FORT SMITH -- A lawsuit filed Monday alleges the city Board of Directors violated the open-meetings provision of the Freedom of Information Act by making decisions via email on tax-related proposals.
The city currently collects and controls roughly 2% of sales taxes, with 1% going to roads, 0.75% to bond payments for sewer projects and 0.25% split between the Parks and Fire departments for improvement projects.
The board at its Nov. 16 meeting approved asking voters in a Feb. 8 election to reallocate the 0.75% being used on bond payments to the Police Department and for sewer consent decree purposes.
The consent decree was issued in January 2015 from the Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality against Fort Smith for city sewer repairs after decades of sewage runoff into waterways including the Arkansas River. The decree stated the city would spend "more than $200 million over the next 12 years" to upgrade its sewer collection and treatment.
The lawsuit -- filed by attorney Joey McCutchen on behalf of his client, Kristin Kitchens -- alleges the directors privately rejected a proposal to give a percentage of that money to the city's Parks Department. It further claims the vote constituted an informal meeting and illegal vote, as it wasn't public and no notice was given.
"The City has stated that they have already paid 300 million dollars toward the Consent Decree and apparently still owe north of 600 million dollars," McCutchen said in a news release Tuesday. "It is their intent to generate 150 million dollars through a new sales tax which will be on the ballot on February 8, 2021. Any discussions or votes regarding a special election that will affect the pocket books of the citizens of Fort Smith should be held in the light of day and not in private/secret meetings."
"This illegal vote comes on the heels of the City Board claiming that the details of the Consent Decree cannot be disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement. And now the City Board has attempted an end-run around FOIA by secretly voting on this tax proposal."
Daily and Woods, the law firm that represents the city, could not be reached for comment.