Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 2/15/22
The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 2-15-22 kicked off with the Board voting unanimously to approve a resolution declaring support for the Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training Center that is possibly coming to Fort Smith’s Ebbing Air National Guard Base. Every Director chimed in support of the program. Mayor McGill and Directors Rego and Good praised Ebbing Air National Guard Base. Directors Morton, Catsavis, Dawson, and Martin mentioned excitement about the program’s economic impacts. Martin mentioned the “up to a BILLION” dollar impact per year. Settle called the program a “transformational opportunity” for Fort Smith.
The Board had been set to vote at this meeting on the zoning appeal from Next Step Homeless Services that would allow them to build a homeless facility including tiny-house style housing units on a vacant lot at 1400 South U. However, Susan Tucker, a member of Next Step’s board, announced instead that Next step had decided to drop their appeal. She spoke about that when they started the process to initiate the zoning change that Next Step had expected support but instead was met with community concerns and in response dropped the day room from their plans for the facility focusing on only the housing part, but still were met with opposition including what she felt were personal attacks. She spoke on the hardships of homelessness. She said that the decision to pull the appeal was a hard one and their Board’s vote was not unanimous, but ultimately it was decided that they “didn’t want to put our clients in such a harsh environment”.
Mayor McGill said of Next Step that “We applaud your work”. Director Dawson said to Next Step that we “appreciate how you’ve handled the situation with grace, class, and tenacity” and expressed her opinion that the choice to not pursue relocating to the location was a “wise decision”. Dawson spoke on her appreciation for all of the input from the community on the issue and expressed that she would like to see that level of participation on a lot more issues. Directors Rego and Good thanked Next Step for their hard work. Good challenged Next Step to continue to “hold us to task” in helping the homeless population. Director Morton praised Next Step’s “tremendous patience, tremendous professionalism” in responding to questioning at neighborhood meetings and Board meetings. Administrator Geffken thanked Maggie Rice and the Planning Department for all their hard work on this matter.
The Board voted unanimously to approve of spending a total of $178,444.54 for a 3 year agreement plus a one-time $193,152 for staff training to have Granicus that is currently building the new City website also add their Govmeetings system. It would include digital storage, digital agenda creation, digital minutes recording, livestreaming of meetings, and would enable digital recording of meetings that are searchable by keyword and able to offer each agenda item marked and timestamped so that citizens can jump right to the portion of the meeting they’re most interested in with a single click. Byron Gilliam and Bill Marshall from Granicus presented about the system. They mentioned that it is currently used by big cities including Miami and by the Arkansas Supreme Court and the VA’s National PTSD Center. They praised the keyword searchable archive, the capabilities for digital collaboration for the staff, having one platform for everything, the government level security data storage center, and savings that will come from reducing the workload of the staff. They also mentioned the 24/7 customer support. Director Rego, having experienced Granicus in another city where he used to live, praised Granicus and Govmeetings as the “bulletproof gold standard” and likened their staff content training program to “Eric Clapton teaching you how to play guitar”.
Director Martin inquired about migration of old content into the new system. Gilliam responded that that would be challenging. Geffken responded that the current plan is to just link on the website to the old archived content but not to migrate it as migration would be expensive. Director Martin asked if we would need to purchase new cameras. Geffken answered that we would not as we’ve recently purchased new ones that will work with the new system.
Director Morton asked when the project might be finished. Marshall responded one year.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of 6 Dodge Chargers for the Police Department without the normal bidding process from a dealer in Texas. The current pandemic related major supply problems has resulted in Police vehicles being very hard to obtain. Nearby dealerships are all unable to get any to sell.
Director Catsavis asked Police Chief Baker about the choice to buy Chargers instead of Tahoe SUVs. Baker responded of the Tahoes that they “can’t find any” and also that the cost of Tahoes has gone up from $55,000 a piece to $70,000 a piece if they could find some. Baker also mentioned liking having a mixed fleet as some officers, especially those who are smaller in stature, don’t care for the big SUVs as well as cars, especially with the take-home vehicle policy that is being started. Catsavis said “I like the Tahoes”. Baker said that Tahoes definitely have some benefits and that he is “not giving up” on Tahoes.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of a new inclusive playground to be built at Martin Luther King Park for $539,766 from ACS Playground Adventures. Director Martin asked Parks Director Reinert why ACS had been selected even though they were not the lowest bidder. Reinert responded that the the lower bidders did not meet the criteria of the bidding to be able to start construction in May. The lowest bid from Play by Design was $14,658 cheaper, but that they wouldn’t even be able to get materials in for 20 weeks. Cunningham Recreation with a bid that was $133.61 lower than ACS would not even have materials until mid-June. He said all of the companies that submitted bids were good reputable companies. ACS is the company that is currently building the new playground at John Bell Jr. Park. Another factor mentioned in the difference in bids was that ACS’s bid included a $40,000 retaining wall that others did not.
The Board voted unanimously to renew the $1 per year 5 year lease for the Farmers Market for the property at North 2nd and Garrison where the market currently operates.
The Board voted unanimously to approve bids for the purchase of a dozer and a haul truck for the landfill.
Director Morton called for a study session Monday 2-21-22 to discuss the 1% sales tax renewal election after having received feedback from the community during the series of neighborhood meetings held about it and called for a special meeting to be held Tuesday 2-22-22 (before the study session meeting already planned for that night) to vote on putting the sales tax issues on the ballot and what exactly they will put on there. If the tax issues are to be included on the May 10th election, they must be decided upon and submitted to the County no later than March 1st. All of the Directors except Catsavis voted in favor of holding the 2-21-22 study session meeting and the special meeting on 2-22-22.
Because the quotes from Arkansas Municipal League and Traveler’s Insurance are not complete and will not both be available until next Tuesday, Procurement Manager Alie Bahsoon and Phillip Merry from First Western who is contracted to consult on insurance recommended that the Board table the insurance renewal decision until Tuesday when those quotes will be ready.
Director Rego motioned to table the insurance decision and add it instead to the Special Meeting scheduled for 2-22-22. The motion to table the insurance issue passed 4-3 with Catsavis, Settle, and Martin voting against tabling.
Daniel Mann was appointed to the Advertising and Promotions Commission. James Farmer was appointed to the Community Development Advisory Committee. David Webb and Scott Hathaway were appointed to the Plumbing Advisory Board.
