The following is about Tom Farmer and his plans for Benton, should he become elected as Mayor in 2018.
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TOM FARMER
ABOUT FARMER:
Tom Farmer is a leader, who has served as a head football coach in both Benton and Bryant schools, as an athletic director and head of transportation at Bryant Schools — in all a 37-year record of serving schools and students in Saline County.
Coach Farmer, 60, whose energy is both plentiful and contagious, now has his sights set on being the next mayor of the City of Benton.
“I truly believe that we should live out our words. There are two questions we should ask when we meet new people or greet those we already know:
“How can I make today better for you?
“What can I do for you today?
“After all, we are here to serve one another and if we are not asking these questions we are truly missing the boat. The idea of me running for mayor is based on those two questions.”
Farmer says he understands that he can’t make life better for each person.
“But I do believe that we can make life better for someone during our daily walk.
“It might be just listening; it might be smiling; maybe it’s a word of encouragement; or maybe we can help them accomplish something.
“Whatever it is, our ultimate goal should be to make a difference when we come in contact with someone.”
Farmer was an Army brat, who once lived in Germany. He was born in Baltimore, Md., but was fortunate to land in Arkansas, where he graduated from Lake Hamilton High School and the University of Arkansas at Monticello, which he attended on a football scholarship. He also earned a masters-plus degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in public school administration and is six hours and a thesis away from his doctorate.
Farmer’s career as a player, coach, administrator and department head has always been about team building. In recent years, he has been instrumental in advancing the Benton community vacation Bible school effort known as “ZAPPED,” which is promoted by First Baptist Church, where he teaches a growing Sunday life group, whose students range in age from 20 to 70.
Tom is married to his wife, Cheryl, and they have three sons: Josh and his wife Sarah and grandchildren, Lucy and Beau , of Benton; Tadd and his wife, Elizabeth, and grandchildren Ella, Sophie, Seth and Millie, also of Benton; and Ben, their youngest, an engineer with Kohler in Sheridan before his death in a traffic accident in 2016.
Tom and Cheryl made Benton their home in 1982 when he moved to the city to take his first job.
“Although I had never lived in Benton until I came here for work, I feel like I grew up here,” Farmer said. “When Cheryl and I were really just young kids and didn’t know much about life, Benton embraced us in such a way that we have considered this our hometown from Day One.
“Our kids grew up here. The people of Benton have always been so caring and open to us; they have always supported us in such a way that we consider them family.”
“That is the way a community should feel — like it is one big family,” he said.
The Farmers lived in a mobile home between Benton and Sheridan when he began his new job. “I rode a 10-speed bike to work each morning because Cheryl needed the car to finish school,” Farmer said. “She would pick me up after football practice and we would ride home together.”
Less than two years later, the young couple bought a home in Benton, where they have lived for 35 years.
“We’ve made a few changes since we bought it,” Farmer said. “I’ve knocked out a few walls here and there and we’ve updated a thing or two.”
He was hired by Coach Stanley May and worked his way up to become head coach of the Benton East Side Warriors under high school head coach Dwight Fite during a time period when the city had two junior high schools. He moved to Bryant to succeed his former coach at Lake Hamilton, John Brainerd, and grew the program there as both head coach and athletic director.
Tom Farmer has been an inspiration to those who have played for him, those he has taught, people who have worked for and with him, and to anyone who has gotten to know him.
“I’m not into self-aggrandizement in any way, but I hope I have, in some way, been helpful to others at various points in my life,” Farmer said. “I love getting people together, whether a football team, a church group, fellow employees — anybody really — and working together to reach a common goal. That’s the vision of how I see things working as mayor of Benton.”
FARMER’S PLAN:
Benton is a great city to live and raise a family. I know that because I’ve done that for the past 36 years. But, we must make our city better on many levels so we can grow responsibly and become a model city to others in Arkansas and around the country.
Our businesses are our lifeblood. Everything that happens in the city — both good and bad —has a ripple effect, not just on local government but also on our businesses and even local residents. We need to start that positive ripple with first impressions. Will Rogers said it best: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s why it is important to our business community and our city to look good. We will work on what people see when they come to Benton, whether they are here for business, to visit friends or relatives, or even just passing through. There are many ways to make our city look better, but in addition to sprucing up, we will work to improve our aging infrastructure. From a municipal government standpoint, we must improve streets, parks, and traffic flow, then work to recruit the right kinds of new business and industry to our community. We will work to find ways to use historic buildings that are established as warehouses and, where feasible, use them to house a local business.
Our desire is for residents to find almost everything they need and want without leaving the city or county. That means having a variety of businesses, including restaurants, supply stores and much-needed services. We have a few chain stores and restaurants, and we’re glad they’re here, but our city includes many locally owned businesses and job centers that we need to support in every way. Local businesses are the backbone our community and the main source we need to look to when recruiting new businesses to fill out historic downtown Benton. Success breeds success. We must look for ways to promote downtown through any available grants, through local in-kind donations, such as a labor of love by those who want to see downtown Benton not only survive, but thrive. There are many ways to make things happen that don’t include raising taxes.
After many opportunities to visit with our citizens, it’s obvious one thing needs to happen to make a great city even greater, and that is to change the mindset of people to get of everybody working together. Our slogan of Bringing Benton Together is not some political soundbite; it means we believe we can accomplish everything we want and need as long as we work together. Now, we’re not just talking at citizens, we intend to start from the inside with municipal employees getting on board. We want our residents to have a positive experience when dealing with city employees. That doesn’t mean we will always be able to provide solutions to every problem, but it does mean we will make efforts in that direction, when possible, and do it with a positive attitude. We have to look closely at how we represent the city to prospective business people, including builders and service providers, who are looking to do business here. We should never give an answer that includes, “because we have always done it this way.” Instead, we should say something like, “It looks like there is an opportunity here with your ideas; let’s work together to get this done.” People will have to cooperate, but we don’t ever want to be viewed as adversarial.
There is so much we need to work on in the next few years but all of it can be accomplished, just not all at once. That means we will start with our needs, then expand to our wants. Benton citizens deserve and expect us to work on being the best at everything we do. We never should be satisfied with mediocrity in any aspect of our community. We should strive to have the best parks, the best streets, the best restaurants, the best hotels, and be the most positive city we can be. To be the best, we need to start right away with the following steps.
TOP 10 STEPS TO BENTON’S SUCCESS
UTILITIES: We will begin to develop and work with our utility department to see what employees need to be the best at what they do. We want to assist them and promote job safety through the purchase of needed equipment and tools. This department earns about two million dollars annually to benefit local residents. We want to work closely with the commission and the department director to establish a positive relationship. We will look into opportunities for lower utility rates for residents.
FINANCE: We plan to meet with each department head to discuss next year’s budget and determine needs vs. wants. In addition to improvements they plan to make, we also want to look at any waste that can be eliminated, based on what employees have shared with me during the campaign. Improvement will be the key to every decision. We will abide by the saying that “if you’re not improving, you’re either standing still or backing up.” We will strive to be the best in every department and we will establish guidelines by which we can measure that.
SAFETY: We plan to work directly with Police Chief Hodges and Fire Chief Ford to ensure our citizens continue to be protected in all aspects of their lives. We will plan to grow our public safety departments as our city grows to adequately meet the needs of Benton’s citizens.
STREETS. We will work with department heads to find out specific information on how they plan to refine their areas of responsibility. For example, we want to evaluate the justification the street department uses when determining which streets to patch, overlay with oil and pea gravel, or repave. We will develop a long-term plan for making sure we have better streets throughout the city.
SCHOOLS: We want to work with the Benton schools to provide everything they need from the city. When people look at a community to live in, they look at two things: The school system, and the protection the community offers.
EMPLOYEE RETENTION: We will work with each city departments on plans to keep employees once they are trained. If the city spends money to train people, we need to develop ways to keep them. For example, there should be a step-grade system to pay people for their experience. In return, departments must offer ways for employees to develop skills to grow in their jobs by setting levels of expectation for those employees.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Work with Economic Development organizations to gain information regarding what it takes to be competitive with other cities in Arkansas. Then, rather than waiting on business or industry representatives to come our way, actively recruit them. We need to be out there telling our story.
FACILITIES: We will work for our community access facilities to be self-sufficient from every standpoint. If they are not, we need to develop a plan to allow for opportunities for the facilities to become self-sufficient. For example, The Benton Event Center that citizens built is self-sufficient in every way. As a matter of fact, it brings in dollars. All of our facilities, from the Farmer’s Market to the Parks Department and River Center that citizens paid to have built should be operating with the same mindset. We also need to look at access availability to all facilities. For example, it should be easier for senior citizens to access the senior adult center. At the River Center we need to offer more opportunities for people, specifically through programs like Silver Sneakers and Silver Heart.
NEIGHBORHOODS: We will work to grow our neighborhoods, which means partnering with builders and developers to construct city friendly properties. We will work with property owners’ associations, especially when they voice concerns involving things such as a need for traffic signals, lighting, sidewalks, etc. If such requests involve state agencies, the mayor’s office should work with those departments or agencies to resolve issues or make necessary requests.
TRANSPARENCY: We will provide all the information necessary to educate citizens about changes the city is making that may affect them.
SUMMARY
The city belongs to all residents, not just a few. When we think about this nation and how it was formed, we need to look at how the preamble to the Constitution begins: “We the people.” That’s our vision for how our city should operate. It takes “we” not “I” to be successful. We want to emphasize keeping local money local while recruiting outside money to come here through events or desires to visit the state’s friendliest and most positive city.