Fort Smith Board elections set: Settle safe, Pennartz out, only one contested race

Races are set for three City Director positions on the Fort Smith Board of Directors, and incumbent Kevin Settle, the current At-Large City Director Position 6, and Position 7 candidate Neal Martin can breathe easy with no opposition.

Settle hasn’t had an opponent since 2010 when he defeated Eric Arthur with roughly 82% of the vote. On Thursday (May 31), Settle told Talk Business & Politics he was “happy to continue to serve the citizens of Fort Smith for another four years,” adding it was “a great honor.”

When asked why he felt there hadn’t been any opposing candidates in eight years, Settle explained, “I think I represent the citizens very well. They understand that I take every issue seriously, evaluate it, and do the best job I can.”

Position 5 Director Tracy Pennartz announced Thursday (May 31) she would not seek a second term, leaving the race as a four-way between Samuel Price, Robyn Dawson, Libby Piatt, and Jerry Neel, Jr. There will be a primary held on Aug. 14, 2018. If one candidate doesn’t receive 50% or higher of the vote, the top two candidates will head to the Nov. 6 ballot.

Martin was initially set to face Jerry Avillion for the Position 7 race, but Fort Smith City Clerk Sherri Gard found enough problems with voter signatures to disqualify Avillion.

“I had 64 signatures, but they invalidated 22 of them and since I needed 50 to get on the ballot and only got 42” I was disqualified, Avillion noted in an e-mail to Talk Business & Politics. “I wont be running this time.”

Avillion said he may run for election in 2020 in a Ward election.

Talk Business & Politics spoke to several of the candidates on Thursday, following the noon deadline.

Neel, owner of Jerry Neel’s Bar-B-Q & Catering, said he was running “to give back” to the community.

“I’ve been in this community for years, and I’ve always told my kids to give back. I complain about the city to everybody, so it’s my turn to give back.” Asked if he would expand on any of those complaints, Neel said, “Not right now.”

Dawson, an elementary school principal in the Fort Smith Public School district who made an unsuccessful bid in 2016 for the Ward 4 city director post, is a member of the Mercy’s Community Health Board and the Mayor’s Bicentennial Committee. She recently served as a Civil Service Commissioner before making the decision to run for city director. When explaining her outlook and qualifications, she said there are “many positive things already happening that we can support and many more we can create.”

“The Marshal’s Museum and the osteopathic medical college are two great examples.” Dawson said she doesn’t want Fort Smith to “mimic NWA, rather just enhance the great community we already have.”

Her issues of interest include “continuance of a balanced budget” for the city, analysis of “possible revenues that are not currently being utilized,” working towards consent decree changes “already in the works,” and working toward “underground infrastructure needs to continue the transition of Fort Chaffee Redevelopment lands to the city of Fort Smith.”

Martin said he wants to make sure the Board’s decisions have “strategy” to them.

“It’s important the Board looks at the horizon of 3-5 years or 5-10 years in making some of the decisions we make. … There are some things we have to do shorter term, like rezoning for instance; but we have to think strategically in terms of how these things will have long-term benefits, to set ourselves up for long-term success and make sure those decisions have some foresight to them.”

Martin’s prognosis of how the current Board has performed: “I think it has gotten better lately, in the last two years, and we’re starting to see a little of that, but you’re also starting to see a lot of growth at Chaffee Crossing and Downtown. We need to make sure we’re continuing with those growth patterns and being fiscally responsible with the tax money that we’re entrusted to use, using those dollars as efficiently and effectively as we can.”

Piatt told Talk Business & Politics she has worked as a sales representative for vending company King Koin Amusements for 22 years as well as one year with ALCO, a private investigation agency in Oklahoma. She has lived in Fort Smith for two years.

“My kids are grown. I’ve done a lot of commerce in Fort Smith for about 25 years. Fort Smith is awesome. It has a lot of potential, and a lot of people have given up on it.”

When asked about the Board’s current direction, Piatt said she didn’t know everyone, but singled out Andre Good and Keith Lau as two she admired. Good “takes the time to answer any questions you may have, and I really like that. I think that he and I agree and click on that. And while I don’t know him, Keith Lau is friendly. A hard-working man. High achiever.”

Piatt acknowledged having a learning curve on issues the city will face next term, but said, “I’m going to try, and whether I succeed or not, I’ll find some way to get involved and make a difference.”

Price was unavailable on Thursday.

On Thursday, Pennartz said she was “grateful to the citizens of Fort Smith for giving me the opportunity to not only serve on the Board of Directors but also in the Arkansas Legislature as a State Representative for six years.” She said future plans would include “continued activism on behalf of Fort Smith as well as various economic endeavors.”