FORT SMITH -- Voters will choose between experience and youthful vision when they go to the polls Nov. 6 to elect a city director for the at-large Position 5 seat on the Board of Directors.
The operator of two Fort Smith businesses and principal of Spradling Elementary School, Robyn Dawson says she has the experience, education, communication skills and spirit of service to contribute to the improvement of the city.
Dawson, 55, oversees a school of 430 students and a staff of 60 and manages budgets for the school and the two businesses she runs with her husband.
"I could take the skills that I have and take that servant leadership and put it to work for the city of Fort Smith," she said during a recent candidates forum.
Sam Price, 25, is a self-described millennial who said he wants to give a voice to those who feel forgotten and ignored, such as the single mother working two or three jobs or the elderly person on a fixed income having trouble paying bills.
"I'm running because I believe we can make a profound change in this city if we give a voice back to the people," he said.
All the voters in Fort Smith will vote in the nonpartisan race for the at-large position. Price and Dawson are vying for the four-year term in the seat being vacated by Tracy Pennartz. The position pays $1,000 a year, based on attendance, and a monthly vehicle allowance of $400.
The Fort Smith Board of Directors is composed of three at-large positions and four ward positions.
Price is in his seventh year with McDonald's and serves as a department manager. He graduated from Northside High School and is a full-time student in the Grand Canyon University online program working toward a bachelor's degree in elementary education. He said he plans to teach in Fort Smith after he graduates.
Dawson attended Fort Smith public schools, earned a bachelor's degree in education from Arkansas Tech University and a master's degree in administration from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She serves on the Mercy Community Health Committee and the Mayor's Bicentennial Committee, and is a past member of the Fort Smith Homebuilders Association.
Dawson gave Fort Smith high marks on economic development. She pointed to the opening this year of the Glafelter plant at Chaffee Crossing, the construction of the Silgan Plastic Food Container plant in Fort Smith, the groundbreaking for the second medical school at the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education and Phoenix Investors' plans to renovate the vacant Whirlpool plant in south Fort Smith.
She also mentioned the nearly $6 million in residential building permits issued this year, the opening of a $1.5 million skate park on the Arkansas River and the start of construction of the $50 million U.S. Marshals Museum, also on the river.
She said business owners she has spoken with have said Fort Smith has a good culture, a family environment, diversity and a low cost of living.
"Right now, I'm telling you, Fort Smith is on a roll with this," she said.
For Price, attracting new businesses and industries to Fort Smith involved tangible and intangible factors.
The tangible is the city's infrastructure. He said improvements have to be made to the street system and that the city must eliminate flooding problems. He said the city also needs more sidewalks because children sometimes have to walk to and from school in ditches, and that bikeways and trails should be developed throughout Fort Smith.
The city also needs to be more business-friendly with fewer regulatory roadblocks in businesses' way, he said.
"I think we should do everything we can to bring in more business," Price said. "And I think we should be doing everything we can to make sure our business leaders are happy."
The intangible variable is the "gloom and doom" attitude among many that Fort Smith is not a good place to live and work. He said the city's residents should take on a greater personal role in making their neighborhoods better places.
Price said city leaders also should listen and try to understand why people have a bad attitude about Fort Smith, assess those claims and address them if there is validity to them.
NW News on 10/15/2018