Panel Recommends University Award

— Members of the Town and Gown Advisory Committee want Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion commissioners to dedicate a fixed portion of their budget each year to the University of Arkansas.

“It just seems to me that this is the 21st century, and we need to step up and recognize who the university is and what it contributes,” said Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.

Monday’s recommendation came amid months of discussion about whether A&P commissioners should give the university $1 million to help build an on-campus concert hall.

At A Glance

Town And Gown Committee

Also on Monday, the committee unanimously recommended closing West Dickson Street to through traffic from North Harmon Avenue to North Garland Avenue when university classes are in session.

Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities, said university officials want the change to take effect Jan 14. Johnson said the university would install a manned control booth at Harmon Avenue, which would limit access to emergency vehicles, delivery trucks, buses, bicycles and people who park near the university’s fine arts, music and chemistry buildings.

In January 2015, the control booth would be moved to just west of Duncan Avenue, where new classroom space is planned.

The City Council’s street committee is scheduled to consider the Town and Gown Committee’s recommendation next month.

Source: Staff Report

In May, Chancellor David Gearhart requested the money — payable over a period of three years — for the estimated $17 million project.

Commissioners have delayed a decision, first seeking an opinion from Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. Commissioner Justin Tennant earlier this month asked the Town and Gown Committee to weigh in on the issue. The committee — composed of university officials, city representatives and Fayetteville residents at-large — was formed this summer to discuss issues of mutual interest to the city and university.

Clark, one of 21 committee members, suggested Monday the commission dedicate up to $125,000 every six months to the university in addition to the money it doles out to various event organizers and nonprofit groups.

“Let’s recognize (the university) is a significant economic engine, and it should get significant funding on a continuing basis — not on a one-time basis, not for a one-time enterprise,” Clark said. He said more students on campus mean more university concerts, lectures and events; more visitors to town; and more purchases at Fayetteville businesses. Clark said all of that adds up to more revenue from a 2 percent tax on local hotel stays and food purchases in Fayetteville restaurants — the A&P Commission’s main funding source.

Clark’s recommendation would fulfill the university’s $1 million request after four years. He said the commission shouldn’t stop there, though; commissioners should continue to award the university up to $250,000 each year thereafter.

According to a 2010 study Gearhart presented Monday, students and visitors affiliated with the university spent more than $300 million in Northwest Arkansas in fiscal 2009.

“This project is all about economic development for our city,” Gearhart said, referring to concert hall plans. “This project is all about — as we like to say, I guess — ‘heads to beds.’ We believe that this will be an economic development provider for the community.”

All six city employees who attended Monday’s meeting did not vote on the issue. Mayor Lioneld Jordan’s chief of staff, Don Marr, said they abstained, not because they don’t recognize the university’s economic impact, but because it’s not the Town and Gown Committee’s place to tell commissioners how to spend hotel, motel and restaurant tax money.

“We need to be cautious to not create a charge that we weren’t given,” Marr said.

Marilyn Heifner, executive director of the commission, said she expects commissioners to decide whether to fulfill Gearhart’s request Dec. 10.

The commission’s 2013 budget is about $2.5 million. According to Heifner, a university award would be paid for using commission reserves, which she estimated at nearly $2 million.

Upcoming Events