Fort Smith directors to meet with federal lobbyists

Lobbyists hired by the city of Fort Smith will be in town Thursday (Dec. 17) seeking “clear direction” from the city directors, according to a memo from Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack.

The city has scheduled a special study session for the board and public beginning with dinner served at 5:30 p.m., Dec. 17, at the Elm Grove Community Center at Martin Luther King Park. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.

Steve Pruitt and Steve Waskiewicz with Washington, D.C.-based Watts Partners will present a report of ongoing lobbying activity and their ideas for future lobbying work.

“The lobbyists and staff will need clear direction from the board,” Gosack noted in his memo to Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly. “Requests for the federal government’s 2011 budget will likely be due in February, 2010. It’s also possible that requests for the next highway authorization bill will be due some time in 2010.”

Gosack included in his memo a list of funding priorities previously established by the board.

City of Fort Smith — Federal Funding Priorities
• I-49 between I-40 and U.S. 71 South (near the Jenny Lind community)
• Industrial site improvements (water, sewer, roads, rail extensions) at Chaffee Crossing
• May Branch flood control project
• Wet weather sanitary sewer system improvements
• U.S. Marshals Museum
• Highway 45 widening between Zero St. and U.S. 71 South
• Arkansas River levee certifications
• Development of new river port east of Lock and Dam 13 (the board may wish to defer this item since the regional intermodal authority has been established)
• Jenny Lind Road project between Dallas St. and Phoenix Ave.
• Trolley (steel rail) system extensions in downtown Fort Smith
• Highway connection between I-540 and Clayton Expressway

Other Priorities Not Ranked
• Bus shelters for public transit
• Runway expansion at the Fort Smith Regional Airport
• Homeland security assistance for the regional water supply safety
• Assistance in maintaining and improving the 188th Air National Guard presence in the region
• Development of a sports complex at Ben Geren Park

Possible New Priority
• Lake Fort Smith water transmission line

“It’s important for the board to reaffirm that the existing priorities are still current. The order can be rearranged and new priorities added. However, we must be careful that we don’t send confusing signals to our congressional delegation. Many of the board’s top priorities are multi-year initiatives. Making wholesale changes to the priorities could jeopardize the work that’s been done the last 2 years,” Gosack advised in the memo.
 
Also on the meeting agenda is an update on the Riverfront Opportunity Analysis Contract. The city board voted Feb. 3 to spend $62,000 as a one-third partner in an “opportunity analysis” study of riverfront development options. The Robbie Westphal family and the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce will each provide $62,000 to fund the study.