Fort Smith resident sues city over recycling

A Fort Smith resident sued the city of Fort Smith alleging its failure to disclose that the city was not recycling during a 22-month period that started in July 2015.

Jennifer Merriott sued the city and represents all the people who paid a monthly sanitation fee during those 22 months. She is represented by Whitfield Hyman. 

Merriott sued the city for $853,000 in order to give those people a refund. Hyman sent out 40,000 letters to those customers informing them of the issue. About 100 responded and said they did not want a refund from the lawsuit. 

Hyman said the best-case scenario would be that each of those people would receive about $30 in the refund. 

“We feel that $853,000 was incredibly conservative," Hyman said.

The suit came to trial Monday and Tuesday with Judge Stephen Tabor presiding. Hyman said that Tabor estimated that he will have a verdict within the next three weeks. 

Hyman said that Merriott felt that by filing the suit, she is bringing attention to the issue and pressing the importance of recycling. 

“She didn’t feel that was right for them to do that without telling anyone," Hyman said. 

City Administrator Carl Geffken said the city was trying to find a solution to the recycling problem before officials brought the issue to the board. The process took longer than the city expected. 

Geffken conceded to Hyman's main point — that the city should have told residents that the city was no longer recycling. 

“In hindsight, we agree with that — hindsight being 2020," Geffken said. 

The city has been recycling 100% of the recyclables it collects since June 2017 and is now recycling more items than it ever has before. 

Alex Gladden is a University of Arkansas graduate. She previously reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Jonesboro Sun before joining the Times Record. She can be contacted at agladden@swtimes.com.