Sebastian County Quorum Court votes to pursue FCRA dissolution

The fourth of the beneficiaries of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) has now officially called for its dissolution. The Sebastian County Quorum Court approved a resolution Tuesday (May 21) calling for the trust to come to an end.

The resolution recommended dissolution of FCRA, termination of indenture of trust, creation of an end date, and procedures for the distribution of trust funds and trust property to the beneficiaries. Like resolutions passed by the cities of Fort Smith and Greenwood, the resolution calls for the trust to end by Dec. 31, 2025. A similar resolution passed by Barling in March gave an earlier dissolution date.

Only the FCRA Board of Trustees can vote to dissolve the organization. The FCRA board unanimously approved a resolution May 16 that FCRA would support “ongoing and future operations of the Trust as a successful enterprise and economic driver for the affected counties and communities in the State of Arkansas, and believe it to be in the best interest of these communities and the State of Arkansas for the Trust to continue forward in its successful mission pursuant to the terms of the Indenture of Trust agreed upon by the Beneficiaries on February 19, 1997.”

The FCRA was formed in 1997 to oversee redevelopment of 6,000 acres of land released by the U.S. Army from Fort Chaffee as part of a Base Realignment and Closure downsizing. The trust has four beneficiaries – the cities of Barling, Fort Smith and Greenwood and Sebastian County. All four have now passed resolutions calling for the trust’s dissolution.

“Basically, we want to meet with the FCRA board and the executive director to have a discussion on how do we develop an exit plan, to develop a timeline or milestones that need to be reached, and to decide what the next steps are,” said Sebastian County Judge Steve Hotz.

Representatives from the four beneficiaries of the FCRA met privately April 23 to discuss ideas about the dissolution of FCRA and agreed upon 15 conditions to move forward on ending the authority. The FCRA trustees agreed April 18 to have meetings with representatives from the beneficiaries to discuss what still needs to be done by FCRA and when discussion of dissolution would be appropriate.