Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 12/13/22
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 12-13-22 with Director Dawson attending remotely, the Board voted unanimously to approve a raise for the Mayor from the current salary of $10,000 per year with a car allowance of $450 per month to a salary of $30,000 per year with a car allowance of $600 per month.
Director Good praised Mayor McGill for being an “advocate for bringing business to Fort Smith” and for his participation in community functions. Director Rego agreed with Director Good and said Mayor McGill “worked tirelessly” to “raise the bar on expectations” and “more than earned an increase”, Director Catsavis praised McGill and said he is “proud finally he’s getting some financial respect. It’s long overdue”. Director Settle said “This should have been done years ago”. Director Martin agreed with the praises of McGill but expressed concern that the raise is for the office of Mayor not just McGill specifically and questioned putting the raise in place for future Mayors. Director Morton said that McGill has set a standard for the future for the work expected to be done by a Mayor. Mayor McGill thanked everyone for their support and said that the raises are “about the future of Fort Smith. If we want to be a premier city, we must act, look, and sound like one” and “It’s about giving those who want to serve an opportunity to serve without costing them to serve.”
Then the Board moved on to the issue of raises for the City Directors from the current salary of $1000 per year with a $400 per month car allowance to $7800 per year with a $600 per month car allowance. Director Rego suggested that instead of voting on the raises at the meeting that the issue be tabled to allow a Salary Review Committee to be formed to review the Board’s workload, compare with other cities, and submit proposals in March for possible implementation in April alongside the raises going into effect for other City employees. He motioned for the issue to be tabled.
Director Dawson seconded Rego’s motion to table adding that neither currently nor under the proposed new salary are special meetings or study sessions, including day long sessions like the strategic planning meeting and budget meeting, or reading the packet included in the pay. She said that “there are board members who never read the packet” and who don’t show up for those extra meetings or leave early. After inquiry by Director Catsavis, she said that she was talking about Director Catsavis. She expressed her view that if the Board feels a raise of over 600% is appropriate that it should be tied to ALL meetings with attendance required for the entire meeting to be paid. She voiced support for the Salary Review Committee or else adding the requirement to include all of the meetings and to require staying for the whole meeting. The motion to table the issue failed with all of the Directors except Dawson and Rego voting against it.
Director Rego pointed out that budget allocation for Directors compensation comes 37% from the water and sewer fund, 28% from the general fund, 18% from the solid waste fund, 9% from the Streets sales tax fund, and 8% from the streets maintenance fund. He motioned for an amendment requiring the raises (not the existing salary or the increased car allowance, but the additional $40,600 for salary increases) to come from the general fund only. Director Morton said that the allocations were devised with consideration of the time that the Board spends on those departments. Director Catsavis asked if we could afford it out of the general fund. Geffken answered yes. The amendment passed with all but Director Dawson voting in favor of it.
Then the Board voted on the raises to $7800 per year with a $600 per month car allowance with the increase being funded from the general fund. The measure passed with all but Dawson and Rego voting in favor of the raises.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the 2023 Operating Budget. Director Morton said “I’m optimistic about our local economy”. Director Settle said that “financial polices the Board put in place years ago are starting to pay dividends”. Director Settle expressed his view that the $75,000 in the budget for spay and neuter vouchers was too low. Director Martin said that some people if they look at the budget might be concerned about the amount of spending but that it looked like that in 2022,too, and came out positive in the end. He called the budget a “planning document” and “a starting point” saying “we will come out positive again” and “I’m confident we’re ok”. Geffken added that “we’re not spending drunkenly, we are spending cautiously”.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of a Trespassing Warning ordinance that will allow for individuals who are found to be in violation of other rules and laws to be excluded from city properties (including parks and not including streets and sidewalks) temporarily. The ordinance is intended to reduce nuisance behaviors and is modeled after similar ordinances in other states and crafted with particular attention paid to staying in line with Constitutionally protected rights. The ordinance would allow the police to issue the Trespassing Warning to people who are breaking the laws and rules in the parks and the warning would ban them from the park up to 7 days for the first offense in 12 months, 8-60 days for the second offense in 12 months, and 61-120 days for subsequent repeat offenses in 12 months. If someone enters or remains on the property after being excluded by the Trespassing Warning, they can be charged with Criminal Trespass. People who receive the warning can request a review of their case that will be at a hearing held by the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Police Chief Baker said that this ordinance would be like an expansion of the current green sign No Trespassing program that is being used for private property, allowing nuisance behaviors to be addressed on City property also. He mentioned that this ordinance would go hand in hand with additional ordinances being written that would prohibit specific activities such as bathing or doing laundry in fountains and splash pads.
The Board voted unanimously to order the demolition of a vacant house at 3718 Allen Drive that burned 2 years ago.
Discussion of demolition of blighted properties prompted discussion about the City doing more to speed the sale of or even purchase properties. Director Settle mentioned a program in Memphis that has been successful in which the city purchases properties that need demolition. Director Rego mentioned a municipal purchase program like that in Colorado Springs saying that there are “big cities doing big things with dilapidated properties”.
The Board voted unanimously (except for Director Morton who abstained from voting because he is a member of the Board of Trustees for ACHE) to waive the building permit and construction inspection fees for one three story 100 unit apartment building costing $13.2 million and 38 units in two story townhomes costing a total of $5.7 million that are to be constructed for Arkansas Colleges of Health Education. If collected, the fees would have been estimated to be $35,821.50.
Kyle Parker from ACHE said that the housing would be used for doctoral degree students and that this year they were short housing and UAFS allowed them to house 20 students in their dorms. The housing is expected to be finished in May of 2024.
Directors Rego and Settle expressed their support for the project and praised ACHE.
The Board voted unanimously to accept a bid for $787,735 from Goodwin & Goodwin for improvements at Carol Ann Cross Park including removing and replacing the bathrooms, repaving the roads and parking lots, removing and replacing the pedestrian bridge, and construction of an additional fishing pier.
Director Martin expressed concerns about the significant differences in cost between the winning bidder and the higher bidder. Deputy Administrator Dingman assured that a consulting engineer reviews each line item with the firm that makes the lowest bid and makes sure that the low bid meets the City’s expectations. Director Morton said he is “disappointed when we only get 2 bids” but pointed out that the engineer’s estimate for the project was within 10% of the lowest bid.
Director Martin asked about playground equipment at Carol Ann Cross park saying that he has received complaints about the playground there. Parks Director Rheinert said that playground equipment is not included in this phase of the project but agreed that it is due new equipment and will get some. Tilles Park is the next park scheduled to get new play equipment.
The Board discussed a 2 year renewal of the contract with First Western to provide insurance and risk management advisory services including insurance claim reporting responsibilities at a cost of $130,000 per year.
Director Settle asked if a request for professional services had been done for the insurance services, much like it is done for legal services. Geffken answered that it had not. Director Settle said that he had been approached by a firm that is bigger than First Western that expressed interest but had not been given a chance to compete for the contract. Settle motioned to table the issue until a request for professional services has been done. City Attorney Colby Row clarified that the procurement method was legal and that a “statement of qualifications” was all that was required. Administrator Geffken clarified that in September statements of qualifications were advertised for in the newspaper seeking submissions from firms who would like to do business with the City (typically including accounting, legal services engineers, architects, IT, etc. but that it did not specifically mention insurance). Director Morton expressed concern that they have “waited too late” to change brokers or delay contracting a broker because the insurance firms need quotes in hand in time to renew policies and there needs to be a broker working on it right away. He suggested that instead of renewing the contract for two years it be renewed for this year and then next year opened up for more bidders.
Phillip Merry with First Western who has been providing the services this year spoke about the partnerships he has with other agencies and the work he does with things that are citizen issues that aren’t even directly insurance related and his work on risk management to reduce safety issues. He spoke on how his flat fee doesn’t charge a commission or allow him to take a commission from insurance companies and that it doesn’t require the City to pay for travel or mileage or equipment expenses. He mentioned the extensive work he put into researching 10 years of workers compensation cases that resulted in a savings of $40,000 dollars on the workers compensation policy premium.
The issue was not tabled with only Catsavis, Settle, and Morton voting to table it and the rest of the Directors voting to move forward with the issue at the meeting.
Director Settle motioned for an amendment to renew the contract for only one year instead of two. That amendment passed with all but Rego and Good voting in favor of voting on the shorter renewal term.
Then the Board voted on the one year renewal of the contract and the measure passed with all but Settle and Martin voting in favor of the renewal.
During the Officials forum portion of the meeting, Mayor McGill mentioned that the City has acquired 9000 State funded PPE kits to be distributed to first responders, United Way, nursing homes, and the public. Director Rego mentioned his interest in waiving permit and inspection fees for other building projects with a significant economic impact. Director Settle suggested that money be allocated in the city budget for the Board of Directors to attend community events like the Mercy Ball and MLK Jr. Dinner. Director Martin mentioned having “a blast” trying out riding the new E-bikes from the SMILIES program.
In the Executive Session, Elizabeth Sinclair was reappointed and Madeline Martinez and Tyler Armstrong were appointed to the Library Board of Trustees and Brianca Hollis was appointed to the Mechanical Board of Adjustments and Appeals.
