Fort Smith Board reviews minority hiring, rising highway costs, and $456 million in utility improvements

Police minority recruiting strategy, highway projects, and the potential for more than $70 million in Massard Wastewater Treatment Plant improvements headlined the Fort Smith Board of Directors study session on Tuesday (Sept. 27).

Leading the conversation on the police minority issue, City Director Tracy Pennartz asked interim Police Chief Dean Pitts what was being done different for 2017 to improve the department’s historically deficient efforts of effective minority representation within the department.

The city has 164 sworn officers, with only one being African American. The percentage is 0.6%, far below the city’s 9% black population according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A black officer has not been hired by the department since 1995 and has not been promoted since 1988.

In Tuesday’s noon session, held at the Fort Smith Public Library, Pitts said the department is “continually searching for new inroads” with minority communities and in 2017 there will be outreach “to publications and organizations centered around African-American culture.” The department will also expand more geographically, Pitts said, and “target military installations” with recruiting efforts.

Pennartz urged a “concrete” plan of action, noting, “If you can’t add one or two (minority officers) every year, what you’re doing is not working.”

The effort to attain minority representation relative to the city’s demographics will be an issue of importance for the new Police Chief in 2017. City Administrator Carl Geffken said in comments to Talk Business & Politics after the meeting the city will name its pick from the finalist candidates next week.

MAY BRANCH $30 MILLION HIGHER THAN FORECAST, HIGHWAY 45 WIDENING
Second up on Tuesday’s agenda, Fort Smith Engineering Director Stan Snodgrass updated City Directors on the five-year capital improvement plan (CIP) for streets, bridges, and drainage sales tax funds and pointed the Board to a massive upward revision in cost estimates for the May Branch Drainage Project.

The previously authorized amount of $30.85 million grew to a whopping $65 million per the Corps of Engineers (COE), Snodgrass said.

“For 2017 we are proposing to revisit in detail the COE design to look for possible significant cost reductions and also to review alternative methods to reduce the flooding including potential storm water detention ponds and/or purchasing of repetitive flooding properties,” Snodgrass wrote in a memo to the Board ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.

The project is to reduce flooding along May Branch from the Arkansas River to Park Avenue. The proposed Corps design consists of constructing a drainage channel to replace the existing undersized concrete storm drain pipe. The intent was to construct the most downstream section of the project from approximately N. 7th Street to the river entirely with city funds, Snodgrass said. The previous agreement with the Corps stipulated that the city’s cost would be credited toward future cost sharing on the project when federal funds became available.

“However,” Snodgrass explained, “the COE has advised that their revised estimated cost for this lower reach is over $32 million and it is very unlikely that the City would receive any federal credit as the cost to benefit ratio is not greater than one.” Extrapolating the cost of this “lower reach” item to the total project is how the COE arrived at the $65 million figure.

Also in Snodgrass’ report, the Highway 45 widening project long requested from area businesses received a mention. The city has proposed $4 million in contributions in a cost-sharing split with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) and Sebastian County.

AHTD would bear $10 million of the expense on the estimated $15 million project with Sebastian County chipping in the final $1 million. Construction is expected to begin in 2020.

MASSARD WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT, POTENTIAL $70 MILLION COST
Finally, the Board received the five-year CIP for the utility department, which includes water and sewer for both consent decree and non-consent decree items.

One particular line item that caught the attention of City Director Kevin Settle was the long-term improvements to the Massard Wastewater Treatment Plant. The cost is estimated at close to $72 million, though city officials admitted “it could be more.” The purpose: potential expenses as a result of the plant being “marginal with trickling filters,” wrote Interim Utilities Director Bob Roddy in a memo to the Board. With the likelihood the state will alter nutrient treatment and the plant’s recent permitting for ammonia, the plant’s filters would prove insufficient.

Additionally, the plant will need to increase its hydraulic load from 20 million gallons to support expansion in other areas of the city, such as Chaffee Crossing.

City Director Keith Lau observed the five-year costs totaling approximately $456 million plus ongoing operating expenses would mean, “We’re going to have to have a rate increase.”

Administrator Geffken said while he didn’t “disagree with that,” there were other options the city might be able to pursue like bond refinance and grant monies.