Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 7/9/24

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held on 7-9-24 and led by Director Settle in the absence of both Mayor McGill and Vice Mayor Rego, the agenda included an item for the Board to vote on whether to change the monthly opportunity for citizens to publicly address the Board on any topic. The current Citizens Forum agenda item at the end of the first study session meeting of the month allows each speaker 5 minutes to speak and the Citizens Forum is televised and live-streamed on the City website as part of the meeting. The Board was scheduled vote on whether to do away with the Citizens Forum agenda item format and instead hold Town Hall Meetings that would be held after the end of the meeting at the first study session meeting of the month but would be considered a separate meeting and therefore would not be live streamed/televised and would only allow each speaker 2 minutes to speak instead of 5.

Fort Smith resident Tara McDaniel spoke in opposition to the proposed changes. She mentioned the need for adequate time to speak and many residents’ dependence on the streaming and broadcasting because they cannot attend the meetings in person.

Director Good mentioned that extra time is frequently allowed at the Mayor’s discretion whenever needed.

Director Morton mentioned that a significant number and wide range of people reached out to him (including some that he had never heard from before) to express their strong opposition to the changes. He said “I think we should leave it just like it is.” He did suggest that when multiple people are attending to speak on the same topic that they could just say that they agree with the previous speakers when they don’t have any new information to add so that people attending to speak on other topics wouldn’t have to “wait and wait.”

Director Martin said “I’m not for this” and called the opportunity for residents to speak “paramount to what we do”. He said “We wanna hear from people and don’t wanna limit their time.” He expressed curiosity about how the issue got placed on the agenda. Director George Catsavis asked who put it on the agenda. City Clerk Gard answered that it was requested by Administrator Geffken. Geffken was not present at the meeting, so he could not add any further clarification.

Director Christina Catsavis inquired about the Town Hall format since that format has not been used since she has been on the Board. Director Settle reminded of the history, that the City used to have more informal coffee talk table style Town Hall meetings monthly after the adjournment of a regular meeting when the meetings were held at the school services center building, but when meetings were moved to the Blue Lion building the coffee talk table format could not be conveniently arranged so they changed to conducting them in the more formal address at the microphone style, and then they were replaced with the Citizens Forum agenda item that was the same format. Director Martin added that the change to Citizens Forum was made because that as an agenda item the Board would have the flexibility to move the Citizens Forum item to the beginning of the agenda if they wanted to (like to avoid a large number of citizens having to wait until after a long meeting to be heard). With the Town Hall Meeting, as a separate meeting, it is a scheduled public meeting and would need to be rescheduled with at least 24 hours public notice, etc. rather than allowing the Board the ability to change the start time at will on-the-spot. Director Settle pointed out that since the Citizens Forum has been being held it has not yet once been moved to the beginning of the agenda.

Director Good said that the Board “don’t try to do anything that’s not transparent.”

Director Settle voiced that he sees “the benefit of both sides”. He said that he was not in favor of the proposed shorter time limit saying “two minutes is too short.” He said that Fort Smith is one of the few cities in Arkansas that has either a Citizens Forum or a Town Hall and that few cities even allow public comment at City meetings. He said that the Town Hall allows for “more subdued discussion instead of adversarial.”

Director Good said “We are asking folks to be respectful of the time.” Director George Catsavis mentioned that when Sandy Sanders was Mayor he often asked speakers who were a part of a big group speaking on the same issue to appoint a spokesman to speak for the group rather than each taking their full individual allotment of time.

The issue died without a second for the motion so no vote was held. No change will be made. The Citizens Forum agenda item will remain on the agenda for the end of the first study session meeting of the month with residents being allowed to address the Board for 5 minutes on any topic.

The Board voted to purchase a set of 5 water slides for Parrot Island from White Water West. The slides were built for a water park in Florida and were not installed there, so they are currently available at a deeply discounted price, $1.6 million off of full regular price. The cost of the City’s share of the slides (the County would be paying half of the cost) will be $2.1 million. That cost includes the slides themselves, the installation, concrete work, and more seating and more shade on the east side of the park.

Director Christina Catsavis noted that the water park sometimes reaches maximum attendance capacity and asked about how the expansion with the new slides would affect that. Parrot Island Manager Drew Pearson answered that the expansion would increase the maximum capacity by 400-500 people.

Director George Catsavis asked why the funding for the slides would be coming out of the general fund rather than the Parks fund from the sales tax that is earmarked for Parks capital improvement projects. Parks Director Deuster answered that the Parks capital improvement sales tax fund does not have enough money to fund the project as all of the tax dollars in that fund have already been allocated to projects that are already outstanding and that there is enough money in the general to fund to fund it.

Director George Catsavis expressed opposition to the purchase saying that even though he likes the water park it is “a lot of money” and “I don’t think this is the time to be spending this kind of money.”

Director Morton agreed that it is “a large expenditure” but expressed his support for the purchase saying “We are saving.” and “We’ll do it eventually.” He called the system of slides “quite a unique system”. He said that at the end of 2023 the audit showed that the City has a 65% reserve in the general fund. Director Settle added that the target set for the general fund reserve is 25% and that when it goes above 50% the Board is officially obligated to use it for capital projects. Director Morton said “We have the money to do it.” and “This would be a great amenity.”

Director Morton asked about parking for the facility currently and with the expansion. Pearson said that it is “OK for now.”

Director Morton said that with the $1.6 million in discount for the slides right now plus the savings from not incurring the costs of inflation the City could save $2.5 million to $3 million by buying the slides now instead of in the future.

Director Good voiced support for the purchase. He said “Expansion is a part of everything we do.” and asked “Why would we wait?” with prices increasing. He said that the City has the extra reserve in the general fund “by being frugal in spending.”

Director Settle said that $4 million could be saved by buying now over taking a piecemeal approach over 10 years.

Director Martin asked what would happen if the County who is also voting on their share of the purchase votes against it. It was clarified that then the purchase would not happen. Director Martin said of the County that he thinks “they’re favorable to this.” Director Settle said that he has gotten the impression that the Justices of the Peace are enthusiastic about the project.

Director Martin asked when the project would be completed. Pearson answered that it would be ready for the 2025 operating season. Director Martin called the purchase a “good opportunity for us.”

Director Good asked if the the expansion might allow for a second entrance that would cut the sometimes very long waiting periods at the front entrance. Pearson said that there is already a plan to expand the front entrance and have 6 windows instead of the current 2 windows at a “minimal cost.”

Director Christina Catsavis asked about the increase in revenue projected for the expansion. Pearson said that it would add $40,000-$60,000 per year.

Inspired by the discussion related to Parrot Island in general, Director Morton requested that the City increase monitoring of Parrot Island financials. He mentioned that there used to be a joint City and County meeting held every year regarding Parrot Island that has not been happening since Covid. He mentioned the desire to ensure that Parrot Island maintains a buildup in their capital expenditure and repair budget. He also said of the pricing for admission to the park “We try to keep cost low so people can afford it.”

Director George Catsavis mentioned that the park planned for the recently acquired former Acme Brick property still needs to be developed and that there are other parks that need work.

Director Settle spoke in support of the purchase. He mentioned that at 72 feet the slides will be the tallest in Arkansas. The additional slides will also give Parrot Island the most slides in Arkansas at 10. He praised the unique sphere feature on one of the new slides. Pearson added that the expansion would also add slides that are mat slides (which the park does not currently offer) and slides that shorter and younger kids would be allowed to ride. Director Settle called it a “great opportunity to expand the park” and increase its appeal as a “destination park.”

The Board voted in favor of the purchase with all but Director George Catsavis and Director Christina Catsavis voting for the purchase.

The Board voted unanimously to contract with Forsgren for $5,635,330.56 for 1.8 miles of street resurfacing on Phoenix between Towson and Old Greenwood. That cost includes $1.6 million for utility work that would need to be done before the resurfacing.

Director Martin asked if the utility work would need to be done regardless of the resurfacing project. Engineering Director Snodgrass confirmed that the work is all consent decree work that would need done regardless and that was going to be bid out for construction last year but was delayed because the street overlay work was to be done and that the utilities work could be bundled with that work.

Director Settle asked if the Transit buses might need for the project to include places for the busses to pull over. Snodgrass said that he would need to talk to Transit Director Savage about that. Director Martin said that it would be tough to add that feature to that particular stretch of road. He added that in addition to potential for busses to need places to pull over that he has already noticed postal vehicles having a need for that.

In the Officials Forum section of the meeting, Director George Catsavis motioned for the Fort Smith Animal Haven board to be invited to come to a study session meeting to offer updates including information on the planned new building and answer questions. Director Martin pointed out that there is an agenda item involving FSAH on the agenda for next week’s meeting. It was agreed that representation from FSAH leadership will be invited and encouraged to attend that meeting and share the requested updates and answer questions at that meeting.

Director George Catsavis also requested to nominate Sandy Sanders as ex-officio representative for the City at Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority meetings in place of the Mayor. Director Morton added that Barling, Greenwood, and Sebastian County all already use ex-officio representatives. City Attorney Canfield said that he would check to make sure that it was legally possible and begin work on that issue if it is.

Director Martin requested that a study session meeting be held regarding the impacts on the City of Fort Smith resulting from two recent Supreme Court decisions. The Chevron Deference ruling that limits the power of federal agencies could possibly have impacts on the consent decree. The Grants Pass ruling that allows cities to enforce rules against sleeping in public areas including parks and sidewalks could possibly have impacts on how the Police Department deals with people experiencing homelessness. Director Morton mentioned that the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Clean Water Act in the last two days. He also expressed frustration that “We are not making any progress” on the consent decree in the last 5 years “in terms of resolution of additional time for a historic flood” and for the pandemic except for one extension of 5 extra years.