Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 10/5/21

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting held 10-5-21, all of the zoning changes, for the new Abbington Creek duplex development at Chaffee Crossing, turning the Dean’s Carpets building into indoor mini-storage, and the new The Wash Room laundromat on Phoenix, were all unanimously approved. The expansion at Mercy Hospital including a 4 story tower to house a new Emergency and ICU wing was approved by all Board members with the exception of Director Rego who abstained from voting because he is employed by Mercy.

The Board voted unanimously to set in motion the process of accepting federal grant funds from the American Rescue Plan for the homeless and people at risk of homelessness. The first step will start with $75,072 for use on administration and planning expenses. The next step, after approval of the specific uses for the funds by HUD, will be for the rest of the $1, 501,450 million grant.

The Board voted unanimously to in addition to allowing retired city employees to choose to still pay in full for and keep their medical, dental, and vision insurance also offer this option to employees who are leaving their jobs after 35+ years of employment with the city. Director Morton inquired how many people would be eligible for this option and Human Resources Director Lolley answered that 10 employees would be eligible immediately and over the next 10 years an additional 9 would also qualify.

Purchase of a bucket truck, repairs at Elm Grove Community Center, a contract for landscaping services downtown, and spending from the funds from the sales tax for streets, drainage, and bridges for $2,889,963.18 for street overlays and $2,492,527.50 for drainage improvements were all unanimously approved.

The Board unanimously approved the IT Department hiring a Cybersecurity Analyst. Purchase of a cybersecurity insurance policy was approved by all but Director Settle. Director Settle expressed his concerns about overlap in coverage with the policy we already have from the Municipal League and questioned the value of an additional policy. IT Director Gibson responded that the Municipal League coverage isn’t sufficient and the addition insurance is necessary and better and includes coverage for things like ransomware attacks.

The Board voted unanimously to approve continued collection of the current existing property tax millage rates for the city at 5 mil for the general fund, 1 mil for the library, 1 mil for the police retirement, and 1 mil for the fire retirement.