Rogers seeks ways for city to save money

Law firms hired to provide financial underwriting help

ROGERS — Law firms Stephens Inc. and Crews & Associates will soon provide financial underwriting services to Rogers Water Utilities to help alleviate debt.

The City Council approved the hire unanimously Tuesday.

“We’ll come back to council meetings to look at the best structure for getting bonds sold,” said Bob Wright of Stephens. “The timing for this is right. Substantial savings for (Rogers) citizens is what we’re trying to achieve.”

The move was recommended by Rogers Waterworks and Sewer Commission, which met Aug. 15 to choose from three firms who responded to a bid for services, where Wright predicted a savings of $1.1 million for the system.

“We wanted to reduce our debt as much as we could, that’s been our mission,” said Joyce Johnson of Rogers Water Utilities. “We want to secure an underwriter to help that along. We met with them and it supported that we can have substantial savings. That’s good for Rogers Water.”

Three firms responded to the request for proposal, including Raymond James, Stephens and Crews & Associates. The final two combined as a team in a single bid.

“We were presented with the top firms in this part of the country,” said Mayor Greg Hines. “When two partner, it’s hard to beat. This is a great opportunity to save a considerable amount of money.”

Rogers Water Utilities first did a professional ranking of the firms, sought consultation with businesses independent from the firms and then ranked them with a points-based system on three categories. It resulted in a near tie, with 130 points awarded to Raymond James and 129 to Stephens and Crews & Associates.

“We can’t make a bad decision here,” said Travis Greene, water commissioner, when the issue of choosing among them was brought before the commission.

Each firm was asked to list specialized experience with underwriting in Arkansas, what innovative techniques and technology experience they have and questions of their capacity, capability, proximity to Rogers and whether they had any conflicts of interest.

“Seventy percent of Arkansas utility underwriting has worked with one or both of our firms,” Wright said, referring to Stephens and Crews & Associates. “We agreed to combine as… the strongest team, the best

option for the city of Rogers.”

The two have served a number of Northwest Arkansas cities, schools, including the University of Arkansas, and have a strong history serving the Rogers School District. Most recently, the firms did a similar underwriting project for Russellville.

Robert Frazier, attorney for Rogers Water Utilities, sought special permission for the approval of the firm’s service to make it to Tuesday’s City Council agenda so services could begin right away.

“There’s no requirement for us to move fast on this, but it’s timely and the market is good,” Johnson said. She also noted the department has a lot of goals in mind and the firms have a reputation for generating fast results.

Other items approved at the meeting include:

A section code was amended to reflect long-held practices to allow restaurants and hotels with alcohol sales to continue business until 2 a.m.

The Monte Ne Road Realignment Project will enter contracts with Crossland Heavy Contractor for construction, McGoodwin, Williams & Yates for construction observation engineering services and a contract with Building and Earth for material testing engineering services.

The Rogers Historical Museum will receive $17,520 from the city for air conditioning replacements to keep 25,000 objects, now stored in its basement, in good condition.

Rogers Executive Airport will enter a contract with Stericycle Inc. for regulated waste disposal services and was authorized for a federal grant for a runway pavement and lighting rehabilitation project.

The finalized Benton County Hazard Mitigation plan was adopted.