People want to know my plan for Fort Smith as a mayoral candidate. I realize this desire since I want to see Fort Smith improve in so many ways. Citizens are tired of the repeated problems of overspending city directors, irresponsible leadership when it comes to attracting companies, short sighted handling of key infrastructure such as our cities 2 water transmission lines that are both over 60 years old and if either of them failed would leave us without water in just a few days. I understand the frustration because I have lived it. Most candidates will give you a series of promises at this point about what they will do to fix it however I’m not most candidates.
The city of Fort Smith isn’t ran like other cities, the mayor has almost zero power. Any mayoral candidate who is promising making changes about issues such as homelessness, or water slide spending isn’t being genuine or doesn’t understand our government style. Our city administrator plays the role of mayor and is appointed by our city directors. In reality this is the root cause of many of the problems Fort Smith has had over the last few decades. My primary focus is to change the style of government to a mayoral government. This will be accomplished by a petition which I have been working on with lawyers for weeks to make sure ever “i” is dotted and “t” is crossed. We are excited to begin circulating this to gather the needed signatures of Registered Voters in Fort Smith.
Even if our petition succeeds this alone won’t fix our issues or give me mayoral power at the election. This will be for the next mayor. It is going to be a mandate from the citizens about what they want to see changed in the city and something that the city directors will not be able to ignore.
The following issues are at the root of Fort Smith’s economic and other struggles and I will try to lead the board of directors towards taking action. (again a mayor cannot act himself)
1. Relaxing zoning requirements in many areas of Fort Smith. Mixed use zoning is an important part of development in many economically powerful cities. The idea of having apartments, houses, and businesses close together creates walkable, and sustainable areas which are desirable by many companies looking to open offices and other local economic investment.
2. Changing the culture of enforcement for our building inspection dept. Currently they behave like Barney Fife and we need them to behave like Andy Taylor. (If you are to young to know what I’m talking about look up the “Andy Griffith Show” and thank me later) The building department of fort smith adds incredible amounts of compliance costs to companies that would want to expand or people who want to renovate older buildings. Yes this is a huge part of why we have so many empty buildings downtown.
3. Providing National Exposure for the great things about Fort Smith. I already reach millions of people online every month. I already help families from all over the country relocate here and start a new life. How much more can I do with representing our city as Mayor.
4. Absolute transparency. I live my life as openly as possible, I am live on social media daily and intend to continue to be live. We don’t need secret meetings in our city. We don’t have top secret plans to invade Arkoma that we have to keep hidden from the enemy. Everything we do will be public and available, you can watch the sausage as it is being made.
5. Standing up for individual rights. I believe in protecting the rights and desires of every citizen as an individual. When government divides you into groups they are usually trying to take power from you, or someone else. I believe in this statement from our nations founding document: ” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
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