By Rick Harvey
RHarvey@CarrollCoNews.com
Members of the Eureka Springs City Council were all on the same page during their regular meeting Monday, Feb. 13 at The Auditorium.
The meeting was full of unanimous votes with little or no debate on all measures, including giving their stamp of approval to a six-month moratorium on new bed and breakfast operations in residential areas, a new city council representative on the City Advertising and Promotion Commission and a resolution voicing opposition to any bills or new laws approved by the Arkansas Legislature that are suggested to be aimed at the “LBGTQ-plus community.”
The meeting also included the annual “State of the City Address” from Mayor Butch Berry, where he outlined the city’s financial numbers from 2022 and gave an update on public entities and plans for the current year.
“I’m excited for the future of Eureka Springs and with the help and support of the citizens and the city council, we will continue to make Eureka Springs a good place for all of us to live,” Berry said during his 22-minute presentation.

B&B MORATORIUM
The council heard from two residents regarding the proposed moratorium on B&Bs, but in the end approved the measure that will prohibit any new location in residential areas from midnight Feb. 15 to midnight Aug. 15.
Resolution 833 will impose “a six-month moratorium on approval of new bed and breakfast conditional use permit or modifications of existing B&B conditional use permit in R1, R2 and R3 zones,” the resolution reads.
The moratorium will not impact any current B&B permits.
In approving the moratorium, council members referenced Arkansas Senate Bill 197, which is currently being debated in the state legislature. That bill, if approved, will “prohibit certain restrictions on the regulation of short-term rentals,” and affect current regulations in place in Eureka Springs.
“We have a really, really strong planning commission, I’m really proud of them, and when they come to ask for something they have their reasons,” council member Melissa Greene said. “And that Bill 197 is a very scary thing because it will erode our neighborhoods. It will depreciate values while in some cases raising values. But people with commercial properties, it will depreciate their lodgings and the hard work that they’ve put in.
“I think that a lot of the reasons that [the planning commission is] asking for the moratorium is because we no longer have a need. We at one time had a need. We had a lot of empty houses. These people came and restored them.”
Greene said when B&Bs first started becoming more common in Eureka Springs, most had owners who lived on-site and lived in the community. That’s not necessarily the case anymore, she said.
“I was always and still am a proponent of our B&Bs where there’s an owner living on site because those owners participate, they’ve sat on our commissions, they sat on our councils, but they also contribute because they live here to our everyday economy,” Greene said. “I’m not seeing that now. What I’m seeing is a very strong and robust housing and people wanting to move here. And our inventory even now for housing for sales are down because people don’t want to sell their house. They want to live here.”
The only slight objection to the proposal was from council member Terry McClung, who voted for the resolution but indicated he was “sick of it.”
“I have a hard time with this because … the Planning Commission has had trouble with this ordinance for as long as I can remember and …. there’s plenty of guidelines in place,” McClung said.
McClung said hopefully with “different people” currently on the planning commission things that need to be cleaned up regarding short-term rentals will be addressed during the moratorium.
“Maybe they can clean up what it is they think they need to clean up, but as long as I sit on here, if I agree to vote in their direction, this will be the last time because I’m sick of it, quite frankly,” he said.
Any conditional use permits on the agenda for the Planning Commission’s Feb. 14 regular meeting were not affected by the moratorium.

AVANZINO FINALLY ON CAPC
It took more than a year after he originally applied to serve on the CAPC, but new council member David Avanzino will sit at the commission table at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Avanzino was unanimously approved to replace council member Autumn Slane, who served on the CAPC for a little more than a year.
Avanzino applied and repeatedly expressed his desire to be part of the CAPC during 2022, but continually failed to get enough votes from commissioners.
A co-owner of Wanderoo Lodge and Gravel Bar — which is included in the two categories that are part of the tourism tax that is collected by the CAPC — Avanzino was nominated by new council member and fellow CAPC commissioner Steve Holifield.
“The CAPC meeting last week went really well and I think we’ve got this train back on the tracks and in the right direction with the election of new officers,” Holifield told council members. “I’m really excited about the direction we’re going and feeling really positive about it. In that spirit I’d like to nominate David Avanzino for council seat No. 6.”
McClung seconded the motion, which got a 5-0 vote.
RESOLUTION ‘AGAINST DISCRIMINATION’
While Senate Bill 43, originally aimed at regulating or prohibited drag shows, has been altered significantly to what Avanzino called “essentially a public nudity law, which is already in place,” the council went ahead and approved a resolution aimed at other related current or future bills.
“I know the original SB43 has been whittled down … but I think it’s important that we take a stance for all of the other bills that are currently stated to be discussed,” Avanzino said.
McClung made a motion that the resolution be assigned a number and read for passage.
“This is something we can all agree on,” Meyer said.
Resolution 835 is a “resolution against discrimination,” stating that Eureka Springs is “a sanctuary for inclusivity and diversity” and “discrimination of any form directed at any person is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Eureka Springs.”
“Everyone is welcome in Eureka Springs and we support the LGBTQ-plus community,” the resolution reads.
The council also unanimously approved a Title VI recertification resolution for the city’s transit department.
GREENE ADDRESSES ‘BULLYING’
In council member comments, Greene addressed the “bullying that’s gone on with some of our staff,” and referenced a recent incident where she said a staff member was cursed at by a resident.
“[The bullying] has literally run off some of our young people and it’s been cruel and unusual,” Greene said. “When one of our staff, a young lady, is called a piece of sh** in the parking lot, I have a real issue. There were two ladies and it was by someone that was probably three times their size. … That’s wrong, just so wrong.
“No wonder we have no staff at the CAPC.”
Greene was presumably referencing an allegation made by Meyer during public comments at the most recent CAPC meeting where he said that Jeff Gregory, owner of the Cathouse, yelled the profanity at former tourism director Madison Dawson while she was outside talking to former CAPC commissioner Carol Wright. Dawson recently resigned from the CAPC after a little more than a year in the position.
Gregory later denied making a profane comment to Dawson and said his wife has filed charges against Meyer in connection with a separate incident.
Greene said she was appreciative of finance director Scott Bardin for taking charge of the CAPC with no other full-time staff currently on board. Bardin was appointed to serve as the interim director of the CAPC at the Feb. 8 meeting, but the vote occurred while commissioners were still in executive session, making it illegal.
“He has been like heaven sent to us,” Greene said. “He asked, I believe, all the commissioners to please support him. Please stay off Facebook with your negative, nasty things and let’s start working together.”