Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 7/16/24
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 7-16-24 and led by Vice Mayor Rego in the absence of Mayor McGill, the Board voted unanimously to raise the income qualification for the City’s Project Concern program that offers discounts of 50% off water and sewer and 25% off trash bills from 165% of the federal poverty line to 200% of the federal poverty line. The change will allow for more customers to qualify for the program.
Fort Smith resident Russell Bragg who brought the idea of raising the threshold to 200% to Director Morton who proposed it to the Board spoke in support of the increased threshold. He also expressed support for more programs and efforts to reach out to citizens to help increase participation in the program.
Director Christina Catsavis expressed support for the 200% threshold but also suggested looking at “different percentages up to 1000%”. She suggested that since Fort Smith could not legally raise water rates for outside users without also raising the Fort Smith residential rates that the Project Concern program could be used to alleviate burden on Fort Smith residents when raising Fort Smith residential rates.
Director Settle asked if the Project Concern program and changes to it were considered in the water rate study conducted by Burns McDonald used recently to determine the need for a water rate increase. Utilities Department Deputy Director Joshua Robertson said that it was not. Director Settle asked if it would create a legal issue with the outside water users. Administrator Geffken answered that he would need the opinion of City Attorney Canfield who was not present at the meeting. Director Martin said that he has heard outside users saying that they “didn’t wanna fund Project Concern.” He asked how the City could ensure that Project Concern is funded only from Fort Smith rates, not outside rates. Robertson said that with the Utilities department being an enterprise fund he would need to talk to the Finance Department to find out how to assure that. Director Morton mentioned that other cities have similar programs (typically at an 125% -150% threshold). He also suggested that if there is a legal problem that the City could set up funding through the general fund to cover the costs of the program.
Director Martin pointed out that there are currently 750 active participants in the Project Concern program and wondered how many the higher threshold would add, guessing about an additional 250 participants. He said that the program discount currently costs $150,000-$250,000 in reduced revenues per year. Robertson mentioned that the current average income for participants is $19,000 per year. 50% of the participants are renters rather than home owners. The average participating household size is 2. 288 of the participants are retired. 390 are disabled. The majority are on a fixed Social Security income. Robertson said that the Utilities Department is “avidly advertising” the program.
Director Morton mentioned that the program currently saves each participating household an average of $31.27 per month. He said that residents that participate in the program tend to be low volume users and the effect on them from the recently enacted water rate increase “would be small.” Director Morton expressed agreement with Director Christina Catsavis on the potential for raising the threshold even further. He suggested raising the threshold to 200% and then to “give it some time and see what the economic effect is.” He said the raised threshold has the “potential to help a lot of people.”
Director George Catsavis expressed support for the 200% threshold and also expressed agreement with Director Christina Catsavis that the threshold should be increased even further. He suggested the possibility of yearly adjustments for inflation.
Director Christina Catsavis asked if the utility billing call center is trained to tell customers who call that are struggling with their bill about Project Concern. Robertson assured that they are and that it is a standard part of the call center script and that information about the program is also given to new customers. Director Christina Catsavis asked if the information is provided to customers when they receive a water shut-off notice. Robertson said that it is not but that it is offered when they contact Utilities about a service re-connection to get their water turned back on. Director Christina Catsavis mention that she wants informational efforts “to capture people who may not be used to using a program.”
Director Good said “We do a lot to get the information out there.” and encouraged everyone to let their neighbors know about the program. He expressed agreement with an even higher percentage threshold.
Director Rego also expressed agreement with even higher threshold percentages. He suggested when water rates are considered again in the 4th quarter of the year that 300%-400% thresholds might be discussed.
The Board discussed the new needs budget requests that were not ranked as the highest priority items and were not discussed at the March 18, 2024 study session.
The total cost of all of both the personnel and capital requests is $4,293,281.
Director Martin said that the “Budget for 2024 is over-stretched already” and expressed support for funding the Streets Department requests but possibly not the others at this time.
Director Morton praised Administration for already having pulled some of the utilities requests that were originally on the new needs list so that they were no longer currently up for consideration as a part of an effort to reduce water spending. He expressed support for funding the Solid Waste requests and mentioned the increase in business for sanitation, that they have been “profitable consistently for a number of years”, and that he does not receive many complaints from residents about sanitation. He said “We can afford this.” citing the 65% reserve in the general fund. He expressed some opposition to the hiring of additional animal control officers saying that they are “staffed adequately.” He said that the new needs budget “deserves passage.”
Director Good mentioned that animal control calls are down and said that Animal Control is “doing a fabulous job.” He expressed strong support for funding the Solid Waste requests, especially the hiring of extra staff. He suggested that if not all of the requested positions were to be funded that he would like to see the hiring of collections workers prioritized over hiring a Deputy Director.
The Board will vote next week on a new slimmed down and re-prioritized version of the new needs budget that has been revised based on the suggestions from the Board.
The Board discussed the results of the third party review of the Fort Smith Animal Haven audit conducted by Baker Tilly. Representatives from Baker Tilly attended the meeting virtually.
Finance Director Richards said that the original Internal Auditor’s audit of the shelter at first found $101,000 in discrepancies owed to the City by the shelter, then the City and shelter worked together to resolve the discrepancies and that resulted in the amount the City said it was owed being around $77,220 with the shelter agreeing that they did owe $5517 of that total. The remaining around $71,700 that was still disputed was what was reviewed by Baker Tilly. Baker Tilly’s review concluded that the amount of overcharges that are owed to the City by the shelter is a total of $2,075.
Director George Catsavis expressed frustration with how long the FSAH audit issue has been “dragging on” and voiced that he would like to “get on with it” and move past it.
Director Good requested that the report from the Baker Tilly review of the audit be posted on the City website for the public to easily view. Geffken agreed to post it and added that it already has been available through FOIA requests. Richards added that he would need to get permission from Baker Tilly to post it. A representative from Baker Tilly indicated that permission would be granted and that she would follow up on that.
Director Good said that the City needs to get the shelter the help they need “to do what the City requires and the citizens expect.” He mentioned a recent visit to the current shelter location where the temperature of the building is too high. It was 93 degrees on the floor where the animals reside during that visit. He said “Animal Haven needs another location.”
Director Good said that the Board needs to officially approve the Baker Tilly report. He said that they “need to remove stigma” about “malice or fraud.”
Director Martin said that the “audit did what it was supposed to do. It identified areas for improvement.”
Director Morton added “We got a lot out of the audit.” He also said that the “City does more for the benefit of animals” than other cities our size. He mentioned that because Fort Smith does so much for stray animals that animals are frequently dumped in Fort Smith by people that live in other nearby areas outside of the city.
Director Christina Catsavis mentioned that animal abandonment is illegal and suggested that there be a greater effort made in aggressively pursuing charges for people that abandon animals. Geffken said that the Police Department does enforce the law when they know who abandoned the animals. Director Morton suggested that offering reward money for information about who abandoned animals might encourage people to come forward about who is responsible for abandoning animals.
Director Christina Catsavis asked about the possibility to move the animals at the shelter out of the hot environment. She mentioned that the recommended healthy temperature for animals to live in 65-80 degrees. Geffken said that administration is currently “getting information for the Board on a new location.” Director Good mentioned that FSAH staff has been concerned about the heat and have been searching for a new temporary facility and that they may have found one. Geffken said that the cost to the City for the more proper temporary location would be $70,000. Director George Catsavis said that he wants to make sure that the facility is conducive to keeping animals comfortable. He mentioned that it would only cost $40,000 to spray insulation in the building the shelter is currently using that would help reduce temperatures. Director Good mentioned that the insulation could not be sprayed while the animals are still in the building. Geffken said that the current building, a different temporary building, spraying insulation in the current building, and other suggestions to help with the heat are “all stop-gap measures” until the planned new facility for which funds are still being raised is built.
There was originally an agenda item for the Board to discuss the Move Fort Smith Active Transportation Master Plan for making the City better and safer for active transportation like walking and biking, but that item was postponed by Administration. It will be discussed at a study session meeting in the future.
In the Citizens Forum section of the meeting, Fort Smith resident James Hughes expressed concern about his neighbor putting railroad ties in the City right-of-way verge. Director Good said “If we can’t allow cars to park there, how can we allow railroad ties?” In reference to recent changes to parking policy, it was said that the Board is “dealing with a lot of unintended consequences” and that the Board have made an ordinance with some “truly negative unintended consequences we should revisit”. Director Rego agreed that there are some things “that many of us are considering.”
Fort Smith resident Andy Posterick praised the City for measures in recent years including instituting form based code and reduced parking minimums that both allow businesses and homes to “right size” themselves, reduced parking minimums, and reduced minimum lot widths. He suggested that the Board discuss maximum lot coverage concerning productive versus unproductive space. He said that requiring less set backs allows for more productive use of land rather than it being empty. He mentioned that more linear feet of productive space has a better positive economic impact. He encouraged the Board to vote on changes to maximum lot coverage by the end of the year and offered to help them with research and crafting an ordinance on the matter. Director Rego suggested that he reach out to Planning Director Rice and coordinate with her on the issue.
Fort Smith resident Richard Morris praised the City for “eradicating pitbull mayhem” from roaming dogs in his neighborhood on the North side. He also said that increased police presence in the neighborhood has eliminated the prostitutes and “derelicts” visiting drug dealers. He also spoke about the Fort Smith Animal Haven audit and called the implications and allegations of fraud being committed by the shelter “unsubstantiated” and “reckless” and called for the At-Large members of the Board to issue an apology statement apologizing to the shelter.
