Gosack: Ready to tackle the job with ‘fresh eyes’

In an interview the day after he was hired, Fort Smith’s new city administrator hinted at two broad priorities he plans to pursue now that he’s in the driver’s seat — or as much as one can be in the driver’s seat in Fort Smith’s city administrator form of government.

Ray Gosack served as the city’s deputy administrator for almost 12 years. In fact, his 12-year anniversary with the city is Tuesday (Jan. 11), when his contract is scheduled to be considered by the Fort Smith Board of Directors.

It was that board which moved in surprisingly quick fashion on Jan. 4 to hire Gosack, who had served as acting city administrator since the Nov. 4 firing of then City Administrator Dennis Kelly.

The Jan. 5 interview found Gosack wearing a bright red shirt, certainly appropriate the day after being hired to a position usually the target — deserved or otherwise — of citizens and a board that often functions as a seven-headed boss, with each boss seeking to pull the administrator in a different direction.

Gosack was frank in his response when asked about past micromanagement by the board — perceived or real — of the city administrator. He said he told the board he would not be interested the job unless the board was willing to “act with one voice.” He knows disagreements among board members are part of the process, but believes the city can’t function if each director pursues a different vision.

TOP PRIORITIES-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In no particular order, one Gosack priority is in becoming more focused in the city’s economic development efforts, and more aggressive in pursuing quality-of-place improvements

“Where do we want to take economic development? We’ve had success in bringing in manufacturing … but do we want to seek other types of development other than manufacturing?” Gosack said.

As examples, Gosack suggests the possibility of recruiting a corporate headquarters operation to downtown Fort Smith and/or the riverfront, and doing more to establish the region as a center for warehouse distribution-logistics operations.

“There will always be a need to move goods through whatever our future economy brings,” Gosack explained.

Recruiting new jobs and businesses now requires a community also having a good selection of quality of place amenities — arts, concerts, parks, nightlife, outdoor sports facilities, etc. He argues that the kind of jobs the region needs to recruit brings people to the region who demand such amenities.

“Leisure-time facilities and leisure-time offerings; you have to have those,” he said.

TOP PRIORITIES-FUNDAMENTALS
The second priority is to stay focused on the fundamentals of city operations that serve not only the citizens of Fort Smith, but many others in the region. On the top of that list, is continued improvement of wet-weather sanitary infrastructure, Gosack said, so the city can solve residents’ sewer system issues and to one day get the city out from under an Environmental Protection Agency order.

On June 9, 2009, Fort Smith voters approved the extension of a 1% sales tax to raise $30 million needed to cover water and sewer improvements mandated by the federal government. Costs of the improvements grew from $60 million to about $85 million. The tax extension pushed from June 2012 to December 2013 the end of the 1% sewer improvements tax approved in 2006.

Fundamentals don’t always include multimillion dollar projects. Gosack is also interested in taking a fresh look at improving city services.

“When we do things, we need to look at it from a citizen’s perspective, and not a bureaucratic perspective,” Gosack said.

Other fundamentals Gosack mentioned include maintaining the city’s ISO Class 2 fire rating. Fort Smith was the first city in Arkansas to gain the rating, which keeps insurance premiums low for home and business owners in the city.

The average fire response time in the city is now 3 minutes and 13 seconds. In south Fort Smith around Chaffee Crossing, the response time is 7.5 minutes.

“That’s what we have to correct. … That has to come down,” Gosack said of the slower response time at Chaffee Crossing.

Bringing that time down will cost just short of $3 million to build and equip a planned new fire station at Chaffee Crossing. It will cost about $900,000 a year to operate. The city is pursuing federal grants to help pay for construction, but building and operating the new fire station will soon require the board to make serious budget decisions.

CONVENTION CENTER
Seeking a funding solution for the Fort Smith Convention Center is another big budget decision in the board’s future that has been difficult to resolve during the past 10 years.

The board has spent the past two years trying to find a solution to plug an up to $1 million annual deficit when a state turnback program that ended June 2010. The city has received about $1.8 million a year from the Arkansas tourism turnback fund, but will receive only $888,723 in 2010.

An ad hoc committee formed by the board in April 2010 reviewed several options, including a 1% hospitality tax, finding cuts in the city’s roughly $40 million operating budget, reallocating a portion of the city’s 1% street tax, re-instituting a business license fee, finding a third-party operator, and the legalities of merging the convention center operations and the Fort Smith A&P.

On May 26, the committee unanimously endorsed the idea of a 1% hospitality tax (prepared food tax) to fill an up to $1 million funding shortfall related to the Fort Smith Convention Center. The 1% tax may also support the U.S. Marshals Museum and art and entertainment facilities and programs.

Gosack, who notes that Fort Smith is the only major city in Arkansas with a convention center that is not supported by a prepared food tax, supports the ad hoc committee recommendation.

“I basically would follow what the ad hoc group reported. They got it right,” Gosack said when asked what he would encourage the board to do with the convention center.

‘SPACE’ AND ‘FRESH EYES’
Perhaps Gosack’s biggest challenge will be in managing people he was worked with for the past 12 years. And while Gosack admits it will be a challenge, he said many department heads know his management style is “fact and data oriented,” rather than emotional or a good-old-boy style.

“You do that by staying focused on outcomes and expectations,” Gosack said when asked how he separates friendships from conducting the city’s business.

To that point, City Director Philip Merry Jr. said Gosack “has created a space” between himself and department heads. In that space the department heads know that Gosack “will be fair but won’t play favorites,” Merry said after the Jan. 4 hiring of Gosack.

Gosack also said a management challenge will be in training himself to look anew at the familiar world around him. He admits it will be tough, but is hoping to look beyond the familiar and find ways to be innovative.

“I think it’s important to be innovative, that as I look at these things, I do so with fresh eyes,” Gosack said.