Fort Smith city directors comment on reorganization review

It’s been more than four months since Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly said he was conducting an organizational review of city personnel and functions. He noted during a Dec. 23 board study session his ongoing review of downtown Fort Smith tourism and economic development efforts on how such efforts might be improved.

At a January board retreat, Kelly said the review would be ready by March or April. The City Wire recently asked Kelly about the status of the report. Kelly declined to provide an update on when the review might be released or any broad commentary on the areas of city government being reviewed.

Therefore, to gather an update on what could be a significant reordering of city government, The City Wire asked — via e-mail on April 29 — the seven members of the board of directors and Mayor Ray Baker the following questions.

What is your knowledge of the status of Kelly’s review of various city services/structure/policy/etc.?
• When do you expect it will be ready for public consumption?
• What areas of city government is Kelly reviewing?
• Do you anticipate the review will include options and/or recommendation for changes, or will it simply point out areas where change might be appropriate?
• What do you hope will result from such a review?

City Directors Gary Cambell, Cole Goodman and Steve Tyler responded. Mayor Baker responded with a phone call to say he had no idea of the progress of Kelly’s report. Baker also expressed some frustration at not being asked for his input for Kelly’s review.

Gary Cambell
“My understanding of his plan was that he planned to perform a detailed review of every department, their personnel and workload looking for operational efficiencies by comparing Fort Smith with similar cities.”

“I plan to request a status report so the Board will understand the projected completion date.  Hopefully it will be soon and should be available publicly when presented to the Board.”

“If his recommendation/report suggests a budget adjustment to accommodate any changes, the Board will necessarily need to review the changes before considering the adjustment. Short of major staff reconfiguration, I would not expect the Board to be involved in personnel reassignments. My view is that we hired him to successfully manage the staff and accomplish the objectives set out by the Board. The Board is a legislative body charged with setting policy and hiring a professional to manage the staff and daily operations.”

“I would not be surprised if the report offers the Board some options on consolidating any duplicated functions. Many of our departments operate almost like stand-alone silos. So there are probably duplicate operations that can be better utilized. It has been many years since our staffing has been reviewed and I expect that he will find some changes that will make the operation more efficient.”

Cole Goodman
“I don’t expect Mr. Kelly’s report until mid-June or July. Until I receive it I won’t have any comments or conjectures.”

Steve Tyler
“My hope is that in Kelly’s review that 1) the convention center will be combined with the (Advertising & Promotion Commission) in some fashion and generate more income.  That won’t be enough so there is only two things you can do; cut services including staff or tax increase to make up for the loss to general fund of the ($1.4 million to $1.8 million  in convention center deficits). This will be a real challenge.”
 
“As far as economic development, he sees real potential for Fort Smith and wants to aggressively pursue recruiting manufacturing to relocate here, but again that will take money.”
 
“He seems to be engaged, hands-on, and in control. He has the experience and is in the position to make these decisions. Let’s get out of his way and let him do his job.”