River Valley mayors talk regional cooperation

Alma Mayor Jerry Martin, center right, speaks during the "Invest Fort Smith" summit in Fort Smith as Fort Smith Mayor George McGill, far left, Van Buren Mayor Joe Hurst, center left, and Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow, far right, listen Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019.
Alma Mayor Jerry Martin, center right, speaks during the "Invest Fort Smith" summit in Fort Smith as Fort Smith Mayor George McGill, far left, Van Buren Mayor Joe Hurst, center left, and Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow, far right, listen Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019.

FORT SMITH -- Four River Valley mayors shared their thoughts on how they could team up to benefit the entire region in which they live.

The mayors of Fort Smith, Van Buren, Alma and Greenwood answered questions about collaborating with one another during a summit on Thursday. The panel was part of a larger summit entitled "Invest Fort Smith" hosted by the Fort Smith-based nonprofit organization 64.6 Downtown.

One question the mayors were asked by panel moderator Crystal Lougin was how they saw themselves working together for the benefit of the western region of the state. Alma Mayor Jerry Martin said working together starts with the cities communicating and embracing their diversity. From there, they will go on to connect, celebrate each other's victories and grow together as a region, in that order.

"This is what other parts of the state have figured out a long time ago, and we now finally have leadership here in our region that not only understands that, but embraces that, and it's not just the four guys sitting up here either," Martin said.

Martin went on to say other mayors in the region are starting to understand and embrace the idea they need to work together.

Fort Smith Mayor George McGill said although the mayors collaborate a great deal as it is, Fort Smith is exploring the idea of creating a fishery that would impact the entire region by attracting fishermen to the area.

"Our water supply, Lake Fort Smith, we believe has the capacity to produce water cold enough to create a fishery, which would benefit Mountainburg, Van Buren," McGill said.

Another question Lougin asked was what the mayors considered to be strong and weak points in the western region, and how they might tout their strengths while also addressing the weak spots.

Van Buren Mayor Joe Hurst said his city is trying to figure out its identity. Van Buren is in the midst of going from a city of about 17,000 people, which was the case when he was younger, to one "hopefully" approaching closer to 25,000 people in the upcoming U.S. Census.

"Are we still the small town that we were, or are we trying to be more progressive, are we trying to be more big city type things," Hurst said. "And so as we go through that, in some ways it's a negative because maybe we don't really know who we are in some ways."

However, Hurst later said Van Buren trying to determine its identity, including for what it wants to be known, is actually a positive. The city is engaging its community, with it possibly having many opinions on the subject.

Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow said one problem he sees in the region is young people leaving to live somewhere else. He said Fort Smith is doing "an amazing job" of trying to keep young people, citing the opening of the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine there in 2017 as an example.

NW News on 09/20/2019

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