Agenda Highlights 1/23/24
The Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting scheduled for 1-23-24 will kick off with a presentation from Shane Sengalli from Water Company of America to discuss a potential contract with the City for Water Company of America to review the water and sewer utilities billing system to try to find ways to recapture lost revenue including finding unbilled and misbilled utility services. The proposed contract would be for 4 years and Water Company of America would be paid 50% of increased utilities revenues for that 4 years. The City would only be charged if WCA finds lost revenue, but the company’s previous performance in other cities indicates it would be unlikely for them to report not finding any at all.
The Board will discuss the business fees implemented in 2018 that go to the Police Department. The fees are $100 per year for all businesses except for mobile food vendors whose fees are $150 per year. In 2023, 3554 business licenses were issued with 548 of them being new applications. Payments from business license fees brought in $359,520. Late fees for business licenses brought in $78,700. The Police Department has used the funds from businesses licenses to fund purchases of an Incident Response Vehicle, police and detective vehicles, and Animal Control vehicles and equipment and also to help fund a 24% pay raise for Police Department Employees.
The Board will hear an update on the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants process in which the City (in partnership with the State, WAPDD, Frontier MPO, Metroplan, and NWA Regional Planning Commission) has applied for a $4.3 billion dollar grant from the EPA for regional programs to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The Board will also hear an update on the Energy and Environment Innovation Action Plan that was submitted as part of the application process for the grant.
The Board will hear an update from newly elected Fort Smith Animal Haven Board President Mike Ballman regarding the shelter’s new location and current activities.
