Fort Smith Board of Directors Study Session – September 8, 2026
Fort Smith Board of Directors Study Session – September 8, 2026
The Fort Smith Board of Directors held a study session on September 8, 2026, at the Blue Lion. The meeting included presentations and discussions on the Fort Smith Regional Airport, Sunday alcohol sales for off-premises consumption, 2027 departmental service objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), and options to purchase Deer Trails Golf Course. The public comment period featured widespread calls for transparency regarding a recent cybersecurity attack, as well as input on city property sales, employee morale, and other issues.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Patrick Maguire raised concerns about late invoice payments and questioned payments made to the city by itself, urging greater involvement of internal audit in accounts payable.
- Stephen Cox argued against data center development in Fort Smith, citing water scarcity, noise, electricity costs, and state laws (Act 307) that may force local taxpayers to cover infrastructure costs. He noted that board members indicated a desire to make it difficult for data centers and asked if any had signed NDAs (none acknowledged).
- Eric Widman presented a list of city-owned properties he believes could be sold to generate revenue, including flood buyout parcels and land with no current purpose, and requested the list be provided to the public.
- Dan Williams expressed opposition to purchasing Deer Trails Golf Course, arguing the city should focus on basic services, employee retention, and infrastructure rather than acquiring new property. He cited a 21% city employee turnover rate and called for better career paths and support.
- Natalia Deer urged the board to address homelessness with compassion and direct outreach, emphasizing that homeless individuals are hurting and need human connection.
- Casey Millspaw commended the shift from negative to constructive public participation, supported Sunday alcohol sales, opposed Deer Trails purchase, and pointed out numerous errors in the departmental KPIs (e.g., mislabeled years, missing data) and questioned who validates the data before it reaches the board.
- Jason Skarbitz questioned funding for airport projects, advocated for Sunday alcohol sales, and criticized the board's silence on the August cybersecurity attack and the closed-door recess during the August 18 regular meeting.
- Glenn Forte complained about unresponsive city officials and alleged misconduct by a building inspector, stating he was arrested after being told not to enter his own property.
- Janie Pugh called for transparency and proactive defense against cyber threats to water systems, 911 dispatch, and city data, referencing a recent hack.
- Joey McCutcheon demanded answers about the cybersecurity attack, noting that over 1,000 employees and 36,000 residents may have had personal data compromised, and questioned whether the city had conducted vulnerability testing. He cited a 2021 audit that raised insurance coverage concerns.
- Shane McKinney criticized the lack of transparency about the cyberattack, stating that silence leads to speculation, and shared his own experience of having to push technology adoption in Fort Smith. He noted that city officials commented on his video but did not provide clarity.
- Richard Morris accused Directors Christina Catsavis of displaying hostility and suggested she may have a psychological condition, which led to an interruption by Director George Catsavis and a brief exchange. The Mayor allowed him to continue.
- Joe Elskin thanked the airport for its presentation, asked if audit training is available to the audit committee, and urged the board to prioritize listening to and respecting employees.
- Chris Connelli expressed concern over the lack of information on the cyberattack and criticized the recess during the August 18 meeting, citing an attorney who called the private discussions
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the Fort Smith City Board of Director Study Session on the September 8th of 2026. An opportunity to address the board of directors on any topic of his or her choosing related to city business or operation. With that, we will go to Madame Clerk. So the first will be Patrick Maguire. That was based on the July paid invoices report. Since then the August paid invoices report has been released. And I did a sim similar type analysis, like I did last month. The problem's not nearly as bad as last time. Last time we had over 200 invoices that were paid outside the 30-day window. This time that numbers dropped to 95. There were a few that I think it was 20 something that uh were dated either June 29 or June 30, just outside the window. So it that brought us down into the 70s. So things did improve that way. Nevertheless, uh there are still problems. There are invoices that were very late in getting paid. Uh the one that strikingly comes to my mind is Cox Communications. They had two invoices from 2022 and two from 2023 that were paid last month. There's also some in my mind, questionable payments. Uh the Kitties and K9 shelter received a payment of $63,407. I'd be really curious to know what that was about. And then in addition to that, they also received the Pet Resource Center, another $2,900 there as well. Um there were some several uh payments made to individuals, none of whom I recognize for travel expenses. And I'll get to those a bit later, but you've got prepaid travel for Joshua Johnson, uh, another one $94, another one $94. There was another one for $25. Individual payments made to people presumably this is on city business, but what kind of city business would require a $25 re refund on on expenses? Probably a meal. Probably a meal. We're paying for meals for anyway. I'm I'm just bringing it up. Y'all can decide with it what you want. The ones though that concern me the most, there was um five payments, all made on June 30. Five checks made payable to the city of Fort Smith. Consider that for a minute. The city of Fort Smith wrote five checks payable to the city of Fort Smith. Now, if I were in the internal audit department of this city, that would ring all kinds of alarm bills in my head. That plus the travel expenses and some of these late invoices and so forth. So I think it's time we got internal audit far more involved in this accounts payable process. Uh what kind of uh pro uh policy do we have regarding improving income invoices? Who gives the approval for the payment? How many signatories for that matter are on the checks themselves? Um in a business environment, these are all carefully laid out and generally followed very strictly. Um I think it would probably be worth our while if internal audit were to look into these matters also. That's all I got. Thank you, Patrick. Next thank you. I'm sorry, Jeff. Can you explain that? 63,000 the kiddies and can ask real quick. My presumption is that is to actually to Fort Smith Animal Haven. No.
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