City directors, staff prepare for Washington, D.C. lobbying trip

A one-hour meeting with Federal Highway Administration officials is on the agenda as Fort Smith City Directors and city staff travel this week to Washington, D.C.

City directors Gary Campbell, Andre Good, Kevin Settle and Steve Tyler, and City Administrator Dennis Kelly and Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack will be in the nation’s capital February 10-12 to make the city’s case for inclusion of its projects in a federal stimulus spending bill.

The city submitted a $422.96 million wish list to Arkansas’ Congressional delegation as Congress and President Barack Obama draft an economic stimulus/spending bill.

The top five items on the city’s list are:
1. Interstate 49 — $361 million
2. Lake Fort Smith Water Treatment Plant (4 million gallon storage area) — $4.4 million
3. Lake Fort Smith Water Treatment Plant (backwash lagoon expansion) — $3.5 million
4. 1,500 foot extension of Chad Colley Boulevard at Fort Chaffee — $1.5 million
5. Neighborhood water system and fire protection improvements — $3.4 million

On Wednesday, the city’s delegation will meet with King Gee, associate administrator-Infrastructure, and Dwight Horne, director-infrastructure, with the Federal Highway Administration.

“Our focus with the Federal Highway Administration staff will be the I-49 project,” Gosack said. “We’ll point out that western Arkansas and the Bella Vista bypass are the missing links in this Gulf of Mexico to Canada corridor. We’ll be pushing hardest for the portion from I-40 to U.S. Highway 71 South, understanding that it fits into a larger transportation context. Also, as interest in barge shipping on the Arkansas River grows, this link of interstate highway will take on even more importance.”

The city delegation also plans a Wednesday dinner with U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, and former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts. Watts Partners, a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm of which Watts is an owner, was hired in 2007 by the city of Fort Smith to help keep protect/promote the city at the federal level.

THE D.C. MEETING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, 11 FEB
• 10 – 10:30 a.m.: Chris Wallace (U.S. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark.)
• Noon: meeting with Federal Highway Administration officials
• 1 – 1:15 p.m.: U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark.
• 2:15 – 3 p.m.: U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.
• 3 – 4 p.m.:  U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
• 6 – 8 p.m.:  Dinner with Boozman and Watts

Thursday, 12 FEB
• 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.: U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark.