Insurance agreements, a wash bay for trash trucks and other sanitation vehicles, and payment for more than $1.5 million in traffic signal work are part of a relatively light Fort Smith Board of Directors agenda on Tuesday (Oct. 21).
The board is expected to consider approval of four contracts related to insurance risk coverage and employee benefits. The four contracts have an annual cost of around $2.055 million.
Everest Reinsurance Company now provides the city’s excess insurance and aggregate excess insurance – often known as stop-loss insurance. The company is offering a one-year agreement for 2026 coverage with the stop-loss deductible remaining at $250,000. However, the premium for the coverage will rise 49% from $953,674 to $1.421 million, Eric Garvin, Fort Smith’s director of human resources noted in a memo to Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman.
QualChoice, the city’s third-party medical insurance provider, is asking for a 3% increase in 2026 from $351,160 to $361,750. Delta Dental, the Arkansas-based administrator for the city’s self-insured dental insurance employee benefit, has offered a three-year agreement with the annual administrative fee rising from $43,140 to $49,600. The individual annual dental maximum has increased from $1,500 to $2,500, according to Garvin’s memo.
Mutual of Omaha, the city’s life insurance, disability insurance and supplemental insurance provider, is offering a three-year hold on premiums and is decreasing the long-term disability rate from $280,735 to $223,440.
“OneDigital Health and Benefits, the City of Fort Smith’s insurance broker, has worked diligently to secure competitive pricing for our medical stop-loss insurance coverage and to secure competitive pricing and improve our dental, life, disability and supplemental insurance for 2026,” Garvin said.
The city board is also expected to consider approval of a $1.649 million contract with Steve Beam Construction to build a solid waste vehicle wash bay at the city’s landfill at 5900 Commerce Road. The work was approved as part of the Solid Waste Services Department’s 2025 capital improvement plan. Beam was the lowest of three bidders for the work.
Payment of previously approved work to replace “outdated detection equipment” at 19 intersections on Rogers Avenue and at six intersections on Phoenix Avenue, will also be considered by the board. The ordinance is seeking authorization from the board to pay $1.559 million toward a total contract valued at $1.812 million.
“This new equipment will provide additional analytics to allow us to enhance service performance by allowing City personnel to utilize the latest software,” noted a memo from Ben Marts, interim director of the city’s engineering department. “These upgrades will help provide better progression of traffic and aid in identifying problem areas more quickly and efficiently. In addition, the new equipment will assist alleviating issues that hampered the old video equipment such as sunlight, fog, shadows and lack of light.”