Sebastian County concerns

We have concerns about the administration of Sebastian County Judge David Hudson.

Hudson has been in county government more than 37 years, with more than 16 of those as the top elected officer in one of Arkansas’ most populated counties. With that experience, one would expect Judge Hudson to be more aware of laws related to government transparency, the need to communicate well with the county’s legislative body (Quorum Court) and the finances of public projects.

But in the past few years – and especially in the last few months – his approach to government has come with a troubling attitude that is fueled either by a measure of arrogance or impatience. Or both.

For too long, the agendas for Quorum Court meetings were tightly controlled by Hudson, with QC members having little time to consume the packet of material prior to a meeting. With Hudson’s party in the majority, there was little appetite to push back against what was clearly a poor way to communicate with others responsible for governance. The situation became so bad that eventually the QC had to pass an ordinance requiring timely delivery of meeting materials.

That was a minor problem, however.

Hudson recently decided that Sebastian County Clerk Sharon Brooks should be part of an executive session of the Sebastian County Election Commission. Applicants for the new county election coordinator were to be interviewed, and Hudson wanted to Brooks to be part of the process. The problem is, and was, that Arkansas law allows only members of the voting body to participate in an executive session.

Brooks is certainly important to the election process, but Arkansas law in this matter creates a division of responsibility that establishes a welcome check and balance in the protocols that govern our local elections.

To justify his desire for Brooks to be involved in the executive session of another governing body, Hudson presented a memo his office drafted. He wanted the media to believe a simple memo from his office should prevail over state law. Hudson either does not respect or understand the legal check and balance.

It was only when The City Wire refused to leave the meeting that the executive session was conducted legally.

Hudson’s office also has shown a pattern of not promptly responding to Freedom of Information requests from The City Wire. Similar requests made to the city of Fort Smith received prompt responses. Not so from Hudson’s office. To date, The City Wire has been patient with Hudson’s office on such requests – maybe too much so. Such accommodation is over, and we can only hope the Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney has an appreciation for the importance of Freedom of Information Act laws.

Most recently we all learned about the more than $3 million increased cost of an aquatics park to be jointly funded by the county and city of Fort Smith. The $8 million facility, to be located at Ben Geren Regional Park, was sold to the voters as an $8 million park.

It has already been subject to cost concerns, with Fort Smith officials agreeing to pay a little extra to build a water park facility that was promised to the voters who approved the deal.

Also, the planned water park was delayed to determine how it would be contracted – would it be built using a construction-manager approach, or would it be built with a traditional open bid, open budget process? It took an opinion from Arkansas Attorney Dustin McDaniel to allow Hudson to use his preferred construction-manager approach.

But now we learn that it will take at least $11 million to build a water park that was promised to voters. This surprise number is not really a surprise.

“First, The City Wire believes an aquatics park would be a tremendous asset to the region. But if you delivered what passes for the proposed aquatics park business model to a banker, the banker would rightfully ask you to come back with a better handle on pricing and operations,” noted a March 2012 editorial by The City Wire advising voters to oppose the project.

Following that March editorial, Hudson called The City Wire to say the editorial was misguided because the authors did not have the experience he did with the numbers and detail on the water park project. Hudson made it clear that the finances were sound and the editorial was irresponsible.

Please know there is no pleasure in being proven right. And there is no pleasure in watching the consistent dysfunction of a county official who has the time in office to know better.

An improvement in socio-economic conditions in the Fort Smith metro area will require more capable administration of the largest county in the region. Let’s hope voters are focused more on progress than party affiliation in the next county election.