Agenda Highlights 2/24/26
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting to be held 2-24-26, the Board will discuss reinstating the mosquito fogging program. The program was discontinued to save the cost of the program and to respond to complaints and concerns about the program. The reinstatement is being discussed in response to complaints about mosquitos after the program was terminated.
The Board will review the City’s fiscal policies.
The Board will discuss performing audits on all third party services providers including those with management contracts (like the management companies ARM for the water park and OVG for the convention center), animal services contracts (like Fort Smith Animal Haven), services contracts to provide senior services (like Area Agency on Aging) and downtown development (like Main Street Fort Smith).
The Board will discuss water conservation measures with a focus on enforcement and punishment for not following water conservation measures. The City ended non-emergency conservation measures in 2006-2007 when Lake Fort Smith Dam was completed. Now the measures are only enacted for emergency situations like the broken water main in August 2025. Current penalties for not conserving are fines of $50-$100 for the first violation, $250-$500 for the second violation, and $500 each for further violations.
The Board will review a draft of a new agreement for all wholesale surplus water users buying water from Fort Smith. The agreement would not apply to Barling because they have an agreement in place until 2032, Van Buren because they provided Lee Creek water rights in 1984, or Fort Chaffee MTC because they have special designation. There would be no maximum amount of water those users could purchase.
The agreement would apply to places that agree to buy Fort Smith’s surplus water (which Fort Smith has most of the year) and that have no other source of water including Arkhoma, Cedarville, Mountainburg, Chester, and Winslow. The agreement would be for 10 years.
The agreement would include a 10% penalty for late payments. The rates would be adopted by Fort Smith ordinance, currently at $2.25/CCF for users north or the Arkansas River and $3.04/CCF for users south of the river. The users would be responsible for upkeep of their system and maintaining/reducing their water loss to 20% by the end of the fifth year of the agreement or they would have to pay surcharges. Users would be allowed 1% per year growth and at the end of 5 years may request to purchase additional volume. There would be a surcharge for exceeding maximum amount limits. Fort Smith can terminate the agreement if they do not have sufficient supply to meet their retail and wholesale customer demands. Surcharges would be charged for users not also following water conservation measures whenever they are enacted by Fort Smith. Users would be restricted to only up to 2 inch water meters with larger meters requiring special permission from Fort Smith.
