FORT SMITH -- The city of Fort Smith has outlined multiple 10-year plans for a variety of improvements to its water and wastewater system, including those pertaining to its consent decree.
The Fort Smith Board of Directors was presented three capital improvement plans for 2021-30 during its study session Tuesday. These consisted of plans for water systems maintenance and improvements, as well as consent decree and non-consent decree wastewater systems maintenance and improvements. Ultimately, the board moved to place these capital improvement plans, as well as others it reviewed earlier last month, on the agenda for its regular meeting Nov. 10.
Fort Smith officials signed a consent decree in 2015 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and the state. The city agreed to make an estimated $480 million in repairs and upgrades to its wastewater system over the course of 12 years to clear up chronic violations of the federal Clean Water Act.
The city raised its sewer rates by 167% from 2015-17 to help fulfill the requirements of said consent decree.
Fort Smith announced May 8 that the EPA and the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality had agreed the previous evening that the city had demonstrated that its sewer improvement program will be "inordinately expensive" and qualified for five more years of implementation time on top of the 12 already set forth. They also agreed to grant more flexibility with certain interim deadlines, allowing the city to extend expensive system improvements over the entirety of the remaining schedule.
City Utility Director Lance McAvoy wrote in a memo that although the utility department would be presenting 10-year capital improvement plans, it would be seeking funding approval for only the projects for 2021. Projects approved by the board for that year and which may not have funds available to implement them will be rescheduled to 2022, accordingly.
"Due to covid-19, many of the 2020 CIP projects were either not started or slowed down to reduce the possible financial impact on the city by reduced revenue and to ensure the financial stability of the Department during the crisis," McAvoy wrote. "Some projects were continued due to the immediate need and critical impact they have on the city as a whole (an example would be the 2019 Flood Recovery Project)."
The current 10-year total for the consent decree wastewater capital improvement plan is $246,121,100, with $22,090,100 being the estimated total for 2021, according to McAvoy. The plan is based on the current required projects, although it spreads several projects over the span of multiple years and reschedules some to be more financially feasible. It has been submitted to the Department of Justice, the EPA, and the Arkansas attorney general for their consideration as well.
"The city is still working to address the multiple challenges we face in the overall compliance and financing of the consent decree," McAvoy wrote.
This capital improvement plan outlines 19 projects slated for 2021, although funding allocations for some of them span multiple years. The estimated costs for these projects for the year vary greatly, with the lowest being $40,000 to design repairs to correct wastewater pipe issues in Basin MC07 and the most expensive being $4.5 million to complete repairs to correct wastewater pipe issues in Basin S004, S003, S008, S009, P007 and FL01. The latter project is not currently funded.
As for the non-consent decree wastewater capital improvement plan, McAvoy said the current 10-year total for that is $145,038,000. However, the plan will be updated after a replacement study, conceptual design and phasing plan for the Massard Treatment Plant are completed, which is to happen in December. This is because they will allow the city to better understand how much it will cost and how long it will take to expand, update and modernize the plant.
"One item that has already come out of the phasing study is reflected in past CIPs having the complete replacement of the plant in a three to four-year period," McAvoy said. "We are now setting CIP needs based on certain trigger events, thus the overall cost may be spread out over a greater time period."
The total amount for the plan for 2021 is estimated at $25,350,000, McAvoy said.
McAvoy said the 10-year total for the water systems maintenance and improvements capital improvement plan right now is $217,360,000. The total for 2021 is estimated at $15,042,000.
The overall 10-year total of these three capital improvement plans from the Utility Department is $608,519,100, according to McAvoy.
City Administrator Carl Geffken said these plans are going to be relatively fluid. This is especially the case with the consent decree wastewater plan, as the city has been "working diligently" with the federal Department of Justice and EPA, in addition to state and local representatives.
"So, this is a presentation on what we think needs to be done," he said, adding that "hopefully, there are changes coming up, but we don't know that yet -- hence the reason why the full consent decree has been budgeted," Geffken said.
He said that "if there's less there, then there's money available for other things."
"There are a lot of moving parts at this point, but considering that three years ago we never did present a capital improvement plan, we've come a long way, and there's still revisions that can be made. But at this point, we're at the initial phase of finalizing ... our discussions and work that we've been doing with the Department of Justice and EPA. We've had a very good and frank relationship with them, and we hope that it will come out successful."