CBID receives update on downtown Fort Smith maintenance plan

by Tina Alvey Dale ([email protected]) 221 views 

The Central Business Improvement District (CBID) Board of Directors is making headway on promises to make downtown Fort Smith look better, though implementation of projects is different than originally anticipated.

Sara Deuster, director of parks and recreation for the City of Fort Smith, updated the CBID board during its meeting Thursday (Jan. 23) on the progress of in-house downtown maintenance. The Parks Department is responsible for the lawn and landscape maintenance of downtown Fort Smith. The city has contracted that work to a third party since 2010.

The CBID, a semi-autonomous governing body, agreed to levy a supplemental annual assessment of up to 10 mils on real property within CBID boundaries – primarily in downtown Fort Smith more than three years ago. The Fort Smith Board of Directors in 2022 approved an assessment on properties in the CBID.

The assessment funds, roughly $220,000 received in October 2023 and roughly the same in October 2024, were earmarked to support an ambassador program with Fort Smith police officers as part of a downtown Safety and Security program, and a Green and Clean project.

BACKGROUND, BUDGETING
However, getting a contracted company to complete that work proved difficult. Commissioners had intended to use part of the Green and Clean funds to hire a landscaper to plant and care for landscaping along Garrison Avenue, but multiple requests for bids on the project netted no interest.

Sara Deuster, director of Fort Smith Parks and Recreation

In July, CBID commissioners voted to take $32,000 of the $110,000 set aside for the Green and Clean program and use it to supplement salaries for two full-time employees and one part-time employee with the Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Department, which will become the department’s Downtown Green & Clean Division in 2025. The Fort Smith Board of Directors approved the plan and associated budget for the change when it approved the 2025 budget in December.

The total cost for all three positions is approximately $139,690, benefits included. Adding the annual operations costs (mulch, chemicals, uniforms, and fuel) brings the total annual funding to $150,290.

The CBID approved to contribute $32,060 toward this division for the additional work to be performed outside of existing responsibilities in July. The commissioners later agreed to increase their contribution to $44,000. With that, the city’s annual cost to operate the downtown division is $106,290. The start-up costs for the program are $25,000, and the city will cover that expense.

“Bringing this service in-house allows for both an increase in service delivery and helps offset a portion of the high turnaround times for routine lawn and landscape areas in our riverfront and downtown Parks Department maintained locations,” Deuster said in a memo on the subject.

WORK AREAS, PROCESS
Downtown areas include Cisterna Park, Pendergraft Park, Riverfront Events Building, River Park Pavilion, The Blue Lion, landscape beds, tree wells, medians, and parcels of land. Additional services to be performed on a routine rather than emergent basis include infrastructure inspections, graffiti and vandalism remediation, streetscape lighting maintenance, and tree maintenance.

Existing duties the parks department already handled will include mowing/trimming, litter removal, weed removal, mulching, vegetation control. The increased duties of the new team will include tree/shrub maintenance, graffiti/vandalism remediation, power washing sidewalks, seasonal planting, assisting existing staff and with lawn, landscape and infrastructure maintenance, said Bill Hanna, CBID board chair.

“Most of the duties of this crew consist of the work our department previously contracted. I think this is important for citizens to understand. One of the goals of the CBID, through their assessment, was to enhance the aesthetics of the CBID through a ‘Clean & Green’ program. Despite our attempts to solicit interest from companies to perform this comprehensive program, it ultimately did not pan out. Our recommendation was to eliminate the continued contracting of existing maintenance and utilize funding from the CBID’s assessment to increase those services,” Deuster said.

The parks department will transfer two full-time employees to this division. However, until those employee duties are filled with new hires, the employees will not be dedicated specifically to this division, Deuster said.

“We intend to advertise these positions next week. Recruitment, interviews, and onboarding should be complete by the end of February,” she said.