Agenda Highlights 6/16/26

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting to be held 6-16-26, the Board, in response to discussion at the 5-26-26 meeting inspired by the line-of-duty injury of Officer Newman, will vote on a change to the City employee on-the-job injury pay policy. The proposed change would allow for all employees injured on the job who are admitted to inpatient care in the hospital to have up to 18 months injury pay to last until they are cleared to return to work or deemed unable to return to their duties. The City Administrator would also have the authority to extend the time limit for injury pay on a case by case basis to respond to extreme cases. The current policy of paying all of the medical bills for the on-the-job injury with no out of pocket costs to the employee would remain in place.

The Board will vote on whether to terminate the contract approved at the 2-3-26 meeting with Western Millwright for the construction of alleyway improvements projects. Problems were discovered with the construction quality, excavation practices, utility conflicts, and compliance with project requirements with the work being done by Western Millwright. A Stop Work Order was issued in May.

The Board will vote on whether to convey a 1.5 acre lot at the corner of Harriet Avenue and Meyers Street back to the Fondren family that originally donated it to the City. The land was donated to the City in 2005 by Bobby Fondren with the intention that the land would be turned into Leo Fondren Park. While the stipulation that it was to be turned into a park was not officially included in the deed, the intent was clearly discussed and understood between the donor and the City. The City does not have the budget currently to develop the lot into a park nor does it have plans to do so in the foreseeable future. Bobby Fondren’s heirs have expressed their interest in re-acquiring the property to redevelop the lot.

The Board will vote on whether to post honorary street name signs naming a portion of Towson Avenue “Bobby Crabtree Boulevard” in honor of former professional boxer Bobby Crabtree. Crabtree won 56 fights and had 51 knockouts. The portion of Towson between South L and South M that would be marked by the signs is the section of the street in front of the auto body shop owned and operated by Crabtree.

The Board will vote on whether to submit a proposal for a Defense Community Infrastructure Program federal grant to be used for a segment of Phase V of the Lake Fort Smith water transmission line project. The grant applied for would be for $12,884,475.20.

The Board will vote on whether to cancel the contract with Francis Energy approved 12-16-25 for electric vehicle chargers and approve contracting with Adopt A Charger for the project. Francis Energy no longer wishes to move forward with the project. Adopt A Charger, the second ranked company during the competitive proposal process for the contract, is still interested in completing the project. Adopt A Charger would do the project for the same $3,250,000 as Francis Energy was contracted for. Their plan for the project would have a few revisions including expanding from the original 14 chargers to 20 chargers, relocating the DC fast charger to the Farmer’s Market, adding extra capacity at the Convention Center, removing the Senior Activity Center from the planned locations for chargers, and providing free charging for 3-5 years after installation. The project would still be fully funded by the federal Climate Pollution Reduction grant.

The Board will vote whether to enter into an agreement to provide Fort Smith Housing Authority with up to $1 million for streets and drainage for the Bailey Hill redevelopment project. The former reservoir site is being developed by the Fort Smith Housing authority into 34 residential housing lots to be sold to low and moderate income families. The funds for the streets and drainage in the agreement would come from the sales tax for streets and drainage.

The Board will vote on whether to contract with Halff Associates for $273,000 for an Engineering-Roadway Master Street Plan.

The Board will vote on purchasing a replacement for a damaged pump for the P Street wastewater treatment plant from Haynes Pump and Process for $103,251. Haynes is the only dealer for the Wilo Pump in Arkansas.

The Board will vote on whether to add an additional $120,793.80 to the contract with Steve Beam Construction for the Creekmore tennis courts. It was discovered that the subgrade was made of various debris that was unsuitable for construction of the courts so they had to excavate deeper to reach an appropriate hard surface plus there is need for replacement of a drain. The addition would bring the total for the project to $1,333,744.50.