FORT SMITH (KFSM) — Fort Smith city administrator Carl Geffken said the city is working with Fort Smith Police regarding the River Valley Sports Complex situation.
“By all means,” he said.
When asked what was part of the investigation, he said, “One of the things were W-9 (forms). You’re not allowed to sign a W-9 and two of them were signed and agreed by Sen. (Jake) Files that he had signed them on behalf,” Geffken said.
He continued, “And you cannot have a general affidavit sign that releases or asks you to do something like that.”
5NEWS reached out to Fort Smith Police Sergeant, Daniel Grubbs, as well. In a text, he said the issues with the city have not been presented for his department to investigate.
Geffken did say an official report has not been filed yet and explained, “that’s the report our internal auditor is working on. Because the amount of information we have is a lot, but is by no means complete.”
He went on to say there are interviews the auditor has to conduct and, “plenty of site visits she’s had to do to make sure the information is correct and verified.”
The city of Fort Smith is suing state Sen. Jake Files and Sebastian County Election Commissioner Lee Webb. Files and Webb make up the River Valley Sports Complex developers. The lawsuit asks for them to pay for the completion of a sports complex they were supposed to develop and return nearly $27,000 of state grant money.
In February, the city terminated its contract with the River Valley Sports Complex. By then, the city had already donated $1.08 million of an agreed $1.6 million to the project.
Meanwhile, the state grant money was sent to an unlicensed contractor who Geffken says did none of the work she was hired to do.
5NEWS attempted to contact Sen. Files for comment and did not hear back.
Geffken mentioned that if a W-9 is violated, it would make this a federal case.
