The three candidates for Fort Smith City Director, Ward 1, all agree that working to create an environment for job growth will be their top priority if elected. Each candidate also disagreed with a recent action by the Fort Smith Board to change the city's ordinance for sexually oriented businesses. If this issue were to resurface in , how would you vote?
Lau: It was a mistake to vote the way they did in May The precedent is there. Why is this board putting us in jeopardy again? I want to get it as low as possible without subjecting ourselves to a lawsuit. TCW: Should you be elected to the Ward 1 position, what are some of the next big issues that you anticipate facing during your term?
Armstrong: The economy and jobs. Working with small businesses to see how we can help them create more jobs. I also feel like the budget is going to be a huge issue. We need to get the spending under control, and have more transparency with documents that are being requested under Freedom of Information. The city has a lot of financial records already online, but we need more transparency, more trust.
I would suggest opening the checkbook. When you read the budget, there are a lot of line items that get lumped into the spending, but I think we should show salaries for different employees and department heads, how much each department spends on the administrative costs they have, the director and their personnel, that sort of thing. Lau: I am concerned about the city Board of Directors micromanaging the departments of the city of Fort Smith.
We also need to make it more friendly for businesses to do business in Fort Smith. We need to stay the course. The Convention Center is improving, bringing in more business and revenue, but people are still questioning whether it should be there. The rest is economic development, and some of the bigger picture ideas the city needs to look at. Previous post. Next post.
