A Fort Smith Board of Directors study session to review the process to change the city’s form of government is tentatively set for April 28. A petition to change the form of government coincides with an ongoing search for a city administrator.
During a March 10 study session the board was informed of an effort underway to gather enough valid signatures to place an item on the November ballot to change the city to a mayor-council form of government.
After a failed first attempt to hire a city administrator, the board recently voted to have Daytona Beach Shores, Fla.-based Colin Baenziger & Associates (CBA) conduct a nationwide search for a city administrator. The board fired Carl Geffken as city administrator in December 2024. Geffken was hired to be the city administrator in March 2016 with a salary of $175,000. His annual salary when he was fired was $204,513. Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman has been the interim administrator since Geffken’s firing.
Director Lee Kemp is the board liaison for the search, and told board members during Tuesday’s (March 17) meeting that CBA reps would be in Fort Smith April 29-30 to meet individually with directors in the effort to “build a recruitment profile.”
Director Christina Catsavis suggested Tuesday that the board may also want to educate itself about what she says is a serious effort by some to place a question on the ballot to change the city’s form of government.
“I don’t think we can ignore or pretend that this petition isn’t out there,” Catsavis said. “This is no longer a fringe discussion. There is a lot of confusion about how this works procedurally. … I think it merits some public discussion because when we don’t have concrete answers the gaps get filled in with speculation and sometimes misinformation.”
Director Jarred Rego agreed, saying the session should include discussion about “rules and laws and regulations” that govern the process. Catsavis asked Colby Roe, an attorney with Fort Smith-based Daily & Woods, to attend the study session.
In Fort Smith’s form of government, the city administrator is the CEO, managing an annual budget of more than $300 million and more than 1,000 city employees who provide safety, sanitation, water, sewer, and other key services to a city with a population of around 90,000.
Changing to a mayor-council form of government would place management responsibility with the mayor. Most large cities in Arkansas with a mayor-council government have at least one experienced city manager supporting the mayor in day-to-day operations. The mayor-council form of government would also include elections for city clerk, city attorney, and city treasurer, according to state law.
https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-14/subtitle-3/chapter-43/subchapter-3/section-14-43-303/
A 2008 report from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) indicated then that the city manager/administrator form of government was growing more popular than the mayor-council form. The report noted that in 1990, 54.5% of cities with a population of more than 2,500 had a mayor-council government, and 36.2% had the city administrator (council-manager). That shifted by 2007 when 48.9% had a council-manager government and 43.5% had a mayor-council form.
“Studies show that when council-manager cities are compared with mayor-council cities the council-manager cities are more likely to have greater efficiency, sounder finances, and stronger management performance,” noted the 2008 ICMA report. “They have greater representation of minority groups in staff positions. Council-manager cities are more likely to pursue long-term goals, use strategic planning, base service delivery on need and other professional standards, have ethics codes and boards, integrate management functions, and adopt innovative management practices.
The post Fort Smith Board study session to focus on change of government process appeared first on Talk Business & Politics.