Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 6/4/24

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 6-4-24 with Director Rego absent, the Board vote unanimously in favor of a zoning change for 8820 Highway 271 to facilitate the sale of an existing single-family house on the property.

The Board voted unanimously in favor of a zoning change for 8603-9001 Chad Colley, 9201-9599 Massard, and 9600-9700 Custer that will allow for the 54 undeveloped acres to be developed into the mixed use Serington development that will include single family homes, townhomes, rowhouses, multi-family housing, commercial, and office spaces.

Andy Posterick who lives across the street from the property spoke in support of the development calling it a “slam dunk” and saying it is “gonna be great for the neighborhood.”

The Board voted in favor of a change to the Unified Development Ordinance that would allow the Planning inspectors to issue citations for illegal fowl. Previously, the inspectors could only issue the property owner two 15-day letters and then send an affidavit to appear in court. The change will speed the process by immediately setting a court date.

Director Christina Catsavis asked Planning Director Rice if Planning staff is overburdened and the duty should move to Animal Services. Rice answered “We seem to be able to handle it at present.”

The Board voted to allow the Planning Inspectors to issue citations for fowl with all but Director Martin voting in favor.

The Board was scheduled to vote on amending the Unified Development Ordinance to create a Military Compatibility Area Overlay District and if the MCAOD were passed they would vote on repealing the moratorium on residential construction near the airport.

However, the issue was tabled due to the absence of Director Rego. The issue will be added to the 6-18-24 meeting agenda instead.

Though the issue was tabled, the citizen who attended the meeting to speak on the issue was still allowed their opportunity to address the Board. John Alford spoke in opposition to the MCAOD. He mentioned the impact on business owners, land owners, and investors. He asked if it is a requirement for the military base, whether it has been requested by the military, and for information regarding who at the City has been talking to the federal government regarding the matter. He expressed concerns about property owners not receiving the due process that is standard rezoning procedure. He voiced concern that the entire city being included in the MCAOD would make it easier for further regulations to be adopted.

The Board voted in favor of allowing taxi cab companies to use any licensed local mechanic to perform the car inspections required by the City rather than continuing to attempt to maintain a list of vendors contracted with the City to perform the service. This issue was discussed and tabled for further discussion at the 3-26-24 meeting and discussed more at the 5-14-24 meeting.

In reference to the mention in the agenda packet of there being potential for the City to someday consider conducting taxi inspections itself, Director Martin recommended that the “City not get into the taxi inspection business.”. Director George Catsavis agreed with Director Martin.

Director Christina Catsavis said that the change in policy would be in line with what rideshare services are doing and “doesn’t seem burdensome” in terms of business costs for cab owners.

Director Morton said that inspections are “fulfilling the City obligation to offer our citizens some minimum level of safety.”

The Board voted in favor of allowing the inspections by any licensed local mechanic with all voting in favor except for Director George Catsavis who abstained from voting.

The Board voted in favor of declaring the property at 724 Garrison to be excess to set in motion the process that will allow for an appraisal and survey to be obtained and allow the process to sell the property to begin. The property was discussed at the 5-14-24 meeting in response to a request from the owners of the 720 Garrison building next door that has been leasing the parking lot from the City to purchase the lot.

Fort Smith resident John Alford spoke on behalf of the owners of the 720 Garrison building in support of the measure. He also mentioned that the owners would be willing to allow an easement for the trolley if that were needed at some point in the future.

Director Morton expressed support for the measure as a way to support downtown businesses. He voiced support for negotiating with the future owners of the lot for an easement for the trolley or using eminent domain for the trolley if necessary in the future but said that he does not “foresee we’ll be doing that any time soon.”

Director Christina Catsavis agreed with Director Morton about the measure supporting downtown business. She also said that the potential for offering the businesses in the 720 Garrison building parking spots in the parking garage instead is not a viable alternative offer because of the discussion about potentially demolishing the parking garage.

Director Settle suggested that the measure be tabled until after a master plan for downtown has been crafted that includes things like plans for the parking garage, the trolley, and potentially constructing a road corridor through the 724 Garrison property between Garrison and the Convention Center.

Director Christina Catsavis said that the plans for the trolley are 23 years old and the City is “not putting a trolley through there. We all know it.” She also expressed opposition to building a road there that would cost millions of dollars and run right up to the door of the convention center. Voicing opposition to the suggestion to table she said “We need to vote and move on.”

Director Morton asked if eminent domain could be used to facilitate the State owned property adjacent to the 724 Garrison lot being used to construct a two-way street from Garrison to Rogers through that property in the future. City Attorney Rowe said that it could be.

The Board voted in favor of declaring the property excess and setting the process in motion to facilitate its sale with all but Director Settle voting in favor.

The Board was scheduled to vote on partnering with Good Shepard Humane Society to have their mobile veterinary unit visit Fort Smith twice a month through the end of the year to provide free spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, and pet wellness checks. However, the issue was withdrawn at the request of Good Shepard Humane Society. Director Morton said it was “extremely unfortunate” the issue was withdrawn and expressed that he was very interested in potentially being able to offer free animal sterilizations to residents in that way.

The issue of animals having been brought up sparked some general discussion about the new spay/neuter voucher program. Director Martin pointed out that 466 vouchers have been used to far. Director Morton said he is “disappointed the uptake rate is only 33%.” Public Relations manager Butchfink said that 98% of the vouchers were redeemed at Kitties and Kanines, with the remainder being redeemed at the other two vendors participating in the program, Vetco and Fort Smith Veterinary Clinic. Director Morton expressed a desire to see more veterinarians participating in the program but said “but 3 is better than just one.”

There was discussion regarding the need for expiration dates to be added to the vouchers for accounting purposes and to avoid the potential for unexpectedly large liability. Administrator Geffken assured that the City will be careful regarding liability and that the Finance Department will be prepared for that. Director Christina Catsavis and Director Martin inquired about the potential for calling people who have been issued vouchers but have not redeemed them to learn if the voucher will or won’t be redeemed soon and should or shouldn’t be returned to the pool of available vouchers. Butchfink agreed that that could be done.

The Board voted unanimously to spend $65,000 for repairs to the HVAC system and other repairs and cleaning for the former Baker Center senior center building at 3600 Albert Pike. The roof is also in need of repair from storm damage but that is anticipated to be covered by insurance. The Board also voted unanimously to lease the building to Washington Community and Cultural Center (WCCC). The building which has been out of use since last fall will be leased under the same type of agreement as the one with the Sebastian Retired Citizens Association for the senior citizens center on Cavanaugh.

Director Morton asked about the programs to be offered at the facility by WCCC. Ms. RIchardson with WCCC said that it would be focused on education, health, art, community, and political awareness for children and adults. Director Settle inquired about the political awareness activities. Richardson mentioned potentially hosting public town hall meetings there. Mayor McGill said WCCC is an organization that he has been aware of for many years and called leasing the building to them an “excellent idea for the use of the facility” as it would provide a “wonderful community center for an area of town that needs it.”'

Director Good expressed that regardless of the specific uses for the building by WCCC he is in support of the building being used rather than vacant. He expressed concerns about the vacancy contributing to blight and attracting squatters.

Director Christina Catsavis said that she is often worried about senior citizens being overlooked and the community center “will be a wonderful use for that property.”

The Board voted unanimously in favor with no further discussion to replace the traffic signals and poles at Rogers and 10th and Massard and Dallas and replace two signal poles at Kelley Highway and I-540 at a total cost of $873,811.50.

The Board voted unanimously in favor with no further discussion to contract with Forsgren for $3,127,825.32 for 2.8 miles of street overlays.

The Board voted unanimously in favor of installing a statue honoring Dr. Micheal Liggett in Creekmore Park in view of the Parklane Dental Clinic that Dr. Liggett founded. The late dentist’s family and friends have commissioned artist Jonathan Cromer to create the statue and paid for the statue so the public artwork would not cost the City.

Director Christina Catsavis voiced excitement about the statue saying that Dr. Liggett was “like family” to her and “cared about this community and spent a lot of time giving back to it.” She asked when the statue would be installed. Parks Director Deuster answered that it would be installed in August.

During the Officials forum section of the meeting, Director Morton suggested discussion at a future study session of a Utilities Commission comprised primarily of Board of Directors members being established to allow the member Directors to dig more deeply into how the utilities work than they have time to at Board meetings. Geffken said that the item will be added to a future study session agenda.

Director Morton also suggested the Utilities Department should check into the 2500 meters that are registering zero water use especially if Water Company of America is ever to be hired to find missed revenue. He said that investigating those zero use meters would be the first thing Water Company of America would do and if the City were to do it themselves before hand they would not have to share that revenue with Water Company of America. Geffken and Utilities Director McAvoy clarified that the actual number of zero use meters is down to 1300. McAvoy said there are only 19 meters with 12 months of consecutive zero use. He said “We’ve actually done a deep dive.” Director Morton said it is “still worth a look.”