Say goodbye to the more than 300 parking meters in downtown Fort Smith, and the annual loss to the City of Fort Smith of around $35,000 for meter maintenance and enforcement.
The Fort Smith Board of Directors on Tuesday (Aug. 5) voted to remove parking meters from downtown Fort Smith. Parking limits will remain around the Sebastian County Courthouse, but will be managed by the county, according to the proposed resolution.
The board also on Tuesday approved a resolution that would settle a lawsuit against the city that alleged Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman violated provisions of Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act by not providing all documents, and not providing documents in a timely manner. Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen filed the lawsuit on behalf of Fort Smith resident Marilyn Moore.
PARKING METERS
Rego thanked the board for the two-year process to look at the issue and move toward removing the meters with an “honest process.”
“I think this is a big deal and it’s a big change to how business is done downtown. I just appreciate the work we’ve all put in on this,” Rego said before the board voted 6-0 to remove the meters.
The board initially waived downtown parking meter fees between Nov. 24, 2023, and March 31, 2024, to study parking trends and habits. A report from the Fort Smith Police Department about the study period indicated that “parking meters may be removed with little to no impact to our businesses.” As of early 2024, the city had 315 total meters and 285 active meters.
The board also decided to waive fees for the remainder of 2024. Following that, the board voted to waive fees between Jan. 7 and Aug. 1, 2025.
Parking meter maintenance and enforcement resulted in a net budget loss to the city. The city collected in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the last full years of metered parking, $61,695 and $68,481, respectively in meter revenues. The net cost of the parking enforcement program was $35,051 and $34,521 in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
FOIA ISSUE
The documents requested in the FOIA request were related to meetings between city and state officials about the city providing water to a proposed 3,000-bed state prison in Franklin County.
“The City of Fort Smith and Jeff Dingman admit that they violated FOIA by claiming that no responsive records to the Plaintiff’s request were available despite their existence and, failing to timely produce records in the three-day statutory requirement without an extension request,” noted the amended draft of an order from Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge Dianna Hewitt Ladd.
The order requires the city to pay an estimated $1,771 in attorney’s fees and costs.
Moore addressed the board about her “disappointment in the city of Fort Smith’s response” to her FOIA. Moore, who opposes construction of the prison in Franklin County, wanted to get information from the city about the water needs sought by the state officials.
“So what I would ask is for you guys to think about that. I’d ask you to approve the mutual agreement. Let’s move forward and in the future try to do better,” Moore told the board.
Later in the meeting Dingman apologized to Moore, the board and city staff for his actions that resulted in the FOIA violation.
Director Lee Kemp opposed the resolution, saying he does not believe the city withheld information in such a way that it violated the FOIA. Colby Roe, the attorney for Fort Smith, said the city has a good case that documents provided after the FOIA deadline did not create a “material” difference in response to the initial request. Director Neal Martin said the bottom line is that the city needs to do better because “the expectation is transparency.”
The board voted 5-1 to approve the resolution, with Kemp voting no.
It also was announced that the responsibility to respond to FOIA requests would be moved from Dingman to James Gentry, the city’s chief information officer.