While a pair of city commissions had their fair share of controversies in 2024, the Eureka Springs City Council, for the most part, stayed out of the spotlight.
Still, there was enough action by the council to be selected as the No. 3 local news story of the year by the Times-Echo staff. The longest ongoing issue of the year stemmed from issues with the city’s wastewater treatment facility, something that continues to be an ongoing challenge as the city researches ways to pay for the costly endeavor.
Nearly a year ago, the council approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Butch Berry to sign the necessary documents in an attempt to garner funding support for a project to repair, replace and upgrade much-needed areas of the city’s wastewater treatment facility — a project expected to cost as much as $6 million.
The vote to give Berry the signature power was the first of what will be many steps in a plan to bring the facility into compliance with state regulations.
Berry issued a disaster emergency proclamation in September after the discovery of an apparent leak at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
The city council held a special meeting the same day to authorize Berry to apply for a loan from the state to cover a portion of the repair costs.
Berry’s disaster proclamation says it was observed Sept. 13, that the receiving creek, Town Branch, of the water treatment effluent “was brown and discolored.”
The problem is believed to stem from a leak below the normal water line in one of the existing waste storage tanks, Berry’s proclamation says.
The tank “is leaking untreated waste into the groundwater and it is getting to the stream somewhere downstream of the existing waste water treatment plant effluent discharge location …” the proclamation says.
The city council voted 4-0 at a special meeting to approve a resolution authorizing Berry to apply for funding of up to $100,000 from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission to help fund the necessary repairs.
Terms for the emergency loan are estimated at a 5 percent interest rate for up to 20 years with a 3 percent origination fee.
In October, the council approved the third and final reading of an ordinance that implemented a 25 percent rate increase “across the board” for water, and a “little bit higher” increase for sewer so the two will now match, according to city finance director Michael Akins.
“We figured it’s almost a $10 [increase] for water and sewer on the base,” Berry said. “That comes to $4 [increase] on water and $6 on sewer and that’s on the first 2,000 gallons.”
Officials said the rate increases are needed to help pay for repairs for aging systems and to help the city recoup the costs of regular recent rate increases by Carroll- Boone Water District.
Berry told council members that many cities, including Berryville and Green Forest, have ordinances in place that allow automatic rate increases each time Carroll- Boone Water District raises their rates.
“But we’ve not done that,” Berry said. “For several years we’ve just been absorbing the cost to help our citizens. In the long run, it’s hurt.”
VACANCIES FILLED
In March, the council voted to fill two vacant seats unanimously picking David Avanzino for the Ward 2, Position 1 position and Susane Gruning for the Ward 1, Position 2 seat.
Gruning was selected over three other residents — Marticia Hancook, David Riordan and Michael Welch — who applied for the Ward 1 position that was held by Avanzino until he resigned in February after moving to Ward 2.
Avanzino, who ran unopposed for the Ward 1 seat in the November 2022 election, was voted in 4-0 for the Ward 2, Position 1 seat held by longtime city council member Melissa Greene, who resigned in February after moving to Berryville. The other applicant for the Ward 1 position was Anna Smedley, executive director of the Eureka Springs Community Center.
There were no contested races in the November election for the council with Avanzino, Gruning, Steve Holifield, Terry McClung and Harry Meyer all running unopposed. Autumn Slane did not seek re-election and Welch was the lone candidate for the seat. However, Welch recently announced he would not be taking the council role.
In published reports, Welch said he recently was contacted by the Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney’s office, informing him he was ineligible to serve on the council because od a felony marijuana conviction when he was 19.
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICTS
Entertainment districts were also a popular topic in 2024 with the council voting 5-1 in September to approve the city’s first permanent district at Pine Mountain Village, a shopping center on East Van Buren Ave.
The district will have to be re-approved in two years and can be revoked at any time at the suggestion of the city’s police or fire chief.
“The entertainment district at Pine Mountain is an opportunity to align with modern trends like outdoor dining, which has surged in popularity mostly due to COVID, but has continued to grow and is not diminished,” Gruning said. “Pine Mountain is perfectly suited to offer this experience and has the capability and the capacity to make it a success.”
Property owners and brothers, Marshall and Kyle Johnson, have wanted to turn the area into a permanent district to help draw more businesses to the shopping center, which currently has numerous vacant storefronts. Pine Mountain Village hosts numerous temporary entertainment districts throughout the year and a permanent district will allow the consumption of alcoholic beverages within the property.
“Our goal is to create an attractive property, which we’ve already started,” Kyle Johnson said at an Aug. 26 council meeting. “The steps of doing this, that’s going to attract other businesses, which drive economic development. … We already have our businesses that we operate, and we’d like to bring in some others that complement what we currently have, the Eureka Harley store. We’ve got a restaurant.
“Just the way the property is set up, with the horseshoe and the front parking lot … it’s 40 acres, five of it’s developed. There’s really a nice offset from the highway with a beautiful berm that creates barriers as well as some other natural barriers around the backside.”
Nine residents spoke on the topic of the permanent district during public comments at the Sept. 23 council meeting. Eight voiced support of the district. In addition, seven more residents submitted letters on the subject that were read by Ida Meyer, city clerk-treasurer. Of those, five were in favor of the Pine Mountain Village district.
The vote to approve the permanent district comes nearly four years after residents voted down a downtown district 641-518 in the November 2020 general election. The vote came after the council voted earlier that year to establish the downtown district.
Karen Lindblad, the lone resident at the meeting to speak against the proposal during public comments, reminded the council of that vote.
“I’m surprised at the fact that this council either is ignoring or not aware of the fact that we already had a vote on a permanent, and I will call it an alcohol district, because you can have plenty of entertainment without people walking around with alcohol, and we have proven that over and over,” Lindblad said. “We had it on the ballot and 60 percent of Eureka said no permanent alcohol districts.” … Anyone that votes for this district is standing up for the 40 percent who said yes. It was 60 percent of people that said they don’t want it. These aren’t entertainment districts, they’re alcohol districts.”
Lindblad later circulated a petition seeking a public vote on the permanent entertainment district. Carroll County Clerk Connie Doss said in an Oct. 31 email to Lindblad and Ida Meyer that she had certified 153 of the 169 petition signatures that were submitted, surpassing the total of 148 certified signatures needed to trigger a referendum. The city council scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 17 with a single agenda item — “Approving a Special Election,” apparently in connection with Lindblad’s petition — but canceled it approximately a half-hour before it was set to begin.
TRASH COLLECTION
In October the council voted 4-2 to amend the city’s trash ordinance to allow residents to place two 35-gallon containers, or two bags of trash up to 35 gallons each, on the curb each week for trash collection.
The amendment changes a previously approved ordinance that set the limit at one 35-gallon container or one bag up to 35 gallons in size. Additional bags above the limit will require a bag tag, which residents can purchase at public works for $2 each. Anything placed on the curb in excess of the two-bag limit that doesn’t have a bag tag will not be picked up, the new ordinance stipulates.
