2 for, 2 against city administrator hire/fire authority

The running score is 2-2 with respect to opinion from members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors about the request by Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly to have hire/fire authority over department heads.

Kelly first proposed the idea at a May 12 board study session, and reiterated the request in a 300-plus page Organization Analysis he released July 10. 

City Directors Gary Campbell and Cole Goodman have said they support Kelly’s request. Goodman said the city board hired a professional to run the city, and the board should not micro-manage the city administrator.

But that level of management, argues City Directors Bill Maddox and Kevin Settle, is the job of the board of directors. Maddox and Settle voice opposition to Kelly’s proposal May 12 and remain opposed.

“As of right now, my opinion on Mr. Kelly’s Hire/Fire Authority as not changed,” Settle noted in an e-mail to The City Wire. “I will have more to say at the (board of directors) retreat in August about the remaining analysis and the hire/fire authority.”

Kelly has requested a special board meeting be called to review the analysis. The board’s review of the analysis is scheduled for Aug. 17 and Aug. 25. Each meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Elm Grove Community Center at Martin Luther King Park.

“I can tell you that this is one City Director that does not believe the hire/fire of department heads should be the City Administrator’s alone. I feel the Directors should continue to have a voice,” Maddox said.

City Directors Andre Good, Don Hutchings and Steve Tyler have not responded to a request from The City Wire about their opinion of Kelly’s recently released Organization Analysis.