Ward 1 residents in Eureka Springs who are interested in the vacant seat on the city council have a little more than a week to put their names in for consideration.

During its first regular meeting of the year on Monday, Jan. 13, the Eureka Springs City Council officially declared vacant the Ward 1, Position 1 seat most recently held by Autumn Slane.

Slane did not seek re-election, and Michael Welch, who won the seat unopposed, recently announced he would not be taking the council role. After being contacted by the Times-Echo following his announcement, Welch said in published reports that he recently was contacted by the Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney’s office informing him he was ineligible to serve on the council because of a felony marijuana conviction in 1975, when he was 18.

“As you know, Michael Welch had ran and was elected for this position,” Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry told council members at Monday’s meeting. “Then he decided to, after winning the election, decided to resign and not accept the nomination. So, we have a vacancy and the council needs to declare that there is a vacancy so we can nominate people…” After the council voted 5-0 to declare the vacancy, Berry announced that applications submitted would be distributed to council members at the next council meeting set for Monday, Jan. 27, and then a vote to fill the seat would be set for the following scheduled meeting on Monday, Feb. 10.

“We will be accepting written applications from interested citizens to the clerk’s office, and then the clerk will distribute those to the council,” Berry said. “Let’s go ahead and have the applications due by the next council meeting, and then we can distribute those … then the following council meeting we can make a nomination and elect a new council member.”

ANNUAL APPROVALS

The council approved a series of annual measures as is customary during the first meeting of the year.

Council members David Avanzino and Steve Holifield were approved 5-0 to continue as the council representatives on the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission.

Avanzino and Holifield, who has been serving since July as the CAPC chair, were the only council members who raised their hands when Berry asked who was interested in being on the commission.

“Congratulations. Y’all did a great job this last year, by the way,” Berry said after the vote. “It was a difficult year.”

The council also voted unanimously to accept the Arkansas Municipal League’s recommended procedural rules for municipal officers for conducting council meetings, and OK’d keeping regular council meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.

In the only change from recent years, the council will have a new mayor pro tempe in 2025 with Holifield being selected.

Terry McClung, who has been mayor pro tempe for many years, was nominated again for the role by Harry Meyer while Holifield was nominated by council member Susane Gruning.

McClung voted for himself, along with Meyer. Holifield voted for himself, along with Avanzino and Gruning. Berry also cast a vote for Holifield, giving Holifield the four votes necessary for approval.

The mayor pro tempe sits in the chair role in council meetings in Berry’s absence.

SEWER/WATER UPDATE

Public works director Simon Wiley told the council that the sewer plant has been running well in recent weeks.

“Our plant is running pretty well actually, right now,” he said. “Discharge in good. Everything’s working better than I think it’s ever worked since my time here at the city right now. So we’re making progress as far as that goes.”

As far as the renovations that are being made for the sewer plant, and the city’s research into ways to fund the project, Wiley said the city would find out Wednesday, Jan. 15, if it would be awarded funding from the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission.

“Wednesday morning the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission are going to have a meeting regarding this funding application for that $6 million loan for this sewer plant rehab,” Wiley told council members. “As far as I know it is on the agenda this time. I think it’ll go through, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens on Wednesday.”

On Wednesday morning, the public works department announced in a Facebook post that the ANRC had approved a $6.28 million bond for the rehabilitation and remodeling of the wastewater treatment plant.

Berry said at Monday’s meeting that he recently talked to engineers about the project and is planning an upcoming workshop to share plans with the public.

“It looks like roughly in probably about a month, we’re going to try to hold a workshop for the council and for the public to go over the plans and to let everybody know where we’re at right now,” Berry said. “There’s still some design work that they’re doing and some decisions have been made and they’re talking with some contractors trying to come up with up some cost analysis also on that. But hopefully in about a month we’ll be able to hold a workshop for this specifically on the design and and where the plans going on there.”

Wiley was asked about the public notifications when it comes to water being shut off for city workers to repair leaks around the city.

“There’s got to be some methods to notify people when that’s going to happen,” Mc-Clung said. “I mean, it does it puts people in a bind, businesses especially. Whether it’s people in their motel rooms that need to take a shower … anything.”

Wiley said he understood and in some instances, when time allows, door hangs are placed in affected areas and announcements are made via social media. Many times, however, emergency situations don’t allow for that to happen, he said.

“If we have an emergency break, we’ve got to fix it,” Wiley said. “So, it’s either shut down the water and fix it or people are without water and we’re in a boil order.”

Berry said he will meet with Wiley and help the city come up with procedures to better notify residents and businesses with the “exception of extreme emergencies.”

OTHER ITEMS

The council approved the third and final reading of an ordinance that will vacate a section of Carroll Street between Block 221 and Blocks 195 and 194 of the Riley and Armstrong Survey.

The council also held the first reading of a proposed ordinance that would amend the city code regarding peddlers and solicitors to align with state law.

“Originally, we had not been allowing home solicitation …,” city clerk treasurer Ida Meyer told council members. “And legally, we have to let them home solicit. I talked to other cities about this. Charging a fee deters fraudulent home solicitation because they have to provide their I.D., they have to provide money. It discourages people from doing unlawful solicitation practices.”

The amended ordinance would regulate peddlers and solicitors and require them to obtain a license if their sales are more than $25.

“Solicitors must pay a $75 registration fee,” the proposed amended ordinance reads, later stating that the registration has a three-month expiration and the owner or representative of the entity that is soliciting must provide a government -provided identification to obtain the registration.

The policy does not include people asking for donations or fundraising for groups such as schools, charities and no-profit organizations, Ida Meyer said.

The council also had preliminary discussions regarding the potential sale of two-tenths of an acres of property the city owns on Mill Hollow Road.

Berry explained that someone is building a house on a property adjacent to the city lot and and is interested in purchasing the land.

After a bit of discussion the council voted to have the property advertised to go up for bids.

“If we don’t like what the bid is, we can reject it and either have it appraised and then put it up for bid again,” city attorney Forrest Jacobi told council members.

Knowing the rough terrain of the property, Jacobi said it would benefit the city to sell the land.

“We’re lucky to get any money out of that property,” he said. “The creek goes by … You have a small area that’s flat and then you’ve got a cliff line. Good luck. If we can get any money out of it, I say take the money and run.”

On a topic added to the agenda, Gruning verified with Jacobi that a permanent entertainment district voted in at Pine Mountain Village could continue after a recent petition gained enough signatures to put it up for a public vote, but didn’t request a special election. That means the issue won’t go before voters until the next general election in November 2026.

Jacobi confirmed that his interpretation of state law is that the district can proceed and that the only area of the city that can’t be the site of a permanent entertainment district is the specific blocks downtown that were included in a district voted down by the public in 2020.

The permanent district approved by the council in late 2024 was for two years and will be revisited in 2026.

COUNCIL COMMENTS In comments to close the meeting, Harry Meyer focused on the CAPC, past and present.

“In 2019, the CAPC hired Paradise ad agency and in 2020, even with COVID, tourism boomed I mean beyond all expectations,” he said. “And every year since then, there’s been growth in tourism until the first nine months of this year. So, there’s lots of these things that people are talking about that might happen, but we lost Paradise at the beginning of the year, and I understand Paradise was pushed pretty hard.”

Meyer referred to an ongoing lawsuit filed in March 2021 by a former contractor with the CAPC and several former employees of the CAPC. The suit named several defendants, including Meyer.

“When we got sued, it really screwed up continuity at the CAPC,” Meyer said. “I mean, I can remember one year we couldn’t get anybody to join that commission. And when that happened and the ad agency just backed off because every week it was someone new that communicated with them. So now we got to rebuild. I don’t think the members here are responsible. I think that it’s just an accumulation of, you know, the whistleblowers that had no whistle to blow and the lawsuit.

“I mean, [former finance director] Lonnie Clark and the mayor are even included in this. And we’re not even over with that lawsuit. It’s absurd. And there’s some things that happened that I can’t talk about because we’re not done with the lawsuit. But, there were things that were done by the staff that brought on the lawsuit that was pretty illegal. And I won’t tell you who told them to do that sort of stuff. That’s my take on this.”

McClung used his comments to focus on current issues with the city.

“I just want everybody to be free of the understanding that, you know, with the hospital problems, the sewer problems, the water lines, you know, infrastructure and all that that we’re going through,” McClung said. “I mean, we’re not going through anything different than what other towns have gone through. And we’ll work through all of it.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We’re just not there on any of it. But the intention of this council is to follow through with these things. We certainly want to do what’s right by the citizens first and foremost. … Unfortunately, nothing happens quickly. It’s slowly. So be patient with us and we’ll do our darnedest.”

MAYOR COMMENTS

Berry’s comments included echoing some of McClung’s feelings regarding the city working to solve issues it’s currently facing while also praising other things, specifically the inaugural “Bash with a Splash” New Year’s Even event held downtown.

“I’m so excited because it was a combination of citizens and the CAPC, the parks,” he said. “It took a whole group to come up with this New Year’s Eve celebration. If you weren’t at New Year’s Eve, you missed something. That was one of the most incredible experiences I have seen in this town a long time. Basin Park was packed. The streets were packed. Entertainment was good. It was nonstop. And it was just an exciting time to be in Eureka. And I think our visitors felt the same way I did.

“I saw a lot of locals, but I saw a lot of people I didn’t know before, and it was a family affair. I had my 9-yearold grandson there and I saw other children there. The entertainment district didn’t disturb and it worked out. So, I was really excited to see that.”

Berry also brought up the state legislative session that began earlier that day in Little Rock, and word coming that the issue of shortterm rentals would again be debated.

“Two years ago, when our legislative session or legislators were in session, we had to look at the shortterm lodging,” he said. “Well, I’ve been told again by Senator [Bryan] King that the shortterm lodging issues are going to be coming up again. So be ready.

“I would suggest for everybody that’s listening to go ahead and contact State Representative Harlan Breaux and also Senator King. Although Senator King says he’s a supporter of us, it’s important for the cities to have what we call home rule. And that means that cities control their own destinies instead of letting the state control …. If other cities … want to have a ban on shortterm rentals, that’s fine. In Eureka Springs, that’s what we want. … It should be up to the cities to have local control. We see this more and more with the state legislators taking the control away from cities and it’s frustrating. … Be prepared to start fighting again on the short-term lodging issues.”