Change-of-government question returning to Fort Smith board meeting

Here we go again. The Fort Smith Board of Directors is set to vote on placing a change-of-government question on the November 2026 general election ballot. A board considered the question during a May 19 regular meeting, but the matter fell one vote short of ballot placement.

Director George Catsavis during the board’s Tuesday (June 16) regular meeting called for the vote to be placed on the next regular meeting, which is set for July 7. Director Christina Catsavis, his daughter and a mayoral candidate on the November ballot, seconded the request. The concurrence of two directors during a meeting places an item on a future meeting agenda.

A group of citizens are collecting signatures that would seek a vote on the city’s form of government. As of June 17, the petitioners have around 3,100 signatures toward the effort to have a mayor-council form of government rather than the council-manager form now in place.

The group will have to submit 2,608 valid voter signatures by late July or early August, verified by Fort Smith City Clerk Sherri Gard, for the item to be placed on the November ballot. Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen has said they will seek 700-800 more signatures than the required number to cushion against losing signatures deemed invalid.

The board on May 12 heard a presentation that explained the process to change the form of government and key details of a new government. Colby Roe, an attorney with Daily & Woods, which provides legal support for the city, made the presentation.

A discussion Tuesday (May 12) about the process to change the Fort Smith form of government produced two competing future board agenda items. One item calls for a change of government vote in November 2026. The other would set a vote in November 2027.

During the May 19 board meeting. Directors Christina Catsavis, George Catsavis, and Neal Martin voted to place the question on the 2026 ballot. Directors André Good, Lee Kemp, and Jarred Rego voted against it. Director Kevin Settle abstained, leaving the measure short of the four votes needed to pass. Rego made a motion to place the question on the November 2027 ballot, but did not receive a second to his motion. Without a second, the motion died.

In Fort Smith’s form of government, the city administrator is the CEO, managing an annual budget of more than $300 million and more than 1,000 city employees who provide safety, sanitation, water, sewer, and other key services to a city with a population of about 90,000. The city administrator is hired by the board of directors and can be fired at any time by the board.

Changing to a mayor-council form of government would place management responsibility with the mayor. Most large cities in Arkansas with a mayor-council government have at least one experienced city manager supporting the mayor in day-to-day operations. The mayor-council form of government would also include elections for city clerk, city attorney, and city treasurer, according to state law.

If voters approve a change of government in November 2026, elections for the new government would be held in November 2028. If voters reject a change of government, state law prevents the question from returning to voters for four years.