LeadAR 20 Community and Economic Development, Newport, Ark. - DAY ONE

by Daniel Phillips, State Surveyor, Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services - March 26, 2024

LeadAR Class 20 member, Daniel Phillips, reflects on day one of the LeadAR seminar held in Newport, Arkansas on March 14, 2024.

We started this visit the night before with great food at Fathead Pizza in Newport. This is where we first met Jon Chadwell, the executive director of the Newport Economic Development Commission. Chadwell knows a thing or two about economic development in Newport, as we would all soon learn.

We began March 14 with a catered breakfast at the Tech Depot building. This is where our fellow LeadAR classmate Christel Taylor works. It was really cool to see where she works day-to-day. Classmate David Long handled presiding duties in the morning.

Newport Mayor Derrick Ratliffe started things off by welcoming LeadAR Class 20. County Judge Jeff Phillips followed up and pointed out that Jackson County and the cities within work very well together. Phillips specifically mentioned the long-term friendship he has with Ratliffe. Phillips served as a justice of the peace for four years and has been county judge for 14 years.

Julie Allen, executive director of the Newport Area Chamber of Commerce, mentioned several famous people have lived in Newport, including Mary Steenburgen. She also told us about a lesser-known character from the Newport area called the White River Monster. In fact, the state legislature passed a law in 1973 protecting this creature and creating the White River Monster Refuge. What does the White River Monster do during deer season? I hope it’s wearing plenty of orange…

County Extension Agent Matthew Davis gave us an update on his activities in Jackson County. Additionally, he updated us on his progress with his doctorate. Earning a doctorate while working full-time!? VERY commendable.

Jennifer Emerson, the deputy director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), shared some exciting statistics pertaining to economic growth in the state. Gov. Sarah Sanders, her senior staff, and AEDC have successfully attracted several large companies to the state, including major operations by Dassault Falcon Jet, Raytheon, Sig Sauer, ExxonMobil, and Westrock Coffee.

Dassault Falcon Jet is expected to add 800 jobs and invest $100 million in capital over the next 10 years. Raytheon will invest $33 million in the East Camden area, creating up to 60 new jobs. Sig Sauer is expected to invest $30 million in an ammunition facility. ExxonMobil is investing heavily in lithium extraction from the Smackover Formation area in south Arkansas. Westrock Coffee will continue to expand its facilities in Conway. Personal and corporate tax reductions have helped drive much of this economic growth, with the bulk of these reductions occurring since 2015.

Graycen Bigger, executive director for the Northeast Arkansas (NEA) Intermodal Authority, talked to the class about how NEA Intermodal receives much of its funding from ArDOT. The NEA Intermodal counties are comprised of Clay, Lawrence, Randolph and Sharp counties. The total area population is around 66,000 with a workforce of about 25,000. Unemployment in this region is 4.9%. The NEA Intermodal counties stay competitive economically by combining their human capital and natural assets. This area is also home to three higher education institutions: Black River Tech, Ozarka College, and Williams Baptist University.

Bigger noted that the NEA Intermodal area also has significant transportation assets, including a large airport near Walnut Ridge and an Amtrak station. A new interstate, future I-57, is slated to go right through the Intermodal footprint. NEA Intermodal is part of a larger coalition called the NEA Economic Development Coalition, which comprises 10 counties.

It is apparent Bigger has made many connections traveling within these four counties and has learned a lot about the local economies. She leaves us with this advice: Ask for partners, not help.

Steve Jones is the sites and buildings coordinator for AEDC. His agency uses GIS-based technology to inventory and analyze possible building sites around the state. This web-accessible tool is free to use and can search building sites and existing buildings by several criteria, such as building size, property size, and population demographics within a specified radius. This tool does not look at residential or investment properties. The most valuable search criteria for economic development are properties over 10 acres and buildings over 10,000 square feet. Oh, and confidentiality is huge in site selection, so don’t try to bribe him.

Dr. Cliff Jones is the deputy director for the Delta Center for Economic Development (DCED). Perhaps he is better known for being “ridiculously old school.” The DCED is an economic development team at Arkansas State University. This team focuses on outreach and leadership development. Jones has been heavily involved in leadership training in his region for many years, especially since the pandemic. And don’t forget, DCED will be hosting an entrepreneurship training series in April. 

Jodi Harris kept us all on track with presiding duties in the afternoon. We traveled to Gränges Americas' Newport facility. Here, we met with Plant Manager Susan VandeZande. She has a degree in industrial engineering and has worked for Gränges for 18 years. She has overseen recruiting for the facility and personally interviewed nearly all employees at the site. The 125 employees at Gränges follow a “four days on and four days off” schedule. This is on a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. rotation to keep things running 24/7.

Justin Hawkins gave us a closer look at what Gränges does at the Newport facility. In simple terms, Gränges takes rolled aluminum and further processes it by making it thinner and, in some cases, coats the thinned aluminum with specified colors or anticorrosion agents.

Hawkins gave us a tour of the two major operations at this facility. The first area we looked at handles coating of the thinned aluminum. The second area we looked at was the larger metalworking operation of thinning the aluminum on a series of large rollers called “mills." Aluminum is thinned down to certain thicknesses as specified by their customers. The thinnest aluminum is for food wrappings and can be as thin as 0.00025 of an inch, which is thinner than a human hair.

This thinning process generates a lot of heat. Oils are used to cool the aluminum as it is being thinned so that the material does not break down or warp. This oil must then be baked off, which can take up to eight days per roll. The final product is then coated or used directly for food wrapping applications.

Notable on this tour was the attention to safety. Hazardous parts of machinery are barricaded off to most employees and all visitors. Visitors are restricted to a dedicated corridor.

Mark Conine presented once we were back at the Newport Tech Depot building. He is with the Arkansas Development and Finance Authority, or ADFA. Put simply, this organization issues bonds or loans to build things. ADFA can issue bonds to start a business at around 4.9% as opposed to the normally higher rates of a bank loan. This lower rate of financing helps attract businesses. ADFA has a program called the Arkansas Venture Capital Development Fund, which provides matching investments in Arkansas technology companies. ADFA’s Arkansas Venture Capital Investment Trust (AVCIT) has invested over $70 million with a positive return. AVCIT also provides gap financing for certain development projects. AVCIT also provides below-market interest rate mortgages and down payment assistance to qualifying individuals.

This is all a little out of my wheelhouse, so I learned quite a bit from Conine. A big takeaway here is none of this uses taxpayer dollars. ADFA creates its own revenue through fees.

Next was a panel discussion involving Nyeshia Greer, the principal and founder of Christ Academy, and ASU Newport Chancellor Dr. Johnny Moore.

Both Greer and Moore serve as members of the Newport Economic Development Commission. Members of this commission serve five-year terms. Moore has been in higher education for 34 years. Greer and Moore bring a valuable education-based background to the commission and diversity that better represents the Newport constituents. Their knowledge and background help to guide decisions made by the Commission in developing relationships with Newport businesses and prospective businesses.

Laura Miller, director of the ASU Small Business Technology and Development Center, spoke to us about the services her organization provides to Arkansas small businesses. They provide consulting for business plans and market research, financial data to present to lenders, and online marketing. Miller’s organization works with a wide variety of businesses across the state. Her organization’s success statistics are pretty eye-opening: $105 million in total capital retained, 228 businesses started, and 7,698 jobs supported statewide. The bottom line is, if you plan to start a small business, start with her.

We ended the day with great food at the Angry Possum. Here, we got to network with many locals who have close ties to Newport, its industry, and the Newport Economic Development Commission and staff. A big shout out to Christel Taylor, Julie Allen, Luciana Hernandez, and Jon Chadwell for coordinating the day’s meetings and presenters. And this was just DAY ONE.