Independence County, Arkansas

even hourly basis.” A unique program that hopefully will launch soon plans to use the former White River Juvenile Detention Facility. The State Cabinet Secretary Graves along with the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) intends to expand the parolees and probationers Supervision Sanction Program. The goal is to turn the building into a short-term release facility, helping those individuals get a head start on a productive life. These types of partnerships are integral in helping create a lifestyle valued by residents. Currently, the county is also restoring historic bridges in the area, as well as working on walking and biking trails around the Poke Bayou. “These are the things that are important to people here,” Griffin maintains, “it’s not just a lifestyle, it’s quality of life.” That’s also why the county has identified the need for more affordable housing – yet another example of something the municipality works on collaboratively. Once again, the community banks are big supporters. Cole acknowledges, “First Community Bank does a lot of mortgage lending. This year, we’ll do about 220 million home loans through our company. We need lower to moderate housing, all types of housing. A lot of people are moving here from California and Texas and many pay cash for their homes because money talks and they can close within a week.” In 2018 and 2019, the municipality typically had 350 houses on the market, compared to the 100 now. The houses sell fast, sometimes within an hour. A large part of the county has also been set-up with fiber internet, which helps. “I made a deal with Ritter Communications a while ago regarding VoIP phones,” reports Griffin. “They had to run fiber across almost all of Batesville to reach every building. Others then started piggy backing off that. AT&T is currently laying fiber in Southside area. We are seeing a tremendous Courtesy of Julie Graves