Farmington Chamber Members Meet To Chat

FARMINGTON -- Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored its first Coffee Chat of the year at Arvest Bank and has other events on the calendar for the next few months.

Mike Willard, chief executive officer and president with Arvest, welcomed Chamber members to the coffee, briefly talking about the company.

Arvest Bank has $16.7 billion in total assets and is located in four states-- Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas.

The bank is divided geographically into 16 different regions. Each market has its own board and CEO, Willard said, so that the regions can make their own decisions and be a partner within their own communities.

The company has 259 branches, all full-service branches that offer services such as checking and savings accounts, mortgage loans, investments, estate planning and trust.

Farmington's market includes Prairie Grove, West Fork and Lincoln and Farmington is the main driver for its market, Willard said.

Arvest ranks its branches, based on several criteria, and Farmington is ranked #26 out of the 259 branches.

Arvest Bank in Farmington conducts 14,000-16,000 transactions per month, which is a "tremendous amount" for a town the size of 6,000 people, Willard said. The bank serves about 3,800 households.

The Farmington branch has $40 million in loans and $80 million in deposits.

"This bank has a lot of capacity to grow in the loan area," Willard said, acknowledging the bank's staff members who he said have done a great job in the community.

Farmington Mayor Ernie Penn, senior vice president with Arvest Bank in Farmington, said the Farmington branch first opened in the Legend Realty building on Main Street and moved to its current location in 2000.

Penn had been with Arvest in Fayetteville when he was convinced, he said, to transfer to the Farmington branch.

"It was probably the best decision I made in my career," Penn said.

At the time, Farmington had 1,313 people and only a few businesses along Main Street, such as Cardinal Corner, Cardinal Cafe, One Stop Mart and a few other stores. Southwinds Subdivision only had three houses.

The Farmington branch had $5 million in deposits at the time but did not have any loans.

Traffic going through Farmington has helped bring growth -- 27,000 cars go through here daily -- and Farmington will continue to grow because of this traffic, Penn said.

Willard moved to Arvest Prairie Grove about three years ago from Mountain Home and as an outsider, he said he sees many positive things going on in Farmington. He mentioned new businesses that have opened the past three years, including Neighborhood Market, Dairy Queen, Kum-N-Go and Casey's General Store. New restaurants and small businesses also have opened.

He pointed out other factors that attract people to Farmington, such as the school system, healthcare and its quality of life.

"It takes all of us working together to provide for the community," Willard said. "We're in a great area and we're in a great location for growth."

Chamber President Budd Smith said the Chamber board is seeking input on how to help businesses in town. He said the Chamber does a good job with community outreach but wants to determine what changes need to be made to help the business community. A survey has been emailed to Chamber members and Smith encouraged people to fill out the surveys and return them.