Area officials happy with D.C. lobbying visit (Updated)

Fort Smith and Van Buren officials have packed weeks work of meetings into just a few days during their trip this week to Washington D.C., said Fort Smith City Administrator Ray Gosack.

Gosack, Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman and Fort Smith City Directors Philip Merry Jr., Kevin Settle and Steve Tyler traveled to Washington on Wednesday (May 4) and are scheduled to return to the area Friday afternoon.

On Wednesday the group met with U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott. Ross represents Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District, which as of January 2013 will officially cover more of the Fort Smith metro area than the 3rd Congressional District. The Fort Smith/Van Buren group also met with U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, a Republican who represents Arkansas’ 1st Congressional District, and Tim Griffin, a Republican who represents the 2nd District.

The group also visited during the trip with top staff at the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Gosack said the FAA visit was to lobby for $6.5 million to continue a taxiway extension project at the Fort Smith Regional Airport. The visit with the Corps was to lobby for completion of deepening all sections of the Arkansas River to 12 feet.

A dinner with U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., was held Wednesday night.

Updated info: The Fort Smith/Van Buren delegation also met with U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers. Womack introduced the group to U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-New Jersey, chairman of the energy and water development subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

On Friday, the group was expected to meet with top staff of the Federal Highway Administration to lobby for Interstate 49 funding and money for the next phase of the Jenny Lind Road project. The I-49 focus on the estimated $344 million it will take to extend the interstate from I-40 in Alma, across the Arkansas River at Barling and on to connect at U.S. 71 South between Fort Smith and Greenwood.

“We just want to continue to stress the importance of the I-49 project, not just to Arkansas and our area, but to the nation in terms of creating jobs and finishing that (interstate) corridor,” Gosack said.

Gosack said the many visits were made possible by Steve Pruitt and others who work with Watts Partners, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm.

“It’s really been amazing. When we meet with Congressional staff or staff at the federal agencies, it’s clear that he knows the people and they know him. The relationships he has up here are invaluable to us,” Gosack said during a Thursday evening phone interview.

The City of Fort Smith first contracted with Watts Partners in October 2007 to improve the city’s lobbying effort in Washington. Watts Partners is paid $8,500 a month. City officials have said the lobbyists helped obtain more than $1.2 million from the federal government for May Branch flood control ($109,000), streetscape improvements along Garrison Avenue ($900,000) and extension of the downtown trolley ($237,000).