Petitions to change Fort Smith city government handed over to Mayor's office with 1000 extra signatures

Fort Smith residents seeking a change in the city's form of government delivered their petition signatures to city officials on Monday, August 3, 2026, marking a significant step toward placing the issue before voters in November.

Attorney Joey McCutchen, a key organizer of the effort, said the group turned in the petitions that morning to the mayor and city clerk.

"We turned over right at a thousand extra signatures," McCutchen said. "The petition organizers and the city both signed an affidavit in the hopes there will be no misunderstanding from either party."

The petition seeks to shift Fort Smith from its current city administrator form of government, in which a professional administrator hired by the Board of Directors manages day-to-day operations, to a mayor-council structure that would make an elected mayor the chief executive.

Organizers needed 2,607 valid signatures from registered voters living within city limits to qualify the measure for the ballot. They collected well beyond that threshold, providing a substantial cushion against any signatures that might be invalidated during the verification process.

McCutchen noted that the volunteer signature gatherers had worked weekends and evenings for months and that the response from Fort Smith residents reflected broad engagement across different walks of life.

City Clerk Sherri Gard's office is responsible for verifying the signatures. The hard deadline for getting the signatures certified in time for the November ballot is August 25. However, once the minimum number needed to place the question on the ballot is confirmed, the city can stop counting. It is not necessary for the city clerk's office to certify the entire package of signatures submitted.

The citizen-driven petition process gained momentum after the Fort Smith Board of Directors repeatedly declined to place the question on the ballot itself through an ordinance.

Directors Neal Martin, Christina Catsavis, and George Catsavis have supported board action to refer the matter to voters. Others, including Jared Rego, have opposed or withheld support in earlier votes that fell short of the required concurrence.

Rego, who has been one of the holdout votes, apparently stated that if the signature count is reached, he will reverse the stance he has taken on the issue to this point and vote with Martin and the Catsavis' to go ahead and put the issue on the ballot through Board of Directors approvals.

If the verified signatures meet the threshold, the question will appear on the November 2026 ballot. Approval by voters would lead to elections for the new form of government in 2028. Rejection would bar the issue from returning to the ballot for four years under state law.

Organizers have emphasized that the effort is about giving citizens a direct voice on how their city is structured and governed. Verification of the signatures is now underway, with results expected to determine whether Fort Smith voters will decide the matter this fall.