Developers, residents press Centerton council over sewer capacity; Decatur mayor outlines plant upgrades

Centerton developers and residents pressed the Centerton City Council on Aug. 12 for clearer timelines and public reporting from Centerton Utilities about sewer capacity and flow monitoring, saying lack of measurable milestones has stalled projects.

The hearing began with Skip Anderson, owner of Anderson Custom Homes, who told the council he has repeatedly asked Centerton Utilities for concrete time frames. "They will not on their minutes, when they're talking about each section, they won't give you any time frames about when anything is going to be accomplished or how long they anticipate anything to take," Anderson said during public comment. He said a project of his near the water towers — 51 lots with mixed housing and seven commercial lots — has been “completely stuck” by the utility’s capacity requirements.

Why it matters: Several speakers said Centerton’s lack of dated commitments and publicly available recordings or minutes makes it hard for developers to plan and for residents to assess when approved developments may move forward.

The council heard a detailed presentation from Bob Tharpe, mayor of Decatur, who said Decatur has been expanding treatment capacity at its wastewater plant and has pursued state approvals and grant funding. Tharpe told the council Decatur’s headworks construction is nearly complete and that Decatur expects to receive a health-department-approved increase in permitted biological capacity to about 5.36 million gallons per day, contingent on permits and final equipment installation. "If everything is perking along and we're not over capacity then we're doing a great job," Tharpe said.

Discussion vs. decision: Council members and several residents repeatedly asked Centerton Utilities and the Water & Sewer Commission for more transparency and for meetings or recordings to be shared with the council. The mayor said he would forward the meeting recording to the utilities commission and asked staff to obtain the contract between Centerton and Decatur for review; council members requested a joint special meeting with the utility commission to review the contract and capacity plan. No formal action (vote or new ordinance) was taken on the council floor regarding the utilities during this meeting.

Substantive concerns raised: Anderson and other speakers asked for — and repeatedly emphasized — three items:
- Public, dated project timelines and estimated completion dates in the utilities’ director reports; speakers said director reports lacked such time frames.
- Prompt implementation of a full year (or more) of flow monitoring that the Arkansas Department of Health will accept; speakers said prior monitoring runs were shorter than ADH required.
- Transparent lists identifying developments approved by the city and their order in the queue for capacity allocation.

Council follow-up: Mayor Bill Edwards said he would send the recording and ask the utilities commission and staff to meet with the council and provide the requested documentation, and the council asked staff and the city attorney to obtain and circulate the Decatur contract for review before a proposed joint meeting.

Ending: The council did not adopt formal policy changes at the meeting; members instead asked for documents and proposed a special joint meeting with the utilities commission so the council can review the contract, flow-monitoring schedule, and a timeline for when capacity changes are expected to affect city approvals.