Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 3/17/26
At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 3-17-26, the Board voted on whether to reinstate the mosquito fogging program. This issue was discussed at the 2-24-26 meeting.
Nancy Rainey spoke in opposition to resuming fogging. She voiced concerns including the pesticide killing bees and butterflies and predatory bugs that kill mosquitoes including dragonflies and damselflies and the pesticide harming fish and birds and direct inhalation of it being potentially fatal for cats.
Kim Fodge spoke in opposition to resuming citywide fogging and suggested instead that the City spray only City owned parks.
Gary Podgurski spoke in opposition to resuming citywide fogging and suggested instead targeted spraying around the river and ponds. He also voiced concerns about the cost of the program.
Director Good mentioned that when the City installed bat houses at Carol Ann Cross Park to combat mosquitoes there were concerns voiced about bat bites. He said “We’re not gonna be able to please everybody.” He mentioned having heard concerns about the pesticide negatively affecting bee hives and lightning bugs He mentioned that there are low lying areas and areas with poor drainage around the City that hold water, providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Director George Catsavis suggested a complaint driven spray program rather than citywide fogging and mentioned that that would also be cheaper than blanket fogging.
Director Rego said that he has received a lot of feedback on the mosquito issue and that opinions were split about 55% to 45%. He mentioned that the spraying was done since the mid 1960s up until last year. He questioned whether there was any improvement in numbers of bees, lightning bugs, and other desirable insects in the year that it was discontinued. He said that he saw lightning bugs in his own yard even when his street was sprayed.
Director Christina Catsavis suggested an opt-in spraying program rather than an opt-out program. Public Works Director Meeker mentioned that he has heard from more people that want sprayed than that don’t but he said that “We can do it either way.”
Director Martin mentioned that the program was discontinued originally primarily to save budget dollars but also concerns about spray truck drivers being threatened. He said that both would still be concerns if the program was resumed. He said that larvicide, not the spray, is the most effective method of reducing mosquitoes. He said that there is no data that says that the spray program actually works. He said “I don’t think this is the right thing for us.”
Director Kemp agreed that he also desires more data on the issue. He said that UALR has been doing a study on mosquitos. He mentioned that the spray only addresses biting age mosquitos. He suggested instead using larvicide in the river and low-lying flood prone areas and planting plants that attract dragonflies. He suggested using the pesticide the City already owns but not purchasing any more when it runs out. He suggested a targeted spraying program rather than blanket spraying.
Director Rego asked if bringing back spraying would take the budget out of being operationally balanced. Chief Financial Officer Richards said that the the Streets Maintenance Fund would still be operationally balanced. Director Rego motioned to amend the ordinance so that it instead of resuming citywide spraying with an option for individuals to to opt-out, the spraying would be resumed with a focus on only spraying public parks, wet areas on the riverfront and waterways identified by GIS data, and properties of individuals who request spraying.
Director Settle mentioned his in-laws living near a concrete City waterway that have trouble with mosquitos and mentioned other areas like Mill Creek and drainage areas near Kimmons being targets to consider for spraying.
All but Director Martin voted in favor of amending the ordinance. The ordinance to resume spraying with a focus on only spraying public parks, wet areas on the riverfront and waterways identified by GIS data, and properties of individuals who request spraying passed with all but Director Martin voting in favor.
The Board voted to contract with SSI for the construction of the additional water slides at Parrot Island at a total cost of $1,751,910 and to contract with Clarity Pools for the aquatics work related to of the installation of the new slides at a total cost of $664,200. This issue was discussed at the 3-10-26 meeting.
Kim Fodge, Dan Williams, and Shayne McKinney spoke in opposition to the contracts mentioning concerns including the county jointly owning the water park, citizens being against the slide purchase, and prioritization of spending.
Joey McCutcheon spoke and expressed appreciation for the competitive bidding process.
Gary Podgurski spoke and asked Director Settle how many contacts he has personally received from citizens for versus against the slides. Director Settle answered that he has received over a 1000 for the slides and 20 against.
Director Christina Catsavis mentioned that Fayetteville is building an aquatic center water park. She mentioned that 70% of Parrot Island visitors are from out of town, with 30% of the visitors coming from NWA. She expressed concerns about the Fayetteville facility negatively impacting attendance and revenue at Parrot Island. She said there will likely be a “big drop in the coming year.” She suggested selling the uninstalled slides to Fayetteville.
Director George Catsavis asked if the County gets half of the money the water park makes when it is profitable. City Attorney Rowe said that they do. Director George Catsavis voiced his opposition to the slides and the contracts.
Director Kemp praised the competitive bidding process. He also mentioned that whenever the water park makes a profit the County and CIty both put their share of the profits back into the water park itself.
Director Christina Catsavis voiced her concerns about the expansion raising the property tax on the water park that comes out of the general fund. She also mentioned concerns about the cost of cast iron pipe fittings that will need replaced. Acting City Director Dingman said that some cast iron fittings have been replaced but others are still in place that have not yet shown signs of failure.
Director George Catsavis brought up that Parrot Island was only billed $40 a month for water service for multiple months. Dingman said that the water meter was not operating correctly. Director George Catsavis asked what the typical bill for the water at Parrot Island is. Dingman answered that it is typically around $30,000 for the 4-5 month operating season. Director Kemp asked how much the water bills are for Creekmore pool and for City Hall. Dingman answered that City owned facilities are not charged for water.
The Board voted to enter into both of the installation contracts with only Director George Catsavis, Director Christina Catsavis, and Director Martin voting against the contracts.
The Board voted to renew 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 recommended 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. This issue was discussed at the 3-10-26 meeting.
Kim Fodge spoke in opposition to the renewal and suggested that if it is renewed that ARM should be required to attend study session meetings to provide updates on the park and its finances. Director George Catsavis said that when they have been asked to attend ARM declined and said “We’re busy.”
Carl Nevin, Joey McCutcheon, and Dan Williams spoke in opposition to the renewal mentioning concerns including mismanagement, lack of transparency, fraud, and a desire to wait until the audit of the park is finished. Gary Podgurski suggested that the contract with ARM be delayed until the audit comes back and that no payment should be made to ARM until they show up for meetings.
Director Christina Catsavis said “I don’t think this is who we should go with.” She noted that another company that was being considered for the contract, SFM, had a proposal with a lot of things about transparency and a lot of ideas for generating revenue and included marketing. The City currently pays for marketing for the water park. Though she acknowledged that it is a “little bit more” cost wise, she praised the SFM proposal’s “much more comprehensive management practices.”
Director Rego said that the County Quorum Court voted to proceed with the ARM renewal at their meeting. He mentioned that the other finalist considered for the water park management contract said that they did not recommend switching companies on such a short timeline. He said that he might be in support of changing companies for the 2027 season but not now as the “other finalist says don’t do this.”
Director Kemp suggested that the renewal might help keep ARM communicating and cooperating well with the audit.
Director Christina Catsavis said that the audit is not necessary to know that there have been statements of fact made by ARM that are known to be false. She called the renewal a “slap in the face of the people we’re supposed to represent.”
Director Settle voiced his concerns about a “lost season” if the water park is disrupted by transition to a new company. He called ARM “well-known” and a “very good company.” He said Fort Smith is “blessed to have somebody that big running our park.” He mentioned recent investments in NWA and in Van Buren in building water parks of their own in expressing his desire for Fort Smith to not fall behind them.
Director George Catsavis motioned to withhold payment to ARM until the audit is complete. Director Kemp asked when the audit would be finished. Dingman said that the work would be conducted in April with the report being available in May or June. Director Rego asked about the payment procedure. Dingman said that ARM is paid 5% of gross revenues from Parrot Island on a monthly basis at the end of each month. Director Christina Catsavis mentioned that the park director is still paid regardless out of the water park’s operating funds. Director Martin asked if payment to ARM could be withheld legally without the County also agreeing to withhold? Rowe answered that all three, the County, City, and ARM would have to agree to add that contract provision.
Director Christina Catsavis expressed frustration with letting ARM dictate their terms instead of the City engaging in stronger negotiation. She said that when the revenue was down last year due to rain that the park should have engaged in more revenue streams like swim lessons, therapeutic programs, theme nights, later hours, operating later in the season, etc. She noted that private businesses have to find ways to make up lost revenue. Director Settle said that the park is already doing aquajog, tiny tots, private parties, swim lessons, and fire department training. He said “Everything that you’ve said, the park already does.” Director Christina Catsavis wondered aloud where the revenues from those activities are listed in the park’s Profit and Loss statement.
Director George Catsavis wondered aloud if the park loses money and ARM still gets paid 5% of the gross revenues what their incentive is to not lose money.
Director George Catsavis withdrew his proposed amendment without a vote because it would not be legal. The Board voted to renew the contract with ARM with only Director George Catsavis and Director Christina Catsavis voting against renewal.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the Water Capital Improvement Plan for 2026. The initial CIP submitted was defeated at the 12-2-25 meetingso a revised version was presented to the Board at the 2-10-26 meeting.The version approved 3-17-26 is a smaller version with only projects for which funding has already been identified. The projects are the I-540 and Euper Lane water line crossing, Midland Bridge transmission line repair, Racetrack Road water line improvements, and I-49 & Hwy 22 transmission line encasement.
Director Rego asked if the projects are anticipated to be completed this year. Deputy Director of Water Utilities Engineering Johnson answered that they are all expected to be completed this year with the possible exception of the encasement project.
Director Martin asked where the money is coming from for the projects. Johnson answered from reimbursements from ARDOT for State highway projects. Director Martin pointed out that the very narrow CIP funded only by ARDOT reimbursements is because there is no money available for other water capital improvement projects.
The Board voted unanimously to contract with Trekk Design Group for $766,933.03 for a consent decree required sewer assessment study for an area containing 76,933 ft of sewer line and 318 manholes.
Director Martin said “I was surprised at this one.” He had understood that all the assessments were already done. Johnson said that that area was worked on prior to the consent decree and that the infrastructure has continued to deteriorate and that they are designing with 12 year old information. He said that if there had been funding back when it was worked on before the consent decree that the assessment would have been done back then. He said that the Fort Chaffee area also has not had its assessment, but that it is not currently included under the consent decree, but may end up under a second consent decree if one is not done.
Director Christina Catsavis said she was also told that all the assessments were completed. She said that this one coming up now “makes me wonder what’s going to continue to come up.” Johnson said that every 10 years they have to do assessments for the whole system. Director Christina Catsavis asked if all the ones done when the consent decree first started are outdated now. Johnson said that there are a couple of assessments that will need to be done in the next 2 years. Dingman added that it is standard best practice to do assessments continually, assessing part of the system every year. Director Christina Catsavis mentioned listening to a Congressional hearing where it was discussed that a consent decree sometimes “grows and grows.”
Director Settle said that that growing was his “concern from day one.”
The Board voted unanimously without discussion to contract with RJN Design for design services for $99,960 for the replacement of 2 sewer mains on South B.
The Board voted unanimously to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Methodist Village Senior Livingand an Agreement of Understanding with ARDOT as the required government sponsor to accept a grant from the Arkansas Transportation Alternatives Program to build a paved path from the Methodist Village facility to Carol Ann Cross park. The Board agreed to sponsor the grant at the 3-4-2025 meeting. The grant will be for $196,000. The required local contribution of $49,000 will be paid by Methodist Village. The City will pay $38,500 for the engineering costs not covered by the grant out of the revenue from the Carol Ann Cross park cell tower funds designated for the benefit of Carol Ann Cross Park.
Director Martin expressed concern about the steepness of the trail. Dingman said that the “grade will be a challenge” but that the trail will be ADA compliant. Director Martin called the trail “awesome” and said “I love this project.”
The Board voted unanimously without discussion to purchase 2 replacement 1 ton Chevy Silverado trucks with utility service beds for the Public Works Department from Orr Chevrolet for a total of $117,520.
The Board voted unanimously to contract with Steve Beam Construction for $1,212,950.70 for improvements of the tennis courts at Creekmore. The project will include resurfacing 4 courts, reconstructing 4 courts with concrete instead of asphalt, adding spectator seating, replacing fencing, and converting the lights to LEDs. It also will include converting 4 lights at the pool to LED.
Joey McCutcheon spoke in opposition to the project calling it “tone deaf” to spend on tennis in tough economic times. He mentioned recent budget cuts and suggested prioritization of spending.
Director Settle asked how the project would impact tennis tournament season. Parks Director Deuster said that WATA is prepared to work with the City on any “minor inconveniences” but that the goal is to keep 4 courts open at all times.
The Board voted without discussion to contract with Goodwin & Goodwin for $138,968 for pump house improvements at Cisterna Park.
The Board voted unanimously to purchase 17 Police patrol vehicle Dodge Durangos. 4 are to replace existing worn out vehicles and 13 are additional new vehicles that will enable greater implementation of the take-home patrol vehicle program. The vehicles will come from Breeden Dodge at a total cost of $1,298,630.69. $173,336.24 of the cost will come from court funds for police and the rest will come from the sales tax designated for the police.
Director Settle voiced his support for “more cars on the street.”
