Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 11/4/25
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 11-4-25, the Board voted without discussion in favor of a zoning change for 5724 Wheeler that would allow for a former church building to be used as an events center. All of the Directors voted in favor of the change except for Director Christina Catsavis who abstained from voting.
The Board voted unanimously without discussion in favor of a zoning change for 8716 Rogers that would allow for an undeveloped lot to be developed with 2 commercial buildings, one of which would have a drive-through.
The Board voted unanimously against contracting with Steve Beam Construction for construction of an enclosed solid waste vehicle wash bay. The contract for $1,649,700 would have been for construction of the wash bay, equipment room, exterior wash, and associated utility improvements but would not include the washing equipment.
This issue was discussed and tabled at the 10-21-25 meeting until the Board could see more details on all of the bids submitted. The lowest bid from Steve Beam Construction was for $1,649,700. The second lowest was from Beshears for $1.755 million. The highest was from Goodwin & Goodwin for $2.337 million. A quote for the washing equipment has been received from Whiting Systems for $415,715.
Richard Medford spoke and expressed his concerns about the cost of the project and suggested staging it out to spread out costs.
Acting City Administrator Dingman mentioned that the funds for the project would come from funds in the sinking fund saved specifically for the project over the last 8 years. $3 million have been set aside in the sinking fund for the project. He said “These dollars are already saved for this specific project.”
Director Rego asked why the equipment and the construction were not being done all together. Dingman answered that the equipment was available through a purchasing cooperative for a better price.
Director Good said that the wash bay was not just to “keep our trucks looking pretty” but also to improve the longevity of the equipment.
Director Christina Catsavis asked about the “quantitative ROI” on the wash bay. She expressed concerns about the 2026 budget deficit. She said that the Board needs a quantitative ROI on every dollar they are spending. Solid Waste Director McDonald said that the ROI on the wash bay is “subjective” and “difficult to pin a dollar amount to.” He mentioned that the wash bay is not a regulatory requirement and if the project is not approved that they would be able to continue as they have been washing the trucks with a hose by hand.
Director Christina Catsavis inquired if the wash bay would be automating people out of jobs. McDonald answered that no positions would be eliminated because the washing is done currently by the drivers of the trucks. The wash bay would just cause them to have to spend less time washing trucks and would give them better working conditions in bad weather. Director Christina Catsavis voiced her concerns about potential solid waste rate increases and said the wash bay would be “nice to have if we weren’t just presented with a rate increase”
Director Martin also voiced his concerns about potential rate increases. Dingman said that soon the Board will be presented with a proposal to raise landfill gate rates (only gate rates, not residential monthly solid waste bill rates) to address the shortfall between the solid waste revenues and the cost of providing solid waste services.
Director Kemp expressed his opposition to the wash bay and concerns about balancing the budget. He suggested that when the new cell is required at the landfill in 2-5 years that is projected to cost $12 million, keeping the $3 million in the sinking fund instead of spending it on the wash bay could help with that new cell cost.
Director Settle suggested that the Solid Waste Department could partner with the Transit Department to use Transit’s wash bay.
Director Rego mentioned that the sinking fund balance is currently $21 million and that legislative steps would need to be taken to take money out of the sinking fund and reallocate it to anything outside of the sinking fund. He said “This is what this money has been diligently set aside for for years.”
Director Kemp clarified that he did not want to see any money pulled from the sinking fund, but that in attempting to balance the budget measures might be taken to accrue less money into the sinking fund and that he wants to prioritize the cell construction with the sinking fund money. He suggested that pressure washing the solid waste vehicles in the winter could be an opportunity for youth.
Mayor McGill asked if the wash bay would extend the life of the equipment. McDonald said yes, but that there is not data to put a dollar figure on it, but that it is a “best practice.”
The Board discussed contracts for multiple consent decree sewer work projects involving a total of 117,990 ft of sewer pipe and 567 manholes. Funds for the projects would come from the sales taxes for consent decree sewer work. Contracts for these projects would be with
Inliner Solutions for $5,316,733 for sewer work and with Halff for construction observation on the project for $452,830
Timco Blasting & Coating for $17,741,761.50 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for engineering services on the project for $658,300
Krapff-Reynolds for $9,096,780.50 for sewer work and Halff for engineering services on the project for $590,340
Forsgren for $4,896,390 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for construction observation on the project for $332,750
Morgan Construction for $9,111,352 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for construction observation on the project for $344,250
Goodwin & Goodwin for $7,600,541 for sewer work and Crafton Tull & Associates for engineering services on the project for $107,200
Forsgren for $3,3225,370.50 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for engineering services on the project for $276,250
Belt Construction for $4,607,686 for sewer work and Mickle Griffin for construction observation on the project for $395,307
KAJACS for $9,484,500 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for engineering services for $792,300
Lavon Morton spoke and expressed concerns about the Timco contract being $6 million over the engineer’s estimate and the Morgan Construction contract being $4 million over the engineer’s estimate. He also voiced concerns that the engineering firm that made the original estimate that is so far off from the bid is being awarded the oversight contract on the Timco project. He also advocated for looking into local engineering firms to save money in the cost per hour versus out-of-town firms. He acknowledged that all of the firms are qualified and that Utilities may have a good reason for choosing the ones selected. He also suggested breaking the Timco project down into smaller contracts bid out separately.
Director of Water Resources McAvoy mentioned that certain milestones have to be met for the consent decree including 40,000-50,000 ft of repairs and a certain number of manholes per year. He mentioned that there has been a decrease in construction costs and that there is a desire to lock in contracts before costs go back up. He said that moving forward on the projects shows the State and Federal governments that “we are serious.”
Director Settle voiced his desire for monthly progress reports on the consent decree. Director Good agreed with him.
Larry Yancy with Hawkins Weir said that they have “done a lot of due diligence” on the estimates. He also noted that the projects with the most significant discrepancies between the estimates and the bids were ones that were all from out of state.
Director Kemp said that he called some local construction companies and that 3 or 4 had availability and one would have saved about $3 million over 2 of the different projects but that the bidding window is too narrow. He suggested that a longer bidding window would allow local bidders to come back and bid on another project if they aren’t awarded the bid on one earlier in the cycle.
Director Settle mentioned that the Timco contract would be for the largest project, over 5 1/2 miles, and suggested that it be broken down into smaller chunks and rebid.
Director Good said that he thought that the larger project would allow companies to get better rates on materials and offer a lower price.
Director Settle pointed out that the bid from Belt Construction is significantly lower than the other bids for that project. He called the difference in bids ranging from $4.6 million to $10.6 million a “big span.” He wondered if Belt had perhaps missed something or if their bid was just good.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of all of the contracts except the Timco Blasting & Coating for $17,741,761.50 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for engineering services on the project for $658,300 and the Morgan Construction for $9,111,352 for sewer work and Hawkins Weir for construction observation on the project for $344,250. The Board voted unanimously to table the contracts for those two projects to the next study session meeting. Director Settle mentioned that the Board approved 71,476 ft or 13.5 miles of consent decree sewer pipe work at the meeting. Mayor McGill said “We’re getting there. We’re gonna get it done.”
The Board voted unanimously in favor of contracts for design services on multiple consent decree sewer projects involving a total of 52,000 ft of pipe and 200 manholes. Funds for the projects will come from the sales taxes for consent decree sewer work. Contracts for design on these projects will be with
Freese & Nichols for $376,240
Garver for $179,602
McClelland for $265,111
Hawkins Weir for $395,440
I&S Group for $282,380
Halff for $418,600
Hawkins Weir for $197,390
The Board voted unanimously to purchase dispatch protocol software for the new River Valley Communications center being developed that will be handling 911 calls. The software will cost $380,913 and be paid for with funds from the Arkansas 911 Board.
The Board discussed a lease agreement for radio equipment for the new River Valley Communications center. It would include a 190 ft tall communications tower and 10 radio systems. The total cost would be $5,333,048.50 with the payments starting in February of 2027. Director of Public Safety Communications Milam clarified that the funding for 2026 would come from the Arkansas 911 Board. Starting in 2027, after funds from the State, the City would be responsible for 70% of the costs and the County would be responsible for 30%. Chief Financial Officer Richards said that starting in 2027 the cost to the City for the 911 center would come out of the general fund and be about $2.3 million per year and would be at about that same rate for the following 4 years.
Director Christina Catsavis asked about Congressionally Directed Spending for the construction and the equipment at the new facility. Dingman answered that the requests for Congressionally Directed Spending funds for the 911 center were not successful. Director Christina Catsavis asked about the cost to remodel the building on Burrough Rd to turn it into the 911 center. Milam said that it was estimated “ballpark” at $5 million. Director Christina Catsavis questioned aloud whether it might be a better deal to sell the property on Burrough Rd and build an ideal 911 center elsewhere from scratch. She voiced her concerns about the financial obligations going forward. She called the State mandate requiring the City and County to consolidate their 911 operations an “unfunded mandate” and said “We can’t afford it.” She suggested that the City speak with State legislators about the issue.
Milam said that they are “cutting back as much as we can.” He also mentioned that timing is “coming up pretty quickly.” He said that in 2021 the City and County were ordered to consolidate their services and at that time were required to do so by January 2025. When the January 2025 deadline was not met, a two year extension was granted allowing until January 2027 to complete the consolidation. He said that November 20th is the deadline to take advantage of $713,000 in incentives offered by Motorola. Director Settle suggested that if Motorola wants the business that they might be willing to extend the offers. Milam said that he would ask Motorola to extend them.
Director Martin voiced his concerns about the cost to the general fund.
Directo Settle requested data on the current 911 program costs for the City and for the County to be able to see whether the future costs would be the same as they currently are or if they would be an increase.
The Board voted unanimously to table the 911 radio system issue and call a special meeting to be added to the scheduled study session meeting on Monday 11-10-25 to discuss and potentially vote on the issue.
