The Eureka Springs City Council has taken the first step in regulating camping on private property.
At its regular meeting Monday, July 25, at The Auditorium, the council voted 5-1 to assign a number and approve the first reading of an ordinance aimed at cutting down on camping or using a vehicle as temporary residence that may draw the ire of neighboring residents.
The new proposed ordinance would allow the city to ticket both those camping and the owner of the property if camping takes place more than seven times in a year, but only when there’s a complaint.
“Part of this is, if the neighbors complain, then that would bring it to the attention of the city,” said Forrest Jacobi, Eureka Springs city attorney. “If nobody complains, then they’re not a nuisance. The problem is that we have vehicles parking on private property that have been there for quite a length of time. And neighbors are not happy with this.
“If your neighbors don’t complain, nobody cares. However, there are some that people are complaining and this would allow them to complain and allow the police to come in and issue tickets and stop that …Like I said, one particular spot I can think of, there were three vans in there. And it was playing music late at night and they’ve been there for six, eight months. They’re living [there], not just camping.”
Council member Terry McClung pointed out that regulations are needed only for temporary lodging in places such as yards and driveways.
“It’s one thing if your kids or grandkids are putting up a pup tent in the backyard and sleeping in the yard,” McClung said. “But do it as a place to live, no sir.”
Council members Harry Meyer and Melissa Greene both said they have received complaints about the issue.
“There’s two or three vehicles on a piece of property that have been there since the springtime,” Meyer said. “And they’ve got bags of trash and they’ve been living there, right there within spitting distance of people’s homes. And it’s not been very sanitary. So, yeah, we don’t need that.”
The only council member to vote against the proposed ordinance was Autumn Slane, who said she felt more research is necessary before taking any action.
“I just find it hard to believe that we don’t have anything other than this ordinance that you guys want to put in regulating any of these things,” Slane said. “I would like to do a little more research myself. I feel a little bit rushed on this. That’s my opinion.”
The proposed ordinance will have to be read and approved by the council two more times to go into effect.
“Again, only the neighbors would be counting or checking up on this and bringing it to the attention of the police,” Jacobi said. “If someone would be violating this, if somebody came in and, you know, parked on a weekend and came back two months later, parked on a weekend, and they’re not causing any problems, there would be no issues.”
In other council business, the council approved transferring parking meters from downtown parking lots to replace broken meters along streets. This will be a temporary fix as the city continues to monitor a long-term plan for downtown parking meters.
The council also approved leasing a small piece of land behind city-owned property at 55 S. Main Street to Kolin Paulk, for five years for $500. A grease disposal container will be housed on the land.
LAWSUIT, RESIGNATION
Slane tried to get two additional items added to the agenda early in the meeting pertaining to two items recently reported in the Lovely County Citizen. She requested an item to discuss a lawsuit filed by former city employee Dannelle Tomarchio against the city, Mayor Butch Berry, finance director Lonnie Clark and human resources coordinator Jerry King.
“I would like to put Dannelle’s lawsuit on the agenda to talk about what her position is and what her role and what happened,” Slane said.
Berry responded: “We really can’t discuss that.”
Jacobi then responded that since it’s an ongoing lawsuit, the subject wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss.
“It’s an ongoing lawsuit,” Jacobi said. “And normally you don’t talk about those. It’s between the attorneys and the parties involved. The city will be informed when it’s ready to be resolved or settled.”
“We have a copy [of the lawsuit] at City Hall and you’re more than welcome to look at it,” Berry said to Slane.
Slane later asked, “So how do we know that we are doing everything we can as a city to make sure that these lawsuits are not continuing to happen?”
“Well, we can’t do anything about that,” Jacobi said. “People sue us because they feel like it. It doesn’t mean it has any merits to this suit. It’s just that the city will continue to get sued because that’s what happens. But you can read up on the lawsuit and try to answer your questions.”
Slane then asked that a discussion of the resignation of former fire marshal Jim Kelley be put on the agenda, but again was deferred saying that since Kelley was no longer a city employee that there was no merit for discussion.
Kelley submitted his resignation earlier this year in a letter in which he laid out what he described as the “downfall of the fire department.”
Later in the meeting, council member Nick Roberts added to the next council meeting’s agenda various topics about the fire department.
In her council member comments near the end of the meeting, Slane again addressed the issues she had tried to get added to the agenda.
“I just want to say that I think it’s important as a council to protect our staff and our community,” she said. “And that’s all I’ve tried to do today, is bring up some issues that have arose and that are very public. And I think our citizens have questions about these things and to be shut down constantly at this table, even when I’ve had a second, even when it’s fair to talk about, is not appropriate.”
