Authority OKs contract for grant to develop port, facility

FORT SMITH — The Western Arkansas Intermodal Authority made significant headway in implementing a $450,000 matching grant from the Economic Development Administration.

The authority’s board approved an administrative contract for the grant between the authority and the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District.

On Dec. 18, the board approved an intergovernmental agreement between the authority, Fort Smith, Van Buren, and Sebastian and Crawford counties regarding submission for the grant. That will provide disaster grant funds to put toward development of an inland port and multimodal facility on the Arkansas River in Crawford County.

Sasha Grist, executive director of the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District, said the authority received a letter from the U.S. Economic Development Administration it had been awarded the grant April 16.

Eighty percent of the money of the proposed project, or $360,000, will come from the Economic Development Administration grant, according to a summary at the Dec. 18 board meeting. The $90,000 local match will be split among the four governmental entities.

Grist said the administrative contract means the district will administer the grant for the authority.

”We will make sure all procurement is done regarding federal guidelines,” Grist said. “We will manage the contractors once contracts are awarded. We will do pay requests, reimbursement requests, just anything that entails keeping the project moving, and making sure that we are all following the grant guidelines as well.”

The grant is a three-year period, and the contract’s duration will cover that period, Grist said.

“We’ll make sure that everything is complete,” Grist said.

A payment schedule included in the contract states the authority will pay the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District $25,000 to complete the scope of work the contract identifies.

Sen. Mat Pitsch, R-Fort Smith, executive director of the authority, provided the authority’s board with an update Wednesday. He said application for the project includes an environmental review for the Army Corps of Engineers already started.

“We’ll work on a draft for them, initiating and completing all permits for this project site, and any other environmental documentation, such as, say, a no-rise certificate, completing an engineering study to project costs and needs of all utilities for a future port project, and conducting a preliminary design for the port and multimodal facility,” Pitsch said.

All environmental permitting and design has to be finished before the authority can move to the next phase, according to Pitsch. Starting in August, the district will advertise for for the design and engineering study and finish the permitting and environmental. The authority also needs to establish a review committee.

“I would propose to the board members that you allow Jay [White], your chairman, to sign three contracts for the design, the engineering study to extend utilities, and to finish permitting and environmental,” Pitsch said. “We could have a meeting each time those contracts are ready, but we know what they’re going to be. We’re talking very specific about what they need to do, and we need a chairman to sign those.”

Pitsch said the district will manage each contract. The contractors will submit invoices to both the district and the authority.

The authority will pay the invoices, with the district preparing the documents and reimbursement through the Economic Development Administration.