Fort Smith ‘Organization Analysis’ released; hire/fire authority request back in play

Editor’s note: The City Wire has requested comment about proposed city changes noted in this story from Fort Smith’s seven city directors and Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker. We originally had hoped to post a follow-up story by Saturday afternoon, but will wait until Sunday morning.

Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly released Friday (July 10) at 3 p.m. his long-awaited “Organization Analysis” of city operations, with a highlight of the report including Kelly’s continued push for the city administrator position to have hire/fire authority over department heads. Several members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors opposed this idea at a May 12, 2009 study session.

Kelly, who assumed administrator duties in October, also proposes creating the position of “Deputy City Administrator-Economic Development” to create a more focused approach in how the city works with regional economic development entities.

Kelly suggests a special board meeting be called to go through the analysis. He recommends the meeting coincide with a planned Aug. 15 retreat originally called to address the 2010 city budget.

It was during a January board retreat Kelly first mentioned his effort to review city government — including downtown Fort Smith tourism and economic development efforts. However, there is no clear indication in the analysis of a shift in how the city conducts tourism recruitment and manages the Fort Smith Convention Center through its upcoming financial shortfalls.

“The purpose of this organization analysis was not to delve into the details of the level of service provided by the various departments throughout the city’s organization because that would be to complicated and require far more detail than the time and resources allowed for the city administrator,” Kelly noted in his conclusion.

He also noted in the conclusion that organizationally, the city is “in very good shape.”

HIRE/FIRE AUTHORITY
Kelly provided four options — with two of the options representing the current process to hire and fire — with respect to changing the city’s policy on hire/fire authority. Presently, the city code requires board approval for the hiring or firing of department heads.

When Kelly first broached the subject at a May 12 board study session, Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker strongly opposed the attempt, even calling Kelly’s idea “petty stuff.”

City Director Cole Goodman came to Kelly’s defense at the May 12 meeting, saying he could understand Kelly’s desire to have the same control over department heads that the department heads have over their employees.

Kelly is standing firm with his request to directly manage the city’s department heads despite the initial opposition from Mayor Baker and City Directors Bill Maddox and Kevin Settle.

“The city administrator’s position is such that (the current hire/fire policies) are extraordinarily antiquated and cumbersome and do not lend themselves to efficiency of operations within the organization,” Kelly noted in the opening memo of the Organization Analysis. “Therefore, the city administrator stands by his original position strongly recommending that Option B, the recommended amendment, be adopted for inclusion in the city code in lieu of (present policy).”

Option B provides the city administrator with hire/fire authority over all department heads — including the police chief and fire chief — with the exception of city clerk, internal auditor, city attorney and prosecutor.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Kelly noted in his opening memo that creating a more efficient economic development function was “the toughest and most difficult organization to get a handle on because of the complexity of the various interests we have in economic development.”

The proposed fix is to fill the deputy city administrator position that remained vacant following Dean Kruithof’s hiring as the Branson city manager. Kelly proposes creating the position of “Deputy City Administrator-Economic Development” to manage the four economic development categories (industrial recruitment/development, downtown redevelopment, tourism/service industry, and facility operations) with which the city is involved.

According to Kelly’s flow chart for the new position, the following groups, projects and operations would be engaged (either through direct management, coordination or in a liaison role) through this new deputy city administrator:
• Convention Center Commission;
• riverfront development;
• sports committee;
• Fort Smith Regional Airport Commission;
• Fort Smith Port Authority;
• Central Business Improvement District;
• Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority;
• Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau;
• proposed intermodal authority; and
• U.S. Marshals Museum.

BUDGET STAFF CHANGE
Kelly also proposes to create a new budget director office and a separate independent purchasing director position. This move would not require new hires and would achieve the staff change through reallocating existing positions, Kelly explained. For example, the financial analyst position now under the finance director would be moved under the budget director as a budget analysis. Also, Kelly proposes having the grants administrator managed by the budget director.

Presently the finance director position is responsible for budget analysis, purchasing, and grant administration.

BUILDING/VEHICLE MAINTENANCE
The analysis also suggests the city could save money and make more efficient the process to repair and maintain city equipment and structures. Kelly asserts the city needs to consider a “centralized” vehicle maintenance and building maintenance operation.

For example, Kelly said the city now has up to 16 mechanics operating in five separate garages with up to three departments using a private garage for maintenance.

“In essence four departments are doing their own thing and the other departments are simply farming their equipment out to private garages,” Kelly wrote.

Kelly proposed hiring an engineer to analyze the possible benefit of centralizing vehicle maintenance operations, and thinks a similar effort might save money on the city’s defragmented building maintenance process.

“Regarding building maintenance and vehicle maintenance it needs to be understood that there is a plethora of software programs for centralized operations at the municipal level,” Kelly explained.

Link here to see Kelly’s complete report.