Morrilton Mayor-elect Allen Lipsmeyer had to interrupt his interview for the newspaper to sell a cinnamon roll in his doughnut shop, and a man waited patiently at a table to talk with him.
Lipsmeyer is used to juggling multiple roles — he’s been a banker, builder, businessman, alderman and car salesman. And listening to sage advice is one of his lifelong traits.
“I’ve had access to successful people,” Lipsmeyer said, sitting in the business that he and his wife, Stephanie, own in Morrilton. Lipsmeyer said his wife suggested that they buy the doughnut shop when it was being foreclosed on, and previously, they owned Clover Alley Gifts.
“I’m a people person; I’m a morning person. It’s been good for me,” he said of Daylight Donuts. “I’ve met a lot of people in this town.”
Growing up in Conway, Lipsmeyer’s mentors included men such as the late Hippo Crafton, who owned an automobile dealership; one of Crafton’s son’s, Hal, a developer; Joe White, former manager of the dealership, whom Lipsmeyer said is like a second father to him; and the late Marlin Jackson, bank CEO and, later, state banking commissioner.
Lipsmeyer credits each of them with introducing him to experiences he would never have had, jobs he would never have tried.
“Joe got me into politics,” Lipsmeyer said. At 18, Lipsmeyer was appointed to the Faulkner County Election Commission, then later became chairman of the Faulkner County Democratic Party. He went with White in 1993 to attend Bill Clinton’s first presidential inauguration, then in 1996 to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention.
“I’m very high on Allen Lipsmeyer,” White said. “He certainly deserves anything he’s achieved because he’s worked very hard for it, and he’s very focused. He’s being a little overly generous with me; I don’t know if I introduced him to anything.”
White said he thinks Lipsmeyer, 44, will be a good mayor.
“He’s always had a desire to solve people’s problems, he was very interested in his community when he lived here in Conway, and he just transferred that to Morrilton when he moved up there,” White said. He said Hippo Crafton and Jackson “saw a lot of potential in Allen. If they were here, they would be overjoyed with what he’s been able to accomplish.”
Lipsmeyer said his first interest was banking. When Lipsmeyer was in college, he started working as a runner at what was then First State Bank in Conway. He took money to the branches, filed deeds and mortgages, went to the title companies and ran more errands.
“There was no Wells Fargo. … That’s what you did back then. Then, I never really worried about having that money in the car.” It was a great way to meet people, too. “I knew everybody in town by having that job,” he said.
He continued to work for the bank through college. One day, he introduced himself to bank CEO Jackson, and within two weeks, Lipsmeyer was working directly for Jackson.
“He really took me under his wing,” Lipsmeyer said. “I was the lowest man on the pole, and I was getting to meet Witt Stephens, J.B. Hunt. … He knew what he was doing; he built my confidence.”
Jackson even made business cards for Lipsmeyer with the title CER, chief executive runner. One day while Lipsmeyer was driving Jackson to Little Rock to testify about an appraisal bill, he suggested that Lipsmeyer start building houses — Conway was starting to boom.
Lipsmeyer scoffed — who was going to loan a college kid with $200 in the bank that kind of money? Lipsmeyer said Jackson told him, “I am.” Lipsmeyer worked for United Motor Co., the Crafton family’s dealership, on the weekends at that time. Hal Crafton, Hippo’s son, was starting to build subdivisions, and Lipsmeyer said Crafton helped him get started, too.
“He was a good young man, growing up. You could tell with him, at a young age, if he told you something, he was going to do it,” Crafton said of Lipsmeyer. “He had an eye for a bargain and wasn’t afraid to get his elbows dirty. He’s gone to Morrilton and carved out a niche. He’s just a pretty good people person and always kept his ear to the ground. I was just tickled to death he was the new man at Morrilton.”
Lipsmeyer said Jackson and Hippo Crafton were “two mentors most people wouldn’t get to have,” he said. “Now, I have like 30 rent houses. They helped me politically; they helped me financially; they helped me get to where I am today,” he said.
Where he is today is 10 days away from being sworn in as mayor. Lipsmeyer defeated incumbent Stewart Nelson and Jerry Bolin for the position.
Lipsmeyer thought about running for the office in the last election, but he decided to wait.
“I just saw the potential in this town. I just feel strong that we could change this town and make it grow. It’s been the same size for a long, long time,” he said, noting the population of Morrilton is about 6,700.
“I love this town,” Lipsmeyer said.
He moved to Morrilton in 1999 to become a loan officer for Petit Jean State Bank, and he was president of Liberty Bank in Morrilton from 2006-2008. He said he slowly got involved in the community, including serving in Rotary as president and on the Main Street Morrilton board. He also served on the Morrilton City Council, just as he’d served on the Conway City Council. He was chairman of the budget committee as a Morrilton alderman, experience that will help in his role as mayor.
Lipsmeyer said people often rehash reasons why they think the city isn’t growing.
“We need to draw a line in the sand and move forward and not worry about how we got here,” he said. “It’s time to look forward. We have all the assets.”
Among those assets, he said, are the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, the Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce, CHI St. Vincent Morrilton, public and private schools, and Petit Jean Mountain.
“They say things happen for a reason. I think we’re at the right place at the right time. We can turn our downtown around, and we’ve made a lot of progress. We need people to come in and start building houses. … We’ve got to get ready for jobs,” he said.
Vinhlong-Arkansas Ltd., a Vietnam-based furniture manufacturer, announced last year that it will open in Morrilton. Lipsmeyer said the company bought the former Bosch manufacturing facility and should be up and running by the middle of 2015.
“We’re getting the first Vietnam company [to locate in] the United States — that’s big,” he said.
Lipsmeyer said his first goal as mayor is to start an “aggressive cleanup” of the town. He wants to tear down condemned buildings and houses.
“Then, we hope the rest of the town will clean up on its own,” he said.
Lipsmeyer said one of his passions is renovating homes, and he has contributed by taking houses that were eyesores and restoring them. The city needs to look attractive to potential businesses and companies that make site visits, he said.
“I want to be one of the people who helps change this town, and we have a great city council,” he said. Lipsmeyer said he has a good working relationship with Mayor Nelson. “We’re going to meetings together all the time. He considers me his student,” Lipsmeyer said. That’s a role in which Lipsmeyer is comfortable.
Lipsmeyer’s wife will run the doughnut shop when he takes office in January. He said he tries to go once a week to the senior citizens center to eat lunch with the men, and he always takes doughnuts.
“You listen — you learn a lot from those guys,” he said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.