Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 4/22/25
The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 4-22-25 led by Vice Mayor Rego and with Mayor McGill and Director Good absent, began with a special voting meeting to hire a new Director of Internal Audit. Discussion of the matter took place in an Executive Session, then the Board returned to publicly vote unanimously to hire Rebecca Cowen for the position.
Then the regularly scheduled session meeting commenced. The Board reviewed the Community Development Advisory Committee’s recommendations for allocations for the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership grant.
For the CDBG funds the Community Development Advisory Committee recommendations include…
Fort Smith Housing Authority $135,625 for utility work at Bailey Hill
Hope Campus $35,00 for HVAC and generator replacement
Hamilton Center $16,912
CSCDC dental clinic $16,000
Next Step $16,112 for case management
Girls Inc. $15,912
Community Rescue Mission $15,712 for case management
ARC for the River Valley $7928
Fort Smith Boys & Girls Clubs $14,512 for technology for the Stephens Glidewell E-sports lab
Sebastian County Retired Citizens Association $13,912 for Meals on Wheels
$156,00 for administration
For the HOME funds the Community Development Advisory Committee recommendations include…
CSCDC $54,000 for acquiring, rehabilitation, and resale of housing
CSCDC $270,000 for homeowner down payment assistance
Fort Smith Housing rehab assistance $256,875
Fort Smith Housing rehab administration $60,000
$36,000 for administration
Community Development Department Director Gabucci mentioned that this year is the last year in the department’s federally required 5 year plan and that soon they will start holding public meetings and getting Board input for the next 5 year plan. Director Settle expressed a desire to re-adjust priorities for the next 5 year plan.
Director Settle asked about what the “word on the street” is about the future of the federal CDBG and Home funds. Gabucci said that they are looking at flat funding for 2025 and that 2026 is “right now, not looking great” but that her department is still “cautiously optimistic.”
The recommended allocations for the funds were added to the 5-6-25 meeting agenda for a vote.
The Board reviewed and compared the differences between the ordinance prohibiting homeless camping that was voted down by the Board of Directors at the 12-17-24 meeting that mirrored the one from Grants Pass, Oregon that was upheld by the Supreme Court and the alternative ordinance proposed by Director Kemp discussed at the 3-11-25 study session meeting.
They also reviewed the legal recommendations on Director Kemp’s proposed ordinance from City Attorney Roe. Roe said in a letter to the Board and Administration that the wording of the proposed ordinance “lacks necessary specificity to ensure non-discriminatory application” and expressed his opinion that it would be “unconstitutionally vague.” Some of the main concerns he noted include…
vagueness in the definition of “camping”
lack of clarity about the “obstruction of pedestrian or vehicular traffic”
vagueness about who declares the emergencies on the “declared emergencies” wording
vagueness in the wording about “unattended items” and “city officials” who would remove them
the need for additional wording about the notice before removal of personal property including where it would be stored, for how long, and the procedure to reclaim it
vagueness in the definitions of “unsanitary items”, “medical supplies”, and “essential clothing”
lack of specificity in who decides whether unclaimed property is donated or disposed of
vagueness in the wording regarding “reasonable efforts to engage individuals in outreach”
the need to include the City entering into a services contract with Hope Campus for the City to be able to legally provide the dumpster.
Neighborhood Services Director Shawn Gard said that Kemp’s proposed ordinance’s “softer and more lenient approach” leaves room for “misinterpretation.”
Director Christina Catsavis asked if sleeping in the alcoves at the entrances of buildings is already illegal. Gard said that the alcoves are private property and that there is already an ordinance that prohibits camping items like tents and tarps and sleeping bags, but the sleeping itself is not currently prohibited by ordinance.
Gard mentioned that a couple of large homeless encampments were recently cleaned up downtown on Next Step property and railroad property. He mentioned that All-American Tree Service provided the cleanup of the camp on the Next Step property for free, at no cost to either the City or Next Step, and even paid out of the company owner’s own pocket to hire homeless individuals to work on the clean up.
Gard said when his department encounters homeless individuals “We do our best to point them to a non-profit for assistance.” He said that if there were an ordinance passed that it would be “an opportunity to take enforcement action if necessary” but acknowledged that “An ordinance has to be strong enough to support enforcement.”
Director Christina Catsavis mentioned that there were concerns about enforcement expressed in regards to the ordinance mirroring the Grants Pass ordinance that did not pass. Police Chief Baker agreed that there were staff concerns in his department about enforcement on that one and also on the new one proposed by Kemp. He added that he felt that the one mirroring Grants Pass would “pass constitutional muster” but that the Kemp proposed ordinance has some things that “need to be shored up” to pass constitutional muster. He mentioned that the individuals sleeping in alcoves at building entrances could be charged with criminal trespass under current existing laws. He said that neither the Grants Pass style ordinance nor the new Kemp proposed one would make “any appreciable difference in the problems we’re seeing.”
Director Kemp said that after seeing Rowe’s comments he recommends sending the proposed ordinance back to Rowe to make his suggested additions and adjustments. He said that his original proposal was meant to be “just a beginning point” on an ordinance that “doesn’t criminalize homelessness” and is “compassionate” and “services based.” He suggested attempting keeping it a simple ordinance saying “I don’t want to make it a 4 page ordinance.” Of homeless people, he said “We have to have a place for them to go other than jail.”
Director Settle mentioned that the Grants Pass style ordinance was 3 1/2 pages long. He said that with the clarifications added, the new proposed one would get bigger than that. However, he said “If it’s 6 pages, it is what it is.” and that he “would rather get it right.”
Director Kemp said that the Grants Pass ordinance is “not as locked tight as everyone thinks it is” and that he expects there will be constitutional challenges to it again.
Director Christina Catsavis said “It is important not to view Hope Campus as an extension of City services.” and reminded that the City provides Hope with no financial support. She said that Hope should be included in the discussions about the new proposed ordinance. Director Kemp said that he met with Hope Campus about his proposal and that everything included about them was “already vetted by them to do so.” He expressed his desire for the Board in the future to discuss potentially donating a utility cost offset to Hope Campus. He mentioned that the City has a service contract for “taking care of animals” but with the homelessness situation “we’re talking about humans.” Director Christina Catsavis said that with giving “taxpayer dollars to a non-profit, we’re getting into a different discussion.”
The ordinance proposed by Kemp will be sent back to the City Attorney for refinement to fix the legal problems they suggested fixing and then will return for Board discussion at a future study session meeting.
The Board heard the annual update presentation regarding the Convention Center from Convention Center General Manager Shannon Davis. She said that last year the facility hosted 108 events, up 13 events over the prior year, and hosted 58,200 attendees, up 7,265 over the prior year. It was the first year that the facility achieved staying within its planned budget. The facility’s total net operating loss was $854,967.
Director Settle praised the facility’s work at a recent volleyball tournament held there. Davis mentioned that during that tournament the concession sales doubled this year over last year’s sales during that tournament.
Director Kemp said of the facility’s performance “Congratulations. Keep up the good work.”
Director Martin said that the Board is interested in working to get the amount of the City’s subsidy of the facility down. Davis agreed and said they are also “working hard” on that and this year’s figures are already outpacing budgeted plans and on a “positive trend” toward reducing the subsidy needed.
Director Settle suggested increasing Convention Center revenue with paid parking at the facility parking lots. He said from having seen paid parking at volleyball tournaments elsewhere “parents are used to it.” He suggested discussing paid parking in the future. Davis said that they submitted a proposal with a paid parking scenario last year and will be submitting an updated proposal tomorrow to Administration. She said “I agree with you 100%.” The revenue projections for paid parking for the theater are $129,650 annually and for the expo center another $100,000. Director Christina Catsavis asked if the proposed paid parking would be handled through a phone app rather than requiring investment in infrastructure. Davis assured that it would.
Davis mentioned that the agreement between Oak View Group (OVG) that manages the Convention Center and the City was for 3 years followed by 7 single year renewals and that they are currently in the second single year renewal with 5 renewals left. She requested that the agreement be modified for the remaining 5 years as a 3 year renewal followed by a 2 year renewal. She said the longer contract times would “gain a little bit of stability” for staff in knowing that their positions would remain intact longer.
The Board discussed the Convention Center’s 2025 budget as a part of its series of reviews of the all of the departments’ 2025 budgets. The Board and Administration have set the goal of departments with one program finding 5% of their budget that can be cut and departments with multiple programs finding 10% of their budget that can be cut. The Convention center’s proposed cuts to their budget would total $47,620 for a 5.13% reduction. Cuts would come from cuts to promotions, travel, training, dues and subscriptions, convention attendance, and printing.
Director Kemp ask if the cuts would hurt the facility’s performance. Davis said that they would not.
Davis requested that the Board modify the agreement with OVG to allow them to expand their catering so that they could provide catering to anyone anywhere who orders it, rather than being limited to only catering off-site events for customers who have an event booked at the Convention Center that same week. She said being able to cater outside events “could represent almost a quarter of a million dollars” in additional revenue. Of the current policy that limits Convention Center catering to only customers who have an event booked at the Convention Center, Director George Catsavis said “We need to change that.” and “It’s ridiculous.” Director Martin said that allowing them to cater to anyone who orders would cause the Convention Center to be competing against local businesses and would be the “City subsidizing someone to cater against a private business that doesn’t have the backing of the City.” Director George Catsavis said that the increased revenue for the Convention Center from the outside catering would save taxpayers money by reducing the amount of subsidy needed for the Convention Center. Director George Catsavis asked how many people the Convention Center could cater for. Davis answered 1500 people.
The Board will vote on modifications to the agreement with OVG including the renewals, catering, and paid parking at a future meeting.
The Board continued its series of reviews of the all of the departments’ 2025 budgets. The Board and Administration have set the goal of departments with one program finding 5% of their budget that can be cut and departments with multiple programs finding 10% of their budget that can be cut. In addition to the Convention Center’s, at this week’s meeting, the Board heard from and discussed the budgets of Solid Waste, Streets and Traffic Control, Transit, and the Fire Department.
Solid Waste Director McDonald presented his department’s cuts totalling $655,000 for a total cut of 4% of their budget. He said that the cuts would have been able to have been 2% more if it were not for increased costs from Marck Recycling that takes the recycling materials because they currently are having to transport the materials out of state after their Rogers, AR facility recently burned down.
Director Christina Catsavis asked if the increased costs for the recycling could be offset by returning to picking up recycling only every other week instead of weekly. McDonald said he is “not sure that would save anything in this case” because the cost is coming from Marck’s cost not from the cost of collections that the City does. He also mentioned that the department has looked into other recycling companies to partner with and did not find any that would be a savings. Director Christina Catsavis asked if there would be savings in reducing the kinds of materials accepted for recycling like going to only accepting #1 and #2 plastics instead of #1, #2, and #5 plastics. She mentioned that Fayetteville only accepts #1 and #2. McDonald said that it depends on the market, but that the department has received no pushback from Marck regarding accepting the #5s and said “I don’t sense that’s really making any difference to them.”
Director Rego asked if the personnel cut include in the cuts would be eliminating a vacant position. McDonald assured that it would be not filling a position, that no one currently employed by the department would be affected.
It was pointed out that the Solid Waste Department operates as an enterprise fund and their budget cuts would have no effect on the City’s general fund.
Streets Director Meeker presented his cuts totalling $1,111,656 for a total budget reduction of 10.2%. Cuts include a freeze on hiring 9 currently open full-time positions and 2 seasonal mosquito sprayer positions, and a 10% cut in materials for sidewalks resulting in about 1/3 of mile of sidewalks not being constructed.
While it was not included in the proposed cuts, Meeker said that he would ideally like to eliminate mosquito spraying service all together. He said his department gets “regular complaints every year” about the spraying. Director Martin asked how much the mosquito spraying program costs per year. Meeker answered that it costs about $73,000. Martin said to Meeker “I am with you.” regarding eliminating the program all together permanently. Meeker voiced concerns about public and staff exposure to the mineral oil and chemicals in the spray. Director Martin asked why the mosquito program was started. Meeker said that it started statewide as a response to concerns about the West Nile Virus, but that it is not state mandated. He mentioned that the department gives out mosquito larvicide for areas that hold water to any resident upon request.
Director Settle asked how much of the Streets budget comes from State turnback funds from the gasoline tax. Meeker answered that it is almost 70%.
It was pointed out that because of the way the department is funded the proposed Streets budget cuts would not significantly affect the general fund.
Director Martin praised the Streets Department’s performance quickly filling potholes and asked if that would be affected by the cuts. Meeker said that the cuts would not affect any of the overall services other than mosquito spraying and the special small projects requested by the Board including drainage and sidewalk projects.
Director Kemp asked about the effect of the cuts to the sidewalks. Meeker said that the cuts would reduce the amount of sidewalks that could be constructed from 3.76 miles to 3.43 miles and that the 3.43 miles is “realistically what we’d have gotten done in the year anyway.”
Director Christina Catsavis said that she is interested in “cutting waste and non-essential expenses” but not cutting essential services.
Director Settle praised the new sidewalks on North 50th. He asked about there not being any savings shown on the OG&E bills for street lights even though OG&E has been converting to more efficient LED bulbs. Meeker said that the electric rates are set by the Arkansas Public Service Commission and the department has no control over them.
Transit Director Savage presented cuts to the Transit budget totalling $446,000 for a 13% budget cut. The cuts come from consulting services budgeted for that have not been billed for this year, auditing and accounting service that was not required because they did not receive a federal audit, not hiring 2 additional drivers that were going to be requested to be able to expand fixed-route services, and not building curb cuts that would have been associated with the route expansions. The expansion that is being cut to save hiring the two new drivers would have been to address needs and reduce the demand response requests by providing better fixed route coverage for more areas including to schools including all of the charter high schools, the Planters Road area, Chaffee Crossing, the Electric park area, and the OK Foods area. Director Rego asked if the budget to allow for the expansion were approved if it would be easy to hire the drivers. Savage answered “It’s gotten a lot better.” and said “I believe we could do that” with the current salaries in place for drivers.
Director Settle expressed his support for curb cuts. He said “long term I think we should think of curb cuts.”
Savage said that Transit is still working with A&M Railroad to address safety concerns with the planned access road to the Transit headquarters. Currently the rail cars are free rolled in that area and that is prohibited in the proximity of an access road. Trains would have to back up for 2 miles including across Jenny Lind. The FTA has is considering providing funding for at least one proposed solution possibly including constructing a small run-around track.
Director George Catsavis reminded that the Transit capital purchases are reimbursed 80% by the FTA. Savage agreed that capital items are federally reimbursed at 80% and operating expenses are federally reimbursed at 50%. So while the total budget cut would be $446,000, the federal reimbursement would be 298,000, so the total cut that would affect the City’s general fund would be $148,000.
Director Martin asked about the expected impact of potential federal cuts to the FTA. Savage said “I think Transit is solid.” Savage also mentioned that the Transit department deliberately uses capital project funds (reimbursed 80%) in ways that help reduce operating expenses (reimbursed at only 50%) like choosing buses powered by cheaper CNG fuel instead of diesel.
Director Rego said “I think it’s worth considering” details on the real cost to the City after federal reimbursement for the route expansions. He said “If it’s something we can do” “It’s a good thing for residents.” Director Kemp also requested data about the demand for the proposed expanded service stops to help determine how many people would be serviced by those stops based on requests.
Fire Chief Waters presented his department’s cuts totaling $378,000. Cuts include a cut for staff physicals because they received a grant to cover those, cuts to staff uniforms, cuts to replacement of old tools that may fail soon but currently are still operational, and cuts to training and travel.
Director Settle said that he is not in favor of the uniform cuts. He also said “Tell us what you need.” on small equipment replacement. Waters clarified that the uniform cuts were only for uniform clothes, like staff shirts, not for firefighting bunker gear.
Director Christina Catsavis said that she was talking about cutting waste and non-essential spending and that “nickel and diming the Fire Department of tee shirts is not what I had in mind.” Waters assured that none of the cuts affect public safety or put lives at risk.
Director George Catsavis and Director Christina Catsavis both suggested starting allocating City budget to pay for food for the firefighters at the fire station instead of them having to purchase their own food.
Director Martin said if “a piece of equipment is failing, get it.” Waters mentioned that bunker gear is replaced every 5 years no matter what.
