Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Study Session 9/14/21

The 9-14-21 Fort Smith Board of Directors Study Session meeting was held at the Utilities Maintenance Facility on Kelley Highway. Director Catsavis was absent.

The meeting included a tour of the maintenance facility and demonstration of how water meters are tested, installed, and read.

The tour was followed by an explanation of how billing is done and how billing issues like meters that need re-read and customers with water leaks are handled.

There was an an update on the progress towards fixing water leaks. Progress has been made, but there is still a lot of work to be done (279 leaks still on the list to be repaired, some reported as far back as 2017). Utilities Director McAvoy explained that the labor shortage is a big part of what’s holding back progress right now. They are short handed and the existing crews are prioritizing new service hook ups over fixing leaks. One possible solution that was discussed was contracting with an outside company to catch up the backlog.