Any form of government requires good people, say two Fort Smith Directors

Two Fort Smith Directors say the people in municipal leadership posts are as important than the form of government, with one Director saying an effort to force a vote on changing the city’s form of government will not gather enough signatures.

Directors André Good and Keith Lau recently responded to three questions from The City Wire about an effort by Take Back the Fort to place on the November 2016 ballot a vote on changing the city’s government from city administrator to mayor-council.

Don Paul Bales, a leader of the Take Back the Fort petition drive, recently said the group has decided to take “a more methodic pace” to getting a change of government vote on the November 2016 general election ballot.

Take Back the Fort formed in early 2015, provided petition forms to volunteers on Jan. 29, and reported 398 “firm” signatures after the first week of the petition drive in early February. That is the last time the group reported details on signatures.

Fort Smith’s city administrator form of government has a city administrator who is hired and fired by the seven-member elected Board of Directors. Take Back the Fort wants to change to a form of government where the mayor is responsible for city operations and hires a manager to help with those duties. The new form would also have a city council serving in the normal legislative capacity. Any effort to change the city form of government is possible once every four years, according to the city’s municipal code.

According to Fort Smith City Clerk Sherri Gard, it requires 2,518 valid signatures to place the form of government vote on the ballot. That number comes from a requirement that a petition for a ballot action needs 15% of the votes in the previous mayoral election.

DIRECTOR QUESTIONS
Following were the questions sent to the Fort Smith Board of Directors.
• Do you believe the group will be successful in obtaining the required number of valid signatures and working through other rules to get the vote on the ballot?

• Do you support a change, or do you prefer the existing form of government?

• If you support the existing form of government, what do you think the city should/could do between now and November 2016 to encourage voters to vote against change?

Mayor Sandy Sanders and City Directors George Catsavis, Don Hutchings, Tracy Pennartz and Kevin Settle did not respond.

DIRECTOR RESPONSES
While Bales has said city actions between now and 2016 will result in more people willing to support a government change, Good said actions by members of Take Back the Fort may the group’s cause.

“I do not believe the effort will garner enough support to place this measure on the ballot. Why not? I listened to Don Bales at a TBTF meeting (or two). He is very knowledgeable, communicates his ideas well and passionately and he asks thought-provoking questions. But I've read other thoughts and statements in social media that slant the truth and aren't as inviting to attract others to the cause,” Good said in his response to The City Wire.

As to his preference on a form of government, Good is not picking a side.

“I've said before that I did not take a side in changing the form of government. Either form will take trust of its leadership as well as department heads,” Good said.

He said trust and citizen involvement are the keys to municipal success.

“One (form of government) lends itself to hiring methods that could be considered unethical. Both puts trust in either a hired city leader or a voted in leader; is one more trustworthy than the other? Citizens have power either way but they themselves have to be involved and have some understanding of the facts,” Good said.

Lau was not willing to predict if Take Back the Fort would gather enough signatures, but did note that “getting signatures for any ballot issue is a lot harder than most people think.”

Lau doesn’t support the change in government because Take Back the Fort won’t provide a name of someone who could be a mayor in a mayor-council government.

“I have asked their leadership multiple times to give me a person who has the education, experience, and willingness to take the job and I would consider the mayoral form of government. To this point no name has been brought forward,” Lau said.

Like Good, Lau also thinks any form of government requires good people to be successful.

“It all boils down to having the right person in the job – city administrator or mayor. It doesn't matter either way (because) the right person for the job is someone who displays leadership, accountability to the citizens, fiscal responsibility, a can-do attitude,  and the vision to get ahead of problems,” Lau said.

City Director Mike Lorenz sent this statement: “I have no comment. This is nothing but a distraction from real issues that we are facing such as the LOPFI shortfall that has to be addressed immediately. There is far too much that needs my attention daily that effects citizens every day to exert any energy or time on this nonsense.”