Highlights of the Budget Hearing Meeting 11/4/21

There was a hearing on the budget held for over 8 hours on 11-4-21 where representatives from each of the city departments presented and answered questions on their portion of the proposed 2022 budget. Director Catsavis was absent having lost his mother the night before.

Highlights of the Mayor’s office include spending for sponsorship of special events and for Covid related events and PSAs.

The Board of Directors section’s big spending increase was related to the newly acquired Blue Lion facility. Director Martin questioned if there could be an addition the BoD budget to fund events like the holiday skating rink. Mayor McGill said that if the Board wants to do something like that, they should share the idea with the Mayor’s office and they’ll work on making it happen.

Director Settle brought up the potential to need to spend more on improvements to the Blue Lion. Ones that were discussed included enhancements to the audio in the other room, improvements downstairs, and potentially adding departmental offices. Director Morton mentioned needing to involve an expert architect first before we spend on the building. As a result of the discussion, $20,000 was added to the budget for the improvements.

In the City Administrator portion it was mentioned that the Mobility Coordinator position (an employee who will be involved in promoting, caring for, and planning for amenities and programs related to exercise, wellness, walking, and bicycling) will be hired and will be funded via a public-private partnership. A Downtown Coordinator position is also in the works but not in the budget yet and will be paid for as a public-private partnership.

Aggressive communications funding is in the City Administrator budget, the bulk of which being related to the new city website and digital communications platform. Director Dawson mentioned that she’s in support of the website but “emphatically against” adding to the communication department as discussed at a recent meeting by adding personnel or changing job titles. She said we “Need more from what we already have” and “More performance, not more funding.” Deputy Administrator Dingman assured that this was not a massive change to the communications, but a “baby step”.

The District Court mentioned their DWI court that is currently serving 15 people and the Restoring Hope court that is serving 35-40 people that are working to reduce the jail population. They also intend to add a probation officer to defer more people into probation instead of jail. Geffken added that at his previous job in another city he’s seen firsthand “Alternatives to incarceration work.”. The DWI court will receive $15,000 in outside grant funding and brings in some revenue through the fees participants pay to take part in it. Director Dawson expressed an interest in seeing data on the program and Director Martin wants that data spread to the public.

The City Prosecutor will be spending $1000 a year on a new Lexis/Nexis computer database subscription.

The Internal Audit department purchased a vehicle from the police department. It will save money versus the previous system of using personal cars and paying out mileage. The Internal Audit committee is doing a lot of extra new professional licensing of their staff.

Fire Chief Christensen clarified that the “small equipment” in the budget for the Fire Department is mostly a one time expense for 2022 of post lift tools for truck repairs. He also clarified that spending on conferences is up this year because much of it is training for succession of employees replacing retiring employees. It was pointed out that our city has a Class 1 rating, the highest rating, from the Insurance Services Organization that rates every city’s fire protection. This high rating helps lower insurance rates to homeowners, businesses, and industry in Fort Smith. In this way, Director Martin mentioned, the fire department is an “economic development opportunity”.

Chief Baker pointed out that the Police Department has worked with Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance and Harbor House to provide 2 social workers for crisis intervention. An additional 2 social workers will be hired and paid for by grant funding. In total the police department has brought in $190,000 in grants this year.

Director Rego questioned what the “small equipment'“ line item was and Baker answered that it was mostly cars. Baker also mentioned how difficult it is to obtain vehicles this year. A major concern for the police department right now is that they are understaffed and are working diligently to fill the vacancies.

Director Good brought up whether the department had considered take home police vehicles versus shared vehicles that stay at the station. Baker said that the take home vehicle system would definitely require more vehicles in the fleet. But he recognized some potential benefits like that it could be a recruiting tool, marked cars in the neighborhoods could be good by adding increased officer contact with their community, improved officer moral, and a reduction in maintenance cost because vehicles last longer when they are parked at night instead of being driven 16-20 hours a day.

In discussion of Animal Services it was mentioned by Geffken that they are working hard to try to find a way to get Kitties and Kanines into a purpose built animal shelter rather than the office building it’s currently in. Baker expressed his hope that a pet licensing program was “hopeful on the horizon”. In Parking Enforcement, it was clarified that the big new expense was for handheld ticketing devices. It was also mentioned how well liked new Downtown Ambassador Jon Raspberry is.

Utilities showed a predicted decrease in advertising spending because the Deputy Director position has been filled so it won’t need advertised for anymore. The increase in travel spending is to keep up with required continuing education for licensing of the staff.

Citizen Services was a hot topic for discussion. It includes the call center, drive through payment center, and staff at the office on Garrison and totals a million and a half dollars on the budget. Director Morton said that’s a “lot of money” and “needs to be looked at”. He claimed they “don’t hear good reviews” and people say they “call, a person talks to them, nothing happens”. Geffken pointed out it’s something most cities have. Dawson pointed out that before the call center was established utilities complaints were one the very top sources of complaints she received and now she only received one recent complaint about that. She said she feels the “perception is things are better”. Director Good also said that his leak calls have dropped off. Director Settle shared his feeling that we “need to be looking at tomorrow” and transitioning away from the call center and toward greater use of the website. The call center currently averages 1600-2000 calls per week with 25% of those pertaining to the Solid Waste Department and most of the rest to the Water Department.

Utilities Director McAvoy expressed excitement about the new Payit app that’s set to be operational by as soon as the end of January. While a better customer experience is the big driver and top priority, it may even enable the utilities department to reduce staff.

Utilities has an increase in the budget this year for software that is used for employee training required for the Consent Decree. They are also reducing costs for software by consolidating software. They plan to streamline down from 15 different separate programs to one interface. They are also decreasing water testing cost by doing some more testing in-house. Water treatment chemicals are far more expensive this year. Settle commented on inflation and rising prices and inquired whether a plan was in place for a secondary chemical supplier in case the primary one runs out so that we don’t get stuck paying exorbitant prices on the open market. $175,000 will be spent on outside services for boring under busy roadways instead of cutting through them. Utility workers will also soon have tablets in the field.

Staffing shortages continue to be a major problem in the utilities department. Settle asked if money could be saved by just not filling the empty positions. McAvoy responded that hiring outside services to do the work is very pricey. Director Rego added that “privatization is an interesting thought to consider” with the continued challenges to keeping the roster full and that he feels it’s something “worth running the numbers on”. It was pointed out that some utility workers are paid $12.95/hr by the city, but could get a similar job at Forsgren for $18/hr.

Sewer Maintenance outside services spending was increased substantially to cover smoke testing the lines as required by the consent decree. There will be small equipment purchases of an additional camera and location equipment for marking water and sewer lines.

Environmental Quality will have increased outside services spending of $10,000 for watershed assessment to mitigate stream bank erosion that would cause higher water treatment costs. Material and chemical costs also went up noticeably.

Utilities will spend on pumps that are wearing out, building repainting, mower replacement, secure radios at remote pump stations, camera replacement, and increased door security. McAvoy expressed that personnel shortages are a “critical issue” for wastewater treatment. Specially qualified seasoned employees are retiring and it “keeps him up at night”. Director Morton questioned if new housing growth will bring in a significant increase in revenue. McAvoy confirmed that it would bring in some more revenue, but that new houses tend to be more efficient and use less water than older ones.

The Parks Department is experiencing an increase in materials cost and fuel cost. One of their main concerns is getting enough seasonal employees. They are doing well with staying fully staffed for full-time year round positions, but seasonal part-time ones (most notably the ones used for mowing) are a major challenge. Parks attempted to contract out the mowing work to a private company, but not a single company responded and wanted to take on the job.

In Oak Cemetery ,to reduce the need for mowing and weeding chemical sprays are now being tried with some success. Director Dawson inquired as to whether Oak Cemetery could be turned over to a non-profit, expressing her view that the city doesn’t need to be in the cemetery business and it could be “one place that we could trim”. Geffken responded that the Fort Smith Cemetery Association, a non-profit that recently took over a couple of other local cemeteries, has been approached about the idea of taking on Oak,too, but they already have their plate full and aren’t interested currently. He also added that one of the big things that attracts many people to purchase plots in Oak is specifically that it’s a municipal facility so customers have confidence in the city to provide perpetual care.

In the Aquatics portion of the Parks presentation, it was noted that chlorine costs have gone up. Director Morton pointed out the need for replacement or massive renovation of the bathhouses at Creekmore pool in response to citizen complaints about their deteriorated condition. In the Riverfront/Downtown portion of Parks, it was noted that the new landscaping contract just entered with Ellis Landscaping is more than twice as expensive as the previous landscaping contract. Also there will be repairs at the amphitheater at Kelley Park. Restrooms across the park system will be a big focus in 2022, with the funding for the improvements coming from money from the 1/8% sales tax for parks. Parks Director Reinert mentioned that in this decade Parks has also taken in $6.1 million in grants and partnerships.

Solid Waste is also contending with a major challenge with maintaining enough staff. It is currently negatively impacting revenues by the lack of employees preventing as much collection of 20,30, and 40 ft commercial dumpsters as there is customer demand for. Director Settle expressed concern about garbage collections from private companies sometimes being taken to other landfills impacting our landfill revenue. There is an ordinance in place prohibiting trash from Fort Smith being taken by commercial haulers to any other landfill besides Fort Smith. Settle questioned what might be done to better enforce the rule. Geffken mentioned the possibility of staff discreetly monitoring nearby landfills and watching for violators. Director Morton closed the Solid Waste portion of the meeting with a declaration that he feels generally “Revenue is too low in Solid Waste.”.

The new A-6 cell set to be constructed at the landfill is the top project there for the coming year. Settle questioned Deputy Director Dingman as to why a Caterpillar at the landfill purchased in 2017 already needs to be replaced in 2022. Dingman responded that the expected lifespan for them at the dump is 3-5 years because of heavy use. He expressed understanding that it is an expensive purchase, but that it is a critical piece of equipment. And that if it were to go out, a rental would be needed immediately, and that would be VERY expensive. There was discussion about the John Deer dozer and excavator leases that are set to run out soon. We will need to consider possibly purchasing those items permanently by paying off what’s owed or purchasing new replacements. It was questioned why we are leasing them, with leasing being a more expensive option than outright purchase. It was clarified that that’s because they were desperately needed in a time in the past when our city was in a much worse financial condition and couldn’t afford at the time to buy them. Leasing wouldn’t be a plan we’d be interested in nowadays.

Industrial Collections will be purchasing more new containers. Waste Reduction did not hire the Education Coordinator that they had budgeted for last year. The position involves a lot of visiting schools, so Covid protocols made it unnecessary. They anticipate hiring for the position at some point in the future when that situation is improved.

It was pointed out that recycling costs are very volatile. But there is positive news that in the last three months the city has received money on recycling instead of paying out for the service. We’ve received $18,000 in recycling refunds, mostly from sales of cardboard. Previously, we’d averaged $15,000-$20,000 paid in for the program. So currently, the payments received for the recycled trash are offsetting the costs of the recycling program

Streets Department Director Matt Meeker presented that there will be purchases of 2 leaf vacuums, a distributor truck, and a milling machine. Staffing shortages in streets are resulting in challenges in mowing right of ways, city lots, and retention ponds. This sparked discussion about the city doing mowing that it should not be obligated to do. It was pointed out that many of these areas mowed the street department are actually privately owned and the land owners of some of these undeveloped areas need to be taking responsibility. Geffken added the topic to a future study session.

Director Good brought up the hot topic of drainage. Geffken pointed out that currently appraisals are being obtained for the 12 homeowners in the Maybranch flooding area that wish to sell their homes and federal funds are being sought to buy and demolish those homes. Good pointed out that there is a specific area around 6th, 7th, and 8th street near Howard Elementary and Lincoln Daycare that is about 3-4 blocks north/south and 3-4 blocks east/west where there’s serious flood damage in that sub-basin of the larger flood basin. He urged the Board to “Get in your cars and look.” He feels like this smaller part of the overall massive drainage problem is more feasibly fixable and needs immediate attention.

Streets plans 4 miles of sidewalk replacement and 2 1/2 miles of new sidewalk construction in 2022. This sparked discussion of sidewalks. It was pointed out that in most other places sidewalks are homeowner responsibilities. Director Settle expressed his opinion that builders of new developments should have to put in sidewalks. He expressed that requiring sidewalks ties in to the city’s commitment to mobility and walkability and fitness. Streets Director Meeker mentioned that it is easier to put in sidewalk when construction is originally happening than to add it in later. This topic was added to the agenda for a future study session.

Director Settle brought up the potential of using cameras on the streets to record footage of accidents to make that footage available for the Police Department to use in investigations. Geffken said that the newer cameras that are replacing some of the older traffic cameras would be capable of providing footage that would be useful for that. Meeker said that the Highway Department has advised them against recording because it would result in being dragged into numerous court cases. It was mentioned that State law specifically bars using traffic cameras for catching red light violations. Geffken said that he would ask Daily and Woods for their advice on the legal aspects of the matter.

Director Settle inquired that since we’ve been replacing street lights with LED lights with a higher efficiency, why haven’t our costs gone down? Meeker responded that the rates are set by the state. Settle also pointed out the need for a traffic light at Exit 14. This issue has been explored and it boils down to a fight between the Highway Department and OG&E holding up the installation. Geffken said he would continue to engage with the government to attempt to solve this issue.

One new expense for the Human Resources Department this year is $15,000 for a party in recognition for employees with long service to the city.

City Clerk Sherry Gard presented that there is $40,000 in the budget for 2022 for the cost of elections. Director Rego inquired when the new ward lines would be drawn in response to the 2020 census results. Gard responded that the state does that, and it would likely be early next year.

The biggest part of the Purchasing Department budget is the lease on the office building at 623 Garrison.

The new Director of IT Steve Dimmitt presented that a notable big new expense for his department this year is 100 new PCs for the Police Department. This sparked Director Morton to inquire about laptops versus desktops, especially with situations that may require working from home. Dimmitt responded that the budget will allow for either option and the best choice is different for each machine. Like for the police and fire departments, shared desktop equipment at the station is preferred but some other departments may do better with laptops.

Joshua Robertson presented that the parking garage has used a grant from OG&E to install efficient LED lights that brought the cost to the city down to only $1000 and cut the utility bill in half while also making the garage brighter. The parking garage will purchase upgraded equipment for greater security and will potentially be adding daily parking M-F 8-5. They will also be installing new replacement parking meters downtown that will interface with cell phones. It was praised how nice the new improvements to the little park area between the garage and the Rialto restaurant look.

Transit Director Ken Savage clarified that the item in the budget for outside services was contingent on receiving outside funds from another organization for expanded service. He mentioned that the purchase order is in now for the new large buses and they should arrive in August 2022. One big project for Transit in 2022 , with funding from grant partners, is building an access road from 28th to Jenny Lind to provide access to the transit buildings and to be able to share the space with the Fire Department for maintenance. The current way into the transit facilities has become dangerous as Spartan Logistics has become much busier and Spartan would also like to be able to increase their security by closing the gates on their parking lot and cannot currently do that while transit is using the parking lot for access to their facility.

Director Morton questioned if predicted ridership increases with Covid issues waning and new larger capacity buses would increase revenue. Savage agreed that there should be an increase in revenue from fares, but that rider fares only account for a total of about 7% of the overall revenues for Transit. Most of the incoming money for Transit is from federal and other grant funding.

Planning Director Maggie Rice shared that Planning is very busy right now. There are 37 items on the planning meeting agenda next week! It was praised that planning being busy with new developments and expansions and improvements is a great sign for our city.

The Community Development department was questioned by Director Settle about the $43,000 for consulting in the the budget this year. They responded that it is for consulting on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing program. Director Morton questioned what the Fort Smith Housing Authority is working on and what we can expect to see from them soon. He wants to see more from them in more places. Administrator Geffken said he would invite them to participate in a future study session.

Building Safety and Neighborhood Services Director Jimmy Deer was questioned by Director Morton about the need to do something to move faster on demolitions of unsafe and unsightly vacant structures. Deer explained that it is frustrating but that the process is challenging. They bring the property owners to court first. Often it’s very hard because the major of the worst properties are owned by out of state owners (mostly who have inherited properties here that they don’t care to bother with). It is very hard to serve court summons and warrants on these out of state residents. Leaving the state to pursue them isn’t allowed. Director Martin wondered whether that is state law or if it’s something we can change here. Director Morton expressed that this would be potentially be something to talk to State Legislators about .

The Health Department reminded that the city pays half of the cost of the Health Department and the County pays the other half. There had been an issue this year with a drastic increase in the phone bill because WIC is not doing in-person visits because of COVID. In response, the Health Department is going to get the State to pay for State-owned cell phones, possibly even eliminating the future phone bills entirely. Mayor McGill thanked the Health Department for their services in response to Covid.

Some of the biggest non-departmental General Fund expenses in the budget are the million dollar contribution to LOPFI police and fire retirement and the $5 million for the airport runway extension.

Director Rego questioned Advertisting and Promotion Director Tim Jacobsen about if something could be done about getting the State legislature to increase the tax for hotel rooms (currently 3%), whether it could be raised uniformly or if it could be put under municipal control. Jacobsen mentioned that also Fort Smith is one of the only cities in the state without a prepared food tax. The unpopularity of that idea the last time it was debated was pointed out.

Food and beverage service being provided in-house is a big change at the Convention Center. Covid challenges are still a big problem for the Convention Center. But 2022 does have stuff coming in again. 80 events are scheduled so far or the 146 events the center is budgeted for. A discussion was had about the potential for parking revenue, like starting with charging for parking during concerts with an eye on possibly charging for parking all of the time eventually. It was decided that they should begin to experiment with it in 2022 and work toward a more permanent solution.

The New Needs section of the budget was not presented as a part of the big budget that was shared with the public and the directors 10-19-21. It was not ready until after 8 PM on the night before the budget hearing. Thus, the Board was not as fully prepared to discuss the New Needs as they wanted to be. The total funds needed to be added to the big base budget to also cover all of the New Needs items would be $4 million.

The salary increase plan that would add $2 million in cost to the budget but might help make city competitive in attracting and retaining good employees was discussed some. Director Martin expressed disappointment that in the New Needs list he didn’t really see any of the big flashy kind of projects that he felt would make people, specifically young people, want to stay in Fort Smith.

Speaking on the new needs budget, Director Good said “Now is when the buck stops. How are we gonna finance it?”. Director Settle said we “Need time”. Good added “We need answers. Where is this money gonna come from?”. It was decided that the Board needed more detailed information on each request and more time for them to consider the new needs. So while the base budget was added to the 12-02-21 Board of Directors Meeting for a vote, discussion of the New Needs Budget was added to the agenda for the 11-09-21 Study Session Agenda for further discussion first.