Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 2/13/24
The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 2-13-24 began with a vote to accept the resignation of Internal Auditor Tracey Shockley. Shockley has served as Internal Auditor for 9 years. She will close out her remaining audits before leaving and anticipates that her last day will be 4-1-24.
Fort Smith resident Mel Winker spoke and said that to her the resignation feels like a “long awaited sad moment”. She praised Shockley and said that members of the Board had undermined Shockley and had “thrown her under the bus”. Winker said of Shockley’s decision to resign “I don’t blame her.”
Director George Catsavis asked if Shockley would be eligible for rehire. Director of Human Resources Lolli confirmed that she would be.
The Board voted to accept the resignation with Director George Catsavis and Director Martin voting against acceptance and all others voting in favor of it.
The Board heard from Purchasing Director Bahsoon and Phillip Merry with First Western Insurance that is contracted to consult on insurance matters about their recommendations regarding the upcoming renewal for the City’s auto and property insurance policy. The City insures 1072 vehicles and pieces of equipment under the auto policy and close to half a billion dollars worth of property under the property policy. Coverage is currently purchased through Arkansas Municipal League. The premiums for auto coverage through AML this year are expected to increase from $419,679 last year to $77,293 for the renewal. The premiums for property coverage through AML are expected to increase from $1,026,298 last year to $1,173,665 for the renewal. The increases are caused by the loss ratio that Bahsoon referred to as “extremely large”. The loss ratio has increased from .82 to 1.37 mostly due to hail storm damage claims. After reviewing options and rates from AML and from multiple other insurance companies, both Merry and Bahsoon recommended renewing with AML. The main reason that Merry recommended staying with AML was that other companies’ deductibles were significantly higher than AML’s. Merry also praised the service received from AML and said that AML’s John Wells “is a pleasure to work with.”
The Board will vote at next week’s meeting on approval of renewal with AML.
The Board heard a presentation from Hawkins-Weir Engineers regarding the Chaffee Crossing water study and discussed the results of the study, challenges to the water supply, and possible solutions.
Utilities Director McAvoy said that when the study was conducted that questions came up regarding the “potential explosion of growth at Chaffee Crossing” and the need for water in that area.
A representative from Hawkins-Weir explained that the Lee Creek water treatment plant can supply 10 million gallons per day (MGD) and the Lake Fort Smith water treatment plant can provide 40 MGD. The 2024 average daily demand for water is 39.8 MGD and 49.9 MGD for maximum demand (usually seen during peak summer).
Director Morton questioned if Lake Fort Smith could provide more capacity. Hawkins-Weir explained that while the lake itself could offer more water, the issue is with treatment capacity and transmission capacity. Director Morton asked how hard it would be to increase treatment capacity at Lake Fort Smith. Hawkins-Weir answered that it would require a large scale treatment plant improvement project and that the City has already maximized the potential of what is already in place there. Director Morton asked how long it would take to do that project. Hawkins-Weir answered 4-5 years.
Director Martin asked how much that project would cost. McAvoy said that it was already included in the 10 year Capital Improvement Plan approved recently at a total cost of $200-300 million done in stages over time. Administrator Geffken added that the first stage would increase capacity from 40 to 55 MGD and the second stage would increase it from 55-70 MGD (the maximum allowed by ADEQ). The first stage would cost $68 million.
Two measures to alleviate the water supply issues at Chaffee and on the South end of town (aside from the Lake Fort Smith treatment plant improvement and 48 inch Lake Fort Smith transmission line large projects) studied and recommended by Hawkins-Weir are the utility relocation associated with Highway 45 improvements that will incorporate upsizing the pipes there to 24 inch and an extension of the water line at Chad Colley.
In addition to demand exceeding supply, Hawkins-Weir noted deficiencies in providing proper water pressure. The existing pressure in some places falls below the minimum pressure required by the State and the EPA. The psi in some places is at high risk for falling below the EPA threshold of 20 psi at which it would be considered “endangerment to public health” and a boil order would have to be issued. Additional development at Chaffee Crossing would increase the trouble with maintaining adequate water pressure. The proposed measures at Highway 45 and at Chad Colley would resolve the pressure issues in the Rye Hill area.
Director Morton asked if the recovery rate of water levels in the water towers in the Chaffee area could be improved with more or better pumps. Hawkins-Weir said that that is an issue of pipes rather than of pumps or the availability of water. They said that the Chaffee area water issues are not issues of storage or distribution as much as issues of treatment and capacity and the real fixes will be the water treatment plant project and the transmission line project.
Director Martin questioned if there might be an opportunity to divert water from elsewhere in the city to alleviate the problems at Chaffee. McAvoy mentioned that part of the issue is pushing the water through pipes that in some places are 100 years old and that in addition to the electrical cost of pumps being required to pump it rather than feed by gravity the old pipes cannot handle high pressure and would break catastrophically. He also mentioned that there are no backup generators for the pumps, so in the event of a power outage water could not be pumped. McAvoy mentioned that the planned replacement of galvanized pipes throughout the city that is estimated to cost $15 million will help the supply issue some because the galvanized pipes are extremely leaky.
Director Rego in looking for short-medium term solutions until the big projects could be afforded and completed asked what might be required of citizens in order to keep the demand closer to the average daily demand more often than not. Director McAvoy said that in summer the City could enact Phase 2 water conservation measures in which lawn watering is only allowed once a week and a penalty could be imposed for breaking the conservation rule. He said that in the past a “kind of honor system” was used in times of conservation and that people sometimes disregarded the conservation rules. He also said that when large scale developments seek approval to be built they could be required to show that according to the hydraulic model they won’t negatively impact water supply anywhere in the system. Director Rego requested a “full menu” of possible conservation measures that could be enacted.
Director Christina Catsavis asked if when the capacity is increased to 70 MGD the current storage available in the tanks will be enough. Hawkins-Weir said that storage for that is sufficient already and tank storage won’t exceed average daily demand until 2030. He said that too much storage leads to disinfection issues. McAvoy agreed that tank storage was already sufficient.
Director George Catsavis said that a past Board of Directors 20 years ago could have been proactive on the sewer issue back then and dealt with the sewer issues for a fraction of the money that the consent decree is costing today and expressed that the water supply issue being discussed now might also need addressed proactively like the sewer should have been. He asked if a one year moratorium on new water and sewer taps at Chaffee Crossing would be a possible temporary solution and asked if with being already at capacity whether any growth at Chaffee would be a liability. Hawkins-Weir confirmed that it would be a liability unless water conservation measures were enacted. McAvoy said that he would not advise a moratorium especially with the Foreign Military Sales program bringing an increase in population soon. He said he would “hate to not have places for people to live.” He said that “Conservation buys us some time.” Geffken said that perhaps a moratorium could be considered on FCRA land that has not been sold yet and that the Board could consider requiring a hydraulic model from developers to make sure there is sufficient water. Director George Catsavis called the situation a “sad situation.”
Director Morton wondered how many days that enacting an even/odd alternating watering schedule starting June 1st could reduce from the number of days at maximum daily demand. He requested that Hawkins-Weir come back with more ideas (especially ideas that are cheaper than the expensive water treatment plant project) to solve the issue including other projects in other areas of the city. He suggested exploring use of storage tanks and stored water to mitigate the pressure issue.
Director Settle questioned differences between the numbers used in the study showing 40 MGD demand and the 22 MGD billed water use by day in the reports he has been looking at. He also mentioned the 40% of all water produced by Fort Smith that goes outside of the City. He said that the extension of the water line at Chad Colley “should be done as quickly as possible” to eliminate the 2 dead ends in Rye Hill. He said that a system could be put in to manage storage tank turnover to deal with potential worries about water being stored too long in the tanks. McAvoy added that the City has 33 million gallons of water storage inside the City limits (a figure that excludes the 42 million gallons of clear water well storage at Lee Creek and Lake Fort Smith) but that additional tank storage can’t get water to the tanks if there are multiple consecutive maximum demand days. Director Settle said that the study is “looking at the worst case scenario” and instead everyone needs to be looking at the daily basis average. He mentioned that tanks are “everywhere” in Texas.
Director Morton asked if anywhere in the city actually experienced pressures below 20 psi in 2023. McAvoy said that there were complaints of low pressure received from residents but that when crews went to check the pressure was above 20 at that time and that no boil orders had to be issued. Director Martin asked if the reports of low pressure were only from Chaffee. McAvoy said that they were not.
Director Morton asked if Fort Smith would have the ability to impose water conservation restrictions on the water users outside of the city that are supplied by the Fort Smith water supply (including Van Buren and Greenwood). McAvoy confirmed that they could and that it was written into the contracts with those outside municipal customers that if restrictions are imposed in Fort Smith they are automatically also put into effect for those outside customers.
Director George Catsavis asked what would happen if the Utilities Department doesn’t get the money for the needed improvements including building the transmission line and upgrading the treatment plant. McAvoy answered “I don’t wanna be the next Jackson, Mississippi.” Director George Catsavis said that the Board should have seen the water supply shortfall issues 2 years ago instead of only hearing about it now. Director Morton agreed saying that he knew about the plans for the transmission line but didn’t know the extent of the situation. Geffken said that the problem was already mentioned as far back as 5 years ago in discussions about the Arcbest headquarters at Chaffee and the Foreign Military Sales program.
Director Martin requested data on the impact of water loss through things like leaks on the capacity and mentioned the possibility of spending funds on fixing that water loss to help shore up the shortfall.
Director Rego asked about the modeling used for growth in the Hawkins-Weir study. McCormick said that a one and a half percent annual growth was used and compared with a historical growth that would normally be expected to be about a half percent annually that would be a strong predicted growth, but that that does not account properly for the robust expected Foreign Military Sales growth. Rego said the Board “need to see a more accurate model going forward”. Director Morton noted that Hawkins-Weir used one and a half percent in their model and that Burns McDonnell used one percent in the model they used for the water rate study and rate increase proposal they recently presented. When Burns McDonnell was asked to do additional calculations they were asked to figure the growth using two percent. Morton requested that Burns McDonnell also be asked to include figures calculated using the one and a half percent. Mayor McGill said that the City needs an “honest assessment” of what will be required for growth and that the Board must “have courage to do what is required.” He said “Some decisions are not comfortable to make.”
During the Citizens Forum section of the meeting, Fort Smith resident Johnnie Rogers spoke regarding her concerns about the performance of Animal Control. She said that citations are not being issued when they should be. She mentioned an incident were Animal Control did not respond until after Facebook posts and neighborhood action and that it took a year to get them to come out and that one animal had to be euthanized would not have had to be if the response had been sooner. She also mentioned another incident involving a stray dog that was not neutered and that the owner had moved away and abandoned that did not receive a timely follow-up and that a dog that was injured was not picked up by Animal Control because it was not injured badly enough. Rogers also asked if the audit of Fort Smith Animal Haven has come back. Geffken said that it has and Director George Catsavis asked if Rogers would like to be sent a copy. Rogers replied that she would like a copy.
Fort Smith resident Joey McCutcheon spoke regarding two state-wide ballot initiatives that are currently collecting petition signatures to get on the ballot. If passed by the voters, the two initiatives would give Arkansas the strongest FOIA in the country. One is an amendment enshrining the Freedom of Information Act into the State Constitution. It would make it more difficult for the legislature to pass laws that weaken the FOIA by requiring that the legislature have a 2/3 vote to weaken sunshine laws and then have to bring those changes before the voters. The second initiative would create a state commission that would allow people with issues with transparency to come before the commission and be heard instead of having to hire a lawyer. It would also allow civil penalties of up to $1000 to be imposed on individual government officials for FOIA violations. It would allow citizens who win a FOIA suit to collect an attorney fee. It would allow 3 working days for a City to provide requested information or a reason as to why they could not provide the information and it would allow a City to request from the Commission more days to provide requested information. It would also define clearly what constitutes a “meeting”. McCutcheon asked the Board to pass a resolution supporting both the constitutional amendment and the initiated act and encouraging citizens to vote in favor of both issues.
