Over the past eight years, North Little Rock has seen downtown revitalized, large corporations move to town and financial stability under Mayor Joe Smith's watch, but the retiring mayor wants his legacy to be one of pure love for his hometown.
Smith has only a few days left as mayor, but he plans to keep working until the last minute.
"I will be working right up until the last day," Smith said with a laugh during an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "As you can see I am still in my office."
In the corner of his desk was an article he wrote to the city in which he speaks in his own words.
"For eight years, we have governed, dedicated to the betterment of our city," he said in the article. "We have faced obstacles, both ordinary and unique. We have solved the problems. We have brought people together. And we have made some mistakes -- everyone does. We have always asked these crucial questions: What have we learned? How can we do better? What did we get correct? Looking back is a path to understand, and we could all use more understanding. If we want to repeat our success, it is essential to recognize and remember them."
In 1989, Smith began a new career working for former Mayor Pat Hayes as his assistant for 22 of the 24 years he was mayor.
"When he decided to retire, it was my opinion that we had made so many inroads in making North Little Rock a special place that I didn't want it to stop," said Smith, who took office in 2012. "I wasn't young enough to retire at that point, so I thought if the citizens of North Little Rock would give me an opportunity then I would love to be their mayor and continue the progress."
Smith said his main goal was to finish the revitalization of downtown
"If covid hadn't hit us we would have had one or maybe two more buildings and another 500 employees downtown," he said. "We have made great inroads in turning our downtown into something special, a place where people want to live, work and play."
The other goal was to get the city completely financially sound.
"So that we can weather any storm, any pandemics, tornadoes, depressions, and thank goodness the citizens trusted me enough to approve the penny sales tax in 2017," Smith said. "We have been able to secure the financial future of North Little Rock for a long time."
Mayor-elect Terry Hartwick said the sales-tax passage was one of Smith's greatest accomplishments.
North Little Rock voters approved the 1% city sales tax in August 2017 that included a five-year, 0.5% tax that would go toward building a new police and courts building, improving fire stations, and correcting street and drainage problems citywide.
"You are seeing the things we are using the funds for pop-up all over the city with new streets and drainage and new fire stations and new firetrucks, and of course the crowning building of it all is the Justice Center," Smith said, calling the passage of the sales tax one of the most memorable moments of his tenure.
Unlike many cities, North Little Rock has had only three mayors over the past 30 years.
"This is a large small town, and the last three mayors have all been born and raised in North Little Rock and have deep family ties and a deep love for our city as our hometown," Smith said. "I think that our voters are very smart, that they understand that continuity of leadership works because this job is very difficult and coming in knowing how to manage the city is certainly a step up as far as the voting citizens are concerned."
Smith said in September of 2019 that he knew it was time to step away from the mayor's position. At that point, Argenta Plaza was complete and the First Orion deal was in hand. Smith realized he had succeeded in what he set out to do.
"I would like to go out on top, and I was about 30 years into my career and I know I was going to be going into 31 years and 69 years old in 2020," he said. "I decided at that point in time it was probably time for me to go."
Smith said there is a long list of things he wishes he could accomplish before leaving office, including a Ferris wheel on the river, cabins at Burns Park and a resort type venue at exit 150 to house soccer teams, golfers and tennis players and the completion of the Power Ice Building.
"If a mayor goes out of office and thinks he got everything done then he didn't have high expectations," he said. "But we have been very successful economically development-wise, so I am very pleased at where we are right now."
Amazon.com Inc. confirmed this month that it will open a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center next year in North Little Rock, a facility that will initially employ more than 500 full-time workers.
Smith called the Amazon center the capstone of his career.
"My entire eight years as mayor has been a labor of love, because I love my city and I wanted it to succeed," Smith said. "I think over the past eight years we have done that."
Smith's legacy will be a simple one, Hartwick said.
"Joe's legacy will be that he was a damn good mayor."