CONWAY — University of Central Arkansas Trustee Victor Green failed to disclose a business loan he got from First Security Bank in early 2011 with the help of longtime Trustee Rush Harding III, who heads an investment business owned by the bank.
UCA President Tom Courtway issued a statement Thursday afternoonabout the loan, which Harding guaranteed.
Courtway said the subject came up during an otherwise “routine” meeting that he and Harding had earlier this week about a board meeting next week.
After Courtway and Katie Henry, UCA’s interim general counsel, researched the subject, Courtway said, “We contacted Mr. Green and brought this omission to his attention. He is out-of-state, but is in the process” of amending his statement of financial interest, which is on file with the secretary of state’s office.
Green, contacted by phone, said he “literally did not think” of mentioning the loan on his disclosure form. He said he travels often for his work and had made a round trip from Los Angeles earlier this year just to get his financial statement notarized and submitted on time.
“It was a pure oversight on my part,” Green said.
Harding is chief executive officer of Crews & Associates Inc., which is a wholly owned, nonbank affiliate of First Security Bancorp, according to First Security Bank’s website.
Harding, who has said he will not seek another term on the board when his expires in January, is not required to list the loan guarantee, Courtway said.
Interviewed by phone, Harding said, “I did provide a guarantee on a loan for my friend Victor Green to help him expand his business. Victor is an honorable man, and I have no doubt that his failureto disclose the guaranty on his ethics report was simply an oversight on his part.”
Referring to any board of trustees votes involving Crews & Associates, Green said that, in hindsight, he “probably should have” abstained.
“I will recuse myself at any point forward as it relates to Crews and First Security,” he added.
Harding declined to comment on the amount of the loan or other questions relating to it.
Green, however, said he is “absolutely” current on his loan payments.
In July 2009, several months before Green became a trustee, UCA awarded Crews & Associates the school’s bond-underwriting contract.
But on Feb. 24, for example, Harding recused but Green voted for a resolution authorizing, among other things, a $1.62 per hour student-fee increase for UCA’s Health Physical Education and Recreation Center and the issuance of up to $15,500,000 in bonds for its expansion.
In another instance, Harding again recused, but Green made the motion to approve a request in June to begin issuing up to $12,500,000 in bonds to finance the acquisition of Bear Village Apartments from the UCA Foundation.
In May 2011, UCA approved a resolution upon Green’s motion that the board continue with its underwriting contract with Crews & Associates. Harding recused. It was not immediately clear if Green should have recused then because he said he couldnot recall what month he got the loan.
Green’s statement of financial interest for 2011, filed Jan. 30, does not list anything under the section asking for the names and address of anyone “who has guaranteed a debt of yours that is still outstanding.” That section does not ask for amounts.
A previous section on creditors, however, asks for the names and addresses of credits still owed $5,000 or more. That section states, however, that it “does not include debts owed to members of your family or loans made in the ordinary course of business by either a financial institution or a person who regularly and customarily extends credit.”
Green listed nothing in that section, either.
Green said the loan he got is for a business venture aimed at helping find jobs for the unemployed. On the amount of the loan, Green said only that it was for more than $5,000.
Green said he will fly back to Arkansas for next week’s board meeting and will correct the financial statement then.
“I want to be totally transparent,” he said.
Courtway’s statement said that Green approached Harding in early 2011 and asked for help in getting the loan.
During the recent meeting with Harding, Courtway said, “Mr. Harding asked for my advice concerning the proper disclosure requirements under our state’s ethics laws and whether any required disclosures were required and/or made.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 11/30/2012