James Barnes, whose company has held a textbook contract with Henderson State University since 2010, has quietly resigned as a trustee there just over a year after the governor appointed him to the position.
Barnes' term was scheduled to expire in 2025. He submitted his resignation in an April 8 email to Bruce Campbell, director of appointments for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, according to documents obtained from Henderson State under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
In the email, Barnes thanked Campbell for meeting with him and Hutchinson the previous week, and recommended three people who might be interested in succeeding him: Creed Spann, a certified public accountant and "respected contributor to Republican Party," and Chris Wewers, board chairman of the fundraising HSU Foundation and chief financial officer of Southern Bancorp.
HSU President Glen Jones Jr. is board chairman at that same bank, which recently began handling the university's banking services.
Barnes also suggested Henderson graduate Shannon Curtin, but he said she lives in the northeastern United States, a status that the governor's office noted precludes her appointment to the Arkadelphia university's board.
Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said the governor has not appointed Barnes' successor. "We're not quite there yet," Davis said Tuesday.
Barnes is the founder and chief executive officer of BBA Solutions, which has held Henderson's textbook contract since 2010, well before Barnes became a trustee in 2018. Henderson's board does not vote on contracts. The university has delegated that responsibility to its president, according to a Henderson spokesman, Steve Fellers.
The university chose BBA over three other companies that also submitted proposals. In 2014, Henderson extended that contract until 2020, this time without taking proposals from other companies, and added management of the campus post office to the agreement.
In August 2018, Larry Walther, director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, responded to a request from Barnes and concluded, "I am persuaded that under the facts as stated above, any ethical conflict is insubstantial or remote, and I grant permission to proceed with the contracts to such extent and upon such terms and conditions as specified in this letter."
Walther's letter noted that Arkansas Code Annotated 19-11-705 "prohibits state employees from participating directly or indirectly in any particular matter pertaining to any state agency contracts in which an employee or an employee's immediate family has a financial interest."
Walther noted that "the procurement processes" for the bookstore and post office contract took place before Barnes was a trustee.
"As long as you do not participate directly or indirectly in renewals or extensions of the existing BBA Solutions contracts with HSU, nor participate directly or indirectly in future procurements of the bookstore contract, post office contract, or other HSU procurement of any contracts in which you may have an interest, then HSU should be able to consider renewals and extensions, or bids and proposals, submitted by BBA Solutions without you violating" state law, Walther wrote.
The university has handled Barnes' resignation so quietly that Jones' assistant, Flora Weeks, apparently didn't even know about it last week when she texted Barnes to confirm that he would attend a May 3 board workshop at nearby DeGray Lake. Barnes replied, "Flora- Sorry Glen has not informed you, but I resigned as a trustee."
The seven-member board is deeply divided, making Barnes' departure of particular interest.
Barnes tended to vote with the majority in supporting Jones. Other reliable Jones supporters include Chairman Johnny Hudson, Bruce Moore and Ross Whipple. Trustees who more often disagree with Jones are Brown Hardman and Eddie Arnold. That casts Barnes' successor and the board's other new trustee, Megan Tollett, appointed in February, in interesting roles regarding the panel's more contentious issues.
Barnes' resignation email did not give a reason for his resignation. But in a text message to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, he said, "With [three] teenagers about to leave the house and [two] elderly parents with health issues, I needed to reprioritize my 'spare time,' like there is any, not to mention I'm trying to run my business."
State Desk on 05/09/2019