City street director addresses work done on Free Ferry private property

A citizen complaint about work being done on private land by City of Fort Smith street department employees led to a call to Matt Meeker, the interim operations director for the city of Fort Smith on Wednesay, who explained the decision as to why the work was conducted.

Meeker, who has been the interim boss of the street department since May, said the work was done to clean the drainage outfall that empties into a small lake of a condominium complex located in the 5600-5700 block of Free Ferry Road.

The work was done at the behest of the Property Owners Association of the complex. The complex is located a few hundred yards west of Interstate 540 on Free Ferry Lane.

“The POA out there had approached us because the drainage from the city easement to the outfall that drains into their lake had become clogged with dirt, rip rap and debris,” said Meeker. “Anytime there is a problem, even if it’s on private land, that is the result of something that we are responsible for we try and address the situation.”

Meeker, who readily admitted the work had taken place, said the POA torn down a fence to give the city workers access and were responsible for putting the fence back up. He said said city workers were on site at the job for about eight hours on Tuesday.

He did not say who specifically requested or authorized the the work, which was apparently the second time city crews had “cleaned out the outfall.”

“I know for a fact we did the same exact thing in 2015,” said Meeker. “But they were told this time that this was the last time and they would have to fix it on their own in the future.”