July 15, 2018

Re: “Fort Smith Development Solutions”: the first words out of City Mgr. Carl Geffken’s mouth=taxes & funding (what a novel idea) and mimicking other Arkansas cities will not bring success, i.e. NW Ark.

Success will only come when we ID our own resources: introducing appropriate new ideas, entrepreneurship, & building on our past history—all absent in the present city government. The present Mayor, the next Mayor, the Board of Directors & the City Manager have long ago burned out like an expended roman candle.

We are observing the results or lack of results by past and present city governments who citizens unfortunately see fit to retain for decades. Not smart.

Again, suppressing new ideas, methods, ingenuity and permitting city insiders to dictate the whole tenor of business by citizens will not bring success. For example, the present Board, City Manager & City Attorney are so enthralled with all their self-serving aggrandizement, e.g. their stupid/arrogant appeal to the Ark. Supreme Court recommended by their greedy lawyer who advocated for the appeal, especially since County Prosecutor Dan Shue and the County Sheriff said what the Board members did was a violation of the FOIA and bordered on criminality. Taxpayer cost? High 5 figures.

Standing in the wings waiting for election time are two full-time self-serving, 30 year graduates of the government public welfare trough. Why not bring some fresh air & honest enthusiasm into the city and vote for the 3rd non-insider candidate—young, smart, innovative and will bring exposure to the downtown swamp?

It is obscene to allow our total city government to end up with a huge surplus. Zero budgetry must be implemented and in this case the surplus returned to the citizen taxpayers.

Joe McCutchen
Arkansas Freedom dot Com