Televised Fort Smith Board meetings approved

Directors voted on Tuesday night (Apr. 17) to resume televising regular meetings on the City’s access channel, starting with the next meeting on May 1.

The Board had discussed the issue in a study session last week, where City Administrator Ray Gosack recommended that directors not accept a one-camera proposal submitted by Fort Smith business owner Jerry Hamel. Hamel had offered to fund the broadcasts himself.

In the study session, Gosack also reported that Fort Smith sales tax collections were 6.95% higher than budgeted for the first two months of 2012. With the news of the higher revenues, the Board decided to restore broadcast funding immediately.

In Tuesday night’s meeting, Fort Smith Director Kevin Settle asked Gosack whether City staff were still considering broadcasting the meetings on radio and the Internet, in addition to cable television.

Gosack said both ideas were still “on the table.” He said Cox Communications, which the city will again use for TV broadcasts, will not allow its audio/video feed to be broadcast over the Internet, but the City is exploring other options for Web streaming.

Pharis Broadcasting has expressed interest in airing the audio feed from the meetings on KFPW Radio, and Gosack said Cox is discussing that option with Pharis.

The Board voted 6-0 to restore the broadcasts. City Director Philip Merry Jr. was absent from the meeting.

In addition to voting to resume the broadcasts, the Board voted to appropriate $18,000 to pay 777 Productions for filming the meetings. According to a memo from City Finance Director Kara Bushkuhl, the funds will be allocated as follows: $7,740 from the General Fund, $1,440 from the Street Maintenance Fund, $6,660 from the Water and Sewer Operating Fund, and $2,160 from the Sanitation Operating Fund.

TOWN HALL PLAN APPROVED
Directors also voted to halt the citizens’ forum in Board meetings and replace it with a town-hall meeting between directors and citizens, which will take place at the end of the first regular meeting of each month.

Citizens’ forums have been contentious in recent months. Several weeks ago, directors voted to declare Fort Smith citizen Elizabeth Mayo out of order after she made remarks during the citizens’ forum implying the Board was stupid.

Fort Smith Director Don Hutchings amended the ordinance to include a five-minute time limit for each citizen who speaks during the town hall meeting.

Settle agreed, but said the meeting should still be relatively informal, so if a citizen’s time was up, he or she could pull a director or city official off to the side and continue speaking one-on-one.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders also said it would be appropriate for the Board to allow citizens more time to speak, if it chose and if time permitted.

Gosack said the simplest way to set up the meeting would be to put chairs at the front of the auditorium for the Board, mayor, and administrator, so they would be closer to and on the same level with the citizens and staff.

Later, in the final citizens’ forum before the new ordinance takes effect, Mayo said she hoped the town hall format would force the mayor and Board to be more civil. She also offered to move away from Fort Smith if the city would pay $150,000 to buy her house.

“Anyone have ‘for sale’ signs?” Sanders quipped as he adjourned the meeting.