Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 11/14/23

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 11-14-23, the Board voted unanimously to approve the Parks Department 5 year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The CIP was discussed at the October 17, 2023 study session. However, based on the discussion at the study session and at the most recent Parks Commission meeting, there were some changes made to the CIP presented at that meeting. The Chaffee Dog Park project that had already been pushed back mainly because the flooding problem at the planned site was going to make that location unusable has now been removed from the 5 year CIP entirely. The money allocated for 2024 for the Chaffee Dog Park will be used instead to install shade structures at the Riverfront Drive Skate and Bike Park. The Old Greenwood Road Dog Park that was slated for 2024 will be seeking a new location due to negative feedback from neighbors and from high costs for fencing and security measures needed due to water utility infrastructure already located on the site. A public/private partnership will be established to build an expansion of the Creekmore tennis courts that will add 4 new covered courts and include relocation and replacement of the light poles. A significant amount of money that was originally allocated for John Bell Junior Park to pay for 2024-2026 projects, especially those related to the soccer fields, will be used instead for an expansion at Parrot Island Waterpark, restroom improvements at Tilles Park, the City’s share of the Creekmore Tennis Court expansion, and adding a basketball court at Creekmore. Additional funding will be allocated for Maybranch Trail.

Director Morton criticized the planned cost for the Creekmore Bath House and Pool and pool related projects. The total cost for those projects will total $11,250,000 with $7 million of that to be spent in the next 2 years. He said “I definitely want the bath house to be fixed, but want it done economically.” Directors Morton and Settle mentioned that the City’s share of the cost of Parrot Island water park was $5-6 million of the $11 million total for the construction of that park. Director Martin said “11 million seems really high.”

Director Martin mentioned that he has received emails from residents asking for a sports facility to cater to the traveling youth sports market and has responded that the City doesn’t have the funds for it.

Directors Morton and Martin asked about Parrot Island’s profit figures for this year. Deputy Administrator Dingman said that administration is working with Parrot Island’s General Manager to get those figures for the Board soon.

Director George Catsavis asked if the Creekmore pool runs at a net profit or net loss. Parks Director Deuster answered that it runs at a loss, but that the goal for the pool is “providing a low cost amenity to our citizens” rather than breaking even or profiting. The pool has never broken even. Dingman added that public pools in other cities don’t typically break even.

The Board voted unanimously without discussion to issue non-residential solid waste collection permits to Riverside Roll Off and Norris Services and Construction.

The Board voted to purchase 52 Bigbelly trash and recycling bins for Downtown at a total cost of $211,723.50. There is a significant issue with the current trash bins with scavenging and destruction of the bins by the homeless in that neighborhood. The Bigbelly bins are tamper proof. They also feature a compactor and will electronically notify the Solid Waste Department when they need emptied. The recycling bins would offer downtown street recycling that has not previously been available.

Director Martin criticized the $4072 per container cost of the cans calling it “a lot of money”. He said “I don’t feel like I can tell the people of Fort Smith to pay $4000 for a trash can.” and “There’s gotta be an alternative that can accomplish similar things at a lower cost.” He acknowledged that the bins address a problem with the homeless population strewing trash out of the cans around downtown, but said that the city needs to fix the homeless problem first before purchasing a receptacle.

Solid Waste Director Riley compared the cost with the cost of replacing current cans that need replaced (plus adding rain protectors to the new ones that the current ones don’t have). The cost of replacing them with the same ones plus rain protectors would be $1200 each. When they were purchased 5 years ago, they were only $500 each, but inflation has raised the price dramatically. She mentioned that the new bins would offer a savings of 80% over the current method of downtown waste collection because of the compaction and the notifications reducing the need for pick-up from the current 3 days per week to only one day per week. The new bins needing serviced less often would free up a truck and 3 employees that had been on the downtown route multiple times a week to service the commercial collections that the department has been struggling to service. The return on investment period for the new cans would be 3 years.

Director Martin mentioned seeing some other problems reported by other cities that use those bins. He mentioned Boston specifically struggling with staff knowing how to use them and connectivity features going unused there. Riley mentioned having been in Boston recently and seeing the can in use there. She said that Boston is a much larger city and Fort Smith’s smaller scale should help with those problems. It would only be the same crew servicing a 13 block neighborhood of the cans here. And Bigbelly would send trainers to train Fort Smith employees on the cans when they set them up.

Director Rego called the cans a “great program” and “innovative”.

Director Settle asked about the cost to install them, specifically the electric. Riley clarified that they are solar and use solar batteries so no power would need run to them.

Director Settle expressed his view that instead of the funding for the cans coming from the Sanitation budget from money that was originally planned to be spent on purchasing a roll-off truck that has been deemed no longer necessary, the money should come from the City’s portion of the Countywide Sales Tax that is specifically allocated for downtown. Dingman said that the downtown sales tax money goes to Parks Department downtown projects and landscaping.

Director Morton called the cans “really excellent”

Director Settle called the cans “hard to go to the public and justify”.

Director Rego recognized Riley’s expertise on the situation and spoke in favor of the cans saying there is “a lot more to this than just the fixed up front costs.”

The vote to purchase the bins passed with Director Christina Catsavis, Director Good, Director Rego, and Director Morton voting in favor of the purchase and Director George Catsavis, Director Settle, and Director Martin voting against it.

During the Officials Forum section of the meeting, City Attorney Canfield mentioned being asked to comment regarding Directors who are not members of the Audit Committee attending Audit Committee meetings. 3 Directors are members of the committee, but sometimes additional Directors who are not on the committee attend the meeting. Canfield advised that Directors who are not on the committee but choose to attend should only listen as members of the audience and not speak or participate. This will make sure that there is no Freedom of Information Act legal issue stemming from that the Audit Committee Meeting, while publicly announced as a public meeting, is not announced as a public Board of Directors meeting. Director Christina Catsavis suggested that the Audit Committee Meetings could add to the notification that “multiple Board members may be present” as is done with some other functions and meetings multiple Directors plan to attend. Director Morton mentioned having served on the Audit Committee for years and that the issue has only arisen recently.

Director Martin asked if there is an ordinance in place regarding animals that are outside in freezing temperatures. He said that every year when it gets cold he tends to get calls about that. Dingman answered that there is not a specific part about temperature included in the animal ordinance, but the Police are empowered by both the animal ordinance and State law to make decisions based on their own judgement about the animals under the provisions regarding animal cruelty and that improper treatment in cold weather could be included in that decision.