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Phil Baldwin Tells Independence County to ‘Dream Big’

3 min read

Through citizen involvement and a potluck of ideas, Independence County is aiming to leverage its strengths to improve its prospects in five key areas, including economic development.

In doing so, Citizens Bank CEO Phil Baldwin is urging the county to aim high.

“What I’ve told the people up here is don’t dream small, dream big,” Baldwin said. “Let’s dream some really big dreams.”

Baldwin, whose day job is leading the growing Batesville bank, is also chairman of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber, along with the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville and Lyon College, has launched “Impact Independence County,” a strategic planning initiative the chart growth in north-central Arkansas.

The project gets underway with an open meeting on July 1 where residents can provide feedback through surveys about how to improve the county. Once the surveys are complete, community leaders will work in subcommittees to implement changes in five core areas: education, housing, leadership development, economic development and health care.

Baldwin is a familiar name in Arkansas banking and strategic development circles. He has led similar planning initiatives in Phillips, Clark and Mississippi counties when he was CEO of Southern Bancorp of Arkadelphia.

In those counties, the blueprint has been the same: use unique, local resources to improve the standard of living. 

In Phillips County, the Delta Bridge Project called for taking advantage of local soybean production to build an 80 million gallon biodiesel plant. In Arkadelphia, an education subcommittee created the “Arkadelphia Promise,” a program that provides college tuition for every graduate of Arkadelphia High School.

Each county’s projects and goals vary depending on the wants and needs of the individual communities. Baldwin said Independence County has potential in a variety of areas, starting with the outdoors.

“We’ve got the White River that runs right through the heart of Batesville,” he said. “We’ve got the mountains — the mountains up here are like the mountains up by Fayetteville, they’re that big. With mountains you’ve got mountain climbing, you’ve got hunting and fishing, you’ve got all the outdoor things people do, so I think that is an opportunity.”

Batesville is also home to the Batesville Regional Airport which Baldwin said is “unbelievable” for a city its size, population 10,490. And its education sector is well appointed.

“We’ve got Lyon College and a two-year community college … That’s pretty cool from an education perspective,” he said. “How do we partner those two organizations together and how do they partner with the K-12 up here?”

Impact Independence County is designed to be a transparent process. Within the first couple of months after the surveys are completed, volunteers will begin designing the strategic plan, which is scheduled to be finished by January. 

From there, Impact’s subcommittees will implement the plan.

“I think as the folks in the county come together they’re going to come up with a long list of pros and cons,” Baldwin said. “There will be a lot of positives and negatives we’ll have to overcome, and those are good to get on paper too. It’s interesting how well this process works to bring people together to agree on a future, to agree on a path. Sometimes that’s the hardest part of anything is just agreeing how you’re going to start something.”

Baldwin estimates there will be 50-100 people, including three elected chairs, on each subcommittee. Although the project is volunteer-based, the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce is leading and staffing Impact Independence County.

The first meeting for Impact Independence County is 6 p.m. July 1 at Independence Hall on the UACCB campus.

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