Sanders: Mayor’s job needs to focus on economic development (Updated)

Sandy Sanders was quick with the answer when asked why he wants to be the next mayor of Fort Smith.

“Fort Smith is at a critical point. … Fort Smith needs jobs. We need job opportunities for our college graduates. We need to attract and retain quality doctors and other health care professionals,” Sanders said. “We need a mayor with the business and economic development background to provide leadership.”

Sandy Sanders announced his candidacy Tuesday (Sept. 15) by meeting with area media outlets in the board room of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce.

His background, Sanders asserts, makes him uniquely qualified to be an engaged mayor who, in Fort Smith’s council-manager form of government, has little administrative power.

Sanders recently served for five months as interim president of the Fort Smith chamber.

“That really heightened my knowledge of what a mayor can do in terms of working with economic development prospects,” Sanders said. “Companies, when they come to a town, often want to meet with the chief elected official of the city.”

Prior to the chamber, Sanders was director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority for six years. He left that post in October 2007. He also served as interim executive director for the Children’s Emergency Shelter in Fort Smith and a brief stint heading up the Arkansas Manufacturers Association in Little Rock.

Sanders retired as the human resources manager at Whirlpool Corp.’s Fort Smith plant in 1998 after a 32-year career with the global appliance maker. In the late 1990s, Sanders was hired as the interim director for the Little Rock-based Arkansas Manufacturers Association.

Sanders also has served on numerous boards, to include the United Way of Fort Smith, Fort Smith Port Authority, Westark Community College (now the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith), Fort Smith Symphony, Fort Smith Public Schools Foundation and the Arkansas-Oklahoma Regional Education and Promotion Association (Rodeo-Fair board).

During his time at Fort Chaffee, Graphic Packaging and Mars Petcare announced they would build new plants at Chaffee and brings hundreds of new jobs to the area.

“Plain and simple; Sandy has done more good for Fort Smith than most people will ever recognize,” said Jack Freeze, former Fort Smith mayor and campaign chairman for Sanders’ mayoral bid. “He’s been a force in just about every important business effort that has occurred in the area and someone that every business person has called upon for advice at some time or another.”

That the role of Fort Smith mayor is largely ceremonial — Fort Smith’s form of government has a city administrator who runs the day-to-day business of the city and is answerable to a 7-member elected board of directors — doesn’t bother Sanders. He acknowledges that it’s technically a powerless post, but suggests it can be a position from which a progressive vision can be articulated and pushed.

“The ceremonial role is just a portion of the job. Providing true leadership for the city is what I want to focus on, and the mayor can take more of a leadership role with the chamber and with the AEDC (Arkansas Economic Development Commission),” Sanders explained. “We have to focus on economic growth. Now is the time for Fort Smith to do that (diversify the economic base) by growing jobs for the college graduates … and focusing on supporting that (health care) area.”

With the municipal elections almost 11 months away (August 2010), Sanders said he wanted to announce early so he could begin the process of meeting with as many groups and individuals as possible. He said the campaign will focus on fundraising — longtime banker George Beattie serving as campaign treasurer — and talking to area civic groups during the next few months.

Sanders said he talked to Mayor Ray Baker prior to his announcement. Sanders declined to comment on specifics of he discussion, but did say it was a “good conversation.”

Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker said Aug. 25 he has not made a decision about running for reelection, countering what he called “rumors in the community” that he will not run again. Baker told The City Wire he would make public his decision “by March” of 2010. Baker will have served 20 consecutive years as mayor at the end of his present term.

The other partners with the city in economic development are the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and the Fort Smith chamber.

UAFS Chancellor Dr. Beran said the university does not comment on specific candidates, but said the mayor’s post is important, and that “choices are always good” in the democratic process. Beran said the university will work with whomever is elected to the post.

Updated info: Paul Harvel, president of the Fort Smith chamber, said the chamber has not, and may not, endorse a mayoral candidate.

However, he had praise for Sanders’ decision to enter the race.

“With Sandy’s economic development and corporate background, he’ll be an excellent candidate for mayor,” Harvel said.