Fort Smith School Board tables sanitation contract with city amid recycling concerns

The Fort Smith recycling issue spilled over to a school board meeting Monday night (June 26) when the Fort Smith Public School (FSPS) Board voted to table acceptance of a $250,035 bid for the school district’s sanitation program.

Board members voted unanimously in order to seek “more information” and further research over concerns brought to the Board by Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen and Bobby Altes, owner of Altes Sanitation.

The Fort Smith Department of Sanitation won the bidding process by $18,000 over Altes Sanitation’s bid of just over $268,000. Altes — the district’s current provider — has provided the district with sanitation services for the last six years. Altes and McCutchen argued the city was allowed to bid in spite of not having a recycling program in place when the sealed bidding process closed on May 15.

The city revealed it had not been recycling since November 2016 in a May 1 press release. The six-month timeframe turned out to be false after its former recycling center — Clarksville, Ark.-based Green Source — told Talk Business & Politics it had stopped accepting recyclables from the city in late June, extending the recycling lapse the city had admitted to by five months. Further inquiries revealed the city’s recycling center contract had lapsed Sept. 30, 2014, and Green Source — from October 2014 until the late June 2016 dissolution — had only accepted less than 9% of the city’s recycling materials, resulting in over 91% of recyclables being disposed of at Fort Smith Landfill.

Fort Smith residents were not made aware of the three-year lapse until late May 2016. At a June 20 meeting of the city’s Board of Directors, city directors approved a new contract with Third Rock Recycling, and partner company Pen Sales.

At Monday’s school board meeting, McCutchen hinted “through the grapevine” Marck Industries — one of the companies vying unsuccessfully for the city’s business — was considering litigation against the city for how the request for proposals process was handled, arguing that “if Marck were to be successful” in litigation, it would further complicate matters for the school district’s sanitation program.

McCutchen told Talk Business & Politics after the meeting he was not involved in any litigation talks between Marck and the city, but he simply had it on “good authority” it was being considered. No representatives from Marck were in attendance to confirm or deny McCutchen’s comments.

McCutchen has also backed fired Fort Smith Sanitation Director Mark Schlievert, who threatened a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city, which fired him on May 10 — one day after Schlievert revealed conflicting numbers from what administration had previously provided over costs to run the city’s recycling trucks. Schlievert has yet to file.

McCutchen and the FSPS School Board have had high-profile conflicts over lawsuits McCutchen filed against the Board related to the retirement of the Rebels mascot at Southside High School from 2015, and Board members were hesitant to back Altes Sanitation on Monday.

Board member Susan McFerran, “not to be smart alecky,” was concerned about how little was known about Altes’ recycling program to FSPS employees and found it was “Altes’ job to educate” them. Board member Jeannie Cole questioned the $18,000 difference in price between the city’s and Altes’ bids.

Ultimately, FSPS Superintendent Dr. Doug Brubaker recommended tabling. Altes’ contract with the school district expires on June 30. Altes told the Board he would be “open to discussing” a contract extension until Board members were able to review details, but he would not commit to an extension on Monday night.