Agenda Highlights 7/16/24
The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting scheduled for 7-16-24 will begin with a vote on whether to raise the income qualification for the City’s Project Concern program that offers discounts of 50% off water and sewer and 25% off trash bills from the current 165% of the federal poverty line to 200% of the federal poverty line. The proposed change would allow for more customers to qualify for the program.
Following the vote on the Project Concern issue, the study session meeting will begin. The Board will discuss the new needs budget requests that were not ranked as the highest priority items and were not discussed at the March 18, 2024 study session.
The requests for new personnel include an insurance technician, digital media specialist, mobility specialist, project engineer, Planning and Zoning Deputy Director, 4 animal services officers, Fire Captain, 6 Streets equipment operator, carpenter for Streets, concrete finisher for Streets, traffic signal technician, water line maintenance program manager, sewer equipment operator, Parks maintenance supervisor, 2 Parks maintenance workers, Solid Waste Deputy Director, scale house attendant, 5 Solid Waste equipment operators, and a Solid Waste accounting tech.
The new capital requests include 3 replacement vehicles for Development Services, 3 replacement half-ton trucks for the Fire Department, a replacement truck for Parks, a replacement dump-bed truck for Oak Cemetery, and replacement water meters.
The total cost of both the personnel and capital requests is $4,293,281.
The Board will discuss the results of the third party review of the Fort Smith Animal Haven audit conducted by Baker Tilley. Representatives from Baker Tilley will attend the meeting virtually.
The Board will discuss the Move Fort Smith Active Transportation Master Plan for making the City better and safer for active transportation like walking and biking. The approval for the plan to be created was made at the 1-17-23 meeting.
Recommendations in the plan include changes to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist accidents with motor vehicles, allocating budget for infrastructure, increased commuter walking and bike paths, measuring active transportation network usage, increasing trails amenities (like benches, water fountains, art, and pocket parks), Unified Development Ordinance changes to require or encourage pedestrian/bike friendly development, code changes to treat E-bikes and electric scooters the same as traditional bikes and scooters, renovation of alleyways into paved paths, more on-street bike features, and more sidewalks.
The plan highlights 6 high priority Catalyst Projects including a two-way protected bike lane on North B Street (estimated cost of $1,125,000-$1,250,000), renovation of the 10th Street alleyway from Kelley Highway to North B into a paved path (estimated cost of $3,290,460-3,590,000), a paved path from South 66th to Massard (estimated cost $3,278,476-$3,578,000), a paved path from Fianna to Ben Geren Park (estimated cost of $3,135,142-$3,435,000), protected bike lanes from Lexington to B street including across Garrison($1,716,665-$1,888,352), and completing the Bass Reeves Legacy Loop, a paved pathway looping around the City that would incorporate the existing Riverfront Trail and the Maybranch Trail (estimated total cost of $24,987,000)
