Two members of the Eureka Springs Cemetery Commission, who have recently served as cemetery superintendent and acting sexton, have resigned.
Bruce Wright and Robert Tollett submitted letters of resignation to Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry and members of the commission over the past two weeks, leaving just three commission members remaining.
Wright’s letter, which was obtained by the Eureka Springs Times-Echo, is dated June 22. Tollett’s email is dated June 29.
Both letters cite a need to focus on health as the reason for stepping down.
“I am resigning my position from the ES Cemetery Commission as of July 5, 2023, so I can have more time to focus on family and health,” Wright’s letter reads. “I have a list of numerous other duties and obligations. I need to focus on them as well. I have enjoyed volunteering and preforming community service at the Historic Cemetery in Eureka Springs but I have made the decision to move on. Thank you.”
Tollett said he was stepping down immediately in his letter.
“I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve on the cemetery commission,” reads Tollett’s letter addressed to Berry. “I am resigning for personal health reasons effective immediately. I am a transplant candidate and received confirmation today. I have to be prepared to travel upon receiving a phone call. I appreciate the opportunity to serve my community.”
The resignations come weeks after a controversial Confederate monument recently built on a private plot at the cemetery drew sharp criticism from at least one city council member.
“All I can say is I would love to have our cemetery commission just resign over this,” Harry Meyer, a city council member said earlier in June on Ozarks at Large, a weekday program and podcast on Fayetteville- based NPR station KUAF. The report added that Meyer said the commission “should have blocked installation of what he describes as a monument to white supremacy in their town burial ground.”
Meyer’s comments to KUAF reporter Jacqueline Froelich came after the discovery of a 15-foot tall obelisk honoring Confederate soldiers that was allowed to be erected at city cemetery.
The obelisk, a stone pillar typically set up as a monument or landmark, was built on a private lot purchased by Carroll County resident Koltin Massie for $1,000. Massie serves as commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Seaborn Jones Cotten Camp in Eureka Springs, named after his fourth great-grandfather, who fought for the Confederacy.
In a June 14 regular meeting, some commissioners voiced opposition to the monument being built on cemetery property.
“This place was founded to help the poor bury their dead,” commissioner David Danvers said at the June 14 meeting. “Myself, as a commissioner, I am not in favor of any monument project out here. This spirit of a cemetery is about internment, bodies, ashes, whatever. It is not by activism.”
Wright was questioned at the meeting about his role in overseeing at least some of the project, while Tollett said he felt anyone who buys a lot could do whatever they wanted.
“In my opinion it is a First Amendment right of freedom,” commis-Tollett said at the June 14 meeting. “You buy a plot, it’s a private piece of property and what you do with it as long as it meets cemetery rules. …” Commissioner chair L.B. Wilson confirmed at the June 14 meeting that while he personally opposed the purpose of the monument, no current cemetery rules were violated.
That led Wilson to ask Tollett, Danvers and commissioner Glenna Booth to form a workgroup to meet and discuss possible revisions to cemetery policies.
That group met June 23 but took no action. Instead, the committee planned to meet at least twice more before making recommendations to the full commission, which would have to approve any changes to cemetery rules. The committee set August as a tentative goal for taking proposed revisions to the full commission.
After the June 23 committee meeting, Danvers emailed city attorney Forrest Jacobi to ask his opinion regarding the monument.
“The contract for purchase of a burial plot clearly states interment or cremains,” Jacobi writes in an email time-stamped for the afternoon of June 23. “Uses other than interment or cremains are inappropriate. It is my opinion that [it] is within the powers of the Cemetery Commission to regulate the usage of the Eureka Springs Cemetery to conform to the intent and purposes of interment and/or cremains.”
Email correspondence quoted in this report was obtained by the Eureka Springs Times-Echo through an open-records request in accordance with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
SPECIAL MEETING
Wilson called a special meeting on Friday, June 30 to discuss the resignations of Wright and Tollett and the next steps for the commissioners. The recent monument controversy was not mentioned.
“Today’s purpose is to discuss and assess our status as a commission in light of recent resignations,” Wilson said. “The responsibilities and roles that were being fulfilled by Mr. Tollett and Mr. Wright will need to be absorbed to ensure we meet the needs of the community and continue the operational responsibilities of our cemetery.
“We need to recognize the service to the cemetery by Mr. Tollett and Mr. Wright. The general public probably doesn’t realize how much time is actually given by commissioners to serve the cemetery and we thank them for all of their service.”
Tollett and Wright played key roles in the day-to-day operations at the cemetery for months, including each serving time as superintendent and as acting sexton with that position being vacant for quite some time.
The special meeting included discussion of advertising the sexton position in the near future and possibly adding office duties to the part-time role to help with other needs.
Wilson said he had a “very cordial” conversation with Tollett who said while health issues needed his full attention, he would help with any transition necessary. Tollett also indicated that while he couldn’t at this time, he “wouldn’t rule out” possibly helping with the sexton role in the future, Wilson said.
“We had a good talk and we’ll plan on getting together as soon as we can,” Wilson said.
In the meantime, Booth and Wilson said they would help with the many steps of plot sales and Danvers agreed to help with cemetery financials, grant work, special events and taking over the cemetery’s Facebook account, which Tollett had created and maintained.
Wilson said he hopes the commission can find candidates for the two vacant roles as soon as possible.
“We certainly need people to step up at this time,” he said. “Anyone interested in the cemetery … community service aspect, consider apply through the mayor’s office.”
Those applying for a role on the cemetery commission do not have to live in city limits, Wilson said.
The cemetery commission scheduled a workshop for Thursday, July 6. Its next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 12. Cemetery meetings are typically held on-site in the cemetery office.
