Fort Smith, Sebastian County review aquatics park progress, management

The Fort Smith Board of Directors and the Sebastian County Quorum Court toured the still under construction Ben Geren Aquatics Center Thursday (Oct. 9) and received an update on a proposed operating agreement with American Resort Management.

During pre-meeting tour of the facility, Senior Superintendent Rodney McDaniel of Flintco Construction told the two bodies that that steel for the 40-foot tall water slides would arrive late next week or early the week after, with the slides scheduled to be installed in the next three to four weeks, one of the first largely noticeable sings of progress for passers by on Zero Street.

But as McDaniel pointed out to the group of elected officials, much work has taken place in the ground and above to keep the project on track to open by Memorial Day 2015. Much of the area for the 500 cubic feet long lazy river has been dug with concrete pouring scheduled to begin within weeks. The river will have a depth of three feet, six inches.

Concrete has also been poured for the wave pool, which will have a capacity for 80,000 gallons of water while the entire park will have capacity of 450,000 gallons once complete. An 8,000 square foot bathhouse and concession stand has also risen from the ground, he said.

Since work started, he noted that Flintco had worked 145 days on the site without a work time lost accident, which he said was a testament to Flintco's professionalism and quality.

Once inside the Ben Geren Park emergency storm shelter for the joint meeting of the governing bodies of the city and county, both were presented with a tentative contract between the city of Fort Smith, Sebastian County and American Resort Management, in which the Erie, Pa.-based company would be hired to manage all functions in business and operations for a cut of 5% of revenue generated at the aquatics center.

Should both bodies approve the contract at their respective Oct. 21 meetings, the company would immediately start work for a contracted amount of $88,000, split between 2014 and 2015. Each body would be responsible for paying its half of the fee each year for pre-operations.

According to County Judge David Hudson, work expected to be completed during the pre-operation period includes marketing (naming, branding, and advertising), consultation with the governments on operating budgets and policies, recruiting staff, programming, community outreach, training and safety programs for staff, as well as setting pricing. The contract stipulates that an annual budget will be approved by the city and county which ARM will have to abide by annually. The budget would set pricing, as well as operations and maintenance budgets.

The agreement would also establish a facility account from which the company would pay all bills associated with the aquatics center and would be subject to review by both governments. Daily reporting of the fund will be available for the governments.

The contract would also include performance pay as incentives for the company to turn higher profits at the aquatics center. The draft contract presented to the board laid out a 5% straight payout of revenues, plus a bonus of 10% if operation goal of 110% was met, 7.5% if 105.1%-109.9% of goal was met, and 5% if 100.1% to 105% of the goal was met.

Included in Thursday's Board and Quorum Court packets was an updated financial outlook for the park, where the consultant Ballard King & Associates said total expenses were expected to be $1.261 million per year, though revenues were expected to come in at $1.443 million, a profit of nearly $183,000.

The company's projections show increased revenues to nearly $396,000 after the water park is in business five years, based on admission prices of $15 for individuals 48 inches or taller, $10 for those below 48 inches and free for children under 3 years of age. Passes would also be available for $112 for 10 admissions, a 25% discount from daily entrance rates. The facility would also be available for rental at $1,000 per hour.

Justice of the Peace Tony Crockett did not speak favorably of the proposal to hire ARM, a company with a variety of indoor parks across the northeastern United States. He asked why the company had not hired Kent Lemasters' company Amusement Aquatic Management of California. Lemasters had previously flown to Fort Smith and successfully sought inclusion of a wave pool at the water park and was one of three companies to submit for the contract to operate the park.

Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Director Mike Alsup said Lemasters' proposal included a price tag of $155,000 annually, while the ARM proposal equaled about $75,000 based on revenues of $1.5 million, receiving a 5% cut."Kent's pre-opening fee was $114,750," Alsup added, drawing a contrast to ARM's pre-opening of $88,000.

Even if revenues were higher, Alsup said, $2 million in revenues would equal pay of $100,000 per year to ARM and $2.5 million would be $125,000.

The contract presented Thursday is under review and could change before a final packet for both bodies is prepared by Friday of next week (Oct. 17). The bodies will vote on whether to approve the contract from ARM on Oct. 21.