Members of the Eureka Springs City Council were surprised to learn that some electronic devices examined as part of a lawsuit against the city’s advertising and promotion commission were “wiped clean” before being inspected by an out-of-state forensics company.
At its Sept. 12 regular meeting, city council members spent time discussing the issue, which came to light in a recent report in the Lovely County Citizen.
“I want to thank Scott Loftis for the informative article that he wrote,” city council member Melissa Greene said. “But I kind of was just stunned.”
At the request of an attorney representing the defendants in the civil lawsuit connected to CAPC, a digital forensics firm collected computers and other electronic devices from the CAPC office for examination in November 2021.
Technicians from Avansic eDiscovery + Digital Services collected a total of 39 devices from the CAPC office then located at 122 E. Van Buren, Suite 3, and from the Eureka SpringsAuditorium on Nov. 4, 2021, according to copies of email communications between Avansic representatives and attorney Amanda LaFever of theArkansas Municipal League.
The Citizen obtained copies of the email correspondence through an open records request to LaFever, who represents the defendants in the lawsuit filed in Carroll County Circuit Court by Eureka Springs attorney Tim Parker in March 2021.
Those emails revealed that a number of computers and tablets were not able to be accessed, with some being factory reset.
“I am curious as to who would authorize a factory reset, because by talking to the present chair of the CAPC and a past chair, they do not remember ever authorizing any reset,” Greene said at the Sept. 12 council meeting. “So … if you want something [on a device], if there’s any information out, it’s no longer open to the public.
“I’m just kind of perplexed.”
City attorney Forrest Jacobi said the records on all the devices should have been kept.
“If the servers belong to the CAPC, which is a governmental entity, yes, it appears the allegation is that they were reset without authorization,” Jacobi said. “The records should have been retained.”
City council member Harry Meyer said he recalled an instance when he was a CAPC commissioner where a computer was erased without authority.
“I remember the finance guy [Rick Bright] coming into the commission meeting one day and saying that he needed to buy a new computer station for Karen [Pryor], one of the employees,” Meyer said. “Well, after that, that’s when he contacted the guy in Georgia who hosted the Web site. And he came up. And instead of just installing that, he wiped all the computers for him and installed the programing. … I know the commission did not vote to authorize that.”
Council member Terry McClung, who ran the meeting in the absence of Mayor Butch Berry, said the city should have procedures in place to protect all data.
“I would assume, or at least I do assume that the city would have some directive for backing up all systems, whether it be, you know, the financials, everything at the mayor’s office, CAPC, parks, everybody should be required to back up everything on a scheduled basis.” McClung said. “And if they’re not doing that … I mean, that’s negligent. That’s just absolutely negligent. Whether it’s the CAPC or whoever.”
Council member Autumn Slane agreed. “I think things like this need to be addressed because we as a community here are not always at the forefront of technology and what is required to ensure that we’re doing the proper steps,” Slane said. “And who is in charge or not in charge is, who knows at this point? Because it sounds like some guy just walked in and just wiped it to set things straight.
“But I definitely think this is a conversation that all of our departments need to be understanding of and what this actually is, because this is a delete of information and now none of this can be FOIA’d and now none of it is public …”
Greene requested the subject be added to the agenda for the council’s next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 26.
YELLOW BAGS
In another discussion, the council debated the quality of the yellow plastic bags used for trash in the city.
Dwayne Allen, director of the city’s public works department, was asked if the durability of the bags has diminished in recent months.
“Has the quality gone down?” Greene asked. “I mean, I’m getting just a ton of complaints. The people that are talking to me, showed them to me and they’re really flimsy.”
Allen said the idea of using the plastic bags is to encourage people to recycle more. People who use the bag for heavy items that could be recycled are going to see the bags rip, he said.
“Before we order next year, we can always review this and see, you know, we’re going to get some pricing from different manufacturers,” Allen said. “We can look at this and make sure we’re getting the quality.”
UNANIMOUS DECISIONS
The council unanimously approved a series of ordinances.
The council approved the third and final reading of an ordinance levying a tax on all real and personal property and approved allowing the city to transfer funds electronically when needed.
The council also suspended the rules and approved second and third readings of ordinances for utility easement leases at 35 Kingshighway and to “vacate an alley and block one of the Magnetic Bay.”
In new business, the council accepted of a bid $418,756 for a sidewalk that will go from Planer Hill to Nelson’s Chapel. With approval, the city will negotiate the bid and use a $329,655 Transportation Alternative Program grant for the project. The grant will require the city pay $65, 931 of the costs.
The council voted 5-0 to approve a resolution to waive the bid process and purchase a 2007 fire pump truck for $55,000.
The council also approves mid-year budget adjustments that show increases of $1,583,909 in revenues and $1,503,499 in expenditures from the original budget approved in December 2021.
