Fort Smith Deputy City Admin explains ‘communication breakdown’ in recycling issue

Fort Smith Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman explained the breakdown in communication that occurred during the city’s almost three-year lapse in recycling on Tuesday night (June 6) after the Board of Directors regular meeting.

Dingman told Talk Business & Politics he knew recycling would be taken to Green Source Recycling Center in Clarksville, Ark., in October 2014 after former Sanitation Director Baridi Nkokheli sent a memo to administration that September detailing the end of the city’s contract with Smurfit KAPPA. Dingman said it was the plan from the outset of that arrangement to have a replacement, “but it just hasn’t happened yet.”

Dingman took over as acting City Administrator following the departure of the late Ray Gosack in July 2015. He then terminated Nkokheli on Dec. 7, 2015, for reasons of insubordination on an unrelated matter. Following the termination, Dingman had Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Director Doug Reinert conduct an audit of Nkokheli’s department. Talk Business & Politics asked if the severity of the recycling issue was discovered at that point.

“We were dealing with so many other issues,” Dingman said, emphasizing “operational issues.”

“There was a lot of personnel changeover in this department and others. There were just a lot of things to deal with, and it was just another item there that needed to be handled, but there were priorities and getting other things taken care of, and here we are,” he added.

Dingman vied for the City Administrator role following Gosack’s departure. The Board chose current City Administrator Carl Geffken in April 2016. Geffken’s first day was the May 9. Until that time, Dingman remained in the role and hired Mark Schlievert to fill Nkokheli’s position. Geffken terminated Schlievert on May 10, 2017, without providing a reason. Schlievert is considering a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city, but has yet to file.

Talk Business & Politics later discovered the city had sent more than 91% of its recycling from October 2014-Present to the landfill and that Green Source – in an informal agreement – had accepted less than 9%. Asked if there was communication up the ladder that Green Source had not been taking much of the city’s materials, Dingman responded, “That’s where the communication broke down.”

“My understanding is that (Green Source) is where it was going. I did not have a full understanding of how much was and was not going there until recently, this fall, when they said we can’t take it there any more. That’s when we started ramping up the process to get a contract in place, and so it’s just an unfortunate series of events that got us where we are now,” Dingman said.

Tuesday night’s meeting was punctuated by a contentious town hall that focused solely on the recycling issue with one commenter questioning why Dingman “is still drawing a paycheck.” A second commenter, Paula Linder, asked why the city was continuing to run recycling trucks, acknowledging the city may “have its reasons, but I have yet to hear a good explanation.”

Linder suggested city government post an explanation on the website. A previous conservative review from Talk Business & Politics estimated, based on data provided by the city, that the city spends around $16,000 per week to run recycling routes, including labor and excluding employee benefit costs, despite the fact that recycled materials continue to be disposed of at Fort Smith Landfill.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Board voted to table two proposals still being reviewed that would offer potential fixes to the recycling issue. The contracts are from MARCK Industries and Third Rock Recycling.