Fort Smith board fires city administrator

The Fort Smith board of directors voted 4-3 Tuesday night (Nov. 2) to fire City Administrator Dennis Kelly.

Kelly was dismissed effective immediately.

Voting to fire Kelly were City Directors Gary Campbell, Bill Maddox, Kevin Settle and Steven Tyler. Voting to retain Kelly were City Directors Andre Good, Cole Goodman and Don Hutchings.

Settle said he voted to fire Kelly for failure to not “achieve goals set by the board.” Campbell said Kelly had never “performed as expected.”

Campbell also said Kelly’s performance has created “a huge morale problem” with city employees.

Kelly began the job in October 2008.

Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack was named the interim city administrator.

Settle and Campbell refused to say if the board would consider Gosack when searching for a new city administrator. Prior to hiring Kelly, several members of the city board, including Maddox, said they would only consider outside candidates for city administrator.

“That’s something for the new board to consider,” said Campbell, who did not run for reelection and will rotate off the board in January.