Don Marr served on the Fayetteville Planning Board from 1996 to 2001. From 2002 to 2006 he represented Ward 2 as their City Councilman. After encouraging Lioneld Jordan to run for mayor, Don Marr became Jordan’s campaign manager in 2008. When Jordan took office in 2009, Marr transitioned to Fayetteville Chief of Staff, running the city’s day to day operations for more than a decade, until he stepped down in 2020.
While serving on City Council together Marr and Jordan became friends, though their backgrounds were very different. Jordan was a union man living a simply lifestyle. Marr was living a different lifestyle, driving a BMW and living in a big house, while owing money here, there and yonder.
During the time Lioneld Jordan and Don Marr were on City Council, developer Brandon Barber was wheeling and dealing around Fayetteville. He wanted to put up a high rise across from the Dickson Street post office. Alderman Lioneld Jordan voted no, Marr voted yes. Eventually Brandon Barber’s business practices bought him prison time.
When Marr stepped down as Fayetteville Chief of Staff in January of this year his salary was around $131, 456 and his annualized benefits paid by the city were $22,249.42. The mayor’s salary was around $131, 352.00 and his annualized benefits were $25,054.86. The FOI for this information was actually made in the fall of 2019 so the figures were likely different by January 2020.
Many of us working on Lioneld Jordan’s first run for mayor were unaware of Marr’s financial fiasco. It surfaced in 2012 when Jordan was up for re-election as mayor. Tony Hernandez’s NWA online article June 14, 2011 states “Don Marr, the top executive in Mayor Lioneld Jordan’s administration, faces a lawsuit in which he’s accused of lying to convince a Fayetteville physician to co-sign a $165,000 loan then failing to make required payments.”
August 15, 2012 Joel Walsh & Tony Hernandez’s article in the NWA Times, “Marr Settles Dispute, Judge Approves Financial Repayment”. Marr was ordered to pay $140,000 plus interest to Dr. Michael Holloman who had co-signed a note from the Bank of Fayetteville for $165,000. “Holloman claimed in his lawsuit Marr came to him explaining a former employer had accused Marr of embezzlement and he risked facing criminal charges if he didn’t repay the company.” No criminal charges were filed.
Other debts mentioned in the article include $3,080 in unpaid wages and vacation time, plus interest, court costs and attorney fees to Marr’s right hand woman, Carole Hipskind. Why would Carole gamble having to pay fees when she might not get her money from Marr, it was about principles. Carole was always at Don’s office. We, (Jordan for Mayor), campaign volunteers spent a good bit of time up there, in the Ball Building just off the Square. Though it was a beautiful, huge office space with a nice view, Carole was the only person there. That seemed odd.
I wasn’t aware that when Mayor Jordon hired Marr, that Marr would be allowed time off to work his private HR business. I wasn’t aware Marr’s BMW car would be repossessed so the city would provide his transportation, or he’d have to move from the big house in which Lioneld’s campaign meetings were held.
The August 2012 article outlined Marr’s city job. As the mayor’s right hand man “the chief of staff is responsible for implementation of mayoral and council policies, working with the mayor to prepare an annual budget, supervising department and division heads, researching and reviewing a variety of projects and representing the mayor at meetings when needed, according to a city job description.”
Mike Masterson’s August 21, 2012 article, titled “Making Headlines-again” outlines more Marr money problems, $142,000 in state and federal tax liens. Masterson goes on to say he counted nine legal actions filed against Marr by various citizens, businesses and agencies. “Collectively they are aimed at retrieving debts, with interest, that total at least $306,000.” “In fact the resulting news accounts since last year have explored shortfalls so colossal that despite tax-funded compensation of well over six figures, Marr says he’d enjoy wining the lottery to repay them all.”
“The Disappearing Man” by Brady Tackette posted on October 21, 2012 in the UA paper, The Traveler. The article discusses companies to whom Marr owed money, listing The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal as one and Staffmark as another. The article also notes, “... an unknown number of Marr’s debts remain.”
The article relays Marr’s career in the Human Resource, (HR), field, before becoming Fayetteville’s City Manager. He rose quickly from Brewer Personnel Services to Staffmark which was a small company with only ten employees. Marr told the reporter that during his ten year stint with Staffmark the company transformed into a $1.2 billion international enterprise.
Marr went on to found two HR companies, BOSS and HR Factor. “Managing the companies allowed him a flexible schedule, which became more important during his service as an alderman. The companies also provided something Marr consistently strived for: financial control.”
“HR Factor and BOSS crashed during the 2008 recession, leaving Marr with few assets and a list of unpaid business partners.”
I witnessed Marr’s focused and strong work ethic. It was his poor judgement that caused me concern. One example was during the mayor’s re-election cycle in 2012, when the city was collecting all types of plastic, for which there was no market. The plastics were collected at the 15th Street Drop Off Center.
The baled mess sat on the city lot for almost two years before being shipped down to Louisiana. IN 2012 when I confronted Marr by phone he told me the mayor was up for re election and taking all these plastics was what the voters wanted, so the collection would continue until election season was over. Oh boy.
Stacy Ryburn writes in his January 20, 2020 article, “City Chief of Staff Steps Down”, Mayor Jordan’s speaking about Don Marr, “He always knew what I was thinking, If somebody came in with some kind of project or something, he knew exactly what I’d do.”