Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting 3/28/23

The Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting held 3-28-23 was led by Vice Mayor Rego in the absence of Mayor McGill. The meeting kicked off with the annual update from the Future Fort Smith Committee featuring reports from multiple departments on what they’ve done or are doing this year or are about to do in relation to the goals in the Comprehensive Plan. Future Fort Smith Committee Chair John Cooley spoke to the Board. He mentioned that some things the Board might focus on in the future including making sure that wages are attractive enough to attract employees to City jobs and that grant money is sought for projects. Cooley highlighted a few things from the departmental reports including the new inclusive playgrounds, the full service kitchen added to the Convention Center, the Fire Department again earning the best possible ISO class rating, the positive impression of the Police Department in the community, the Lucity computer maintenance management system at the utility department, and the upgraded transit buses and transfer station awning. He said the “city looks a lot different than it did 10 years ago” and called it a “good community that wants to make progress”. Cooley mentioned that some of the younger committee members have expressed concern with the new slogan and marketing that Rightmind advertising has been working on for the City including the “Trailblazing Fort Smith” slogan. He expressed concerns that it “can’t always be the Wild West” and he encouraged the Board to “be very thoughtful of how we present ourselves” and make sure that marketing “doesn’t pigeon hole us.”

In the past, there hasn’t been a set schedule for when the annual Future Fort Smith update happens. Director Morton suggested and it was well received that it could start being scheduled for September so as to come when the Board is headed into budget planning season. Director Rego also suggested that a more standardized format for the departmental reports be used by all the departments.

Director Settle suggested that with the Future Fort Smith comprehensive plan turning 10 years old in 2024 and all of the growth the city has experienced and plans to experience soon that it might be a good time for a big update to be made to it. Cooley responded that the plan is still relevant for at least a few years. He suggested that 5 years from now, after the growth from the foreign military sales project and other changes, would be a better time to do an update than right now.

Future Fort Smith Committee member Ashley Gerhardson spoke to the Board. She expressed concern about the “Trailblazing Fort Smith” motto and marketing. She expressed a preference for something that brings to mind less “guns and gallows” and has more of a “future focus” . She mentioned favorably the previous “Life is worth living in Fort Smith” slogan and slogans from Rogers, AR “Where possible lives” and Greenwood, AR’s “It feels like home.” She mentioned the negative associations, especially for Native Americans, with “trailblazing” with the Trail of Tears having passed through our area.

Administrator Geffken said that there are more and different marketing materials that haven’t been seen yet and that the “trailblazing” is also about “trailblazing a new path” and innovation. Director Rego expressed appreciation for the feedback from the young professionals demographic. Director Morton agreed and said “Fort Smith is a great family town and we need to highlight those things”.

Future Fort Smith Committee member Keley Simpson spoke to the Board. She said that the current comprehensive plan looks outdated since so many new things have happened and been accomplished and been completed since the plan was written. She suggested it be updated. She also expressed concern about preparedness for the influx of military families to be coming soon. She talked about the existing struggle for affordable rental housing already posing a challenge and worried that that would be a bigger problem with the new residents coming in. She mentioned the need for a welcoming committee and childcare facilities.

Geffken said that preparations are being made. The Chamber of Commerce has been meeting monthly with the military and the administration and organizations and other parties that will need to be involved and he is confident the needs of the new residents will be adequately addressed. Director Martin mentioned being contacted by citizens already looking to help welcome the new people. He said it is “awesome all these people are wanting to help”. Director Rego said “there will be enough work to go around for all the people who want to volunteer” and “offers of help will be accepted”.

Director Rego suggested that adding a Board of Directors representative position to the Future Fort Smith Committee as an “active conduit for information” might be considered in the future.

The Board discussed changes to the City Employee personnel policy in response to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment. In the proposed policy, no employees would be allowed to use or be under the influence of marijuana at any time while on duty regardless of whether they possess a medical marijuana card or not. To stay in line with federal law, the proposed policy includes that all employees that are subject to DOT regulations may not use marijuana and will be terminated if they test positive.

To stay in line with State law, employees may not use marijuana even if they possess a medical marijuana card if they are to be employed in jobs that are categorized as safety sensitive or security sensitive. Some safety sensitive jobs include law enforcement officers, anyone who operates a motor vehicle or heavy equipment, Fire department employees, lifeguards, anyone working with food, and water and wastewater treatment operators. Some security sensitive jobs include Police department roles including dispatchers and clerical workers with access to investigation information, anyone working in criminal prosecution, and IT employees. Employees who are classified as safety or security sensitive will be required to disclose to the human resources department if they are issued a medical marijuana card and will be terminated for failure to disclose. 97% of all City positions (all but about 30 jobs) are considered either safety or security sensitive.

Human Resources Director Lolley clarified the procedure for if someone is suspected of being under the influence of a substance while at work. If someone is observed to be possibly impaired, 2 supervisors who have received training about recognizing drug use (a yearly training course is given by the Police Department and takes about 2 hours to complete) will evaluate the person, if they are suspected of being under the influence of a substance, they will be tested for drugs, if they fail the test or refuse the test they will be terminated. Geffken added that this policy and procedure is not just for medical marijuana but is the same for all substances, including prescription narcotics. If an employee’s job is not safety or security sensitive they may use the prescribed medications away from work but no employee is ever allowed to be impaired or under the influence on the job.

Director Settle expressed a desire for random and pre-employment drug screening for all City employees. Lolley and Attorney Doug Carson responded that while private companies have the freedom to drug test without having to have a “reasonable suspicion” of impairment on the job, that because the City is a government entity that it has to be worried about “unreasonable search and seizure” 4th Amendment Constitutional concerns that private companies do not. Director Settle suggested the possibility that instead of making exceptions for the roughly 30 people that would be not be deemed safety or security sensitive that all City employees could be deemed safety or security sensitive.

Director Good called the proposed policy “pretty standard” and “pretty run of the mill”.

The policy will return to the Board for a vote at the April 18, 2023 meeting.

The Board discussed the staffing shortages in the Utility Department. There are currently 43 vacancies out of the 298 positions at the Utility Department. 23.7% of the water line maintenance staff positions are currently open.

Utilities Director McAvoy stated that in addition to challenges from an uptick in retirement that will only be getting worse soon (of the City employees that have been with the CIty for over 40 years, most of them are in the Utility Department) that the water department is often being “used as a safety net until something better comes along”. 43 people that left recently did so in under a year, with 28 of those leaving in less than 6 months. Of the employees that resigned recently, 47% did so to accept another job at a private company (with higher pay and/or benefits offered elsewhere being the main reason mentioned). Employees leaving for jobs in indoor and climate controlled environments was another challenge.

In talking about hiring challenges McAvoy used the meter reader position as an example with the job opening being posted for about 5 days each in June, August, and November, the department received 57 applicants total, with 50 of them being qualified, and only was able to make 4 hires. They would call and applicants wouldn’t answer, or would no longer be interested in the position, or would schedule an interview and not ever show up for the interview. Director Morton said that especially in 2022, that was “common amongst all employers” as there is a requirement for unemployment benefits to apply at a number of places but some applicants don’t show up on purpose as they don’t intend to actually seek employment. Director Settle said that he’s seen the exact same problems at his workplace. If an application takes longer than 24 hours to be responded to, the applicant is gone. He suggested that applicants be called within 4-6 hours and interviewed as soon as possible.

McAvoy said that some staffing improvement has been made as a result of bringing in some new staff, mostly equipment operators, at the 2nd Quartile pay rate, a rate between the entry tier and mid-point tier. He said the department is looking at the financial impacts of doing more of that. He also compared the pay rate at other municipalities. For a position that starts at $13.54 in Fort Smith, the same position starts at $24.74 in Little Rock and $20.41 in Springdale. McAvoy discussed the hiring challenges with the Springdale department and they are in the same situation. They told of employees leaving them to go work at McDonald’s and Walmart because those places were offering better pay and/or hiring bonuses and were climate controlled and didn’t involve wastewater.

Director Morton said that “if we need to raise the wages we need to look at that” and questioned if the most recent salary study is behind the times. Geffken said that a new salary study is being done this year. Director Morton noted the high rate of turnover at the utility department and Director Rego asked if it was a similar rate to other departments Geffken answered that the turnover is highest in utilities.

Director Christina Catsavis voiced concern about paying to train employees who leave without serving very long. She suggested the possibility of having new hires sign a non-compete clause. McAvoy responded that with being a government agency that may not be allowed legally. Geffken added that it would be hard to legally enforce. Director Christina Catsavis suggested the possibility of having new hires have to pay back for training if they don’t stay long. McAvoy mentioned that one of the biggest issues with new hires getting training and taking it elsewhere very soon was with the CDL training. But the CDL training has been brought in-house now, so it is less expensive and the higher pay rates being offered now are attracting more people that already have the CDL.

Director Martin said that he has seen an increase in applicants recently at his workplace. Director Good has not seen that at his work, but said that there is just not much turnover there. Director Rego said that there are always a lot of applicants at the hospital where he works. Director Morton said that Arcbest has been seeing more applicants. Lolley stated that the City had 2880 applicants in 2019, 1061 in 2020, 2088 in 2021, and 1705 in 2022. Director George Catsavis was curious about if anything was likely to change in the staffing shortage in the near future. McAvoy mentioned that with the Tyson plant in Van Buren closing there may be more applicants soon, but companies including OK Foods and Twin Rivers are actively recruiting former Tyson workers,too.

Director George Catsavis suggested the possibility of privatizing and/or outsourcing some operations, mentioning the recent allowing developers at Shire Glen to install the meter boxes themselves and the City just inspect them. McAvoy said that the City lost money on the Shire Glen situation at the $100 per meter price point (the meter itself costing $160 and then the labor cost of the inspection) so a new price point would need to be determined. He also said that the law requires a licensed distribution operator to be on-site and that most contractors only have a licensed plumber not a distribution operator. Director George Catsavis mentioned the success of contracting Forsgren for leak repairs. McAvoy said that there is a price difference with paying $5000 per leak for a Forsgren repair versus $2000 per leak for an in-house repair and said he is “trying to save as much money as I can but still be effective”.

Director Settle suggested that the department evaluate jobs that have been vacant a long while for the possibility of eliminating that position to be able to spend the money that would be going to the empty spot on higher wages for other positions. McAvoy said he is “willing to look at anything and everything.”. Director Rego agreed with Director Settle about positions vacant over a year.

There was an item on the agenda regarding discussion of splitting the Utility Department into two separate departments, one for water and one for wastewater.

There were some challenges to be considered if they were to be split. A split would create a need for 17-40 additional staff to split roles currently performed by a single person doing both water and wastewater duties. Also there would be a need for additional facilities, equipment, and vehicles. The biggest challenge would be that the Utilities bond debt would need to be refinanced and that would result in it being refinanced at a higher rate than the current rate. The City’s Bond Council Shep Russell advised against the split that would cause refinancing calling it a “very costly process” and “a money losing activity”.

In light of the research since the agenda item was suggested, especially the costs involved, the idea received very little discussion. It won’t be back for further discussion or a vote as it wasn’t really something that there was still much interest in discussing or doing. Director Morton said because of the bond issue alone the cost would be “enormous” and “not practical”. Director Settle expressed concern for McAvoy’s work/life balance. McAvoy, celebrating his 27th anniversary of his service with the City, said that he has discussed his work load with Geffken and Geffken checks in regularly on his stress levels. Also, the department has recently become fully staffed with highly qualified Deputy Directors to share the work load.

After the agenda items were covered, Director Settle made a motion to add a resolution to a future agenda requiring the Planning Commission to require development plans be included for all PZD requests.

Director Settle also motioned to add discussion to a future agenda of building height restrictions for certain zonings or to make certain heights only allowed as a conditional use.

Director Morton called for their to be a strategic planning meeting held very soon since the final approval was received for the Foreign Military Sales program recently and that will result in rapid growth soon.