Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 8/16/22
The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 8-16-22 kicked off with an update from organizer Trent Goins about the recent Peacemaker Festival. This year’s was the 8th annual event and was sold out with a total of 10,998 tickets sold. Ticket buyers came from 37 states. 60% of ticket sales were from buyers in Arkansas and 80% of those were from outside of Fort Smith. A conservative estimate of the economic impact of the festival was $3,746,670.
Goins mentioned that there were no arrests or alcohol violations during the festival and praised that when a mother became separated from her 13 year old daughter in the crowd the police were able to locate the daughter in only 60 seconds.
Director Dawson asked what the Board might be able to do to further help the festival be the best it can be. Goins mentioned that a fence around the facility would be nice for added security, especially in response to issues this year with the homeless needing to be asked to leave and cleaning up the biohazard messes they left behind. He also mentioned fixing the water for the food vendors. In bigger more “wish list” items, he mentioned relocating the stage so that it would no longer be under the bridge and having sound and lighting equipment provided.
Goins mentioned the entertainment value of the festival being a positive tool in recruitment for businesses looking to potentially locate here. He quoted a musician that performed at the festival Lukas Nelson as calling Peacemaker the “best run festival and most fun environment he ever had at a festival”. Another highly popular performer at the festival, Zach Bryan was quoted as saying “Chicago’s fun, but I’d rather be in Fort Smith, Arkansas playing Peacemaker tonight”.
Board voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the claims policy that will allow for the City to accept liability for damages to property (up to a maximum of $500) from trees falling from City controlled rights-of-way caused by negligence in failing to remove diseased or damaged trees. Director Martin asked if it might be possible to make the policy less narrow to allow more flexibility in helping citizens with issues. Director Morton argued that it was better to keep the policy more narrow and deal with things on a case by case basis. Director Dawson asked if it would be possible to stay proactive in preventing tree damage by having trash trucks assess trees as they work their routes and report ones that need to be removed. Administrator Geffken added that some cities have arborists on staff to catalog trees and determine what needs removal. Director Morton expressed his view that a proactive preventative approach would be costly and that the damages are a rare event and the limit on the liability is low (on the scale of a city budget). Director Good agreed that the preventative approach would be costly with the large number of rights of way in our city calling “one by one the best measure” for dealing with the situation. Deputy Administrator Dingman added that the Streets Department maintains the alley surfaces and that they often rely on public feedback for areas that need attention and that Neighborhood Services addresses vegetation issues in the alleys.
Director Settle suggested that since the alleys are no longer used for garbage collection that the city could abandon the alleys and return responsibility for them to the property owners. Director Catsavis mentioned that they are still used by emergency services. City Attorney Canfield mentioned that if a neighbor chose to fence his portion of an alley it could cut off access his neighbors need. He supported keeping public easements and alleys public as they are needed for developments and recommended abandoning rights of way on an individual rather than wholesale basis. Director Martin was not in favor of abandonment mentioning that he did not support having the homeowners have to be responsible for fixing the asphalt in their sections. Director Good expressed that if it weren’t for that need to maintain the asphalt he would be in favor of giving property owners back control of the land that they own but cannot do anything with. While he did not support a universal abandonment of alleyways city wide, he did say that with the large number of alleys that are unused that “maybe at some point we should look at” some abandonment so that people can have the property they’re taking care of anyway.
The Board voted unanimously to halt all bidding on utility projects that would exceed 20% of the Utilities Department's gross revenue therefore by recent state State law Act 605 triggering requiring a water rate study to be conducted. None of the projects currently under construction would be affected as they are under the 20% threshold. Utilities Director McAvoy also clarified that only water projects are considered, that sewer projects are not affected by Act 605. Director Dawson voiced support for the halting so that there would be time for a study session and to educate the community about Act 605. Director Martin motioned for an amendment to the resolution so that the halting was not just to allow for a study session but so that it would require it to come back to the Board for a vote for anything to move forward that might involve the rate study. That amendment passed unanimously.
Director Morton mentioned that if it were not halted and construction were started on the water line expansion project from Lake Fort Smith that it could likely set in motion events resulting in a mandatory water rate increase as a result of the rate study. This increase could be “200, 300, 400%, who knows”. Morton also mentioned that the way Act 605 is written that it doesn’t take into account considering the sales tax dedicated to the Utility Department as “revenue”. Director Rego called Act 605 “one of the most ridiculous pieces of legislation I’ve seen come down the pipe” and “absurd”. He urged citizens to engage with their state legislators about the Act and why it needs to change in the next legislative session. Director Good clapped in response. Director Morton said Act 605 “had valid purpose” but “doesn’t work well for us”. The intent of the act was to force cities that haven’t raised rates in 20 years that need improvements into being able to fund the necessary improvements to be able to provide their citizens with clean water, but Fort Smith is not in that situation or in need of those sorts of improvements. He called the act “inartfully crafted” and said that in discussions with State lawmakers he had seen indications that changes will be made. Director Martin added that he’d also spoken with legislators. Director Settle called Act 605 “ludicrous” and criticized that “bureaucrats in Little Rock” are causing us to stop important projects.
Director Good asked McAvoy if there are any pressing projects that the building halt would stop or delay. McAvoy voiced concern about the moving of lines for the Highway 45 expansion (a $13 million project) and the moving of water and sewer lines for the Towson improvement project (a $25 million project). A big factor on those projects is that the Arkansas Department of Transportation is reimbursing the cost on them (100% in the case of the Highway 45 project), so while the total cost of the projects exceed the Act 605 threshold, in terms of actual cost to the city, the projects are not expensive. Director Morton suggested that the Attorney General’s opinion be requested on the interpretation of the wording in the act where reimbursed cost projects are concerned. Geffken agreed to reach out for additional clarification on that.
Directors Morton and Dawson mentioned that leading up to the passage of the sales tax renewal for the consent decree sewer work recently the voters were promised that there would be a freeze on sewer rates and expressed worry that some citizens might feel tricked if there were dramatic water rate increases since the charges appear on the same utility bill.
The issue was added to the agenda for the 9-13-22 study session.
The Board voted unanimously with little to no discussion to approve budget adjustments for personnel expenses with increases for the Human Resources, Planning, Fire, Street, Parks, and Solid Waste Departments and a decrease for the Utility Department of $5,891.
The budget adjustment for the Internal Audit department sparked the most discussion of the night’s budget adjustment items. Director Settle motioned to table the Internal Audit department budget adjustment until after the IT audit is finished. This sparked discussion of the IT audit in general. At a cost of $900,000, Director Morton strongly criticized the cost and scope of the audit. He said “no way should it be anything close to 7 figures” and that it is not the time to spend that much money on a project like this. He said “It should be a narrow scope project”. Director Geffken said that when he worked in New York City they spent $7 million on a similar project. Morton pointed out the size difference between NYC and Fort Smith and said that nothing like the scope of that project was called for in the Audit Committee meetings. The motion to table the issue died for lack of a second. The ordinance to increase the Internal Audit budget $32,723 passed with all but Director Settle voting in favor of it.
There was a little discussion about the Transit Department budget increase of $19,267. Director Martin motioned to table the issue because he wanted to read the findings of the recent Federal Transit Authority audit that prompted the desire to hire a Civil Rights Officer prior to approving the funding for hiring someone to that position. Director Rego praised Transit Director Savage for being proactive and responsive to issues that impact the federal funding our local transit receives. Director Morton agreed with Martin that he would like to see the audit report but in relation to responding to federal concerns by hiring an additional staff member said that with so much funding coming from the federal government that the city would “be well advised to do that as soon as possible”. Director Good expressed curiosity about seeing the audit findings as they pertained to our city transit’s performance in areas affecting civil rights. Savage will send the audit findings to the Board via email. He said that the Transit Department specified to the FTA that they would work harder to correct the issues found in the audit and that “these are the tools I need to make that happen”. The motion to table the issue died without a second. The ordinance to increase the Transit budget passed unanimously.
The Board voted unanimously to accept a $720,295 grant from the State of Arkansas to give a one time $5000 stipend to each of the 142 eligible police officers.
The Board voted unanimously to allow La Bodega Bar at 3720 Midland Boulevard to apply for a private club alcohol license.
The Board voted unanimously to apply for a grant from the US Department of Transportation for the development of a comprehensive safety action plan to reduce the number of traffic accidents, especially fatalities. The federal grant would be for $280,000 and require a $70,000 contribution of City funds. Streets Director Matt Meeker said that the widespread analytical approach to planning to reduce accidents facilitated by the grant is more than our own city staff has the ability to undertake themselves.
The Board voted unanimously to purchase 3 Chevy Tahoes for the Police Department from Superior Automotive in Siloam Springs for $122,274.00. Citing the “scarcity of vehicles in today’s market”, the standard competitive bidding procedure will be waived to be able to buy the vehicles quickly while they are still available. Director Settle praised Police Chief Baker’s efforts to obtain vehicles in a timely and affordable manner during such a challenging time for that.
During the Officials’ Forum portion of the meeting Mayor McGill shared praise for the Parks Department he’d heard from visitors to the city over the weekend and praised the Utilities Department for getting the water back up and running properly again after a malfunction.
Director Rego requested that the procedure for legal appeals be considered. He expressed his opinion that it was not necessarily the optimum approach to not have the decision on whether or not to appeal court decisions voted on in public by the Board. Director Martin agreed with Rego about wanting to vote on whether to appeal in court.
Rego also mentioned a mailer that he’d received about complaints about the condition of Creekmore Park pool, especially the bathhouse. Geffken was aware of the mailer and mentioned that it was precipitated by the State swimming championships that were relocated to Creekmore recently and that the issues at Creekmore are already being discussed.
Director Morton strongly agreed with the need to deal with the conditions of the bath house at Creekmore. He also mentioned that he felt like more time at the strategic planning workshop scheduled for 8-19-22 should be allotted for discussion of the Directors’ goals.
Director Catsavis requested a $418 per month increase in the monthly car allowance paid to the Directors. The amount is based on research provided by Geffken from comparisons of towns similar to Fort Smith in size. Director Morton agreed saying that Fort Smith Directors “don’t do any less work’ and are “not any less quality Directors” than those other cities. He called the current $41 pay per meeting ridiculous. He suggested adding pay increases for the Board and the Mayor to next year’s budget. Geffken added that pay for the Mayor and Board of Directors had not been adjusted since 1967. Director Good supported Catsavis’s suggestion saying that the board “do much more than people give us credit for” and mentioning extra things that Directors do outside of the meetings to serve their constituents. Geffken called being a Director a “full-time job”. Director Rego very passionately expressed that he was “vehemently opposed” the Board giving themselves any sort of pay raise saying he was “Opposed, opposed, opposed, till the day I die” . He expressed his view that any increase should only come through a vote by the citizens. The issue was added to the 9-6-22 meeting agenda.
Director Catsavis also requested a study session discussion with the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority concerning projected dates for their dissolution. Catsavis mentioned that only 350-400 acres are left without plans for development and that much of that is in the flood plain and that he’d like to discuss that remaining property being returned to the appropriate cities, county, and state. Geffken added that the FCRA has existed for about 25 years and that he will schedule that issue for an upcoming study session.
Director Settle suggested that the leftover bond money from the Lake Fort Smith project that will be paid off completely in September could be used to fix the Creekmore bath house.
In the Executive Session portion of the meeting, Payton Efurd was appointed to the Community Development Advisory Committee, Elizabeth Sinclair was appointed to the Library Board of Trustees, and Bradley Martin was re-appointed to the Transit Advisory Committee.
