Fort Smith abolishes one advisory committee, but it spares another

FORT SMITH — The city now has one less advisory committee through which residents can provide input.

The Board of Directors discussed ordinances abolishing both the city’s Streets, Bridges, and Associated Drainage Capital Improvement Plan Advisory Committee and Water and Sanitary Sewer Utilities Advisory Committee during its meeting Tuesday.

Ultimately, the board voted to adopt the capital improvement plan committee ordinance, but to table the water and sanitary sewer committee ordinance until January 2022.

The ordinances were placed on the agenda for consideration by motion of Ward 2 Director Andre Good and seconded by At-Large Position 6 Director Kevin Settle during the board’s Sept. 15 meeting, according to a memo from Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman.

The capital improvement plan advisory committee, according to Good, was put together to provide staff input from residents to how money for streets, bridges, and associated drainage should be spent.

However, Good said the meetings of this committee “are not being fully attended,” and he believed not many meetings have had a quorum. It was his opinion the committee should have been abolished because of a lack of resident input.

Good said the water and sanitary sewer committee is in the same category. His opinion is the city is getting a significant amount of email and phone calls regarding water and sewer issues, as well as information from staff about how these are being addressed.

“… And I believe that there might be some communication about keeping that particular group, but again, if we’re not getting a quorum at these meetings, is this committee actually useful?” Good said.

After a motion was made to adopt the ordinance abolishing the water and sanitary sewer committee, Ward 3 City Director Lavon Morton said he believed it was too early to do away with this group. He argued the committee, which was formed in 2019, had some “really interested, engaged citizens, very qualified people” agreeing to serve on it. Morton went on to say he attended two out of the first three meetings, which included education regarding Fort Smith’s federal consent decree and how it affected the city utility department.

City officials in 2015 signed a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and the state, with the city agreeing to make an estimated $480 million in repairs and upgrades to its wastewater system over 12 years to clear up chronic violations of the federal Clean Water Act. To aid in fulfilling these requirements, it raised its sewer rates by 167% from 2015-17.

The covid-19 pandemic,

Morton said, made meeting and conducting business substantially more difficult.

“So I would like to give this committee more time, and I’ve actually talked to the chairperson of the committee,” Morton said. “… She is very interested in having the committee carry out its function, and serve as an advisory committee to the city, and she’s someone who is very well-qualified to do some great things, and they have a really good committee.”

Mayor George McGill recommended the committee be continued for at least another year. The motion to table the ordinance abolishing the committee until January 2022 was made by Settle.

Established on June 16, 2015, the capital improvement plan advisory committee acts in an advisory capacity to both the board of directors and the city engineering department, according to the city. The committee is to review recommendations from the engineering department, take and evaluate public comment and suggestions, and afterward recommend a five-year capital improvement plan to the board.

The committee is to consist of seven members appointed by the board.

The water and sanitary sewer committee, the website states, reviews or recommends policies or programs related to the city utility department’s water and sanitary sewer utilities programs. It’s comprised of seven members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the board.