Agenda Highlights 3/10/26
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting to be held 3/10/25, the Board will hear an update on the project at 6th and Wheeler near the Bakery District that will include street resurfacing, realigning the center line on 6th, increased parallel parking on 6th, traffic calming features, drainage modifications, traffic signal relocation, and replacement of 300 ft of water line.
The Board will discuss job growth in Fort Smith. Representatives from UAFS Center for Economic Development and Western Arkansas Planning and Development District will present data and discuss workforce development programs.
The Board will discuss an ordinance prohibiting camping on public property that would mirror the one from Grants Pass Oregon that was upheld in the Supreme Court. A proposed ordinance mirroring the one from Grants Pass was voted down by the Board at the 12-17-2024 meeting. Homelessness including ordinances similar to Grants Pass and the a Fort Smith version of an ordinance was discussed at the 3-11-25 meeting. At the 4-22-25 meeting the Fort Smith version ordinance was discussed.
The Board will discuss security lighting for alleyways. Currently, except for the Alleyway Rehabilitation Project alleys, it is the responsibility of the property owners who want lights in their alleys to rent their own security lights from their electric company. OG&E charges $6.71 per month for a light on an existing pole and $13.11 per month if a new pole is required. Arkansas Valley Electric charges $9.45 per month.
For the City to provide public security lighting for the alleys, 2000 lights would be required. It would increase the City’s cost for lighting by $280,000-$340,000 per year. In 2025, the cost paid for all City lighting was $1,403,253.62.
The Board will discuss the bids received for the installation of the additional water slides at Parrot Island water park. At the 1-20-26 meeting, the Board approved an allocation for for the installation of the slides and approved a no-bid contract with Royal Ridge Construction for the construction on the project. At the 3-3-26 meeting, in response to legal action against the City in regards to a violation of the required bidding process, the no-bid contract was rescinded and a request for bids was advertised with the work broke into two sections up for bids, one for the construction and one for the aquatics parts of the expansion.
3 bids were received for the construction with the lowest being from SSI for a total of $1,751,910. 2 bids were received for the aquatics with the lowest being from Clarity Pools for a total of $664,200.
The Board will discuss renewal of the management agreement with American Resort Management (ARM) for management of the water park. In December, five proposals were received from companies interested in the management contract in response to the Request for Proposals. The proposals were reviewed by County Judge Hotz, Fort Smith HR Director Eric Garvin, Fort Smith Chief Financial Officer Richards, Sebastian County purchasing official Charity Gregory, and Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman. They found 2 of the proposals to be “worthy of further discussion”, including the one from ARM. Because of concerns that the timeline until the park is set to open for the 2026 season in May is too short to transition smoothly to a new management company, they recommend contracting with ARM to continue to manage the park from April through the 2026 operating season and issuing another Request for Proposals no later than July 2026.
Dingman discussed with ARM that if the renewal for the 2026 season is approved that ARM will likely face extra scrutiny. ARM “expect, acknowledge, and welcome that.”
The renewal will be up for a vote by the County at their 3-17-26 meeting and Dingman recommends Fort Smith also voting on the issue at their 3-17-26 meeting.
