Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 7/21/26
The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 7-21-26 began with the Citizens Forum.
Rhyan Besco spoke and requested that Sunday alcohol sales be discussed at a study session meeting. He mentioned Sunday alcohol sales acknowledging demand, keeping dollars local, generating sales tax revenue, supporting local businesses, and supporting consumer choice. He mentioned having a petition with a 1000 signatures of signers showing interest in Sunday sales.
Natalia Deer spoke and voiced her concerns about the lack of restrooms at Riverfront Park. She mentioned the lack of bathrooms being an inconvenience for park users and that having them would also be useful for homeless people in the area.
Wendy Peer spoke and voiced her concerns about data centers. She mentioned concerns about the strain on the electrical grid, increased costs for electricity, noise, air emissions, and water use.
Quinton Cunningham spoke and suggested a partnership between homeless shelters and the Police including a “dedicated beat liaison” stationed at the Hope Campus. He also voiced his support for Dr. Reemer’s proposal for the City to lease his clinic and operate it as a low cost veterinary hospital for low to medium income residents. Cunningham also voiced concerns about gentrification and predatory real estate practices and voiced his support for community land trusts.
Jason Skerbitz spoke and expressed opposition to the City taking over the cemeteries. He also voiced his opposition to moving the Citizens Forum to the study session meetings instead of the regular meetings. He mentioned the study session meetings having fewer attendees. He voiced opposition to the federal grant for Maybranch trail because of the required local match and the expense of the trail.
Shane McKinney spoke and voiced his opposition to moving the Citizens Forum to the study session meetings. He expressed his preference for the Citizens Forum comments to come immediately before a vote.
Janey Pugh spoke and thanked the Police and prosecutors office for their response to political intimidation and threats of violence regarding a recent incident in which she was threatened.
Jermichael Robinson spoke and suggested the Board use a formalized document he has crafted for responses to requests to information.
Jo Elsken spoke and voiced her support for moving the Citizens Forum to the study session meetings. She expressed concerns that it is hard for the Board to do their job after an hour of “very rancorous comments.” She said that the people can best be heard via email. She also voiced her support for the Maybranch Trail grant. She mentioned the Spradling extension being through a heavily wooded area and urged the builders to leave some of the shade trees.
Joey McCutchen spoke and gave an update on the petition to put a change in the form of City government from City Administrator to Mayor-Council on the ballot. He said that turning in the petition has been delayed due to investigating concerns on the process of collection of the signatures. He said that the petition has 3851 signatures.
Mitch Minick with the Fort Smith Housing Authority spoke and discussed CDBG funds and the history of FSHA’s acceptance of the funds.
Darren Bircher with the Fort Smith Housing Authority spoke and gave a breakdown of the expenses on the Bailey Hill project to be funded with Streets and Drainage tax funds. He also mentioned that FSHA would be open to putting claw back provisions in the deeds of the houses sold in the Bailey Hill subdivision.
Chris Cadelli spoke and voiced his opposition to streets funds being used by the FSHA. He also voiced his support for the change in government petition. He voiced his opposition to data centers. He requested Flock cameras be discussed at a study session meeting.
Krystal Cadelli spoke and suggested that instead of being awarded to the FSHA that CDBG funds would be better spent on repairing water lines and drainage issues for low income residents. She also voiced concerns about the number of water accounts that have been shut off for non-payment.
Richard Morris spoke and voiced his concerns about Director Christina Catsavis using City resources to make a legal threat to “chill” his “free speech.”
Krysten Kitchens spoke and mentioned that a million dollars in federal government brownfield grant money has been awarded for the former Whirlpool site.
Dan Williams spoke and voiced his opposition to data centers. He also voiced his view that the City should not take over the cemeteries or else should sell excess properties to be able to afford to take over the cemeteries. He also questioned if the Noise Mitigation grant would be affected by the closing of Carnall School. He also suggested that Citizens Forum remain during the regular meetings and also be added to the study session meetings, too.
Theresa Jones spoke and voiced her view that one Director should have abstained from voting on the rezoning for 705 Xavier because their immediate family owns property near that property.
Lavon Morton spoke and voiced his opposition to the City taking over ownership of the cemeteries. He suggested that instead the City could name something that they would receive of value from leasing the cemeteries and then could legally lease them with one year renewable leases. He mentioned that leasing would not require the permanent commitment of ownership.
Mikayla Gaffney spoke and discussed the importance of mental health.
The Board voted to move the Citizens Forum in which residents may address the Board for 5 minutes on any topic from the beginning of each regular business meeting to the beginning of each study session meeting.
Joey McCutchen spoke in opposition to moving the forum.
Chris Cadelli spoke in opposition to moving the forum. He mentioned that regular meetings have higher attendance and said that sometimes speakers need more than two minutes on an agenda item at the voting meeting.
Richard Morris spoke and said that “troublemakers” have been using speaking at the meetings for “extending social media presence” and suggested that all of the meetings stop including a Citizens Forum section until after the election.
There was no discussion from the Board.
The Board voted to move the Citizens Forum with all but Director George Catsavis voting in favor of the move.
The Board voted to remove the reversion clause for the property at 1401 Old Greenwood. The land was conveyed by the City to the Boy Scouts in 1962. The Boy Scouts funded the building of their office building on the property. The Scouts no longer need or want the whole office building in Fort Smith. The deed for the property contains a reversion clause so that if the property is ever no longer used for Scouting purposes that it would revert back to City ownership. The Scouts requested a removal or change to that clause.
Director Kemp asked if Girls Inc. had an interest in the property. Planning Director Rice said that the City has not had any discussions with Girls Inc. on the matter but that the City owns the Girls Inc. building and that Girls Inc. would have to purchase the Boy Scout building at their own expense.
Director Settle mentioned that the building is in a “park corridor” and asked how the Board could make sure that it was not used for something “not conducive to the corridor.” Rice responded that the uses for the building would be limited by the zoning.
Director George Catsavis asked how much the property has appraised for. Rice said that the City does not have a current appraisal. A representative from the Scouts said that they have not had an appraisal because they have no intent to immediately sell the building. Their request to remove/change the clause is really intended to give them the flexibility to lease some of the offices while likely still having some Scout offices in the building.
Director Rego voiced his support for removing the reversion clause so as to not add responsibilities to the City if it were to revert. He also added that if the situation were the opposite, that the Boy Scouts were asking for the City to take on ownership/responsibility for the property that there would likely be little support for that.
Director Settle asked if the Scouts are ready to lease the building. The representative for the Scouts answered that they have made no effort on leasing it because they did not yet have the authority to lease it because of the reversion clause.
Director Martin asked what types of entities they might lease it to. The Scout answered that lessees would need to fit within the Scout Law and that they are “not going to neighbor with somebody who is not connected with what we’re doing.”
The Board voted to remove the reversion clause and release the City of any rights and responsibilities regarding the property with only Director George Catsavis voting against the removal.
The Board voted unanimously to change the building code to allow for aluminum wire to be used inside buildings. The current code requires larger aluminum wires that modern construction cannot easily accommodate so builders would need to use expensive copper wire instead.
Shane McKinney spoke and expressed concerns for code changes that could unintentionally lead to extra burden on residents doing unrelated renovations. Director Good mentioned that the City has programs to help low income residents afford required upgrades.
Director Martin invited a local builder in attendance at the meeting, Tracy Hooper, to speak. Hooper said that he uses aluminum wire in every city but Fort Smith because every other city allows it. He said that it has been used elsewhere for years and is allowable by the National Electric Code. Director Martin asked if the proposed change would be better for the builders. Hooper voiced his support for the change and said that he has seen projects that were intended for Fort Smith be built elsewhere instead because of the higher cost to build in Fort Smith because of the current policy requiring copper wire.
Director George Catsavis asked if the change would make construction cheaper. Hooper answered that it would, adding that aluminum wire costs $3 per foot while copper costs $11 per foot and that with an apartment using 100 feet of wire the cost difference is significant.
The Board voted to accept $2,440,937.55 in federal grant funding awarded from the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant program to be used for the Maybranch Greenway. The grant is a dollar for dollar matching grant, so it will require a local match of $2,440,936.55 from the City. The matching funds will come from the sales tax for Parks capital improvements.
Joey McCutchen spoke against accepting the grant because of the local match and the future repair and maintenance costs for the trail.
Director Martin asked if any other projects from the Parks Capital Improvement Plan would need to be cut to afford the matching funds for the Maybranch Greenway project. Parks Director Deuster said that they would not.
The Board voted to accept the grant with all but Director George Catsavis voting to accept.
The Board voted to contract with Goodwin & Goodwin for the construction of an addition to the Solid Waste Department Administration Building. The addition will include 1500 square ft of office space, a restroom, document storage space, an emergency generator, and replacement of HVAC units. The funds for the project will come from the solid waste sinking fund.
Shane McKinney spoke and encouraged the Board to make sure that the project is an actual improvement and voiced his dissatisfaction with the efficiency of the customer experience at the landfill.
Director Kemp asked if the project would increase productivity. Solid Waste Director McDonald said that it would as it would reduce frequent travel between buildings and put staff all in one place to collaborate.
The Board all voted in favor of the contract except for Director Christina Catsavis who abstained from voting on the issue.
During the Executive Session, Tiffany Maurer and Emily Treadway were appointed and Carolyn Mosely and Heather O’Hare were reappointed to the Community Development Advisory Committee. Mitchell Hughes was reappointed to the Electric Code Appeals Board. Mary Moore was reappointed to the Fort Smith Municipal Employees Benevolent Fund Board. Nate Deason and Robert Clock were reappointed to the Historic District Commission. Abby McCollum was appointed to the Housing Assistance Board. Eddie Norman was reappointed to the Port Authority. Jo Elsken was reappointed to the Transit Advisory Commission.
The Board decided that on Thursday, 7-30-26 they will conduct in-person interviews with three candidates for the vacant City Administrator job. The candidates to be interviewed are Joseph Lessard, Richard McGill, and Robert Sivick.
