Arkansas first lady: Mansion mends progressing

As work done, new problems arise

As commissioners met to discuss the state of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion on Wednesday, construction workers wearing face masks and carrying a portable air compressor walked by a window.

They were walking toward Gov. Asa Hutchinson's private office at the mansion. The office had been stripped down so the interior could be sterilized, insulation replaced and a lingering smell of rats removed.

The odor was one item on a list of problems at the 66-year-old structure. As some issues are fixed, more are emerging.

"In the process of taking out walls, we discovered the wiring had been spliced and not grounded," first lady Susan Hutchinson told the Arkansas Governor's Mansion Commission about the office. "So it was very timely that we're doing this project."

It's possible that some of the wiring in the main building and guesthouse is similarly deficient, she added. Workers are checking into those problems.

During Wednesday's meeting, the commission approved its annual mansion report, which is required under state law.

According to the report, the mansion has hosted about 14,000 visitors so far in 2016. New wallpaper was hung in the formal dining room, new drapes were hung in the formal living room, the library was repainted, two wingback chairs in the first lady's office got new covers, and security cameras were upgraded or replaced, among other changes.

Maintenance problems included a leaky roof, a broken dishwasher that destroyed dishes and a seal on a pump connected to a boiler that broke, spilling water and damaging flooring in the Grand Hall.

Other problems discussed Wednesday included an attic-mounted heating and cooling unit that did not have access to outside air as required. As a result, Christmas decorations were damaged. New ones were purchased with funds from the private Governor's Mansion Association. The new decorations will be stored in a climate-controlled space at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.

Some new Christmas decorations were purchased from Tipton & Hurst by the association, according to a list approved by the commission in September. Stacy Hurst, director of Tipton & Hurst, is a voting member of the commission.

Hurst, who is also director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, recused to avoid the "appearance of a conflict" and said she did not profit from the transaction.

The mansion received a $1.1 million grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council to increase privacy, repair portions of the mansion and surrounding buildings, and fund other upgrades. The grant application included a $62,220 request for the governor's private office.

In an interview, Hutchinson said she hopes the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council grant will address most of the repair problems, but that it's an ongoing process.

"We're concentrating on the grant," she said. "Those are the problems we know about at the moment."

She said she's also using in-house maintenance staff to do as much of the work as possible, using donations from local businesses and hosting events that raise money for the Governor's Mansion Association. All improve the mansion without additional cost to taxpayers, she said.

She used a fountain as an example.

It used to be at the front of the house, but rarely worked. It was moved to a less-prominent location and Mansion Administrator Don Bingham used maintenance workers to refurbish it. The association, with private funds, donated a larger replica of the fountain in front of the Old State House in downtown Little Rock for use at the front of the mansion.

Hutchinson said she's held events around the refurbished fountain that have raised money for the association and brought newcomers to the mansion.

"I'm trying to make the mansion more accessible," she said. "I just want Arkansas to know what they own and what they have here."

Wednesday was the second commission meeting since the Legislature passed a so-called government efficiency bill in May that allowed the governor to remove commissioners at will and eliminated a provision that required the commission to make rules concerning improvements and repairs to the mansion.

After passage of the law that changed the commission, news articles addressed maintenance and repair problems at the mansion -- including in the governor's private office -- as well as disagreements that the first lady had with previous members of the commission over mansion decorations and furnishings.

Four commissioners were replaced in June.

Stories from the archives of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette show that over the decades, state officials have often declared that the mansion suffers from neglect and maintenance problems, in part because the Legislature didn't appropriate enough funds for upkeep and governors were reluctant to ask for money. For example, in 1967, then-Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller and the building's architect declared it "unsafe for living." In 1972, then-first lady Betty Bumpers asked legislators to create a mansion commission to oversee maintenance of the mansion and grounds. At that time, she said there was no groundskeeper or regular maintenance staff.

Metro on 10/27/2016

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