Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 10/15/24

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting held 10-15-24 with Director Martin and Director Settle absent, the Board discussed their annual review of the Departmental Services Objectives and Key Performance Indicators.

Director Morton requested that the Board’s Strategic Planning priorities be mentioned in the service objectives and key performance indicators when they are relevant in the report before it is included with the budget.

Director Morton called the Utilities Department’s goals for reduced sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) “modest” and called for a “more aggressive posture” on SSOs. Utilities Director McAvoy explained that it is standard practice for the goal for SSOs to be set to where it cannot be met and that from 2020 until last year the goal has been the same and that it was not met. Last year that goal was met. He said that the goal could be adjusted to reflect that progress and could be adjusted based on that downward trend. He said that the total SSOs per 100 miles is down to 18.2, with 14.2 of those being dry weather SSOs and 4 being wet weather SSOs.

Director Morton asked if the $850,000 settlement payment from Birch Recycling to the Solid Waste Department approved at last week’s meeting had been received yet. Deputy Administrator Dingman said that it has not yet, but “It’s on its way.”

The Board discussed the Streets and Drainage 5 year Capital Improvements Plan.

Director Morton asked if the overlays planned for 2025 are already in progress, approved and budgeted, and will just be completed and paid for in 2025. Engineering Director Snodgrass confirmed that they are.

Director Morton expressed his hope to get to the Acme flood pond project more quickly than planned in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). He expressed concern about flooding and excitement at the project’s ability to alleviate flooding at a cost of $8 million versus spending $150 million for different flooding solution projects. He called the ponds an “enormous savings.”

Director Rego requested that the Acme flood ponds be discussed at a study session before the end of the year.

Director Good mentioned the damage that water leaks are causing to property owners. He mentioned a water leak that resulted in a driveway falling into a sinkhole and another that possibly resulted in retaining walls being damaged. He suggested the City look into a policy to help citizens who are impacted by those sorts of damages from leaks. He mentioned the programs in place to help people whose property is damaged by plumbing issues caused by the City and ones that are damaged by flooding. Director Christina Catsavis agreed with Director Good.

Director Christina Catsavis expressed concerns about flooding and mentioned that the Acme ponds could help reduce the need for use of the flooded property buyout program. She asked why the Acme ponds were not slated for construction on the CIP until 2028. Snodgrass said that the CIP was created before the masterplanning for the entire Acme property including both the flood ponds and the park was not approved at last week’s meeting. He said that the ponds and the parks amenities have to “mesh together” and that the ponds at a combined 18 acres would only be a small part of the property. He said that if the Board desires, the ponds can be designed and constructed and the park made to fit around them later. Director Christina Catsavis said that she would like to move the Acme ponds project up as soon as possible.

Director Morton said that his vote in favor of the purchase of the Acme property was prioritized on the ponds. He said the “priority is the detention of water first and the park comes second.”

Director Rego requested that for when the issue is discussed at the future study session that the Board be presented the new cost of planning for the prioritized flood ponds by themselves (separated from any master plan or planning for the park) and plans about what the drainage and pond project would look like.

The Board discussed the Parks Department 5 year Capital Improvements Plan. Parks Director Deuster mentioned that a CIP had been created that heavily involved input from citizens on what amenities they wanted and what they wanted prioritized and that plan was approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission at their meeting, but since that meeting City Administration requested that the Parks CIP direct funding to pay for the installation of a set of new slides purchased for Parrot Island Waterpark. To fund the slide installation, Parks had to cut projects including improvements to John Bell Jr. Park, pickleball courts at John Bell Jr. Park, and improvements to Riley Farm Park from the CIP.

Director Good expressed his preference that money from the general fund be used to fund the slide installation instead of funding it through Parks by cutting projects from the Parks CIP. He said that if he had expected that the general fund was not going to be used to fund the installation and that the funding was going to come from cuts to the Parks CIP that he would not have voted to purchase the slides. He said that there are “ample funds” in the general fund to cover the installation and that Administration was “wrong” to direct Parks to fund it in their CIP.

Director Morton agreed with Director Good. He said that he will not vote for the installation coming out of the Parks CIP budget and that when he voted to purchase the slides he intended for the installation to be out of the general fund. He mentioned that there is $30 million in the general fund balance. He said that the projects cut from the Parks CIP should be put back on. However, he suggested that they wait and see what the County does before building the pickleball courts. The County has mentioned their plan to add courts at Ben Geren. If they do, it will not be necessary for the City to add some at John Bell Jr., too.

Director Christina Catsavis spoke in favor of pickleball courts especially because they are enjoyed by many senior citizens. Of the cuts to the Parks CIP to cover the cost of the slide installation she said “I don’t like this.” She advocated for the CIP that the Parks department originally came up with. She asked if it is too late to “just get rid of the slides.” Deputy Administrator Dingman said that while no money has been sent yet, the contract to purchase them has already been sent.

Director Rego agreed that Parks CIP projects should not be cut to fund the slides. He expressed his view that there may be better ways for Parks to spend their CIP budget than the parking Improvement at John Bell Jr. Park because the parking is currently adequate there.

Director George Catsavis criticized the slide purchase and installation costs saying that the “money could have gone to other uses.”

The Board discussed the Fire Department’s 5 year Capital Improvement Plans. The plans for 2025 include replacement of a ladder truck and a zodiac boat, refurbishment of a pumper truck,and purchase of a forklift and a generator. The Fire Chief expressed concerns about the rising costs of fire apparatus.

The Board discussed the streets and traffic Capital Improvement Plans and the 2025 plan for sidewalks that includes 3.1 miles of new sidewalks and .66 miles of sidewalk repairs. The streets plans for 2025 include replacement of a dump truck with snow plow, a road grader, a skid steer, a concrete truck, and a tractor with mower, and purchase of a mower and trailer for mowing the interchanges previously mowed by Keep Fort Smith Beautiful.

Director Rego asked with updates to federal definitions of streets and sidewalks if there might be a way to get federal funding for trails. Streets Director Meeker said that the idea had been explored but that it is not legal for streets and sidewalks funds to be used for trails or paths except as a part of the roadway system and parallel to the road. Director Rego said “We do what we can with the resource we can.” He asked Meeker to clarify for the audience what goes into selecting what areas get new sidewalks each year. He said that this year a couple are from the projects in Phase I of the Move Fort Smith plan and that most of the considerations are from factors including input from the City staff and citizens, proximity to schools, levels of usage, and constructability.

Director Good praised Meeker including his willingness to answer emails on the weekends. Director Good asked what happens to the old equipment when new replacements are purchased. Meeker answered that some of it is worn out completely and those things will be auctioned off (typically purchased for parts) and the items that are not completely beyond all useful life are used as back ups to keep work going when the primary ones are not available. Director Good called the Streets CIP a “good looking budget” and said it “looks sound.”

Director Christina Catsavis asked about staffing as in the past Meeker had voiced concerns about staffing shortages including having enough workers to do concrete work. Meeker said that the staffing level is ok currently.

The Board discussed the Transit Department’s Transit Asset Management Plan, a report required by the Federal Transit Administration to be eligible for federal funding that includes an inventory and assessment of the condition of all of the department’s assets and plans to replace them to keep everything in the required state of good repair. The plan for 2025 includes replacement of 4 demand response buses.

Director Rego asked about the majority of the costs for the Transit Department coming from grants from the federal government. Transit Director Savage answered that 50% of department’s operating costs are reimbursed by the federal government, as are 80% of the equipment and capital and maintenance costs. ADA services are reimbursed at 80%. Overall, the federal government covers the cost of the large blue buses at 85% and the small white demand response buses at 80%. The purchase of the current fleet of large blue buses was paid for 100% by federal CARES Act funds.

Director Morton asked Savage to compare the current condition of the Transit fleet with the status from 2-5 years ago. Savage said it is “very good” and mentioned that the fixed route fleet of large buses is still relatively new and they are all buses with a 12 year life span. He said that the demand response fleet is “good now” but they do need to cycle those out.

During the Citizens Forum section of the meeting, Kimberly Fodge with the Village Harbor Property Owners Association spoke about the recent water bill increases. She said the POA has an irrigation meter for the pool and a commercial meter for the pavilion. She mentioned during the discussions of the water rate increases the focus was on the residential rates not the irrigation or commercial rates. She said that on the latest bill the POA’s base rate for irrigation increased 21% and the rate for use increased 102% and the base rate for commercial increased 21% and the commercial use rate increased by 46%. There was a 79% increase overall with the new rates. She encouraged the Board to create a rate structure for non-profits (including POAs and HOAs) that is different from the regular commercial customer rate.

Dan Williams spoke about religion, advocated for budget cuts for parks and prioritization of finding and fixing water leaks and sewer problems, and suggested getting rid of City Administrator Geffken.

Andy Posterick spoke and praised Streets Director Meeker and advocated for pushing back or reconsidering the Massard expansion. He said that Massard traffic is not heavy enough to need the expansion yet. He mentioned that after the first phase of expansion of Massard neighbors complained about the traffic noise. He said of widening to encourage growth on the Southeast end of town that the City should instead “let the market dictate that.” He suggested postponing the Massard project and moving the ACME ponds project forward in its place.

Leann Vick with the Cisterna Property Owners Association spoke and expressed concerns about the water bill increase. She recognized that the rates are “tough decisions”. However, she said that the POA’s bill in September was $3400 and in October it was $6500 for the same amount of usage. She urged the board to consider “something.”

Carrie Sallie spoke to ask how the public gets notified about surveys where public input is sought on City topics. She suggested that the surveys be announced on the local news. She also commented on the low usage she has seen of Transit buses driving by and expressed concerns about the cost of maintenance of the buses. She suggested switching to smaller vans instead of the large buses. Dingman said that the City has “stepped up” their commitment to efforts to notify the public about things including surveys through the govdelivery public notification system, the City website, and social media. Dingman encouraged the public to sign up for govdelivery notifications. He said that govdelivery has 16,000 subscribers currently and said “People are using it.” He said that before the large buses arrived the smaller ones were constantly at full capacity. He also reminded that the availability of federal COVID funds allowed for the ability to upgrade to the large buses. He said of the bus system “more and more people are using it.” Sallie suggested that the local television news covering City topics like the availability of public input surveys would be helpful to reach older people who do not use social media. Dingman said that the local media outlets are subscribed to the City notifications and the City does make them aware of things but that the City doesn’t “control the content of their broadcasts.” Director Good mentioned that in addition to the smaller buses previously not providing enough passenger capacity, the larger buses are also lower to the ground so they are easier to get in and out of. He mentioned that different routes and different times of day have different levels of ridership. He said that the Transit is “very much used and appreciated.” He also said that the Transit shows “We are a progressive community.” Director Rego reminded that the maintenance cost is dominantly reimbursed by the federal grant funding. Mayor McGill asked the passenger capacity of the large buses and the number of spaces for wheelchairs. Savage said that they have room for 45 passengers and up to 3 wheelchairs. Director Morton said that most of the people who ride the bus don’t drive or don’t own a car so other than taxis the bus is their only transportation option. He mentioned that many of them especially need that transportation for access to medical care. He said that the bus gets “great use amongst people that are the most needy.” Director Good mentioned that many people rely on it to get back and forth to work and that ridership is up. Savage said that ridership is now back up to 2019 pre-Covid levels, ahead of the national average.

Chris Cadelli spoke and advocated for budget cuts and prioritizing consent decree work and water leak repair. He spoke against expenditure for the park on the Acme property. Director Good said that cuts are already being made. He said that the Board is trying to properly fund water needs through water usage revenue and not through use funds from other departments. He said “It’s not new news” that the City has not maintained water infrastructure as they should have.

Krystal Cadelli spoke and advocated for prioritizing maintaining what the City has and consent decree sewer work. She also spoke against almost $1 million in funds from the utilities budget going to the budgets of the Mayor, Board of Directors, and City Administration. She said that those budgets should be funded out of the general fund instead.

Mark McDaniel with the Cisterna Board spoke and expressed concerns about the water rate increases. He said that the association dues would need to increase to $325 per occupant in response to the increase and would need to increase to $500 if the proposed January increases are passed. He suggested the City find an alternative adjustment for the rates and focus on increasing the regular commercial rates rather than residential, irrigation, and non-profit rates. Director Good said “I water my grass not as much as I used to. It’s a luxury.” He said “Irrigation is not the same as drinking water and water you need for your household.”

Dana Bergstrom spoke and expressed concerns about water bill increases. She said that her water bill (including watering the lawn) has gone up 74%. It went up from $256 to $456. Director Morton said that he wants to look at her bill and help find the mistake. He said “It can’t be right.”

Jerry Donaldson spoke and advocated for asking for a sales tax increase to help fund water and sewer budget needs. He said that rate increases alone cannot fund the consent decree.

Brian Westney spoke and said that the Board allocates all of the money and the Boards since the 1980s are at fault for not allocating funds properly to deal with the water and sewer issues. He said the City needs to “tighten our belts.” He advocated for prioritizing spending on utilities.

Molly Echevaria spoke and advocated for repairs at Oak Cemetery. She said the roads in the cemetery are “terrible.” She also said that she doesn’t want Fort Smith to emulate places like Fayetteville and lose its own “unique features.” She advocated for maintaining existing facilities instead of spending on new projects. She criticized Administrator Geffken’s leadership.

Jo Elskin spoke and advocated for a 3 minute time limit for speakers during the Citizens Forum instead of 5 minutes. She also said of the balance between spending for maintenance of existing facilities and spending for new projects “There aren’t any easy answers.” She voiced agreement with Posterick about postponing or reconsidering the Massard widening project. She said that widening on Massard would lead to more accidents.

David Hartsfield who has a grounds maintenance company spoke and suggested that the City consider hiring private companies to mow the interchanges instead of handling the mowing in-house because it might be a savings.