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FORT SMITH — It’s been two years since the covid-19 pandemic started, with the recent omicron variant adding increased challenges to everyday operations, including city government.
Shari Cooper, Fort Smith communications manager, said out of 932 city employees, roughly 76 tested positive for covid in the last three months. She said all were asked to quarantine due to CDC guidelines, and the city doesn’t keep records of how many labor hours went unworked for positions that couldn’t be done remotely.
City Administrator Carl Geffken said each city department prepares for labor shortages differently based on their priorities.
“Some departments can ask their employees to work overtime, others may be able to allow some employees to work from home while quarantining, but others may not be able to perform their jobs from home,” he explained. “Department heads ensure city programs, projects, and services continue without interruption through agile management strategies.”
Geffken said the Parks and Recreation Department specifically has been working with a lean staff, which causes things such as the city’s Christmas lights to be taken down slower.
Covid can make a bigger impact on smaller governments, such as Barling.
Assistant Finance Director Megan Griffin said five of 31 full time employees tested positive by mid-January, leading them to close city hall to the public and solely use drop box, phone and email to do business “as normal as possible.”
“As of Jan. 15, we had 102 sick hours due to omicron,” Griffin said. “Those hours didn’t technically go unworked, due to other officers working over time and adjusting schedules.”
Griffin said Barling’s Police Department had the biggest impact from employees testing positive.
Cooper said Fort Smith’s Utilities and Police departments have had the biggest impact, but said they’re also some of the city’s largest departments.
Fort Smith Police Chief Danny Baker said roughly 14 employees were out for testing positive or exposure to covid in mid-January, a decrease from the initial omicron surge at the beginning of the year. He said illnesses have been spread across the department, leaving no specific area overly stressed and allowing the department to function normally.
Baker attributed the trend to the department’s covid response plan, which has been in place since February 2020.
“Since the very beginning of this pandemic, our response at the Fort Smith Police Department has been fashioned around the objective of making sure we have plenty of healthy employees to continue providing basic police services within our community,” Baker said. “In addition to proven strategies such as wearing masks, social distancing, hand washing and vaccination, we have continued to take other proactive measures to inhibit the spread of covid-19 among our officers as the need has arisen. We have been successful in that endeavor and will come through this latest surge of the omicron variant in like manner.”
“We are all tired, but we cannot give up. The end is in sight,” he added.
Baker said the department is looking for alternatives to physical arrests, such as pre-arrest diversion or addressing medical issues. He said these actions would limit physical contact and thus help control spreading covid.
“We are constantly monitoring the staffing levels and communicating with surrounding agencies, and will do our best to continue to provide the level of service our community expects from us,” he said.
The Arkansas Department of Health reports Sebastian County has 2,915 active covid cases as of Thursday , with 11.2% of the population partially immunized and an additional 47.5% fully immunized against the virus.
The counties with the most new cases as of Friday include Pulaski with 667, Benton with 538 and Washington with 363.
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