Members of the Eureka Springs City Council say some city employees and individuals who serve on commissions have had to endure “viciousness” and verbal attacks impacting the city’s ability to fill those roles.
At the council’s regular meeting Monday, April 10, council members voiced concerns about recent interactions that they feel contributed to some employees resigning.
“Our city employees, our commissioners have been verbally assaulted,” council member Melissa Greene said. “They’ve had things thrown at them. We can’t do anything about Facebook, but the viciousness that they’ve had to endure, it’s just unreal.”
Greene asked if there were steps the city could take to protect employees from the incidents.
“Not one of our staff should ever have someone screaming obscenities … we’ve got some fantastic employees now,” she said. “They’re younger and we want to keep them. We’ve run off three young people in the last year and [interim tourism director] Scott [Bardin] can tell you about being attacked after a CAPC meeting. This isn’t good.
“Until we can protect our people, I don’t blame them for quitting. I wouldn’t want to put up with it.”
Council member Harry Meyer agreed.
“It seems to be a bad habit,” he said. “It depends on whose ox is being gored, but it just seems to be a bad habit. If some people don’t get their way they come to City Hall and start cussing people. That’s why the City Hall was closed at lunchtime in the past because if the person minding the desk up from there was by themselves they would hear it all … no one there to protect them or help them out.
“I don’t know what we can do to stop it, but I hope that people will just think about how they would feel if they were confronted with someone.”
Greene asked Forrest Jacobi, city attorney, if the city could “ban certain people from the courthouse if they misbehave.”
“Well, you can have restraining orders and stuff like that,” Jacobi said. “There are laws in place for assault and that sort of thing. And if somebody has a problem, we can take whatever legal remedies are necessary. Obviously, we can’t allow ongoing things of that type, and should that arise, we will take measures to prevent it.
“There have been numerous instances where people who work for the city or who have been on or who are on commissions have been verbally assaulted. And again, this is wrong. This is terribly wrong. But laws are in place. If laws are broken, we can enforce them. But we really can’t ban people unless they have an ongoing behavior pattern of that sort.”
Greene asked if adding cameras to facilities would be an option.
“I don’t want cameras that are focused on the employee because I just feel like it’s snooping, but maybe in front of their desk … if somebody’s going to assault you they’re going to run out before the police can get down here, but at least we’d have them on tape. And if we chose to do something we could.”
Jacobi responded: “The problem is some of these assaults have taken place on the street outside The Auditorium and after meetings. We can’t have cameras everywhere.”
Council member Steve Holifield said recent issues have already impacted applicants for the CAPC director’s role.
“People have applied and then turned around and pulled their applications once they learn what’s going on here,” he said. “So, it’s going to affect the quality of applicants.”
City employees and commissioners need to do what they can to prevent verbal exchanges from getting out of hand, council member David Avanzino said.
“There are some steps and things that we can do ourselves to thwart anything like this,” Avanzino said. “There’s already procedures in place for employees of the city to report harassment, that kind of thing. But we can do our part as well. We don’t necessarily need to engage every time someone says something bad about us. We’re elected officials. That’s going to happen. Sometimes we just need to take a step back, listen and sometimes keep our mouth shut.
“There will come a point where you can’t keep your mouth shut, but at least do it in a dignified manner.”
During his comments at the end of the meeting, Mayor Butch Berry echoed others on the situation.
“I’ve witnessed and seen in my own office, I’ve been cussed at and yelled at and treated with very little respect,” Berry said. “Being mayor, that’s sometimes what you get. That’s what you get paid for.
“Whether you’re a city employee or you’re a citizen, we all need to be treated with dignity and respect. I think that’s one of the things you hear so much about Eureka Springs, about it being a wonderful, loving community.
Many times a city employee is just doing their job, Berry said.
“I would like for the residents to realize that city employees are city employees and sometimes they carry the bad news,” he said. “[They have to tell you] that you can’t do something or you have to do this and this and cite the regulations, but that’s no reason to get mad and start trying to bully your way and acting ugly to the employees.
“As mentioned, we’ve lost several employees, I think, because of the way the public and certain individuals have acted to the employees. And that’s going to continue to happen. We’re going to continue to lose good quality employees by acting that way. … Whether it’s in public or private, word gets around. We need to be able to work together.”
