Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 6/16/26

The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 6-16-26 began with the Citizens Forum.

Jimmy Harrison spoke and suggested term limits for the Board and Mayor. He suggested a limit of three terms.

Sammy Jackson spoke and read a letter from Arkansas State Senator Boyd supporting the honorary renaming of a section of Towson for Bobby Crabtree. He also mentioned that Crabtree had a better record than Muhammad Ali and more knockouts than Mike Tyson.

Natalia Deer spoke and suggested blocking off Garrison for monthly events with vendors of homemade products and art and a talent show and businesses open late. She also voiced her concerns about the safety of railroad crossings that only have a light and no gate. She also suggested that service be provided to the homeless to alleviate blood curses and demonic forces.

Jo Elsken spoke in support of the e-bike voucher program. She also voiced her support for the alleyway rehabilitation program.

Shane McKinney spoke in support of the change in form of government. He also mentioned that over 400 more than the required number of signatures have already been collected on the citizen initiated petition to put the change of form of government on the ballot. Director Kemp said that the Board can “do its due diligence” in hiring a City Administrator and the signature petition can move forward at the same time.

Carl Nevin, Sarah Harrison, Chris Cadelli, Joey McCutchen, Makayla Gaffney, and Jeannie Carroll spoke in support of the change in the form of government being put on the ballot.

Patrick McGuire spoke and suggested seeking more Congressional funding for water improvements from the House of Representatives. He also voiced his support for the change in the form of government. Director Martin mentioned the $12 million already received for water infrastructure through Senator Boozman, the additional $12 million applied for through Boozman, and the application for a $13 million federal grant on the meeting’s agenda.

Kristen Connelly with the Riverview Hope Campus spoke in support of the organization and invited the Board to visit and tour the facility.

Eric Weidman spoke and expressed concerns about failings in political leadership creating mental health crises for entire neighborhoods.

Jason Skerbitz spoke and expressed dissatisfaction with the Board.

Steven Cox spoke and expressed his desire for data centers to be on the City’s radar before they become an issue here. He also voiced his support for trails.

Dan Williams spoke and questioned how much is being spent on the Arkansas Municipal League. Director Christina Catsavis answered $30,000. Director Settle answered that insurance coverage is also purchased through AML. Williams spoke about financial stewardship. He also voiced his support for the change in the form of goverment.

Krystal Cadelli spoke and voiced concerns that the bonds and tax won’t cover the water/sewer infrastructure needs. She also voiced concerns about the EV contract being cancelled and the Bass Reeves Legacy Loop plan no longer being a loop. She mentioned that citizens have been receiving survey calls about a nuclear waste facility. She also voiced her support for the change in the form of government.

Raymond Taylor spoke in support of the change in form of government being put on the ballot through the citizen initiated petition process. He also voiced his opposition to the spending for the utility extension for the RV park in 2021 and criticized the City’s actions in regards to Regina’s House of Dolls in the 1990s.

One citizen spoke in opposition to the change in the form of government. He mentioned concerns about the Mayor Council form having an elected City Attorney.

Jacqueline Hooper spoke in support of the change in form of government. She also mentioned negative impacts on her trauma related mental health disorders from her rapist stalking her and the Police Department doing nothing about it. She also voiced her dissatisfaction with the police not finding substantiation in her complaint and request for an internal investigation.

Patrick Fite spoke and expressed his concerns about local unsolved murder cases. He mentioned his sister Leslie Dawn Haag’s 1985 unsolved murder and mentioned hopes that evidence might be found while the Bailey Hill site is being redeveloped.

The Board voted on a change to the City on-the job injury pay policy in response to discussion at the 5-26-26 meeting inspired by the line-of-duty injury of Officer Newman. The change will 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 will 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 will remain in place.

Director Martin said that he had envisioned an “narrow scenario” that only included uniformed employees like Police and Fire employees rather than the broader proposed policy that included all City employees. He said that he did not support the broader version.

Director Christina Catsavis said that she also envisioned uniformed employees only. She said that the proposed change was “broadened too much.” She voiced her concerns about the wording allowing the coverage for “illness” that results in hospital admission and suggested that the word “illness” be removed, or if left in at least defined clearly. She expressed concerns about “illness” opening the door to “taking advantage” if someone catches an illness on the job.

Human Resources Director Garvin said that the “illness” wording was the same as the workers compensation wording. He also mentioned that the change in policy would have only applied to less than a half dozen cases over the past 15 years if it had been in place. He said that only 2 cases in the past 20 years would have met the narrower (uniformed only) criteria. Garvin said that the policy that the City already has in place is “much more far reaching” than other municipalities.

Acting City Administrator Dingman mentioned that other employees do dangerous work outside of just the uniformed employees. He suggested that one option could be to keep the current policy but allow the City Administrator to declare “exigent circumstances” to accommodate extreme cases that need the longer injury pay.

Director Kemp voiced his support for a policy that covers both uniformed and non-uniformed employees. He also asked if an injury that leads to major surgery without inpatient admission would still be limited to the 30 days of injury pay. Garvin confirmed that it would. Director Kemp asked about moving injured employees to another role or making reasonable accommodations or reassignment. Garvin said that they do look at that when the injured employees reach their maximum state of improvement.

Director Good expressed his opposition to narrowing the scope to just uniformed employees. He mentioned having heard reports of meter readers and animal control officers having guns pulled on them and mentioned an incident in which a sanitation worker ran into a burning house to save someone.

Director Rego expressed his preference for including both non-uniformed and uniformed employees.

Director Settle asked if the policy change would result in an increase in workers compensation rates. Garvin answered that it would not. Director Settle voiced his concern about the word “illness” and “people abusing that.”

Director George Catsavis said of the proposed change “We need to study this a little more.”

Director Kemp motioned to amend the policy to remove the word “illness” from the policy. All but Director Rego voted in favor of the amendment to remove the word. Director Christina Catsavis motioned to amend the policy to make it only apply to uniformed personnel. That amendment did not pass with Director Good, Director Kemp, Director Settle, and Director Rego voting against it and Director George Catsavis, Director Christina Catsavis, and Director Martin voting for it.

The Board voted in favor of the policy (amended to remove the word “illness”) with Director George Catsavis, Director Martin, and Director Christina Catsavis voting against it.

The Board voted unanimously 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.

Shane McKinney spoke and mentioned that the alleyway construction impacts his AirBnB properties and said that the work Western Millwright did shows a “clear lack of care about the work.”

JB Cross, a representative of Western Millwright, said that the only notice Western Millwright received was about a single incident in which a gas line was broken and repaired with duct tape and buried. Cross said the employee responsible for mishandling the gas line incident was taken off the job. Cross said that the other performance issues are “standard” and that Western Millwright agreed to fix them but was never given the opportunity to remediate the issues. He also said that if they were allowed to continue that the company would be “amenable to additional inspections.”

Krystal Cadelli spoke and asked how much of the project has been completed and how much it would cost to get another contractor to finish the project. She also voiced her opposition to grants “for things we don’t need.”

Director George Catsavis talked about his observations from visiting the site and said “I’ve never seen a concrete alleyway that looked like a rollercoaster.” He also mentioned concrete poured around a utility pole. Cross responded that Western Millwright would correct the issues as the contract says if needed. Director George Catsavis said that if he had hired Western Millwright for a private project that he would not accept that level of work.

Director Settle asked about calling in the surety bond. City Attorney Rowe said that 7 days notice is required but that the City has submitted notice of a potential claim to the surety. Director Settle said that since the City is paying for an engineering services firm to be on-site during the project that that firm should be held accountable. Chris Morris with McClelland Engineers said that they are not contacted for full-time observation so they are not on-site the entire time. Director Martin asked how many hours they are on-site. Morris answered about 20 hours per week. He said that McClelland was not notified by the contractor about the gas line incident.

A representative from AOG said of Western Millwright’s performance “I saw a contractor digging in an alleyway with a disregard to public utilities.” He said they plowed an alley up with a bulldozer on top of a marked gas line which is against the law. He said that 4 more gas lines were broken in addition to the one involved in the duct tape incident. Director Martin called the duct tape incident “egregious.” The AOG representative called it “blatant disregard for people’s safety.”

Director Kemp asked how much of the project has been completed. Citizen Services Director Robertson answered a “very small percentage”, “less than 20-25%.” Director Kemp asked about the power poles that had concrete poured around them. Public Works Director Meeker said the pouring around poles “wasn’t done properly in all instances.” He said that one had been done properly. He mentioned numerous other problems he noticed and said that Western Millwright’s work was “poor workmanship” and had “just a ton of issues.”

The Board voted unanimously 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.

Shane McKinney spoke and asked about land donation process. Dingman said that there have been “all manner of treatments over the years” regarding land donations and that it “wasn’t always necessarily done” with the consistency, clarity, and detail that it would be done with going forward.

Parks Director Deuster said that the land is “currently serving no public benefit to our city” and “We have no purpose for it.”

The Board voted unanimously 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 will be marked by the signs is the section of the street in front of the auto body shop owned and operated by Crabtree.

Joey McCutchen spoke in support of the naming in honor of Crabtree. He also mentioned that Crabtree was the 1995 Cruiserweight Champion of the World.

Sammy Jackson spoke in support of the naming and praised Crabtree. He mentioned that Don King offered to be Crabtree’s promoter, but that Crabtree declined because Fort Smith was his home.

Director Kemp praised Crabtree.

The Board voted unanimously 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.

Sarah Harrison spoke in support of applying for the grant.

Director Martin asked if the Roosevelt Group was involved in the grant. Dingman confirmed that they were.

Director Christina Catsavis asked if it is the same grant that was applied for previously but that the City did not get. Dingman and Hoover clarified that it is the same grant, but that the previous application was for a project on Towson and that Roosevelt was not involved on it.

The Board voted 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 will do the project for the same $3,250,000 as Francis Energy was contracted for. Their plan for the project will 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 will still be fully funded by the federal Climate Pollution Reduction grant.

Patrick McGuire spoke in opposition to the EV charger project saying that the EV market is “in its death throes.”

Director Rego mentioned that Adopt A Charger will be responsible for the maintenance for the chargers for 15 years and will provide free charging to customers for 3-5 years. He mentioned that EV registration in Sebastian County is up 166% since 2020 and that there are 2.8 million registered EVs in Arkansas.

Director George Catsavis asked who would pay for the electricity for the chargers. Roberston answered that Adopt A Charger would pay for it for 5-15 years.

Director Settle asked if the chargers would be universal. Robertson answered that they would be. Director Settle asked who would be responsible if the chargers were damaged or vandalized. Robertson answered that Adopt A Charger would be responsible. Director Settle asked if Adopt A Charger would charge users to use the stations after the 3-5 year free period. Robertson answered that they would and that Francis Energy was going to charge users from day one. Director Settle asked if the City would be on the hook for anything with the chargers. Robertson said that they would not, that it would be covered by the grant and when the contract expires Adopt A Charger would remove the chargers and restore the site.

The Board voted in favor of the termination with Francis and contracting with Adopt A Charger with all but Director Martin voting in favor.

The Board voted to table the issue of 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 will come from the sales tax for streets and drainage.

Chris Cadelli spoke in opposition to the spending. He suggested that the funds would be better used for dealing with flooding issues.

Krystal Cadelli spoke in opposition to the spending. She mentioned that the FSHA already gets CDBG funds and that the City already donated the land. She said that other big developers would like to have a million dollars for streets infrastructure in their developments.

Dingman mentioned that when the City donated the land they also agreed to participate in the infrastructure cost and that the cost has already been included in the approved Capital Improvement Plan.

Director Settle said that when the land was donated that the project was expected to be done sooner than it has been. He mentioned that when the land was donated that the streets and drainage tax had the whole penny going to streets and drainage and now it only has 5/8 of a cent going to streets and drainage. He suggested tabling the issue to a study session.

Director Kemp asked why the project has taken so long. Mitch Minick with the FSHA said that the land was donated in 2013 with the intent for FSHA to handle the demolition, site prep, and utilities cost and that the City would partner with them on streets and drainage. He said the development was originally planned to be rentals but funding for that did not come through so that plan did not move forward. In 2022, demolition was started. In 2023, the streets work was put back in the City’s Capital Improvement Plan. Demolition was completed in 2024. City Engineering asked for improvements to South S and a sidewalk on South 16th to be included in the design and that added a delay. There were delays in the approval process with utilities. The streets for the project have undergone a competitive bidding process with the winning bidder, Forsgren, coming in well under the engineer’s estimate.

The Board voted to table the issue with Director Martin, Director George Catsavis, Director Christina Catsavis, and Director Settle voting to table and Director Rego, Director Good, and Director Kemp voting against tabling.

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

Andy Posterick spoke in support of the master plan. He suggested that the someone from the City’s Planning Department serve on the advisory committee.

The Board voted to purchase 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.

Gary Podgurski spoke in opposition to the purchase because he does not support the no-bid contract.

Director Kemp asked about the lack of competitive bidding. Deputy Director of Water Resources Thukral said that Haynes is the only supplier in Arkansas for the Wilo pump.

The Board voted to purchase the pump with all but Director George Catsavis and Director Christina Catsavis voting in favor of the purchase.

The Board voted 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 will bring the total for the project to $1,333,744.50.

The Board voted in favor of the additional spending with all voting for the spending except for Director Christina Catsavis who abstained from voting.

During the Executive Session, Eric Pendergrass was reappointed and Zach Ledford was appointed to the Airport Commission. Marcus Johnson was appointed to the Community Development Advisory Committee. Alex Sanchez was reappointed to the Fort Smith Housing Authority. Bonnie Byers was appointed to the Fort Smith Municipal Employees Benevolent Fund Board of Advisors. Bonnie Murphy was appointed to the Future Fort Smith Committee. Jessica Blanzy was appointed to the Historic District Commission.