DECEMBER 2013

50 YEARS 50 ACTSIT’S MORE THAN A MILESTONE FOR A COMMUNITY STAPLE

Starting, fostering, and growing a business

is never an easy endeavor. More challenging still is maintaining a forward trajectory capable of propelling that business to the 50-year mark. Crafton Tull is proud to celebrate its 50th year in the business of contributing to the built environment.

FULL STORY, PAGE 4

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat2D — Sunday, December 15, 2013

Each year, the Con-way Area Chamber of Commerce acknowledges its top investors through a “Chairman’s Circle” designation. Members of the Chairman’s Cir-cle underwrite the eco-nomic development, ed-ucation and government affairs initiatives of the Chamber, Conway De-velopment Corporation and Conway Downtown Partnership.

“The level of communi-ty building and econom-ic development work we do is not sustainable on a membership dues model alone,” said president and CEO Brad Lacy. “In order to lay the groundwork for new business recruit-ment, a pre-K initiative and the development of sites such as Rogers Pla-za, greater investments are necessary. Each year, more and more compa-nies invest at a higher level to help us under-write these projects and initiatives. We couldn’t operate without them.”

In 2013, 43 Cham-ber-member businesses achieved the Chairman’s Circle designation, com-pared to 35 members in 2012. Total investment increased by more than $200,000. The follow-ing businesses achieved Chairman’s Circle status in 2013:

DiamondCity of Conway and

Conway Corporation.

PlatinumSouthwestern Energy

Company.

GoldAcxiom Corporation,

Conway Regional Health System, Crafton Tull, Crain Buick GMC, First Security Bank / Crews & Associates, Hewlett-Pack-ard, Regions Bank, Uni-versity of Central Arkan-sas Foundation and Virco Manufacturing Corpora-tion.

SilverArvest Bank, Centenni-

al Bank, Central Baptist College, Conway Manage-ment Inc., First Service Bank, Hendrix College, JSI Metal Recycling, Kim-berly-Clark Corporation, Log Cabin Democrat, Nabholz Construction and Sonic Drive-In.

BronzeArkansas Democrat-

Gazette, Bank of the Ozarks, BHP Billiton, Caldwell Toyota, Cov-ington Properties, Delta Dental of Arkansas, Delta Trust & Bank, Exxon Mo-bil Corporation, GARV-ER, Hurley Chiropractic and Wellness Center, In-ternational Paper, Ma-gie-Mabrey Eye Clinic, Preferred Medical, Rog-ers Group Inc., Salter Construction Inc., Smith Ford Inc., Snap-on Equip-ment, US Compounding Inc., Verizon Wireless and Weaver-Bailey Contrac-tors.

Chairman’s Circle recognizes top Chamber investors

Michelle Parsley (center) was the recipient of the 2013 “Diamond Achievement Award” at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Business event. Parsley was one of five honorees recognized at the second annual event as an “Outstanding Woman in Business.” She is pictured with Linda Linn (left), the 2012 Diamond Achievement Award winner, and Sherry Smith of Fletcher Smith’s Jewelers. Fletcher Smith’s Jewelers awards the Diamond Achievement Award recipient with a diamond-studded pendant featuring the Conway “C.” Parsley has been a real estate agent for 30 years and has spent the past 13 years with RE/MAX of Conway. She is the head of Team Parsley real estate and works along-side her husband, Bill, and one of her daughters, Elizabeth. The Women in Business Awards honor women in the Conway area who have excelled in leadership and community service and who have inspired others on both a personal and professional level. A panel of Chamber executives outside the state of Arkansas selected the award recipients.

PARSLEY RECEIVES TOP AWARD

The Conway Develop-ment Corporation (CDC) voted to add two local businessmen to their governing board at their annual business meet-ing. Scotty Bell and Bun-ny Adcock were elected to three and four year terms respectively. Bell and Adcock join eleven other voting members of the board.

Founded in 1959, the Conway Develop-ment Corporation is a non-profit organization created to promote the economic growth and de-velopment of the city of Conway and of Faulkner County. The organiza-tion works to “attract and secure the location of new business and to assist in every way pos-

sible the future growth and expansion of area business and industry.”

Bell is employed at Virco Manufacturing (NASDAQ: VIRC) as Vice President and Gen-eral Manager-Conway Division. Adcock cur-rently serves as Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors for Home BancShares,

Inc. (NASDAQ: HOMB).“Scotty and Bunny

bring a wealth of knowl-edge about Conway, eco-nomic development and local industry,” said CDC Board Chairman Bill Ad-kisson. “Their expertise and service strengthens our organization as we continue to compete for economic opportunity globally.”

Conway Development Corp. adds two to board

The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce’s fourth quarter Business After Hours has been re-scheduled for Jan. 13. The networking event was postponed due to in-clement weather. A & J Collision Repair will still host the event, which will take place at 1215 Thom-as G. Wilson Drive from 5-6:30 p.m.

A & J Collision Repair has been voted one of the best body shops in the Faulkner County Best of Readers’ Choice Awards for the past seven years. In addition, the compa-ny has received the Good Housekeeping Seal of Ap-proval and became the first in the state to use Envirobase, an environ-ment-friendly paint, in 2007.

The event is free to Chamber members and their employees. Compli-mentary hors d’oeuvres will be served. For more information, call the Chamber 501-327-7788.

Business After Hours rescheduled for January

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, December 15, 2013 — 3D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

With more than 1,300 mem-bers, the Conway Area Cham-ber of Commerce relies on vol-unteers to help it reach out to the business community it serves. In January of each year, the Chamber distributes infor-mation to member businesses as part of “Mission Apprecia-tion.” This volunteer opportuni-ty gives employees of Chamber-member businesses a chance to network with other members while thanking them for in-vesting in the organization.

“We would not be able to do everything we do for our mem-bers without our generous vol-unteers,” said director of mem-bership development Whitney Cummings.

Although Mission Appre-ciation is an endeavor that happens only once a year, the Chamber has a group of ded-icated volunteers called Am-bassadors that represent it at various functions year-round. Ambassadors serve as official hosts on behalf of the Chamber at ribbon-cuttings. They also help with member retention. In 2013, the Ambassadors attend-ed 61 ribbon-cuttings, made more than 900 phone calls to Chamber member businesses and delivered more than 300 goodies as a thank-you to re-newing members.

The 2013 Chamber Am-bassadors are as follows:

Aaron Leach, Metropolitan

National Bank; Adam Davis, Adam Davis Farmers Insur-ance; Alicia Page, Acxiom; Ar-thur Ingram, Acxiom; Branden Stroth, Metropolitan Nation-al Bank; Brian Zimmerman, Metropolitan National Bank; Bridget K. Williams, Kimberly-Clark Corporation; Carly Ste-phens, Microtel Inn & Suites; Charles Browder, Metropolitan National Bank; Debbie Plopper, First Service Bank and Conway EcoFest Inc.; Eleise Wood My-ers, Conway Corporation; Frank Maree, Acxiom; Heather Cur-rie; Salon Bliss; Janetta Fuqua, Simmons First National Bank; Jennie Marvel, Kimberly-Clark Corporation; Jennifer Harrison, First Security Bank; Jennifer

Prince, Simmons First Nation-al Bank; John Scherrey, Cen-tennial Bank; Jon Ross Hen-derson, First Security Bank; Josh Linden, Centennial Bank; Justin Story, Payroll Vault of Central Arkansas; Karl Jus-tice, Crain Buick GMC; Keith Jones, Acxiom; Leia Morshedi, Leia Morshedi LLC; Lisa Gar-ner, Independent Living Ser-vices; Marilyn Battles, First Service Bank; Michael Mayo, Central Baptist College; Mitzi Anthony, Acxiom; Nola Hensley, Davidson Law Firm; Patricia Hepner, Faulkner County Re-alty Inc.; Rebekah Eades, First Service Bank; Rikki Wyzgos-ki, Conway Healthcare and Re-hab; Robert Newman, Legacy

Realty, Inc.; Shirley Kimbrell, Family Heritage Insurance; Stephen Ardeneaux, Amazing Grace Cleaning Services LLC; Steven Richards, Valued Mer-chants; Tanya Malcolm; Center-point Energy; Thomas Straight Jr., Acxiom; Tracy McGinn-is Fulcher, Marco’s Pizza; Tra-cy Robbins, CrossFit Conway; Toby Hart, Take the Lead Acad-emy; Valerii Dychok, Acxiom; Wendy Shirar, Acxiom Corpo-ration; and Wilma Turner, Acx-iom.

To learn more about the Am-bassador program or the Mis-sion Appreciation volunteer opportunity, contact Whitney Cummings at Whitney@Con-wayArkansas.org.

Chamber seeks volunteers for membership outreach program

Chamber’s 2014 Annual Meeting set for MarchNomiNatioNs opeN for awards; tickets, spoNsorships available

With close to 1,000 business and commu-nity leaders in atten-dance each year, Annu-al Meeting is the largest business event in Con-way. The 2014 event, or-ganized by the Conway Area Chamber of Com-merce, is scheduled for March 20 at the Con-way Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Tickets and sponsorships are avail-able now.

An awards ceremo-ny recognizing individu-als and businesses that have made a difference in Conway over the past year is one of the high-lights of Annual Meeting. The Conway Area Cham-ber is accepting nomina-tions for the following categories:

The Distinguished Ser-vice Award is the Cham-ber’s highest form of rec-

ognition. Established in 1957, this award is pre-sented annually to an in-dividual or group who has rendered special ser-vice for the benefit of the community. Candidates have demonstrated an active leadership role for the betterment of the community through their involvement in business, civic and social service

organizations.Established in 1973,

the Good Neighbor Award is presented annually to an individual who has given of his or her time and talents. Candidates are known for going be-yond the call of duty to help others. The nomi-nee shall exemplify out-standing public service to the Conway area.

The Business of the Year Award recogniz-es businesses for their continued growth, in-novation and communi-ty involvement. It is the premier honor to the best overall business in Con-way and is presented in five categories based on industry and number of employees.

The Business Execu-tive of the Year Award recognizes the owner, ex-ecutive or president of a business who has dis-played outstanding per-formance in either an in-dividual or collaborative endeavor. The nominee is a driving force behind the company and works to maintain an enriched business climate and an enhanced quality of life in Conway.

The Young Business Leader Award recogniz-

es a community business leader, age 40 or young-er, who has helped create a more vibrant business and social environment for all of Conway’s resi-dents.

With the exception of the Distinguished Ser-vice and Good Neighbor awards, nominees must be members of the Con-way Area Chamber of Commerce or work for a Chamber-member busi-ness. Nominations can be completed online via the following link: http://bit.ly/AnnualMeeting14. Those submitting nomi-nations are encouraged to address specific ex-amples of each nomi-nee’s leadership, com-munity service, personal and professional impact, work/life balance, perse-verance, ethics, and suc-cess. A panel of Chamber

executives outside the state of Arkansas will se-lect the award recipients. The deadline to submit nominations is Jan. 3, 2014.

In addition to the awards, Annual Meet-ing features a CEO-lev-el speaker. This year’s speaker is Steve Muel-ler, president and CEO of Southwestern Energy Company. Mueller serves on the boards of Amer-ica’s Natural Gas Alli-ance, the American Ex-ploration and Production Council, and the Inde-pendent Petroleum Asso-ciation of America.

Individual tickets are $75, and tables and sponsorships begin at $600. Reserve a space by contacting Mary Marga-ret Satterfield at Mary@ConwayArkansas.org or 501-932-5412.

Conway Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting 2013.

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat4D — Sunday, December 15, 2013

Starting, foster-ing, and grow-ing a business is never an easy

endeavor. More chal-lenging still is maintain-ing a forward trajecto-ry capable of propelling that business to the 50-year mark. Crafton Tull is proud to celebrate its 50th year in the business of contributing to the built environment.

Since its inception in 1963, Crafton Tull has enjoyed the help and support of their fami-lies, colleagues, clients, and communities. It is because of this main-stay that the engineer-ing, architecture, and surveying firm chose to celebrate this milestone anniversary by giving back to the cities where they live, play, and work. With this goal in mind, Crafton Tull launched a year-long campaign they named 50/50: 50 years. 50 acts. The idea was to go into the communities to find where the need was greatest and pro-vide even more than the quality architecture, en-gineering, and survey-ing they are known for; their time and finan-cial resources. Includ-ed in the acts champi-oned by the employees of Crafton Tull were or-ganizing and running a food drive at Toad Suck Daze, helping build bicy-cle racks for City of Hope Outreach, and donating much needed materials

as well as financial con-tributions to the Haven House shelter.

As the year progressed and more acts of kind-ness were completed, the employees became pas-sionate about the en-deavor and even add-ed to their volunteering schedule outside of the campaign. Lane Hous-ley, Executive Vice Presi-dent for Energy Services and manager of Crafton Tull’s Conway office, had this to say: “Crafton Tull wanted to show its ap-preciation for the entire community by perform-ing several acts of kind-ness right here in Con-way. We know that if not for the local community, leadership, and support, we could not have expe-rienced the substantial growth we have had over the past seven years. We love this community, we love our neighbors and we strongly believe that Conway is not only a great place to work, but it also a great place to shop, play, and raise your family.”

The entire Crafton Tull organization has more than a profession-al interest in Conway. Many of the employees call Conway home. Mr. Housley attributed much of the firm’s success to this fact when he said “The improvement in your community means improvement in our com-munity. We have been proud to participate in

building the city of Con-way, whether on the cam-puses of UCA and Hen-drix, or the revitalization of the historic downtown streets and parks. This is our backyard and we are honored to have a part in making it the best it can be.”

The people at Crafton Tull are invested in the idea that contributing to the built environment of Conway is an integral part of growing the com-munity into an even more dynamic environment for businesses, churches, schools, and families to

call home. Crafton Tull is connecting to Conway through sustainable de-sign, its core values, and its commitment to the citizens who call Conway home.

In the half century since Bob Crafton and Lem Tull set out on their own, Crafton Tull has grown into a full-service firm that embraces sus-tainable design, expand-ed into several different cities and states, won nu-merous awards for cre-ative design and problem solving, been named in the ENR Top 500 design

firms – all this while sur-viving an ever-chang-ing economy without wa-vering in their loyalty to the clients and families that make Crafton Tull possible. When asked what he felt played the most important role in the success of the firm, Matt Crafton, Presi-dent and CEO, summed it up by saying, “I love the old Babe Ruth quote, ‘Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.’ It is this type of deter-mination that has fu-eled Crafton Tull for 50 years.”

It appears this ap-proach to the future is still very much alive at Crafton Tull in that they are taking that adage even further by instilling in their employees that

today’s home runs don’t win tomorrow’s games. The excitement was ob-vious when Mr. Crafton talked about what is on the horizon for the firm: “We are always looking for ways to adapt, while holding onto the values that brought us about. We are still working as hard as always to posi-tion ourselves so that we continue to grow and in-novate. Crafton Tull has a proven history of fos-tering cutting edge ideas and seeing them through to completion. We are just warming up!”

For a full list of servic-es, 50/50 Acts, and firm information please vis-it 50acts.craftontull.com. For more information about Crafton Tull, visit craftontull.com.

COVER STORY

More than a milestoneCrafton tull Celebrates 50 Years in business through 50 ‘aCts of Kindness’

Crafton Tull members at the “Fill the Truck” food drive.

‘We have been proud to participate in building the

city of Conway, whether on

the campuses of UCA and

Hendrix, or the revitalization of the historic

downtown streets and parks.’

—

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat6D — Sunday, December 15, 2013

TOP 5 RESIDENTIAL HOME SALES, NOVEMBER

PRICE ADDRESS BED FB HBA SUBDIVISION SQFT PRICE/SQFT BUILT

$294,500 320 VINTAGE COVE 4 3 0 CHAPEL CREEK PHASE II 2,606 $114.93 2013

$261,000 3660 NOBLETT DRIVE 4 3 1 MADISON PLACE 3,065 $91.32 1995

$253,000 1140 DOODLE CIRCLE 4 2 1 CATHERINE PLACE 2,634 $97.95 2002

$249,900 1825 SUMMERBROOK DRIVE 5 3 0 SUMMERBROOK 2,470 $101.17 2002

$240,000 1135 TURNBERRY 3 2 0 TURNBERRY 1,835 $130.79 2013

At a December meeting, the Nabholz Board of Directors vot-ed unanimously to name CEO Bill Hannah as Chairman of the Board. Chief financial officer Greg J. Williams will step into the role of CEO. Both positions will be ef-fective Jan. 1, according to the news release.

“Our Board is very pleased to announce the appointment of Bill and Greg to these two important leadership positions,” said Chair-man Emeritus Charles Nabholz. “These promotions are the culmi-nation of many months of careful succession planning efforts and will assure our clients and share-holders of top quality manage-ment for years to come.”

Mr. Nabholz added: “Bill has been an outstanding CEO for our company over the past 12 years, and I am confident that he will provide the same strong leader-ship as our company’s Chairman. I congratulate Bill on receiving a strong vote of confidence from our Board as he becomes the first per-son outside of the Nabholz fami-ly to fill the Chairman’s position. I am also delighted to see Greg step into his new role as CEO. He has proven himself as a strong leader, and he understands the fi-nancial and risk management as-pects of our business. Preserving Nabholz’ values and high stan-dards has always been his high-est priority, and we are confident in his ability to lead the company forward.”

As CFO for the past 18 years, Williams, 54, has been responsi-ble not only for Nabholz’ finances, but also for the company’s human resources, legal and risk manage-ment, IT, and wellness programs. He joined Nabholz as Controller in 1991 and became CFO in 1995, and he has served on the Nabholz Board of Directors for the past 11 years.

A Certified Public Accoun-tant, Williams earned his bache-lor’s degree in ac-counting from the University of Ar-kansas. Williams is very active in his communi-ty, volunteering for and serving on the boards of numerous com-munity organiza-tions, including the American Red Cross of Great-er Arkansas, the St. Joseph School

Endowment, and the Conway Re-gional Physician Hospital Orga-nization. Born and raised in Stut-tgart, Ark., Williams now lives in Conway with his wife Doris. They have three daughters: Caitlin, 25; Hannah, 23; and Elise, 19.

“I’m honored by the Board’s trust in me, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to lead Nabholz,” Williams said of his appointment as CEO. “I have always told our Board that I feel blessed to be part of such an amazing team and that I will serve however I am needed. We have a strong founda-tion, and I’m excited about the fu-ture of Nabholz.”

Hannah expressed his confi-dence in the Board’s selection of his successor. “Greg is absolutely the right person to lead Nabholz as CEO. I’m very happy with the Board’s decision.”

He added: “Over the past sev-eral years, Greg has demonstrat-ed a solid understanding of what it takes to build a strong organi-zation. He has a clear vision that will serve him well as he leads the company forward. I can’t think of a better person than Greg for the job.”

Nabholz Construction announces new leadership

Hannah

Williams

By ELISE WILLIAMS

The Conway Area Cham-ber of Commerce’s annu-al Holiday Open House and Reception, presented by Conway Corporation, will take place Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Chamber, located at 900 Oak Street.

“We’ve hosted this event the past three or four years, and we have a pretty good turnout each year,” said the Chamber’s director of events, Mary Margaret Sat-terfield. “It’s a great time for our staff to visit with

members and a chance for members to network and meet other Chamber mem-bers.”

The event will last from 2-4 p.m. and there will be hors d’oeuvres and apple ci-der served.

Chamber to host Holiday Open House, reception

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, December 15, 2013 — 7D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

By RogeR Lewis

Many measures indi-cate how the economy of a city, county, state, or nation is doing. I’ll begin by focus-ing on one measure, un-employment rate and then follow with other indica-tors. I’ll end with a conclu-sion about Conway’s econ-omy in December 2013.

As shown in the table, the unemployment rate in the US dropped from 7.5 percent to 7.0 percent in the year from October 2012 to October 2013. Dur-ing the same period, how-ever, the Arkansas rate in-creased four-tenths of a percentage. In Faulkner County the increase was six-tenths of a percent-age and in Conway the in-crease was nine-tenths of a percentage point. These are not comforting figures and they are not restrict-ed to a one-year analysis. Unless there is a sharp decline in unemployment figures in November and December, Conway’s un-employment rate for 2013 will be the highest in 20 years.

The unemployment rates for the US and Ar-kansas that are published in news releases are sea-sonally adjusted rates, which differ slightly from the unadjusted rates pre-sented here. Seasonally adjusted rates are based on larger samples of time in order to reduce month-ly fluctuations. Because seasonally adjusted rates are not available for cit-ies and counties, the table uses unadjusted rates in all four categories.

Faulkner County’s workforce is 57,790 of which 30,457 (52.8%) live in Conway and 2,125 (6.9%) are unemployed. The remainder of the

workforce, 27,333 (47.2%) live outside of Conway. Of these 27,333 1825 (6.7%) are unemployed. This is the first time since 2000, when the Arkansas De-partment of Workforce Service first published city unemployment data, that the unemployment rate for Conway has exceeded that of the workforce re-siding outside of the city. Combining these numbers, there are 3,950 (6.8%) unemployed workers in Faulkner County.

One might become a lit-tle complacent when com-paring the unemploy-ment rates of Conway and Faulkner County with oth-er places with higher rates. A 6.8% unemployment rate does not sound dras-tic. But when the percent-age is presented as 3,950 unemployed workers, real-ity sets in. Also, the actu-al number of unemployed people who want to work is even higher because un-employment figures do not include the long-term un-employed who are not el-igible for unemployment benefits.

As for specific sectors of the economy that are pro-ducing these unemploy-ment numbers, the Ar-kansas Employment and Security Division does not release unemployment fig-ures for different business sectors. Thus, there is no data on what types of busi-nesses are laying off work-ers.

Other indicators besides unemployment rate tell

how an economy is doing. For Conway, residential and commercial construc-tion is down more than 30% from the same period in 2012. Single-family res-idential building permits are down 18%. Sales tax collections are essentially stagnant, increasing less than one-half of one per-cent through September of this year. Hotel sales are up a fraction of a percent from last year.

Restaurant sales are up less than 2%. Hewlett Packard, Southwest En-ergy and Acxiom reported significant lay-offs. Other segments of the economy such as education, gov-ernment, and heath care do not have monthly mea-sures that reveal trends. However, these segments appear strong and they offset some of the weak ar-eas. Our growth rate may be flat or modest at best, but certainly it is not in a decline.

Of course, there is al-ways the “Thank God for Mississippi” response to any unfortunate news. We are better off than the 10 counties (mostly in East-ern Arkansas) where un-employment rates exceed 10 percent. The highest is Lee County (Marianna), which has a 11.1 percent unemployment. Although Faulkner County’s 6.8 per-cent ranks as 18th low-est in Arkansas, one year ago it ranked 13th. At the other end of the spectrum, Northwest Arkansas now has six counties with un-employment rates that are under 6 percent. Carroll County (Eureka Springs) is lowest with 5.0 percent.

We have a very diverse economy and that is our strength. While large cor-porate employers have fluctuations that signif-

icantly affect unemploy-ment, our institutions and small businesses remain stable. Faulkner County’s employers include approx-imately 60 government and education agencies and some 2700 private establishments. Many of these are small businesses (2 to 10 employees), whose importance should not be overlooked. Our institu-tions provide stability but growth will depend on pri-vate establishments flour-ishing. While our economy is soft now, I am optimis-tic about the future, even though it may take sever-al years to regain its past vitality.

There are many families in Faulkner County who are struggling and need help. Local food banks run by charities and churches report that they exhaust their supplies weekly. The Bethlehem House for the homeless and other social services agencies have all experienced heavier de-mands. These services are only stopgap measures that provide for essential needs until employment is found. Extending un-employment benefits, food stamps and job creation projects are important if we are to meet the needs of the unemployed.

As the Christmas sea-son is celebrated, there are many opportunities to help those in need. Please be mindful of those less fortunate in our communi-ty and be generous.

I thank my friend Chris Spatz for editing and help-ing me with this article.

You can obtain more infor-mation on the economy of Con-way and Faulkner County by going to the Pulse of Conway website www.pulseofconway.com.

Conway’s economy: Slipping?UNEMPLOYMENT RATE Oct. 2012 Oct. 2013U.S. 7.5 7.0Arkansas 6.6 7.0Faulkner 6.2 6.6Conway 6.0 6.9

Information provided by pulseofconway.com

Conway Economy at a Glance

Unemployment Rate*

OctoberUS .................. 7.3%Arkansas ........ 7.5%Faulkner ......... 6.8%Conway .......... 6.9%*Faulkner County & Conway not Seasonally Ad-justed

Sales Tax Collections

Conway*September

2013......$1,883,4982012......$1,929,990Percent Change -2.4%Year to date (Sept.)2013....$17,134,0762012....$17,076,332Percent Change 0.34%

Annual2012....$22,944,1632011....$22,366,464Percent Change 2.6%*Tax rate 1.75%Faulkner County*

September2013.........$713,8452012.........$706,588Percent Change 1.03%

Year to DateSeptember

2013......$6,371,0702012......$6,357,870Percent Change 2.1%

Annual*2012......$8,465,6862011......$8,279,301Percent Change 2.3%*Tax Rate 0.5%Restaurant Sales*

October2013....$12,841,3212012....$12,700,359Percent Change 1.1% Year to Date (Oct.)2013..$137,612,1712012..$135,096,301Percent Change 1.9%

Annual Sales2012..$153,412,9882011..$144,646,055Percent Change 6.1%*Including mixed drink sales

Hotel SalesOctober

2013......$1,315,8182012......$1,434,283Percent Change -8.3% Year to Date (Sept.)

2013....$16,151,8852012....$16,084,702Percent Change .42%

Annual Sales2012....$18,683,6762011....$18,662,136Percent Change 0.1%Conway Building

PermitsSingle Family

HomesYear to Date (Nov.)2013.....131 Permits2012.....159 Permits Percent Change -17.6%

Annual2012.....186 Permits 2011.....153 PermitsPercent Change 21.6%Avg. Construction

Cost*Year to Date (Nov.)2013.........$229,0292012.........$206,932Percent Change 10.7%

Annual2012.........$207,5372011........ $204,387Percent Change 1.5%*Not including land or lot improvements

Average Square Footage*

Year to Date (Nov.)2013...............3,0212012...............2,909Percent Change 3.9%

Annual2012...............2,9102011...............2,814Percent Change 3.4%Avg. Construction Cost Per Square

Foot* Year to Date (Nov.)2013.............$75.812012.............$71.14Percent Change 6.6%

Annual2012.............$71.332011.............$72.64Percent Change -1.8%*Total under roof

Lottery SalesFaulkner County

November2013......$1,228,0402012......$1,253,191Percent Change -2.0%Year to Date (Nov.)2013....$13,309,2382012....$14,033,686

Percent Change -5.2%

Total StateOctober

2013....$33.037.8002012....$33,691,499Percent Change -1.9%Year to Date (Nov.)2013..$366,658,4982012 $379,085,841Percent Change -3.3%

Natural GasSeverance Tax

DistributionConway

November2013...........$21,5152012...........$17,097Percent Change 25.8%Year to Date (Nov.)2013.........$255,0272012.........$162,457Percent Change 57%

Annual2012.........$162,4572011.........$254,822Percent Change -36.2%

Faulkner CountyNovember

2013...........$17,4672012...........$13,835Percent Change 26.3%Year to Date (Nov.)2013.........$207,0022012.........$131,478Percent Change 57.4%

Annual2012.........$131,4182011.........$204,052Percent Change -35.6%Wellhead Price per

MCF*Yearly Average

2012...............$2.662011...............$3.952010...............$4.482009...............$3.672008...............$7.97*MNC=1000 cubic feetNumber of Active

Wells*Faulkner ............350Total in Field ..4,481*As of Dec. 12, 2012

Estimated Life Time Value of Production*

Total Field ...............$11,382,327,198*As of Sept. 30, 2012