Lawsuits filed by a pair of former Eureka Springs Hospital employees prevent the city from commenting on recent controversies involving the facility, Mayor Butch Berry told city council members.
At the council’s regular meeting held Monday, Feb. 24, Berry addressed requests by four council members to keep the hospital’s issues in future discussions.
“I would like to ask the mayor to put something together for people who keep coming to us about the hospital,” council member David Avanzino said regarding frequent comments by current and former hospital employees. “I think we have established the fact that we can’t do anything except remove commission members, but is there an agency that they can call “I would actually like to follow up on what [Avanzino] mentioned about the hospital commission,” Moyer said. “I agree with that … they obviously are looking for some guidance and some help, and anything I feel responsible somehow that we could give them some, whether it’s, you know, a chance to voice their opinion and share what happened, or better yet provide them with some sort of recourse to get these concerns addressed.
“It seems quite serious and obviously I’m the newest member and haven’t had a history there, but I would second that…” Council member Harry Meyer said he wants the hospital situation on the agenda for future meetings.
“I’d like to put the hospital situation on the agenda again, you know partially for all the reasons that we’ve heard from all the people that have complained, and then we find out within a day or two after the chair of the commission came and spoke with us the medical director was locked out of the hospital, and he’d been with the hospital for 10 years,” Meyer said. “It just doesn’t smell right. It doesn’t look good. I think we need to dig to the bottom of this or something.”
During his turn to comment, council member Terry McClung simply said: “Hospital. I’ve got to go along with them.”
That led Berry to mildly interrupt, telling council members that lawsuits filed against the hospital and hospital commission by former chief executive officer Angie Shaw and Jessica Petrino, the hospital’s former director of nursing, prevent the city from being able to address many of the issues.
themselves in Little Rock to get some kind of resolution when it comes to the bullying and the harassment?
“They bring it to us and we can’t do anything about it, so I’m wondering if there’s something we can — Rick Harvey
do for them and put it out so that they have that information to go by.”
New council member Rachael Moyer agreed, saying that she wished there was a way for council members to help address the situation.
Eureka Springs City Attorney Forrest Jacobi has submitted his resignation, effective Tuesday, March 4, Mayor Butch Berry told city council members at their regular meeting held Monday, Feb. 24.
“It’s unfortunate that our wonderful city attorney turned in his resignation …,” Berry said. “Forrest, you’ve done a wonderful job.
“I appreciate your time and your efforts and everything, and your advice that you’ve given us, so thank you very much.”
Berry said the council will discuss at its next meeting, scheduled for Monday, March 10, how to replace Jacobi.
“… It’ll come before the city council to see how we want to do this, and probably at the next council meeting, too, so we’ll look and see what some of our alternatives are,” Berry said.
Jacobi has served as city attorney since April 2022, when he was appointed to the position after the death of longtime city attorney Tim Weaver.
Shaw and Petrino were both fired by the hospital commission in November, leading to backlash from many current and former employees, some of whom were also fired or resigned and claim episodes of bullying and harassment by hospital chief financial officer Cynthia Asbury and Jodi Edmondson, the hospital’s human resources director and acting CEO.
“You probably don’t know, but we are being sued by former members of the hospital,” Berry said. “That puts us in a position where we really can’t comment on personnel issues perhaps … this puts us in a position, because most of what’s going on is personnel issues, and because there is a lawsuit we really can’t discuss personnel issues.
“I hate it and I agree with you there’s a lot of complaints and a lot of these people have been dismissed or quit and fired and now we’re under a lawsuit and we’ve been served with papers, and unfortunately that puts our hands are tied about discussing anything in public.”
Neither Berry, the city council, or the city are listed as defendants in the lawsuits.
“Well, do we need to have a conference with the municipal league lawyer if we have got a lawyer assigned by the municipal league?” Meyer asked.
“You are not involved in the lawsuit,” Berry responded. “We are meeting with them. The city is meeting with the municipal league attorney next week.”
Berry said current and former members of the hospital commission are listed in the lawsuit, leading Meyer to ask if the city was being sued.
“I have to look at the lawsuit and see; I don’t remember how that’s phrased,” Berry said. “But, it really doesn’t matter because it’s a lawsuit and we’re not able to discuss it.”
The comments from Berry and the council came after two former employees of the hospital once again spoke during public comments to voice their displeasure that issues haven’t been addressed.
“We came here tonight because this isn’t going away until all the people responsible for this mess are held accountable for their actions, and all the good people hurt by it receive justice,” said former hospital employee Richard Webb. “Only two of you have attempted to do the right thing. And that’s Mr. Meyer and Mr. [Steve] Holifield. Everyone else as far as we are concerned, and especially you Mr. Mayor, have failed to uphold your oath.
“Mr. Mayor, you asked one criminal to step down, and after months of resistance from you, (another commissioner) was finally removed. Why haven’t either one of these people been investigated? Why are two people who have been named in countless statements for months, and are obviously guilty of sin, still running the hospital? Why are you protecting these people? Is it that you just don’t care? Or is it there’s something bigger going on? Instead of auditing the hospital, maybe you and a few other people should be audited.”
Webb told council members that accusations of harassment and bullying are not rumors.
“At the last city council meeting, Ms. Sandy Martin, new hospital commission chair, stated that all the things that current and former employees have been saying went on there, and still are, were rumors and that it was all unintentional. Well, Ms. Martin, if you’re listening, Cynthia Asbury, CFO, and Jodi Edmondson, HR director and acting CEO, have wrongfully terminated, intimidated, bullied and retaliated against a lot of good people there since the latter part of 2023. And I assure you, it’s not rumors and it was all very intentional.
“We were there, Ms. Martin. You were nowhere around. So our question to you is: How would you know? One last thing, and this goes out to all of you and the commissioners and Cynthia Asbury and Jodi Edmondson: I challenge any of you to prove me, my wife, or any of the other good people that have stepped forward and told you of the terrible things that have happened there to people to prove us wrong.”
Webb’s wife, Samantha, a former medical records clerk at the hospital, said she feels the situation is being “swept under the rug.”
“You have a CFO and a CEO who are not credentialed,” Samantha Webb said. “A high school graduate and an accountant. Are you kidding me? Why are they still there? Why are we not hearing about this? This has been going on for so long. News only came out in November. But I experienced it. My husband experienced it. It happened, and Sandy Martin has the nerve to come up here and say it wasn’t intentional. It was most definitely intentional. I guarantee it.
“Are you serious? We need help. … It’s like ‘Peyton Place.’ It is beautiful to look at, but there’s corruption and greed. … If we care so much about the town, can we care about the hospital?”
The comments from the Webbs came right after Ferguson Stewart, chair of the city’s planning commission, voiced his support of Martin’s leadership with the hospital commission, saying that she should be recognized by the council for her efforts.
“… The council has delegated a lot of authority out to the citizens and our commissions, and those commissions rely on volunteers,” Stewart said. “… One thing I want to talk about is an individual that needs special recognition. Sometimes an individual shines above what we normally get on commissions, and this lady has done a great job.
“She was on the mayor’s economic development forum. She’s done a lot of extra work. She lives and breathes Eureka, and she now has brought what could have been a crash landing into a go-around. And that is Sandy Martin. So, I hope that maybe you council members will give her an honor, and maybe give her a nice document saying thank you. That’s going to inspire other volunteers to show up, because we’ve got some really great, talented people out there.”
WATER/SEWER UPDATES Simon Wiley, the city’s public works director, told council members that a rate study has been completed.
“We’re going to be recommending a shift for more of the minimum base charges based off the meter size instead of the same for all meter sizes, because the cost to feed those meters is different by the size,” Wiley said. “… This is a necessary thing to comply with the … standards that the state is looking for us to do. So we will have a work study sometime after the next council meeting to try to cover those rates with you guys.”
Holifield acknowledged the $6.2 million loan that the city is getting to help with repairs at the wastewater treatment plant and asked if it’s possible that customer rates will increase significantly to help pay back the loan.
“Any other ways instead of just doubling and quadrupling the water rates?” Holifield said of paying back the loan.
Wiley replied: “They’re not going to go up quadruple. The rate increases is actually very minimal. The impact to the average home is just going to be a few dollars a month. I mean it’s not a huge increase. We’re sitting pretty good.
Wiley said the rate increase won’t be “terrible,” leading Holifield to ask what that “Give us a hint,” Holifield said. “What’s not terrible?”
“For the average house with the fiveeighths meter, you’re probably with water and sewer together looking at like a $5 increase a month,” Wiley responded.
BOZA TREE APPEAL
After amending a city ordinance at the last council meeting so that any tree removal appeals will now be heard by council, a unanimous decision reversed a recent denial by the city’s Board of Zoning Adjusting for a tree at 70 Clay St.
Council members received documents that showed city staff, including the code enforcement officer, and an arborist recommended removing the tree.
With little discussion, the appeal was approved.
“I think it looks pretty straightforward here,” Meyer said.
SPRING FLING DISTRICT The council also unanimously approved a temporary entertainment district for the Spring Fling festival that will be held downtown April 24-26.
The district will operate from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day and will be located from the intersection of Main Street and Benton Street, to south of Main Street to the south boundary of the parking area for the Eureka Springs Historical Museum. The other boundary will be Armstrong from the intersection of Main and Armstrong to the rock wall where Armstrong narrows to a one-lane road.
