Agenda Highlights 11/15/22
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors regular business meeting scheduled for 11-15-22, the Board will vote on a change to the municipal code section pertaining to “care of premises” that would add tents and camping accessories to the list of things that are outlawed for outdoor storage including inoperable vehicles, furniture, tires, rubbish, etc. This change is proposed in response to the increased number of people living in tents on vacant lots on both public land and private property without the consent of the owners. Under current codes, tents are not classified as habitable dwellings.
The Board will vote on entering a $1,827,533 contract for the engineering for Phase 5 of the water transmission line project that will run a 48 inch water line from Lake Fort Smith. This issue was tabled at the October 18 meeting to allow for further consideration and to make some changes to the plans originally proposed at that time. The new plan includes a change to the re-routing near Arkansas Colleges of Health Education that will use the existing right-of-way to minimize the impact on Phoenix Metals and Chaffee Cottages and will include additional studies on that part of the project including its environmental impacts.
The Board will vote on whether to approve the 5 year capital improvement plans for the Parks, Police, Fire, and Solid Waste departments and the Streets equipment and Sidewalks. These plans were presented and discussed at the October 11, 2022 study session meeting.
The Board will also vote on approval of the Transit Asset Management 5 year plan also presented and discussed at the October 11 meeting detailing the condition of all of the Transit assets including vehicles and buildings and plans for their eventual replacement. This Transit Asset Management 5 year plan must be submitted to the federal government annually in order to qualify for federal funding.
The Board will vote on a contract with Riggs Caterpillar for $91,334.89 for repairs on a Caterpillar D8T bulldozer for the landfill.
The Board will vote a $3,659,334.50 contract with Vortex Lining Systems for installation of cured in place pipe lining for Carnall outfall storm sewer line repairs.
In a special study session scheduled for immediately following the regular business meeting, the Board will discuss the 5 year capital improvement plans for Streets Drainage and Bridges. This issue was discussed at the October 11 meeting and was scheduled to be discussed again following changes in response to that discussion. The changes from the original plan that will be included in the plan to be discussed 11-15-22 include pushing back the planned Kelley Highway to Riverfront Drive extension to not begin until 2025, increased funding for the flooded residence buyout program and for Maybranch drainage projects, and increasing the percentage of revenues allocated for to street overlays to 50% of the estimated expected revenues. Street overlay projects that were added to the plan include Phoenix from Towson to Jenny Lind, Old Greenwood from Cliff Drive to Phoenix, and Albert Pike from Kelley Highway to Virginia Avenue. The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority has been contacted about cost sharing on the resurfacing of Veterans Avenue. Fort Smith Public Schools has been contacted about cost sharing on the drainage project near the Peak Innovation Center.
The water and wastewater ten year capital improvement plans will be discussed that were originally scheduled to be discussed at the October 11 meeting, but were tabled because of the length of the meeting.
