Agenda Highlights 12/19/23

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting scheduled for 12-19-23, the Board will vote on a request from the Fort Smith Housing Authority to abandon the right of way on part of Lexington Avenue as part of the development of a new housing subdivision at the site of the old Bailey Hill Reservoir. The matter was discussed at the 12-5-23 meeting and the Board voted unanimously at that meeting to open the public hearing required as part of the right-of-way abandonment process.

The Board will vote on zoning for 6.19 unzoned undeveloped acres at 7600 Wells Lake Road to allow for development of The District, a mixed-use development consisting of 5 commercial and 6 multi-family residential lots and a detention pond with a fountain.

The Board will vote on an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that would reduce the size of the lot required to build a single or two family residence from the current 50 ft wide and 5000 square ft in area to 35 ft wide and 3500 square ft in area. The Planning Commission is proposing the change to help with infill and save property owners the hassle of having to apply for a variance to build on the smaller lots. The change if approved would potentially affect 500 lots in the city.

The Board will vote on whether to put a .5% sales tax to fund water utilities on the March primary election ballot for the public to vote on. The tax and proposals for increased water rates were discussed at the 12-12-23 study session.

The Board will vote on whether to approve the 2024 base budget plus the top 21 prioritized items on the new needs budget request list.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with RUN Group for $115,846.80 for design service for consent decree sewer work and whether to contract with Vortex Services for $21,856,895 for consent decree required sewer repair and capacity improvement work including 55,774 feet of pipe and 624 manholes. The Vortex contract was tabled at the 12-5-23 meeting because of a memo received from some local contractors who did not bid on the project (Vortex was the only bidder) but were now interested in it. City Administrator Geffken asked the Board to table the item and have the project rebid before the end of the year. The contract with Vortex is back on the agenda as a result of discussion at the 12-12-25 study session in which the Board was informed that Vortex would be working in partnership with local company Royal Ridge. Royal Ridge would be performing 50% of the work. The Board was unaware when they tabled the measure originally that a local company was involved.

The Board will vote on whether or not to approve the Capital Improvement Plans for IT, Solid Waste, Police, Water, Wastewater, and Consent Decree sewer work. These CIP plans were discussed at the 11-28-23 study session.

The Board will vote on contracting with Van Horn Construction for $12,924,243 and Hawkins-Weir Engineers for $1,236,377 for work on the Maybranch Outfall culvert.

The Board will vote on whether to accept bids from APAC, River Valley Quarries, and Mid-Continent Concrete, Eagle Ready Mix, and Emery Sapp to allow for the purchase of aggregates, sand, concrete, and asphalt material.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with Crafton Tull for design for the new Creekmore Pool bath house and diving well and assessment of the existing pool equipment for a total of $567,800.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with Crawford Construction Company for $616,073.50 for realignment of 328 feet of concrete encased 66 inch steel casing pipe to accommodate I-49. The total cost of the project will be reimbursed in full by ARDOT.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with JA Riggs Tractor for $115,731.94 to have a re-manufactured engine installed in the Caterpillar compactor at the landfill that is in need of engine replacement. The repair would give the compactor an additional 2 years of life. To buy a new compactor to replace the existing one instead would cost $1.3 million and would be expected to last 5 years.