Carol Wright, whose term as the at-large member of the Eureka Springs CityAdvertising and Promotion Commission expired June 30, has applied to be reappointed, indicating that her previous experience would be beneficial to the position.

“Could you please send to me and James an application for CAPC Commissioner?” Wright writes in a July 1 email to tourism director Madison Dawson that was obtained by the Lovely County Citizen. “I think we should fill these out, showing our interest in returning to the position, if that is our choice.”

Wright was apparently referring to James DeVito, whose term also expired June 30.

In a July 7 email to DeVito, Wright writes: “I turned in my application to reapply for the At-Large Commissioner seat. I asked Madison to send you an application to reapply for Commissioner. I hope I’m not being too presumptive.

“I truly hope that you will put your name in – for so many reasons – but mostly, as I felt when I recruited you – you always vote for what you believe is the best thing for Eureka Springs and you are a strong voice for what you believe is right.”

The same day, Wright emailed Dawson to ask if DeVito had submitted an application. When Dawson replied that he had not, Wright responded: “Would you mind sending him a black [sic] and asking him to fill it out if he wants to reup?”

DeVito replied to Wright’s email to say that he had received an offer to purchase his restaurant and would know later in July if the sale would go through.

DeVito announced at the commission’s July 27 meeting, which Wright did not attend, that he had sold the restaurant and that the meeting would be his last. DeVito later told a reporter he was “now living in Texas,” having left Eureka Springs on July 28.

Earlier this year, however, Wright discussed the possibility of replacing DeVito on the commission.

In a Jan. 11 email to Sandy Martin, spouse of mayoral assistant Kim Stryker, with the subject line “Puzzle,” Wright writes: “Given the SAD results of the City Council election of CAPC Commissioners from the City Council, we need to be thoughtful going forward. For now, I’m not going to nominate anyone new to be on the CAPC. Should we have only one nomination from the floor, I will call for another month to advertise for the new position. We need to beat the sticks for people to throw their hats in the ring. … James has missed 3 meetings, so could be asked to leave (prefer to just overlook this right now – with no more missed meetings) – his commission is up in June and I have a feeling he will leave then anyway, but I’ll chat with him about all of this. He and Rodney are GOOD friends. … There also appears to be a concerted effort (as evidenced by Roney [sic] Slane’s FBook of yesterday) to take over the CAPC, City Council and Mayorship (I wonder who else is behind this?). I’d like to cut the legs off this beast before it has time to stand up.”

Council members Nick Roberts and Autumn Slane were chosen as the council’s CAPC representatives on Jan. 10. Mayor Butch Berry later called for a revote because Roberts and Slane had been allowed to vote for themselves, but the outcome was the same.

In a follow-up email to Martin, Wright writes: “I’m hearing James’ new girlfriend is close friends with Jill Slane. Need to feel him out re: how he stands on CHAIR and the open Commission seat. Remember he has missed 3 meetings in a row, so we could replace if necessary, and might need to do this in June anyway (when his term expires). He may choose to retire then (or not). A vote now would be 3/2 (either way) with the Chair making it 3/3 (moot) or 4/2 (win).

This could very well happen with voting on reseating our current Chair – a 3/3 vote would leave the current Chair as the deciding vote OR if he cannot vote for himself would, I assume, leave him installed since the tie vote can’t be broken.”

Wright was appointed to fill a vacancy in the CAPC’s at-large position in 2017. She was reappointed in 2018 and was elected chair of the commission in January 2019. She is currently the commission’s secretary.

Wright’s term on the commission has been marked by controversy. She was chair of the commission when the group decided in July 2019 to hire Lacey Ekberg as executive director — although the commission never voted in public, as required by state law, to approve the hiring. In January 2020, the Lovely County Citizen reported that the resume Ekberg submitted to the CAPC listed several previous jobs as “short-term contracts” despite public records and published accounts indicating they were intended to be long-term positions. Ekberg’s resume also did not mention a position she held for a little more than two months in Alachua County, Fla. — while on partially paid leave from a similar job in Switzerland County, Ind. — before being fired.

After the initial report on Ekberg’s background, Wright called for an executive session at the commission’s next meeting, saying it was to discuss “a personnel issue.” Copies of email correspondence later obtained by the Citizen, however, indicate Wright actually intended for the executive session to focus on crafting a response to the newspaper’s reporting on Ekberg’s background.

The FOIA outlines specific guidelines for public bodies meeting in executive session.

“(E)xecutive sessions will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining, or resignation of any public officer or employee,” the act says, with the only exception being for matters related to the security of a public water system or utility system. “The specific purpose of the executive session shall be announced in public before going into executive session.”

In February 2020, the commission voted to shift Ekberg to a contractor position on a 90-day contract. Later, it was revealed that the commission actually had three separate contracts with Ekberg, although none of them were voted on in open session as required by state law. In April 2020, the commission voted not to renew their agreement with Ekberg, which expired the following month.

Also in 2020, Wright hired a Fayetteville- based private investigator, John Brooks, to look into multiple individuals, emails obtained by the Citizen reveal. In a May 18, 2020, email to Brooks, Wright alleged that a then-CAPC employee had extramarital relationships with a former CAPC commissioner and a former member of the Eureka Springs City Council.

In January 2021, Wright filed a report with the Eureka Springs Police Department, saying she had been threatened by then-commissioner Greg Moon. Later that month, the CAPC voted on vacating Moon’s seat, with Wright declaring the seat vacant although a motion to that effect garnered only three of the four necessary votes. Wright later testified in court that she cast the fourth vote to vacate the seat, despite a video recording of the meeting that shows she did not vote on the motion.

Carroll County Circuit Court Judge Scott Jackson ruled that the commission did not have the authority to vacate Moon’s seat and ordered his reinstatement. Moon later resigned, referring to the turmoil around the CAPC as a “fiasco” and calling Wright’s court testimony “perjured.”

Moon is among several plaintiffs who filed suit against Wright, Mayor Butch Berry and several other city officials in March 2021. That lawsuit remains pending in Carroll County Circuit Court, with the plaintiffs seeking more than $30 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Wright’s application for reappointment to the commission is dated July 1.

A section on the application asks “How do you think the city would benefit by having you serve in this position?”

Wright’s answer: “Continuity.”