The Mayor says …

Lt. Commander Francis Queeg — played by Humphrey Bogart in the movie, “The Caine Mutiny.”: (Rolling steel balls in his hand while testifying) “Ahh, but the strawberries that’s, that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with … geometric logic … th-that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist, and I’d have produced that key if they hadn’t pulled the Caine out of action. I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer … Naturally I … I can only cover these things from memory. If I’ve left anything out, why … just ask me specific questions and … I’ll be glad to answer them … one by one.”

Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker offered yours truly a little more than 30 minutes of busy mayoral time to answer a few questions.

After outlining a long list of things he was proud of starting and/or promoting (Good Neighbor program, Spirit of the Frontier Awards, etc.), The Mayor said: “You know the whole thing (local efforts) has been directed toward quality of life. Now when I try to get into or make comments in regard to economic development, or you know businesses, trying to get different kinds of businesses in here instead of just the same kind we have, I’ve met with resistance on the part of people, they say, ‘You shouldn’t be in those areas.’ Well, I’m not trying to tell them what to do, I’m just trying to build a fire under them. Because we are notorious for talking and studying and then going to these meetings, but nothing ever comes of it. And other communities move very rapidly on things. So, you know, we ought to be right now out luring some of these big companies into this area who want to get out of the places that they are. … We have all the resources that any company could possibly want.”

QUESTION: So you don’t think economic development efforts in the past few years have been as effective as they could or should have been?

“No. Not like they should be. Do you?

QUESTIONER: I’m not here to interview me.

“No. I don’t think that we’ve done what we could have done. I mean, I’m not going to be critical of the things that have been done. I mean, they brought some things or reestablished companies in different locations. … No, I think they could be much more aggressive than they are. And I think we are going to have to get away completely from a manufacturing base. They are going to have to have high-tech. They are going to have to get some high-tech companies and things so our young people don’t desert us. … There’s thousands of people, according to the news media, in our area that aren’t employed. What are we doing to help them? Are we encouraging retraining at the university? Are we trying to find jobs, are we, you know, are we trying to get businesses in here that will give them some kind of livelihood? I think we should be active in those areas. At least be helpful. We (city of Fort Smith) have an economic development department, you know, I can see that they should be just wheels humming there. … But you see, the problem comes with this form of government. And the problem comes in the fact that the mayor’s role is ceremonial, and yet the citizens want to blame the mayor for everything, or lay it at his doorstep, or her doorstep. And it’s not always the mayor’s fault. I’m very frustrated with so many things, you know, over the years, because they haven’t moved like I thought they should have. And yet, the thing about it is, it’s the (City) administrator who is head of government, and who they go to. I mean, I don’t even get invited to chamber meetings. You know, when Bill Dooly was there, Bill and Janie (Glover), they would say there is going to be a meeting. But I haven’t been invited to a chamber meeting in years, since Tom Manskey came. … I don’t know why they did that.”

(Later in the interview, The Mayor noted: “It’s always been told to me ever since I first started this business that it was the chamber’s job on economic development. I mean that was [drilled] into our heads that you don’t cross the line. Well there has to be a partnership in this. I don’t know what the new man is going to do (Paul Harvel, new chamber president beginning May 26). Frankly I don’t there’s going to be great changes, but anyway, we’ll see.”)

QUESTION: You talk about your frustrations about things not happening and you talk about Fort Smith losing its prestige, but what are you doing? What do you do personally to promote or extend relationships with people in Little Rock or Washington, D.C. or Northwest Arkansas?

“The thing about it is, it goes back to what I said. I’m not supposed to be doing that kind of thing. The administrator is supposed to be doing that.”

QUESTION: But you’ve been mayor for 18 years and, with all due respect, I’m not sure you can hide behind the fact that all you have is ceremonial power. After being mayor for 18 years, would you not at some point feel the obligation or responsibility to the people who vote for you to get out there and make things happen? You say you don’t have power, but you have a very powerful bully pulpit. So what are you doing to stem the loss, so to speak, of that prestige?

“My big thing has been to push the administrator and his staff to be involved in that. I don’t cross the line into their areas, and I take any opportunity that I can to promote Fort Smith. I don’t think a trip to Little Rock is going to promote Fort Smith.

QUESTION: One trip to Little Rock will not, but a series of trips that build foundations and build connections will help. So are you saying that in your ceremonial role you don’t have any responsibility for this loss of prestige of which you speak frequently?

“No, no, no, I do have responsibility, but I think I have to be careful how I do it. I’m constantly writing letters, you know, or talking to people around the state, but that’s not the way the form of government is set up.”

QUESTION: You lay much at the feet of the city administrator, but at the same time, you recently rejected giving the city administrator hiring/firing authority over department heads who are there to help him run city government. He apparently has the responsibility but none of the authority. How is that healthy?

“Why is it suddenly a problem, that particular area? Why, with all the things, all the problems and things that need to be taken care of does he zero in on something like that? … Department heads come and go and the board’s never asked their approval for any of that.”

QUESTION: Then why not have the ordinance reflect reality?

“Well, I think the police and fire chief are different things. Different. And I think there is a motive there. But I’m not going to go any farther on it.”

QUESTION: But help me understand. Most business owners, most CEOs, if not all of them, have the ability to hire and fire their department heads. If we want city government to run as efficiently as possible, explain why that doesn’t make sense at this level in our form of government?

“I think coming so close after the mess we went through a year ago with the police thing, I just don’t think we need to get into that area again. Most of the time the board won’t challenge. I mean, I just got through telling you in 20-some-odd years we never had anything brought to us until we go that police controversy. We haven’t had it. So, why? He’s (Dennis Kelly) been put up to it. He didn’t come in here and know that stuff. He’s been put up to it by some directors. And the thing about it is, let’s just drop it at that. But what I’m saying is there’s more than meets the eye to this and it needs to be left alone. It needs to be left alone.”

QUESTION: So you don’t think Kelly was able to look at the system and make an independent assessment that the hire/fire authority needed to be changed so that city government could be more efficient?

“Why would he look at that particular thing when there’s so many other things. … The thing about it is, why should he have control over everything? I mean, the directors are the elected representatives and they ought to have final say, I would think.”

QUESTION: So if a department head behaves poorly or does something bad, who fixes it?

“Well, let him take care of it.”

QUESTION: Let who take care of it?

“The administrator.”

QUESTION: How does he take care of it without complete authority?

“What are you talking about? Well then how are these department heads come and go all the time and the board’s never asked about it. I think he’s misinterpreting what he’s saying. And then he wanted certain positions exempt from his authority. How do you single those people out? … I know he explained it (reason for exemptions), but if you want that kind of authority, then why do you single certain departments out on the thing? I think it’s a trivial thing that doesn’t have anything to do with what we, we have bigger fish to fry than that.”

QUESTION: Before you so publicly challenged Kelly at the May 12 city study session about his proposal to alter the hire/fire ordinance, did you ever consider first visiting with him privately about your concerns?

“I don’t like to do things like I did, but sometimes I think it needs to set the record straight for people to back off. … I wanted to make my comments an example.”

QUESTION: The other recent news is the Freedom of Information Act issue in which the city has been sued because Kelly spoke individually to city directors about the hire/fire authority prior to the public discussion. The suggestion that Kelly violated the FOIA because he spoke to a director about a city issue could be problematic if it greatly restricts or prevents non-public conversations between directors and the administrator. What are your thoughts on the matter?

“I think what he (Kelly) was doing was talking about whether they (directors) would support that change. And then some of them said they would or they wouldn’t. … But he (Kelly) never talked to me about it so I don’t know that was going on. … And you see, that’s another thing, because the mayor doesn’t have a vote, because the mayor is, he’s outside the loop, he’s outside the loop so many times. I could have helped him avoid every bit of that problem had he just come talked to me about it.”

QUESTION: Do you think it’s time to review our form of government?

“I think who ever runs your city should be elected. I feel strongly about that.”

QUESTION: So the answer is “Yes.” Is that what you’re saying?

“Well, I’m not saying no. No, no, I’m not pushing for any, I’m just saying the fact that they say there is no politics in this form of government, that’s not true! You have to please only four directors. … But there is politics. And the problem is there is a lot of maneuvering and stuff that goes on with some directors.”

QUESTION: You’ve expressed many frustrations about the job and what is happening in the city. Are you going to seek another four years in this capacity? Are you going to run for re-election?

“I haven’t even thought about it.”

QUESTIONER: Now, mayor, c’mon!?

“No, I’m being very (honest), I’ve not even though about it. … I have done the job that was laid out for the mayor under this form of government, because when the people that wrote this form of government, and I think they did a disservice, but anyway that’s OK, they made a weak mayor strong administrator because of what they had gone through under the commission form of government and those three men fussing and fighting. … But that’s not going to stop that kind of thing, you know. My first and foremost thing and always has been is what is best for the citizens of Fort Smith, and I think I’ve done the job as it was supposed to be done. It’s ceremonial, and the public realizes it’s ceremonial.”

INTERVIEW OBSERVATIONS
• More often than not, The Mayor comes at issues from a simple, or uninformed angle. He suggested Fort Smith should have done more to recruit Hewlett-Packard; that not only should HP and its 1,200 jobs have come to Fort Smith instead of Conway, but that Fort Smith had more to offer than Conway. That belief fails to acknowledge economic development realities that could fill a small book. Also, he questioned if the community was doing enough for the thousands of unemployed in the area — which presents the alarming possibility The Mayor is unaware of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, the Governor’s Dislocated Worker Task Force, various other state and federal agencies and programs and worker retraining programs at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and Arkansas Tech University-Ozark campus, just to name a few examples.

• There are people in Fort Smith who accept The Mayor’s argument that the form of government allows him only the capacity to cheerlead. These folks suggest Ray Baker fits the bill as mayor because a mayor in our form of government is not allowed a more formal leadership role. But is that a false choice? Can we assume away any chance that a mayor could be a cheerleader and a leader that creates and maintains productive internal efforts and external connections?

• The Mayor noted prior to the formal interview he was disgusted with what is going on in Washington, and blamed the disconnect in Washington on politicians who are in office too long. Mayor Baker has been in office 18 years. If reelected in 2010, he will have served almost a quarter of a century.