The Fort Smith Board of Directors on Tuesday (March 3) approved the modification of a federal consent decree that, according to Mayor George McGill, “puts us at a great place” to make meaningful and mandated improvements to the city’s sewer system.
After decades of failing to maintain the city sewer system, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice executed a consent decree in 2014 with the city of Fort Smith that required certain improvements to the city’s sewer system. The federal agencies were acting under provisions of the U.S. Clean Water Act initially established in 1972.
The consent decree also followed a 1982 administrative order with which the city did not adequately comply.
In May 2022, Fort Smith voters passed a 0.75% sales tax from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2030, with 83.3% of the revenue going to federal consent decree work on the city’s water and sewer system. Funding for consent decree work also has come in part from water and sewer bill increases, which were up 167% between 2015 and 2022. Fort Smith voters in May 2025 approved a sales tax plan to provide $360 million over 30 years to fund the mandated sewer system work.
Paul Calamita, an attorney with Richmond, Va.-based AquaLaw, told the board prior to Tuesday’s vote that the modification provides “a fresh start, a complete reset,” that will give the city the time and flexibility to meet consent decree requirements. Key provisions that benefit the city, according to Calamita, include an 11.5-year extension of the original 15-year deadline that is set to expire Jan. 1, 2027. The proposed plan moves the compliance deadline to June 30, 2038.
Another change gives the city flexibility to schedule mandated work, setting a three-year average for required work instead of mandating a specific annual amount. Also, a 19% sewer rate increase that would have been required after 2031 by the two federal agencies was not included in the proposed modified plan.
Also, the DOJ and EPA agreed in the modified proposal to revise its dispute resolution process to set a time limit — “shot clock” — on the agencies to submit a statement of position should they disagree with a dispute raised by the city. This change prevents the agencies from delaying the city’s ability to take a dispute to court, Calamita said.
He said if the board approves the modification, it will then require approval from Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, the Arkansas Energy & Environment agency, and the EPA and DOJ.
“I don’t expect any substantive changes through that process,” Calamita said. “We’re dealing with experienced case teams at both EPA and DOJ.”
Calamita also pushed back against claims that the city was at the mercy of the federal agencies with no leverage during the negotiating process.
“I think we’ve been in a strong negotiating position which is why we’ve almost doubled the amount of time, and, plus, gotten additional flexibility,” he said. “They wouldn’t have given that to us if they had to drag us along.”
Calamita also said the modification recognizes a primary flaw in the initial consent decree.
“The error here was the original 12 years was agreed to without really understanding what the body of work was,” he said. “So, we set ourselves up to fail. This modification gives us a very fair chance to be successful.”
The board would unanimously vote 6-0 to approve the modification. Director Christina Catsavis did not attend Tuesday’s meeting. She told Talk Business & Politics she would have voted to table the vote for more discussion.
“I was not prepared to vote in favor tonight,” Director Catsavis noted in a statement. “Had I been present, I would have made a motion to table the item so the Board had more time to fully review the agreement. Everything about this process was rushed. While the (city) administration has had well over a year to work through the details of this modification, the Board itself was only presented with the final agreement a little over a week ago.”
Mayor George McGill said the modified decree happened because city officials decided to not be “combative,” but instead to work with the federal agencies to find solutions.
“It’s been a long time coming, and on behalf of all of us up here, we thank the citizens of Fort Smith for trusting us with the bond issues,” McGill said after the board vote. “We thank all of those who put their heart and soul into communicating and drafting the information that is necessary to put us at this point.”
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