FORT SMITH -- The Board of Directors had three positions open in the general election Tuesday, with Christina Catsavis, a political newcomer, winning the At-Large Position 5 seat, and current board members Kevin Settle and Neal Martin being reelected to Position 6 and Position 7, respectively.
Complete but unofficial results for each race are:
Position 5
Christina Catsavis 10,296 (60%)
Robyn Dawson 6,786 (40%)
Position 6
Kevin Settle 10,411 (61%)
A. Drew Smith 6,534 (39%)
Position 7
Neal Martin 9,481 (57%)
Jackson Goodwin 7,111 (43%)
Mayor George McGill also ran unopposed for reelection but still received 15,784 votes.
Each position is nonpartisan and serves a four-year term. The mayor receives $10,000 a year, and city directors make $1,000 a year by attending each of the 24 board meetings, or $41 per meeting, according to the city code. They aren't compensated for any board meetings they don't attend. Both positions also receive $5,400 a year to reimburse vehicle expenses.
At-large positions are elected by all city voters to represent the entire city. Fort Smith also has four wards and representatives on the city board who represent just their wards.
Position 5 was the only primary election for a city seat, which Catsavis also won with 174 votes, or 45.6%, followed by Dawson with 133 votes, or 34.6%, and Carl Nevin with 75 votes, or 19.6%.
Catsavis said she's over the moon to win the position and get to work for the people of Fort Smith. She said the first thing she hopes to focus on is economic development.
"That's been my focus since day one," Catsavis said. "So bringing good, high-paying jobs to Fort Smith is a focus for me, and continuing upon the growth that we've had over the past few years."
Catsavis owns Smith Jewelry and Living. She said she wants to be part of the excitement the city is experiencing and thinks she could bring a unique perspective to the board.
"I was raised here, so I'm just really passionate about Fort Smith," Catsavis said. "I think Fort Smith sometimes gets a bad rep. Living in Northwest Arkansas, I have a little bit of an idea what people from the outside think, but a lot of it's not true. A lot of it has just kind of been a PR problem. I think that the city's really worked a lot on changing that and showing people what we have to offer here so that we can attract business and retain business and really start to be an economic hub for the area."
Catsavis said the city's biggest issue is having well-paying jobs and retaining businesses. She thinks Fort Smith has a lot of amenities to offer, but jobs are what ultimately will attract young people to move and live here.
Settle has served four terms as an At-Large Position 6 board member and said he's excited about being reelected.
"It shows that the citizens trust me in the future of the city, and I look forward to serving them for the next four years," Settle said.
Settle is also a plant manager at Arkansas Poly and Printing.
Settle said the biggest issues the city faces are working to be selected for the Foreign Military Sales program and the city's sewer consent decree, but that overall, the city has a lot of good things happening.
"We keep trying to chip at it, and I think the public having that vote, allowing those sales tax dollars to be used for consent decree work and freezing sewer rates for three years, allows us now to really go through and start getting those projects knocked out and having a funding source," he said.
Ebbing Air National Guard Base at Fort Smith Regional Airport was selected last year as the Air Force's preferred site for a pilot training center for Singapore and other countries participating in the Foreign Military Sales program.
The city entered into a consent decree in January 2015 with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality. Under the decree, Fort Smith agreed to repair and upgrade its sewer system after decades of sewage runoff into local waterways, including the Arkansas River.
The city agreed to spend more than $200 million over the next 12 years to upgrade its sewer collection and treatment.
The original decree deadline was Jan. 2, 2027, but the city said it couldn't afford to do all of the work by that date. The city was granted a five-year extension to 2032.
Martin was elected to serve his second term as an At-Large Position 7 board member. He works as IT director of Shared Services Center.
Martin said he wants to see the growth the city's had through another term. He said he thinks he's one of the most transparent city directors, posting weekly videos to Facebook about what the board did that week and what he expects it to look at next.
Martin said he also works on behalf of the people, not city government, and he believes that's shown through his votes and interactions with residents.
"I led an effort to defeat an alcohol tax when our bars and restaurants were trying to recover from covid. I felt it was unnecessary," Martin said. "I fought for property rights of citizens, and I've called for additional auditing of our work for the consent decree. So I feel like I've got the heart of the people. I understand where they come from."