For the first time in nearly seven months, the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission once again has a vacancy.

At the CAPC’s regular meeting held Wednesday, Feb. 26, Bradley Tate-Greene announced he was stepping down from the commission, citing personal reasons, including a career change.

Tate-Greene, who has been on the commission since early 2024, was serving a term set to expire June 30, 2027.

“It’s with a profound sense of gratitude and honor that I close out the comments today resigning as a commissioner,” Tate-Greene said during the time near the end of the meeting set aside for commissioner comments. “… It’s a position that I’ve held with great humility, honor and dedication. Serving on the CAPC has been an extraordinary privilege for me. And I’ve approached my responsibilities with a deep sense of duty and commitment upholding my oath and serving as an example to others, and collaborating with each of you, engaging in various decisions. I feel we have engaged on the improvement of tourism and attraction for our great city, and it has both enriched and enlightened myself, and all of those, I feel like, in our city.

“Together as a commission, I feel we have embarked on a mission to create paramount initiatives with active solution-oriented outcomes. And I believe Eureka Springs is becoming a better city and more now than ever.”

Tate-Greene told commissioners that recent controversy surrounding Eureka Springs Hospital also led to his resignation. Tate-Greene has been vocal in support of former employees who have recently been terminated or resigned amid allegations of a hostile work environment.

“The opportunity to contribute to a democratic process among all of us by ensuring fair representation for the people of Eureka Springs has been a source of immense pride for myself, and I believe our collective efforts have laid a foundation for a bright future yet to come, and I’m grateful for the trust that was placed in me,” he said. “My decision to resign is personal and not made lightly. In part, I also am resigning in support of stopping the bullying, the intimidation, the hostile work environment created in our hospital, which still has not been addressed.

“I also believe it is important to rebuke those who support those who implement such instigation or initiate unsafe work practices. I also do not support those who lay in silence because silence authorizes behaviors which are unethical and inappropriate if those behaviors present themselves. This resignation also comes because I do not condone the violations of oath by some of my fellow commissioners serving on other commissions, as well as the continual false statements and lies presented by individuals who know better. I cannot support that type of behavior, especially by city officials who took the same oath.”

While he said he will remain in the community, a career change will force him to travel extensively, Tate-Greene added.

“After months of advocating and fighting for our hospital, I have decided to pursue other opportunities where I can serve and utilize my education and skills to better improve the world,” he said. “I have decided to make a permanent career move which was difficult to make as I, in fact, will leave the protective bubble and embrace of friends and family in a welcoming, free-to-be community.

“… It is a pleasure to be in a community where we can be free to be. And I’ll leave my position with a heavy heart, but I know that this commission is in the hands of unlimited knowledge and excellent experience. The commission is comprised of dedicated individuals who will continue the vital work we built and fought for the last year by choosing the best possible outcomes to promote and advertise all the wonderful things our city has to offer.”

Tate-Greene, along with commissioners Kolin Paulk, David Avanzino and Steve Holifield were part of the CAPC in mid-June 2024 when then-chair Chris Clifton and commissioner Chris Jones resigned after a series of events that drew community outcry.

The resignations left the commission severely short-handed, with three of its seven seats vacant.

Commissioner Shira Fouste was added soon after, and the CAPC has been at capacity since August when Heather Wilson and Robert Schmid were selected to fill the seats held by Clifton and Jones.

“In bidding farewell, I reflect on the countless moments of collaboration … even arguments, shared commitment to that democratic process, and countless residents who have shown up to share their voice with us,” Tate-Greene said. “… I believe we have set a high standard of how a commission strives to do what is right. I also give my sincere thanks and appreciation to the staff as well and their wonderful example of how a hard-working office works together to accomplish so much.”

Commissioners seemed surprised to hear the news of Tate-Greene stepping down.

“Well, it’s very sad to hear Bradley’s leaving,” said commission chair Holifield. “I wish him luck in his future endeavors. It’s been a pleasure serving on this commission with you, and I hope to see you around.”

FUNDING REQUESTS

All but one request for marketing support was approved by commissioners.

That request, $5,000 for Celebrate Jesus Weekend scheduled for April 18-19, was turned down after commissioners expressed concern that state funds could not be used to support a non-secular event.

CAPC executive director Mike Maloney read comments from a commission attorney that said that while supporting events that involve secular holiday aspects such as the Easter Bunny would be OK, funding events that were non-secular in nature wouldn’t be a good idea.

“The most popular test used by the Supreme Court to determine if government action violates the First Amendment’s established clause is the lemon test,” Maloney read. “Government actions must have one, a secular purpose, two, not advance or inhibit religion, three, avoid excessive government entanglement with religion.

“If the CAPC routinely advertises events for non-religious community events, the CAPC can do the same things for churches as long as it does so neutrally and as long as CAPC provides equal access to other groups. The ad cannot contain any religious endorsements or activities. I would recommend that it solely focus on the secular activities, for instance Easter bunny, Easter eggs, food, etc. It might be a good idea to clarify that it’s an event hosted by an organization such as this. If the event is solely for religious purposes and there’s no secular activity, it would be best for the CAPC to sit out of this advertisement.”

Sharon Lawlor, representing the Western Carroll County Ministerial Association, said the event — in its 12th year – features various musical groups performing at Basin Spring Park and then a “Celebrate Jesus” parade downtown.

Commissioners, however, questioned Lawlor about organizers opinions on allowing LGBTQ-friendly groups to participate, saying they’ve been denied in the past.

“I want to ask you a question and I’m going to be very, very blunt about it,” Avanzino said to Lawlor. “A couple of years ago, I know that some churches that were affirming of the LGBTQ community were not allowed to participate in the parade.”

Lawlow said that wasn’t correct, that any group could participate, but needed to focus their activities — including banners — solely to celebrating Jesus.

“… This is Celebrate Jesus and we told them if they want to be part of the parade and carry banners to celebrate Jesus, just that and nothing outside of that, they certainly were welcome to do that. But, they chose to not be involved,” Lawlor said, later adding: “The whole topic is Celebrate Jesus. It’s Celebrate Jesus. There’s a large portion of the population that’s what we do. We only ask for one weekend a year.”

Fouste agreed with Avanzino, saying she has also been told that certain populations weren’t welcome to participate in the Celebrate Jesus parade, saying that takes away from the “Free to Be,” focus the CAPC has adopted for the city.

“I’ve also had people in the community report the same thing, that they were told that certain area churches couldn’t participate because they’re affiliated with gay people, lesbian people, folks of different lifestyles, that they were no longer welcome to be a part of the parade and things like that,” Fouste said. “And I personally, as a commissioner, can’t support an event that excludes anybody. One of the beauties of this town is diversity. It’s why I came here. I love it. I love the differences in people.

“I myself have my own religious feelings and I would love to be supportive, but I can’t support it if anybody’s excluded. It’s no longer for everybody and this town is about free to be.”

In the end commissioners said they didn’t feel comfortable using taxpayer money to fund a request for the event and the proposal didn’t receive a motion for approval.

The remaining six funding requests received unanimous support from the CAPC.

Gravity Feed was awarded $5,000 for future mountain biking events at Lake Leatherwood Park and Good Shepherd Humane Society was approved to receive $2,000 for a dramatic presentation dinner theater fundraising event scheduled for March 27-29 in the upstairs area of Grotto Wood-Fired Grill and Wine Cave.

The Spring Fling Bike Rally was approved to receive $5,000 for its event scheduled for April 23-27 as was the the Eureka Springs Chocolate Lover’s Festival, put on by the chamber of commerce on Saturday, May 10, at the Eureka Springs Community Center.

A new event, Run Unicorn Run, by Main Street Eureka and scheduled for September was also approved to receive $5,000. Run Unicorn Run will be a 10K and 5K race that will begin in Basin Spring Park.

The Eureka Springs Preservation Society also received $5,000 for the 45th edition of its Tour of Homes event, held each December.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT In his monthly report, Maloney said he recently had a meeting with the Arkansas Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus where House Bill 1445 was discussed at length.

The bill, which is aimed at limiting the amount of control cities have on short-term rentals, has drawn vocal pushback from many communities, including Eureka Springs.

“We unanimously passed a motion to go ahead and let the legislature know that we were not in favor of the bill,” Maloney said. “We have a lobbyist … who works for the association that we pay during legislative sessions. He has conveyed that to senators and House guys down in Little Rock.

“… It is a critical bill if it is passed … it will certainly affect the way we do business in a lot of different ways. … It would open the door to possible cities losing jurisdiction in a lot of different ways and more importantly losing the ability to go ahead and tax those entities. It’s no surprise that this bill was probably established initially by Airbnb.”

In a recap of marketing efforts, Maloney said Kansas City, Springfield, Joplin, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Dallas continue to be the focus of Madden Media’s advertising campaigns.

“Our growth markets, which are showing up strong and are trending, are Houston, Shreveport, Wichita, St. Louis and Chicago,” Maloney said. “Chicago is really coming in strong, coming in very strong for the state of Arkansas. So, we think that it’s a good place to be able to provide those niche products to the specific audiences up there. And we know that just because it’s the third-largest metro in the country, we’re gonna get a few of those people.”

Emerging markets that Madden is looking at to advertise the city include Sherman, Texas; Memphis and Paducah, Ky., Maloney added.

“They’re showing up on our Web hits, and we think we’re sending messages to them right now, and we’re hoping that we can go ahead and further those along,” he said.

Another city emerging in Web hits for the city is Minneapolis, Maloney added.

A spring advertising campaign is being broken down into three segments — spring break, general leisure and core spring events — Maloney also told commissioners.

CHAIRMAN TERM LIMITS

At Holifield’s suggestion, the CAPC voted unanimously to add to the bylaws a sentence that says that no commissioner can be chair for longer than two consecutive years.

“I like it because I think it’s good,” Holifield said. “It keeps someone from parking themselves as chair and keeping chair forever, and I’d like to put it in the bylaws.”

The commission discussed double- checking with the Arkansas Municipal League regarding any possible conflicts with the change.

“I believe in term limits from the President all the way down to city commissions, and especially for chair,” Holifield said. “It doesn’t mean a person can’t be chair more than two years, it just means they can’t be chair for more than two years in a row.

“I think you can take a break and come back in a couple years if you want to be chair again.”

NEXT MEETINGS

The CAPC will hold a workshop at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, with a focus on discussion on marketing support funds.

The next regular meeting of the CAPC will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 26.