Water board adds ex-Metroplan chief

McKenzie chosen from three finalists

Former Metroplan Executive Director Jim McKenzie will fill the vacant seat on the Central Arkansas Water board of commissioners.

McKenzie was selected by the board Thursday. Members previously interviewed him and two other finalists. A fourth finalist withdrew from consideration before the interviews.

“We had a good group of candidates. I would say all of them had skills that could have helped us, but Jim seemed to stand out with some experiences that we think will be immediately valuable to the board and CAW,” Chairman Jay Hartman said.

McKenzie worked as the executive director of Metroplan, a regional transportation planning authority, from 1988 to 2016. The agency covers five counties and has a board of 27 elected officials.

Before that, he operated his own consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, public-policy research and organizational analysis called McKenzie Inc.

In the 1970s, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, McKenzie worked for the governor’s office and two state departments.

Most recently he has received the Bill Bonner Award for significant contributions to planning in Arkansas and the Ronald F. Kirby Memorial Award for Outstanding Individual Leadership, both in 2016.

Before retiring, he had served on a number of boards, including the Downtown Partnership board of directors.

He was instrumental in the formation of the Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance, a collaboration of 27 water utilities in six counties. It’s cited by the Corps of Engineers as a national model, McKenzie said.

McKenzie wrote in his cover letter seeking consideration for appointment to the Central Arkansas Water board that he helped mediate a dispute between the water agency, Deltic Timber and a developer regarding Lake Maumelle, the utility’s main water supply.

He served on several watershed committees aimed at protecting the lake and surrounding areas.

“As one wag said at the close of the last millennium, ‘What oil was to the 20th century, water will be to the 21st century.’ I believe that providing adequate potable water will be one of the great challenges that society faces in adapting to the impacts of climate change. Fortunately, nearly a century of sound planning and investment decisions have left central Arkansas in a good place,” McKenzie wrote in his cover letter.

McKenzie will finish the term of commissioner John Braune, who resigned. He will start at the March commission meeting and continue until June 2020.