5 th Annual The best way to meet Facility Owners, Operators and Developers. Embassy Suites and Hotel and Convention Center

Transcription

1 12 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer 2009 Roll Door Review Arkansas Self Storage Association P.O. Box Little Rock, AR Presort Std US Postage PAID Permit No. 271 Little Rock 5 th Annual The best way to meet Facility Owners, Operators and Developers Lost Springs Golf Club, Rogers View golf course at and click golf courses, Arkansas, Rogers, Lost Springs. Facility Tours Cocktail Party and Roundtable Discussions Embassy Suites and Hotel and Convention Center Arkansas Lien Law Internet Marketing with and without a website Maintenance Tips to push rentals Other Topics to be announced* *Contact the A.S.S.A. with suggestions Embassy Suites and Hotel and Convention Center Lost Bridge Golf Club Local and National Vendors Keynote speaker T.B.A. New Board members to be elected

2 Summer 2009 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer Roll Door Review The only newsletter that gives a HOOT about the self storage industry in Arkansas Governor Beebe is a man of his word Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe fulfilled a campaign promise made to Bill Humble and the Arkansas Self Storage Association Board of Directors by signing Senate Bill 2 (SB2) into law. Senate Bill 2 eliminates the sales tax on storage rents effective July 1, SB2 reverses the actions of the 2003 Arkansas Legislature, who enacted a sales tax on the rents specifically from mini-warehouses and self storage. The sales tax was the catalyst that caused storage owners to wake up and band together to form the Arkansas Self Storage Association in The Arkansas Self Storage had one of the first Board of Directors meetings at the Pleasant Valley Country Club. At that meeting, officers were elected and a plan was developed. The first Board of Directors was Bill Humble, President, Michael Hall, Vice-President, Storm Nolan, Treasurer, Loren Whisenhunt, LeRoy Lemon, Bill Witcofski, Dennis Smith, Den Rogers and Randy West. One of the first jobs was to hire a lobbyist. The Mitchell- Williams Law Firm was retained as the attorney and lobbyist for the A.S.S.A. Because we were a first year association, we immediately set out to get members. We began calling every self storage facility we could to let them know of our plans to get the sales tax removed. We would spend entire days driving throughout the state visiting with other storage owners. We soon learned there are over 1,000 self storage businesses in Arkansas and maybe half are listed in a phone book. Due to the outrage to the sales tax, our membership grew to over 100 members within the first year. While continuing our fight against the sales tax, we knew this association needed to provide services and value to its members. All board members began to give out personal phone numbers and addresses to make ourselves available to our new members. We soon learned that a lot of owners did not have a good contract for there lease. We quickly developed a standard lease that was reviewed by our attorneys and made available to all members. We were also made aware of owners confusion with the Arkansas State Lien Law. To combat this, we began offering a free two Pictured left to right: Governor Mike Beebe, Rep. Gary Smith, Bill Humble, Sen. Bobby Glover hour seminar exclusively about the Arkansas Lien Law. To this day, we continue to add services to members: Affiliate Membership to the National Self Storage Association, Instructional Lien Law Books, Operation Manuals, Quarterly Newsletters, Web site, Yearly Expo and Luncheon. We also still HISTORY continued on page 3 Expectations high for annual ASSA golf tournament Enjoy a relaxing day and a bit of friendly competition at the annual ASSA Golf Tournament. This year s tournament will be held at the beautiful Lost Springs Golf Club in Rogers. More information and photos of the course can be found at www. lindseymanagement.com. This 18-hole championship course was built in It was designed by Lyndy Lindsey and features bentgrass greens, Bermuda fairways, tees, and rough, chipping greens, driving range, putting green and short game practice area. The golf tournament will be held Sept. 15 and costs $75. The entry fee also includes a lunch following the scramble. Expectations are high for this year s tournament as the past scrambles have been a huge success. In 2007, the Hot Springs Country Club hosted the event and last year s was held at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. Both had large turnouts. The ASSA Golf Tournament will kick off the 2009 Expo, where local self storage owners, managers and operators can convene for two full days of informative lectures and networking. The Expo will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center in Rogers. Vendors will be in place for browsing or to offer advice on new products or changes to the industry. Hotel reservations at Embassy Suites are available for a group discounted rate of $149 a night by using the group code AR3. The deadline for this special rate is Aug. 31. Reservations can be made by calling Expo registration is $75 for members or $100 for non members. Passes to the Expo Hall only are $25. For more information about the Arkansas Self Storage Association, the Expo or the golf tournament, call or visit on the inside Word from your president, page 2 Solar energy update, page 2 SB2 (as amended), page 6 SSA manager certification, page 8 Legal question answered, page 8 Facility of the year, page 8 Expo registration, page 9 For more information, visit or call

3 2 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer 2009 Your ASSA Board Members Jackie Brasuell, District 2 Toney s Sunnybrook Mini Storage, Van Buren j.brasuell@arssa.org a word from your president Kim Brown, District 9 Brown s Moving & Storage, Pine Bluff brownsmoving@sbcglobal.net Michael Hall, District 7 North Pulaski Storage, Jacksonville mg_hall@msn.com Bill Humble, District 7 U-Storit, Inc., Little Rock b.humble@u-storit.com LeRoy Lemon, District 4 Space World Moving & Storage, Russellville storagelemon@yahoo.com Bob Linch, District 8 Harrison Mini Storage, Harrison r.linch@arssa.org Keith Morris, District 5 AAA Storage + Climate Control, Paragould ikm@grnco.net Den Rogers, District 6 Crittenden Mini Storage, Marion drogers@glre.net Billy Sweester, District 1 Arkansas Self Storage LLC, Fayetteville billy@sweetserconstruction.com Loren Whisenhunt, District 3 The Space Center Self Storage, Mena lwhis2002@sbcglobal.net Billy Witcofski, District 1 Stor-Mart Super Storage Center, Rogers billy.witcofski@wilshar.com General Information carole@arssa.org For those of you out there who were non-believers you can now join the ranks of us who do. They say that the proof is in the pudding and the proof was made known when Governor Beebe signed SB2 into law almost a month ago now. We won t go into a lot of detail as there is another article in this edition which explains how and when we did it. We do want to thank each and every one of our members especially and some non-members also, who worked very hard to make SB2 a reality. Our Board members basically led the charge and you responded with your phone calls, s and letters to your legislators convincing a large majority of them to vote for the bill. Seems like this would be a good time for those non-members to get aboard and join this magnificent Association. We MUST remain vigilant and stay together to ward off any future attempts to infringe on our business. We promise we will keep our ear to the grindstone and head off future attempts in the coming months and years. I want to especially thank Mr. Bill Humble, Past President, Board Member and now Chairman of our Legislative Affairs Committee for his dedication and leadership in getting this issue resolved. Many others worked very hard, but Bill was out front in leadership. Things are shaping up very nicely for our fall meeting and expo which is just around the corner. The dates are September 15 and 16 in Rogers. We will have a lot of good speakers to inform you of the latest and greatest in the industry along with many exhibitors who will dazzle you with all the new products on the market. This year we will be taking a tour of two or three facilities on Tuesday afternoon. These have recently been built and have some features you won t want to miss. One has 1200 rooms and is filling up fast. We will also have some guests from the Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Chapters who will be very envious of our recent independence from sales tax. We have a new Executive Secretary in Little Rock and we are very pleased with her performance. She comes to us with experience in running Associations and we look forward to great things from her. Her name is Lisa Rew, her husband is Michael and they have a 16 year old son, Zackary. While I m here, I want to thank Carole Blanks for the five years she spent with us and wish her well in her new job with the State. One last thing, now that the tax issue and its expense is behind us we would like to advance some new programs for you, the members. Please sit down right now and write your own letter to the President and tell me what new programs would help you the most in your everyday business. I will take the issue to the Board and we will see what comes from it. You can me at storagelemon@yahoo.com, call me at or mail it to 122 Woods Ln, Russellville, AR I would of course rather have it in writing. How s that for transparency. Speaking of writing a letter to the President, we would love to have anyone of you write an editorial to be published in this newsletter as in letter to the editor. This could be on any subject pertaining to the Arkansas Storage Industry and would need to be of a constructive nature. Send these to me and I will assure you they will be published Don t forget to place the September date on your calendar. Also, elsewhere in this issue is a list of our legislators and how they voted for SB2. Be sure to make a point to thank them for their support and lets remember them during the next election cycle. Very sincerely yours LeRoy Lemon, President 2007,08 &09 Solar energy update The bill has been written to have payback for generating electricity. If this bill passes, the energy companies in Arkansas will be required to pay you double per kwh for the electricity you generate through solar power. The energy company will install a separate return meter that will measure the electricity you create.

4 Summer 2009 Arkansas Self Storage Association 11 The Arkansas Self Storage Association would like to publicly thank the Senators and Representatives who supported our industry by voting for Senate Bill 2. If your local Senator or Representative in listed below please take a moment to personally thank them for their Yes vote. B. Johnson B. Pritchard Bledsoe Bookout Broadway Bryles Capps Abernathy Adcock Allen Baird Marnett Betts Blount Bradford Burris, J Burris, M Carnine Carroll Carter Cash Sheatham Clemmer Cole Cook Creekmore Dale Davis Crumbly D. Wyatt Elliott Faris G. Baker G. Jeffress Glover Dickinson Dismang Dunn English Flowers Garner Groege Glidewell Green Greenberg Hardy Harrelson Hawkins Hobbs Hopper House Hoyt Hutchinson Ingram Kerr Governor Mike Beebe Senate House H. Wilkins Hendren Horn J. Jeffress J. Key J. Taylor Madison Miller Kidd King Lea Lewellen Lindsey Maloch Malon, S Martin Maxwell McCrary McLean Moore Nickels Nix Overbey Patterson Pennartz Perry Powers Pyle President, Arkansas Self Storage Association P. Malone R. Thompson Salmon Steele T. Smith Trusty Wilkinson Ragland Rainey Rice Roebuck Rogers, J Rogers, T Shelb Slinkard Smith, G Stewart Summers Tyler Wagner Webb Wells Wilkins, B Williams Woods Word

5 10 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer 2009 Sign up today for this year s ASSA Golf Tournament Deadline: Aug. 1 Cost: $75 (includes entry fee and lunch) Join in for a day of fun at the golf tournament on Sept. 15, while enjoying the beautiful Lost Springs Golf Club in Rogers. For more information about the golf course, visit For more information, call or visit

6 Summer 2009 HISTORY, continued from page 1 continue to have local meetings with speakers ranging from the state police speaking about Meth to legislative updates with our current lobbyist firm, Brent Stevenson Associates. We encountered many people who said we could never get a tax eliminated in Arkansas, but we had a plan. The first thing you need to get a bill passed is a sponsor. We needed somebody that had experience and respect across party lines. All the board members had some relationship with the Representatives and Senators in their area and it was decided to reach out to Senator Bobby Glover (D). Bill Humble and Senator Glover had been friends for some years and he had the experience and respect we needed. This was one of the best decisions we made as a new association. The second most important thing to get a tax eliminated in Arkansas is to get the Governor s support. It was an election year and Governor Huckabee was term limited, so Arkansas was getting a new Governor. Attorney General Mike Beebe (D) was running against Asa Hutchinson (R). We soon learned that Mr. Beebe was running on a platform to eliminate the sales tax on groceries and Senator Glover was going to help him fulfill that promise if elected. The Association soon saw this to be a popular issue with the voters of Arkansas and we reached out to the Beebe Campaign as an Association. Mr. Humble arranged for the Board of Directors to meet with Mr. Beebe about his vision for the state of Arkansas. We found out during that meeting that Mr. Beebe and our Association had common views on the sales tax on mini storages. The Arkansas Self Storage Association committed to help Mr. Beebe in his race for the Governor s office and Mr. Beebe promised our association that if we could get a bill on his desk to eliminate the tax that he would sign it into law. Our Association and its members worked tirelessly to support Mr. Beebe as the next Governor of Arkansas. After being elected Governor of Arkansas in 2006, Governor Beebe fulfilled that promise on April 8, 2009, when he signed Senate Bill 2 into law. With a new legislative session starting in 2007, and a new Governor, Senate Bill 15 was introduced into the Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation. We began our petition drive and collected over 100,000 signatures from Arkansans asking their Representatives and Senators to vote for Senate Bill 15 (SB15). We patiently waited as the bill to eliminate the sales tax on groceries moved through the Senate and House and on to the Governor s desk. We knew our bill could not begin its journey until that bill was through the entire Legislature. Once that happened, SB15 quickly moved out of committee and onto the Senate floor where it passed with only one no vote. SB15 then moved to the House Committee on Revenue and Taxation. SB15 was never brought up for a vote in the House Committee on Revenue and Taxation again during that session. With one session of experience under our belt and almost 2 years to plan, we began phase 2 of our goal to eliminate the sales tax. Our hard work during the 2007 Legislative session paid off literally when the National Self Storage Association, seeing our progress, supported our efforts with a $5,000 gift towards the fight. We spent the next two years continuing to contact state representatives and senators to let them know that we would be back and to expect to see us at the next session. We also monitored local elections to inform our members which candidates had supported our views on the elimination of the sales tax on storage rents. In the meantime we continued our local meetings, an Expo in Little Rock and Hot Springs, elected some new Board members and grew our membership to over 200 members. We averaged over 200 attendees at our Expos which help to make an impression on national vendors and making our yearly show a must attend event. We also worked with Congressman Vic Snyder (D) to have the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville removed from a list of military bases A.A.F.E.S. (Army and Air Force Exchange Service) was petitioning the House Arms Services Committee for the exclusive rights to operate mini-storage on these bases. With the 2009 Legislative session about to start, we hired Brent Stevenson Associates as our new lobbyist firm. B.S.A. had built a reputation as one of the best in Arkansas. Brent is also a storage owner and member of the A.S.S.A. With an established reputation as an association and Senator Glover s term limited, we knew this was our best chance to get this tax removed. Senator Glover introduced SB2 within the first week of the 2009 session. After numerous discussions regarding the declining economy, it was decided that we would amend the bill to change the effective date of the tax removal to By doing this, it made our bill easier to sell, and because it was two years out, it would not impact the current budget. Again we began having members call their local representatives and senators. With the help of B.S.A., we concentrated our efforts to just the elected members of the committee SB2 was currently in. Again SB2 quickly passed the Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation and the full Senate floor. Next was the House of Representatives, and with that, coverage in the media. Representative Gary Smith (D) was the bill sponsor in the House. SB2 made the statewide newspaper and our Association President, LeRoy Lemon, was interviewed on the evening news. It was a tough fight in the committee. Representative Maloch (D) spoke out against SB2 on the grounds that tax Arkansas Self Storage Association cuts of much lesser amounts had already been voted down by this committee. Representative Ed Garner (R) showed up big for the Association pointing out that this was a tax that singled out one section of the real estate market and, regardless of what they voted in the past, this was an unfair tax to people who needed our services the most. SB2 passed the committee by a tie-breaking vote from the Chairperson. It was now time for the full House to vote on SB2. After the rough ride through the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, Rep. Smith (D) began working on the other members of the House. Storage owners from across the state, some members and some not, worked tirelessly calling their Representatives asking them to support SB2. One week later, that hard work paid off. With some discussion from the floor, we again got a political lesson: Just because they speak against your bill and vote against it in committee, doesn t mean they will vote against it on the floor. SB2 passed the House floor 80 FOR and 7 AGAINST. On the House floor that day we heard the best political lesson yet when somebody from the floor asked Can this bill be changed at a later time? and somebody yelled out Anything can happen: IF YOU CAN GET THE VOTES. Amen. The Arkansas Self Storage Association would like to thank all the elected officials who voted for Senate Bill 2 during the 2009 Arkansas Legislative Session, especially Governor Beebe (D), Senator Glover (D) and Representative Smith (D). We are printing a list of all the Senators and Representatives who voted for SB2 in this newsletter and we would please ask you to call your Senator or Representative who is on that list and personally thank them for supporting you and your business. The A.S.S.A. would also like to thank the National Storage Association for their support in our efforts. The National Association donated $10,000 to our association to help with the expenses of the lengthy battle. A F F I L I A T E N E T W O R K TM MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFITS! THE WORLD OF SELF-STORAGE IN ONE AFFORDABLE PACKAGE ONLY $ PER MONTH NO LONG TERM COMMITMENT WebSelfStorage Management Software Safestor Tenant Insurance Storage Reservations Network Centralized Mailing Service [Now Including Certified Mail] Make more, pay less, and compete with the big brands! emove.com/arssa Call Center Service Payment Processing Online Advertising or call MY-EMOVE UH-8675-ARSSA-05/09 05/09 emove

7 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer 2009

8 Summer 2009 Arkansas Self Storage Association 9 Arkansas Self Storage Association 2009 Expo & General Meeting Tuesday & Wednesday September 15 & 16 Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center Rogers, Arkansas The best way to meet facility owners, operators and developers! ASSA 2009 Expo Registration Form MEMBERS Early Bird Full Expo (7/31/09) x $50 Name Company Name Address City, State, ZIP County Address Telephone Fax Please fill out the information, check the appropriate information and return with your check to: ASSA P.O. Box 55715, Little Rock, AR Please call for questions or information. Print credit card form from the Web site for Visa and Mastercard. Full Expo x $75 Expo Hall Only x $25 NON MEMBERS Early Bird Full Expo (7/31/09) x $75 Full Day Pass x $100 Expo Hall Only x $25 Total due

9 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer 2009 What s new in the news SSA manager certification course update The MCC full course modules and certification testing are now available online. You will be able to log on and watch each module at your leisure from your favorite computer. You will also be able to complete the course by taking your certification exam online. Ginny Stengal stated that the exam session will take about 10 hours to complete. However, the SSA is allowing 10 days for completion of this phase. In this 10-hour session, you will take the exam and your first six credits. This will assure your certification for two years. However, you must continue your education to keep the CSSM designation. You will be able to take part of the yearly credits online. At any point, you may attend either the spring or fall SSA Expo and receive your credits necessary (if you attend the correct seminars). A reader s question: Self storage operator inquires about liability of providing access to unit Q: A space. She had the key but did not customer s wife wanted to remove property from her husband s storage know the gate code. We do not give out gate codes except to tenants. A person called identifying himself as the tenant and stated he had forgotten the code as well. We asked him three questions: (1) his driver s license number; (2) the space number; and (3) the credit card number we have on file. He was able to answer all three questions and we gave him the code. The wife removed the property and the husband is telling us that he and his wife have separated. He never wanted her to have access to the space, and he has threatened legal action. Are we liable? A: This is an interesting question and self storage operators must have policies in place so site personnel have a procedure for dealing with telephone account information requests. You could be liable to the husband if your actions are found to be negligent. So the question is: Did you act reasonably under the circumstances? You have a procedure in place that requires anyone seeking access code to provide unique personal information before you will provide the code. In this instance the caller had information that only the tenant would have readily accessible. The type of information you require is similar to that required by a bank or credit card company before they will disclose sensitive information over the telephone. So your basic approach to giving out telephone information appears reasonable. We also note that while the wife did not have the code, she had the key to the storage unit. Unless you had notice that there was hostility between the wife and husband, your conduct in this case appears reasonable and would be difficult to prove you acted wrongly facility of the year built by local builder Security Self Storage of Weslake, Ohio, was named Facility of the Year for Paramount Metal Systems of Little Rock was the builder of this grand project. The Arkansas Self Storage Association and Paramount Metal Systems have had an active partnership since ASSA s inception in Paramount Metal Systems has been a major sponsor of the ASSA throughout this time.

10 Summer 2009 Arkansas Self Storage Association

11 Arkansas Self Storage Association Summer 2009 Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to the law as it existed prior to this session of the General Assembly State of Arkansas 87th General Assembly As Engrossed: S1/29/09 S3/2/09 A Bill Regular Session, 2009 SENATE BILL 2 By: Senator Glover For An Act To Be Entitled AN ACT TO REPEAL THE GROSS RECEIPTS TAX ON MINI- WAREHOUSE AND SELF-STORAGE RENTAL SERVICES UPON CERTAIN CONDITIONS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Subtitle TO REPEAL THE GROSS RECEIPTS TAX ON MINI-WAREHOUSE AND SELF-STORAGE RENTAL SERVICES UPON CERTAIN CONDITIONS. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: SECTION 1. Arkansas Code (a), concerning services subject to the gross receipts tax, is amended to read as follows: Services subject to tax. (a) The gross proceeds or gross receipts derived from the following services are subject to this chapter: (1) Wrecker and towing services; (2) Collection and disposal of solid wastes; (3) The cleaning of parking lots and gutters; (4) Dry cleaning and laundry services; (5) Industrial laundry services; (6) Mini-warehouse and self-storage rental services; (7)(6) Body piercing, tattooing, and electrolysis services; (8)(7) Pest control services; (9)(8) Security and alarm monitoring services; (10)(9) Boat storage and docking fees; (11)(10) The furnishing of camping spaces or trailer spaces at *LMG060* :22 LMG060

12 Summer 2009 As Engrossed: S1/29/09 S3/2/09 Arkansas Self Storage Association SB public or privately-owned campgrounds, except for federal campgrounds, on less than a month-to-month basis; (12)(11) Locksmith services; and (13)(12) Pet grooming and kennel services. SECTION 2. Arkansas Code , concerning the imposition of the gross receipts tax on services, is amended to add a new subsection to read as follows: (c)(1) The gross proceeds or gross receipts derived from miniwarehouse and self-storage rental services are subject to this chapter. (2) Effective July 1, 2011, the gross receipts tax levied on mini-warehouse and self-storage rental services levied under , , and under this section is repealed. /s/ Glover :22 LMG060