Judge Hart honored with 2021 AAC Advocacy Award

Conway County Judge Jimmy Hart was honored on Thursday of last week as the recipient of the 2021 Wes Fowler Advocacy Award from the Association of Arkansas Counties.

Judge Hart was presented with the award at the AAC Annual State County Judges Convention in Rogers for his “tireless work in boldly advocating for the counties of Arkansas.”

The Wes Fowler Award was established in 2017 following the death of Fowler, who spent decades working in Madison County government before finishing his career at the AAC as Governmental Relations Director. The award is presented annually to a county or district official who has exhibited great passion for advocacy over the previous year.

The AAC Board of Directors Scholarship Committee selects the recipient of the award. The honoree receives an Arkansas County Diamond Award and will be honored in perpetuity at the Association of Arkansas Counties with a permanently placed plaque, on which names are added each year.

Hart has been county judge for Conway County for the past 21 years and also serves as secretary/treasurer of the AAC Board of Directors.

In 1991, Hart was instrumental in developing an Arkansas based dairy marketing cooperative. He has served as a past board member of:

• Dairy Max, a five state regional advertising and promotion agency for dairy farmers
• Conway County Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service
• Conway County Farm Bureau
• Arkansas Dairy Cooperative Association: Vice President, Secretary, and Finance Committee
• Arkansas State Workforce Investment Board
• West Central Arkansas Planning and Development District, Inc., Past Chairman
• County Judges Association: Past President

 

In November 2000, Hart was elected Conway County Judge and began in January 2001 learning how best to serve the people of his county. He is currently serving as:

• Ex-Officio of Conway County Economic Development Corporation
• West River Valley Regional Solid Waste Management District Board Member – Chairman
• CEO elected official of Local West Central Arkansas Workforce Investment Board
• Ex-Officio of Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce Board
• Universal Housing Executive Board Member
• Association of Arkansas Counties Executive Board
• Conway County Cattlemen’s Association Member
• Conway County Farm Bureau Member
• Kiwanis Club of Morrilton Member

 

Immediately after being elected for his first political term, he initiated a very aggressive pro-gram to clean up the county by implementing county-wide spring and fall cleanups. The success of this has lasted for the past 20 years.

Jimmy has worked with organizations and agencies at both the state and federal level to acquire grants for the county, in the millions of dollars. These monies were used to fund Conway County offices, departments, services, communities and infrastructure. With his hard work ethic, motivation, and talent to build strong working relationships and with the cooperation and assistance of the incorporated cities, county fire departments and community volunteers, Conway County is seeing a Conway County pride develop during his administration.

Recently, Judge Hart took to tackling the broadband needs of Conway County. Currently, 80 percent of Conway County is covered by broadband internet. He wants to achieve 100 percent broadband internet coverage in Conway County. He is diligently working on several paths to secure 100 percent broadband internet coverage for the citizenry of Conway County.

Over his career Judge Hart has championed many causes. He is tireless and still pursues good causes these days as he did at the beginning for the citizenry of Conway County. Just to mention a few specific things that Judge Hart has done to help the citizens of the county and provide cost savings to its citizens:

• Gas fields: Judge Hart has been consistently working with state government, our legislature and state agencies to facilitate equitable treatment of royalty owners.
• 911 operation: Judge Hart has worked tirelessly to acquire state funding, to create a dedicated 911 operation, to provide the best service to the citizens of Conway County.
• Industrial Park: Judge Hart in working with West Central Planning District, obtained $1.9 million in federal and state grant funding for the county Economic Development Industrial Park-North.
• FEMA Funding: Judge Hart procured federal funding, through numerous disasters, for road repairs in Conway County.
• Levee District #6: Judge Hart worked tirelessly to acquire Economic Development Grant Funding, state and federal, for Levee District #6 to prevent future catastrophic flooding in the Oppelo Bottoms.
• 2019 Historic Flooding: Judge Hart worked around the clock with multiple departments and businesses to monitor and pre-vent a catastrophic levee breach.
• Formation of Local Inter-modal Authority: Worked along with Perry County to prepare a riverport, rail and road infra-structure for future funding opportunities.
• Restoration and improvement of the Conway County Courthouse: Judge Hart initiated several projects to restore and improve the integrity, safety, efficiency and appearance of the county courthouse.