly involved withwomen in networking and some
others and through that and thenI also got involved with my
neighborhood poa and sort ofthat was sort of my connection
directly to the city to justreally understand, like all the
services the city provides andhow important it is to a
neighborhood to understand theservices and how did you have
any idea?

Speaker 1 (21:58):
I really didn't before poa, I really didn't,
okay, and I'm sure leadershipbenton county shed a giant light
on it too.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah I mean I knew that the city was police and
fire and water and sewer andlike, but you know all the ins
and outs how they help umresidents on a daily basis.
I just didn't have anappreciation like I certainly do
now right everything they offer.
Um, so got involved with thatand it's funny because, like,
the street lights are probablythe, the how I initially, and

(22:27):
then now they're my biggestconcern.
That comes in three, one one,so it's kind of full circle,
right um because that's how Ifeel were you the one from the
poa?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
yeah, so I found out like if if the.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
The city maintains the street lights unless the
builder or the electrician hastied it into the house right.
And so if it's tied into thehouse, the individual property
owner doesn't.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Anyways, that's a long story to say that's sort of
how I got involved and tried tounderstand the city.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
And then I ran for city council and I'll tell you I
lost my first race, Okay, butyou know what?
It was?

Speaker 1 (23:02):
a great that's probably a blessing in disguise.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
It was a great, probably a blessing.
It was a.
It was a great experience.
Um, and then I just continuedto attend city council meetings
and I think people saw, you know, like she's serious about this,
she didn't just run, and um, sothen I ran for a second term
and I did win that one and thenI ran.
I did two terms on city council.
And how long is a term, so itwas.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Did it change as well ?

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yes, with the population bump, so it was two
years, but now it's changed, socity council also has four-year
terms.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh, okay, that's a long time.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, yeah, so and then.
So, after my second term oncity council, our previous mayor
was not going to rerun, and soI decided to run.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
And it went into like a runoff.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
I think it did.
It was very lengthy yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
When was it finally official?

Speaker 2 (23:56):
So near the end of November.
Oh, okay, because you had arunoff at the end of November.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Was the election day that first tuesday.
It was okay, so then runoffs.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
I think it was trying to remember.
I was probably about two weeksor so afterwards, but by the end
.
So really just november wasstressful oh yes, well, the
whole thing was right.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
But then you're like oh, I just want to get through
that tuesday.
And then they're like surprise,keep going yeah campaign is.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
I love to campaign and talk to people, but it's
stressful For sure.
It is, and so I know the publicprobably gets campaign fatigue
very easily too.
So it's like and right now youknow you're coming out of the
tornadoes and everything, and soyou know, when I'm talking to
people I'm trying to make surethat they've been taken care of,
like are you okay?

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Also I'm running, but really are you okay, I know.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
So you really just, you know, you just want to hug
them Want to be considerate andmake sure you know that.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Not be tone deaf, I guess yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
And it's like I don't really think people are wanting
to talk about elections, Right,you know.
And our job is to help themright.
Right Move through thetornadoes and all of everything
that's going on.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
So you know that's where we're at Okay, and now
you've signed up to do it again,I have you had to officially
declare, I think in July, isthat right?
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Mid-August, I think, is when the final started, yeah,
so we had a couple weeks ofcandidates filing and then
really kind of startedcampaigning.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Is it more than just you?
Are there just two?
There's just two.
Okay, that's what I thought.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
I just wanted to make sure It'll be done on election
day so there won't be none of us, which is the 5th November, 5th
, so hopefully you are back inthe seat on November 6th, I hope
so.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
So that's what we're all hoping for.
Do you think you'll sleepbetween now and then?

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Not very much, to be honest with you, Because you're
just constantly thinking and howcan you help people?

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Do you have to have campaign events?
Yes, Is this one going to lookdifferently to you.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yes, you do have campaign events.
I've always been a little bitof a grassroots um campaigner
and so I'm gonna.
I do a lot of, you know,in-home meetings and then I do
the door knocking.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
I talk to people, so that's I think that's what's
most important.
So, okay, so you wake upNovember 6th, you've've won, I
hope we're going to manifest itand you win and you're back in
your seat conquering Bentonville.
What is your mission and goalthat day?

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well, and this sounds a little bit cliche, but we
always say we want to makeBentonville the best place in
the US to live, work and play.
And that's true to live, workand play, and that's true.
and what I would say over thelast five years, what's been
really fun to see is, um, we'renot and I do this a lot call
other cities and see how they'reexecuting a program or
something, but other cities arecalling us now saying hey, how

(26:56):
did you do this right, so I dofeel like, you know, we've put a
model model into place andpeople were on the map as far as
city planning and just theinitiatives that we're able to
bring here, and we're veryfortunate in this area that we
do have private partners and wehave a great Walton Family
Foundation that helps and arevery dedicated to the city of

(27:18):
Bentonville, and so we're ableto accomplish a lot of things in
the city.
Um, we.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
I feel like you all are very creative and stretching
your dollars with your partners.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
We do, and that's what we say we have.
We have projects that we wantto accomplish and, um, like our
library expansion and parks,several parks projects.
You know we had it.
We actually went to the publicfor a bond extension and we said
so.
We were able to have fundingsupported by the public to go
towards these, but when we wentto the public to ask them what

(27:50):
they wanted in the project, theywanted more things, and so then
we had to figure out morefunding Right.
And that's what we typically dowith all of our problem to have
our projects and we're.
We are fortunate in the city ofBentonville that a lot of times
, if the public tells us thatthey want it and they know the
city's behind it as well, we cango out to some private partners
and tell that story andsometimes they'll respond to

(28:14):
that.
I like it when is Bentonvilleheaded?

Speaker 1 (28:18):
I know you've taken trips abroad for bicycles and
all kinds of things and thereare goals to get Bentonville to
certain things right Certain,whatever transportation things
and so you're back in office onthe 6th and where is Bentonville

(28:39):
?
Do we have a number one goalper se?

Speaker 2 (28:42):
So we have multiple goals.
We'll tell you that.
So we definitely want to be.
We want to continue the qualityof life and the amenities that
we're able to offer.
So I say we're.
You know, our population isroughly 60,000, but the types of
things that you're going toexperience in Bentonville is
like a very large city right.

(29:04):
And so we want to continue thatmomentum.
With that we have a real focuson active commuter
transportation.
So we say we want to movepeople, so that could be walking
, biking, driving, and so you'vegot to put the infrastructure
in place, and within that wewant to put safe infrastructure

(29:25):
in place so I always say we lookat almost everything we do in
the city through a safety lensokay as well, and so if we can
put side paths in place whereyou've got separated bikes.
That's one of the big 8th street.
Our section of 8th street'sgetting ready to be finished.
We have some private partnersthat it will go actually go
through the campus and stuff.
That was one of the big 8thStreet.

(29:45):
Our section of 8th Street isgetting ready to be finished.
We have some private partnersthat will actually go through
the campus and stuff and they'vebeen amazing and they've built
their pieces as well.
But there's a side path on thatproject and it was not
originally designed that way.
But the public was asked how anda lot of it came from right
that are traveling with theirkids or wanting maybe to bike to

(30:07):
school and different things,and they were not as comfortable
being on right I mean on theroad right and so listening to
that, so that we hope we havemore people that want to use it.
You got it.
You have to put theinfrastructure in for for them
to feel safe on it and then Ithink the use comes with that.
So we didn't want just our corebiking community, although we
love our biking community.
Absolutely yes, Just more accesswe want it to be, yes,

(30:30):
accessible for everybody, and so, really, some thought processes
.
We updated our Master Streetplan, and when we did that, we
also combined our bike and pedplan with that.
And then we have an initiativecalled 30 by three, um to build
um biking infrastructure, um uhactive commuter infrastructure
within that.
So 30 miles of that in threeyears.

(30:52):
And so we're in the process ofgetting that done.
Um, and just continuing to um.
Support that community Um, weactually just launched um with
some partners.
Support that community weactually just launched with some
partners.
We have some videos out therefor active commuter safety and
our police chief is starring inthose.
But giving you all the rules ofthe roads, yeah because nobody
knows the rules.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I mean everyone, bicycles.
Nobody knows a hundred percentthe rules of the road I so I'm
not meaning to throw bicycles, Imean pedestrians and I mean
motorists as well.
No one, we all.
The book I read and you readand driver said in oklahoma is
not current today yes, andthat's why I say we have both.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Whether you're a car driver or a bike rider or a
pedestrian, we all have to learnhow to share the road together
and look up for each other andunderstand what the rules are,
and you know we have to.
We have to learn how to sharethe road together and look up
future and understand what therules are, and you know we have
to have to be able to be on theroad together.
Now again we're trying to to putsome things in place with
infrastructure where we actuallycan have some of that separated
, but you still got to go acrosscrosswalks and different things

(31:55):
and we need everybody to.
I think everyone's doing abetter job.
Yeah, I think everybody.
Just, you know they'redefinitely more mindful now, um,
but anyways, those videos justgot launched because we just
launched our e-bike rebateprogram I saw that last week.
Congratulations, that's a hugeincentive, yeah huge, so we're
excited to see how that um rollsout with the public.

(32:17):
Is it rolling out this week ornext?
It came.
It was it started the day afterlabor day?
Okay?

Speaker 1 (32:21):
okay, so I must have seen it on the news last week.
Yeah, I'm like yes it went livetuesday yeah, yeah, that's
exciting.
Yeah, when will you get afollow-up on that to see the
progress?

Speaker 2 (32:32):
so they there, you, um, you can sign up once the all
the slots are filled.
Then they'll're going to do two, three tranches.
So there's a qualificationprocess, so you put your
application in.
There is rebates based onincome qualifiers, and then
there's some that are not, andso we have a third party.

(32:53):
It's not the city ofBentonville, they have no
special picking on the back end.
It's a third party.
They run sort of an algorithmthat would pull.
It's kind of a lottery processthat they do.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
That makes it fair.
But the city of Bentonvilledoes not choose, not it, it's
not on us.
So and they and they.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's a third party that does this rebate program
that they've done across the US.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
So I love that.
Ok, so how do you deal withcriticism?

Speaker 2 (33:21):
You know, I think it's always it's hard, sometimes
it can be hard, but I alwayssay, because I feel like you
probably take this personally,right, right?

Speaker 1 (33:30):
I know it's work, so you're supposed to like check
work at the door.
That old adage.
But it's here too.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
It's hard, but I always say assume positive
intent, and that's why I thinkI'm really I like that.
Intentional about saying, okay,come in and talk to me, Let me
talk to you, Let me tell youwhat we're seeing on this end.
And you know, at the end of theday, you have to have humility
too, Like we're not going to beperfect in everything that we do
.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
I mean, I wish I had the magic.
I would say, I wish I had themagic wand the street just
automatically gets done.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
I don't find any utilities that.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I didn't know were there.
Oh, the hidden utilities.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
I've heard about those for years and all of that.
So, but you know, I think youjust you know, you just have to
want to be able to listen topeople and understand that you
know they have this set ofinformation and sometimes they
don't have all the informationthat you have.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
So just be an understanding and, again, I
think, assuming positive intentis probably a big Assuming
positive intent and come on inand let's talk about it.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, I like that yeah, because ultimately we all
want what's best for Bentonville.
Right.
Sometimes we have differentvisions of how we get there, but
I really do think there's a lotof common ground and a lot of
issues.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah, you're totally right, I love that.
Okay, let's talk about home.
You're totally right, I lovethat.
Okay, let's talk about home.
We've talked about Terry a lot,but you have two beautiful
children Landry, who is youryounger son, who's 14.
He'll be 15 in October and Ionly know that because I'm an
October baby, so I can rememberthat very well and he plays
baseball with Chase, but he'salso like the starting center

(35:11):
for the BHS Tiger freshman team,which is awesome.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yes, so I love that he is.
He's definitely all about ball.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
He is a mess.
He is one of my most favoritehumans on the planet because he
is just you, here's you and justso kind, and Terry is so kind
and Landry is so kind too, buthe's just a goofball.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
I love him Like my heart, just I love him.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
I love watching him.
There's so many days when Ihave to pick up Chase and Drew
to head to their workout andI'll see Landry walk.
He doesn't see me and Henry isjust walking in his blue Crocs
and I'm like I love that kid.
He just makes me giggle.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
He's a he's a lot of fun.
We do tell everyone that he'skind of our humorous family
member, he totally is.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
He keeps laughing.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
He's just goofy too.
I'm sure he'll love that.
I said that about him.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Yeah, I love it, though, but he is, he's a lot of
fun and I think that'simportant in a family dynamic.
It is.
He brings the fun factor, andthen you have taylor, who is
your?
Oldest.
She is driving for me now andshe's a senior and that kind of
like rips my heart out for you alittle bit.
Yes, how are we doing?

Speaker 2 (36:17):
with that.
I think all moms struggle withit right and but you know, I
think hopefully she's a good kidand, um, she's very independent
.
I will tell, tell you that soit's been interesting, but the
boy and girl dynamic is uminteresting.
But she's been, uh, she's atBHS, she's been doing the Ignite

(36:38):
program and so trying to stillwant to be a PA.
You know what, so are weshifting.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
We're shifting a little bit.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
So this is where our college planning is.
You know, mom and Taylorsitting down trying cause I'm
kind of a planner and then youknow mom and Taylor sitting down
trying because I'm kind of aplanner yes, she's a little bit
trying to figure it out and sowe got to sit down and let's
come together.
That's some of the assumedpositive intent on everybody's
side, right here.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Let's get together and but love her.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
I mean, she's the best kid too.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
So I mean both, you know obviously, as parents we're
probably a little biased, butbut she is a good kid and she's
had a job for over a year andshe may have worked longer than
that, but I know she works forSarah at label and has for a
while and I'm like that's,that's a good kid to want to go
get a job and be responsible andI've got.
I haven't talked to Sarah in along time but I've got to assume

(37:27):
Taylor walks in like that's herown store and has
responsibility for that store.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
I have, I think so, so she's um.
She enjoys working at label.
It's a downtown Bentonvillebusiness so we support it often.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
I'm pretty sure the paycheck.
I don't think Taylor leaveswith any money.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
I love that she has taken on that responsibility and
obviously I love to support Edand Belle businesses.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, so do we have any?
Do we know where she's going toschool?

Speaker 2 (37:59):
So she's been starting to vote applications
and I really feel like she'sgoing to want to go to Arkansas.
We've had a little bit of theconversation of do you want to
be hours away if the car breaks?
Down and different things rightso um, that's some of the
conversation right now, but, um,you know, she'll, she'll put
into Arkansas and OU and, um,maybe a couple of other places,

(38:22):
and so we'll go from there.
But she, um, I don't know rightnow I think Arkansas is at the
top oh, look at you winningsilently winning.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
I like that okay, you and Terry have um.
Have you been married 25 years,or am I making more than that?
Like okay, yeah, yeah, we're along time.
I know we got married.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
I was right out of uh , or he was right out of college
and I was actually a spinningstudent my last semester in
college, whenever we got marriedreally, oh, I don't know, but
we didn't have kids for a while.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Right, I know I love that because we got married old
and then had kids within threeor four years, but you all have
been married way longer than us,but we're like about the same
age, so I was like oh you hadmore time together.
I love that, yeah, so yeah, oh,such such good people.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay, so it's not electionseason, we're not in a pandemic

(39:22):
and we don't have tornadocleanup going on.
Um, it's also not football orbaseball, and I don don't know
what Taylor does except be cute.
Like I love Taylor.
She is just cute and funny andshe will play with little kids
and I know she's smart becauseshe was on a PA track for a
moment.
So I don't know if she does anysports, but what does a Friday

(39:45):
night or a quiet weekend looklike for the Orman family?

Speaker 2 (39:49):
I don't know that we really have.
Does that even exist?
I don't know that we reallyhave quiet weekends.
I like to be busy and out andabout, you know, but Terry likes
to stay in and watch football.
But if I had a quiet time forme, I do like to run.
Now I need to clarify that withlike I like.
I like to run like two to threemiles, not necessary but you

(40:13):
busted out, I have done the half.
I try, I've tried to do the halfyou know uh pretty much every
year since I got into uh uhoffice.
But um, I do have to train forthat and there is a great but
there is a great training,training group for that.
So I feel like it kicks off injanuary, like right after new
year's or something yeah, thatum is a great sort of connecting

(40:35):
piece too for people that areinterested in that um do you do
that training group through is?

Speaker 1 (40:40):
it through rush, it's through um the bettenville
parks, but um rush kind of headsit up okay yeah, it's, it's
hardcore, but in the good, in agood way like I y'all are
running a lot of miles.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
13 miles and they really do train you to where you
can make it, you know, and andthen if you're very ambitious,
you can start to put your.
You know you want to have atime and all those different
things.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
They will help you do that, you know.
At some point I do want to seta goal.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
I always feel like I just get so busy with um the job
that the training is a littlemore challenging.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
You need to do more than just the just the fact that
you do it and you rolled out toa baseball game afterwards I
was really impressed.
I was like where's Stephanie's,like she's running, and I was
like, oh, okay, he's like no,like the half.
And I was like, oh my gosh,he's gonna go conquer the hill,
okay.
And then you're like beep bop,I'm here and I'm like, oh my god
, I would need to be in awheelchair.
Also, michael Myers would havehad to been chasing me the whole

(41:39):
time.
So, uh, it's just not my jam.
But I really want it to be myjam, but it's not my jam well
before I was married.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
actually, terry is the one that got me into running
and and I need to get him backinto running.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Okay, there you go.
Sad that we don't have baseballevery weekend?
No, we won't.
It's weird Because it's duringthe week now.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yes For the most part .

Speaker 1 (41:56):
What will we?

Speaker 2 (41:56):
do in the spring.
I'm like, well, I'm going toget him out running with me
again.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Okay, oh, is he going to conquer the hill in april?
He's gonna be so happy.
Um, where is your favorite?

Speaker 2 (42:14):
place to run in bettenfield?
Do you have a sacred, peacefulspace?
I do like to run.
I usually start at the libraryand I run through downtown and
then I run the crystal bridgestrail.
Okay, I can run down to aboutthe end of the?
Um.
We're on the other side ofcrystal bridges and back to the
library.
It's roughly about three milesdo you believe?

Speaker 1 (42:31):
yeah, usually I have I.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Usually I've got a hat on and sunglasses and so um,
I'm pretty low-key andincognito when I'm running, so
I'm like I'm probably notstraight lights tomorrow.
Yes, I'm like may or may nothave a lot of makeup, you know
makeup on.
So I'm like I'm trying to below-key, but for sure I love to
be out on the trails and justsmile and say good morning or

(42:54):
whatever to people too, becauseI think that's also, you know,
what we hear a lot aboutBenville is people friendly.
They are friendly, they'llsmile at you and say hi and not
look down in an elevator on a ona trail or whatever how's your
day going right and?
I think you know that'ssomething.
It sounds very simple, but ifwe ever lose that, I think we
will lose a lot.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
I totally agree with our community, our city so, as
we grow like, keeping that typeof um atmosphere is really
important because we are atransient community and we do
have a ton of visitors um,professionally and um what do
you for fun?
Whatever the word for fun isthat.
I can't think of what's theword like visitation, but fun, I

(43:42):
don't know.
I cannot.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
It's Friday, I don't know what the word is for fun,
tourists or visitors, I don'tknow, I don't know what the word
professionally.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
You go somewhere professionally or for something,
and I just can't think what theword is Tourists or visitors, I
don't know.
I don't know what the word isProfessionally.
You go somewhere professionallyor for something, and I just
can't think of the fun word forwhatever it is.
But their takeaway is alwayshow friendly Northwest Arkansas
is and how friendly Bentonvilleand beautiful Bentonville is.
And so I agree with you wedon't ever want to lose that.
It's important.
Yeah, it truly is.

(44:10):
And so I agree with you.
We don't ever want to lose thatit's important.
Yeah, it truly is.
Okay, bentonville we're notgoing to name favorite
restaurants because we're notgoing to single anyone out.
That's right, um, but do we havea favorite food?
So I do like pasta.
Okay, we have a new pastarestaurant.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Have you been?
So I have not been.
Okay, I haven't been either.
I really want to go.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Yes, I'm like please find a Friday night.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
I really want to go try this new restaurant we have
amazing restaurants inBentonville, so that's why I
didn't want to say a favoriteone because, honestly, I would.
They are all good, um, some ofthe chefs are like award-winning
, you know, amazing chefs.
So I, um, um, I would say youcan't really go wrong with our
restaurant and you can't but thefavorite dessert, and they have

(44:55):
.
We have so many different typeswe do, yes.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
So lots of pasta, lots of tacos on the square
which I.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
You can't go wrong with any of those absolutely
okay, sweet or savory sweet Doyou have a favorite?
Dessert.
So I am a big soft serve icecream person and then it depends
on the mood for the toppingOkay.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
We have lots of those too.
I like the creamery around thecorner from Oven and Tap.
Now I haven't been there in awhile and not something I would
ever, ever order, which it'sweird that I even ordered it.
Their strawberry ice cream wasto die for the last time I had
it and I'm like this is probablyone of the most amazing things

(45:39):
I've put in my mouth.
Yeah, and then I like thelittle Walmart five and dine
food truck or ice cream truck onthe square, and trash is always
a good time.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
So you can't go wrong with.
Like I said, I could name themall, but you really can't go
wrong with any of them.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
So, um, we're fortunate to have good food oh,
I know we do, but that's why ourpopulation continues to grow
and progress continues todevelop, so that we can continue
how to better culture andbetter food.
Absolutely okay, so we knowwhere you like to run.
I still think that's amazingthat you do the half.
Okay, let's talk about somefluffy stuff, like not hardcore

(46:18):
at all.
Do you have a favorite time ofday?

Speaker 2 (46:21):
So the morning time.
I'm definitely probably amorning person.
What time does your alarm gooff?

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Four oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
And my alarm is a dog .
So, um, just so, which one?
Uh, the little, the little one,okay, um, not huck, no, um,
he's our older little dog and hewill cute though he will let us
know about four o'clock in themorning, but but I'm actually I
like, and once I'm up, like Ijust have to get up and start

(46:53):
going, so I'm not going back tosleep.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
What time do you leave the house?

Speaker 2 (46:57):
On average.
Right now Landry has to be atfootball.
Oh, so early, so like 6.30.
So we're leaving the houseearly.
But it actually works for mebecause I like to get into the
office and have you like quiettime in the office.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, I do too.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Like if I can get 30 minutes an hour before anybody
else is in there, becausethere's just.
You know, like I said, it's anew experience every day because
of the calls you get.
So if I can have a little bit oftime just to kind of sit there
and think about what the day isgoing to be, and a little bit of
my own just sort of meditationtime, little bit of my own just

(47:32):
sort of meditation time and and,uh, you know, I I do a little
bit of a devotional shortdevotional, in the mornings
usually and try to get groundeda little bit.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Yes, center, I totally agree.
Um, what is?
What's the one vice you wishyou could give up, do you have?

Speaker 2 (47:45):
one, so I can give up almost anything, coffee I
cannot and I justify thatbecause it's coming from a bean.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
So it's got to be healthy in some way it's got to
be healthy.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
So, but I do, and yeah, all my co-workers will
probably tell you yes the onething the mayor well, I just
have a cure I give there and sothat's and I do have coffee.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
We were talking about coffee before you got here and
how much they drink or at leastone of them drinks two pots a
day and I was like, oh heavens,no, I'm like one pod and then
I'm done for the day.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I don't think I'm doing two pots a day Pots a day
Pots.
Two cups yeah, no pots.
Pots and I just do it.
I don't, I do it black, I don'tput a bunch of sugar anything
else?
So then I'm like, surely that'shealthy right totally, because

(48:36):
I have to drink white coffee.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
So you're, you're winning on the black coffee.
It's a goal I don't think itwill ever happen.
Um, do you have a hidden talentthat we would all be surprised
to know?

Speaker 2 (48:48):
I don't know if it's a hidden talent, but um, I my um
.
When I was growing up, I rodeor showed horses, okay, and so
terry likes to say that you knowI'm a barrel racer, but I
actually did everything fromshowmanship to english to
jumping to um racing.

(49:09):
So did you watch it in the?

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Olympics when Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg were
commentating it.
I did not watch the equestrian,but Taylor and she had went to
her.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
She's a boyfriend and I think they had went and
watched it and she was tellingme that she was.
But yeah, I don't really.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
Honestly, I don't watch a lot of TV there's no
time for TV, and I love TV.
I love tv, but there's no timefor tv.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
Yeah but I was excited about the olympics and
we did have um someone that atleast trains here.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
I know that was kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
We got a lot of free press yes for bettenfield during
that time, so we're thankfulfor that.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
I thought that was so great and and she it's it was a
she right yes, and she wonquickly, like within the first
couple days of the Olympics.
It was like boom and I was likewhoa, that was fast.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
And then they did sort of a presentation about
Bentonville and the US cyclingteam training here and
everything, and so everybody wassending me the video and.
I'm like, yeah, you can't payfor that type of PR.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
I know that was so amazing video and they're like
and I'm like yeah, I mean, youcan't pay for that type of PR.
I know that was so amazing.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
If we can get her here, we've got to give her a
big party.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
I know Lots of hugs.
We'll just have a party for hersomewhere.
That's fine.
Yeah, wish she can come to thenew park.
I don't think you would everkaraoke, but but if you did, do
you have a song?

Speaker 2 (50:27):
You know I forgot that that was going to maybe be
a question.
I really don't have a song.
However, you know, I've alwaysthought, you know, if God would
have given me the talent, Iwould love to be able to
actually get up and sing thenational anthem.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I can't do it, oh, okay.
Well, you went real serious.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
But I cannot do it.
So I will never embarrassmyself like that.
But I do admire everybody thatcan get up and sing the national
anthem.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
So that would.
That would be.
Uh, okay, I like that, but yeah, if I ever tried to carry.
Oh yeah, I'm probably probably,but it's, it's just out there.
I mean, you went really bigwith a karaoke song.
Yeah, uh-huh the nationalanthem okay um, I'll tell you,
mine it's nowhere in that realm,it's ice, ice baby, okay, and

(51:14):
our other friend, leslie ourother friend leslie's song is
shoop so um we're down here asfar as karaoke songs and yours
is up here, so with fireworks.
So okay, we're not the same.
That's what I just learned.
Okay, that is so good.
Okay, aside from your phone andwallet, what are two things in

(51:37):
your handbag?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
um, so definitely some type of lipstick or
chapstick, just because it's anecessity, and then I try to
have a pen in my to write with.
Okay, however, somehow.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
I never have a pen Like that's not even probably in
my top five.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
That's my usually my two go-to things that I will
have outside of wallet and keys.
Yeah Phone, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Is your phone attached to you all the time?

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Pretty much so it is.
But I'm also in meetingsconstantly, so people will text
me or not.
I'm like, so usually it's atthe end of the night I'm going
through emails and texts.
I'm like I'm so sorry I missedthis, but I don't.
I don't life normally have it.
People know my assistancenumber, like if it's an
emergency emergency, to get holdof me.
So if I'm in a meeting I trynot to have it.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Yeah, you're like number, like if it's an
emergency, emergency to get holdof me.
So if I'm in a meeting.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
I try not to have it.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Yeah, you're like right there in the middle of it.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
But so I always tell people like if I haven't gotten
back here, that's because I'vebeen in meetings all day, but
I'll check emails and respond,so a lot.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
Okay, last question at 13,.
What did you want to be whenyou grew up?

Speaker 2 (52:50):
So I, I do remember wanting initially to be a lawyer
.
Oh, I love that, um, I do?

Speaker 1 (53:00):
I just would like to go into court and scream I
object.
I just would like to yell for noreason, I don't know, and just
and be right, I don't know.
But I don't know what it wouldmean.
But I'm like I am so enthralledby these kids or people, adults
, all of them, that go to lawschool and don't go to court.
I'm like that's the wholereason is to be a woods and say

(53:22):
I object, and my brother-in-lawis an attorney and he's never
stepped foot in a courtroom andI'm like, oh what, you're
missing out, yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
But I don't know when I got into college I don't know
if it was because I was goingto be there several more years
or what, but um, I also I justreally liked journalism as to as
well, and telling the story,and so I kind of got that kind
of took my passion.
Um, I love history, though, andI love research and things of

(53:51):
that nature, so I think that'swhere the lawyer piece of it
came back.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
I think that fits for being the mayor, because you
can't know where we're going ifyou don't know where we're from.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
I always say history repeats itself.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Have you seen any repetition in your six years, in
the six years and the six?

Speaker 2 (54:09):
years that you've like you're like, oh, that's
familiar, like from research orwhatever, into today you know,
um, I think the topics, um, youknow, like if you look at
inflation and you go back inyour research, you know eight
percent interest rates anddifferent things of that nature

(54:32):
right now.
But you can research historyand see where it's been more and
how that's kind of correlatedand different topics, how they
fall in line with that.
So I think it's interesting tosee.
I like it, go back and research.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
So, is there anything you want?
The city of Bentonville orNorth?
Well, we're really NorthwestArkansas, but you're Bentonville
based.
Is there anyone you?
Is there anything you want thecity of Bentonville or North?
Well, we're really NorthwestArkansas, but you're Bentonville
based.
Is there anyone you?
Is there anything you wantanyone to know?
Like to leave with partingthoughts.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
I just want people to want to live and then really
all of our city team members totrying to make sure that it is
the best city in the US to live,work and play, and that the
quality of life remains high andthat we're responsive to that
and that's really the ultimategoal, and that we're a safe city
.
I mean, that's really, reallyimportant to me too.
So I always say I want to makesure that we're creating a city,

(55:29):
um that I am currently raisingmy kids in, but that I would
also want them to to um be ableto raise their own family, and
so I think it's a responsibilityupon all of us to to leave it
in a good, a good state and tomake sure that that's um how we
always look at things andthrough that lens I like that.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
That's the best place to end.
You just summed it up perfectly, because I couldn't agree with
you more Live work and play.
I should have done someresearch.
I'm like I did.
I just totally missed that buzzline and I'm like I'm going to
steal that and talk about thatfor you through November 6 when
you get to return.
Okay, I would appreciate it,because I know you're busy with

(56:12):
streetlights.
That is the funniest thing tome, but it's, you're not wrong.
So I just think it's.
I think it's adorable, truly.
But thank you for joining me.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, it's been fun.
It has been fun.
So thank you for joining us.
I really appreciate it.
If you've stuck with me thislong, I always tell you thank
you so much.
Keep listening to the 3Wpodcast, keep inspiring a

(56:35):
culture of giving and we'll seeyou next time.
Bye.