Agenda Highlights 5/19/26

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting to be held 5-19-26, the Board will be presented with 2 measures regarding placing a change in the form of City government from City Administrator to Mayor-Council on an election ballot for voters to vote on. One measure would place the issue on the November 2026 general election ballot. The other would place the issue on the November 2027 general election ballot. The Board may vote to pass one or the other of the two measures or neither of them. This issue was discussed at the 5-12-26 study session meeting.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with Inliner Solutions for $6,857,019.47 for consent decree sewer work consisting of repair or replacement of 100 manholes and 15,000 ft of pipe. The Board will vote on whether to contract with Hawkins-Weir for $585,600 for engineering services on the project.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with Garver for $8,575,000 for engineering for consent decree improvements to the Massard Treatment Plant including designs for 2 new aeration basins, a blower building, solids storage tanks, a dewater unit, a pump station, a peracetic acid basin, secondary clarifiers, a parallel effluent discharge line, a river diffuser, and a wet weather treatment system.

The Board will vote on whether to enter into a Friendship Pact (that would function like the agreements with current Italian sister cities Cisterna and Nago-Torbole) with Lask, Poland. Lask (pronounced “Wahsk”) is home to the air base that the Polish pilots that train in Fort Smith to fly the F-35s will return to when they finish training.

The Board will vote on whether to set in motion the application process for Arkansas Hazard Mitigation grants for the Mill Creek bank stabilization and Riverbank stabilization projects. The total cost of the Mill Creek project is $2,214,000. The total cost of the Riverbank project is $2,600,000. The grants could be for up to $300,000 each and require up to a $100,000 local contribution each.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with Russell Exterior for $124,450 to replace deteriorated siding on Miss Laura’s Brothel Museum.

The Board will vote on whether to issue a temporary revocable license for Royal RIdge Holdings to put a dumpster screening wall, landscaping, irrigation, and signage in the public utility easement at 5416 South X.

The Board will vote on whether to apply for a Safe Streets for All federal implementation grant to be used for the consolidated 911 emergency communications facility. The grant would be for $8 million and require a $2 million local contribution. The local portion already is available in the existing 911 fund balance.

The Board will vote on whether or not to apply for a Rural Law Enforcement Violent Crime Reduction Initiative grant to be used for upgraded radios for the consolidated 911 center to allow for all of the radios to operate on the same single channel. Currently rural officers are operating on radios that do not do that. The grant would be for $300,000 and would not require any local contribution.