Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting 4/18/23

The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 4-18-23 was led by Vice Mayor Rego as Mayor McGill was in Washington, DC along with Administrator Geffken meeting with legislators. The meeting began with a vote unanimously in favor of changing the name of Fire Station 1 to Phillip P. Christensen Fire Station 1 in honor of long-serving well-respected Fire Chief Christensen who passed away recently.

The Board voted unanimously to approve a request from Torbole, Italy to become a sister city to Fort Smith (in addition to our current sister city Cisterna, Italy). The biggest factors in Torbole’s request for sisterhood are related to appreciation for Fort Smith native General William O. Darby and his Rangers’ crucial role in the liberation of that region of Italy from German control during WWII. General Darby was killed in battle on the Torbole waterfront. Director Martin called the relationship “a great fit for us” and said “I’m excited about this relationship.”

The Board voted unanimously in favor of changes to the City Employee personnel policy in response to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment. In the new policy, no employees would be allowed to use or be under the influence of marijuana at any time while on duty regardless of whether they possess a medical marijuana card or not. To stay in line with federal law, the policy includes that all employees that are subject to DOT regulations may not use marijuana and will be terminated if they test positive.

To stay in line with State law, employees may not use marijuana even if they possess a medical marijuana card if they are to be employed in jobs that are categorized as safety sensitive or security sensitive. Some safety sensitive jobs include law enforcement officers, anyone who operates a motor vehicle or heavy equipment, Fire department employees, lifeguards, anyone working with food, and water and wastewater treatment operators. Some security sensitive jobs include Police department roles including dispatchers and clerical workers with access to investigation information, anyone working in criminal prosecution, and IT employees. Employees who are classified as safety or security sensitive will be required to disclose to the human resources department if they are issued a medical marijuana card and will be terminated for failure to disclose. 97% of all City positions (all but about 30 jobs) are considered either safety or security sensitive.

The Board voted on whether to initiate a water rate study. This issue was discussed at the 2-24-23 study session meeting. Since that previous meeting, the State legislature passed Act 454 and it was signed into law and will take effect June 30th. Act 454 amends Act 605 so that Fort Smith is no longer subject to the demands of Act 605 including requirements for a rate study and mandatory rate increases as recommended by the study. Fort Smith is to be exempt both because it will be doing a major water construction project and because it is under a federal consent decree.

Now the rate study will not be required by the State, the City can still conduct one whenever they choose and set their rates however they see fit. The study will cost a little over $50,000 and take 5-6 months to complete.

Director Settle motioned to table the issue and bring it to another study session first. He requested specific parameters be put on the study so that it does not potentially yield “some stupid number and the public gets mad at us”. He said that the current rate for people outside the city is “way too low” and expressed concern about increases for commercial and industrial customers. Utilities Director McAvoy said that the AWWA study procedure the outside agency that will conduct the study will be using is the “industry standard”. Director Morton supported having the independent firm do the study without giving them any additional parameters to reduce the risk of litigation if rates are raised or risk of not getting the full benefits of a rate study. He said he wants to “consider their answer without trying to tell them what their answer is before hand”. The vote to table the issue failed with only Directors Settle and Martin voting to table.

The Board voted in favor of initiating the water rate study with only Director Settle voting against initiating the study.

The Board voted unanimously to accept a bid for $365,363 from Burns & McDonnell for a contract for flow monitoring services that are required by the consent decree.

The previous flow monitoring conducted in 2016 was conducted during a dry period so it did not provide the level of accuracy that this one will as this will be timed to catch real data from spring and early summer storms. The better model that can be made from the better data will help prioritize projects and may result in savings as some projects may not have to be done. It will also help show progress that has been made toward satisfying the consent decree.

Director George Catsavis asked about potential to start doing flow monitoring in-house rather than contracting with an outside company. McAvoy said that with only conducting the flow monitoring every 5-6 years, the cost of the equipment, especially as it ages while sitting unused and becomes obsolete, it is a better deal to contract it out than to purchase the equipment. Additionally, the staff does not have the special expertise that the outside company does.

Director Morton called the flow monitoring a “good project.”

The Board voted unanimously to accept a bid for $144,300 from Hawkins-Weir for the design phase of a sewer repair project that would run along the Kelly Ballfields and Creekmore in an area that has experienced over 20 sewer overflows in the last 3 years. McAvoy said the project would fix the overflows in that particular area that are “a health and safety issue on top of the environmental issue.”

The Board voted unanimously to accept a bid for $2,031,326.60 from Steve Beam Construction for road construction on Leigh Avenue. The new stretch of road is set to be completed October 27, 2023.

Director Settle called the project “great” and said it is “gonna help out”. He suggested a roundabout at Cliff Drive and Leigh Avenue to help with traffic going to Southside High School. Engineering Director Snodgrass responded that the project is designed with the bigger safety concern coming downhill rather than going up hill in mind.

Director Martin asked about the sidewalks included in the plan and whether they would be close to the street or set back further like the bike and walking trails on Massard. Snodgrass answered that they would be set back 8-10 feet from the street and would be 5 feet wide and connect with sidewalks on Cliff Drive. Director Martin said that he would love for the sidewalks to be 8 feet wide.

The Board voted unanimously to authorize the initiation of litigation against Mickle Wagner Coleman and Mobley Contractors in relation to problems with the repairs related to the replacement of storm water drainage culverts along P Street near the water treatment plant running down to the river. The project was designed by Mickle Wagner Coleman and the construction was done by Mobley. The original project was completed in December 2014. However, sink holes opened up within the one year warranty period. In 2017 Mickle Wagner Coleman and Mobley agreed to fix the problem and share the costs equally between each other and the City up to a maximum of $134,854. However, near the flood of 2019, the repairs needed to fix the situation were found to be much more extensive than that initial estimate and in October 2021 the updated repair cost was estimated to be $2,928,201. Mickel Wagner and Coleman and Mobley still have not responded to the City’s suggestion for a settlement on the repair costs. The deadline to file litigation on the matter is rapidly approaching so the vote was held to allow for a suit to be filed if necessary.

The Board voted unanimously to renew the lease for Fort Smith Park from the US Army Corps of Engineers for another 25 years. The Corps of Engineers leases the property for free to the City for use as a public park.

Carolyn Mosley and Orval Smith were appointed to the Civil Service Commission. Ashlie Ross was appointed to the Community Development Advisory Committee. Rick Foti was reappointed to the Fort Smith Housing Authority. Barbara Turner and Jim Rose were reappointed to the Housing Assistance Board. Kelly Wilson was reappointed and Rod Coleman was appointed to the Planning Commission.