Hearing garners no public comment

FORT SMITH — A public hearing opened and closed without public comment Tuesday on a proposed ordinance to issue $160 million worth of water and sewer refinancing and construction revenue bonds.

City directors are expected to vote at their July 24 meeting on the ordinance to issue bonds for work on the city’s water system, to comply with a federal consent decree for wastewater system improvements and to pay for wastewater system improvements that aren’t part of the consent decree.

A memo by Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman said $67 million of the bonds will refinance bonds issued in 2008. The refinancing will save the city about $9.6 million in bond-debt payments.

New water and sewer projects will get $82 million from the bonds. Projects include water transmission upgrades and capacity and repair work to comply with the consent decree.

The remaining $11 million is for premiums, reserves or to meet changes in bond pricing before they are issued.

Fort Smith is under a 2015 federal consent decree from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to make improvements to a wastewater system that puts the city in violation of the Clean Water Act.

The city is on schedule to complete the improvements in 12 years at an estimated cost of $480 million.

Officials estimate the city will spend about $20.7 million this year on consent decree work. According to a city Utilities Department capital improvement program, the work includes system capacity improvement design and construction, sewer system assessment and construction, and pump station design work.

Non-consent decree wastewater work this year will total nearly $2.8 million. The largest portion of that will be more than $1.5 million for engineering work on the Massard Wastewater Treatment Plant replacement and phasing study. City directors passed a resolution Tuesday to hire Garver Inc. to conduct the study.

Work on the water system for 2018 is estimated to cost nearly $6 million and include equipment replacement at the Lee Creek and Lake Fort Smith water treatment plants. Water distribution system repair, rehabilitation, replacement and improvements along with equipment maintenance is estimated to cost $3.5 million.