Officials: Northwest Arkansas’ Economy Remains Strong Thanks To Teamwork

Friday, January 31, 2014

ROGERS — Northwest Arkansas’ strong economy is built on teamwork, local chambers of commerce officials said Thursday during the Arkansas Municipal League’s 2014 Winter Conference.

“I think the secret to our success is that everyone works together,” said Raymond Burns, Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer.

Hundreds of Arkansas mayors, government officials and state leaders interested in creating strong economies in their own cities gathered at the John Q. Hammons Center to hear leaders talk about Northwest Arkansas’ continued success.

At A Glance

Municipal League

The Arkansas Municipal League held its 2014 Winter Conference this week at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers. The league was founded in 1934 and represents Arkansas cities and towns, provides information and offers a forum for discussion on mutual concerns.

Source: The Arkansas Municipal League

The area is growing faster than the rest of the state and was ranked fourth nationally for job growth in 2013, according to preliminary numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metropolitan statistical area, non-farm jobs grew by 4.56 percent last year compared with 2012, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The area shows no sectors with employment declines year over year, according to a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville news release Jan. 16.

Northwest Arkansas will see “hefty” gains this year too, said Kathy Deck, director of the university’s Center for Business & Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, said. Deck released a forecast for the state economy earlier this month.

Leaders from Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville have worked together for years to bring better infrastructure, recruit businesses and implement quality-of-life-enhancing projects, chamber officials said. When a project takes off or a business expands in one city, all cities benefit, said Todd Wood, board chairman at the Springdale Chamber of Commerce.

“The secret really is a spirit of cooperation,” Wood said.

Working together enabled the region to get funding for projects such as Interstate 540 and the Bella Vista bypass, Deck said. Recently, cities have partnered on projects such as the Razorback Greenway project, a regional trail that will connect six Northwest Arkansas communities, said Mike Malone, president and chief executive officer of the Northwest Arkansas Council.

“When you think about Northwest Arkansas, in fact, all of our leaders have bought into this (regionalism) in one way or another,” Deck said. “Everybody has recognized that it’s a lot easier to be heard when you are all speaking with one voice.”

Local political and business leaders, large and small, have contributed to building and keeping Northwest Arkansas’ economy strong, Deck said. Besides physical infrastructure, leaders are bringing in quality education, building hospitals and creating an inclusive community where the best and brightest feel welcome, she and others said.

“It’s in their best interest to advocate for the region as a priority,” Deck said. “Even if you aren’t the primary beneficiary, even if its not in your backyard, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have tangible benefits.”

Officials said they plan to continue to think regionally.

For example, Fayetteville is supporting an effort to deepen the Arkansas River and increase the transportation of goods on the waterway, said Gene Higginbotham, executive director of the Arkansas Waterways Commission. Transporting goods via the river is cheaper than shipping by railroad or tractor-trailers, he said, and companies off the river could get cheaper material for manufacturing.

“They are looking at the big picture,” Higginbotham said.