Agenda Highlights 8/12/25

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting to be held 8-12-25, the Board will discuss properties that the City owns that are not being used that City staff would recommend be sold or otherwise conveyed to different owners. This issue was previously discussed at the 6-10-25 study session meeting.

The former Bost building is recommended to be conveyed back to Methodist Village who donated it to the City in 1966 to be used for the Bost facility but now would like to have the property and building back to operate it as a daycare center.

Harriet Avenue & Meyer Street is salable, but the donor who donated it would like it back to use for affordable housing.

1801 South 74th, 4401 Massard, 14 vacant acres on Riverfront Drive, 800 North 9th are all recommended as being easiest to sell. 7700 Texas Rd, 4200 North O that could only be used by the landowner to the west of the property, and Division and North T that is a small triangle that would not be suitable for development, are all recommended to be sold or conveyed to the owners of adjacent properties. 2124 North 12th that is next to a vacant lot is recommended for a partial sale to the adjacent land owner.

Properties at 1317, 1321, and 1323 Gary, 816, 820, and 824 Hillside Drive, and 3408, 3414 and 3420 Edinburgh Drive that were all purchased by the City through the flooded property buyout program could all be sold, but would need to be sold with deeds that prohibit building any structures on that land.

The Board will discuss conducting 360 Reviews of all of the City departments or of all City department heads. 360 Reviews are multi-rater reviews that include self-assessments and ratings from superiors, elected officials, subordinates, peers, colleagues, and people from outside of the organization.There are programs available that are made for the process for department heads but Administration is not aware of programs for departments as a whole. These reviews for department heads typically cost $250-$400 each.

The Board will discuss a request from the Police Department to start using the Enterprise Fleet Management leasing program for their vehicles in response to the aging police fleet. Some of the reasons for their request are that the program would be more predictable for budgeting and a more cost-effective approach. The program would have a fixed monthly cost for maintenance. The vehicles would be replaced on a shorter cycle. The newer vehicles would be safer and have lower operating costs as well as improve officer morale by offering more reliable vehicles. Enterprise estimates that the program would result in savings over 10 years of $1,795,204.32.

The Board will hire one of the applicants who has interviewed for the vacant Director of Internal Audit position.