A convention of county assessors

Officials from all over the state visit West Memphis

news@theeveningtimes.com

County Assessors from across Arkansas convened at the Eugene Woods Civic Center in West Memphis last week. The three day meeting delivered updates and training to the assessors and served to showcase the county to the 110 attendees with a trio of outings. Crittenden County Assessor Kim Hollowell hosted the annual summer meeting and talked about the opening activities.

“We had a fun scavenger hunt through stores in West Memphis and Marion that introduced everyone to what the area has,” said Hollowell. “We held a golf tournament here. It was very popular. We’ve also got a dinner riverboat cruise to show off our side of Arkansas.”

The assessors cruised Wednesday evening before storms blew through the area. The paddle wheel catered dinner and circled under the two lit bridges that bookend the downtown Memphis skyline.

The bridges did not eclipse the beautiful Natural State sunset that many of those at dinner posted personal photos to their social media pages.

The conventioneers not only shopped and dined local, they stayed local filling two hotels in Marion and overflowing into a new hotel in West Memphis.

“We had room blocks at the Hampton Inn and the Fairfield Suites in Marion, most of the overflow stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in West Memphis,” said Hollowell.

After weeks of prepara- tion work, Hollowell was pleased to announce the group liked the renovations at Eugene Woods.

“Everyone is impressed with the civic center,” said Hollowell. “It was spacious and comfortable.”

Exhibitors lined the lobby vying for consulting work with the county assessors in between seminar sessions. Land Commissioner Tommy Land glad handed assessors during intermissions. The International Association of Appraisal Officers organization had a display booth.

“There are four qualified appraisal consulting companies in Arkansas, that’s it,” said Holowell. “We all do business with one or the other. They combined to pay for the dinner cruise for us.”