Agenda Highlights 5/9/23

The Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting scheduled for 5-9-23 will begin with discussion about the potential for an indoor sport complex. Conventions, Sports, and Leisure International’s Bill Krueger who conducted the feasibility study about the complex will be in attendance to discuss interest in pursuing the project and what the next steps would be if the City were to pursue the project. The study started in November of 2021 and the results of the finished study were presented and discussed at a study session held June 14, 2023. The study found that there is a moderately strong to strong demand for a facility. Volleyball, basketball, wrestling, soccer, and off-season training for field sports are the core recommended uses for the facility. It is recommended that the facility be publicly owned by the city but managed by a private management company. The recommended facility would be a 120,000 sq ft building on 10 acres and include 8 hardwood basketball courts (that can also be divided to serve as 16 volleyball courts), a regulation size indoor turf field, a walking track, food court, and locker rooms with optional space for performances and e-sports. The main reason recommended for the city to invest in the facility would be the economic impact of attracting tourists. On the weekends the facility could be booked for tournaments bringing in lots of participants, but the weekdays could also provide added community benefit by being used by local residents.

The construction cost of the facility is estimated to be $31.2 million. After the 4th full year of operation, it is predicted that the facility would generate an annual profit of $319,000, an annual city tax revenue of $.76 million, and an annual economic impact of $42.4 million.

Randy Johnson of OVG360 who is the General Manager of the Fort Smith Convention Center will present a review of the Convention Center’s accomplishments in 2022.

The Board will discuss potential changes to which department handles utilities billing and customer service.

One potential option to be discussed is moving the customer service, collections, and billing from the Water Utilities Department to the Finance Department. In a discussion between the Finance Department, Human Resource, and Water Utilities Department, the main challenge that change would pose is the lack of training and experience of the Finance Department in handling the call center and customer service. Also, the Water Utilities Department has a process in place for meter reading, re-reading, billing and billing adjustment and concerns were expressed that to separate that from the Water Utilities Department would require all new process that may not be as effective or efficient.

The other potential option to be discussed is the recommendation made by that multi-department discussion. They recommend that instead of moving the customer service to the Finance Department, a brand new Customer Service Department be formed that would handle the call center, customer service, and collections, to be headed by the current Water Utilities Deputy Director of Business Operations. This option would require hiring a replacement for the Deputy Director of Business Operations and one billing analyst.

The Board will hear a presentation on the water meter reading process.

The Board will discuss entering an agreement with OG&E to purchase solar electricity from them and to rename the OG&E solar power generation farm in Branch, Arkansas the Fort Smith Facility. The Agreement would require the city to purchase 50% of their annual Kwhs of electricity from the OG&E solar farm and would limit the City’s own on-site or self generated power to 20% of the City’s use (during non-emergency times, so power outages would be excluded from that limitation).

Deputy Director of Business Administration and Utilities Joshua Robertson will give a presentation regarding the Energy Master Plan for the City of Fort Smith facilities and the City’s participation in the OG&E SAGE program. SAGE is a free program that sets a goal of 10% energy use reduction at the facilities the program recommends for improvement and can result in $78,820 in savings, plus cash incentives, and 90% funding for efficiency improvement projects (including replacing inefficient lighting and HVAC equipment).

The program did an in-depth building by building benchmark study of the City’s facilities and compared their energy use with other similar building types in other municipalities in our climate zones. Overall, Fort Smith was found to consume more energy per square foot and spend similar budget dollars compared to other municipalities in our climate zone. Fort Smith performed slightly below average in efficiency (77.6 KBTU per square foot here versus 64.7 KBTU per square foot elsewhere) and had higher energy costs ($1.50 per square foot here versus $1.07 per square foot elsewhere). Fort Smith had a similar energy use per occupant as elsewhere. The facilities shown to have the highest overall energy cost were the Convention center ($285,547), City Hall ($81,639) and Police Headquarters ($68,088).

The top facilities most targeted for improvements were the Landfill Service Shop and Creekmore Tennis Center followed by the Landfill Service Shop break room, Riverfront Pavilion, and Parks Maintenance office. The top buildings found to already be performing most efficiently were the City Annex, Creekmore Pool Office, and Oak Cemetery followed by the Visitors Center, Parking Garage, Fire Stations #1 and 5 and the Landfill office.

The Board will discuss the parking situation on the 2800-2900 block of Fairway Hamlet Court. This agenda item was originally scheduled to be discussed at the 1-24-23 meeting in response to a resident complaint but that meeting was cancelled. The Planning, Engineering, Streets, and Fire Department looked into the situation and do not recommend any changes be made. The Police Department saw no illegal parking in that area and went door to door to interview residents at all of the addresses in that area. In the interviews, they heard about little to no trouble with parking. The Police Department does not recommend any changes be made.