JoAnne Bush

JoAnne H. Bush began her public service career 51 years ago as City Clerk of her hometown, Lake Village, Arkansas. Mayor Bush’s employment started with the City of Lake Village on October 15, 1972. In 1991, she was sworn in as the town's first woman mayor and began her service to the city, Chicot County, Southeast Arkansas, and to the whole the state. In all, Mayor Bush served eighteen years as City Clerk and twenty-eight years as Mayor of her hometown. Bush retired as Lake Village mayor on December 31, 2018.

Mayor Bush has served on the Local Police and Fire Investment (LOPFI) Board under three different governors, chairing LOPFI, and bringing her own unbending sense of honesty and fair play to that institution. She served in these capacities from 1995 – 1997; 1999 – 2013 and chaired the Board from August 1999 to December 2013. Since its inception, Mayor Bush holds the single honor of being the first woman to serve on and chair the LOPFI Board, which oversees millions of dollars in retirement benefits for police and fire personnel in Arkansas.

In 2009, Mayor Bush served as the longest-tenured woman president of the Arkansas Municipal League (AML), which is a service and advocacy organization, and lead all five hundred municipalities—both large and small. JoAnne served with distinction on numerous AML boards, the executive committee, and the past presidents advisory council serving Arkansas cities and towns.

Bush represented tens of thousands of cities at the national level as a member of the National League of Cities (NLC) serving on committees such as the Finance, Administration, and Intergovernmental Relations Steering Committee, including the NLC Board of Directors. Also, at the national level, Mayor Bush was asked to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee of Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry due to her expertise at the local government level. She is a former board member of the Southeast Arkansas Chief Elected Officials Board, the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District, the Southeast Arkansas Solid Waste Board, and has served as a governor's appointee to the Chief Information Officer Council for the State of Arkansas. Mayor Bush also served on the Arkansas Delta By-Ways Board holding the position of Vice-President of the South Region. Currently, Mayor Bush serves as a Commissioner of the Arkansas Natural Resources Division and serves on the Executive Committee of the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation.

She has served as Chair for the Chicot County Housing Assistance Corporation. Between 1997 and 1998, as Chair, she oversaw the construction of one hundred self-help built, new houses in her community which are still thriving, viable homes today. Mayor Bush's hard work has not gone unnoticed.

In 2000, the Arkansas House of Representatives presented her with a special citation for her dedication and hard work performed for her town. As noted above, in 2002, she received the Arkansas Municipal League's Twenty-Five Years of Service Award and the Arkansas Department of Rural Services recognized Mayor Bush with the 2004-2005 Rural Advocate of the Year Award. This honor was presented in recognition for a lifetime of achievements and outstanding leadership and dedicated service to the people of rural Arkansas. The 2008 award from the Win Paul Rockefeller Leadership Award went to Mayor Bush for the great assistance and guidance she showed in establishing the Chicot County Literacy Council. Her own community recognizes her worth honoring her not once, but twice as the Lake Village Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year in 1983 and again in 2001.

Although Mayor Bush has received personal accolades for her work around the State, she is extremely proud of the achievements of her city. Lake Village was recognized as Volunteer Community of the Year by the Arkansas Department of Tourism and Governor Huckabee. Lake Village also won the prestigious Henry Award for Community Tourism at the Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism. The Arkansas Wildlife Federation Conservation bestowed their Award for Outstanding Contributions given Lake Village’s wise use and management of the Nation’s resources. JoAnne was the only woman and a founding Board Member of the State Aid Street Committee. This committee was charged with creating policy on how street money would be equitably distributed throughout the state of Arkansas.

During her twenty-eight years as mayor of Lake Village, JoAnne was responsible for seeking out and receiving funding for the renovation of Lake Village’s historic Tushek building, built in 1906, and restoring it to as much original decor as possible. This building is the City Municipal Complex and houses all city employees under the same roof. Not only was the new municipal complex restored using grant money in the amount of over two million dollars, the more than 100-year-old complex possesses LEED certification, making it one of the very few buildings to achieve this certification and the first in the Arkansas delta region.

Most recently, due to the leadership and example of Mayor Bush, the City of Lake Village was awarded the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Fitness Award for the City’s exceptional leadership in physical activity and health for Arkansas Citizens. The City of Lake Village was one out of only two cities in the state of Arkansas awarded this honor.

Mayor Bush is married to 1st Lt. Eddy Bush who retired from the Arkansas Highway Police and is now the current mayor of Lake Village. JoAnne has a daughter, Whitnee Vencill Bullerwell, who is married to Mike Bullerwell. They reside in Little Rock. Mayor Bush is the proud “MeeMee” of Emilee Anne Bullerwell who is a fifth grader at Pulaski Academy. She also has two bonus daughters and bonus grandchildren, Beverly Bush of Searcy—who is mom to Collier and Amy Saunders of Benton, who is married to Brent Saunders, and have two children, Jack, and Sophie. Mayor Bush is a member of the Lake Village Assembly of God Church.

Simply put, Mayor Bush loves her Lord, her family, her city, and her state!