About the Show:

"This is one of those initiatives that we are going to look back on, I believe, as a turning point for our city."

– Mayor Molly Rawn

In this episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas®, I sit down with Fayetteville Mayor Molly Rawn to talk about the city's $375.5 million bond proposal heading to voters on March 3rd. This episode is specifically for Fayetteville residents—one of the four major cities that make up Northwest Arkansas. As a Fayetteville resident for more than a decade, I wanted to share this conversation because this bond directly affects our community. You might have seen the "One Cent, One City, One Purpose" campaign around town—and here's the good news: it's designed to fund critical infrastructure and quality-of-life projects without raising your taxes.

Mayor Rawn and I talk through what's actually in this bond package—roads, utilities, parks, a new aquatic center, and a much-needed animal shelter upgrade. We also get into her first year as mayor, the realities of managing a fast-growing city, and how Fayetteville residents helped shape what made it onto the ballot. One important note: Question 1 on the ballot refinances the 2019 bonds and keeps that existing one-cent sales tax working for the city, and it needs to pass for the other initiatives to move forward.

Whether you've been here for decades or just moved to Fayetteville, this bond affects your daily life—from the streets you drive on to the parks where your kids play. We'll help you understand what's at stake, why this moment matters for Fayetteville's future, and how you can make an informed decision before March 3rd.

Key Takeaways:

● Fayetteville’s 2026 Bond Proposal: The city is advancing a $375.5M initiative funding essential infrastructure and amenities—from water/sewer upgrades to parks—while keeping taxes steady.

● Quality of Life & Community Growth: Projects like the aquatic center and improved animal shelter directly enhance resident well-being, attract talent, and fuel economic activity.

● Infrastructure Drives Housing: Without water, sewer, and roads funded by this bond, housing development (including affordable units) stalls, impacting everyone from students to seniors.

● Forward-Thinking Planning: Fayetteville’s leaders are focusing on proactive investments, shaped by public feedback, to ensure the city retains its character amid rapid growth.

● How to Get Involved: Residents are urged to get informed, ask questions, connect with city officials, and spread the word to neighbors ahead of the March 3rd bond vote.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast.

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

1. Guest: Molly Rawn, Mayor of Fayetteville
2. Email: mayorsoffice@fayetteville-ar.gov
3. City of Fayetteville Official Website

Bond Campaign Info:

1. Build Fayetteville’s Future – www.buildfayettevillesfuture.com
2. City Resources – www.fayetteville-ar.gov

Important Dates:

1. Early Voting Begins: February 17
2. Election Day: March 3

Support Local:

1. Follow news and updates through Fayetteville city council and social media

This episode is sponsored by*

Try ONBoardNWA.com Today!

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

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Thank you for listening to this I am Northwest Arkansas podcast episode. We showcase businesses, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in the Ozarks.

Consider donating to our production team to keep this podcast running smoothly. Donate to I Am Northwest Arkansas

Welcome to another episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas

Podcast, the show where we dive deep into the people, places,

and stories shaping life here in the Ozarks. I'm your host,

Randy Wilburn. Today we're joined by Fayetteville Mayor Molly

Rawn as she reflects on her first year in office and

breaks down the city's ambitious

2026 bond proposal. A

$375.5 million plan

to fund critical infrastructure and community

projects with, I might add, all without raising

taxes. We talk about what's at stake, how the bond

connects to housing and growth, and why. Now is the time for

Fayetteville residents to invest in their own progress. Whether you're

a longtime local or new to the region, this conversation is

essential listening. If you care about the future of our city,

It's time for another episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas, the podcast covering the intersection of

business, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in

general here in the Ozarks. Whether you are considering a

move to this area or trying to learn more about the place you call

home, or We've got something special for you. Here's

our host, Randy Wilbur. Hey,

Mayeron. Welcome to the podcast. Hey there. Thank you so much for having

me. Absolutely. Absolutely. I have to. I have to say that this is the first

time that I've actually had a elected official

on the podcast in any of the four cities. So

I'm really honored that it's you and that, you know, of

course, I live in Fayetteville, so, you know, I am. I am a

Fayettevillian, and it's kind of special to have you on. Well,

I am honored that it's me, and I wish that I would not have known

that because now the pressure's on. I've got. I've got to represent well and do

a really good job. Absolutely, absolutely. And so, you know, it's funny, after 400

plus episodes, it's, you know, in seven years of doing this, it's.

There's always room for somebody else to tell a story. So I'm

really interested to hear from you, and I'd love maybe if you could just kind

of share with our audience. After just wrapping up your

first year in office, you're no longer a rookie mayor.

What have been the biggest lessons or surprises in your first year,

and how has that prepared you for tackling a major

initiative like this bond proposal that we're going to discuss today?

So one of the things, I don't know that it would be fair to characterize

it as a surprise, I would say it was really

reaffirmed what I believed to be true. And. And that is about the

city staff. The team at the city of Fayetteville,

top to bottom across all departments, is really incredible.

I get to work with some of the brightest,

most talented, most creative people that I've ever

had the pleasure of working with. And that, while not a surprise, I mean, it's

not as if I didn't already know there were great people working at the city,

but just being around it every single day and having

that the environment in which I get to go to work in has been

something really, really special. Yeah, I can only imagine. And

certainly I've had a chance. I've lived in Fayetteville all

11 years that I've been here in northwest Arkansas, and I've seen

this city evolve and it continues to grow. And I'm

always amazed, even with my limited interactions with people

that actually work at the city. Everybody that I've come in contact with is

just simply amazing. It's really wonderful. And not just

good at their own jobs, but really capable of seeing the bigger

picture. I talked to department heads from all facets

of our organization and they all have. They're all very invested

in what we're doing as a whole. Not just in their.

What's in their narrow scope or their purview, but really that broader

vision for the whole city. They all have that sense of investment in what

we do. It's pretty, pretty special. Yeah, it definitely is. And so

I'm glad that we are getting a chance to kind of talk about that.

This episode, so that everyone is clear, listening

to this is really about us discussing this Bond initiative and

what it represents. Can you just maybe walk us through the

historical aspect of what inspired the One Cent,

One City, One Purpose campaign? And what

message are you hoping to send to Fayetteville

residents? Yeah, I'm wanting to send the message that

this is really, really important. And not just for

those of us that are living in Fayetteville now, but for

Fayettevillians well into the future, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. This

is one of those items, one of those initiatives that

we are going to look back on, I believe, as a turning point for

our city. And the inspiration, really, I think that's the word

you used to. I wish I could say it was inspiration. I'm going to say

it's more necessity. I mean, there are critical

pieces of infrastructure that we must

fund, and municipalities in the state of

Arkansas don't have as many avenues as my peer

mayors in other states have to be able to fund things. Sales tax bonds

are really the best mechanism we have. And so knowing that

we have a short timeline in which we need to implement some of these things,

it became really, really important for us to act quickly. But I also want to

go back. I'm now editing what I said. Randy, you said

inspiration. And I will say that for many of these initiatives, the

inspiration has come from the people of Fayetteville. So, for

example, the Aquatic center, which I know we're going to touch

on later in the episode, so many

surveys and public engagement sessions and

one on one listening sessions with individuals in the community

led to us realizing that that was really in response to what people

wanted. So critical infrastructure needs and

also inspiration taken from listening to the people that live here.

Yeah, well, and we are going to talk about the Aquatic

Center. Can you maybe walk us through some of the most

critical infrastructure needs that exist and

maybe, you know, again, the quality of life projects included in

this bond? Because as I read through all nine of the items,

all of them apply to me in one way or the other.

Yeah. You know, and it's like I can't. I mean, I drink water in the

city of Fayetteville. I use the sewer system. We

have animals. I mean, there's just a little bit of everything that

is represented in this bond. And so there is. And it

impacts every single person who lives in our

city. Regardless of your political

affiliations or your job or your socioeconomic background.

Everyone needs safe and clean drinking water and

everyone needs our sewer system to work. I can

promise you that's not something that we want to allow to fail. Everybody needs to

be able to flush the toilet. And so these do apply to,

to everyone who lives here. And the ones that are the quality of life amenities

like the aquatic center and the parks and recreation, those,

whether you use them or not, those impact you because they bring in

economic activity in terms of dollars of people that are visiting here and spending money

here. And they're also talent recruitment and retention

tools. So I'm happy to go through all nine if you want. And that's the

way you want to go it or you tell me. Well, yeah, and I think,

I think it's important. I mean, you just brought up a lot of points.

People don't realize that something's a problem until it is a problem.

And it's one of those things where I know we could make an

argument for anything. So, like if you don't own pets, then you're not as concerned

about the animal issue. If you don't swim or maybe you're afraid of

water, then you're maybe not as concerned about the pool or the

aquatic center issue. But we live in a large. We live in the second

largest town in the state of Arkansas and it's

continuing to grow. I don't see any abatement in the number of people

moving to Fayetteville, much less northwest Arkansas as a whole. I think

originally when I started doing this podcast, it was around 30 or 36,

30 to 35 new people a day were moving here. Now it's

40 people a day moving to northwest Arkansas.

So any infrastructure that we have in any of the. The

four pillar cities in northwest Arkansas are all

going to require some fortification in

order to be able to deal with this demand, this increased

demand of new residents moving to the area. Absolutely. And you

know, I couldn't help but think about when you were talking

about roads and transportation. I mean, people who have heard me speak

about this bond issue have heard me say that national surveys

that go out across the country, red states, blue states, purple states,

everything in between. When residents are asked about

determinants on their quality of life, there is one

answer that comes up every single

time across the board. It's the highest percentage of respondents say that this

one factor is what determines and impacts their quality of life. Would you like to

guess what it is? Please tell me. I have no idea. Traffic.

Traffic. Traffic. Okay. People again and again and again say

that when there is increased traffic, it has a negative impact

on their quality of life. Oh, absolutely. And so you know why I didn't think

of that? Some of these dollars go towards

a large amount of them actually go towards infrastructure improvements on

our roadways. Not only making it. There's a question that's about

pedestrian infrastructure. Right. Making that safer for people that are

walking or not using a car. But like the second or

third largest amount in the bond question six is

for transportation and road improvements. So I want to make sure that

you can get from one end of our city to. To the

other in a safe way and it not take too long.

That's a detriment to your quality of life, and that's really important. So that's a

part of this as well. And I believe so part of that. Is the

greenway expansion included in that as well, or

some of the additional aspects that are gonna run, I think, east to

west. So that's a great question. So question six,

transportation and road improvements is specifically just about the roads that you

were driving on. It's about. For cars. However, you

know that public Transportation is important to me. This year in the city's budget,

we've increased it by 40%. And I'm hoping we can continue kind

of that level of growth for the next several years. Those transportation and road

improvements are also going to help our public transit providers.

But that is question six. In terms of trails, that is a

different question. And the pedestrian pathways and

trails is question five. And the focus here

is, is really on maintaining what we have. And I think

it's important for people to know that in terms of this bond package

when they hear trails, this is not funding

towards the mountain bike trails and the recreational soft

surface trails that we have like out at Kessler and Centennial Park. Those are

amazing and wonderful. That is not what we are asking you to fund. These are

about sidewalks and trails where people are walking

and our hard surface paved trails making sure we are maintaining

them. Because you can't continue to grow the way we have in our

trail system over the past several years if we don't have projects to

maintain. And so this year is more about a maintenance rather than expansion.

On the trail side, I think what you were talking about when you said east,

West Fayetteville has a lack of east west connectors. If you want to

get north and south in Fayetteville, it's easy. It's relatively easy. If you want to

get east to west, it's a little bit harder. And so we

definitely have those east to west connectors in mind as high

priority projects to use our bond funds for, at

least within the road department. Yeah, well, and that would include both the trails

or for bikes as well. As for cars, mainly just in that

question six, that is just about highway. That is. Or you may mean

on street bikes. Yeah, got it. Okay. So I think that's important. A lot of

times people talk about trails and they sort of use that to mean synonymous

with dirt bike trail or mountain bike trails. Oh, yeah. On street

trails and then the greenway trails. So yes, forgive me, those

road improvements also include that on street, what we would

call on street infrastructure. If you were riding, you know, on the

road in your bike. Absolutely. Making sure those lanes are there and well cared for.

I didn't understand. No, it's fine. And that's, you know, for people that are maybe

trying to get from Greg over to Garland and some of those, I mean, it

just makes it so much easier. And I've written on those

beforehand and then, you know, as they've started to expand some

of that and it makes a huge difference. It's an incredible. It's the difference between

whether you're going to use it or not. Yeah. And whether you're safe or not.

And whether you're safe or not. Yeah. No. 100%. Yeah. No. So.

Okay, well, let's. I want to talk about something

that is, you know, I mean, of course, I hate to admit

this. I read social media, I listen to my neighbors talk, and

I hear people, you know, and. And one of the big issues that

comes up is how is, like, something like this

bond proposal directly supporting, like, affordable

housing and future growth from that perspective? Right.

That's a really great question. Question two on the bond

initiative is upgrades for our water and sewer department,

specifically the wastewater treatment plant. Fayetteville is

lucky. And that we have two wastewater

treatment plants, but specifically the Nolan plant

needs upgrades, significant upgrades, to be able to

manage the sewer capacity that we know is going to be coming to Fayetteville

in future years. So we talked earlier, it's not glamorous, it's not

sexy. But you talked about, you know, everyone flushes the toilet. And as you

get more and more people who live in Fayetteville, more and more people are

flushing the toilet. And so to be able to plan for that future growth, we

have to have upgrades to those facilities. The other thing about housing

in particular is you can talk about more housing

units all day long. If you don't have the infrastructure to support

them, they are not going to get built. And. And so if we don't have

adequate water and adequate sewer capacity, we'll never be able to

grant the permits to build more housing, affordable or otherwise, just any

housing. And so we've seen several communities in northwest

Arkansas and also communities across the country that

essentially have a moratorium on housing development. And it's not because

they don't have builders who want to build it. It's not because they don't have

people who need those homes. And it's not because they don't have banks

that are ready to lend. It is because they don't have the infrastructure

in the ground, namely water and sewer, but also roads,

to be able to have that, to be able to support that. And so I

want to always talk about housing that is always at the forefront of my mind.

This has to happen first in order for us to get there. Yeah.

And I think it's also important for people to understand. I mean,

you shared that a lot of times it's, how do you connect the dots for

why, why one thing happens versus something else? And I

think a lot of people need to understand purely from A housing perspective,

we're still. We. The United States is still playing catch up

from the 2008 meltdown. Yeah, 100%. And like,

literally, we are a million or we're a couple million homes

behind the eight ball when it comes to

creating more housing, whether it's affordable or market rate.

And so I think anytime that there is an opportunity for

us to make us a smoother pathway

to creating more housing, that's something that we need to, as a

citizenry, we need to really consider. Absolutely. And it

doesn't mean, you know, as my dad was always fond of saying,

we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Right, right. So one of

the most critical things that we can do to allow for new housing is

the infrastructure piece. That doesn't mean that there aren't

also other things within our policies, within

our land use plans, within our permitting speed, and within

social housing and work with nonprofit partners. That doesn't mean that the city

isn't also doing those things. The sales tax bond

is the right vehicle to fund that infrastructure piece. There's

certainly still work happening on those other pieces of getting more housing as well. Yeah.

And I want to. I do want to admit mention that the city of

Fayetteville has. You've kind of put your money where your mouth is. You've hired a

housing person. Yeah. That works exclusively

towards this issue, which not every city has done. Yeah. And

I think that's. I mean, that's at least getting us in that right direction of

thinking about what does housing look like for Fayetteville moving forward for the

next 15, 20, 30 years. Because it's just

we. We have to be thinking about it on a regular basis. Yeah. And

I'm so glad that you said 15, 20, 30 years, because that is how

far out we look when we plan. And the situation

that we're in right now with the housing crisis or the housing crunch

or whatever word you want to use for it. Had we had these things

in place 15, 20, 30 years ago, we might not be here. And so

working to solve them now, but also keep them from

continuing on into the future is really important. Yeah. And I think we've exhibited

that this area, we're able to think forward

thinking in terms of the way we do some planning. Because when

you look when people. When I have friends that come here and they look at

our greenway and they look at our trail system, and they. They're like, man, I.

I can't believe you can literally ride your bike from one town to the next

to the next to the next. And, you know, I've taken people on trips from

Fayetteville all the way up to Crystal Bridges on the trail, and it's like, I

can't believe you can do this. And, you know, that's some of the forward thinking

that we have seen. And now we're trying to

capitalize in some other areas that will serve our

communities, will serve our kids, will serve our children's children

really well down the road. Agreed. And I'm grateful to

prior city councils and to my predecessors, the mayors before me,

that really made those investments in our greenway. And I remember at the time, it

wasn't, at least in 05, it wasn't completely popular, and maybe

not even in 08, it wasn't always popular. But I think we've

seen the benefit of it now. It's undeniable. And so, yeah,

I'm grateful that there was that future planning, for sure. Yeah. We had

Matt on this podcast several years ago talking about just the

whole greenway and just the thinking that each city

went initiated to make make it happen. And certainly it

takes a lot of people at the table to come up with something that makes

sense that everybody can take advantage of. So, yeah. So, okay,

now I want to ask you, because this is really important, why

is now the right time for Fayetteville to take on

this bond? Now is the right time for Fayetteville to take on this

bond because we have an opportunity to do it in a way that doesn't

increase the amount of tax you pay. So right now we are closing the

gap on our previous bond. There is around $40 million

left outstanding. So that's why you'll see question one,

being a refinancing of the current outstanding sales tax bond. And

that may sound like a lot of money, but that adds up really

quickly. And so once that is paid off, we don't

have the option to leverage that again and continue

it for these projects. The sales tax would expire and we would have to go

to the voters again. And at that point, we would be seeking to raise a

tax, which I don't want to do. I think it is much easier

for people to understand and also much, you know, more

transparent to be able to say, we have been doing this. We are keeping

it at the same rate as what you have been paying. It is not an

increase. Let's do this now to make these investments. I will

say something that I don't want to get lost in this conversation

is that some of these items, particularly the water and sewer question,

we don't have a choice but to make those upgrades.

We have a choice about how we pay for them. So right now

we have a narrow window of time in which the state says we can go

to the voters. In years past, people that have followed Fayetteville politics

and special elections, you know, you might have had a bond vote in June.

The state legislature has changed the rules. There are only certain times a year when

you can do it. Hence why it's really, really important that this happen

in March. We're going to pay for those water and sewer upgrades in one way

or another, if not through a sales tax bond, then

unfortunately it's going to show up in rate increases that you and I pay when

we pay our water bill. And I would much rather share that

increase with people that are visiting, with people that

are not just Fayetteville residents, but everybody

who comes to town who uses those resources. But everybody who

buys something here has a piece in us improving that infrastructure

as opposed to it just being on the residents of Fayetteville and the ratepayers. And

it's huge because Fayetteville has the benefit of the university.

So we have thousands of people that descend upon that hill

known as the University of Arkansas for games each

weekend, I mean, throughout the year. So there is a

plenty of opportunity for us to pick up and to get some help

for the citizens of Fayetteville that benefit from this

directly. But then everybody that is paying part of

this sales tax is also helping out. Yes,

precisely. Well said. Yeah. So, okay. Well, now

I'm going to bring it up because this is something that has come up quite

a bit and I heard you on a couple of other programs talking about it.

But let's have the conversation about the new aquatic center

and let's do. And the updated animal shelter. How

will that impact day to day life in Fayetteville? I'll start with the animal

shelter first. We are currently operating out

of an aging facility. It's more than 50 years old. It was

not built with the intent

of lasting this long. It wasn't built with monitor amenities

and modern amenities in mind or an eye towards growth.

And we've outgrown it. And pets are

increasingly a part of people's lives,

and pets are increasingly a part of

people's lives. And we want to be

able to care for the animals that are brought

to us at the animal shelter for whatever reason. And we want to be able

to meet that need and that growing demand we have as we grow where

people can come and adopt their pets. Also, we are One of the only

cities in the state that has a full time veterinarian on staff, which

allows us to provide an excellent standard of care for

our animals. But that's increasingly hard to do in the space that they're in.

So the animal shelter, very important, again, something that

people, you may not think about it, but when you need it,

then it's there. Well, I think about it all the time because even in the

neighborhood that I live in and where I told you, I'm in the Huntington neighborhood

in Fayetteville, I can't believe. I mean, my neighbors love their pets and

everybody that I've run across, I mean, this is a very pet centric area.

It really is. That's why we have so many veterinarians and

so many different spaces. But I mean, the city should have

a place. And I've been down to that facility. It is a little long in

the tooth. Yeah, that's putting it mildly. Yes, but. So there

is room for improvement. But I think we could see the tangible

benefits of, you know, investing some of our resources

back into making that, you know, a really awesome

facility. Agreed. And hopefully meeting space as well for

members of the public to be able to use to come in and enjoy the

space and the aquatic center. So that's one of my favorite things to talk about.

You know, Randy, people in Fayetteville

have wanted a facility like this for a

very long time. I mean, I can remember

city council talking about this prior to the last

bond in 2019, prior to the A and P

bonds that were issued, I believe in 2012. I mean, this is well

over a decade, if not two decades of people

recognizing that we don't have

adequate publicly owned facilities for water recreation.

And that's not to say that the pool amenities that we do have at

some of our nonprofits or even private areas, or even places like the Boys and

Girls Club, where we have a relationship with. Those are wonderful.

And we are not in any way trying to not

celebrate those resources. But we need a city

owned place that can keep up with the way that Fayetteville has grown.

And we've seen aquatic centers go into cities throughout our region,

across the state. And not just, you've probably heard me say

it. Not just cities like Little Rock and

Bentonville and Rogers, but I mean,

Searcy and Harrison and Clarksville and

Alma. I mean, really just even smaller cities.

Recognizing that providing safe,

accessible places for people to recreate and recreate in a

healthy way is really an important part of civic life.

And I want to note that I Said accessible because there are many

different ways to think about access. A couple of ways I think about access as

it relates to the aquatic center is swimming is something that

you can do for it can be a lifelong sport, a

lifelong hobby. You know, it's not like football, where maybe you've got a

window of time where you can do it and then your body, you know, kind

of screams at you. You can swim from a very, very young age, toddler age,

all the way throughout the remainder of your life. Life, hopefully. And so it can

be a lifelong accessible hobby also. Accessibility

in that it is very important to everyone

at the city that this be built in a way that

the cost is not a barrier for people who want to come and

visit. Yeah, and I think that's important. I mean, I, I am,

I won't get on my high horse about swimming. I, I actually went to college

on a swimming scholarship. I've. Swimming. I had no idea, Randy. So

swimming is important to me. My son, when we moved here, one of my sons

was on the Aqua Hogs and I made Those trips up 265 to

the Jones Center. Beautiful facility, like you said. Yeah, I'm so glad they have it.

Yeah. Bentonville. I've been to every major pool here and then I've been to every

major pool from here to Little Rock, including Clarksville, which I might

add, much smaller city than Fayetteville, and they have a

beautiful facility. I went there one time and I think

it was a statewide meet and I was just blown away by

all the people there and I was like, man, what this is in Clarksville? And

it's like, you know, and for those of you that don't know, Clarksville is that

town that you drive through on the way to Little Rock and their high school

is. Sits right on the highway and you can see it. But I mean,

it's. Fayetteville needs to have something like that. And yes,

I might be inclined to say I'm a, I'm a little biased

just because I was a swimmer, but you know, I have an 80 year

old mother and she gets into the pool, she gets into the pool on a

regular basis. And that's the one thing that actually helps

and staves off the arthritis that impacts her from time to

time. And so I think even seniors will benefit from this.

Oh, 100%. I do. Not at all. I mean, so much has been

talked about as it being a great space for families and.

Absolutely it is. But I also think

about seniors as being just a very large user

group and knowing that, you know, indoor, where you can go and do this year

round. Yeah, yeah. Even in days like this, maybe when it's

snow on the ground, why not go swim? Yeah, why not? So, no, I

think that that's great. I just think it's something that we should, especially as

residents, we should all be thinking about. This is another question that

has come up. And I've heard this given to you and others in

leadership in different ways, but I know a lot of residents, not

a lot, but some are wary of continued development. Right.

And, you know, it's kind of the nature of where we are. We have

a growing university right in our backyard. But how do you

respond to those concerned about overbuilding or

even losing Fayetteville's unique character?

And I'm thinking of the keep it funky Fayetteville folks, because

there's a lot of them out there. There's a lot of them that are regular

listeners to this podcast. And I would love for you maybe just to

speak to that, because you were thinking about them as well when it

comes to this bond. Absolutely. I live in

Fayetteville. We have raised our family in Fayetteville because we

love this city's character. That is why we are here. And

I don't want to lose that either. And I think sometimes people

forget that it is a false choice

to say. I remember hearing this in the campaign a lot.

Well, I don't want Fayetteville to grow. Well, I can understand that.

There are a lot of things that I don't want. Right. But I live

in the reality. And what I know is that we

are growing. And so we have a responsibility to shape

that growth, to make sure that that growth happens in a way that

is not incongruent with our character, but that is aligned with

our character, so that our building codes and our

policies and our zoning and our land use, so that that is, in a

way that is in keeping with Fayetteville's values

of accessibility, of wanting everyone to be able

to take part of safety, of equity. And

so I think that our role here with anything is

to shape that growth in a way that is consistent with our values.

I don't want to overdevelop either. That's not what I want. I want to protect

those natural spaces that are outside of the Fayetteville

city limits so that we're using the land with inside the city, maximizing

it as much as we can. Yeah, no, I agree with that

100%. And I mean, I think, you know, when you look at this

bond proposal, there is Something for everyone in

the way that this proposal is set up. And if you read it and if

you go to the website for Build Fayetteville's Future,

you can see that it's clearly laid out, which, you know, I think

is important for us to kind of get a better understanding of. But with that

said, what role do you see residents playing in the

city's future growth in infrastructure investments, above and

beyond voting for this and obviously

spending your money in Fayetteville, which will support this

effort. Absolutely. Supporting local businesses. I'm glad that you.

Glad that you said that. None of this happens in

a vacuum. So these bond

initiatives aren't developed by city

staff or by some group of consultants. That's not how this

works. These are developed in response to

what we see as the growth that's happening to where people

are moving, to those growth patterns, to the decisions that our residents are making about

where they want to live and also what our residents are telling us

that they want. A question that, you know, we haven't touched on yet. Question three,

parks and recreation upgrades to our athletic fields and

playgrounds, and also acquiring new land that we can

preserve for an additional park. We have heard loud

and clear from our parks board, which is made up of residents, just regular

citizens. We have heard that that is something they prioritize. And so when we

see those comments, when we hear people speak on those issues at

council, we take that to heart and we develop these as

a response to that and also as a response to data, fire and

public safety. That's the other one that we didn't touch on. We will need a

new fire station. We know that we are growing, and so that's

something that impacts, you know, fire response time. God

forbid we ever need it, Randy. And I hope that we don't. And

I hate to think that anyone does, but at some point in time, we might.

And I want to make sure that they can get to me quickly and safely.

Yeah, well, absolutely. And I benefit from. We have almost

a pretty new fire station that I can see right at the corner of

Old Wire and Crossover in my neighborhood. But I want people on

the west side of town to have a fire station over there that can

benefit them. You know, I think Fayetteville is made up

of people that understand a sense of community.

At least that's the sense that I get at Fayetteville, and that's what I'm

surrounded with, you know, just driving here. We still have some, you

know, at the time we're taping this, we still have some ice on the roads

and some snow and the number of people that I saw that were,

like, jumping out of their cars to help someone that got stuck. I mean, we

are a community that wants to help people and that understands that even

if something does not benefit me

directly every day, it doesn't mean that I don't want it for my fellow

residents. You know, I'm not a swimmer, Randy. I didn't know that about you, that

you were. I'm not a swimmer, but I love that you are. Yeah. And I

want you and your kids to have a place to go and swim, and I

will come watch and say hello. I like that. I like that. Well, there you

go. All right, so this is the final question, and this is kind of

where I want anyone listening to this that's taking notes and

keeping receipts, as they say, what can voters do now

to get informed and make their voices heard before March

3rd? And at the time of recording this, as you said, this is late

January. So we have a little less than a month and a half before the

vote. Not even a month and a half. Maybe in a month and a couple

of days before the actual vote. And it's a prolonged period, actually.

So what can voters do now to get informed and make

their voices heard before March 3rd? So there are two different websites I'm going to

encourage people to go to. One is led by a group of community

members that are the volunteer fundraisers and boosters for

this campaign for the Bond. One cent, one city, one purpose. And it

is build Fayettevilles future dot com. It goes

through each and every one of the nine bond questions that

will be on the ballot. So go and visit that website. Also go to

the city's website, Fayetteville ar.gov and you can

read more about each question there as well. If you have

questions, email them to us. Let us know. You can email

mayorsofficeayetteville hyphen ar.gov if

I don't have an answer, I will get an answer for you. Reach out to

your council members in your ward, ask them questions, engage

on social media. And, you know, hopefully we're keeping it thoughtful and

keeping it kind and. But we can have that

respectful conversation there. If somebody

posts something and you have a question about it, you know, weigh in,

let us know. We want you to be armed with all of the

information and tell your friends, you know,

voter turnout. And that's a whole different episode. Randy, we'll have to. You'll have to

have me back. We'll just talk about voter turnout because you know, it's lower than

we want it to be. Always right across the country, in Arkansas in particular, even

in Fayetteville. So so many people, I guarantee you, you

have four phone contacts right now of people that live in Fayetteville that don't know

that there's a bond election on March 3rd. So if you were listening to this

podcast, take a moment, text three of your friends, say, hey,

go to this link, get educated about this. Yeah. And please come out and vote

and vote for Fayetteville's future. It's important. Yeah. I've even encouraged, I have two

voting age children and I've already told them, I said, hey, we're all

going together as a family to go vote. We're all going to the same polling

station because we all live together, but this going to do. And I think,

you know, you bring up something that's really important and you

guys are listening to this. You heard it first from the mayor. You know, if

you want your voice to be heard, you have to get involved. And

I think from a civic perspective, we need to. More

than any other time in my history, in my short

time on this earth, I can't think of a better time for us to get

involved with the politics of our

local city, the politics of our region, of our state

and of the nation. And so I think it's important.

Mayor Ron is putting it out there for you. Get involved, ask

questions. She gave you all of the contact information for ways to

reach her at the mayor's office. We'll put all of that in the show notes.

But Mayeron, I really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule on a really

cold day to sit down with me and have this conversation. And I

also want to just give you a shout out for, I mean, you ran a

great campaign when you ran for mayor and we're really glad

to see you in this role. And we wish you, we me

being me and you know, the team here at I am Northwest Arkansas,

wish you nothing but continued success. Thank you. With Fayetteville and

as you continue to grow. And also I'm going to put a link in the

show notes to the wonderful article, if anybody missed it, from the New

York Times about the city of Fayetteville. Oh, I was so proud of that. Wasn't

that great? It was great because I'm a subscriber to the New York Times. Me

too. And so for me, it was like, wow. I felt really proud. I shared

it with all my friends around the country. I was like, see, that's why I

live where I live, and there's a. Great, it's just

great coverage. And Peter Nierengarden, our city's sustainability director, does an

incredible job and so getting to brag on the work that he does, I

certainly never thought that my photo would be in the New York Times, and I

certainly didn't think that if it would be, it would be in front of a

steaming compost facility. But it was a,

that was so fun and a real honor to get to participate in that interview

for sure. Absolutely. I mean, I think Fayetteville residents should be proud of what this

city represents. We're not perfect, but no city is. And if

nothing else, at least we're having discourse and dialogue to

talk about the things that are most important to us, like this bond

bill that we want to get passed on March 3rd. And

so I really want to encourage folks to be aware of that and

govern yourselves accordingly when it comes to getting out and voting for this.

So, Mayor Ron, thank you again. Thank you so much, Randy. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Well, folks, that's a wrap on today's conversation with Mayor Molly Ron.

I hope this episode gives you a clearer understanding of what the

2026 bond proposal is all about and why

your voice and your vote matter. Early voting

begins February 17th and election day is March

3rd. To learn more about the bond proposal and explore the

full list of projects and visit build

fayettevilles future.com as always,

thanks for listening to I Am Northwest Arkansas. Be sure to

subscribe, leave us a review, and share this episode with your

neighbors. Until next time, take care and keep showing up

for the community we all call home. Peace.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Episode of I Am Northwest

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