A SYNOPSIS AT THE END IS FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT LIKE TO READ AND DEAL WITH THE FORT SMITH CITY GOVERNMENT’S DUBIOUS FINANCIAL ISSUES. January 25, 2015

THE RACE TO MAY—THEY ARE OFF & RUNNING! MANY QUESTIONS, NO REAL ANSWERS

They are off & running—the real owners of the Fort Smith City Government, City Manager Ray Gosack, F.S. Chamber of Commerce, F.S. Times Record/Warren Stephens, and the echelon of political high fivers.

The race officially began Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015 with an editorial salvo from the Times Record titled “Taxpayers Must Pay Bills, More”. Translation: Taxpayers; Suck it up, Shut up, Pay up.

The full court press continued: Times Record Jan. 12, 2015, 2 front page stories. Drew Linder, 1st National Bank employee and cheerleader for the unelected Bikeways & Trails NGO, in a blaze of bravado is leading a 6 person delegation of insiders advocating for 87.59 miles of trails. Linder paints a beautiful (at least in his mind) picture of what he believes eventually, if completed, the trails will look like. Linder claims the Trails will only cost the taxpayers a mere $17 MILLION. This is the estimated start-up cost.

Never mind the $500 million, 12 year EPA demand pertaining to the overhaul of the Fort Smith city sewer & surface water systems that has already been paid for at least once & mathematically could be more than once in the previous 30 years by the earmarked 1% street/sewer taxes which were misapplied and diverted. Now City Manager Gosack, Mayor Sanders & the Board are asking the citizens to foolishly vote for another 10 year extension of the city’s fun & gun spendathons.

The real owners of the Fort Smith city government, their enablers, and the compliant F.S. City Directors have staked-out their position by asking taxpayers for another 10 year renewal of the city’s two 1 cent street/sewer taxes, which by the way, city government, past & present, have surely obfuscated, misrepresented, misappropriated & diverted the 30 year/$600 Million tax monies, which could possibly be $1.2 billion that has been generated from the aforementioned two 1% street & sewer sales taxes. The city’s website and past Directors state there is a 1% sales tax for streets and a 1% sales tax for sewers.
http://www.fortsmithar.gov/newviews/Files/2012%20Sales%20Tax%20Election%20Presentation.pdf

Why did some of the city administrations present & past not discharge their sworn obligation to citizens and remedy the sewer debacle in a timely manner?

THE 1% STREET/SEWER TAXES WERE VERY SPECIFIC FOR 30 YEARS. THEY DEMANDED THAT THE REVENUES GENERATED WOULD BE APPLIED EQUALLY TO STREETS & SEWERS—NEITHER HAPPENED. WHAT GUARANTEES ARE IN PLACE THAT GOSACK, SANDERS, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND/OR OTHERS WILL ABSOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY SPEND ALL THE MONEY ON STREETS & SEWERS? AND WHAT ARE THEIR POLITICAL GUARANTEES WORTH?—NOTHING. ABSOLUTE PROOF THAT GOSACK AND HIS ENABLERS HAVE DIVERTED THE SEWER TAX FOR AT LEAST 25 YEARS IS THE EPA’S $500 MILLION RECENT DIRECTIVE TO THE CITY AND THE OUTRIGHT $300,000 FINE. THE CITY IS NOW FEVERISHLY CAMPAIGNING FOR WHAT THEY HAVE NOW RE-BRANDED AS A 1% STREET TAX WITH NO SPECIFICS.

MORE IMPORTANTLY NO MENTION OF AN OMISSION OF THE SEWER TAX. WHERE DID THE MONEY GO & THE AMOUNT FROM THE 2ND 1% TAX? THE TIMES RECORD IS NOW CALLING THE FORMER 1% STREET/SEWER TAX , THE 1% STREET TAX. THESE FACTS INDICATE THE F.S. CITY GOVERNMENT IS AN OLIO OF CONUNDRUMS, OBFUSCATIONS, DIVERSIONS AND MAYBE MUCH MORE.

If voters approve the 10 year extension it will generate a minimum of $250 million by one of the 1% taxes, but what about the second 1% tax, what happens to it?

The downtown insiders have closed ranks and their battle cry is “we must educate Fort Smith citizens”, i.e. program, indoctrinate & obfuscate. Government’s golden rule.

The main subject here is the upcoming May election to renew or reject what has been a 30 year 1% street/sewer tax that generated $600 million which specifically demanded every penny be used equally for renovation of sewers & street improvements, resulting in citizen taxpayers having little to show for a remake of streets & sewers. The tax tally could have reached $1.2 billion during the 3 decade long period.

The present and some of the past city governments for the last 30 years have diverted, misapplied, & misappropriated the $600 million to $1.2 billion and have no qualms about unctuously asking for another $250 million to $500 million replete with no guarantees (same as the previous 30 years) on what & how they would spend the upwards to $ ¼ BILLION to $ ½ billion. “Trust us”, again.

The question continues to be Where Did The $600 million to $1.2 billion Go? Certainly not on streets and sewers.

Back in the day, 25 years ago, city government, the Chamber of Commerce, & perhaps others ran a successful campaign to get the 1 Cent street/sewer sales taxes passed, all wrapped up in sweet promises.

Observe the present day condition of streets & sewers.

The campaign was a simple one, but effective. Citizens were besieged daily with the written and spoken phrase “It’s only a penny”. The proponents of the well financed 1 cent tax campaign featured their media ads with a 1 cent copper penny with Abe’s image sunny side up.
Citizens bought into it in 1985, bought into it again in 1995, and again in 2005 and now the question is will citizens be willing to get stiffed again for the 4th time, with the city’s battle cry “Great streets & no more flooding for only a penny”? That worthless little copper created somewhere between $600 million & $1.2 billion in 30 years and disappeared with no explanations from the “officials” the taxpayers elected to protect their purse and property. WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?
Fool me once, shame on you…fool me 4 times, shame on me.

What clever, surreptitious media blitz will the city & their enablers come with this go-around?

SYNOPSIS:
A FACTUAL REVELATION OF THE CONDUCT OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF FORT SMITH, AR REVEALS AT THE VERY LEAST ITS INCOMPENTENCY OR AT ITS WORST CRIMINALITY.

Tuesday night’s official Board Meeting Jan. 20th : In view of the Environmental Protection Agency’s leveling a $ ½ billion demand against the city of Fort Smith, coupled to an outright $300,000 FiNE, why would the Board’s major topic of discussion be centered on Agenda 21’s 87.59 miles of unfunded Trails? The startup costs given by unelected NGO Parks Commission Chair Lorie Robertson would be $17 million, this without available funding. She states the Parks NGO will demand 20%, not the 10% the TR reports as their part of the newly named “1% street tax”.

Major shortfalls continue to plague F.S. city government, e.g. deficits in Fire & Police pensions, accompanied by unfunded across the board 8% pay raises for city employees (4% increase in healthcare costs, 1% cost of living, up to 3% for step/merit increases, & the unfunded fluoridation of the people’s water supply). Yet Trails occupy center stage in official Board Meetings. All mum on the payment of the $ ½ billion EPA demand!

Facts support that one of the 1% street & sewer taxes have generated about $600 million dollars in its 30 year history. These taxpayer funds have been misapplied (who knows for what) and diverted.

In view of the diversion and misapplication of taxpayer funds, absent explanations and/or apologies to taxpayers, city government is now calling on voters to approve another 10 year 1% tax, replete with no specificities, as if they would be honored. And the other 1% tax?

The Times Record & the Fort Smith City Government have re-branded the name of the one of the two taxes to the 1% street tax, blatantly leaving out sewers. Why is that? According to the Fort Smith city government’s website there are two taxes, 1% for streets & a 1% for sewers, therefore why is the Times Record & city government now only talking about a 1% street tax in light of the $ ½ billion EPA mandate plus the $300,000 fine. This smacks of major deceptions aimed at the taxpaying citizen.

There’s no avenue for thinking citizens to comprehend & understand the circuitous maze of deception precipitated by city government. Again, there are TWO 1% taxes—a 1% tax for streets & a 1% for sewers. Why would the Times Record, always without questions, continue to alter the name of the official 1% street/sewer tax?
http://www.fortsmithar.gov/newviews/Files/2012%20Sales%20Tax%20Election%20Presentation.pdf

There is also the matter, and it smacks of bribery, having to do with the for-profit Delta Dental Insurance company’s subsidizing the start-up costs of $1 million to initiate the fluoridation of the F. S. water supply. Fluoridation has been turned down by voters on multiple occasions. Fort Smith sewers are not the only thing that smells.

It is noted that newly elected Director Don Hutchings was a past member of the F.S. Board of Dire

The F.S. City Government’s spendathon continues by subsidizing a plethora of entertainment venues, some government and some private, e.g. the Marshal’s Museum, the motorcycle rally, etc. all in full view of hundreds of millions in shortfalls.

The undeniable & indisputable foundation for this article and synopsis is based on facts that the present and past Fort Smith city governments have manipulated, misapplied and diverted somewhere between $600 million and $1.2 billion of taxpayers’ dollars as witnessed by the 25 year repeated demands made by the EPA on the city of Fort Smith for the correction of sewer/drainage problems. All the while the FS city government turned a 25 year blind eye to the EPA and the very real problems of raw sewage, flooding, etc. yet there were millions of taxpayer dollars readily available for revamping the sewer system/flooding problems. The EPA’s final demand was and is essentially a $ ½ billion demand fine & an additional $300,000 fine. The hubris that City Manager Gosack has shown, accompanied by various city Board members, shows arrogance and disrespect for F.S. taxpaying citizens.

Joe McCutchen

P.S. Notable supporters of Agenda 21 Trail systems, i.e. Lorie Robertson, Drew Linder, Bryan Merry (all unelected NGO members), and Bill Hanna & Casey Millspaugh—All are of the opinion that the Trails are “game changers”, “job creators” & would “draw industry” to the area.
Those are touchy, feel-good opinions directed at voters, perhaps self-serving, and that is all. There is not one shred of credible evidence and no empirical data that would support any of the above.

Did Whirlpool, et al leave because there were not enough Trails? Is that why Mitsubishi never occupied their enormous facility?

arkansasfreedom.net

ARE THERE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THE CITY’S WILLFUL VIOLATION (MISFEASANCE) AND THE STRONG POSSIBILITY OF MALFEASANCE FOR THEIR TREATMENT OF THE 30 YEAR 1% STREET/SEWER TAX THAT VOTERS HAVE AFFIRMED 3 TIMES? January 12, 2015

All governments are built on towers of lies, incestuous relationships & self-service: under the guise of “public service”.

For instance, City Managers emanating from the Strib Boynton era to Ray Gosack. Same time frame for City Directors who knowingly or unknowingly are and were complicit in perhaps the largest misapplication of citizen generated tax money in the city’s history—approximately $600 Million street/sewer tax money that accrued over a 30 year period replete with no accountability or explanations directed to city residents and in present day chronology from City Manager Gosack who has resided in the city government inner circles for 22 years. Nothing but dead silence from the city government functionaries.

Corruption you say, it would appear so.

Even more frightening is citizen silence and lack of outrage to confront the present Mayor & City Board. The significance of the silent Fort Smith citizenry for decades, for whatever their reasonings, has led to a rogue Fort Smith City Government.

In the wake of the 30 year $600 Million disappearance, the Federal Government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just levied a ½ Billion demand against the city of Fort Smith which requires the city over a 12 year time frame to renovate its sewer systems. Over that span the $1/2 Billion EPA demand will in all likelihood balloon to $3/4 Billion. Still little citizen outrage.

Recall that ½ of the $600 Million misapplication was specifically earmarked to overhaul the F.S. sewer & ground water systems, which should have begun some 25-30 years ago. If the city government had spent the 1% street/sewer tax as was so specified the sewer overhaul would have easily been completed by 1995 at at least one-sixth of the ultimate price the overhaul will cost in the coming 12 years.

In this regard, at the last City Board meeting (1/6/15) Mayor Sandy Sanders was asked the question (I paraphrase) “What happened to the sewer tax money?” Sanders haughtily responded, “We have spent $200 million on sewers.” Obviously, Sanders programed answer was designed to silence the questioner. Mayor Sanders, provide the proof to substantiate your claim. Sanders did not address the other missing $400 million.

The city’s misapplication of the 1% street/sewer tax is scandalous. Not entered into the equation is the 30 year history of continued dumping of raw sewage into the Arkansas River system and the routine flooding of businesses and homes throughout the city, accompanied by extreme personal cost.

Inflation factored into the EPA demand simply means that citizens will be paying for the same job 3 times, and still yet few protestations from citizens.

THE QUESTION THAT DEMANDS LEGAL ATTENTION: IS THERE NOT LEGAL PROTECTION FOR CITIZENS, INCORPORATED INTO THE INITIATED ACT, OR WHATEVER THE OFFICIAL TITLE IS PERTAINING TO THE 3 DECADE OLD STREET/SEWER TAX IN CASE OF CITY GOVERNMENT ABUSES OF THE TAX? SINCE THE ACT REQUIRES VOTER APPROVAL, SURELY THERE MUST BE SOME STATED REMEDY FOR CITIZENS AGAINST MISAPPLICATION OR OTHER ABUSES OF TAX MONIES BY ELECTED OR APPOINTED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. IN THIS VEIN, WHO PROTECTS CITIZEN TAX ASSETS SUCH AS THE SPECIFIED STREET/SEWER TAX AND WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES FOR ABUSE, IF ANY?

If citizens sit idly by as they are presently doing, the corruption will only exacerbate. Those elected and non-elected city officials that fit into the previously mentioned chronological envelope must be punished.

The hubris that the present & past city governments have shown is breathtaking. And now they come with more proposed citizen taxpayer abuse: The federal ultimatums described above are now roommates with pension funds, a 7-8% across the board pay raises…both absent funding, water fluoridation absent funding, huge shortfalls, massive cash disbursements to Griffin/Sicard’s “private” enterprise, the Marshal’s Museum, culminating with 87.59 miles of the United Nation’s Agenda 21 Trails & Bikeways

There have been at least 4 recent meetings for hustling this United Nations Agenda 21 Project. The 2 loudest voices are unelected NGO Parks Commission Chairperson Lorie Robertson and 1st National Bank employee Drew Linder who appears to be the spokesman for the money hustle which Linder says will begin at $9.5 to $17 million startup costs and as citizens plainly should understand, the cost will balloon exponentially. Linder, in all likelihood, is the power-broker in the massive Trail project for downtown investors Griffin, Sicard & their consummate insiders.

The above is another toxic example of city government appointing individuals to powerful NGO’s that have the authority to regulate citizens’ lives in any number of ways.

The first Trail meeting was reported to have been attended by about 5 dozen (60) people. This past Thursday night, the 3rd meeting was convened and was attended by a handful of bicyclists, runners, and 2 bicycle shop owners; the total number of attendees was about a dozen individuals and through the mouths of an NGO are supposedly speaking for 150,000 people in the metropolitan Fort Smith area and accomplishing the city’s con job.

This is more devious misdirection by the Fort Smith City Government projecting the image that citizens are demanding bikeways & trails and the city government is “just trying to accommodate” i.e. 60 people that dovetails into a dozen.

All this in the midst of more massive tax burdens being laid on the backs of city taxpayers.

How is it that the Directors can even consider something as non-essential as “Trails” while dumping tons of raw sewage into the once beautiful Arkansas River system?

The Fort Smith City Government is a Fraud, marching to their own drumbeat. Are some of the City Directors even aware?

YESTERDAY’S TIMES RECORD EDITORIAL: “TAXPAYERS MUST FACE BILLS, MORE”………TRANSLATION: SUCK IT UP, SHUT UP, PAY UP. Never once did the Times Record call for city accountability or a question as to WHERE THE MONEY WENT.

Joe McCutchen
arkansasfreedom.net

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MINDS? December 18, 2014

I vividly recall Fort Smith business man Jerry Hamel repeatedly asking that very question a few years ago at a Fort Smith City Board meeting while they were still honest enough to televise their meetings for taxpayers’ transparency & oversight. That disappeared shortly after.

The question is even more poignant and relative now that we taxpaying citizens discover that for 30 years we’ve been paying a specific tax to have our sewers & streets upgraded to comply with common sense, legitimate costly problems, and an EPA mandate and that the mission is not only NOT accomplished but WE have to cough up a huge fine for that fact with absolutely no explanation or defense for the preventable crisis.

The Fort Smith City Government is worse than derelict, it as a whole or certain individuals within it are complicit in fraud and/or too uniformed to be employed in their capacities.

The most obvious suspect is the man who’s been next to or in charge of city machinations for over 22 years, City Administrator Ray Gosack. (By the way, did we ever find out the whys, wherefores, & outcome of the thousands of dollars’ worth of uncashed checks written to Fort Smith from the Van Buren Water Department that were found stashed in someone’s city desk drawer?)

The cavalier attitude and lack of concern/responsibility exhibited by him, the Mayor & most of the Board is not only irresponsible but unbelievably arrogant or cowardly.

If there is no accountability there is chaos & in all likelihood layers of criminality, period. The easiest job in the world is spending other people’s money, especially if there are no penalties for misfeasance.

More than one individual is responsible for the EPA $300.000 fine and a $200 million edict which has already ballooned to a $ ½ BILLION mandate. Heads should roll. In the private sector they would not only be fired and sued for the missing/misspent money but they would no doubt go to jail. Why should government be any different?

At the very same time we have city & county governments contemplating or already in motion to fluoridate our water (against the voters expressed will), spending millions on trails, bikeways, event nodes, (all of which will be utilized by a miniscule of the population & unneeded)….already losing millions on public transportation, the Convention Center, et al., all unfunded.

Is it any wonder that so many taxpayers distrust their governments? They get taken to the cleaners and the perpetrators (politicrats & private cronies) not only profit but are free of accountability!

The whole scenario mirrors “The Emperor’s New Clothes” parody…the con men convince the Emperor he’s being fitted with fine array and he parades & struts naked in the streets and the people are too intimidated & brainwashed to admit the truth…they just oooh & aaah over the impressive raiment…it takes the innocence/honesty of youth to proclaim that the Emperor is indeed NAKED for the people to admit the truth.

Yes, Mr. Hamel, they have not only lost their minds but also their ethics, honesty, courage and responsibility.

Citizens—don’t any of you care that you have been fleeced like sheep, humiliated, & robbed and no one pays the price for it? Who are you afraid of? Where are your voices…the Emperor is indeed NAKED for all to see.

Where is the press? The Times Record continues to write “minutes of the meeting” type reports day after day, never an investigative report or any hard questions regarding obvious discrepancies…no wonder newspapers are doomed to file 13. Who wants to read the same old politically correct regurgitation on a daily basis?

If fitting into the collective P.C. crowd is more important to citizens than their own hard earned money, property and individual rights/ liberties, then many minds have been lost, along with the rule of law/justice & our Founding Principles…probably forever.

~Barbara McCutchen
arkansasfreedom.net