The City of Bentonville is working to translate rapid growth into safer neighborhoods and long-term infrastructure resilience by advancing a comprehensive, data-driven stormwater and floodplain framework. The FUSE Executive Fellow will lead cross-departmental coordination to establish a clear citywide stormwater framework and move forward a coordinated implementation strategy that aligns infrastructure planning, land-use policy, parks integration, and regional coordination to reduce flood risk and support resilient development. This is a two-year fellowship, with Year One focused on discovery, framework development, and initial implementation, and Year Two focused on scaling solutions and embedding sustainable watershed management practices within City operations.

Fellowship Dates: October 26, 2026 - October 20, 2028

Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual salary of $95,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. This amount is not representative of market-rate salaries for the experienced professionals in our program but is intended as compensation for a year of public service.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Strategic stormwater and floodplain planning is critical to ensure that rapid growth translates into safe neighborhoods, protected property, and long-term infrastructure resilience. When cities proactively model watershed conditions and align development with natural drainage patterns, they can reduce flood risk, safeguard housing stability, and integrate water management with parks, open space, and community amenities. Data-driven stormwater planning also supports equitable growth by preventing unintended downstream impacts and ensuring that infrastructure investments benefit a broad range of residents, including those living in older neighborhoods with aging systems. Without comprehensive modeling and coordinated planning, fast-growing cities risk increasing localized flooding, shifting impacts onto adjacent properties, and missing opportunities to align infrastructure with sustainable development.

Bentonville, Arkansas, has experienced sustained population and economic growth, increasing pressure on its stormwater systems as development expands into flood-prone areas and previously undeveloped land. Portions of the city were built before modern detention standards were adopted, and legacy drainage systems were not designed for today's intensity of rainfall events. As upstream headwaters within a regional creek system, Bentonville's stormwater decisions affect downstream communities throughout Northwest Arkansas and the Illinois River watershed. Localized flooding can disrupt daily life, damage property, and create disproportionate burdens for households with limited financial flexibility to recover from repeated impacts. In recent years, the City completed a focused downtown stormwater study and infrastructure improvements funded through a voter-approved bond, demonstrating that detailed modeling and targeted investment can significantly reduce risk. Bentonville maintains strong floodplain management standards, is adopting a new Unified Development Code, and is implementing a Parks Master Plan, all of which create momentum for more integrated and forward-looking stormwater planning.

Bentonville will partner with FUSE through a two-year Executive Fellowship to build a comprehensive, citywide stormwater framework and translate that foundation into a long-term implementation strategy, capital improvement plan, and sustainable funding approach. Ultimately, this partnership will position Bentonville to move from reactive drainage responses to proactive watershed management, supporting resilient growth and shared community benefits across Northwest Arkansas.

PROJECT APPROACH

Beginning in Fall 2026, the FUSE Executive Fellow will work with the City of Bentonville's Mayor's Office, Engineering Department, and Planning Department to advance a stormwater and floodplain framework and implementation plan that supports resilient growth and long-term infrastructure sustainability. Through this two-year fellowship, the fellow will help coordinate watershed management, reduce flood risk, and integrate planning that aligns infrastructure, land use, parks, and economic growth. The fellow's work will focus on coordinating technical inputs, strengthening cross-departmental alignment, and building practical systems that guide proactive development and infrastructure decisions.

The fellow will begin with a 90-day period of in-depth discovery and assessment. During this phase, the fellow will conduct a comprehensive listening tour with key stakeholders, including the Mayor's Office, Engineering and GIS staff, Planning and Parks leadership, Finance, City Council members, regional planning partners, watershed organizations, and key landowners. This process will surface insights into existing drainage challenges, development pressures, regulatory requirements, and opportunities for collaboration. The fellow will lead a landscape assessment of prior stormwater studies, floodplain data, development trends, FEMA requirements, and regional watershed plans to inform development of the framework and implementation priorities. The fellow will assess current development review practices, capital planning processes, and stormwater maintenance protocols, and research best practices from comparable fast-growing communities that have successfully implemented citywide stormwater models, regional detention strategies, and stormwater utilities.

Drawing on insights from the discovery phase, the fellow will refine project goals, priorities, and anticipated Year One deliverables for review and approval by City leadership. This step will ensure alignment with local conditions and departmental priorities before moving into implementation.

During Year One, the fellow will focus on establishing the stormwater framework and initiating the implementation plan. This will include overseeing development of a citywide stormwater model, coordinating data inputs across departments, and managing consultant engagement for technical modeling as needed. The fellow will work closely with Engineering and GIS staff to ensure that technical tools align with operational needs and can be sustainably maintained within City processes. Drawing on modeling results and departmental input, the fellow will help identify priorities for flood risk reduction and regional detention opportunities that may also support parks, greenways, or open space goals. Throughout the year, the fellow will support structured stakeholder engagement with developers, landowners, and regional partners to explore incentive-based strategies and coordinated watershed approaches.

The fellow will also develop practical tools and processes that strengthen data-informed development review and capital planning. This may include piloting enhanced development evaluation processes, aligning stormwater planning with the Unified Development Code and Parks Master Plan, and improving internal workflows for cross-department coordination. Where appropriate, the fellow may support early implementation efforts to test regional detention concepts or capital planning scenarios, while remaining flexible as priorities evolve based on ongoing findings.

By the end of Year One, the fellow will have established a coordinated stormwater planning foundation, stronger cross-department alignment, and increased institutional capacity to guide resilient development. The fellow and City leadership will collaborate to define more specific goals, success measures, and scope for the second year of the fellowship, informed by lessons learned and early progress in year one.

The second year will focus on deepening implementation, advancing capital improvement planning, refining a stormwater utility framework, and embedding sustainable governance and funding systems within City operations. By the end of Year Two, the north star of this fellowship is for Bentonville to operate with an institutionalized, proactive watershed management approach that reduces flood risk, supports equitable neighborhood protection, strengthens regional coordination, and enables resilient long-term growth.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

By Fall 2027, at the end of Year One, the fellow is expected to have:

• Delivered a Citywide Stormwater Planning and Resilience Framework: Directed multi-departmental coordination to establish priorities, align stormwater investments with citywide development and parks plans, and advance an integrated, long-term approach to flood risk reduction and infrastructure strategy.
• Defined a Regional Detention Strategy and Site Portfolio: Identified and evaluated high-potential regional detention locations and developed preliminary partnership, land acquisition, and incentive-based implementation concepts to support multi-benefit outcomes.
• Developed Capital Planning and Funding Scenarios: Created preliminary capital improvement cost estimates and evaluated sustainable funding options, including a high-level stormwater utility framework to guide long-term investment discussions.
• Established Internal Decision-Support Tools and Protocols: Built and piloted standardized workflows and guidance that embed model-informed stormwater analysis into development review and cross-department planning processes.

By Fall 2028, at the end of Year Two, the fellow is expected to have supported the following high-level outcomes:

• Institutionalized a Citywide Stormwater Capital and Funding Strategy: Advanced a Council-ready capital improvement plan and recommended funding structure that supports sustained infrastructure investment and maintenance.
• Embedded a Proactive Watershed Management Framework: Established durable systems, governance practices, and regional coordination mechanisms that enable Bentonville to guide resilient, equitable growth over the long term.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

• Executive Sponsor - Stephanie Orman, Mayor of Bentonville
• Project Supervisor - Dan Weese, Transportation Director of Bentonville

QUALIFICATIONS

• 15+ years of progressively responsible experience in organizational transformation and change management, from practitioner to enterprise-level leadership.
• Synthesizes complex information into clear and concise recommendations and action-oriented implementation plans.
• Develops and effectively implements both strategic and operational project management plans.
• Generates innovative, data-driven, and result-oriented solutions to complex challenges.
• Respond quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies, and other processes.
• Communicates effectively verbally and in writing and excels in active listening and conversing.
• Fosters collaboration across multiple constituencies to support more effective decision-making.
• Establishes and maintains strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, both inside and outside of government, particularly community-based relationships.
• Embraces differing viewpoints and implements strategies to find common ground. Demonstrates confidence and professional diplomacy while effectively interacting with individuals at all levels of various organizations.