Byline: CONVENTION CENTER ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT $40 M

(Times Record…October 28, 2015)

Executive Director Claude Legris begins this exercise in typical government bloviating nonsense.
That followed by arrogant ineptitude by the actions of the Mayor and City Board.

First in glowing terms, Legris says how well the Convention Center is doing financially. Followed by the admission the failed institution is continuing to be subsidized to the tune of $770,000 taxpayer dollars per year.

Now the kicker: our city “leaders” (in this case the Mayor & City Board) want to divert the Convention Center’s allowance of $770,000 per year to the defunct Fire & Police Pension fund (where did the money go?), mostly due to the departed City Manager Ray Gosack & this and other Mayors, City Boards and City Managers.

And now the blockbuster, in typical government thuggery, the City Board & the Mayor to cover-up their ineptitudes want to enact a ½ % Sales Tax to be awarded to, you guessed it, Claude Legris and the rest of the overpaid Convention Center crowd.
Only in government can this kind of mentality not only survive, but reign supreme!

The Ft. Smith City government and the Ft. Smith Public School Superintendent Benny Gooden along with the School Board can only leave you shaking your head and asking what in the hell is going on?

Joe McCutchen
arkansasfreedom.net