10/5/2026 - Board of Directors Regular Meeting

The City of Fort Smith Board of Directors’ regular meeting on October 5, 2026, included several infrastructure funding and contracting items on the consent agenda. The board approved an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support neighborhood water-line improvements; staff said the city had requested about $9.8 million and received $3 million in congressional-directed funding. Other consent-agenda items included an emergency contract with Dell Crampton for roof repairs at the Lake Fort Smith water treatment plant, final payment for the Miss Laura Museum façade restoration, and Change Order No. 1 for the museum parking-lot replacement project. The consent agenda was presented as approved, with no individual contract amounts stated for those items.

The board also approved, 6–0, an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance establishing additional review requirements for data centers in industrial districts, including planning commission review, board approval, an eight-foot opaque wall, a 500-foot setback, and utility capacity/load letters. Public speakers raised concerns about water and power demand, infrastructure costs, noise, and transparency; members discussed strengthening the ordinance and reviewing it again through the Planning Commission, but the transcript records approval of the ordinance. The board separately authorized demolition of three unsafe buildings, with the city to seek bids and place liens on the properties for costs; no demolition contract amount was given.