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With a decade of experience in heading one of the state's fastest growing cities and a decade of service on the League executive committee, her foundation for accomplishment is solid.
By John K. Woodruff, League staff
No wonder that Mayor Terry Coberly has her mind on building. The third woman to assume the presidency of the Arkansas Municipal League said in her acceptance speech at the 71st Convention in June that she wanted in 2005 and 2006 to build a more cohesive, "strong, one-voice" League. That would give the now 501-municipality organization a strong force to approach the 2007 legislature for fulfillment of the League policies and goals. Building and more building is rampant in this northwest Arkansas, Benton County city of 19,730. That number, however, is quoted from the 2000 Census. Coberly and the City Council are convinced the count has passed 27,000. So, the city has ordered a special census, scheduled for September, to find and document those more than 7,000 new residents. Their cars and SUVs are prompting street widenings and construction and expanding of city services from utilities and garbage pickup to police and fire protection, parks, playgrounds and ball fields-quite a demand on the city to keep coming up with the ability to pay for accommodating all those new folks. Bentonville depends heavily on its 2-cent city sales tax and the proceeds from the county's 1-cent sales tax. The city tax in July gave the city $962,880, and the city's share of the county tax, $281,490. Additional revenues, such as state turnback and state and federal grants and others that are based on a city's official population count are expected to more than justify the cost of a special census count. Just consider. Bentonville, home of the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, had a nose count of city residents of 10,825 at another special census in 1988. The 1980 census had been 8,756; the special census was well worth it. A mere 20 years earlier, the 1960 Bentonville count was 3,649. By 1990 it had swelled to 11,257; then 15,363 in 1995, Coberly's first year in office. The number jumps are not from the influx of Hispanic workers filling voids in the poultry industry, as is happening to an extent in the adjoining city of Rogers on the east or neighboring Springdale to the south. While Hispanics have influenced some growth in Bentonville, "ours mostly are vendors" moving from "all over the world," Coberly told City & Town. They want to be in closer proximity to their chief customer, the corporate headquarters of Wal-Mart. Is Wal-Mart a good corporate citizen? The city and the company sort of go their own ways but representatives of each have occasional meetings to discuss mutual concerns. And, corporate individuals of Wal-Mart have assisted the city with mutually beneficial property transactions or donations. "We are Wal-Mart and have enjoyed benefits of its growth," Coberly said. The mayor's family and the Sam Walton family were simply those among other families growing up in a small town in mostly rural Arkansas. Going back to those population numbers-Bentonville counted 2,942 residents in 1950, when Coberly was two years old, and 3,649 in 1960. Those early years for Coberly were when she was a "tomboy," she said. Young Terry Black enjoyed climbing trees, riding her bike, playing third base in softball and messing with other rambunctious outdoor activities. She was a cheerleader from the eighth grade through her senior year at Bentonville Junior and Senior High Schools. The Waltons, "a normal family," owned the Walton Five and Dime on the square Coberly said. Coberly's aunt worked in the Walton store, now "Wal-Mart." The Five and Dime, with similar appearance, is the Wal-Mart Museum. Asian tourists were posing out front as a visitor dropped by last month. "No one realized anyone had any more money than the next family," Coberly said of those small-town days. Terry Black was in the Brownie Girl Scouts and Helen Walton, wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and the mother of Jim-about Coberly's age, Alice, a year younger than Coberly, and John, two years older than Coberly. Rob, the oldest child, is about four years older that Coberly. John Walton, a philanthropist and a member of the Wal-Mart Board and known for his adventurous life, died June 27 as he was piloting an ultra-light aircraft in Jackson Hole, Wy. He was 58. Coberly's dad, Hugh (Tater) Black, began a law enforcement career in the 1950s; he rose to Bentonville police chief, Benton County sheriff, and in 1994, was appointed by President Clinton as a U.S. marshal. He died in 1996. Hugh Black began his career as a police foot patrolman. The town didn't own a police car. As her dad walked the night beat, he checked to see doors were locked at the various businesses and he'd also slip into the local hatchery and turn the eggs. His name is on a veterans' memorial for his military service and the city's Hugh Tater Black Memorial Road remembers Coberly's dad. Her mother died in 1984. Coberly spent much of her childhood growing up in the 600 block of West Central, right downtown, a walk of only moments from where she works at City Hall, and right across the street from where she now lives. "My sister (Toni) and I played over here when we were little, so we're home," Coberly told The Morning News a few months back before the Historic Homes and Garden Tour featured the 1870-built home she and Jody, her husband, had bought in November and renovated. Aviatrix Louise Thaden lived in the house from 1937 to 1940. The airport bears Thaden's name. The beautiful home on a heavily shaded street is quite a contrast to the jail she and her family lived in when Coberly was in the 7th and 8th grades. That was when her father was sheriff. Her mother "hated" those couple of years, but Coberly? "It was a most exciting time ... a great adventure!" She notes that at the time she was just "one of the happy-go-lucky kids." Hugh Black served three terms as sheriff on top of his police career before his U.S. marshal appointment. Coberly and her husband enjoy the house's wrap-around porch-a place for her to spend time with grandchildren Kayla, 16, and Tatum, 8, daughters of Coberly's son, Lance Palmer. The granddaughters are her "hobby," she said of two young ladies she's very proud of. Tatum just completed the softball season (winning the sportsmanship award, her grandmother beamed), and Kayla has been on an award winning dance team. Tatum would like to be a teacher and mayor. Coberly wonders about that mayor part. She acknowledges that politics can be difficult for families. As mayor now for 10 years, she knows. The race she first ran was tough. She had been interested in politics and wanted to run, but declined unless her friend, Mayor John W. Fryer, decided not to seek re-election. Fryer had been the principal at her elementary school and his wife, her home economics teacher. Coberly said Fryer decided not to run, so she announced. Then Fryer changed his mind. Six candidates were in the 1994 bid for the mayor's chair. Coberly and Fryer made it to the runoff. She prevailed. Her platform may have made the difference. She said she'd fight to keep the city from being placed under a new building and construction moratorium by the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology for the city's sewage treatment problems. The city had been cited for sewage infiltration into storm drains. Once Coberly was in office the city bought cameras to video sewers, find leaks and repair them. "The moratorium was never declared," she said. Impact fees have been another headache for Coberly and other city officials. She said it is "short-sighted not to appreciate impact fees," which can avert consequences such as building moratoriums when public facilities can't keep pace with construction. She said impact fees are "FOR builders" so they can continue building. Builders and developers should share in the costs for the city's expansion costs and impact fees and the fees have not slowed Bentonville's growth at all, she has told the Fayetteville City Council in urging that city to enact the fees. The Bentonville City Council implemented the fees a few years ago despite criticism from builders and contractors. Developers and builders pay the impact fees when their developments cause changes in sewer, water or fire protection. The fees are $3,500 a house. Should police and library considerations be included in impact fees? A study is looking into that for the city. When Coberly sought a second term, she was unopposed. Two opponents ran against her when she won her third term. This first elected female mayor of Bentonville doesn't seem cowed by taking stands. She was no neophyte when she assumed the office in January 1995. She had worked in city hall from 1970, when her son Lance was born during a previous marriage, to 1977 as an assistant city clerk, handling utility payments and other tasks. Before she decided to run for mayor in 1994 she had been a part-time city clerk since 1986-attending council meetings, taking minutes and handling other city clerk duties. "I've always been interested in politics." Coberly was a poll worker and helped in campaigns, "but I never thought I would enter politics," she said. Her political foundation also came from teaching. After she graduated from high school in 1966, she earned associate's and bachelor's degrees, and then a master's degree in learning disabilities. She was a special education teacher for migrant workers' children when she began teaching. Coberly taught in high school for 15 years. "Teaching is the best training for public office," she said. Each day "you never know what you will be dealing with and you deal with people from all walks of life." And teaching has remained with Coberly. "I still call my office 'my room,'" she said.
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